Vol. 26, No. 10 November, 2005

Pequot Pilot ISSN 1078-1943 Pequot Yacht Club, Southport, CT 06890 Landon Storrs, editor. Ginny Arndt, Ann Cathcart, Tom Susan A. Kline, Commodore DeLong, Art Gravanis, Norman Marsilius, Gibney Charles R. Sprowl Jr., Vice Commodore Patterson, Kimberly Smith, committee. John W. Watkins, Rear Commodore Wendy Macbeth, editorial assistant and production. Photo Credits: Ann Cathcart, Joel Kunkel, Bryan McDonald, Web site address: pequotyc.com Hop Perry, Landon Storrs, and other unknown heroes and heroines. Administrative email: admin@pequotyc.com

PFD Inflators Give False ‘Ready’ Status

[The following article is excerpted in part from an article by Jason Fell appearing in the October 2005 issue of Soundings]

Halkey-Roberts Corp. has alerted several PFD manufacturers that the inflators it produces can indicate a “ready” status when carbon dioxide cyl-inders with bayonet tips are improperly installed. If the CO2 cylinder isn’t put in correctly, the PFD won’t automatically inflate upon contact with wa-ter. Manufacturers that received the notification earlier this summer were Mustang Survival of Bel-lingham, WA (www.mustangsurvival.com); Pro-texion Products Inc. of Guelph, Ontario (www.nautilusbyprotexion.com); and Stearns Inc. of Saulk Rapids, MI (www.stearnsinc.com). It wasn’t immediately known how many PFDs are affected. Halkey-Roberts says it has changed the labels on the inflators to better explain how to install the cylinders. “We’re doing everything the Coast Guard has recommended. We want to make sure that the customers know exactly what to do,” says John Lucius, Halkey-Roberts vice president of in-flation systems. “We’ve changed the label so it clearly says to push the CO2 cylinder in and to turn it. We’ve also changed the spring inside to make sure the unit ejects if it isn’t properly loaded.” To secure a CO2 cylinder with a bayonet tip, the cylinder has to be pushed into the receiver and turned clockwise to a full stop, according to Halkey-Roberts. If the cylinder isn’t turned into place, the mechanism is designed to eject it. The Coast Guard became aware of the problem when a consumer who hadn’t turned the cylinder properly got the green indicator but the unit didn’t eject, according to Coast Guard spokesperson Jolie

PFDs affected

MUSTANG SURVIVAL (800) 661-6181 www.mustangsurvival.com MC1900 automatic MC 1900HR automatic with harness MD0100 LIFT Vest manual MD0200 LIFT Vest automatic MD3081 manual MD3082 manual with harness MD3083 automatic MD3084 automatic with harness, all colors and styles PROTEXION PRODUCTS INC. (800) 268-3112 www. nautilusbyprotexion.com NIV3000 manual NIV3500 manual with harness NIV4000 automatic NIV4500 automatic with harness STEARNS INC. (800) 328-3208, ext. 1 www.stearnsinc.com 38MLNG manual 38MHRN manual with harness 24MSPT manual 38MREG manual 38MBP manual 38ASSTD automatic 38ASHAR automatic with harness 38ASPRO automatic 38CHR automatic and manual 1469 automatic 1473 automatic with harness

Hinman Masters. From left: Larchmont Regatta Chairman Buttons Padin, New York Yacht Club Commodore George Hinman, Dave Perry, Betsy Perry, Dave Dellenbaugh, Susan Dellenbaugh, Dave Storrs and Ched Proctor.

Pequot—Almost—Wins U.S. Team Racing Championship After many of us had finished racing for the season, three of Pequot’s best teams competed at Larchmont Yacht Club October 14-16 for the U.S. Sailing Team Racing Championship (George Hin-man Trophy) in the Masters division (skippers over 45, crews over 40) against 9 other teams from all over the country and came within a point of bringing home the national title. Larchmont fielded nearly 100 volunteers, 33 judges, 3 “mother” boats, and countless RIBs, mark and committee boats. Dave Perry (with Betsy), Dave Dellenbaugh (with Susan) and Ched Proctor (with Dave Storrs) raced Friday and Saturday in windy conditions in the first round robin, finishing with a score of 9 wins and 1 loss. Larchmont also had a 9-1 record, but Pequot beat them, so we would have won on a tiebreaker. The top six teams were then to race in a finals round.

