FOUR-PEAT!

NOYC WINS 2001

GYA OFFSHORE CHALLENGE CUP

New Orleans Yacht Club Challenge Cup Team wins the most prestigious and competitive handicap-racing event, held on the Gulf Coast, for the fourth year in a row.  NOYC sailors dominated this light air three-day weekend by sailing as a true team!  This was one of the few years that NOYC really had four very fast well-prepared racing boats.  The well-rounded boat selection, allowed NOYC to distribute their deep well of talent more evenly through out each class than in the past.

In Class A,  NOYC’s John Dane racing Tiburon (Melges 30) scored finishes of 7th, 2nd, 7th and 1st to take third overall in this very competitive class.  Tiburon’s finishes are not indicative of how well they actually sailed.  They raced in conditions that made it very difficult to sail to its rating of 30.  The wind velocity, huge oscillating shifts and windward leeward courses that were set, favored the other boats in this class.  With this in mind, Tiburon used covering maneuvers to drive competitors back in this class.  On several occasions, the Tiburon crew really took one for the team!  The surprise winner of this class and the Buddy Freidrichs trophy was Pontchartrain Yacht Club’s  Billy Ross racing Ragamuffin (SR 33).  Billy Ross sailed the regatta of his life to win by 2.5 points.  Billy Ross stated that he changed the mast butt position on Ragamuffin before the regatta and tuned the rig slightly different, than how they had been previously setting it, which drastically improved the boats light air performance.  This boat was over looked by this writer as serious competition before the regatta as it was a Class B boat last year and the higher rated boats in Class “A” usually do not perform that well when most of the racing is upwind.  Hats off to Billy Ross, Pontchartrain Yacht Club and the Ragamuffin crew as the conditions in this regatta did not favor their boat either.

In Class B, NOYC’s Benz Faget racing Final Finale (Schock 34 GP) went to school on his class by scoring finishes of  2nd, 1st, 4th and 2nd to win by over 4.5 points.  The crew work on Final Finale was flawless and this boat really liked the light air conditions.  Jackson Yacht Club’s Peter DeBeukelaer sailing Dream Cookie (Tripp 26)  survived a port-starboard collision with a with a heavily modified 48 footer to finish second overall.  Pensacola Yacht Club’s  “Joe” finished third overall and was able to beat the three other Evelyn 32’s.

In Class C, NOYC’s Scott Tonguis racing Zephyr (J-30) scored finishes of 1st, 2nd,1st and 4th to win by 4 points. Zephyr may be the most victorious boat in the history of the Challenge Cup as they have won their class at least 7 times.  The only time they placed worse than first in this writers memory was when a protest ruling was appealed and over turned at the national level and the “kurzweg crew list fiasco” quite a few years ago.  This year, to say that Zephyr had a little trouble getting off of the line, would be an understatement!  Zephyr was able to make up for its poor starts, with a little help from its tactical “brain trust” and some awesome crew work.  On several occasions, Zephyr was able to pick up as many as 3 boats at a mark rounding by jibe setting inside the leaders.  The Zephyr crew thought that they had let the team down with their 2nd and 4th place finishes and said that it will not happen again.  You won’t see much of Zephyr or crew the rest of this summer as they are headed to Chicago for the Mackinac, Verve Cup & J-30 North Americans.   Finishing second and third were SYC’s strongest link Cletus Junious on Halfaglass (J-30) & Fairhope Yacht Club’s Hubba Hubba (Olson 911s).

In Class D, NOYC’s Tom Baker racing Jack Rabbit (J-24) had his work cut out for him to finish third by scoring finishes of 3rd, 2nd, 6th & 2nd .  This is the most frustrating class to compete in, as the boats have a very wide rating band and the conditions constantly change to favor the significantly different designed boats.  Fairhope Yacht Club’s Zane Yoder racing Class Act (Merit 25) loved the light air conditions and scored finishes of 1st, 1st,1st and 5th  to dominate this class.  Zane Yoder is one of the top Laser sailors in the GYA and will be at the Challenge Cup venue for many years to come as his boat is now all geared up, tricked out, repaired and has new sails!  Pontchartrain Yacht Club’s David Bolyard sailing Senora Gorda (Santana 525) placed 2nd  in class to help his team finish in the money.

For Overall Team Results, New Orleans Yacht Club placed 1st  to win the 2001 GYA Offshore Challenge Cup and Spring Hill College Trophy with a cumulative point total of 26.5 . This was a 12-point lead on the nearest competitor.  Pontchartrain Yacht Club finished an impressive and well-deserved second with 38.5 points. Fairhope Yacht Club only a half point behind finished third.  The Mobile Yacht Club Trophy for the best 3-boat team was won by Jackson Yacht Club.  One indicator of how close the racing was and how well PHRF really works is the half point finishing scores that indicate a tie.  This regatta had 4 boats tie on corrected time, the chances of this happening statistically are very poor.

This fourth consecutive victory really proves that New Orleans Yacht Club knows the “Challenge Cup Chess Game”.  NOYC members came together as team and put their egos aside to win with a pure tactical strategy.  There is a secret formula to NOYC’s success and most of the other club’s have just not figured it out or do not have the resources.  This secret formula can be outlined in five points but will not be disclosed in this article.  A special thanks goes to the boat owners, those who helped deliver the boats, those who tweaked/prepared boats, those who crewed, those who didn’t, the people behind the scenes, our Team Captain Jeff Hampton and the Gulfport Yacht Club who ran a near flawless weekend in very trying conditions.

-steinkamp