S-Boat Parade - Quissett Harbor Cape Cod
Cape Cod Sailing Print - S Boat Regatta
It was a unique opportunity to have access to this historical Herreshoff S Boat Regatta held in West Falmouth’s Quissett Harbor. The reference images have been used to create paintings and fine art prints of this event. Quissett Harbor is one of my top 5 places on Cape Cod to paint. Last years S Boat Regatta was reported on by Janet Burt Chambers.
By JANET BURT CHALMERS
Friday, August 6, 2010
Those involved in last weekend’s Quissett Yacht Club Invitational S Class Regatta got a taste of the what racing was like in the 1920s and ’30s when large fleets of Herreshoff S Boats graced the waters off Quissett. Many thanks to Alan Haigh for reviving the Quissett fleet over the past 10 years and reaching out to invite the Narragansett Bay fleet to compete at Quissett this year. As QYC approaches its 2012 centennial it is particularly exciting to see the classic boats thrive in the 21st century. The race committee of Ted Burt, Janet Chalmers, Mike Garfield, Carol Suitor and Sia Karplus had a delightful experience running the four-race series. Though the classic Buzzards Bay southwesterly was not in evidence, a 5-12 knot southeasterly provided excellent conditions for a variety of courses with all starts at mark D, .6 miles to the northwest of the usual starting buoy. On both Saturday and Sunday the winds were light for the first race and fresher for the second. No matter what the conditions or the course, Mac Cuddy of Narragansett Bay Herreshoff S Class Association demonstrated that he is master of the class, scoring bullets in all four races in his sky blue Pirate (63). Pirate Was A Quissett Boat. The first race of the regatta was the only one where Mac Cuddy had to come from behind to win. Quissett’s Jeffrey Keith in his beautiful red Coyote (16) got off to the best start and led the way on the first triangle and second windward leg of the 4.7 mile EHDE course. It was interesting that Jeffrey would be overtaken by Pirate because Mac Cuddy’s boat used to belong to the Keith family and was raced by Jeffrey’s grandfather and father in Quissett. Pirate prevailed, followed by Coyote, then a very close finish between Fred Roy in Surprise (5), Doug Cooper in Radiant (34), Stephan Sloan in Argument (22) and Paul Del Nero in Vindex (30), all crossing within eight seconds of one another. For the second race, the RC decided to send the fleet on 6.5 mile scenic course EBYE using mark E off the Knob as the windward and finish mark, the Woods Hole bell buoy as the reach mark and mark Y 1.76 miles NW of mark E as the leeward mark. This time Mac Cuddy wasted no time taking over the lead in Pirate (63) and never needed to look back. Leading the also-rans at the Woods Hole bell and mark Y were Fred Roy in Surprise (5), Alan Haigh in Teaticket (69), Stephan Sloan in Argument (22), Paul Del Nero in Vindex (30) and Jeffrey Keith in Coyote (16). Alan Haigh made money on the long beat to the finish, moving up to second place in Teaticket (69) 40 seconds behind Pirate. He was closely followed across the line by Vindex, Surprise, Argument and Coyote. The wind was light southeasterly again on Sunday morning, this time having just a bit of southerly in it warranting the RC to set drop mark X as the windward mark just off Gansett point. To make sure they got two good races in, they set a tactical 3.8 mile XDX course, windward-leeward twice around, and began the starting sequence at 11 o’clock. Again, Mac Cuddy got off to a quick lead in Pirate (63) from the leeward end of the line and moved out to a substantial lead. Ten Herreshoff S Boats graced the starting line last weekend as Quissett Yacht Club played host to to its Invitational S Class Regatta. Five boats from the Narragansett Bay Herreshoff S Class Association joined the 5-boat Quissett fleet for a spectacular two-day series.
