A2N Holds Prize-Giving Ceremony

From the Annapolis Yacht Club: Newport Harbor provided a spectacular backdrop for the traditional prize-giving ceremony that puts a bow on the 36th biennial Annapolis to Newport Race. Competitors from the 52 boats representing 16 classes gathered at New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court to celebrate another edition of the offshore classic and congratulate the winners.

James Praley, chairman of the 2017 A2N Race, presided over the ceremony and was assisted in handing out awards by PRO Bruce Bingman, Annapolis Yacht Club Race Committee Chair Sandy Grosvenor, and the Commodores of New York Yacht Club and Ida Lewis Yacht Club.

Black Pearl and Jeroboam were the overall winners of the IRC and PHRF fleets, respectively. Owners of those boats were presented with the coveted Blue Water Bowl for best overall performance while their navigators received the City of Newport Trophy.

Black Pearl, a Carkeek 47 owned by Stefan Jentzsch of New York City, took top honors among the 15 boats in two classes that raced under the IRC rating rule. Marc Lagesse was the navigator aboard Black Pearl and posted a corrected time of 2 days, 18 hours, 45 minutes, 32 seconds.

“It was a fun race and we enjoyed every minute of it,” Jentzsch said. “We had varying conditions so that made it challenging. This crew has been sailing together for five years and has become a well-oiled machine. We had a lot of fun on the boat during the race, which makes a big difference.”

Jeroboam, a Farr 400 owned by Laurent Givry of Fairfax Station, Va., finished with the best time among the 33 boats in three classes that competed in PHRF. Dee Smith served as navigator onboard Jeroboam, which corrected to 3 days, 45 minutes, 45 seconds.

“We are very, very happy,” Givry said. “Winning our class was the goal. Having the best time in PHRF is the cherry on top.”

Other class winners honored during Wednesday afternoon’s ceremony were the J/122 Orion (IRC 2, Paul Milo, Leesburg, Va.); the J/109 Rosalita (PHRF 2, Rick Hanson, Avondale, Pa.); the Sabre 426 Nanuq (PHRF 3, Glenn Doncaster, Raleigh, NC), and the Hanse 371 Orion (Performance Cruiser, Jon Opert, Galesville, Md.)

There were two sub-classes as part of A2N with the Ker 43 Christopher Dragon (Andrew & Linda Weiss) earning the victory among four closely-rated IRC racer/cruisers, and Shinnecock (Jimmy Praley, Annapolis) topping a fleet of five J/120 one-designs.

Warrior, a Volvo 70 skippered by Stephen Murray Jr. of New Orleans, was presented with the Commodore Peter H. Magruder Memorial Trophy for posting the fastest elapsed time of the 2017 Annapolis to Newport Race. Murray and his 12-man crew aboard Warrior earned a standing ovation from the audience for setting a new course record with an elapsed time of 40 hours, 19 minutes, 36 seconds during the 474-nautical mile passage.

Orion, which barely made the starting line after having a new rig installed just one week before the race, captured line honors among the Friday starters with an elapsed time of 3 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, 37 seconds.

There is a long history of service academy competition in the Annapolis to Newport Race and several special awards have been established to recognize the top performers at these institutions.

Lieutenant Commander Joe McGettigan presented the venerable SURFLANT Prize for best corrected time among service academy entries and the Gerber Cup for best corrected time among U.S. Naval Academy entries to Hooligan, skippered by Midshipman Teddy Papenthien. Midshipman Justus Grammer earned the Cary Arthur Memorial Trophy as navigator for the TP52.

“I thought our guys did an awesome job, all things considered. They sailed really, really well,” said Jahn Tihansky, head coach of the Navy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team, who was aboard Hooligan as a safety officer. “These midshipmen know a lot more about offshore racing now than they did before this race. They received invaluable experience that we cannot teach in the classroom.”

Navy also picked up the Yacht Club Challenge Trophy for best performance from a three-boat team representing the same affiliation. Hooligan placed fourth in IRC 1 while the Navy 44- footers Gallant and Integrity were second and fifth, respectively, in PHRF 3.

