Despite Debby’s visit, Diamond Island Yacht Club, Point Bay Marina host 12th annual Diamond Island Regatta, supporting Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
RESULTS: Diamond Island Regatta || Split Rock Race
CHARLOTTE/FERRISBURGH, Vt.— The remnants of Hurricane Debby rampaged through the Champlain Valley on Friday, August 9, bringing heavy rain and high winds, with gusts as high as 65 knots. At Point Bay Marina in Charlotte, a sailboat was blown off its mooring into the marsh, and another was dismasted. Tens of thousands of Vermonters, and the marina, were without power as of Friday night, an outage that continued well into the weekend. Downed trees and flooding closed many roads.
But the weather had calmed down significantly, and the clean-up was well under way by Saturday morning, August 10. And the 12th annual Diamond Island Regatta, sponsored by the Diamond Island Yacht Club (DIYC) and Point Bay Marina to benefit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM), went ahead pretty much as scheduled. Boats that would have traveled south from the northern bays of Lake Champlain on Friday evening either moved up their trips to earlier in the day or decided to make the long trip down the lake on Saturday morning before the race.
Julie Trottier, captain of Meridian, left Malletts Bay Boat Club in Colchester at 4 a.m. “There was no way I was going to miss it,” Julie said. “It’s one of my favorite events of the season. Plus, my crew and I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the middle of Lake Champlain, and on our return to Mallets Bay Sunday evening sailed right into a rainbow.”
Event organizers and volunteers, unable to set up the venue Friday due to the winds, arrived at 6 a.m. Saturday to discover there was no power or running water at the marina. Yet they still managed to put on a great breakfast before the race with hot and cold items and hot coffee!
Despite the storm, and thanks to the resilience of those in the Champlain Valley of Vermont and New York, 25 boats—all but a couple of those that had registered to sail—were on the starting line on Saturday morning. The regatta, DIYC’s signature sailboat race, took boats on a course of about 11 nautical miles, from the start/finish line in Town Farm Bay, south to Diamond Island off Ferrisburgh, north to Sloop Island off Charlotte, and back to the start line. The race started in a light breeze, ironic given the record winds of the previous day. The wind picked up, then waned again making for some challenging sailing but getting all the boats around the course.
The next day, 20 boats—just one short of last year’s record turnout—sailed in the fourth annual Split Rock Race, in mostly steady winds, covering the same course. The start was in a brisk 15-knot southerly, providing a quick trip to Diamond Island, and the breeze held up until the last few boats made it to Thompson’s Point on the way to the finish line. At that point, the wind died and a few boats ended up drifting slowly toward the line. But ultimately, everyone made it to the finish, and many headed back north to their home ports.
Boats came from all over the lake for the weekend of racing, with sailors from, among other places, the Diamond Island Yacht Club (DIYC) in Charlotte, the Lake Champlain Yacht Club (LCYC) in Shelburne, the Malletts Bay Boat Club (MBBC) in Colchester, and even from as far as Mooney Bay, north of Plattsburgh, N.Y.Both races are part of the Lake Champlain Championship Series, a season-long competition that determines annual bragging rights in five classes: three Spinnaker classes and two Jib-and-Main (JaM) classes. The races are scored using the PHRF (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet) system, so boats with different speed potentials can compete against each other. Each boat’s elapsed time for the course is turned into a “corrected” time to determine the winners in each class.
The first boat to finish in the Diamond Island Regatta on Saturday, in 2 hours, 32 minutes and 18 seconds, was Chris Duley’s Polar Express, a Henderson 30 from the Valcour Sailing Club competing in the Spinnaker A division. Winning Spinnaker A on corrected time was Rogue, a J/105 from LCYC, owned by Gene Cloutier, Matt Fisher and Walt Marti. First place in the Spinnaker B class went to Muse, a J/37C sailed by Doug Friant, a member of both DIYC and LCYC. Spinnaker C class was won again this year by Benedek Erdos of the host club, sailing his Santana 2320R, Lil’ Bot.
In the jib-and-main classes, Shockwave, a J/29 sailed by DIYC’s Jim and Tom Moody, captured JaM A. In the JaM B class, Mackinac, a Pearson 32 sailed by Tim and Betsy Etchells, also of DIYC, came out on top.
In Sunday’s Split Rock Race, the win in the Spinnaker A class went to Foxy Lady, a J/105 sailed by Jeff Hill of LCYC. Enki, a C&C 99 sailed by Cindy and Marc Turcotte of LCYC, won the very competitive Spinnaker B class. Osprey, a C&C 33 Mark II sailed by Tom Porter of DIYC and LCYC, got the win in Spinnaker C class.
