Martin’s River Regatta 2017
Sept 14, 2017
It has been 20 years since the late marine artist Bill Gilkerson and fellow Martin’s River resident, Chip Dickison came up with the idea of a Labour Day get-together for local boats, with some informal racing thrown in. Chip tells us the first year saw 5 or 6 boats show up. For the last few years the racing has been organised by the Indian River Yacht Club and usually sees between 25 and 35 boats. Fun is still the main goal and this year was no exception. Pat Nelder sent us this report on how it all unfolded.
“Another marvellous day for the Martins River Regatta saw 25 boats racing on two courses.
The Inshore Fleet, Class B, was dominated by two serious Bluenose Class sailors, Axel May and Andrew Murphy, tearing around the course, putting each other aground and beating each other up as only Bluenose sailors do. At the end, Esprit with Andrew and Odette Murphy beat Fish n Chips with Axel and Petra May with John MacLennan by 1 second! Denis Stairs, with crew Jennifer Smith and Sydney Lang, sizzled to third place on their Bluejacket Sizzler.
The Island Fleet, Class A was lead around the course by the beautiful classics Hayseed and Seneca, but once the results were tallied, that fast little Folkboat Skeirkert, with Uwe and Bernard won the day. In second place was the IOD Restless with Ted Murphy and third was the tenacious Tomater 3 with Warren Webber.
One of the most wonderful things about the regatta is the legacy of hospitality shown by the folks of Martins River from the pre-race lunch to the delicious potluck après race, it is all a great time!
Many thanks to the ‘redneck raft-up’ committee team of Allison Nelder, Lucas Kelley, Ryan Mosher, Don Ives, Susan Croan and Bob Bramwell, and to our wonderful hosts and hostesses on Silver Point Road, Bryan and Anne Palfreyman, Wendy Levy and Terry Conrad.
And thanks to all the participants that came out and made the sailing so terrific!” Pat Nelder
Full results: http://lyc.ns.ca/racing/racing2017/IPYC.htm
Photo Credits: Allison Nelder
