By Phil Dickey, Essex Yacht Club
Navicular finished second in PHRF Spinnaker 2. © Linda von Rosenvinge
Essex Yacht Club’s seventy-third Wetherill Race, sailed May 16-17, was again a challenging and enjoyable ocean racing event. Reconfigured in 2021 to a 140-mile course from Old Saybrook, CT to Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard and back, leaving Block Island to starboard on the return leg, 80% of the race takes place in ocean waters. The Wetherill is an excellent spring tune-up for the Newport Bermuda Race, the Marion to Bermuda Race, the Marblehead to Halifax Race, and ocean cruising adventures.
The Wetherill is the oldest consecutively-run race named after a Cruising Club of America member, Sam Wetherill, who commanded a 100-foot subchaser vessel in World War 1, was a founding member of the Cruising Club, edited Motor Boat Magazine, and was Commodore of Essex Yacht Club in 1940-41.
Nineteen competitors sailed in PHRF, with Bob Green winning the PHRF Nonspinnaker Doublehanded class in his Sabre Spirit Eroica (with an average crew age of 82!). In PHRF Spinnaker 1, the winner was Paul Jennings in his Cal 40 Towhee followed by Jonathan Zaskorski in his Hinckley H-38 Spectra and Dan Fisher in his Ohlson 38 Tynaje. In PHRF Spinnaker 2, the winner was Giles Carter in his Alsberg Express 34 Sagacious followed by Doug Wisch in his Morris 46 Navicular and Duncan McKay in his Swan 411 Yankee Boy.
Eight competitors sailed under ORC. The winner of ORC 1 was Tom Bowler in his Morris Ocean Series Escapade II, followed by Brad Gibbs in his JPK 10.30 Rumble and Murray Beach in his Tartan 4600 Meridian. The winner in ORC 2 was the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s Mills 43 Cool Breeze, which was awarded an hour of redress for assisting another competitor, Hound Dog, when they developed steering problems. Hound Dog was able to return to shore after making temporary repairs. The overall Wetherill Cup winners were Paul Jennings in PHRF and the Coast Guard team in ORC.
The Race Committee, led by Tom Wilcox and turning in a fine performance for the weekend, started the fleet in light air on Friday afternoon. The fleet reached to the east of the Long Sand Shoal and into the approach to the Race with an earlier-than-predicted ebb tide. The breeze, which was predicted to be southerly, was out of east and even the north, with the exit from the Sound becoming mostly a beat.
Light air prevailed for the start. © Linda von Rosenvinge
The southerly then filled, and the fleet – genoa and spinnaker – reached to “G31” off Gay Head, with most boats rounding around midnight in a fog. The trip back to Block Island was mostly a genoa reach, though the breeze became light off the southern side of Block when the fleet rounded around daybreak. The sail back into the Sound was in light air, though most of the fleet enjoyed favorable current and re-entered and finished at Saybrook Outer Light before the ebb started.
The author’s Swan 46 Flying Lady © Linda von Rosenvinge
The weekend was concluded with a festive awards ceremony in the Wetmore Room of the Essex Yacht Club on Sunday, May 18, where approximately 150 skippers, crew, Essex YC members, and other well-wishers relived the events of the race and congratulated the winners. Race Chairman and Rear Commodore Joe Standart officiated.
The organizers of the Race appreciate the support of the Essex Yacht Club and the efforts from the Race Committee, the Club’s management and staff, and especially the skippers and crew who made the 2025 event a great success. We think the Wetherill is well on its way to becoming THE early season ocean race in New England. ■
