Success isn’t just a win

The 30th running of the Whitebread Regatta took place this past Saturday in far better conditions than last year’s race, which was marked by torrential downpours and gale force winds. Very few of the other 65 registered boats actually made it to the start line, making us realize we shouldn’t have been out there either, so we turned back before even starting. This year, despite dire weather predictions all week, we lucked out with no rain and perfect wind conditions, enabling us to race and finish in record time for my crew and me.

The Whitebread is a regatta that circumnavigates Shelter Island, hosted by the Peconic Bay Sailing Association, with the proceeds used to support youth sailing on the East End.  It is a Performance Handicap Racing Fleet handicap rated race with six divisions, with the slower divisions divided into two classes.

Each division has its own start time ranging from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The faster boats start later and usually catch up to the slower boats in short order. In years past, the race started and finished in Cutchogue Harbor. For the last several years, the course was shortened to start and finish at buoy 18 in Hog Neck Bay. This year the race started in Cutchogue Harbor and finished at buoy 18. 

One of my crew members, Dave Olsen, remembers when the race was called King of the Bays Race, with only a handful of boats entered. It eventually became a very popular race with as many as 130 boats, and was renamed the Whitebread. It is always held in early October when the weather can be unpredictable, ranging from rain, wild wind and cold to 80 degrees with next-to-no wind.

I remember making it halfway around the Island in one race on a hot day when the wind died so we drifted for two hours, and even went swimming while waiting for the wind to pick up. Another time it was so rough that we took water over our transom, filling the cockpit with water on the way out to the start. My crew at the time (no present members were involved) mutinied,  forcing us to turn back before starting, inspiring my cousin’s classic query, “So you mean the boat that came in last beat you?”

My crew this year, with Charlie Modica, John Modica, Dave Olsen and John Colby (Linda Gibbs missed this year after 14 years as crew) would have much preferred buoy 18 as the starting point. For the last several years Charlie has offered his Alerion 33 instead of my C&C 24, which meant a longer trip to the start line from Dering Harbor rather than West Neck Harbor. We met at Charlie’s house in the dark of 5:30 a.m. not knowing exactly how long it would take to get to the start line. As it turned out, we were two hours early for our start, and not seeing another boat wondered if we had mixed up the dates. Watching the sunrise from a boat is usually pretty special, but on Saturday there was no sun, just clouds and 10-15 knot winds. Eventually we had sun for most of the day.

Our boat, Callaloo, was the scratch boat in our class, so not only did we have to beat every other boat in our class, we also had to give them time as well. In some years past I have finished dead last but corrected up to a respectable spot. Being scratch boat, we had no chance to correct up. It was finish way ahead or lose. On Saturday, the wind direction couldn’t have been better during the entire race around Shelter Island and we performed only two tacks and three jibes, and finished in 4:24:16 corrected time. 

One boat in my class was far ahead when it missed a mark rounding in Orient Harbor. Unfortunately for us, he realized his mistake, doubled back and still beat us around the mark. We never quite managed to catch up to him and knew that he would place first, but second and third places were still up for grabs.

We were constantly trading places with two other boats in our class, but knew there was not going to be any time correction for us; we had to beat them to the finish.

As we passed Perlman Music Camp, we managed to pass both of those boats and maintained our lead through the finish. In the end, we  corrected down to fifth place out of 10 in our class.  However, we all felt like winners just by being out there and having a great time. And, as the saying goes, there’s always next year. 

Congrats to all the winners and especially to Peter Beardsley, Rich Prieto and Bam Miller for placing first in their division and first overall while representing both the Menantic Yacht Club and the Shelter Island Yacht Club.