Paul Zabetakis helms Impetuous to a first-place finish Sunday in its ORC division during the New York Yacht Club’s 169th annual regatta. DANIEL FORSTER NEW YORK YACHT CLUB
Despite starting the second race of the weekend in last place, a local sailor won his division after posting a bullet in the finale of the New York Yacht Club’s 169th annual regatta.
Impetuous, a Swan 42 helmed by Paul Zabetakis, won the weekend series in ORC C after finishing runner-up to Gemini II, a Swan 45, during the circumnavigation of Conanicut Island. The schedule for the flagship event, which is North America’s oldest annual regatta, begins every year with an around-the-island race (Friday) followed by two days of buoy racing and navigator courses (Saturday and Sunday).
Although the weekend series began Saturday with Impetuous winning the opening race, the team struggled in the second. The 10-boat division included a second boat from Jamestown, Patricia Young’s Entropy, a Swan 42 that finished seventh.
“We had a bad race,” Zabetakis said. “We had a bad start and, basically, we were in last place.”
Zabetakis, who serves as commodore of the yacht club in Newport, commended his crew for responding to adversity. Most of his team has sailed together for more than a decade.
Howard Spencer’s Menace leads the IC37 fleet Sunday trailed closely by Peter McLennen’s Gamecock.
“We clawed ourselves back to fifth, which I think saved the regatta,” he said. “I think the team just gels, and we buckle down and get it done. I have a lot of fun with the team; everybody knows what to do.”
Heading into Sunday, Impetuous was in third place behind a J/121 and J/133, Dark Storm and Vamoose, respectively. A runner-up finish in the third and penultimate race moved them into first place, which they retained by winning the fourth.
“We had two really good starts, and it got us out in good lanes,” he said.
According to Zabetakis, this isn’t the first time his crew has rebounded from a poor race to win a regatta. He attributes that resiliency to the relationships on the boat.
“It’s just amazing to watch them,” he said. “They work well together, they like each other, and I think that’s the secret.”
The 12 Metre Enterprise skippered by Peter Askew sails ahead of Takashi Okura’s Freedom.
Onawa, a 12 Metre skippered by Jamestown resident Chris Culver, posted two bullets in two races to win the Classics 1 division. The fleet include two other 12 Metres,
Gleam and Intrepid, the yawl Black Watch, Marilee (NY 40) and Wild Horses (W-Class 74). Culver’s crew included his wife, Deirdre, and Marcus Cochran.
Culver is part of a syndicate that acquired Onawa in 2018. The yacht finished second in the Vinatage division at the 2019 world championship on Narragansett Bay, and it is expected to compete in the 2023 world championship on the same body of water from July 31 to Aug. 5.
In the one-design IC37 class, Howard Spencer produced an encore for the spectators. During the ’22 edition, Spencer flew his crew from New Zealand, stepped onto an IC37 for the first time and won his debut in the circumnavigation of Conanicut. Spencer’s crew, onboard Menace, then finished a seventh out of 20 during the weekend.
Spencer, over the weekend, proved that wasn’t a fluke by doubling up with two first-place trophies by winning the circumnavigation and the weekend series.
“It’s a long way from the other side of the world,” he said. “The boats are pretty even, which is what you want in a one-design class. Being able to roll in here, pick up a boat, put some new sails on it and be competitive is fantastic.”
In the 12-Metre Modern class, what the fleet lacked in numbers, it made up for with star power. Among the four entries were two former America’s Cup-winning yachts, and Peter Askew’s Enterprise was the class of this elite group by winning Friday’s circumnavigation then taking the first three races of the weekend series before showing a hint of mortality with a second in the finale. Takashi Okura’s Freedom, which included America’s Cup legends Murray Jones and Grant Simmer in the afterguard, was second.
Sailing the heavy, historic 12 Metres represents a significant change of course for Askew, who was involved with his brother in an ocean-racing campaign onboard a lightning-fast Volvo 70. A short race was measured in hundreds of miles. He said sailing 12 Metres takes him back to when he learned to sail as a kid.
“Things were a lot slower and moved a bit differently back then,” he said. “It’s been very fun. It’s very technical and I like that part of it.”
Prospector, a TP 52 navigated by Jamestown resident Tery Glackin, won in ORC B. Winning ORC E was The ROCC, a J/122 owned by Al Minella. Mark and Cory Sertl, onboard the Farr 30 Das Blau Max, which is homeported in Jamestown, finished third in that division’s weekend series after winning the circumnavigation. In ORC D, the J/122 Teamwork won. A local boat, Jack Gregg’s Tarahumara, finished fourth in that division.
Jamestown resident Jack LeFort, onboard his Eggemoggin 47 Tink, finished fourth in the regatta’s largest division, PHRF 2 (17 boats). Jonathan Hough’s Tantrum, also homeported in Jamestown, finished 11th in the 14-boat Shields one-design class, which was won by John Burnham’s Grace.