Perhaps because sailors can’t get enough opportunities to try to beat the Pisces, some chose to hold a second, unofficial regatta in 2018.  Seven boats, including two from the Petit Manan Yacht Club.  participated, and a well-attended party at the Fish compound followed. With much fanfare and applause, the racers were awarded whimsical trophies, made by Angie, Tova, and granddaughters, Lucy and Mary Johnstone.

The more-than-rumored sequence crossing the official line of the unofficial race is: Pisces, Morning Mist, Irene, Mimi, High Cirrus, Priceless, and Harmony

Race II aboard Pisces by Harry Fish
Harmony’s Race by Joe Bell
Report from Irene by Bernie Sund
Mimi’s Story by Dana DeVos
The High Cirrus log by Andy Wilson
Morning Mist drifts in from the West and into 2nd place by George Arey

Page last updated Oct. 2nd, 2018. Send any caption info to webmaster@portandstarboardyachtclub.org .

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Race II aboard Pisces:

A beautiful day for a race. SSW winds about 10 – 12 kts.
Irene, Mimi, Harmony, Priceless and High Cirrus started first. Pisces and Morning Mist started 20 minutes later. During the 20 min. handicap wait, Pisces was running timed legs to the start line and Morning Mist was doing the same.

We decided to conduct the race as a Match race against Morning Mist as she could be somewhat faster. The basic rule in Match racing is to always cover your opponent and stay between them and the next mark.

Pisces got a good start, about 10 seconds after the horn. We were about the length of the start line ahead of Morning Mist.  Pisces and Morning Mist were on parallel starboard tacks with Pisces ahead but a little to leeward.

We held this very close hauled course for most of the first leg. As Pisces traveled along this tack, we moved upwind to be directly ahead of Morning Mist. We were concerned that as long as Morning Mist stayed to windward with both of us on starboard tack, she could force us beyond the port lay line to the Mark Island Bell. By pulling directly ahead we eliminated that threat. Pisces tacked first and Morning Mist continued on starboard tack for a short while then also tacked over to port. That put her behind Pisces but to windward.

The winds around Mark Island can be difficult, so we came about to be back on starboard tack and force Morning Mist to pass astern.  Two more port tacks and two starboard tacks brought Pisces to the Mark Island Bell right behind High Cirrus and ahead of Morning Mist.

There were five boats – Priceless, High Cirrus, Pisces , Morning Mist, Mimi – rounding the Bell within yards of each other. Irene had rounded the Bell first and was well up the bay, and Harmony had not reached the Bell yet.

Pisces went wide around the Bell to get room to set the spinnaker. Morning Mist went inside High Cirrus and gained a small lead. Now the crew assignments changed aboard Pisces for the downwind leg. Kevin took over as downwind helmsman and Sherry and I switched to foredeck crew with Bob. We set our spinnaker and TOOK OFF.
With the wind dropping, it was a long broad port reach with many adjustments to the spinnaker to the Squire Point Nun. We slowly caught up with and passed the rest of the fleet and rounded Squire Point Nun in first place.

Rounding the Nun on port tack, it took two port tacks and two starboard tacks to the finish line. Pisces finished about 9 minutes ahead of second place Morning Mist for a GREAT WIN.

Pisces did it again with the help of a great crew. Bob Fish on the foredeck with Kevin Bixby and Sherry Fish handling the jib and spinnaker. Kevin as downwind helmsman and skipper, helmsman and mainsheet Harry Fish Jr.

Pisces is an original wooden Atlantic Class Sloop, sail number: A-69
Designed by W. Starling Burgess
Built: Abeking & Rasmussen, 1929
30 ft 6 in
sail area 376 sq ft
draft 5 ft
beam 6 ft
total displacement 6000 lb.
ballast 2950 lb.

I have owned Pisces for 45 years and have sailed her in many PSYC regattas. My father sailed her for the first time in PSYC 1973 and she has been in most of the regattas since then.

Owner and skipper
Harry Fish, Jr.

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Harmony’s race:

Joe and Nancy-Captain and crew-were aboard Harmony.

The day started off promising, sunny and clear and a fairly nice wind. At the starting line, we knew the first tack towards the first mark we wanted to take. But, we made the mistake of not knowing which end of the starting line to head out of. We learned a valuable lesson to make a few practice runs before the gun goes off. So, we ended up losing about 3-5 minutes at the start. From there, we had a good sail to the first mark and rounded it easily and made up some time. But, we were playing catch up the rest of the race. We easily rounded the second mark and headed towards the finish line. We tried to make a long tack in, but the currents gave us a hard time. It took a number of tacks to finally cross the line. All in all, it was a fun race and we look forward to increasing the number of boats next year.

Joe Bell

Report from Irene
Port and Starboard Chandler Bay Regatta – August 26, 2018

Irene, a Cape Dory 25s, was invited to Race on Chandler Bay. Partly due to the earlier official regatta being shrouded in fog. A bright sunny day, made better by being joined by 2 boats from the Petit Manan Y.C.  We sailed out to Moose Peak Light the day before and then into the Cows Yard to check out the new racers! They looked friendly but who knows?

Race Day we all sailed down the Reach and over to the starting line. Several delayed starts. We blame Crystal! She has been cut out of the will and banished to Massachusetts. We managed good position for the 3rd time and shot across the start line. For the 1st time ever, we made it up the Bay, with a series of slow boats following far behind. Rounded the #1 Bell, captured in an awesome image by Dr. Bickford [copyrights are being negotiated]. Banning her may have been an overreaction.