More on the Voyage of Ginny After a wonderful summer in the Med including 11 weeks in the Balearics, I am now in the Canary Islands. The Balearics were so beautiful; most of the time we were anchored in tiny ‘calas’, with beautiful beaches and small villages to explore. My favorite island was Menorca, which is less so-phisticated than the others, and certainly less ex-ploited. I was amazed to learn that there are the remains of over 300 prehistoric settlements still on this island. We hiked to a few. As the summer progressed, more and more European cruisers appeared on the scene. I will save my stories of their amazing anchoring proce-dures until we are together. The Canar-ies are spec-tacular. We’re in the Marina Rubi-con in Lan-zarote, proba-bly the most beautiful fa-cility we’ve been in to date. Excep-tionally clean, with such amenities as tennis courts and a large, free-form pool designed by Cesar Manrique. This island has such an unusual landscape because of the volcano erup-tions of the 18th century which are evident throughout. The light is exquisite. In one 4-mile area there are 35 craters. Yesterday we explored

(Continued on page 3)

Shifflet. Boaters should check the model number on the manufac-turer’s label to see if a life jacket is affected, Shifflet says. Updated CO2 cylinder installa-tion instructions are available on the manufacturers’ Web sites. If the PFD doesn’t eject an unturned cyl-inder, it’s recommended that con-sumers call the manufacturer for servicing.

(Continued on page 3)

Pages 2 & 9

Awards Night, October 23. (See complete season results on opposite page.) Clockwise from left. Falk-ner Island Race winners , l to r, David and Maryellen Tortorello, owners of Partnership, a J-42 that came in 2nd in Falkner and 2nd in BRYC’s Cross Sound Race; Abhijeet Lele, 1st, with the Starring Trophy, Jim Harman and Paul Kueffner of Eclipse. Race Committee Co-Chair and Chair, Betty Gosselin and Bob Hilgendorff. Ideal 18 winners Hop Perry, Betsy Hulme, Maren Hood (representing husband Tom Hood) and David O. Smith. Club Cruise race winners Ted von Rosenvinge, Bruce Kueffner, Rear Commodore John Watkins, Jonathan Thomson and Jeff Priest. Jeff Wilson, Ideal 18 Class Champion, with children Julia and Colin. Cruising Class winners Fleet Captain Chris Smith, Joel Kunkel and Norman Marsilius. Suzanne Simmonds and Karen Sallick, Ideal 18 Co-chairs. Center 3 photos: Maren Hood, Steve Galpin and Missy Feuerhake enjoy the show; Vice Commodore Chuck Sprowl presents Cruising Class Club Champion Charlie Reynolds with the Sherwood Trophy; Ideal 18 winners in the Wednesday Night and Labor Day Series, David Storrs and Dan Nash.

Awards Dinner 2005

Make Your Reservation Now 255-5740, ext. 40

NOVEMBER

6, Sunday— Frostbiting begins. 20, Sunday— Annual Meeting, 4:00 p.m., Galley closed for lunch.

Save the Date!

DECEMBER 4— Jr. Holiday Pizza Party DECEMBER 11— The Commodores’ Caper

Page 3Page 8

Ideal 18 Season Winners

Cruising Season Winners

Other Members Recognized were the skippers who took Women Cruisers out on their boats: Alacrity, Alte Dame, Curragh II, Essence, Hiri, Rambunctious, Serenade, Southern Cross, Sundart and Sandpiper.

