Briody Memorial Regatta

This year’s edition of the Briody, August 10 & 11, featured the absolute worst winds that Irondequoit Bay has to offer: puffy, shifty, and almost totally unpredictable. Our PRO, Bill Topping, had this assessment: “We invited the thermal, but she never came.”

Regardless, the sailors from Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts claimed that they had a great time, despite the wind. After 4 races on Saturday (which featured ‘only’ 100 degree shifts), Harri Palm and Inessa Townsend Fish were in front by 8 points over Matt Heywood and Chris Bickley. Andy Klein and Audrey Heatherington-Young were only 1 point behind Matt & Chris.

At Newport, we’re fortunate to race directly in front of the clubhouse, so it’s traditional to break for lunch on Saturday–a very welcome break! After racing, we had our Dinosaur BBQ dinner, and after that Harri Palm and Kevin Heatherington-Young played guitars and sang for us.

Sunday, the wind diminished a bit in velocity, but made up for that with 180 degree shifts! Two races had to be abandoned, but we did get one in, and Harri & Inessa sailed across first, clinching the trophy. Andy and Audrey were second in the race and regatta, with Matt & Chris 3rd overall.

At awards, all the participants got ice cream treats–thanks to Joel Zacklin for the idea, and for also giving me the incentive to have Brag Flags created for the top three!

Finally, this year, we lost a stalwart of Fleet 103, Norm Dahl, who was truly the man behind the Briody–serving as Regatta Chairman for many years. In his honor, we created the Norm Dahl Trophy: a painting donated by Barb Horvath, which is now presented each year to the highest-place finisher from Newport. Helping to present the trophy was Norm’s daughter Laura O’Leary–and congratulations to our Fleet Captain Charlie Courtsal and his crew Lee Hasiuk, the first winners of the trophy. Thanks to all our volunteer help (and to my crew Sue Hill for the pictures), and see you next year!