Under a beautiful Maine sky and fair breezes the 2011 Shipyard Cup fleet saw a great day of sailing.  After a one hour delay to let the breeze build to a pleasant 10-15 kts., the staggered start spread the fleet out over 52 minutes.  After 3 hours of racing on a delightful afternoon sailing yacht WHISPER grabbed top honors for the day with S/Y WHITEHAWK and yacht SUMURUN not far behind. The finish offered a bit of excitement watching sailing yacht VIRAGO, S/Y SCHEHERAZADE and ISOBEL battle it out for 4th  place with SCHEHERAZADE and VIRAGO exchanging leads several times in the closing meters to the finish.   All but sailing yacht CHRISTOPHER who encountered some trouble on the course finished within 8 minutes of the first finisher, a real testament to the prowess of the Bucket Protocol handicapping system lead by Jim Teeters.

2011 Shipyard Cup Sailing yacht Whisper Wins Day One - Photo by Billy Black

2011 Shipyard Cup Sailing yacht Whisper Wins Day One - Photo by Billy Black

A new feature of this year’s Shipyard Cup was a performance by the Texas Flying Legends Museum.  A collection of WWII aircraft performing crowd pleasing aerobatics following the race.

A collection of WWII aircraft performing crowd pleasing aerobatics following the 2011 Shipyard Cup - Photo by Billy Black

All of the owners, guests and crew were all smiles at the post race cocktail party, looking toward another of day of racing.  The forecast is not as favorable for the final day of racing but the breeze is expected to hold.

The final order of finishing was:  Sailing yacht WHSIPER(116′), WHITEHAWK(92′), SUMURUN(94′), VIRAGO(100′), SCHEHERAZADE(154′), ISOBEL(76′), S/Y TENACIOUS (115′), and CHRISTOPHER.(150′).

2011 Shipyard Cup Sailing yacht Whisper Wins Day One - Photo by Billy Black

2011 Shipyard Cup Sailing yacht Whisper Wins Day One - Photo by Billy Black

Sailing yacht Christopher at the 2011 Shipyard Cup Day One - Photo by Billy Black