Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead took the lead at the Resolute Cup after eight races Thursday on Narragansett Bay, two points clear of its Marblehead Neck neighbor, Eastern Yacht Club.
Jamestown’s Conanicut Yacht Club sits 13th of 23 clubs — one place outside the top 12 who advance to Saturday’s double-point medal races.
Bayview Yacht Club of Detroit is third and San Diego Yacht Club fourth, after jumping from eighth over the course of the day. Annapolis Yacht Club is fifth, 14 points back of the leaders, with six clubs within 12 points behind it.
The race committee ran eight races in a southerly that built to about 15 knots by mid-afternoon. After the third race, a NOAA research ship in the usual course area between Rose Island and Goat Island forced a move to the west side of the channel, with the windward mark set off the Jamestown mooring field — less than a mile away but, several skippers said, a different racecourse.
“It’s a lot puffier and shiftier tucked under Jamestown,” said Wade Waddell, skipper of the two-time defending champion Corinthian team. “I thought it was more college sailing-ish, being able to play the shifts and prioritizing being able to tack and sail the shifts as opposed to just drag racing out to a corner.”
Racing continues Friday, with as many as eight more races expected before the fleet splits Saturday for the final day. The regatta is a Corinthian championship — amateur crews only — sailed in the New York Yacht Club’s Sonars with supplied sails and equalized rigs, and is the only guaranteed path for a U.S. club to qualify for the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.
