Other yachts competing this year were the elegant ladies Gleam and Onawa in the Classic Vintage class, Columbia and American Eagle in the Classic Traditional class, Intrepid, Freedom, Valiant and Courageous joined Challenge Twelve in the Modern class and the Grand Prix class finished the gathering with USA (R-1), Right on White (from Brazil), Hissar and Kiwi Magic.

Friday’s practice day was cut short for Courageous when she suffered a failure of a drive shaft in her primary winch. An aluminum spline set within the shaft came unglued, causing her to retire for the day. A repair was swiftly executed with an epoxy compound and Courageous was allowed to rest for the evening to allow the repair to set.

Racing on Saturday was held off by winds blowing 28-30 knots sustained. The Twelves and their tenders waited for several hours in the choppy seas, hoping the wind would drop to or below 25 knots to insure safer sailing for all. After several hours of coasting with her main up, Courageous and the fleet returned to the barn with the day’s racing cancelled. The ability to have another day of rest for the primary winch repair was a bonus for Courageous. The teams got to enjoy a barbeque and dancing to the music of “the Trend” at the EYC to work off some steam before Sunday’s racing.

Dock call on Sunday was early to allow everyone to get three races in. The Grand Prix class started the race, followed by the Moderns and then the Classics. Courageous ventured off in search of better wind on the port side of the windward mark, while her sisters were looking quite impressive on the starboard side of the mark. Courageous came in to the mark flying, made a swiftly executed tack in front of the Modern fleet and roared downwind in grand style. She was still pulling away when she crossed the line to win, followed by Valiant, Freedom, Challenge Twelve and Intrepid, with the proverbial “bone in her teeth”.

Courageous and Freedom were over early in the start of the second race but they made up for lost time with Freedom leading to the first mark, followed by Courageous. Winds were sustained at 15-17 knots.

The excitement of racing was to go to the next level when Valiant lost her owner overboard. He was recovered by the Courageous tender, sans his pants, which were stripped from him due to the wave action while he was trying to hang on to Valiant by a dragging line. Embarrassed but unhurt, he was returned to his yacht with a pair of borrowed shorts. 

This race and the next were visually not some of Courageous’s best racing - she was looking tired and was settling in the water deeper than she had in the first race. However, for the first time in 10 years of competing in the Edgartown regatta, Courageous brought home the silver with a regatta win for the Moderns. Freedom took the second place trophy in the Moderns.

While some of the other Twelves are going on to race in Nantucket this week, Courageous returned to Newport to get ready for the 12-Meter World Championships in September. She was towed home to Newport in 30 knots of wind and 4-foot seas with awesome stability and power, but not before many cameras in Edgartown came out for final snapshots of this remarkable champion. This lovely lady still turns heads wherever she goes and she towed into Newport a winner once again. 

Respectfully submitted,
Denise J. Pullis - Bloomfield, NY