Shelter Islander finishes first in World’s Longest Sunfish Race: Peter Beardsley takes crown in legendary race around the Island

This past Saturday saw the running of the 52nd annual “World’s Longest Sunfish Race” (WLSR) hosted by the Southold Yacht Club (SYC).

The race circumnavigates Shelter Island and the actual sailing distance is estimated to be about 26 miles, the length of a marathon. It’s a race of endurance — just finishing is an accomplishment.

Peter Beardsley has competed in the WLSR four times, the first time 21 years ago when he placed 47th out of 50; last year he placed 8th.

Obviously the fourth time was the charm for Peter, who placed 1st in Saturday’s race, making him the first Menatic Yacht Club sailor and the first Shelter Islander to do so in the half-century history of the WLSR. Peter, who was deservedly jubilant at his win, said, “Yesterday was the culmination of what seemed like an impossible dream.”

On Saturday the weather was perfect. According to the race results, there were 75 boats. Originally, registration was open to only 50 sailors, but the race has become very popular and many more were put on a waitlist. Race organizers asked for additional volunteers for chase boats and eventually those on the waitlist joined in the fun.

The Menantic Yacht Club (MYC) was well represented, with 18 current and former sailors registered. They included: Will Lehr, Griffin Sisk, Peter Beardsley, Eric Ryan, Paul Zinger, George Zinger, Alicia Rojas, Peter Due, Ruth Hakanson, John Modica, Charlie Modica, Rich Prieto, Jim Koehler, Lee Montes, Joe Sullivan and yours truly in the singles class, and Doug Rose and his daughter, Elsie, in the doubles class.

At 8:30 Saturday morning, Charlie, John, Will and I met at the  North Silver Beach town landing where we all store our boats to make sure we would make it to the 10:30 skippers’ meeting in Southold. We made it off the beach by 9:30 and reached the Southold Yacht Club in plenty of time for the skippers’ meeting.

I met up with some sailors I hadn’t seen in a while, including Jim Koehler, Lee Montes and Joe Sullivan. We all enjoyed the breakfast provided prior to the meeting.

As it turns out, Charlie’s boat was used by the Race Committee.

Joe Sullivan founded the WLSR in 1971, and this was his 50th WLSR race. At 86 he claimed that this year would be his last. We shall see.

Lee, a stalwart in the Sunfish world, sailed the course, but took a DNS because he started the race well past the official cutoff time due to a dagger board problem. Even starting an hour late, he passed the last boat in the fleet rounding Hay Beach. As Lee has said: “Nothing that happens in the first 90 minutes of the race matters.”

There’s always next year, Lee.

The all-important question, and the last bit of information which was disseminated at the skippers’ meeting, was which way around the Island the Race Committee was going to send us. It turned out to be counterclockwise, through South Ferry.

After the meeting, all the sailors and volunteers headed to their boats and the race was on. The pin end of the line was favored as was the left side of the course. Even though one end of the start line is favored, it sometimes doesn’t matter. John Modica started at the boat end of the line, by the time he reached Hay Beach he had caught up to the leaders, finishing  17th.

As in most endurance races, just as you think — and hope — you’re getting close to the finish line, there’s another point to round. At the start, the wind was blowing between 5 and 8 knots, with dead spots and slow going in some areas.

By the time we rounded Hay Beach, the wind picked up to maybe 14 knots blowing straight at us. Between the wakes from big boats and the stronger wind, it was a battle to the finish. I kept saying to myself, since there wasn’t anyone else to talk to in the last stretch, that I just didn’t want to finish last, a position I know all too well. 

During the race I talked to several sailors in passing (for the most part, they were passing me). Near Coecles Harbor, I asked a sailor if he was enjoying his lunch. He generously offered me some, but I’d already eaten.

When he told me his name I recognized it, not as a celebrity, but because he had raced with the MYC the previous week, the first time he had raced a Sunfish in 35 years. Peter Due is a Dane, now living in New York and working at the UN. We chatted for a while and then parted ways, Peter taking the lead.

On the way back to West Neck Harbor after the race, Will was keeping an eye on the four Sunfish being towed when he saw something pop out of his boat. We turned around and discovered it was a bag of trail mix he’d been looking for all day. What he didn’t notice until we got back was that his portable VHF radio must had also popped out, and unfortunately, it did not pop back up.

 Congratulations to Peter for his unprecedented victory, and to all the sailors who competed in this nautical marathon.