Mr. Hog Wins Again

THE RACE AROUND HOG:  THE SEA SPRITE CLASS FINALE

Bright blue sunny skies, a perfect 8 knot sea breeze and 9 competitive Sea Sprites lined up on Saturday, September 9 to finish off a successful season of top-notch one-design racing.

The Race Committee of Tim Sandiford and Kayla Kowal set up a perfect starting line and gave us a clockwise course around Hog Island.  A maximum flooding tide paid dividends for teams astute enough play the eddies off Hog Island and the Portsmouth shore.  As one tactician described the race after finishing, “It was a race decided by hitting one tack correctly.”  Amen to that analysis.  Everyone had to navigate a rushing wicked current heading northward between Hog Island Light and the Mt. Hope Bridge.

Halfway through the race, the top three positions changed several times.  Leading over to the southwest corner of Hog, was hotshot Bob Catani and crew.  Once they turned the corner, they were off to the races for the finish line. Their circumnavigation time was 1:04!   Pretty amazing for a 23 foot one-design!

  The order of finish with boat and skipper were:

  1. Bramasole – Bob Catani
  2. Hope – Emelia Moreno
  3. Oasis – Bob Rude
  4. New Hope – Dom Messerli
  5. Vexatious – Andrew McKeith
  6. Zara – Chuck Rosco
  7. Lullabelle – David Borton
  8. Seeker – Ian Cozzens
  9. Swallow – Jerry DeRahm

Below is the winning crew with the now famous winner’s perpetual one-of-a kind -trophy of Mr. Hog.

Following the race, skippers and crew were greeted on the BYC deck with free beer and pizza, courtesy of the Sea Spite Association.

There was the return of the famous Marino pulled pork sandwiches provided by the Marino family.

Karen, Lou, and Emilia Marino

Andrea Rounds took photos of the racing and of the post-race gathering at Bristol YC. Here is a link to Flickr and the photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAUdqo

The only cloud on the day was the fact that SS Commodore, Dom Messerli was unable to join the festivities due to a positive covid test a week earlier. Congratulations to Dom, however, for all his hard work promoting the class during the 2023 sailing season and his fourth-place finish.

Bob Rude

Oasis # 785