Racing
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 19 Jun 2011 02:26
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Newport is the sailing capital of the USA and is
located on beautiful Narrangansett Bay, a huge area of protected water
absolutely ideal for sailing. And they do a lot of it - I counted 57 Optimists
out the other day. The town, home of the New York Yacht Club and therefore the
Americas Cup until Dennis Connor lost it to New Zealansd, is currently
hosting the first regatta for J Class yachts since 1937 (when they were
competing for the Americas Cup). Only a few J Class boats were ever built but
they are experiencing a bit of a renaissance at present. Only two boats,
Velsheda and Ranger, are racing here (unhappily a third had to withdraw at the
last moment due to rig problems. These boats are big; Velsheda is 39m long and
weighs 140 tonnes. Her permanent crew of eight grows to over forty when
racing.
Here is a shot today of her deck near the mast
(running rigging stripped of and washed between races, so the deck looks very
clean); note the rows of giant powered winches.
 And here she is under sail in the second race, with
Ranger in the background. Just look at all those people on deck:
 And here are a couple of shots of them under
spinnaker, both of which really show their huge size - just look at the sails
towering over the land in the first shot, and over the ants on deck in the
second:
  The regatta has not been close. Velsheda, sailing
under a British flag, lost the first race by one second, but has been
beaten more convincingly in the three subsequent races (Ranger has had better
starting tactics in all races, absolutely crucial in sailin). The final
race is tomorrow.
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