Despite Tornado Threat, Sailors Do 10 Races at Manhasset Bay YC Blue Jay/Pixel Regatta

Text and photos by Jack Belisle, Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club

Pixel sailors go back and forth along the starting line Monday morning.

“There might be a tornado!” were the words being passed around by junior sailors in the Manhasset tent last Thursday morning. Evidently, they had read the weather reports saying that storms strong enough to produce tornados were heading into their area. After a rather rushed and worried skippers’ meeting, the sailors were told to be prepared to move inside if any storm conditions occurred.

None of that happened and about an hour after the meeting all the boats were out on the water, ready for the day’s races. Before harbor start, I asked the head of the race committee, Lynne Stebbins, why kids keep coming back to this regatta every summer. She explained that if the sailors are having a good time at the regatta, they tend to return the following year. She also commented that “having fun” is different for everyone.

“For some kids, who are extremely competitive, it means winning, coming in the top of their fleet or qualifying for champs. For others, it’s just being out on the water with their friends or having a great time getting around the race course.” The junior sailors I interviewed had similar responses, expressing that they were looking forward to the high winds and competition, but also that they were excited to be sailing amongst their friends and other youth sailors.

Skipper and crew awards for the top 4 boats are displayed before the awards ceremony.

With no storms in the forecast for Friday, harbor start was sounded at 9:30am and by 10:15, the first race had begun. 6 races later, the day was done, with a total of 10 races completed in 2 days. Sailors generally seemed proud of their performance and claimed to be looking forward to competing in other regattas. After the awards ceremony, I caught up with the first place team of Austen Freda and Andy Rochat. They said that although they had a tough season, hard work, practice, and encouragement from family members and friends had helped them get to this point of winning a regatta and qualifying for Pixel champs.

Full results are avaliable on the JSA website (JsaLis.org) on the regatta documents page.  Photos from this regatta are avaliable for day 1 (Thursday) and day 2 (Friday).

Jack is a contributing reporter for JibeTalk, but he also makes videos.  To see video coverage of this event by Jack, check out this video on YouTube.