Bribery Fails!

PRO Frank Hearn signals the 30 mark before today's first race
(Photo by Bill Brangiforte)

Lucky 13 on the 14th.  Thirteen boats showed up in the increasingly chilly air for the second to last week of Barrington Frostbiting.  The venue was much more pleasant than the carnage that was racing last week, and Ken Charles took advantage, taking first place honors for the day.

Frank Hearn and his race committee got of the full slate of six races this week in gently 8-10 mph northeast winds, punctuated by a outgoing current that got stronger as the tide ebbed.  Bill Brangiforte showed up today with an injured wrist, so he served on the Race Committee and also wielded a camera to capture video of each start.  Apparently the curse of the camera continued, as several skippers were worried about how bad their starts looked, and enquired what it would take to ensure that they did not end up on YouTube.

Luckily, their entreaties fell on deaf ears.  The video of the world's most embarrassing starts is proudly presented below:



Don't forget, next week is the last week of Barrington Frostbiting before the long cold winter sets in and racing stops until March 1, when we take to the water for the spring Barrington frostbiting season.

For those of you Extremely hardy and hardcore racers, the Edgewood Sailing School across the Bay in Cranston, Rhode Island, runs their "Frozen Few" frostbiting series all winter long.  In fact, they are hosting their 5th annual "Up from the Ashes" regatta on January 18, so if you need  respite from Old Man Winter, pay them a visit.

Windy Wet, Wild and COLD!

Artist's rendering of the racing yesterday

Twelve brave souls ventured out onto the frosty Barrington River for 4 frostbite races yesterday, where the wind speed very nearly exceeded the temperature.  Temperatures were in the low 30's at race time, and the wind varied between 15 and 25 mph.

Today's report is made vicariously by gleaning tidbits from race results and various emails, as your intrepid reporter was too much of a weenie to actually show up at the race course, so there may be some errors.  Carnage appeared to be the order of the day, as several racers did not complete one or more races during the course of the afternoon.  Capsizes were more frequent than usual, and the race committee was reported to have performed yeoman service helping out several of the less experienced skippers.  Even Ken Charles ran into trouble in the last race.

Scott Greenbaum took 3 firsts and a third to win the day. Bill Brangiforte came in 2nd and Bill Shaw placed 3rd.

Racing continues next week. Early forecasts show that conditions should be warmer and less windy than this week.  Who knows, maybe your intrepid reporter may actually race too.