[Bristol, RI – August 30, 2024] The 2024 Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta presented by Bristol Marine began, as it has for several years, with a feeder race from Newport to Bristol followed by the Living Boat Show. Despite a poor prognosis for breeze, a nice westerly filled in at precisely 1300, and the fleet was off to Bristol. Though generally a rather casual affair, all of the teams pushed hard with GAMECOCK emerging as the winner.
The race was followed by the annual Living Boat Show with the Herreshoff docks and moorings festooned with some of the most beautiful and well-maintained classic yachts in the country. The S&S yawl BLACK WATCH and and the 12-Metre GLEAM were joined by two vintage Herreshoff designs, NEITH and GAMECOCK, while the mooring field featured several more beauties including four Herreshoff 15-footers. Local legends The Day Drinkers leaned into their catalog of classic rock covers, and the crowd of sailors and Bristol residents enjoyed a lovely evening on the Herreshoff waterfront.
Saturday morning presented glassy conditions, but the forecasted sea breeze filled in allowing PRO Peter Gerard to send the big boats in Class 1 off right on time followed by the rest of the fleet. This race, as would the rest of the weekend, saw a tight battle at the top of the Vintage division between the iconic S&S design DORADE, the 99-year-old GAMECOCK, and BLACK WATCH with finish positions in that order followed by GLEAM, NEITH, the Rhodes designed KIRAWAN, and the S&S sloop COURAGEOUS.
The Classics division also saw a duel at the top between the two twelves NEFERTITI and AMERICAN EAGLE, with EAGLE taking the win. Third was Evan Ide’s STARLING followed by the Hinckley design BRIGADOON, the Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 25 LILITH, and the L. Francis Herreshoff Rosinante TERN. The Modern Classics division was won by the 12-Metre Courageous followed by the Sid Herreshoff design ARION and three Herreshoff replicas, WOODWINDS, HOPE, and IOLANTHE. The tiny Camden Class Knockabout PONYO won the Spirit of Tradition race over VAN KI PASS followed by three Bermuda 40s, ELIXIR, FROLIC, and ELLA LEE.
Over on the one-design racetrack, the S Class fleet was won by OSPREY followed by FIREFLY, AQUILA, and PAPOOSE, while the finish order in the 15-foot class was MURMUR, PEACOCK, VIKING, and NIBBET.
The Race Committee sent the fleet on a tour of the north bay for Race 2 with the bigger boats exploring Mount Hope Bay with the finish at the HMM flagpole. Great racing again ensued with some position changes vs. Race 1 which led to some great battles for the overall titles. After the dust settled and the scores were calculated, the top three in each division were as follows:
Vintage: GAMECOCK (3 pts.), DORADE (4 pts.), BLACK WATCH (5 pts.)
Classic: AMERICAN EAGLE (4 pts.), NEFERTITI (4 pts.), BRIGADOON (5 pts.)
Modern Classic: COURAGEOUS (2 pts.), WOODWINDS (5 pts.), ARION (5 pts.)
Spirit of Tradition: VAN KI PASS (3 pts.), ELIXIR (6 pts.), PONYO (7 pts.)
S Class: AQUILA (4 pts.), OSPREY (4 pts.), FIREFLY (4 pts.)
15-Foot Class: MURMUR (2 pts.), VIKING (5 pts.), PEACOCK (7 pts.)
Readers will note that there were several ties which needed to be broken which a testament to the competitiveness of the racing. The S Class in particular saw a three-way tie for first! Awards for the day’s racing were presented at Saturday night’s regatta dinner which featured a feast created by Keane’s Wood-Fired Catering and some creative rum cocktails courtesy of Rumson’s Rum.
Sunday once again dawned with zero wind, but once again, the forecast was spot on and the wind filled in as predicted a noon. Peter Gerard sent the fleet off on a six-mile lap around Hog Island followed by the traditional race back to Newport. The race around Hog Island included an unfortunate collision between the two 12-Metres COURAGEOUS and AMERICAN EAGLE which resulted in damage to the latter. On the plus side, no one was injured, and both boats will be sailing again soon.
With five races run over three days, the 2024 edition of the Herreshoff Classics delivered a lot of sailing for the 31 teams in attendance as well as two fantastic gatherings on the Herreshoff Museum waterfront. Results for all of the races as well as a selection of photos of the racing can be found at https://herreshoff.org/events/regatta/.