Day Races June 4: 1, Romulus; 2, Merlin June 11: 1, Helena; 2 Vigor; 3, Indigo June 25: 1, Eclipse; 2, Helena Aug. 6: 1, Romulus; 2, Tabasco; 3, Merlin Aug. 20: 1, Essence; 2, Romulus; 3, Eclipse

Wednesday Night Series June July August 1 Jewel Jewel Jewel 2 Flicka Eclipse Merlin 3 Alacrity Flicka Mireille

Overnights Aug. 13: 1, Eclipse Rat Race: 1, Tabasco

Memorial Day Series 1, Grace 2, Flicka

July 4th Series 1, Southern Cross 2, Flicka 3, Freedom

Annual Cruise 1, Southern Cross 2, Indigo 3, Grace

Edgartown: 1, Freedom Edgartown: 2, Galadriel Nantucket: 2, Vigor Edg’tn Return: 3, Vigor Padanaram: 3, Freedom

Falkner Island Race 1, Romulus (Starring Trophy) 2, Partnership (BRYC) 3, Eclipse

Club Champion: Jewel (Sherwood Trophy)

Memorial Day Series: 1, Tom Hood; 2, Jeff Wilson

July 4th Series: 1, Jeff Wilson; 2, Burr Jennings

Labor Day Series: 1, Dan Nash; 2, David Storrs

Sunday Series: 1, Jeff Wilson; 2, Betsy Hulme; 3, David O. Smith

Wednesday Series: 1, David Storrs; 2, Dan Nash; 3, David O. Smith

Masters Series: 1, Ted Jennings; 2, Hop Perry

Women’s Championship: Barbara Evans & Lisa Borter

Ideal 18 Class Champion: Jeff Wilson

Intrepid Sailors in 40 Knots We had an exciting time on October 16. The tide was really low because of the full moon, and the waves were breaking on the sand on both sides of the channel as we headed out. We set the main with a reef already in, then sheeted in and turned the engine off. No big deal close on the wind as we headed towards Westport; heeled, but fairly dry. Then the breeze picked up and it started to get wet. We reached off to settle down in what the ane-mometer said was about 40 knots of wind. [Ed. Note: La Guardia was closed.] As we headed off-shore the waves picked up and the spray from the bow was going up so high and the boat moving so fast we ended up sailing into it. Since a cold, wet crew is not as happy as a warm dry one, we de-cided to head back in. Of course we all got entirely drenched in the tack, except for Connor, who wisely ducked below. Heading downwind back to the harbor, the speed went to 10, 10.5, 11.7, and hit 12.5 several times, for about ten seconds at a time. The spray from the bow wave was making rainbows under the boom as Frost Point rapidly approached. We reluctantly started the engine, lowered the sail and headed back in. What a ride! —Paul Kueffner

Rotating in and out of the racing boats left plenty of time to watch the extraordinary Hinman Open division racing. These teams raced in the same high performance Vanguard 15s used two weeks earlier for the World Team Racing Champi-onship at New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court and put on a tremendous show: watching six Van-guards on opposing teams come into a mark on a screaming plane with 25 knots of wind, with water flying left and right and (most of the time) under perfect control, was spectacular. The Open divi-sion, and therefore the 2005 overall Hinman Tro-phy, was won by a team of 2005 Yale graduates and a Kings Point senior. Remember the gale warnings on Sunday, Octo-ber 16 and LaGuardia airport closing due to exces-sive wind (forecasts of gusts to 45 knots)? The Race Committee debated canceling racing for the day, but sent the eighteen identical Ideal 18s out with mains only. Steady winds of 15-25, with max gusts to 36 knots (40 mph!), big waves and no jibs made the sailing tough, especially for team racing where there is so much boat-to-boat maneuvering, but at the end of the day Pequot ended with a 4-1 record. Unfortunately that one loss was to Larch-mont, which went undefeated and thereby took home the 2005 Championship. Pequot will be back next year in San Diego!

—David Storrs

Aboard Eclipse for the ride were, left to right, Andrew and Mary Beth Claflin, Paul and Susan Kueffner, and Connor Claflin.

