It was a sailor’s weekend in Edgartown. Over 200 one-design sailboats of all sizes competed in the Edgartown Yacht Club 89th annual regatta. The boats measured as short as eight feet to as long as 30 feet. The sailors and their sailboats came from all around Southeastern Massachusetts.
Bill Roman, manager of the Edgartown Yacht Club, said the Thursday through Saturday racing went well, though sailors were challenged by the variability of the wind.
Weatherwise, the three days of racing were similar: light wind in the morning, light and variable in late morning and a stronger breeze in the afternoon.
“The wind was all over the place, up and down and coming from different directions,” said Dianne Durawa, one of the winning sailors from Edgartown. “It wasn’t easy,” she said.
Edgartown harbor was decorated with the pageantry of small sails on small crafts (with small sailors): a total of 75 of these eight-foot Optimist class sailboats raced. Each sailor was about eight-to-ten years of age. There were so many of them on Saturday afternoon, they created a dramatic blockade that stretched from Edgartown Lighthouse beach all the way towards Chappaquiddick’s gut. In three days of racing, there were three young Edgartown sailors—all brothers—who distinguished themselves. Taylor Walshe came in seventh overall. His brother Milo came in tenth. Cooper, their younger brother, did well coming in third in the Green category. All three sailors spend their summers in Edgartown and their winters in Hong Kong.
Add to that a fleet of 95 sailboats in the 420 class (over 13 feet in length). This was certainly one of the largest gatherings of 420 in Edgartown that anyone could remember. Mr. Roman said the sailors were here to get some extra time preparing for the 420 North American Nationals that will take place next weekend in Falmouth. It is a young sailor’s division, primarily high-school age.
Top sailors included those from another local yacht club. Vineyard Haven Yacht Club sailors Jackson Wagner and Anna Flaherty, she of Oak Bluffs, came in 12th overall in that highly competitive division. Both just turned 15 years of age. The pair are going off to the nationals. Mr. Roman said one of the truly fun aspects of the competition is tied to bringing multiple generations together.
The yacht club has been hosting Rhodes 19 sailboat (19-feet-long) racing for decades. It is a one-design that rose in the 1960s and dropped down in the last decade to barely two boats. But this year there were five Rhodes 19 sailboats competing. Some of the boats were recently restored. Bill Schillhammer of Edgartown surprised everyone. In his first time sailing this design, Mr. Schillhammer came in first overall after six races.
Dianne Durawa of Edgartown has been sailing since childhood in the Edgartown regatta. But she and her sailing mate, Barbara Kende, came in first for the Herreshoff 12.5 (feet) class. Five boats were competing.
Mrs. Durawa said when it comes to sailing, she and Barbara are a team on the water. They raced in Mrs. Kende’s wooden sailboat, the oldest sailboat competing from Edgartown in the regatta. “We’ve been a sailing team for 10 years,” she said of her sailing companion. “It was very fun, exciting. There was great participation,” Mrs. Durawa said. Of her competitors, she said: “It was all very close. There was a lot of good sailing.”
Eyes shift this week to the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club junior regatta. A lot of sailors who competed in Edgartown are in Vineyard Haven this week.
Looking farther ahead, the next big event of July will be the ‘Round the Island race, scheduled for July 28. The day before, on July 27, the sailors that will compete in the ‘Round the Island race, will hold races just outside of Edgartown harbor as a tuneup for the larger race. Mr. Roman said there are already 56 boats registered in both events on Friday and Saturday. They’ll be raising spinnakers, and looking all very impressive on that Friday of racing. The ‘Round the Island race spreads sailors all around the Vineyard.
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