Saturday, August 2nd witnessed an all-FBYC team of Sophie Massie, Blake Kimbrough, and Strother Scott Jr. do what had been previously thought next-to-impossible in Nantucket Harbor. On the first day of the August series, the three of them, in the Massie’s Rhodes 19 Toni Too, won a race. The picture to the left is of Toni Too from last year.

This might not seem like that big of a deal, but in doing so, the team snapped a near-unprecedented streak of dominance – about 50 races without a loss.  Skip Willauer, a sailor who grew up on Nantucket and has raced the Rhodes 19 Race Horse there for many years, had not failed to record a bullet in any race in which he participated in the last two years.  Even though he got the last laugh and finished the day in first overall, the sight of even the smallest chink in his armor was very gratifying to a group of sailors who had been competing for second for a very long time.

 The actual race in question featured some of the more exciting mark roundings of the day. Toni Too was first to the windward mark in the Gold Cup course, but Skip caught and passed at the jibe. At the leeward mark, however, the FBYC boat orchestrated a late takedown that swung them inside at the mark and gave them back the lead for good.

Sophie mentioned that she was sitting “very quietly” the entire last downwind leg for fear of jinxing something. The wind held though, and Skip was nice enough to call her father when she crossed the line, not an easy task considering that his downwind strategy involves him simultaneously steering, trimming main, and flying the chute.

Mike was home for the weekend making hay.  Skip told Mike that he expected Toni Too to take the chute down early like he did in order to get it safely in the boat by the mark.  But he was very surprised to see that Toni Too had waited until the very last minute, and had successfully and skillfully gathered the 300 sq. ft. chute (150% the size of a Flying Scot spinnaker) into the boat by the time they reached the mark.

Mike commented "One thing is for sure, they couldn't have done it with me."

Results are available at http://www.memberstatements.com/Clubs/NantucketYachtClub/Uploaded/FacilityPics/IOD%20World%20Championships/August%202.pdf