We held the Annual SBCC West Island Invitational race this past Saturday, August 2nd. We had beautiful weather, a 5-10 kt ENE wind for most of the race and 9 boats participated. The race lasted about 3 hours this year and the flood tide and shifting winds made for some real challenges.
There were 8 non-spin boats and one multihull. Pandemonium, Halve Maen & Rettsie led the fleet at the start. Mystic also started well and sailed to 2nd place by the first mark where the decision- East or West- had to be made by all. The fleet watched Pandemonium & Mystic go east and Halve Maen and Rettsie held the west course to Crazy Charlie. In the end, we had 5 boats go west and 4 boats head east. The race was on!
The winds increased to 10 kts but remained light for the race with some tough shifts around Atlantique. At the #24 buoy (the race mid-point), the west racers were about 8 minutes ahead of the east fleet. The wind held fairly steady up north by Nichols point for the west fleets final leg but the winds continued to be light & challenging down south by Atlantique for the east racers. By the finish it was clear the right choice this year was west course, with about 30 minutes between the two groups final finish times. Halve Maen was first over the line for line honors followed by Rettsie and Shadow.
The West Island Final Adjusted Race Results:
Non-Spin:
1st- Halve Maen- van Stipriaan
2nd- Shadow- Margeson
3rd - Naughty Dog- Reichel
4th- Rettsie- Padden
5th- Kickin Back- O'Connell
6th- Pandemonium- Sebouhian
7th- Mystic- Morgan
8th- Derailed- Marko
Multihull:
Getting There- Sneddon
Deale Trophy: Halve Maen- Walther & crew
My thanks to John Holst & crew for their very professional Race Committe duty and to Rich LaBella who joined John to take pictures of the race. You can find Rich's pictures on his website (see Rich LaBella's e-mail) or see our FB page for his posted pictures!
Congratulations to team Halve Maen for their 1st place finish & for winning the 2025 Deale Trophy. It looks like Walther is having a great year so far!
Charlie Margeson
SBCC Regatta Captain
