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.

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

Hello Sea Sprite Sailors!

On a super nice day today, Bob Rude and I are excited to send you the sign up link for the fun sail/race around Hog Island to be held on Saturday, September 9th.

This year we are lucky to have BYC provide a starting boat and the sign up can easily be done via the attached link. Please note, there is no cost associated to sign up, just make sure you are a member of the Sea Sprite association. There is only less than one week to go for the fun race around Hog Island.

Please take a moment to sign up via the link here.

Sea Sprite Around Hog Island Racetheclubspot.com

On this link, you will also see the SI’s and NOR’s and who has signed up thus far.

We have had a fantastic sailing season with all the Sea Sprites this far and this will be another super fun event. Rumor has it we may be in for a special, very special food treat after the race, possibly bringing back some former tradition from previous Hog Island races!!!

Please let me or Bob Rude know if you have any questions.

Looking forward seeing you out on the water and at the gathering at the BYC after the sailing. Everyone is welcome, skippers, crew, family and friends.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Dom & Bob