The 2023 edition of the annual Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta started with a bit too much wind for the Friday feeder race from Newport to Bristol. Some braved the conditions while others waited until Saturday morning to make the trip.

Despite the weather, however, the party must go on, and the annual Living Boat Show with music from local bluegrass legends Hollow Turtle was well-attended by both competitors and community members alike.

Saturday offered a different kind of challenge with very little wind in the wake of Friday's blow. A total of 36 beautiful boats arrived at the starting area only to be told by the Principal Race Officer Peter Gerard that they would have to be patient and wait for the southerly to fill in.

The fleet featured a solid group of eight Vintage yachts ("vintage" refers to boats built before 1950) the oldest of which, NEITH, was launched from the Herreshoff yard in 1907. The Vintage fleet also included DORADE, the Herreshoff R-Class GAMECOCK, KIRAWAN, RUWEIDA, LEAF, and the 12 Metres ONAWA and GLEAM. The Classics division ("classics" were designed between 1950 and 1980) included ARAMINTA and ARRLUK from Jamestown, the Herreshoff Newport 29 IOLANTHE, and the two Classic 12 Metres WEATHERLY and NEFERTITI.

Four Modern Classics sailed including two Bermuda 40s, ELIXIR and FROLIC, POTION and DAGGER, and the four boat Spirit of Tradition division was made up of BLACKWING, HOUND, PONYO, and ZEMPHIRA. The 104-year-old S Class made a strong showing with six boats (AQUILA, OSPREY, PAPOOSE, SURPRISE, SWALLOW, and VINDEX), and in celebration of the 100th birthday of the Watch Hill 15 Class, four 15-footers made the journey to Bristol to join the two that live at the museum (PEACOCK and NIBBET) for some close racing. Three of the 15s, FLICKAMAROO, KRISTIN, and WORRY arrived on trailers, while VIKING sailed to Bristol from Noank, Conn. — quite a journey for a very small boat!

Apparently, the wind gods were not impressed by the large and spectacular fleet, and while a light southerly arrived in time to get all the classes started, it promptly departed again, leaving the Race Committee no option but to abandon most of the races in progress and shorten the course for two of the classes. Only eight boats made it to the finish line, but that didn't seem to dampen the racers' spirits too badly as 250 of them thoroughly enjoyed the ensuing cocktail hour(s) and authentic Rhode Island clambake (buried in the HMM beach).

The plan for Sunday was unveiled at the morning briefing. Two races would be run with the first taking the fleet on a circumnavigation of Hog Island and the second on a 9.2-mile run to Newport with the finish off Fort Adams. The "hot lap" around Hog Island was apparently a good one for 12 Metres with Chris Culver's ONAWA winning the Vintage division and Steve Eddleston and WEATHERLY winning the Classics division. Steve Clark's DAGGER was first in the Modern Classics division while the mighty HOUND won a close one over ZEMPHIRA in the Spirit of Tradition division. The S Class saw Adam Langerman with PAPOOSE narrowly beating VINDEX, and the 15-footer class was won by Nate Yaro in VIKING.

The subsequent race to Newport was mostly downwind with the last boat, IOLANTHE, finishing after 5:00 p.m. The race in the Vintage division was incredibly close with ONAWA pulling out a 5-second win over DORADE. WEATHERLY, DAGGER, and ZEMPHIRA won the Classics, Modern Classics, and Spirit of Tradition divisions, respectively, while Geoff Davis’s AQUILA recovered from an OCS in Race 1 to win the Broken Oar, which is awarded annually to the first boat in the S Class to make it to Newport. VIKING was the only 15-footer that made the run to Newport.

The 2024 Herreshoff Classic Yacht Regatta will take place Aug. 23-25. We'll see you at the Living Boat Show!

Bill Lynn is President & Executive Director of the Herreshoff Marine Museum