It all started just outside Newport Harbor close to Rose Island. A huge ocean liner was our backdrop. The sky was grey and the temperature chilly, in the 50's(ok, bloody cold to you southerners). Seven classes got underway with 10 minutes between each start. The wind was about 12-15 just before the Class #7, multihull start which consisted of 13 boats, including 5 Nacra 6.0na's with spins, 2 Nacra/Inter 20's (one with no jib and an 8-10 year old crew) 2 Hobie 16's (one with a spinnaker), 2 18 HT's, 1 F-40 and an F-31. The downwind start with spinnakers was a little hairy but we all made it. Flat water kept the group pretty close all the way to the north end of Jamestown Island where we dropped the chutes and headed off on a slow reach (wind dropped off). Barry and Patricia Moore led the way on the I-20. Close behind were Mark Murray and W.F. Oliver on the 18HT, then Brandy Wood and myself on the N6.0, Garrett Norton and Joe Hamwey on a Nacra 6.0, Tommy Gonzales on the F-40 (that's a scary sight having the Formula-40 tromping up your tail), Mike Ferrara and Roy Okuroswski on a N6.0, Chris Titcomb and Vicky on a N6.0,(possibly not all in that order). I don't know the rest of the standings after that but this is where the damage started. Sean Cavanaugh and his sister had a shroud let go on their Hobie 16 somewhere along the east side of Jamestown Island. Sean McQuilken and his teammate Andrew, (brother of the Cavanaugh's) stopped to assist. He fortunately borrowed a VHF radio from the other Hobie after he discovered his was out of commission. He needed it for his own rescue later on.

Somewhere in the general vicinity of the H-16 problem as best I can figure, Dave Fortier on a Nacra 6.0na pitchpoled with his spinnaker. He punched the spreader bracket into the sail track, crimping the mast and bending the rear spreader arm. He limped over to Quonset, RI and got his sails down and trailered home from there. The wind hadn't even nuked yet. It will soon enough!

As we all tacked toward the Jamestown Bridges against the tide, the wind lightened so that we were only trapping one person most of the time. The I-20 and N6.0 were neck and neck and pulling away from the 18HT until I made a few too many tacks to avoid monohulls. Barry Moore jumped out to another big lead and the HT closed up some. Monohulls were everywhere I turned and boy can they point. The F-40 was also right there in the fray.

Once under the bridge the wind started to build quickly. Up to 16-18 and life was great. Waves were still fairly small. Halfway along Dutch Island all hell broke loose. The wind hit like a ton of bricks. It shot up to 25 with higher gusts and the waves immediately increased to 4-6'. I don't know how the waves built so fast. The F-40 revels in this stuff and started to motor away. The 18HT was handling it fairly well until the waves got even bigger as we headed farther down the bay. Barry Moore and I limped along, pinching and pinching (I know I'll need a new jib). I went in under the lee of a point so we could tack. We were so close to the rocks I was sure we would hit something. We made another tack and then continued to pinch and pinch and pinch to make the mark. We were lifting off waves and getting blown sideways similar to a board sailor who is getting air. Brandy was straddling the forward beam and I was as far forward as possible so we wouldn't go over backwards. All this time I'm thinking, we have to turn downwind pretty soon. Oh darn!

About this time we noticed the F-40 was no longer anywhere in site. We later learned that the top of their sail let go and they dropped the main and headed downwind. The boys on the H-16 started seeing boats headed in the wrong direction with sails down, a top of a mast broken, etc., and now they're realizing they're in a world of hurt. They can't turn downwind and the waves have increased to 5-6' with wind gusts reported over 30. A rocky coast greets them to leeward with waves crashing over the rocks. They ultimately flipped and turtled immediately. The mast drove into the sea bottom and took on water. A monohull (name unknown) circled them with a triple reefed main and relayed their call for assistance. The monohull struggled to stay with them in the rough conditions. A power boat arrived and tried to right them without success. A Sail Newport boat arrived, took them off and gots them ashore. By the time they got back to the area where they left their boat, Chris Titcomb had pulled it up onto a rocky beach. He's on the beach because he snapped a beam bolt. The H-16 suffered sail and batten damage but little else.

Get some coffee because it gets worse.

We rounded the mark at Beavertail and I did't immediately turn downwind. We probably scared the heck out of the Billy Black photo boat because I continued to head to weather trying to figure out how not to flip and he was right there in the way. A friend on shore later said, "One second I could see you and the next I could only see the top half of your mast." I finally turned downwind and thought we were going to pitchpole. I slammed it back upwind and sat for a minute or so to get in control (you have to picture the rocky shore to leeward and the big waves crashing onto it. No hope if you mess up as some found out). We brought the boards up and turned down again. This time we made it easily. We drove so deep the jib was flapping from one side to the other. Barry Moore came around and put up the chute and carried it all the way in. Mark Murray and W.F. Oliver came around and this was the start of a bad hair day for W.F. They punched the windward bow and cartwheeled. W.F. got separated from the boat. Mark righted it and just barely got away from the rocky shore. He got close to W.F. but missed him. He flipped the boat again and righted it again but this time he can't tack away from the rocks. During part of this mess he got caught under the boat and had to wait for a wave to lift the boat over the rocks so he could get out from under. Phil Vaillancourt ran down and helped them get the boat up over the rocks. Damage was confined to two daggerboards, a rudder, mast, sails, etc.

Wait it gets worse! A 110 (vintage 1957 model or thereabouts) is clawing it's way upwind when the trap breaks dropping the crew into the water. The boat takes on a lot of water during the crew recovery. They turn the windward mark and head downwind. As the bow goes down a wave, the water rushes forward and the boat submarines, completely swamping them. Now they're being washed towards the rocks on Beavertail. They are being towed away from the rocks when the Coast Guard arrives and insists they abandon ship. Unfortunately the boat ends up being smashed to smitherines. Little chunks are all that's left according to witnesses. We didn't see the other 18HT for qite some time and wondered if he had suffered the same fate as the first one but we were told later that he wisely sailed back around the island.

The regatta earned a lot of money for the various charities which is good for the sport of sailing. The party was loud and the catamaran results were super. To see the results check out www.sailnewport.org/npt/m/_general/2003results.asp If that doesn't work just go to www.sailnewport.org and you can find them under the 'Sail for Hope' page. Photos are located at www.studio6x7.com although I wasn't able to get them to come up. I know Cory Silken took a bunch of photos of the catamarans. The photo of us trying the 'kite spinnaker' was I have to admit, my fault. I had premature tiller. I got too used to heading up early with the snuffer setup an in this instance we were tramp dousing.