Road To The Cup – Week 14 – Nationals Edition
8/25/25
What You Need To Know
- Adam Roberts & Alden Reid won the 2025 Rhodes 19 Nationals.
- The final Twilight of our season will be this Thursday August 28.
- MRA racing resumes this Saturday August 30 and Sunday August 31 for the final two days of Series 3, ending the MRA season.
- The popular Around Misery Island Race will be held Monday September 1st.
- The Fall Series will be three consecutive Saturdays of September 6, 13 & 20.
- A reminder that there will be no Labor Day Party this year (on the heels of three days of Nationals festivity).
- Mark your calendars – the Fleet 5 awards will be Saturday November 8 at the home of Christina & Kim Pandapas.
Last Week’s Racing
As you know, there was no twilight or MRA racing for us. Instead, we enjoyed Nationals week.
The week started with a lot of hand ringing about the forecast, which included the flyby of Hurricane Erin, 350 miles to our southeast. Though it didn’t cause race cancellations, it was impactful. Forecasters warned of building breeze and seas on Thursday, topping out on Friday morning in the mid 20s and 5-10 feet respectively. That forecast ended up being pretty much accurate, though perhaps a bit exaggerated. Thursday was a perfectly reasonable, mid-teens sailing day, with building but manageable seas. By gametime Friday, the worst had passed, and we again sailed in mid-teens conditions, but with impressive swells and occasional (though substantial) puffs. To mitigate the seas on Friday, PRO Jud Smith and the EYC RC set up the racecourse in Salem Sound, which helped, but he took us back out to the North Line for Saturday and Sunday. The first two days saw fresh breeze, and though Sunday was forecast to be the same, it proved to be more of a light air and lump kind of day.
31 boats registered, but two cancelled before registration, likely due to the forecasts. Of those, eight were out-of-towners, including three teams from Fleet 12 in Chicago, three from Fleet 46 in Hingham/Hull, one from Fleet 45 in Cottage Park and one from Fleet 35 in Narragansett Bay. As is typical for a Rhodes event, there were multiple families sailing both with and against each other. The eight families sailing together included Teams Pandapas, Taylor, Gabriel, Denton,Hebert, Hickey, McNamara and Rubin. Families competing against each other included Pete versus Wilson Kaznoski, Mike versus Kathleen Lane, and Hannah Lynn versus Alden Reid.
This was a tighter regatta than the final standings suggest. In a fleet of 29 boats, the top two positions were separated by just one point going into the final day, which is pretty competitive, especially in conditions that made consistency difficult.
So, let’s get straight to the bottom line. Congratulations to Adam Roberts & Alden Reid, who despite a couple of breakdowns, and through a range of conditions, sailed an impressively consistent regatta. Through ten races, they put up a line of 1-2-3-1-8-4-(RET)-2-1-5 for 27 net points. Their speed, strategy, racecourse positioning and boat-on-boat tactics were all generally flawless. More importantly, when chips were down, they always seemed to have an answer, pulling rabbits out of hats on more than a few occasions, as good sailors so often do. A tip of the cap for an impressive performance.
Finishing 2nd and winning the Norm Cressy Trophy was Matt Hooks & Rob Pascal, who produced an equally impressive performance, putting up a line of 4-1-(13)-4-9-1-2-1-9-2 for 33 points. They sailed an outstanding regatta.
Taking 3rd were 2025 Race Week winners Nat & Jim Taylor, who rolled a 5-4-7-2-(12)-2-1-5-4-11 for 41 points. Increasingly consistent, they continue to distinguish themselves as a force to be reconned with across all conditions.
An honorable mention goes to Team Ehrhardt / Malcomson in 4th, with a single digit line of 3-5-4-5-6-5-(7)-6-3-7 for 44 points.
Honorable mention also goes to Hingham’s Dave Nelson & Ken DelPapa in 5th with a line of 13-9-8-3-4-3-4-4-(14)-3 for 51 points. These guys are always tough and were always in the mix. You’ll find the complete results here.
Several class perpetuals also were awarded. Bill Colehower won the Novice Award, Dick Dunn won the Travel Award, Joe Berkeley won the Jensen Award, Team Taylor won the Wet Bottom Award, Team Gabriel won the Don Quixote Award and Wilson Kaznoski took home the Corinthian Trophy. Finally, class president Mike Hebert awarded the President’s Trophy to Dave Hickey for his work reenergizing the Cottage Park fleet. Congratulations to all.
