The Babylon Yacht Club held their Annual Louis Orr Invitational Race on Sunday, Oct 4th. Eight boats participated in some challenging conditions. Sails were reefed with East winds of 15-20 kts and 25 kt gusts- perfect for some "lively" competitive racing!
Race Committee was Ed Anderson, Kim Carolselli- BYC Regatta Chair and Liz. Babylon Course 6 (#9, #1, finish) was picked and it took the fleet 5-6 tacks into the gusty wind & short bay chop to get through the bridge. Word has it that Rettsie's mast antenna bounced across the bridge bottom as they pushed to get through! The gusts kept everyone on their toes as the spray flew. As the fleet rounded the upwind #1 mark in Bayshore and shook out their reefs, the wind clocked to the ESE. The downwind run to the finish at the BYC dock required constant wing on wing/port tack changes in the shifty winds.
First to finish/line honors went to Kevin Padden & team Rettsie followed by Jack Morgan in Mystic and Will Reichel in Naughty Dog followed by the rest of the fleet.
The Final Handicap Adjusted Race Results:
1st place: Naughty Dog- Will Reichel
2nd place: Rettsie- K. Padden
3rd place: Mystic- J. Morgan
4th - Pandemonium- G Sebouhian
5th- Whitcap- J Holst
6th- Kickin' Back- M O'Connell
7th- Mirage II- G Schneller
8th- Galatea- A Mirchel
Congrats to team Naughty Dog for their 1st place win. The awards party at the BYC clubhouse was well attended with plenty of food and good-natured "discussions" between the competitors. The results were close and rumor had it that the "Dog" beat Rettsie by only one second! But the final adjusted results showed a clear 44 second win on corrected time- whew.
Thanks to Eddie, Kim & Liz for doing RC and battling the wind & waves to set up the start line, no easy feat!
So the BYC ended their racing season on a high note. The SBCC racing season concluded with the SBCC/BSYC Discoverers Race this past Saturday, Oct 10th. Stay tuned for our race report & results.
Enjoy the rest of the 2026 sailing season.
Charlie Margeson
SBCC Regatta Captain
