Messenger Cup Biff Martin won the hotly competitive Vintage Marblehead fleet which meant he also won the Messenger Cup for the 3rd straight year. The old Marblehead Messenger weekly paper donated the perpetual “Messenger Cup” for the inaugural regatta in the mid 1930s. Marblehead Class boats of that time were “free-sail” boats before the age of radio control began ~1970. These early boat designs, now called Vintage Marbleheads, have been brought out of attics and equipped with radio control to continue their life as model race boats. Chuck Winder - Photo

RACE RESULTS
Vintage M Fleet

    Twelve Vintage M boats raced 11 races in the windy conditions. Biff Martin won by only 6 points over the master Stan Goodwin. Fred Goebel’s Star 45 is shown in 3rd against the much larger VMs. He skillfully got the most out of his smaller well prepared boat. (Fred dismasted his beautiful boat during a moment of inattention before the 10th race.) A few unavoidable collisions were caused by sudden puffs that overpowered the boats. A few boats were dismasted in the strong conditions from collisions or simply strong puffs.
    As Pete Peterson carried his boat to the start line a mast shroud was broken when entangled in overhead tree branches. A jury rig didn’t last the first race. At least he had a good day of racing at the Bithell cup on Saturday.
    VM regular Ned Lakeman, who has always raced the Chowder Race, was recovering from eye surgery. Alain Jouse, another Chowder regular, appeared at Redd’s but could not race because of illness. Next year...

Vintage Marblehead (and one Star 45) – 11 races

Place	Name	Home	Sail #	Points	Comments
1	Biff Martin	Essex, MA	6	27	He liked the heavy air
2	Stan Goodwin	Marblehead, MA	2281	33	The A Rig was too much in the morning
3	Fred Goebel	Newtown, CT	556	44	Sailed his Star 45 successfully against the larger VMs
3	Jim Linville	Hull, MA	96	45	A solid 3rd place
4	John Snow	Marblehead, MA	34	52	Missed 4 races! Still did well.
5	John Whalen	Lunenburg, MA	948	65	Dropped his Spektrum Tx in pond! Missed 3 races.
6	Andy Abrahamson	Plaistow, NH	91	67	His boats are beautiful
7	Paul Boulay	Salem, MA	104	78	Paul’s first big regatta in strong winds.
8	Thom McLaughlin	Blue Hill, ME	317	87	Two of 11 races were dnf
9	Rick Laird	Ipswich, MA	32		Raced only 6 races
10	Jerry Fernald	Cutler, ME	4		Raced only 3 races
11	Bruce Richter	New York, NY	470		Raced only one race
12	Pete Peterson	Portland, ME	126		Dismasted in first race

Modern Marblehead Class

These two high performance boats raced with the 12 VMs and the Star 45. There were a few interesting interactions (read collisions) during the Over-40 races as gusts rendered some boats uncontrollable. It is hard to understand why the nasty puffs so often hit during crowded mark roundings.

Place	Name	Home	Points	Comments
1	Steve Cruse	Marblehead, MA	10	His 8 firsts in 11 races showed a certain dominance.
2	Marcel Nyffenegger	Marblehead, MA	15	With more practice…

UNDER-40 RACE RESULTS

Eighteen boats had a great day of racing. The CR 914s started first with the other under-40 boats starting as one fleet when the CR 914s were clear of the start line.

TO WINDWARD, FAST - Alan Kew sails his new CR 914 to windward

CR 914 – 11 races

Steve Cruse dominated the 15 boats with 9 firsts in 11 races! Paul Zimmerman, 2nd with 29 points, was happy in the strong gusty winds. Marcel Nyffenegger was a solid 3rd despite little racing practice this season.

Steve Cruse sneaks to the mark by going under water!

CR 914 Race Results

Place	SKIPPER	Home	SAIL NO.	Points	Firsts	Comments
1	Steve Cruse	Marblehead, MA	23	9	9!	JEEZ!!
2	Paul Zimmerman	Marblehead, MA	1444	29		He likes strong wind
3	Marcel Nyffenegger	Marblehead, MA	33	35		Did well with little practice this season
4	Alan Kew	Cape Porpoise, ME	1370	40		He’s learning to sail his CR 914
5	Biff Martin	Essex, MA	1211	48	1	Wet boat electronics is slow
6	Ric Dexter	Swampscott, MA	1445	54	1	Ric usually gets a first
7	Kevin Hartley	Arnoldsville, GA	1136	54		He’s getting the hang of it
8	Doug Trees	Hamilton, MA	1483	54		Liked the strong wind
9	Bly Hartley	Arnoldsville, GA	1465	76		Her new boat finished every race
10	Tom Skinner	Wenham, MA	551	79		Missed 2 races
11	Mike Walsh	Amherst, MA	112	121		His first regatta
12	Paul Boulay	Salem, MA	1502			Four races, wet boat electronics
13	Al Fearn	Shrewsbury, MA	910			Sailed only 4 races
14	Matt Parillo	Brighton, MA	317			Sailed only 3 races
15	Stuart Feinberg	Swampscott, MA	425			Sailed one race!

Other Under-40 Fleet

Seven boats raced as one fleet. They are scored together even though there were three classes. There were 5 One-Meters, a Soling 1 Meter and a Seawind. As expected the higher performance One-Meters dominated. Pat Butterworth and Bob Harmon were closely matched. John Whalen sailed fast until the neck strap disconnected and dropped the Tx in the pond. He missed the last two races.

Place	SKIPPER	Class	Home	Sail #	Points	Firsts	Comments
1	Colin Mosgrove	USOM	Needham, MA	201	14	5	A young challenger
2	John Whalen	USOM	Lunenburg, MA	38	18	5	See Paul Elvstrom’s observation above J
3	Fred Goebel	USOM	Newtown, CT	11	24	1
4	Herb Dreher	USOM	Natick, MA	31	31
5	Pat Butterworth	S1M	Wellesley, MA	319	36
6	Bob Harmon	Seawind	?	000	39

Pat Butterworth and Herb Dreher found that it was slow to pair up while racing.

Redd’s Pond

This year Redd’s water level was at the design level so the deep draft Modern M Boats were able to race. (Last year Redd’s water level was 14 inches below normal.) Redd’s was weed free though some microscopic algae clouded the water.

SUMMARY

Marblehead Model YC thanks all our guests for joining us again for good fun at Redd’s. We want you all to return next year and bring others to enjoy the socializing, interesting racing and the great chowder lunch. The only thing to make the regatta better would have been more people and their boats.

Pat Butterworth, #319, is pursued by One-Meters