Nationals Recap – Practice Race
The forecast called for a building, hurricane-driven northeasterly. By game time, it was blowing about 15-17 with reported 3-4 foot seas out past Marblehead Rock. PRO Jud Smith chose to set up in Salem Sound along the Beverly shore where the seas were more muted – in the 2-3 foot range. Astonishingly, just two of the 29 teams registered chose to participate, perhaps scared off by the building forecast, or maybe just saving it for Friday. In any event, from two miles away, it appeared that Team Hooks / Pascal prevailed over Team Regnault / Thibodeaux, rounding first with a decent lead. Keeping in mind the time-honored tradition of not jinxing yourself by winning the practice race, who exactly took line honors and finished properly was difficult to discern, but rumor has it that Matt Hooks doesn’t subscribe to such superstitions.
Nationals Recap – Day 1
Friday’s forecast improved steadily through Thursday, and by game time, it predicted north at about 15 with gusts to 25, moderating and going east in the afternoon as Hurricane Erin moved further offshore, but with significant residual seas. As he did on Thursday, to mitigate the seas, PRO Jud Smith chose to run us in Salem Sound, effectively backed up to Coney Ledge. Our first three races were W4s at 20-30 degrees, putting the weather marks up towards the Beverly shore. After a significant right shift during the third leg of the third race, our final race had a course of 120, which from there was in the general direction of Bakers Island. So the forecast was generally spot on, though the early afternoon puffs were perhaps a bit more impressive than predicted, probably more in the high 20s. That, by the way, caused a little carnage. Team McNamara broke a spin pole, and Team Roberts / Reid damaged their mast, though luckily both were able to finish the day. Left generally paid for the first three races, as there was a port tack lift along the shore. But it wasn’t infallible, as there were 10-15 knot shifts across the course that would hold so long that they needed to be treated more as persistent than oscillating.
None of this was even remotely confusing to Team Roberts / Reid, who went out and killed it, pushing through their mast issues to put up a 1-2-3-1 for 7 points to win the day and take a commanding early lead. Two bullets in that crowd and in those conditions was no small feat. Finishing 2nd was Team Ehrhardt / Malcomson, with a 3-5-4-5 for 17 points, and taking 3rd was Team Taylor, with a 5-4-7-2 for 18 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Hooks / Pascal in 4thwith a 4-1-13-4 for 22 points, and young Wilson Kaznoski, sailing with Connor West, who took 5th on a tiebreaker with a 9-3-1-15 for 28 points, narrowly beating Hingham’s Joe Berkeley who put up a line of 14-6-2-6, also for 28 points.
Worth mentioning is that the Day 1 regatta rankings included throw-outs, so were different from the above. Here are the top 5 at the end of Day 1 (though the table mistakenly lists Doug Morgan as Adam’s teammate instead of Alden Reid).
Nationals Recap – Day 2
Thursday’s forecast was for sunny skies with a SSW wind at 7 to 10 early, and becoming SSE 10 to 13 in the afternoon. In other words, another great sailing day. The RC chose to ignore the seas and took us out to the North Line. The seas early in the day, proved to be ‘more than insignificant,’ as we sailed out through froth and swells that would hide the boats around you.
The seas calmed a bit as the day wore on, presenting opportunity to those helmsmen with the skills to use them. Still, the seas made for a challenging day on the foredeck for crew, as illustrated by Hannah Lynn, who reportedly took a brief swim on her way back to the cockpit.
PRO Jud Smith hoisted AP at 11, choosing to wait for the breeze to settle in, which it did by about 11:30. A reasonably strong current was generally on-the-nose, pushing boats off the line at the start and making for a long port tack. Left seemed to pay for most of the day, even with the current in your face, and made jibe calls downwind a little trickier than they might otherwise be. Despite the half hour of AP, he got off four W4s of 0.6, and we were heading in before 3pm.
So winning the day with an impressively consistent performance was Team Hooks / Pascal, who put up a line of 9-1-2-1 for just 3 points. Finishing 2nd was Team Nelson / Delpapa, who rolled a 4-3-4-4 for 15 points, and taking 3rd was Team Taylor, with a 12-2-1-5 for 20 points. Honorable mentions go to Team Ehrhardt / Malcomson in 4th with a 6-5-7-6 for 24 points, and Team Cooke / Kaznoski in 5th with a 1-8-9-9 for 27 points. Honorable mention also to Team Roberts / Reid, with a line of 8-4-RET-2, who were on their way to another outstanding day before being forced to retire from Race 7 with a broken tiller.
Here are the regatta standing at the end of Day 2.
Nationals Recap – Day 3
Sunday’s forecast was for more of the same – a fresh southerly and continuing substantial seas. PRO Jud Smith left the dock expecting to get in three and then send us in with enough time for folks to haul boats, sort out any protests and still leave plenty of time for post-race festivities and awards. However, on this day, the forecasters got it wrong. Instead of a fresh southerly, we got a dying one, which forced an early AP delay, followed by an excruciatingly painful and slow first race that saw chutes draped across the course, and chewed up the entire time limit. Seemingly everyone had a war story about trying to round the weather mark in 1-2 knots of breeze and an equivalent amount of right-to-left current. Some got lucky with a wisp to help them around, but for many, the play was to overstand and hope for the best. Some didn’t make it, discovering firsthand that the robotic marks don’t bounce off you the way the traditional marks do, which contributed to a few multi-boat pile ups. Seventeen teams finished and the other twelve took TLEs. With that race mercifully in the books, we waited a few minutes for the breeze to back fill in, and then sailed our second and final race.
