Most sailors on the bay figure the racing season is over with their final weekly series event, 20HC’s Around Prudence, NYC’s Mitchell Race or perhaps IYAC/Sail Newport’s Sail for Pride event. But there’s a final event that runs all the way to the end of the year
– Twenty Hundred Club’s Around Aquidneck Challenge!
The race is actually a self-timed event, not too unlike the Around Jamestown Record
that circumnavigates Conanicut Island. In the 20HC Around Aquidneck Challenge
(AAC) participants select the day, time, direction of rounding and choose a start/finish
area from several provided in the sailing instructions. The Tiverton Boat Basin is a
rest/off-the-clock area during the circumnavigation to permit transit under power in the
basin and a useful break. Competitors can remain there for up to 24 hours, but usually
just a short pause to await a tide change is more than enough.
Frankly, the hardest part of this race is everything leading up to the actual day and time
you select, not the race itself. Since tacking and gybing are big adverse impacts to your
velocity made good (VMG), the goal for a good AAC attempt is one tack at one end of
the island, and one gybe at the other end! This is best accomplished by winds out of
the west or east. Really good? Try and overlap that with a favorable current and slack
water at either the north or south end of the island. And then of course you need
reasonable pressure – depending on your boat a minimum of 14-18kts is good.
Aligning crew is always a challenge. That perfect weather day isn’t necessarily a
weekend, and some tides call for an early start or a later start, all of which can make it
tough to crew up the boat. But assuming you get through all of that, you are ready to
get on the course.
Spirit had just such a day last Friday, the 9 th of October. Conditions were calling for a
northwesterly with solid, steady strength. Sun and warmth were added pluses! We
elected to start at 0900 at the Newport Bridge and round counterclockwise. The breeze
that really arrived had a bit more west and south of west component forcing a couple of
gybes going from R2A to Cormorant Reef, but other than that the direction worked out
well with just a single tack up north of Common Fence Point.
In fact, by the afternoon the breeze REALLY came in, thankfully still out of the west, and
we ended up with 18-22 going under the Mt Hope Bridge, which was quite a bit for us.
An ebbing tide made for a lot of short chop. The final leg from Arnold Point to the
Newport bridge was a tight fetch, a perfect way to finish the rounding.
Overall, this is a really enjoyable and unique race with a good challenge if you are
looking to set a spinnaker or non-spinnaker record. 20HC also recognizes best
roundings each year. The circumnavigation covers some areas in the region we rarely
race on, and the format and length encourages everyone to drive and navigate, which is
a positive for the team. Reach out to 20HC club leadership for more info.