In the Jib and Main classes on Sunday, Jim Lampman of DIYC sailed Hot Chocolate, a J/9 , to the victory in JaM A, while Mackinac, the Pearson 32 sailed by DIYC’s Tim and Betsy Etchells, won JaM B, becoming the only double winner of the weekend.
And everyone had fun watching the lone multihull boat, Shoshin, owned by Tim McKegney, zip around the course in record time on Sunday.
As is the case every year, perhaps the biggest winner was the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The money raised by the regular benefit events—the pre-race breakfast, the Lobster Fest dinner, T-shirt and hat sales, and a fundraising raffle—is still being tallied, but is on track to break records.
After the way the weekend started, it was lucky that both races saw only a few brief showers, and the Lobster Fest and awards dinner—a sell-out, attended by more than 100 people—took place under clear skies. The post-race events on Saturday included live music from The Morning Dudes, Tom Van Sant and Jake Geppert, who saved the day with their battery-powered amp and mics. Power returned just in time for a presentation about Lake Champlain’s most famous denizen, Champ, by Chris Sabick, executive director of LCMM. Next came the awards ceremony and Lobster Fest dinner, with winning raffle tickets being drawn throughout for prizes from the event’s generous sponsors, all to benefit the museum.
The Saturday and Sunday races were both overseen by DIR/SRR Race Director Wendy Friant from the committee boat, Rosie, a Lord Nelson Tug owned and captained by Will Patten. And dozens of other DIYC volunteers worked tirelessly, on and off the water, to makeall the weekend events possible.
In addition to the club and Point Bay Marina, other sponsors contributing to a successful two days of racing, socializing and fundraising for the museum included Point Bay Marina, Charlotte, Vt.; Safe Harbor Shelburne, Vt., Shipyard; Safe Harbor Willsboro Bay, N.Y.; The Moorings Mallets Bay, Vt.; Helly Hansen Burlington, Vt.; Burlington, Vt., Harbor Marina; Bibens Ace Hardware, Mallets Bay, Vt.; Basin Harbor, Ferrisburgh, Vt.; FastSigns, South Burlington, Vt.; Amalgamated Culture Works, Burlington, Vt.; Sebago; The Old Dock, Essex, N.Y.; Nautical Circuits (nauticalcircuits.com); Dunkin’ Donuts, Shelburne, Vt.; West Marine, South Burlington, Vt.; and Shaw’s, Vergennes, Vt.
TOP FINISHERS
FULL RESULTS: Diamond Island Regatta || Split Rock Race
Diamond Island Regatta, August 10, 2024
* Finishes based on corrected time *
Spinnaker A
1. Rogue, J/105, Marti/Fisher/Cloutier, LCYC
2. Foxy Lady, J/105, Jeff Hill, LCYC
3. Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay
Spinnaker B
1. Muse, J/37C, Doug Friant, DIYC/LCYC
2. Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, MBBC
3. Enki, C&C 99, Cindy & Marc Turcotte, LCYC
Spinnaker C
1. Lil’ Bot, Santana 2023R, Benedek Erdos, DIYC
2. Osprey, C&C 33 MK II, Thomas Porter, DIYC/LCYC
3. Pas de Deux, Pearson Flyer, John Beal, DIYC
Jib & Main A
1. Shockwave, J/29, Jim & Tom Moody, DIYC
2. Schuss, J/30, Cameron Giezendanner, MBBC
3. Neelima, M35, Michael Lestage
Jib & Main B
1. Mackinac, Pearson 32, Tim & Betsy Etchells, DIYC
2. Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, MBBC
3. Salsa, Ericson 34, Sean Linskey, DIYC
Split Rock Race, August 11, 2024
* Finishes based on corrected time *
Spinnaker A
1. Foxy Lady, J/105, Jeff Hill, LCYC
2. Lisa J, Mumm 30, LCYC/MBBC
3. Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay
Spinnaker B
1. Enki, C&C 99, Cindy & Marc Turcotte, LCYC
2. Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, MBBC
3. Muse, J/37C, Doug Friant, DIYC/LCYC
Spinnaker C
1. Osprey, C&C 33 MK II, Thomas Porter, DIYC/LCYC
2. Lil’ Bot, Santana 2023R, Benedek Erdos, DIYC
Jib & Main A
1. Hot Chocolate, J/9, Jim Lampman, DIYC
2. Pas de Deux, Pearson Flyer, John Beal, DIYC
3. Morning Star … Again, Catalina 320, Stephen Unsworth, LCYC
Jib & Main B
1. Mackinac, Pearson 32, Tim & Betsy Etchells, DIYC
2. Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, MBBC
3. Salsa, Ericson 34, Sean Linskey, DIYC