One of the great pleasures of the day was looking at a line of sailboats heading down the bay! Behind us! Pride goeth before a fall? Half way down the bay, Pisces drew even. Yes, I took a great video! And didn’t cry (much). By the time we reached the 2nd mark, Priceless drew even. We were so close we exchanged pleasantries. Priceless drew ahead. High Cirrus was even on the Starboard side! We rounded the mark, passed Priceless and sped toward the finish!!

Having more boats, real friendly people, and great weather made for a wonderful day! The party afterwards was Super.

Bernie Sund

Mimi’s story
Ray Jones and Dana DeVos were on Mimi.
We left the pier about 9:30 and headed up the Reach. Bernie was already in front. Mimi sailed along with Andy and Sarah on their Island Packet High Cirrus . George and George on the Ericson Morning Mist could be seen coming across the Reach. Bob came over from his Sandy River mooring, and Joe came out from the Reach a little later.

At the start, things got a little complicated. We had 7 boats, Andy and the Georges from the PMYC. We had only given the visiting boats the briefest of information about the race. So, as the 7 boats sailed around the starting line, we needed to get the race details sorted out, and agreed to. We decided to have two starts, slow boats being the Cape Dories, O’Day, and the Island Packet. They would all start first, then 20 minutes later the fast boats, Harry and the Georges. The start got delayed a few times as all this was sorted out.

Finally it was time, and Ray and I got ourselves in a good spot and got over the start line about a boat length in front of Bernie. He was to our port and we needed to tack, so I yelled over to him, and he tacked first. Mimi had a mechanical problem from our last sail, which meant the outhaul was broken, and the sail was bunching up. We came up with a fix, but lost some time doing it. We followed Bernie upwind toward the bell. Bob came along side and we sailed side by side, until he tacked. We sailed a bit longer and tacked, which I thought gave us better wind. For a while it looked like we had pulled away from Bob, but as we got near the bell there he was and he was ahead of us. It was crowded at the bell, Bernie had already gone around, but Bob, and now Harry and the Georges, and Andy had shown up, and also wanted to get in front of us, which they all did. On the downwind we made up a little, not much. Got to the nun and started for the finish, Bernie following George and George following Harry. We were close to Bob and Andy, a bit upwind. We got a good tack, and the next tack took us almost to the shore at Sandy River Beach. The next tack got us to the finish. We were on a starboard tack to finish, and Andy in High Cirrus was coming in on a port tack. Both boats were converging on the green ball. High Cirrus had to give way and let us pass about 5 feet in front.

Wonderful day for sailing. Such a pleasure to have two visiting boats, with such great crews.

Dana DeVos

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The High Cirrus log
Port and Starboard race/potluck

The Petit Manan Yacht Club was lucky enough to be invited to a day of racing with the Port and Starboard Yacht Club in Chandler Bay on August 26th. Morning Mist and High Cirrus sailed up the night before and anchored in the Cows Yard .

The morning of the race we headed out to Jonesport to pick up with PSYC’s fleet who led us to the course. Information regarding the actual race course and timing was shared, and the captains briefed their respective crews. Sarah and I (High Cirrus, Island Packet 37) had been training for…. Well who knows how long?

We were lucky enough to be in the start with the “slow boats”. High Cirrus is built for comfort, not for speed. The start was smooth and we headed out tacking for the cut between Ballast Island and the Mainland. Conditions were perfect for High Cirrus with wind around 15 knots. As we passed the North side of Ballast, headed for the cut, the captain contacted the “committee boat” regarding the fact that everyone else was not headed that direction?? PSYC’s commodore provided clarification, via radio, that rounding Ballast Island was not a requirement of the course. Too late for us so we continued on our tack hoping to make up the distance over the course of the race. It was a little lonely out there for a while but the wind was great, the sun was shining and we were sailing. What could be bad about that?

After a few tacks, we converged on the mark off Mark Island. There must have been five boats all there at the same time making the turn. Then to the downwind leg of the race. High Cirrus isn’t big on downwind runs and the wind had tapered off a bit. We tried a little wing and wing. Played with the rig a bit. Sarah suggested rolling up the stay-sail to expose the Genny better to the wind. Great idea! It was great sailing amongst the other boats as we moseyed on down towards Roque Island Ledge. Things picked up again at the mark as we headed towards the finish. Our wind was back and so was the excitement of tacking towards that line.

Our last turn put us on a port tack to the finish line, Unfortunately it also put us a line converging with Dana and his Cape Dory (on a starboard tack). We were forced to give way right at the line as Dana strategically crossed in front of us. What a great day for a sail and what great company to do it with.

The following potluck was another bonus to our trek East. Dana DeVos and Keith Newman provided rides to a beautiful cottage on Moosabec Reach where the PSYC set up a great feed of hot dogs, hamburgers, hors deuvres and desserts that was second to none. Great food and great people and hopefully a continuation to the start of the two clubs joining in our love of sailing.

Andy Wilson

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Morning Mist drifts in from the West and into 2nd place
A great race and party, the best of the year for either club, and I’ll be there for the Sunday races, but without my helmsman, he has to go back to work. I’ll need to hire a new one, son George was too expensive, 2nd place indeed, he said he always comes in first.

George Arey