Diamond Island Regatta supports Maritime Museum

The 11th Diamond Island Regatta, sponsored by the Diamond Island Yacht Club and Point Bay Marina to benefit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, attracted 30 boats to Town Farm Bay Aug. 12 for a race in a light but consistent breeze.

The regatta, the club’s signature sailboat race, took boats on a course of about 11 miles, from the start and finish line in Town Farm Bay, south to Diamond Island, north to Essex on the New York shore and back to the finish line.

The next day, 21 boats — a record turnout — sailed in the third annual Split Rock Race, in winds that varied from one minute to the next, and from one patch of water to the next. The Lake Champlain checkerboard — windy on the black squares, flat calm on the white squares — scrambled the fleet. When the course was shortened to about five and a half miles, finishing just off Basin Harbor Club in Ferrisburgh, all the boats, from the fastest to slowest, wound up crossing the finish line within just a few minutes of each other.

Boats came from all over the lake for the weekend of racing, with sailors from, among other places, the Diamond Island Yacht Club in Charlotte, the Lake Champlain Yacht Club in Shelburne, the Malletts Bay Boat Club in Colchester, and even from as far as Mooney Bay, north of Plattsburgh, N.Y. Both races are part of the Lake Champlain Championship Series, a season-long competition that determines annual bragging rights in five classes: three spinnaker classes and two jib-and-main classes.

The races are scored using the performance handicap racing fleet system, so boats with different speed potentials can compete against each other. Each boat’s elapsed time for the course is turned into a “corrected” time to determine the winners in each class.

The first boat to finish in the Diamond Island Regatta on Saturday was Kjell Dahlen’s Odinn, a J/111 from Lake Champlain Yacht Club, in 1:39:43.

Odinn also won the Spinnaker A division on corrected time. First place in the Spinnaker B class went to Lift Ticket, a J/92S sailed by Sam Pratt of the Mallett’s Bay club. Spinnaker C class was won again this year by Benedek Erdos of the host club, sailing his Santana 2320R, Lil’ Bot.

In the jib-and-main classes, Schuss, a J/30 sailed by Cameron Giezendanner of Lake Champlain captured the JaM A Class. In the JaM B Class, Morning Star — again, a Catalina 320 sailed by Stephen Unsworth, also of Lake Champlain — came out on top for the second straight year.

In Sunday’s Split Rock Race, the win in the Spinnaker A class went to Foxy Lady, a J/105 sailed by Jeff Hill of Lake Champlain. Lift Ticket and Pratt repeated their winning performance from Saturday, taking the Spinnaker B class.

Benedek Erdos and Lil’ Bot also doubled up by winning again on Sunday in the Spinnaker C class. In the Jib and Main classes, Fritz Martin, commodore of the host Diamond Island Yacht Club, won JaM A with Slingshot, a J/30. And Meridian, an O’Day 28 sailed by Julie Trottier of Malletts Bay Boat Club, prevailed in the JaM B class.

As is the case every year, perhaps the biggest winner was the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The money raised by the regular benefit events — a pre-race breakfast, lobster fest dinner, T-shirt sales and a raffle — are still being tallied, but all were on track for records.

During this waterlogged summer, it was a triumph of sorts that both races and the Saturday evening lobster fest and awards dinner — a sell-out attended by about 100 people — saw only a few brief showers. The post-race events on Saturday included live music by local artist Tom Van Sant, a talk about the history of vessels plying the waters of Lake Champlain by Chris Sabick of the museum a raffle to benefit the museum, awards, and the dinner, all under the Diamond Island Yacht Club at Point Bay Marina.

The Saturday and Sunday races were both overseen by race director Wendy Friant from the committee boat, Rosie, a Lord Nelson Tug owned and captained by Will Patten. Dozens of other club volunteers worked tirelessly on and off the water, to make all the weekend events possible. The Diamond Island Regatta was once again certified as a clean regatta by Sailors for the Sea. Initiatives taken included no single use plastics, providing a drinking water refill station for competitors and spectators, composting and recycling.

Find full regatta results at diamondislandyc.org.

Diamond Island Regatta, Aug. 12, 2023

Top finishers / finishes based on corrected time

Spinnaker A

1. Odinn, J/111, Kjell Dahlen, LCYC

2. Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay

3. Stratos, J/105, Tom Moody & Tris Coffin, LCYC

Spinnaker B

1. Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, MBBC

2. Rum Butter, C&C Redline 41, Ted Castle, DIYC

3. Enki, C&C 99, Cindy Turcotte, LCYC

Jib & Main A

1. Schuss, J/30, Cameron Giezendanner, MBBC

2. Hot Chocolate, J/9, Jim Lampman, DIYC

3. Slingshot, J/30, Fritz Martin, DIYC

Jib & Main B

1. Morning Star … Again, Catalina 320, Stephen Unsworth, LCYC

2. Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, MBBC

3. Bandolero, Nonsuch 26C, Pat Furr, DIYC

Split Rock Race, Aug. 13, 2023

Top finishers / finishes based on corrected time

Spinnaker A

1. Foxy Lady, J/105, Jeff Hill, LCYC

2. Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay

3. Stratos, J/105, Tom Moody & Tris Coffin, LCYC

Spinnaker B

1. Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, MBBC

2. Rum Butter, C&C Redline 41, Ted Castle, DIYC

3. Chicken Dinner, J/70, John Beal, DIYC

Jib & Main A

1. Slingshot, J/30, Fritz Martin, DIYC

2. Schuss, J/30, Cameron Giezendanner, MBBC

3. Honeymoon, Sabre 362, Jerry Henrichon, DIYC

Jib & Main B

1. Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, MBBC

2. Morning Star … Again, Catalina 320, Stephen Unsworth, LCYC

3. Wingdam, Tartan 34C, David Hill, DIYC