From the start of the first race, last year’s Y-Knot Cup Regatta Champion, Donna Demarest, from Waterbury, CT, and Julia Dorsett, Philadelphia, PA, battled each other for the lead with Demarest taking the top spot at the finish. Dorsett was second, with Lake George sailors Steve Mintz and David Whalen finishing up 3rd and 4th and Y-Knot Cup Regatta newcomer Geoff Martin finishing fifth in that first race.
Racing began Saturday with these 5 racers in the Gold Fleet having to wait patiently while the Race Committee worked hard to drop anchor securely in a serious southerly chop. Winds of 15-25 knots coming up Lake George all the way from the Village of Lake George to just south of Dome Island caused the delay. There the racers were going to sail a series of twice-around windward-leeward courses.
Following the first race, Geoff Martin, from Belleville, Ontario, Canada, gained a feel for the chartered 14-foot sloops and/or the heavy Lake George lake chop. He won both of the remaining races sailed that day, just ahead of Demarest in each heat, before fleet racing had to end for the morning.
After lunch of burgers and bratwursts lakeside, racing continued with 5 sailors in the Silver Fleet coming out in only 8-14 knots of wind in the same southerly direction with considerably less chop. Sailor Bill Fountain, Westfield, NJ, established a groove that would lead to his taking first place finishes in all four races sailed that afternoon, making him the clear winner that day. Nathan Besio, Colchester, VT, finished the day cleanly in 2nd place by himself, while three sailors were tied in 3rd place: Krystal Bain, Comstock, NY, Jacob Daniel, NY, NY, and Robert Offe of the Y-Knot Sailing Center, Lake George, NY.
Sunday morning Silver Fleet racing continued in the morning under 10-20 knots of northwesterly wind, which reduced chop considerably because of the shorter fetch between the Adirondack foothills rimming the Lake and the race course. The Silver Fleet racers got in two more races, with Bill Fountain winning both to cement his Regatta sweep with six wins. Jacob Daniel broke the 3-way third-place deadlock from the end of Saturday to secure 3rd place just behind Nathan Besio, who finished second in the Silver Fleet.
Following the Silver Fleet’s break from racing before lunch, winds gradually built out of the north-northwest to 20-25 knots with gusts to 30 knots by the time lunch was finished. These conditions continued until after the 3:00 cutoff for the start of racing, and no sailboats left the dock that afternoon. Thus the Gold Fleet was left with the same standings as those in place Saturday, with Waterbury, CT, sailor Donna Demarest the winner of this year’s Y-Knot Cup Regatta.