USNAs TP52 ‘Invictus holds on to individual Onion Patch lead

Lenny Sitar's 'Vamp' shows off in the New York Yacht Club Around-the-Island Race © Talbot Wilson

Onion Patch Series results are in for the two races of the 158th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and they don't look anything like the results for the overall regatta in Newport. Only the yachts entered in the whole series are included. The Onion Patch combines boats from all seven IRC classes that sailed in two different circles in Newport. See www.onionpatchseries.com.

Of the boats doing the whole series— racing in Newport, doing the Newport Bermuda Race and the Royal Bermuda YC Anniversary Regatta— the TP52 ‘Invictus' from the US Naval Academy leads the pack going into Friday's ocean race. The Bermuda leg is weighted 1.25 and is a critical factor in the final results.

‘Stark Raving Mad', Jim Madden's Swan 601 is in second place followed by Lawrence Dickie's Ker 43 ‘Ptarmigan'.

Among the three-boat teams racing for the Onion Patch Trophy the NYYC Blue team of ‘Stark Raving Mad', ‘Temptation-Oakcliff' and ‘Dorade' lead going into the Bermuda Race with 16 points. NYYC Red has 37 points led by Andrew Weiss's ‘Christopher Dragon,'Carina; skippered by Rives Potts, and Jim Bishop's ‘Gold Digger.' The USNA team which is third with 42 points includes ‘Invictus', ‘Defiance' (NA23) and ‘Swift'.

‘Vamp' Lenny Sitar of Holmdel NJ's J44 had a brilliant weekend in the New York Yacht Club 158th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex but is still 13th in the Onion Patch Series. "I just did what I was told by my tactician," Sitar said. " I had a great crew and they pointed the way to go and I just had to do my job driving the boat. We caught up with the Class 4 boats who started ahead of us, so we know we were doing well." Sitar and crew came first in class and first in the Blue Circle fleet.

‘Vamp' sailed in IRC Class 5 and on Sunday they sailed in the Blue Circle on the Rhode Island Sound. The White Circle went up Narragansett Bay looking for wind there while the bigger boats went outside.

Rives Potts, skipper of the McCurdy and Rhodes ‘Carina', tied with Sitar for the regatta and both had a first and a second for three points. The official results list ‘Vamp' in first and ‘Carina in second. Both ‘Vamp' and ‘Carina' are in the Onion Patch Series. Carina is in 11th place in the series.

On the White Course, ‘Christopher Dragon', Andrew Weiss's J122 is sixth in the Onion Patch Series. She was the top boat for the Annual Regatta in that circle. Matt Brooks' Classic S&S yawl ‘Dorade' was the second in the annual Regatta, but stands ninth in the series.

Dorade's helmsman and local knowledge expert Brad Read said they went left all day. "In ‘Dorade' we need to stay out of the middle of these crowded short courses," Read said. "It is too busy in there. We went off to the left and found good pressure and some nice lifts. We were pleased with our performance... taking second place after a fifth on Saturday."

Scoring

Each yacht's individual final score in each event of the Onion Patch Series will be determined by her finish position within the total Onion Patch fleet. The yacht's score for the Onion Patch Series will be the sum of the weighted points of all three events.

For races 1 and 2 of the Onion Patch Series (the first race of Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10, 2012 of the NYYC Annual Regatta), the scoring is based on a formula that converts the yacht's corrected time into a time on distance (i.e., seconds / mile) number and the competitors ranked in order of the fastest sec / mile to the slowest sec / mile. Points are awarded according to ranking, and these points are used in the compilation of the overall scores in the series.

Each individual yacht's scores for the events are weighted as follows: the finish position in the Newport Bermuda Race is multiplied by 1.25. The total points gained in the NYYC Annual Regatta are multiplied by 1.00 and the total points gained in the RBYC Anniversary Regatta are multiplied by 1.00.

The lowest score wins.

Team scores are the sum of each team yacht's individual qualifying scores. The lowest team score wins.

Racing for the Onion Patch Series includes the first race each day in the 158th NYYC Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, the Cruising Club of America-Royal Bermuda YC Newport Bermuda Race starting June 15th in Newport and finishing several days later in Bermuda and the Royal Bermuda YC Anniversary Regatta presented by the Butterfield Group on June 22nd.

The Onion Patch Series has 23 entries and the RBYC Anniversary Regatta has those 23 plus 6 more. Bermuda boats and those coming on the Newport Race may still enter the RBYC Anniversary Regatta.