Pequot—Almost—Wins U.S. Team Racing Championship (Continued from page 1)

Romulus Captures Commo-dore’s Cup in Combined Long Island Sound Races Abhijeet Lele had a busy but successful “gear buster” season at the helm of Romulus, his 1995 J-120 sloop. Sailing with a mostly PYC crew, Romulus captured the Commodore’s Cup in the combined Falkner Island Race and Cross Sound Regatta this past September. In the Falkner Island Race, Abhijeet was joined by Jeff Warren, Karl Lange and former member Richard Gresham, the same crew from the previ-ous three races. The wind was fluky at the start and stayed under 10 knots for the downwind leg. After rounding the Island, the wind picked up to 15-18 knots and remained that way for much of the return leg as Romulus took first on corrected time. Two weeks later, Abhijeet was again at the helm for the Cross Sound Regatta. This time, he was joined by crew members Bob Hilgendorff and Richard Hofrichter. The windward leg was a spir-ited sail, with winds at nearly 20 knots and 6-foot swells at mid-Sound. De-spite a slow start, Romulus finished third with a 14- second cushion over rival Partnership on corrected time. That was enough to take first place in the com-bined races. Although competing in the Spinna-ker Division, Romulus didn’t put up her chute for the short downwind course, preferring to go wing-on-wing with the #1 jib. “We had a better start in

the Falkner race, but we picked up a lot of ground once we reached Smithtown Bay,” remarked Abhi-jeet. “That turned out to be the difference.” —Art Gravanis

More on the Voyage of Ginny (Continued from page 1)

some of these volcanoes on camelback. I’m send-ing you a picture of my “beast of burden”. These animals are still used for farming. We will make the passage to the Caribbean in December. In the meantime, I will be home for the month of November to visit my children and grandchildren… too short a time, but I plan to be at the Club as much as possible...

—Ginny Vought

Empty the Dinghy Rack Please take your inflatable and hard dinghies home at your earliest convenience. The racks are needed for other Club activities. Thank you.

In Memoriam

Ann Shaw Carter

Lillian Bassick Exton Bachman

Page 4

Newport, RI, October 23, 2005.

12-meter boats race with 16 trained crew when they use spinnakers. With no spinnakers, we all had twelve in crew – one driver, one tactician, two running backstays, one main tail/one main grind, one jib tail/two jib grind on each side, plus the pro-fessional captain and 2 crew. At the start, with Suzanne Simmonds on the bow to call distance to line and overlap on leeward and windward boats, Dave Rosow instructed that if a collision was im-minent, Suzanne should run aft. Dave Perry asked at one start ‘Will we hit?” and Dave Rosow re-sponded “No, Suzanne’s not running aft.” Ed Holahan ground the mainsheet winch, with David

Top right,, crew members, back row, left to right. Hop Perry, Dave Perry, Pam Toner, Dave Rosow, David Storrs, Tom Hood, Richard Hofrichter, Suz-anne Simmonds. Front row, left to right, Joel Kunkel, Ed Holahan, Bruce Kueffner and Belinda Shepard.. Above, Joel Kunkel takes his turn at the wheel. Opposite page, scenes aboard Weatherly.

12-Meter Challenge Race Elapsed Race Elapsed Race Elapsed Final

Place Sail # Boat Name Club 1 Time 2 Time 3 Time Points

1 US21 American Eagle Fayerweather YC 4 55:30 1 51:35 2 46:56 7

2 US17 Weatherly Pequot YC 5 56:37 2 51:44* 1 46:34* 8

3 US19 Nefertiti Black Rock YC 1 52:49 3 53:03 5 48:19 9

4 US16 Columbia Cedar Point YC 2 53:31 4 53:04 4 48:10 10

5 US22 Intrepid Stamford YC 3 53:39 5 55:46 3 47:49 11

* 5% penalty (2:28)

*5% penalty (2:13)

Page 7

Ideal 18 Sailing Pro Henry Lane, members and SAMs enjoyed lunch, end-of-season memories and camaraderie at Barbara Evans’ home Friday, October 14. This event is fast becoming a tradition for the women in the Ideal program and was attended by about 25.