Grosvenor presented the Chelsea Clock Seafarer Trophy to a pair of boats for best combined performance in the 2017 Annapolis to Newport Race and 2016 Newport to Bermuda Race. The trophy was lost in the December 2015 fire that ravaged the Annapolis Yacht Club, but was kindly replaced by an anonymous AYC member who asked that it henceforth be dedicated in honor of the late James Allsopp, a stalwart of the club and a North Sails veteran who died in March 2016. Allsopp had numerous Bermuda and A2N races under his belt.

Heron, a J/120 skippered by Greg Leonard of Annapolis, was the PHRF recipient after placing second in class in Newport-Bermuda and fifth in Annapolis-Newport. Kenai, a J/44 skippered by Chris Lewis of Houston, Texas, was the IRC winner after taking third in N2B and second in A2N.

The C. Gaither Scott Trophy for Corinthian Spirit is presented at the discretion of the Annapolis to Newport race committee. This special award, which is not handed out during every edition of Annapolis-Newport, was named in honor of Annapolis Yacht Club’s longtime race committee chairman and was introduced following his death in March 2000.

This year, the race committee felt the performance of Hartmut Ludwig and Welf Ludwig aboard the Beneteau First 36.7 Pegasus was worthy of the Scott Trophy. The father-son team from West Windsor, NJ sailed Pegasus double-handed and placed third in IRC 2 while competing against fully-crewed boats.

Annapolis Yacht Club Vice Commodore Jim Ellis presented the Scott Trophy to the Ludwigs, who demonstrated outstanding seamanship in a race with ever-changing conditions. Hartmut Ludwig and his son had planned to compete double-handed in the Annapolis to Newport Race, but there were no other entries in that division. The two amateur sailors were given the option of racing in IRC 2, but were not allowed to utilize autopilot or electronic winches, both of which are accepted as part of short-handed competition.

“We are very humbled to receive this prestigious award. It is very unexpected and we will cherish it,” Hartmut Ludwig said. “We knew we had sailed a good race and this is wonderful recognition of that. We worked very hard the whole way and did a great job of keeping the boat going even when the wind was very light.”

Several other special awards were bestowed Wednesday afternoon with Alex Adams earning plaudits as the youngest helmsman, Lynn McClaskey being honored as the sole female owner, and Rick Oricchio earning recognition for his unique encounter with NASA.

Adams, a 13-year-old student at St. Anne’s School of Annapolis, drove his family’s Hylas 56 Odette a total of 100 nautical miles during the race. Alex, whose dream is to sail for the Naval Academy, was insistent upon standing a watch along with the rest of the crew.

McClaskey skippered the J/110 Cimarron to eighth out of 14 entries in PHRF 3. The Crofton, Md. resident is a seasoned veteran of offshore racing.

Oricchio was contacted by the NASA Space Flight Center at Wallops Island during the race. Wallops Island had scheduled a rocket launch for the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning, but scrubbed the mission after discovering racing sailboats in the impact zone.

Officials at Wallops Island hailed Oricchio because his boat is named Rocket Scientist. He was asked to immediately clear out of a marked Danger Area on navigational charts.

“They presumed, incorrectly, that we had a rocket scientist onboard and therefore would understand the situation surrounding the launch,” Oricchio said.

Annapolis to Newport Race organizers deemed this incident “fake news” as the race tracker shows Rocket Scientist was not sailing through the Danger Area at the time it was contacted. However, several participating boats did sail through the Danger Area, although it should be noted it is not illegal to do so.

Thumbnail photo caption: Sandy Grosvenor, Race Committee Chair at Annapolis Yacht Club, presents awards to midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy during the Prize-Giving Ceremony at New York Yacht Club.

Photo caption: All the prize winners from the 2017 Annapolis to Newport Race, at New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court.

Photo caption: Sandy Grosvenor, Race Committee Chair at Annapolis Yacht Club, with 13-year-old Annapolis resident Alex Adams, who won the distinction of youngest helmsman after driving his family’s boat Odette for 100 nautical miles of the 2017 Annapolis to Newport Race.

Photos courtesy of the Annapolis Yacht Club