Briody Regatta

Irondequoit Bay, August 23-24, 2014. Report by John Dentinger

The 78th edition of the Briody Regatta, the Snipe Championship of Lake Ontario, was held August 16 & 17 at Newport YC, on Irondequoit Bay.

Thirteen boats sailed in gusty and shifty conditions, with Chris Hains of Oakville and crew Rachel Oktem of Guelph taking home the trophy. Saturday was overcast, with a southerly medium wind and a few higher gusts, but the good news was that there was no powerboat chop. Chris won the first two races, with Gord Richards (the defending champ) close behind.

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The gusty conditions did contribute to a broken side stay and a jib coming down–thank goodness for the “useless” forestay–but the races were well run by Saturday’s PRO, Landy Atkinson. Since the sailing on Irondequoit Bay is directly in front of the club, we were able to have two morning races, break for lunch, and then have two afternoon races. The third race went to Martin Bebb from Oklahoma, and the fourth to Gene Soltero from Dallas. The first day’s standings saw Chris in the lead, followed by Gene and Gord.

Saturday’s dinner at the club was catered by the local Rochester favorite, Dinosaur Barbecue, and featured entertainment by club member John Wiesenthal on guitar. Everybody sang along to “Drunken Sailor,” and especially “Okie From Muskogee,” with Martin in the lead. The juniors were also interested in table tennis, foosball, and of course the NYC ring toss–swinging a brass ring to a hook on the wall–which is a lot harder than it looks, but is definitely “serious fun.”

Sunday’s sailing was almost a carbon copy of Saturday’s conditions, except the wind had shifted 180 degrees. Martin took the first race, Chris the second, and John Dentinger the last one. The first five finishers traded places multiple times in the day’s races, making for “serious sailing.” Lunch was followed by awards, thanking our Sunday PRO Bill Topping, and saying goodbye to our friends from Canada and the southern US. Oh, and our race chairman, Norm Dahl, made a point to thank Fleet 103 and all of the Newport YC volunteers for hosting another great regatta. Special thanks, also, goes to Perky McDaniel for her great photos.

–submitted by John Dentinger