Vrengen triumphs

Vrengen, helmed by Josh Greenslade, took top honours at the PHRF National Championship.

The championship for Bermuda yachts, run under the PHRF handicap system, took place on Saturday, with 17 teams entering the three-race competition for the Ignition Trophy. 

The event format was for two windward-leeward races, followed by a distance race. 

All three races counted towards the championship, and prizes were awarded by Class, established by handicap range. 

Race officers Charles Tatem and Patrice Horner oversaw the racing in the Great Sound in glorious sailing conditions — winds of 8-14 knots from the south, flat water and clear skies. Race One, a long two-lap race, got off to a clean start with the boats jockeying for a gap on the start line and fighting for the left side of the course. 

Nasty Medicine jumped out to an early lead, with a mixed group of Vipers, J105’s and Etchells in hot pursuit. 

After the handicaps were applied Vrengen claimed the win ahead of Yabsta.

Race Two had an extra lap added, and the breeze had now built to a consistent 12 knots. 

Seeking out the windshifts and working on optimising boat speed were key to this race — again Nasty Medicine was the first boat to finish, but after handicaps were applied the one-two of the previous race was repeated, with Vrengen edging out Yabsta.

Race Three was a distance race, of approximately 7.7 nautical miles, around various Government Marks in the Great Sound, finishing off at the host Dinghy Club in Hamilton Harbour. 

The start saw a number of boats over the line early and needing to restart. 

Test for trimmers

This course was a mix of sailing on all points of sail and was a test for the sail trimmers working on the speed of their yachts.

Once again Nasty Medicine was the first boat to finish, but after handicaps were applied Chequemate came first ahead of Raggamuffin.

The boats in Class Two  were racing for the Gubinelli Carafe, won by the J105 Yabsta helmed by Trevor Boyce, with Ragamuffin second and Smokin third.

The boats in Class 3 were racing for the BYRA Plate, won by the IOD Vrengen helmed by Greenslade, with Blitz second and Raven third.

The Overall Winner of the Ignition Trophy and the 2013 Bermuda PHRF National Champion was Vrengen, with Yabsta second and Raggamuffin third. 

For the last two years the winning designs have come from 1929 (Dragon) and 1933 (IOD) – showing that the latest designs do not have it all their own way.

The Bermuda Yacht Racing Association would like to thank sponsors headed up by Ignition, (www.ignition.bm) a leader in Managed Services, Cloud Hosting, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Hosting, Enterprise Records Management and IT Outsourcing; and Gubinelli wines, distributed by Burrows Lightbourne. n