Tuesday, August 04, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The 2009 International One-Design North American
Invitational Regatta was concluded Saturday, August 1st in Northeast
Harbor. 12 boats were sailed by crews from seven fleets,
representing Bermuda, San Francisco, Nantucket, Fishers Island, Marblehead, Chester
(Nova Scotia), and Northeast Harbor. As is traditional with the
International One-Design Class, the boats were provided by the local fleet and
sailed in rotation to ensure fairness.
The winning boat, skippered by John A. Pulvermann,
represented the Chester, Nova Scotia, IOD fleet; Chester is the newest fleet in
the class, having been officially recognized only this past year. It was
somehow appropriate that Pulvermann started sailing as a teenager in MDI
waters, where he was a winning skipper for many years. “This for me
is a homecoming of sorts, after a 30-year absence from these waters” he
said when receiving his prize.
Northeast Harbor crews placed took second and third places,
skippered by Bill Dowling and Wells Bacon, Jr. Bacon was the youngest
skipper in the regatta.
Uncertain weather in the first two days did not deter the
Race Committee from completing the five-race series with a glorious sunny day
of sailing on Saturday. All competitors commented on how much they enjoy
sailing in the Great Harbor of Mount Desert. Class Captain David Schoeder
was commended by everyone for running a superb event.
The regatta was fortunate in that, other than a few
protests, there were no significant mishaps, excepting perhaps the fact that
one of the patrol boats which keep the competitors away from our rocky shores
ended up on a patch of rocky shore herself, and some biodegradable napkins
(this was billed as a “clean” regatta) caught fire during the
closing day barbeque.
In the course of the cocktail and dinner held at the elegant
Bar Harbor Club to celebrate the 2009 International One-Design North American Invitational
Regatta, two prominent sailors were honored. David Rockefeller, Jr.,
former Northeast Harbor IOD Class Captain singled out IOD sailors Richard W.
Homer and Harry R. Madeira as having contributed significantly to the class
over the course of many years.
Homer, a former IOD class officer and Race Chairman for the
2009 North American Invitational, was credited for many years of service as
Technical Officer to the class, both on a world-wide and a local basis. Madeira,
a former Commodore of the Northeast Harbor Fleet, started sailing and racing
IODs in the 1940s, still owns one of the original 1937 boats and continues to
be of active assistance to the class. Madeira regaled the assembled
sailors with a classic Down East story as a way of thanking them for their
enthusiasm.
Northeast Harbor will be hosting the IOD World Championships
next summer, an event which will bring as many as 20 crews from fleets
world-wide to our waters for yet more exciting and beautiful sailing.
Northeast Harbor International One-Design Fleet
2009 NORTH AMERICAN INVITATIONAL REGATTA
Final Results
Fleet
Skipper
Points Finish
Chester, NS
John A.
Pulvermann
15
1
Northeast Harbor 2
William
Dowling
21
2
Northeast Harbor 1
Wells Bacon,
Jr.
22
3
San Francisco
Paul
Manning
26
4
Marblehead
2
Greg
Mancusi-Ungaro
28
5
Bermuda
2
B. W. “Jordy” Walker
31
6
Fishers Island
1 Brad
Burnham
35
7
Northeast Harbor 3
Vernon
Gray
38
8
Fishers Island
2 Dan
Faria
41
9
Marblehead
1
Lori
Bate
44
10
Bermuda
1
Patrick
Cooper
46
11
Nantucket
Burges
Green
46
12