15th Annual Robie Pierce Regatta Recap
The 15th Annual Robie Pierce Regatta ran from May 30th to June 2nd. 17 boats hit the starting line for the open regatta and 4 boats raced in Thursday's women’s regatta. Skipper Eric Rose, along with crew Dalina Delfing and Richard Jaffe, won the open regatta (results) and Dawn Hart, along with Lin Wei-Lee and Meg Leary, won the women’s regatta (results).
Event co-chair Ed "Buttons" Padin commented, “This was the 15th Robie but actually the 17th adaptive regatta that American Yacht Club and Larchmont Yacht Club have run together. It started as a smaller event, not knowing exactly how it was going to develop. What’s happened is we’ve become a major annual regatta in the adaptive sailing community and one of the few, if not the only, that blends both physical and neurological disabilities with blind sailing. We’ve become a family that keeps growing and it’s changed the awareness, personalities, and sensitivities of both clubs.”
“This is a really special day for me,” winner Eric Rose said. “When I registered last year I immediately knew I would come back because they do such a great job at running a regatta. To win first place in my second year here is pretty exciting. I don’t win too many regattas but I enter a lot of them! This whole event is run so smoothly — the American Yacht Club and Larchmont Yacht Club are both magnificent places to sail and it’s just an honor for us to come here and sail.”
Competitor Jim Hahn, who came in 4th in the open regatta, also shared: “The competition was super fun as always and it’s good to be back to see old friends and meet new ones. I’ll be back next year!”
We asked PRO Rich Hulit for his breakdown of the racing: “First of all it’s really a privilege to be part of this regatta and watch all these sailors come out,” Rich said. “Their commitment to sailing and their dedication is inspiring — they’re strapped into the boats, many of them can’t move around or can’t see, and they’re out there sailing.”
“In terms of the regatta,” Rich continued, “On the first two days we had great weather and then the last two days it was a bit challenging. On Saturday we had one race we had to shorten when the wind turned off. We sat around for a little while and literally 5 minutes before we were going to cancel, the breeze filled and we got in another really good race. On Sunday, we had to postpone waiting for the breeze. People were a little skeptical when we were sailing out to the race course but it filled in with 8 to 9 knots and we got in 2 really great races.”
Next year’s event will be hosted at Larchmont. You can learn more at the Robie Pierce website.
