The Bitter Ender Race, co-hosted by Larchmont Yacht Club and Storm Trysail Club on Saturday, October 19, was aptly named for most years. Mid-October conditions on Long Island Sound tend to be chilly and windy (the Bitter reference) and this is the last major Long Island Sound race of the season (the Ender). This year’s race retained its Ender status, but conditions were far from Bitter.
In that this was only the second running of the Bitter Ender, not everyone is aware of its unique configuration. First, it’s a double-handed race. That’s not so unusual; however, whereas traditional races start at specific times, the Bitter Ender uses a “starting window.” With the course announced the evening before, sailors are able to combine wind speed and direction projections with current shifts to optimize exactly when to start during the 4-hour starting window.
The starting window opened at noon with the start set right off the Larchmont Breakwater. Given the forecast for very light winds, the race committee designated a shorter course would be sailed. The longer course options are 82 and 60 nm, but reflecting the forecast, a third 32 nm course sent boats around Eaton’s Neck and the Cows off Stamford before returning to Larchmont.
Eight boats competed, ranging in length from Sarah & Josh Reisberg’s scratch boat Abilyn, a 40-foot J/120 to Andrew Weiss’ 29-foot J/88 One Too Many. The doldrums at noon was forecast to fill with a seabreeze so, when the starting window opened at 1000, no competitors chose to start. The starting window was ultimately extended until 1600. It wasn’t until around 1500 that the southerly seabreeze appeared. Andy Lubimov’s Sun Fast 37 Duet (Huguenot YC) was first across the line at 15:27. By 15:52, all eight boats had started their first leg, a 16-mile reach to Eaton’s Neck buoy.
© Colin Fitzpatrick
Some of the larger boats, including Peter McWhinnie’s JPK 1080 In Theory (with Rich duMoulin crewing) and Abilyn, hugged the Connecticut shore with spinnakers hoping for an overshoot of the seabreeze, while eventual winner Andrew Weiss, LYC Rear Commodore and STC Vice Commodore, sailed south of the rhumb with a closer reaching code zero anticipating the wind to fill in without the overshoot. This prediction proved accurate and One Too Many (with crew Colin Fitzpatrick) got the wind first and rounded Eaton’s ahead.
Once around Eaton’s, the wind had shifted to 210 o – 222o making the leg to the Cows a close reach. With a longer waterline, Abilyn passed One Too Many and rounded first. The 11-mile leg back to the finish was a port-favored beat. Near Flat Neck Point in Greenwich, Abilyn tacked south out into the Sound whereas OTM hugged the shore to stay out of the foul ebbing current. When these lead boats converged again off Rye, OTM was again in the lead only to be overtaken again in the final 2-3 miles. Abilyn and finished in the dark at 2223 with an elapsed time of 6:47, with OTM four minutes behind.
Ultimately, OTM corrected out as the winner with Abilyn in fourth. Second place went to Leopold Brandl and Luis Vieira from Lion Sailing aboard the J/100 Sanguine, with Todd Aven and Gerard Girstl on Aven’s J/99 Thin Man (City Island YC/STC) third.
This was Bertrand Amezcua’s first double-handed race, sailing his Hanse 418 Tobala with fellow LYC member Nic Buc. Competing against more racing-focused boats with a lot of double-handed experience, they had a memorable, positive experience despite not finishing until 0104 Sunday. Thank you RC for staying on station!
“At the end of the day, a cruising boat designed for a couple and their kids is the perfect double-hander,” Amezcua observed. “It would’ve been better if the wind hadn’t died two miles before we finished, but it was still a great day. I look forward to next year’s Bitter Ender…and the spring’s Edlu!” Results are posted at YachtScoring.com. ■
Buttons Padin contributed to this report.
