Diamond Island Regatta sails smoothly despite hurricane interludes

The remnants of Hurricane Debby rampaged through the Champlain Valley on Friday, Aug. 9, bringing heavy rain and high winds, with gusts as high as 65 knots. At Point Bay Marina in Charlotte, a sailboat was blown off its mooring into the marsh, and another was dismasted. Tens of thousands of Vermonters, and the marina, were without power that night, the outage continued well into the weekend. Downed trees and flooding closed many roads.

But the weather had calmed down significantly, and the clean-up was well under way by Saturday morning. And the 12th annual Diamond Island Regatta, sponsored by the Diamond Island Yacht Club and Point Bay Marina to benefit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, went ahead pretty much as scheduled. Boats that would have traveled south from the northern bays of Lake Champlain on Friday evening either moved up their trips to earlier in the day or decided to make the long trip down the lake on Saturday morning before the race.

“There was no way I was going to miss it,” said Julie Trottier, captain of Meridian, who left Malletts Bay Boat Club in Colchester at 4 a.m. “It’s one of my favorite events of the season. Plus, my crew and I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the middle of Lake Champlain, and on our return to Mallets Bay Sunday evening, sailed right into a rainbow.”

Event organizers and volunteers, unable to set up the venue Friday due to the winds, arrived at 6 a.m. Saturday to discover there was no power or running water at the marina. Yet they still managed to put on a great breakfast before the race with hot and cold items and hot coffee.

Despite the storm, 25 boats were on the starting line that morning. The regatta took boats on a course of about 11 miles, from Town Farm Bay, south to Diamond Island off Ferrisburgh, north to Sloop Island off Charlotte and back to the start line. The race started in a light breeze, but the wind picked up, then waned again, making for some challenging sailing.

The next day, 20 boats sailed in the fourth annual Split Rock Race in mostly steady winds, covering the same course. The start was in a brisk 15-knot southerly, providing a quick trip to Diamond Island, and the breeze held up until the last few boats made it to Thompson’s Point on the way to the finish line.

Boats came from all over the lake for the weekend of racing, including the Diamond Island Yacht Club in Charlotte, the Lake Champlain Yacht Club in Shelburne, the Malletts Bay Boat Club in Colchester, and even from as far as Mooney Bay, north of Plattsburgh, N.Y. Both races are part of the Lake Champlain Championship Series, a season-long competition that determines annual bragging rights in five classes: three Spinnaker classes and two jib-and-main classes. The races are scored with a system so boats with different speed potentials can compete against each other. Each boat’s elapsed time for the course is turned into a “corrected” time to determine the winners in each class.

The first boat to finish in the Diamond Island Regatta on Saturday, in 2:32:18, was Chris Duley’s Polar Express, a Henderson 30 from the Valcour Sailing Club competing in the Spinnaker A division. Winning Spinnaker A on corrected time was Rogue, a J/105 from Lake Champlain Yacht Club, owned by Gene Cloutier, Matt Fisher and Walt Marti. First place in the Spinnaker B class went to Muse, a J/37C sailed by Doug Friant, a member of both Diamond Island Yacht Club and Lake Champlain Yacht Club. Spinnaker C class was won again this year by Benedek Erdos of the host club, sailing his Santana 2320R, Lil’ Bot.

In the jib-and-main classes, Shockwave, a J/29 sailed by Diamond Island Yacht Club’s Jim and Tom Moody, captured jib-and-main A. In the jib-and-main B class, Mackinac, a Pearson 32 sailed by Tim and Betsy Etchells, also of Diamond Island Yacht Club, came out on top.

In Sunday’s Split Rock Race, the win in the Spinnaker A class went to Foxy Lady, a J/105 sailed by Jeff Hill of Lake Champlain Yacht Club. Enki, a C&C 99 sailed by Cindy and Marc Turcotte of Lake Champlain Yacht Club, won the very competitive Spinnaker B class. Osprey, a C&C 33 Mark II sailed by Tom Porter of Diamond Island Yacht Club and Lake Champlain Yacht Club, got the win in Spinnaker C class.