Light air, heavy air, broken masts, swarms of locust – nothing seemed to dampen either the enthusiasm or performance of Team Robert / Reid, who despite a razor-thin margin of error carrying a 30-point RET throw-out heading into the final day, they sailed loose and effectively, putting up a 1-5 for 6 points to win the day and the regatta. Finishing 2nd was Team Ehrhardt / Malcomson, who rolled a 3-7 for 10 points, and taking 3rd was Team Hooks / Pascal with a 9-2 for 11 points. Honorable mentions go to Team P. in 4th with a 5-8 for 13 points, and Team Shoreman / Reynolds in 5th with a 13-1 for 14 points.
Tip of the Cap – This was an exceptionally well organized and executed regatta. Huge tip of the cap to event chair Jeff Shoreman, who just killed it. He accepted the assignment immediately when asked a year ago, and has given it his best effort every day since. Huge thanks to Jeff. Thanks also to the Eastern Yacht Club, who from the Bridge to the waterfront to the bar tenders, rolled out the red carpet and bent over backwards to make us feel welcome. Thank you.
Thanks also to Jud & Cindy Smith, who couldn’t have been more helpful in the on-the-water planning of this event. They were engaged early and often, from the NOR right through running three days of races. Worth mentioning also is what an excellent job Jud did as PRO. He was consistently communicative, clear, turned us over without a lot of exhausting downtime, set appropriately sized, square starting lines, set weather legs that were just long enough to create separation but not so long as to get monotonous, set square gates that were appropriately spaced, and generally ran thoughtful, well-considered races. Huge thanks.
Of course, there was an army of volunteers who for the last year participated in the planning and execution of this event. They include Elise Nash, Steve Uhl, Mark Rubin, Dave Rubin, Timmy Dittrich, Tom Dailey, Dave Reynolds, Jim Taylor, Stefan Thibodeaux, Anne Marije Veenland, Bill Colehower, Larry Ehrhardt, Matt Hooks, Frank McNamara, Kim Pandapas, Doug Morgan, Sarah Sheldon and Joan Thayer. Thanks also to judges Bill Collins, his wife Dar Collins, and Nancy Glover. An appreciative tip of the cap to Jeremy & Katie Bloxham, who donated their motorboat to the cause. And finally, huge thanks to photographer extraordinaire Bruce Durkee for the amazing shots included in these pages.
So, in Cup competition, while we did a lot of racing, none of it was included in our cup scoring so for the second straight week, there were no changes to the standings. The top 10 are listed below.
Week 15 racing will include the final Twilight of our season, as well as the final two days of MRA on Saturday and Sunday. Though not part of our season scoring, the Around Misery Island Race will be on Monday September 1st. SIs are forthcoming.
Other News, Notices & Miscellaneous Scuttlebutt
News From the Ted – Three boats piloted by Fleet 5 alum competed in the Ted Hood Regatta last weekend, and did pretty well, thank you very much. Taking 1st in the J70s were old friends and former national champs Charlie Pendleton & Jim Raisides, who put up three bullets in six races. Team McNamara took 4th in that fleet. And taking 1st in PHRF B was former National champ (and nationals PRO) Jud Smith, who scored four bullets in six races.
If You Spin, Send It In – we heard about several spins this week, though certainly not all. What we have so far includes hit marks from Teams Gabriel, Hickey, Hooks / Pascal, Cooke / Kaznoski and Hebert, with the fleet 5 addition reflected in the table below. If you know of others, please let me know.
A reminder that if you spin, please let me know at kpandapas@comcast.net with the subject line ‘Spins.’
Mail Bag
We got a couple of emails about our Name That Boat challenge. Here is the photo to refresh your memory.
The first was from Rick Myers who wrote, “Pretty sure that’s a Joel White designed Lila. If I’m right, there is at least one in Marblehead called Calavier.” The second was from Jim Taylor, who said, somewhat uncertainly, “It’s a Raven?”
We followed up with Jim to test his conviction in his answer, to which he responded, “I’m not certain, but Raven is my story and I’m stickin to it!” I couldn’t find a Lila but here is a shot of a Raven served up by Google.
The truth is that I have no idea, but I agree with Jim that it looks a lot like a Raven.
Complaints Department
Got Gripes? Don’t be shy. Unload at kpandapas@comcast.net. The buck stops here. -kp
