LYC’s SirenSong and Lora Ann

Take Top Honors at The Edlu

May 9, 2009
Larchmont, NY

39 yachts participated in LYC’s 54th Annual Edlu distance race. The event was a 32-mile race beginning starting south of the Larchmont breakwater, going around Gong “11B” off Eaton’s Neck and returning to Larchmont.

The conditions at the start were a light easterly with very dense fog. For many yachts, just finding the starting line was a navigational challenge. One yacht radioed the Race Committee, “We don’t know where the heck you are, but we’re checking in.” For the first few hours of the race, visibility was no more than 100 yards.

Winds throughout the race were extremely variable. Some yachts experienced winds of up to 15 knots, while for others the race was mostly a drifter. Wind directions covered most points of the compass – sometimes more than one at once, as the late afternoon and evening southerlies aloft competed with northerlies and north easterlies on the surface. Generally, yachts staying to the north of the rhumb line to Eaton’s Neck seemed to have a better time of it, whereas the south was favored on the way back.

Of the 39 yachts that started, only 21 managed to finish before the time limit expired at 2200.

LYC members taking top honors:
IRC Division 1: First Place, Siren Song (J133), Tom Carroll
IRC Division 2: First Place, Lora Ann (Express 37), Rich duMoulin (first overall IRC)

Lora Ann’s win puts them in the driver’s seat for the Tuna Trophy, a perpetual trophy for combined performance in the Edlu (40%) and the Around Block Island Race (60%). Peter Schmiedeck’s Thomas 35 Sawtooth was the only PHRF boat to finish, while Ty Anderson’s Farr 395 won the doublehanded division. For complete results, please visit the Edlu webpage.

---