McIntyre Team Race 2018
This year’s JSA of LIS Malcolm McIntyre Team race was once again hosted by the SUNY Maritime College, Bronx, NY on July 9-11, 2018. We owe a great deal of thanks to Rob Crafa and the Maritime Waterfront department staff for hosting more than sixty people over the course of three days. SUNY Maritime runs a summer camp program during the same time period and they are gracious enough to allow the JSA to run the McIntyre Team at their site. The same large fleet of 420s and FJs used by the Maritime Varsity sailing team allowed each JSA club team crew to sail without rotating the boats.
Nine teams traveled to SUNY Maritime each day led by coaches Brian Clancy (Head coach – Cornell University), Ben Mahoney (Assistant coach – Hobart & William Smith), and Greiner Hobbs (Graduate 2018– Hobart & William Smith). We also want to thank the coaches from the JSA member clubs for their support throughout the event, on and off the water.
And for the first time at the McIntyre, additional powerboats were available for managing the racing, courtesy of Christian Gordon at Long Island Boat Rental, based in nearby Port Washington, NY. Christian’s company provided a Grady White and a Trophy that were excellent race management platforms for the three coaches.
Here is Brian Clancy’s report:
- Day 1 saw a wind delay until after lunch, but the breeze filled in nicely with the higher wind ranges reaching 12-15 kts. A full round robin with all nine teams called for 36 races to be completed. We were able to get through half of the first round after the first day with Larchmont & Orient holding undefeated records. We raced in “the cove” across the East River, where the current is less of a factor and flat water/shifty conditions make for challenging racing. Larchmont and Orient managed to sail well in the conditions using their speed as an edge.
- Day 2 was very similar to Day 1 with a wind delay to start the day. Fortunately, the breeze filled in a bit earlier and racing began around noon. The breeze was lighter, around 5-8 kts, and filled in from the West so racing took place in the river. Significant current ran with the breeze making the starting line and upwind beats extra tricky. Orient finished off the round with an undefeated record of 8-0. They were sailing smart, staying up-current during the prestart and typically ran away with wins. Overall, they stayed conservative, and focused on sailing the course better than their opponents. We ran right into a Gold round of top 6 and a Silver round with the next three teams. Riverside made a charge in the Gold round and at the end of the second day, both Riverside and Larchmont were just one win behind Orient.
- Day 3 had a much better forecast and we started the day right on schedule with a light northerly. We once again went to the cove across the river to escape the current and facilitate better racing conditions. First, we completed the Gold round 1, and we rolled right into a Gold round 2 while the next three teams completed 3 rounds in the Silver. When it mattered most, Orient maintained their performance and took the overall victory with a 15-3 record. Riverside finished second with a 14-4 record, and Larchmont finished third with a 12-6 record.
Congratulations to Orient for winning their first-ever Malcolm McIntyre Team Race! The full scores/results may be viewed at this link.
View photos from the event on the @JSAofLIS Facebook album.
