2017 Stone Horse Builder’s Cup

David Neumeyer of Marion took first place, sailing Bob Gleason’s and Jane Duff’s Metaphor out of Wareham. Second place went to Dave Kane’s Able from Newport, RI, followed closely, in third place by Minneapolis, MN, native, Phil McGlave, who sails his Stone Horse, Blue Jay, out of Westport, MA. Finishing just out of the money was Patience with newcomer Rob Pirozzi of Mattapoisett, MA, at the helm. “Also rans” were Butterfly and Windfall skippered by, respectively, Vern Tisdale of Mattapoisett and Tom Kenney of South Dartmouth.

The race, delayed by one hour due to the threat of thunderstorms, was beset by fluky winds out of the east-southeast and the course was ultimately shortened to two legs because of the light air. The wind went light and fluky right at the starting gun, leaving boats in irons on the starting line and resulting in a few, slow motion, near collisions.

Able, Blue Jay and Patience stayed on the same tack for the first half of the race, with Able taking a slight lead. Metaphor tacked to the south in search of wind and moved into first place towards the end of the first leg. Butterfly and Windfall fell off to the south in hopes of better wind but became stranded well to leeward of the mark and unable to recover on the shortened course.

With the fleet struggling to make progress in the unsettled conditions, the Race Committee announced a shortened first leg, putting out a “Mark” boat, and they reconfigured the second, and now final, leg of the race. Metaphor extended its lead after turning on the Mark, with Able and Blue Jay settling into second and third places for the final leg. There was some great light air sailing by all the boats that finished in the money and by Rob Pirozzi’s aptly named Patience, but David Neumeyer’s risky decision to take Metaphor south and away from the fleet made the difference.

Post-race festivities were hosted by Tom and Ann Kenney at the New Bedford Yacht Club. A special thanks to Jack Mallet, skipper of the support boat, Acadia, out of Padanaram, and Walt Suchon, skipper of the Committee Boat, Sabrosa, also out of Padanaram, and also a shout out to Barbara Veneri and Ed Pavao who served with Walt Suchon on the Race Committee.

The Stone Horse Builder’s Cup is a one-design race limited to the 23’ Stone Horse designed by S.S. Crocker and built by Edey & Duff, formerly of Aucoot Cove, Mattapoisett, MA. Edey & Duff built 151 Stone Horses between 1969 and 1996.