The rest of the fleet was tightly packed with exciting competition during the beat, run, leeward rounding, second beat, run to the finish, and then unexpected and dramatic maneuvers by Schuyler Boylan in Whistler (3) at the finish. Pirate (63) took the cannon, followed one minute and 21 seconds later by a close finish between Doug Cooper in Radiant (34) and Jeffrey Keith in Coyote (16), then a photo-finish with Stephan Sloan in Argument (22) just edging Josh Bernstein in Olive (6), then another squeaker as Paul Del Nero in Vindex (30) got the call over Fred Roy in Surprise (5). The biggest surprise, though, was Whistler’s (3) sudden port-tack crossing under Vindex to foul but beat Alan Haigh in Teaticket (69). Protest flags shot up and Schuyler was later talked into withdrawing.
To the Middle of the Bay
For the final race of the series the RC sent the S Boat fleet way out to mark V, mid-channel red bell #10 three miles northwest of Quissett’s harbor mouth. The course was XVX with the windward and finish mark off Gansett point. This was an exciting race in a freshening southeasterly breeze, far enough offshore to roughen Buzzards Bay. At the start, Fred Roy was caught with nowhere to go but across the line early in Surprise (5) with Mac Cuddy crossing by Cornelia Carey at the leeward end of the line in Pirate (63). As usual, Pirate executed the first beat flawlessly with Paul Del Nero rounding second in Vindex (30), Stephan Sloan third in Argument (22), Alan Haigh fourth in Teaticket (69), Josh Bernstein fifth in Olive (6), and Jeffrey Keith sixth in Coyote (16), followed by Schuyler Boylan in Whistler (3), Fred Roy in Surprise (5), Doug Cooper in Radiant (34) and Lawrence Peirson in Volante (28). The long run to the bell featured Coyote moving up to third place behind Pirate and Vindex, followed by Olive and Teaticket. Some excitement en route to the bell included a man overboard and rescue from Whistler (3), and a gooseneck breaking on Volante (28). Spectator craft crowded the finish area as Mac Cuddy made the regatta a clean sweep, capturing his fourth souvenir cannon shell of the weekend. Paul Del Nero crossed second in Vindex (30) followed by Alan Haigh in Teaticket (69), Josh Bernstein in Olive (6), Stephan Sloan in Argument (22), Jeffrey Keith in Coyote (16), Fred Roy in Surprise (5), Doug Cooper in Radiant (34), and Schuyler Boylan in Whistler (3). Lawrence Peirson and his crew passed by under tow behind Ben Coffin in Caper. Needless to say, Mac Cuddy, skipper of Pirate, won the first-place regatta trophy, an engraved pewter platter and an engraved rigging knife. Second place honors came down to a tie-breaker between Paul Del Nero, skipper of Vindex, and Jeffrey Keith, skipper of Coyote, who both had a second, a third and two sixes. Paul beat Jeffrey on the tie-breaker for beating him in the final race. Second and third place trophies were also rigging knives and smaller pewter platters. Thank you so much to the folks from Narragansett Bay Herreshoff S Class Association for coming to Quissett to race with our fleet and for becoming our friends. We look forward to continuing the regatta. Thanks also to the many, many Quissett volunteers who helped both ashore and afloat to make the regatta the huge success that it was. And thank you, Alan, for following your mother’s advice and making your dream a reality.
H Class Regatta
While the S Boats were racing at home some of the Quissett H Class fleet competed at Beverly Yacht Club in Marion in the annual H Class Championship Regatta there. Congratulations to Commodore Mort Saunders with granddaughter Weatherly Saunders who won the third place trophy in Found It and the Savvy Sailor Award for the best record for a skipper over 65. Kudos to Andy Buckingham with Kristin Boudreau who took ninth in Tag Along, Mike Garfield with daughter Emma Garfield who took 15th in Phoenix, and Bill Armstrong with son George Armstrong and father Bill Armstrong who took 21st in Adajio. Congratulations to juniors Weatherly Saunders with Grace Brakeman and Phil Lynch who won the third place trophy in the Junior Regatta in Found It, and Emma Garfield with Hannah Garfield and Olivia First who took fourth place in Phoenix.
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