Thanks to the Ida Lewis Race Committee for pulling off a race in yet another challenging evening. So, after an AP, two generals, a major wind shift, a line and course re-set, and the dreaded I Flag, we got in a good race. Congratulations to Peter Denton and the Ultimate Pressure team on 226 for the [...]
Thank you to Bill O'Hanley and the ILYC RC for getting a race in under constantly changing conditions. We were out early on 39, and from 4pm to 8pm, I am pretty sure we had the wind clock a full 360. Challenging for sailors, but imagine the frustrations of the RC. Kudos and thanks for sticking [...]
We were excited to see our biggest fleet yet on the water last night, including Q&A, Hawk and Virginia for their first outings. We had a good breeze for the first race and enough wind to get around the course for a second race. In a relatively weak flood tide, Bill O'Hanley's RC laid out a [...]
That was one strange weather map yesterday, with plenty of weather trying to spin counterclockwise onto the Bay and ruin our race day. Fortunately, the black clouds kept to the West Bay, and then it cleared up and we were able to do some sailing in a modest southerly. PRO Bill O’Hanley of the Ida Lewis [...]
One of our newest owners, Kelsey Patnaude, contributed this blog. Thanks, Kelsey, and welcome to the fleet! Just as quarantine restrictions were beginning to ease up, Fredeau (Frederic de Mesel), who has been locked down in Europe, asked me to go check out a Shields for him in Mystic. We had looked at a few this [...]
Fleet 9 Shields sailing got a slow and late start this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but beginning on June 3, we began holding informal evening races with crews limited to three sailors per boat wearing masks and PFDs, maintaining physical distance when possible. After three weeks with the fleet building slowly from 8 to [...]
Ida Lewis Yacht Club kicked off the 2020 Shields Wednesday Night Series last night with a great number of boats and a beautiful night of racing. What was forecasted to be a partly to mostly cloudy night went away as Newport delivered an amazing evening. With clear skies and a steady 12 knots of breeze, the [...]
This story by Holley Toppa (156) first appeared in Scuttlebutt Sailing News and the North Sails website. It's strange to think that the summer sailing of 2020 in Newport was kicked off with Wednesday night Shields racing. After the start on the first upwind leg, my dad, Mike Toppa is at the helm. Wednesday night Shields [...]
After 2 boats had keel bolts fail when launching recently, resulting in the boats dropping and being total write offs, Fleet 9 and Sail Newport met to review the launch process and find a safe, long-term solution. Besides 2 boats being total losses, luckily no one has been injured. But Sail Newport’s ability to allow the [...]
You spoke, we listened… As most of you know, Shields Fleet 9 has seen a significant participation decline over the past decade or so and your fleet officers set out to find out why… and how we can revitalize enthusiasm in this great fleet. To do this, we set out to listen to both past and [...]