Aboard Weatherly America’s Cup De-fender Weatherly is the only vessel in his-tory to win the Cup without doing so when new. Built in 1958, the legendary Emil “Bus” Mosbacher brought her back in ‘62 to de-feat Gretel, the first Australian America’s Cup Challenger. She was a favorite of Presi-dent and Mrs. Ken-nedy, who closely fol-lowed the 1962 12– meter racing season from their summer home at Hammersmith Farm in Newport.

Pequot’s 12-Meter Challenge: Every Sailor’s Dream

American Eagle on Weatherly’s hip.

(Continued on page 5)

Please return the Proxy Card you received in the mail, whether or not you plan to attend the meeting.

Page 5

Storrs tailing, Belinda Shepard and Richard Hofrichter, port coffee grinder (2-person pedestal winch), Pam Toner and Suzanne Simmonds, star-board coffee grinder. Dave Perry and Dave Rosow sailed the starts. Kueffner, Hood, Kunkel and Hop Perry filled in in various ways. Pequot’s crew was organized by David Storrs, one of the five team captains. Other clubs partici-pating were Fayerweather, Black Rock, Cedar Point and Stamford. In the best Corinthian spirit, Past Commodores were given preference, then Board Members and Committee Chairs. Every member got to steer at least twice. Race 1 All boats approached the line on starboard. We were the only crew to do our own starts. (Other boats had the captains sail the starts.) Weatherly was pointing high as Columbia tried to sail over the top, and her boom nicked Weatherly’s pulpit. We decided no protest. Weatherly’s bow missed Columbia’s stern by three feet with Suzanne watching closely. Dave Perry did the start, and then Hop Perry and David Storrs drove upwind. Dave Rosow was in charge of sails. It quickly became apparent that Weatherly was the slowest boat, the others consis-tently one-tenth knot faster upwind. We were 5th at first mark, and couldn’t gain downwind on next three legs, ultimately placing 5th.

Race 2 The boats were all underpowered, with 2 reefs and small jibs, so we shook out 1 reef. Radios started squawking as other captains protested, wanting to leave the reefs alone. George Hill is the owner-captain of Weatherly: 1 other boat has an owner-captain and the remaining 3 professional captains. They are all accustomed to groups who don’t know how to sail and thus like to use small sails which are less challenging. One boat said “We can’t shake out 1 reef, we can only do both.” George reminded us that for 3 years he has been telling the other captain to add a reef point. Dave Perry did a great dinghy start. We came at the fleet on port side and tacked in front of the fleet on starboard, so we pinched up and squeezed off American Eagle. With more sail area, we went one-tenth knot faster this time. Good lead by weather mark which we held, winging out jib downwind, precisely 5% above dead run. PYC was 1st. Race 3 Dave Rosow did the start. Another excellent start and soon we were in the lead. If we were to win and get 5-1-1, Nefertiti at 1-3-3 would have tied but we would have won on tiebreak so they had to be 3rd or worse. Going up windward leg, Nefertiti was ahead, then Intrepid took the lead, then Columbia went ahead. But on mark round-ing, Nefertiti came out 2nd with Intrepid on their wind. Close battle but Intrepid passed to give Ne-fertiti 3rd and PYC won on tiebreak—we thought. Afterwards, CPYC protested that bigger sail gave PYC unfair advantage. This was compli-cated, since there was no preset Protest Committee or rule on use of sails. The Committee eventually concluded that the decision of the 4 other captains not to take out a reef put those teams at a disad-vantage, and decided that a fair resolution was to add 5% to Weatherly’s time in races 2 and 3. That changed PYC’s race 2 result to 2nd and gave us 5-2-1 for 8 points and 2nd overall to Fayerweather YC. Thanks to George Santa and Chris Conover of Black Rock, and Eric Robbins of Cedar Point for an unforgettable event! —David Storrs

A turn at the wheel. Above, Ed Holahan. Opposite, Dave Rosow; Dave and Hop Perry.

Page 6

(Continued from page 4)