Numbers, Elan and Epiphany Win Halfway Rock 
Sail Newport 
Sure, everyone was looking at the PUMA Ocean Racing Team and Numbers as the biggest boats on the course... Sure, those paint jobs are awesome... But the real stories were the cobwebs that were shaken off after a long New England Winter.

3 Classes of big boats participated in the Halfway Rock Regatta hosted by Sail Newport, and those that were ready for the season were not dissapointed. 3 races were run by Sail Newport's RC Team on Saturday and one "Around the Island Race" on Sunday.
Saturday's races had the full range of conditions ranging from 8-10 in race 1, to 14-16 by race 3. In the deepest class, PHRF A, Elan, a Beneteau 36.7 owned by John Hamme, dominated the day with 3 bullets. Second for the day in PHRF A was Tommy Rich in the venerable Peterson 42 Settler. Rounding out the top 3 with a 5,5,2 was The Lotz family on their J/105 Indefagetable.

IRC 1 saw Numbers win every race on corrected time. The boathandling of this veteran crew was outstanding. PUMA was always a good chunk ahead in each race, but only came close on corrected time as the breeze got into the 16 knot range. Watching these 2 boats go around the track was a fantastic sight.
Second for the day in IRC was the brand new Mills designed Act One sailed by the team of Stern, Milligan and Roche. This was the first day out for the Act One and by all accounts, the boat is an IRC machine!
Rounding out the day was the Sforzando skippered by Blair Brown.

PHRF B was a small group of over 130 raters. We really enjoyed having them and hope that this group grows next year. Jeff Roy on Epiphany, an S2 9.1 won all the races on Saturday followed by Mark Gervais in Dark Star and Bill Kneller and his team on Rhapsody.


Sunday, the start was postponed for 40 minutes while the seabreeze settled in. When Ron Hopkins and his RC team pulled the trigger for start #1, the breeze was 10 knots out of the SW and building. A gorgeous sail around Jamestown comensed with the spectacle of Numbers and Il Mostro (PUMA) trading tacks up the East Passage, and out of the Bay. The fleet followed and in good order completed the NEB course of 26 miles. The typical Around the Island Course was used for PHRF B (18.3 Miles).

PHRF B around the island was taken by Mark Gervais on Dark Star. PHRF A was won by Tom Rich's team on Settler and Numbers completed the sweep and won IRC.

2008 FINAL RESULTS:

IRC FINAL
PHRF A FINAL
PHRF B FINAL



 
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