Shelter Island’s Menantic Yacht club hosts prestigious races
The Menantic Yacht Club (MYC) of Shelter Island hosted the annual New York Downstate Regional Championship Sunfish Races this past Saturday and Sunday. It was a perfect weekend, notwithstanding a broken safety boat, both motors on the Race Committee (RC) boat that wouldn’t start (easily remedied when it was discovered that the emergency cutoff switch had been thrown), and very light to no wind in the mornings. The wind picked up in the afternoon, resulting in a very successful weekend of racing over two days.
Thirty-two sailors registered for the race; the winner qualifies for the World Championship races that will be hosted by the Salinas Yacht Club in Ecuador in December. Of the 32 sailors, 17 have sailed with the MYC in the past, and a total of 15 different clubs were represented, including one from as far afield as Maine.
One sailor, Peter Due, must have had sore arms after paddling in windless conditions for an hour and a half to get to the start line from Cedar Point in Southold. Peter was definitely happy when the wind picked up later. It only took him a half hour to sail home at the end of the day, giving him enough time to drive back to Shelter Island and attend the after-race party. Josh Gear left his home in Maine at 4 a.m., took two ferries and arrived in time for the start.
The Saturday morning races were delayed by about two hours because of lack of wind, giving sailors time to become acquainted while drifting around. In fact, lunch was brought out to the sailors and volunteers because drifting back to shore in the windless conditions was not a good option.
Eventually, the wind filled in and was blowing at 10-to-12 knots. Several wind shifts necessitated mark moves, which were handled efficiently by the two mark boats crewed by Matt Fox, Peter Zahn, Dave Daly and yours truly. Having two mark boats and crews, one used to place the pin and gates and one for the windward mark and offset pin, really saved time.
Principal Race Officers Doug Wefer and Steve Shepstone ran four races on both Saturday and Sunday. They were assisted by RC Signal Boat Mary Ellen Wefer, Diane Keegan and Deb Davison. Each leg was approximately one half mile in length. The RC ran LAR2 courses, except for the very last race on Sunday. As a gift to the sailors, the RC ran LAR3, the longest course possible, just as everyone was thinking that the day was over and they were looking forward to heading to the beach after a very successful series of races.
The races were held in Shelter Island Sound, outside of West Neck Harbor, the MYC’s usual venue, for the first time in 43 years because the Downstate Regionals required longer race courses than the harbor could provide. The current was running fairly strongly and determined which side of the course was favored.
From the vantage of the mark boat it wasn’t clear who was going to come out on top. After the first day of racing, Lee Montes was leading by eight points, followed by Peter Beardsley in second and Paul-Jon Patin in third. There were five different sailors who placed first in at least one race, Lee, Peter, Paul-Jon, Chris Williams, Matt Kreuzkamp and 14-year old Michael Layton. Lee’s lead narrowed going into the last race. He had only one first-place finish, along with Peter, while Paul-Jon had two but placed first in the last race to accumulate three.
And the winner was Lee by a nose, just 2 points, to win overall.
At the awards ceremony, Peter and I thanked all the participants for coming, including all the non-sailors who volunteered their time and helped make the event a success. As MYC Commodore, I can say on behalf of the club that the MYC really appreciates the great turnout, since Shelter Island is a little out of the way for some. Peter presented awards to the top five placers, Lee, Paul-Jon, himself, Chris Williams and Larry Suter. When Lee learned that he had won he looked shocked, and commented “but Paul-Jon always wins this race, it’s my first time.”
Peter Beardsley and Melissa Shepstone did a superb job of organizing the races and getting all the crews and volunteers together. Volunteers are an integral part of any club and deserve to be recognized and thanked for their service: on safety boats — Betty Bishop, Dave Daly, Kevin Keegan and Richard Masse; Jonathan Brush for spectator boat; Betsy Colby — photographer; Penny Zahn — lunch; Marian Thomsen — registration; John Mooney — Chief Judge; Beth Fleisher, Jim Shultz and Regina Soto — Judges; Melissa Shepstone — scorer; and Mary Vetri who supplied food for Saturday and Sunday in addition to just generally helping out. Tom McMahon, Penny Zahn, Shelter Island Yacht Club and Charlie Modica loaned the fleet the safety boats, mark boats and RC boat. In fact, Charlie loaned three of his boats, including his Shelter Island Runabout as the RC.
Other volunteers who helped out on the beach were Susan Donlon, Mike Donlon, Rob Stern and his son, Nate, Lucy Browne, Kerry and Ginny Mitchell and Patricia Layton. Thank you all for a superb job. And thank you to the Town of Shelter Island for smooth sailing with the permitting process.
Results: Place
Lee Montes 1
Paul-Jon Patin 2
Peter Beardsley 3
Chris Williams 4
Larry Sutter 5
Paul Zinger 6
Matt Kreuzkamp 7
John Condon 8
Bart Hale 9
Josha Gear 10
Ryan Messina 11
Griffen Sisk 12
Michael Layton 13
Brady Shultz 14
Richard Prieto 15
Richard Skeen 16
Joan Butler 17
Hollin Calloway 18
Brant Davison 19
Linda Gibbs 20
Timothy Mitchell 21
Peter Due 22
Christopher Young 23
Alicia Rojas 24
Dirk Mechielsen 25
Denise Fenchel 26
Ronnie Hill 27
Kate Duff 28
Tiffany Ludwig 29
John Colby 30
Suzanne Hulme 31
Mark Powell 32
