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August 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. 2015 Friendship Sloop Races at Rockland By Laurie Fullerton


ROCKLAND – This past July 16-18 marked the 135th


as well as the 55th


anniversary of the Friendship Sloop anniversary of the Friend-


ship Sloop homecoming days in Rockland, Maine which not only honors the vessels’ origins but also the long standing friendly competition amongst the boat owners and members of the Friendship Sloop Society. During the three-day event, an offi - cial proclamation by U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D) highlighted three days of racing, a Friendship Sloop parade and a celebration in Rockland at the Sail, Steam and Power Museum. The congresswoman also addressed the House of Representatives on Thursday, June 25th 135th


in recognition of the anniversary of the Friendship Sloop –


the offi cial boat of Maine - and 55-years of racing.


“Since 1961, the Friendship Sloop Society has hosted an annual regatta and connected a community of people who sail, rebuild and appreciate these boats,” Ms. Pingree told Congress. “Friendship Sloops still ply the waters, their design largely un- changed for the past 135 years. Some things just cannot be improved upon. “ The Friendship Sloop homecoming days began in 1961 in Friendship, Maine and over the decades has seen up to three generations or more continue sailing and racing Friendship sloops.


Over the course of the three days, fam- ily members, siblings and lifelong friends were out on the racecourse. Generations of experience offered the uninitiated a true taste of how to really sail these heavy boats at a perfect angle to win.


The beautifully restored “Tannis”, owned by the Cronin family of Charlton, Mass., was the overall winner of the State of Maine trophy for the larger vessels. “Tannis” featured up to fi ve adult siblings on board, including Bill and Jeff Cronin of Massachusetts who have been sailing on “Tannis” since before they could walk. Second place overall was Tad Beck of Vinalhaven who has been racing against the Cronin brothers since they were boys. “What is uncanny about this kind of an event is that we are not only continuing a tradition but we are able to rekindle and maintain friendships that have lasted gen- erations. I don’t know how many people keep in touch with the friends they have known since birth, but coming back each year to the Friendship sloop Society events is something that after every passing year becomes more important to me.” Although socializing and getting caught up is part of the attraction of sloop racing, the race committee also sets up a highly competitive and fair course that tries to make the racing equal for each sized boat. It is a twice around course where competi- tors must reach a specifi c gate in “handicap alley” that means racers can sail it out on a level playing fi eld. The key point is that these vessels can handle a heavy breeze and while kids, dogs, and non-sailors are encouraged to pile on board as well, the racing is still intense. “We have all known each other since before we can remember,” said Beck. “Our parents sailed against each other and we have all sailed against each other since we were children. As such, we are probably


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more competitive with each other then our fathers were. When you are out there racing against people you knew as children, you make a mistake and your friends still tease you back at the dock.”


There is also a sense of pride in not only introducing the next generation to Friendship Sloop sailing, but many, like the Cronin family do all of the restoration and maintenance work on “Tannis” themselves and by trade are master carpenters and ship- wrights. The family owns Cronin Cabinets of Charlton, Mass. “There is a real Yankee sense of ethics


in the fl eet where people who work on their own boats get way more respect than people who have to pay for them to be worked on,”


noted Beck.


Many of the sloop owners today who do use a boat yard will with known shipwrights like Richard Stanley who has also sailed on Friendships Sloops his entire life; fi rst with his father Ralph Stanley and then on his own. Stanley also grew up with Beck, the Cronin brothers, and Harold and Ted Burnham of Essex to name a few.


“What is very rare is that we have main- tained these friendships for as long as we do,” Beck noted. “The boats have facilitated the lengths of these friendships and we have a lot of respect for these traditions. We race but we all share a love of sailing that trumps the competitive part of it.”


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