College Big Boat Regatta

The Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR) as it is officially known, run by the Storm Trysail Foundation and the Larchmont Yacht Club, had an epic regatta this year. Over 300 college sailors hopped aboard 54 borrowed offshore boats to make this year’s IOR the largest collegiate regatta in North America. Eleven J/105s were in the fleet. As a result of a stationary low, strong northeast winds blew for three days before the regatta as well as for the two days of racing, making conditions extreme, even for experienced Long Island Sound racers. After two races were sailed on the first day in winds blowing from 22-30 with higher gusts, the race committee sent the dwindling fleet back to the harbor in hopes of more benign conditions the next day. But the low pressure system still refused to budge and conditions remained the same. After a two-and-a-half hour harbor postponement, the RC called it quits and neither the owners of the borrowed boats nor the sailors thought it was a bad call. After two races, the standings were tight; three divisions were won by boats with two firsts and the other two divisions were won with scores of a first and a second. Picking an overall winner was impossible; therefore, the Paul Hoffman Trophy for the overall winner of the 2013 IOR went jointly to Georgetown and the College of Charleston. The Charleston team sailed on Austin Fragomen’s J/105 Warlock. Each boat had the boat owner or his representative aboard as well as a second adult. The adults are encouraged to teach boat-speed, boat-handling and sail trim since much of big boat sailing is new to dinghy sailors. Since the regatta is a stand-alone event and is not used to rank the teams, the regatta organizers encourage teaching during the regatta. The only line that is drawn covers tactics. The college sailors call their own tactics since figuring out which way to go on the race course is universal to all sailboats.