Safe Harbor Race Weekend 2022 – Overall, Amazing

NEWPORT, RI (August 16, 2022) – The second annual Safe Harbor Race Weekend, held August 12-14 for 62 teams in 11 classes, did not disappoint in the competition department, and ashore, the regatta’s fun meter seemed always to be pegged at max, whether at official social functions or dockside minglings at the three host venues: Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard, Safe Harbor New England Boatworks, and Safe Harbor Jamestown Boatyard.

How it Played Out – Division 1

“It all came down to the last race,” said Doug Newhouse (Newport, RI), owner/skipper of Yonder, which topped a fiercely competitive 11-boat IC37 class and won overall honors for Division 1 (comprised additionally of one class for ORC, four for PHRF, and three for PHRF Performance Cruising). After sailing three races on Saturday and the first of two races on Sunday, Newhouse found his team tied with eventual second-place finisher and current IC37 National Champion New Wave, skippered by Jeff Liebel (Tampa, FL). “In that last race, my tactician Jeremy Wilmot (Newport, RI) said, ‘You need to hit the starting line at seven knots.’ When we crossed, I looked up and we were going 7.8 knots to take the lead off the line.” Yonder finished third in that race to New Wave’s eighth, enough to give the team a winning margin of five points in overall scoring. “The competition level was very high, really the best boats around,” said Newhouse.

(Clockwise from upper left) Superyacht Bequia, overall winner in Division 2, Bequia with Delta House on Rhode Island Sound, action aboard the IC37 Yonder, overall winner in Division 1, aerial of the IC37 fleet. Photo Credit Safe Harbor/Onne van der Wal for photos 1,2, and 4; Safe Harbor/Stephen Cloutier for photo 3.

Predicting frustratingly light air on Friday, the Race Committee wisely moved up the racing by one hour from a scheduled noon start; however, the planned windward/leeward buoy racing for the IC37s had to be cancelled completely while an Around Prudence Island race that started for all other Division 1 classes had to be shortened to two-thirds of its original length. Division 1 sailed their regatta on Narragansett Bay, while Division 2, comprised of two classes for Superyachts, sailed theirs “outside” – just beyond the Bay’s entrance on Rhode Island Sound. In a more solid breeze there, the Superyachts completed a 15-mile navigator’s race on Friday, just fine.

“My viewpoint is that with talent, energy, mental processing and competitive desire, you will always come out on top,” said Newhouse. His comment, reflecting admiration for his Yonder team, might just as well have applied to the Race Committee’s doggedness in making sure the IC37s and other classes got their fair share of the racing pie.

For Saturday, the Race Committee moved up racing by two hours, allowing all classes to benefit from a brisk northerly that delivered 14-15 knots for racing in the morning before slowly tapering off by early afternoon. Sunday, the schedule reverted back to the noon start to take advantage of a seasonally more typical afternoon sea breeze (from the southwest). — Barby MacGowan, Media Pro Newport

Results