September 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. SONNY Wins Ames Cup at Castine Classic Regatta
CASTINE - In the sixteenth annual Castine Classic Yacht Regatta, Sonny, a 53’ Spark- man & Stephens sloop built in 1935, sailed by Joseph Dockery, led a fl eet of 35 classic yachts to win the coveted Ames Cup. The Ames Cup honors the memory of Richard Glover Ames and Henry Russell Ames who were lost at sea on June 9th
, 1935 south of
the Grand Banks in an unsuccessful effort to save their father, who was washed overboard during the Newport to Bergen, Norway yacht race. The Ames family hailed from Castine.
This year’s Castine Classic Regatta cel- ebrated schooners. The Castine Yacht Club, in cooperation with Mystic Seaport and the American Schooner Association, sponsored an exhibition of signifi cant schooners at the Town Dock, as well as a symposium at the MMA. A large group of visitors were treated to an exhibition of historic schooners, including the 88’ Bowdoin, built in 1921 to explore the Arctic, now owned by MMA; the 61’ Brilliant, built in 1932, designed by Olin Stephens and gifted to Mystic Seaport which has introduced generations of young people to sailing at sea; 42’ Malabar II, designed and originally owned by John Alden in 1922; and three recently built schooners designed by Nat Benjamin and built at the yard of Gannon & Benjamin in Martha’s Vine- yard: 60’ Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, 65’ Juno and 50’ Charlotte. “These schooners represent the best of the breed, developed over centuries,” commented David Bicks, Chairman of the event,
The symposium, chaired by Dana Hewson, senior curator at Mystic, included
presentations by Nat Benjamin, designer and builder at Gannon & Benjamin; Andy Chase of the MMA, former captain of the Bowdoin; Nicholas Alley of Mystic Sea- port, Captain of Brilliant; Harold Burnham, master shipwright, part of a Massachusetts boatbuilding tradition dating back to the 1630s; Kip Files, owner and captain of the three-masted windjammer Victory Chimes, originally built in 1900 to haul lumber and freight; and Sam Chamberlain, designer and project manager at Rockport Marine, which recently restored 1924 William Fife designed schooner Adventuress, and 1940 Concordia schooner Mya. The discussions ranged from the history and signifi cance of these boats, the backbone of world com- merce in their time, to the need to not only build replicas for the future but to restore and maintain these original gems. The Castine event kicked off three days of classic boat racing, culminating in the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. The 19.6 mile race from Castine to Camden, sponsored by the Castine Yacht Club, was sailed in gen- erally fair conditions and light winds with occasional fog. The boats beat down East Penobscot Bay, rounded Robinson Rock off the southern end of Islesboro, and fi nished under spinnaker off Curtis Island at Camden. In the Classic A Class, Sonny was fol-
lowed by Spartan, a 72’ Herreshoff NY 50 built in 1912 and skippered by Victor Paul. Black Watch, a 67’ Sparkman & Stephens yawl built in 1958 and sailed by John Mel- vin, last year’s winner, took third place. The Class A Class included a highly competitive match race among three Sparkman & Ste- phens NY 32s built in 1936. Falcon, sailed
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Photo of Ames Cup winner, Sonny, rounding Robinson Rock (courtesy of Kathy Mansfi eld)
by Bob Scott of Castine, won by about two minutes over Isla, sailed by Henry May and Gentian, sailed by Richard Armstrong, which fi nished just two seconds apart. In the Classic B Class, Leaf, a 38’ Luders 24, built in 1946 and sailed by Chris Bouzaid, bested Rogue, a 37’ Herreshoff/ Newport 29 sloop built in 1953, sailed by Savill Simonds. Thora, a Little Harbor 36 built in 1960, skippered by Vince Todd, followed in third place. In the Spirit of Tradition Class, Isobel,
a 68’ sloop designed by Stephens-Waring and built in 2011, sailed by Richard Schotte, claimed fi rst place honors. Lynette, a Ste- vens-Taylor 48’ sloop, also built by Brooklin Boatyard in 2013, skippered by Michael Cook, took second, followed by Vortex, a
52’ Reimers design built in 1990, sailed by Steve White.
In the Schooner Class, the 1921 schoo-
ner Brilliant skippered by Nicholas Alley led, followed by 65’ Juno, built in 2003 and sailed by Scott DiBiaso. Rebecca of Vine- yard Haven, a 75’ Gammon & Benjamin schooner built in 2001, owned and sailed by Jesse Smith, took third place. At the awards ceremony at the Wood- en Boat School in Brooklin, following the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, Bicks present- ed the Ames Cup and the Sparkman & Ste- phens trophy to Joseph Dockery of Sonny. The Phalarope Trophy, awarded to the top Concordia yacht in memory of Thomas G. Ashton of Castine, was presented to Robert Keefer of Otter.
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