Women skippers set the pace at Onion Patch Series
by Bermuda Race 3 Jul 2018 10:57 BST
USA 11 Swift, skippered by Paige Krumwiede, starts the Newport Bermuda Race, the second leg in the Onion Patch Series. Within her division, Swift was first in the race and first the series © Daniel Forster / PPL
Swift and Dorade won the two divisions of the Onion Patch Series, skippered by Paige Krumweide and Pam Rorke Levy, respectively.
Two divisions of boats sailed in the 2018 Onion Patch Series, with combination scoring based on results from the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, the Newport Bermuda Race, and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta. In the first division, the Traditional OPS Division, an extra windward-leeward race was sailed in Bermuda, but in both the Traditional OPS and in the Navigators Series, the final result was a victory for a boat with a woman skipper.
Paige Krumweide skippered Swift, a Navy 44 Mk 1 designed by McCurdy & Rhodes, to a dominant 2-1-1 result among the 9 boats in the traditional Onion Patch Series, far ahead of two other 44-footers, the Navy 44 Mk 2 Defiance, skippered by Matthew Signorelli, and the J/44 Kenai, skippered by Chris Lewis. Defiance edged out Kenai on the strength of a better finish in the Newport Bermuda Race, which is weighted at 1.25 times the results of the other two regattas. This was Kenai's second straight OPS podium finish, however, as the J/44 finished in second place in 2016.
Pam Rorke Levy's S&S 52, Dorade improved throughout the series, finishing with a 3-2-1 among the 7 boats in the Navigators Division. Kevin McLaughlin's Crazy Horse, a J/V 50 that won the Navigator's Division in 2016, took the lead at the Annual Regatta but fell out of the running in the light airs of the Newport Bermuda Race, which favored smaller boats. Jay Gowell's Temptress, a Taylor 41, scored steadily throughout the series to take second place with a 2-3-3 ahead of Bob Manchester's J/120 Vamoose, which finished 5-4-2.
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