The Baldwin Cup: Over 120 races by 11 teams of 4 and 24 Harbor 20’s. The Newport Harbor Yacht Club hosted one spectacular event!  Details of the Baldwin Cup and Plenty of photos can be found on the Baldwin Cup Website.

24 Harbor 20s with Colored Team Racing Jibs

Although the event was due to the coordinated effort of over 100 volunteers, a special recognition is appropriate for the boat owners of the Harbor 20 Fleet 1.  The owners donated 26 boats for the event and staffed much, if not all, of the “Dockside Crew” responsible for the preparation, cleaning, maintenance, repairs, event boat coordination and clean up of all 26 boats!

Fleet 1 Captain John Whitney along with Fleet 1 Measurer Warren Duncan led the effort to prep each Harbor 20 for the race, which included a wax/cleaning job, new jibs, bumpers installed, new main and jib sheets, tuning and complete top to bottom inspection and repairs to make all the boats ready for the Regatta.

Once the event started, and led by Warren Duncan as the Dockside Crew Captain, each morning each boat was dried, bilges pumped, cushioned placed, lines checked for frays, bumpers secured, main sails raised and lined up (by color) ready for the sailors.

Dockside Crew Doing A Quick Mast Drop to Retrieve a Snapped Main Halyard.

At about 5 minute intervals throughout the day, the crew would receive the incoming boats, ask the sailors about any needed repairs, and if needed, do quick repairs like an Indy Pit Crew, and assist the new team to board and shove off.

Eight boats times 50+ races a day = 400 arrival/departures per day the Dockside Crew handled. The Dockside Crew consisted essentially of volunteer Fleet 1 owners/sailors.

At the end of each day, each boat was parked securely and safely, dock lines secured, main sails neatly flaked, cushions stored, readied for another day of 1,200 + individual departures.

At the end of the event, the racing jibs, main sheets, jib sheets and bumpers removed and replaced with the owners sheets and sails.

To Dockside Crew:

As you can see from the attached emails, all your efforts were very much appreciated. I would like to add my personal thanks especially to all the volunteers from not only NHYC, but 50 percent of the crew was from other clubs.Once again the Baldwin cup was a great success.  BC 2011 became more than who won the beautiful Baldwin Cup.  After the finals Sunday everyone had smiles on their faces, EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TIME. It was the culmination of a great club, a great location, excellent boats, super guest accommodation, special catering, expert commentary, precision umpiring, and top quality race management.  One judge told me, even if we broke both his legs, this would not stop him finding a way to make it next year.What cannot be overlooked is the “keel” the event was built on is the preparation and reliability of the boats.   You assured this in the weeks, days and hours put in proceeding, during and after the event.  Better than 140 races without complaints and only one mid-race failure requiring a re-sail is testimony to your efforts. Thank you for your part in making this event special.

Warren Duncan Dockside Crew Chief

To All Volunteers, Team Racers and Staff,

Thank you so much for all of your hard work this past weekend and in the preceding months to make the Baldwin Cup a successful and fun regatta.  Your efforts and hospitality resulted in what has truly become one of the best regattas of the year.  Over the course of the weekend, I was approached by several team members from other clubs who told me that this was by far their favorite sailing event and that, if they had to choose only one regatta a year to sail in each year, it would be the Baldwin Cup.  This is a truly special event because of your efforts.  Sometime in the coming weeks I’d like to get the group together to debrief about what went well and what we may want to alter for next year (I don’t think that there is much here).  For now, I just wanted to let all of you know that it was a pleasure working and sailing with you.

See you on the water,

Adam, Race Committee Chairman

Adam

I second everything you all have said about what a great even it was.  I had a ton of fun.  Thanks Adam for putting together a great event.  It is very rare to have a volunteer boat crew there on the dock to catch your boat every time you come in and ask if everything is OK with the boats, then hold the boats while we step off to take a break.  I have never seen that type of service at regattas other than the Olympics, Pan-American games, world championships, etc.

That same boat crew was working hard last night from the time we stopped sailing until the sun went down, including Warren and Helen Duncan, John Whitney and family, Jon P. and Gale, Bill Menninger, Rolly Pulaski, Nik Froehlich and Kevin Hawkins.  They got about half way done with the 25+ boats before dark, so they are back down at the club today to finish it up and get the boats returned to the owners.  All this work was huge to allow us to have 11 teams at the event and the 2 NHYC teams.

Thanks guys!

Peter Wells, Newport Harbor’s Orange Team

The Dockside Crew Performs Another Quick Repair