Temptress wins Onion Patch

Series concludes with Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta

Richie Shulman and his Temptress crew nailed down the IMS North American Championship and will take home the Henry B. du Pont Trophy as top individual boat in the Onion Patch Series. They took two second place spots in Friday’s Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta to clinch the series.

Shulman said, “going for the IMS North American Championship was a real incentive for the crew. We were sailing against a wide range of boats in the series, under a wide range of courses and conditions. Winning this was a real challenge and we a proud of the accomplishment.”

The Onion Patch fleet consisted of boats ranging from all-out IMS Racing designs, a new purpose built IMS Cruiser/Racer, some Swan 45s and J-44s, to older designs like the Swan 44, Carter 41.

Lawrence Dickie in his N/M 52 Ptarmagin led the fleet after four races, but the IMX 45 Temptress picked up a place in the 1.2 weighted Newport Bermuda Race and five points in the final two races for the victory over 28 other IMS Racing and Cruiser/Racers that had sailed the seven-race series. Crescendo, a Swan 44 sailed by Jamie Wilmot and a full crew of Austrailian mates took third.


Spectacular is the only word to describe the two Bermuda races of the RBYC Anniversary Regatta. Friday morning’s race was a windward-leeward in about 8 knots of breeze over flat water. The afternoon breeze freshened to 12-14 and was sailed in a new ‘steeplechase’ format that took the yachts on a tour of deep water channels in the Great Sound, Granaway Deep, and Royal Bay. The yachts finished with a brilliant spinnaker run from the Sound through Two Rocks Passage and down to the line at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club in Hamilton Harbor.

Commenting on the new format for the series - two previous races in the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and the round-the-cans race in Bermuda - Shulman said, “The more races the better. The extra racing in Newport offered an ideal tune-up for the ocean race and the second race in Bermuda was a fun format, but it still had some real windward-leeward legs to make it a good race."

Shulman also led Storm Trysail Red, the winning three-boat team, to take the Onion Patch Trophy. His team mates, Bob Towse with Blue Yankee which scored sixth in the series and Lawrence Dickie’s Ptarmagin. Shulman said, "Team sailing is not something you do often and it develops bonds with sailors you usually compete against. Your teammate is you competition for individual honours, but your friend in the team competition. It is a fine line. You want him to sail fast but not as fast as you. “

The Onion Patch Series offers excellent competition in a variety of conditions from racing in the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta on Rhode Island Sound or Narragansett Bay to the ocean Gulf Stream crossing in the Newport Bermuda classic, to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club’s Anniversary Regatta in Bermuda’s Great Sound and North Shore waters. Cruiser/Racer and Racing type yachts all find an opportunity to excel on the different courses.