In the Jib and Main classes on Sunday, Jim Lampman of Diamond Island Yacht Club sailed Hot Chocolate, a J/9, to the victory in jib-and-main A. And Mackinac, the Pearson 32 sailed by Diamond Island Yacht Club’s Tim and Betsy Etchells, won jib-and-main B, becoming the only double winner of the weekend.

And everyone had fun watching the lone multihull boat, Shoshin, owned by Tim McKegney, zip around the course in record time on Sunday.

Full results can be found at the Diamond Island Yacht Club website: diamondislandyc.org/dir-srr-results-for-2024.

As is the case every year, perhaps the biggest winner was the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The money raised by the regular benefit events — the pre-race breakfast, the Lobster Fest dinner, T-shirt and hat sales and a fundraising raffle — is still being tallied, but is on track to break records.

After the way the weekend started, it was lucky that both races saw only a few brief showers, and the Lobster Fest and awards dinner — a sell-out, attended by more than 100 people — took place under clear skies. The post-race events on Saturday included live music from The Morning Dudes, Tom Van Sant and Jake Geppert, who saved the day with their battery-powered amp and mics.

Power returned just in time for a presentation about Lake Champlain’s most famous denizen, Champ, by Chris Sabick, executive director of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Next came the awards ceremony and Lobster Fest dinner, with winning raffle tickets being drawn throughout for prizes from the event’s generous sponsors, all to benefit the museum.

Top finishers
Diamond Island Regatta, Aug. 10

• Finishes based on corrected time *

Spinnaker A
Rogue, J/105, Marti/Fisher/Cloutier, Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Foxy Lady, J/105, Jeff Hill, Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay

Spinnaker B
Muse, J/37C, Doug Friant, Diamond Island Yacht Club/Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, Malletts Bay Boat Club
Enki, C&C 99, Cindy & Marc Turcotte, Lake Champlain Yacht Club

Spinnaker C
Lil’ Bot, Santana 2023R, Benedek Erdos, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Osprey, C&C 33 MK II, Thomas Porter, Diamond Island Yacht Club/Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Pas de Deux, Pearson Flyer, John Beal, Diamond Island Yacht Club

Jib & main A
Shockwave, J/29, Jim & Tom Moody, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Schuss, J/30, Cameron Giezendanner, Malletts Bay Boat Club
Neelima, M35, Michael Lestage

Jib & main B
Mackinac, Pearson 32, Tim & Betsy Etchells, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, Malletts Bay Boat Club
Salsa, Ericson 34, Sean Linskey, Diamond Island Yacht Club

Split Rock Race, Aug. 11

Spinnaker A
Foxy Lady, J/105, Jeff Hill, Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Lisa J, Mumm 30, Lake Champlain Yacht Club/Malletts Bay Boat Club
Souvenir, C&C 115, Craig Meyerson, Mooney Bay

Spinnaker B
Enki, C&C 99, Cindy & Marc Turcotte, Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Lift Ticket, J/92S, Sam Pratt, Malletts Bay Boat Club
Muse, J/37C, Doug Friant, Diamond Island Yacht Club/Lake Champlain Yacht Club

Spinnaker C
Osprey, C&C 33 MK II, Thomas Porter, Diamond Island Yacht Club/Lake Champlain Yacht Club
Lil’ Bot, Santana 2023R, Benedek Erdos, Diamond Island Yacht Club

Jib & main A
Hot Chocolate, J/9, Jim Lampman, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Pas de Deux, Pearson Flyer, John Beal, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Morning Star … Again, Catalina 320, Stephen Unsworth, Lake Champlain Yacht Club

Jib & main B
Mackinac, Pearson 32, Tim & Betsy Etchells, Diamond Island Yacht Club
Meridian, O’Day 28, Julie Trottier, Malletts Bay Boat Club
Salsa, Ericson 34, Sean Linskey, Diamond Island Yacht Club