The 2007 Boon Island Race was one for the books! For a change, bright sunshine and a WNW wind of 10-12 knots welcomed the ten boats that showed up for the start of the race at 10:40 am.
Once again, Captain Bob Scribner manned the Committee Starting Boat aboard Clair Ann. The start was nearly flawless, except for some last minute confusion over whether the bell buoy should be left to port or starboard. We’ll do better next year.
Unfortunately, shortly after the starting gun, the wind died off to 5-8 knots and out came the spinnakers. Part of the fleet headed closer to shore in search of more wind while the rest headed farther out to sea. Those closer in seemed to fare the best.
About an hour later the wind came back out of the WSW at 12-15 knots. The rest of the ride to Boon Island made for good sailing.
Early on it was clear that Fera, Irish Mist and Shadow likely were going to be in contention for the top spots since they reached Boon Island far in front of the rest of the fleet.
Rounding Boon Island, once again the wind dropped off to little more than 6-8 knots. However, as the boats came abreast of Ogunquit, the wind came on strong out of the WNW, with sustained winds of 15 knots and gusts in excess of 20 knots. This made for a very exciting run back to the bell buoy off the Kennebunk River. Dawn Patrol seemed to find the best of the winds and roared toward the finish line.
The corrected finish times were as follows:
1st
Fera
Rob Benson-AYC
4 hrs 15.5 min
2nd
Shadow
Bob Steeves
4 hrs 17.9 min
3rd
Dawn Patrol
Peter Hatch-AYC
4 hrs 40.25 min
4th
Irish Mist
Fred White
4 hrs 48.77 min
5th
Blu
Jack Somers-AYC
4 hrs 54.73 min
6th
Raven
Dave James-AYC
5 hrs 7.93 min
7th
Harmony
Neil Ross-AYC
5 hrs 10.1 min
8th
Saoirse
Dana James
5 hrs 11.97 min
9th
Kanaloa
Mark Tuller-AYC
5 hrs 29.05 min
Alchemy, skippered by Scott Woodward-AYC, had to drop out before finishing the race due to late afternoon travel plans.
This turned out to be one of the best Boon Island Races in recent memory.
Scribner manned the Committee Starting Boat aboard Clair Ann. The start was nearly flawless, except for some last minute confusion over whether the bell buoy should be left to port or starboard. We’ll do better next year.
Rounding Boon Island, once again the wind dropped off to little more than 6-8 knots. However, as the boats came abreast of Ogunquit, the wind came on strong out of the WNW, with sustained winds of 15 knots and gusts in excess of 20 knots. This made for a very exciting run back to the bell buoy off the Kennebunk River. Dawn Patrol seemed to find the best of the winds and roared toward the finish line.