Windless Conditions Meet Sailors at the 2014 Larchmont Junior Race Week
Competitors at the 2014 Larchmont Yacht Club Junior Race Week were greeted with rain and windless conditions this past Monday. The 375 sailors came into the club Monday morning looking forward to what is considered the most exciting regatta of the summer. However, it soon became apparent that the storms coming in would prevent the day of racing. “Bummer” was the general consensus of the sailors at LYC. The rain getting heavier and heavier, sailors were forced to retreat to the tents.
The second day did not present itself well to the junior sailors, either. While the race committee managed to get off one race, no wind and incoming storms prevented the sailors from staying out on the water.
However, while dissatisfying race conditions were a drawback to the day, most sailors knew there would be a silver lining that night at the “party of the year” – the LYC Race Week Dance. “Everyone knows about it,” LYC sailor Ryan Mattimore told me. “It’s even talked about during the school year.” The dance boasts a live band, great atmosphere, and nearly all sailors competing attend. The thunder and lightning did little to dampen the night, and everyone seemed to be dancing the night away.
Day three, 12 hours after the dance, sailors took to the seas for the first real-wind day of the regatta.
Most divisions got the chance to get two races in, bringing the total number of races to three. “It wasn’t the best conditions,” Austen Freda of AYC told me, “but it’s nice to get experience in all types of wind, even if it isn’t the strongest.”
In the Laser Radial class, Collin Alexander of American Yacht Club took first place, while another American Yacht Club sailor, Will McKeige, took first in the Laser Standard class. In the 420 fleet, Edward Lebens and Greta Farrell from the WaterFront Center snagged first. In the Pixel fleet, the team of Harry Thompson and Matthew Viola from Manhasset Bay Yacht Club took first.
Full race results are posted on on the regatta documents section of the JSA LIS website.
