Results attached.  Updated to include boat type.  Photos here.  Thanks again.

The 2011 New England was held in conjunction with Hobie Fleet’s Narragansett Bay Island Hop. Those arriving Friday to the Compass Rose Beach race site at Quonset Point were treated to a picture perfect evening with stunning views looking down the West Passage of Narragansett Bay and huge full moon rising as the sun set.

After an hour delay waiting for breeze to fill in, Mother Nature couldn’t have served up a better summer day for the first day of racing - blue skies, temps forecasted for low 80’s. 16 boats (11 F18s and 5 Open Class), including some new faces, started the race in a light easterly breeze. The course for the day would be a grand tour of Narragansett Bay - from Quonset Point, we’d race south through the West Passage, round Beavertail, continue up the East Passage to buoy C1 at the southwest corner of Goat Island/entrance to Newport Harbor, through the center span of the Newport Bridge, continue up the Bay to the Mt Hope Bridge, then northwest to the mouth of the Providence River (R16/Conimincut Point) and finally south back to Quonset Pt.

In the light breeze, the Guilliano brothers quickly shot out in front, rounding Beavertail with a several minute lead. Mike/Tyler rounded 2nd followed closely by Sandra/Sam. All competitors were able to hoist their spinnakers as they rounded the buoy. The 10-15kt sea breeze finally caught up with the leaders just south of Prudence Island bringing much of the fleet along with it. Loving the sea breeze, Tripp/Treavor, sailing on the new MKII ‘Ronstan’ really started to motor, built a decent lead by the time they arrived to Mt Hope bridge, and continued to stretch this to the finish. Jim/Nick smartly played the western shoreline enroute from the Providence River back to Quonset Pt, passing several boats to finish 3rd to Mike/Tyler’s 2nd for the day. At end of Day 1, in the F18 Class, Tripp/Trevor had a 12min lead over 2nd and 4 ½mins separated 2nd through 6th. On corrected time, ???, was sitting in first in the Open Class. Teams completed the approx 60 miles in elapsed times from 5 ½ to 6 ¾ hours.

Saturday evening, tired sailors were treated to steak kabobs, pulled pork, numerous salads, cake and brownies. Huge thanks to Barbara, Joy, and others from Hobie Fleet 443 who put on the spread. Of course, Narragansett Beer was flowing to keep pace with the stories of the day’s adventures. Running aground was the most common theme. Most shallow spots were just off Conimicut Pt, although we found others. Most notable was the rock near Hog Island that Ben/Howard tangled with on their N6.0. Their daggerboard was destroyed and bottom of their starboard hull badly damaged. Fortunately they were able to sail back safely to the finish.

For Day 2, forecasts were south winds 5-10 with showers off and on, possible T-storms, and heavy downpours later in the day. Day 2’s course took us south to Beavertail, then to R2 at the north end of Conanicut Island where the RC waited to shorten the course if weather necessitated. Mother Nature treated us kindly again – great breeze/no rain. We continued on north rounding Prudence Island to starboard then onto finish at Quonset. We started racing in southerly 5-10 that built to 12-15 SE at Beavertail. Mike/Tyler, now racing on ‘Ronstan’, followed by the Guilliano brothers and Tripp/Trevor, were first to round Beavertail, continued to stretch their lead, finished first for the day, wiping out the lead Tripp/Trevor had the day prior. Jim/Nick once again went to the western shoreline making gainers. Day 2 had teams completing the 40 miles in 4-5hours.

All toll, we sailed approximately 100 miles, total elapsed times from 9 ½ to 11 ½ hours. Congratulations to 1st place finishers, Mike/Tyler in the F18 Class and xxx/xxx in the Open Class. Thank you to all who volunteered their time to make the event happen.