Top
to bottom:
12M Gleam; Elizabeth Tiedemann and her crew raced Mariner
in honor of her husband, the late Bob Tiedemann; Nantucket is beautifully
historical down to the last detail; 12 Meters were among the yachts
in attendance. |
Although it is an unwritten rule that the annual Opera House regatta carries
a bad weather curse – or so I heard from someone who has missed
only five of the 34 OHCs in history – the conditions could not have
been more promising leading up to this summer's edition of the late August
regatta. Brightwork gleamed in Nantucket's crisp evening sunlight, the
grand assemblage of classics juxtaposed amongst a packed harbor of megayachts,
as yachties and yacht enthusiasts made their way to 21 Federal for Saturday
evening's skipper's meeting.
The OHC is one of the largest classic wooden boat races on the U.S. eastern
seaboard, and this year for the first time ever, was part of the Panerai
Classic Yachts Challenge. Though the fact that a boat must be all-wooden
to compete means that the actual race is limited to classics – of
all sizes – the crowd is massive, comprised of everyone from the
superyacht owners and their guests, to the summer islanders, to the die-hard
classic racer, to the weekend charterer. The famous weekend got its start
one summer evening in 1973, when an array of the island's finest sailors
were lamenting the lack of race events while congregated at the lively
Opera House Bar on South Water Street. Gwen Gaillard, proprietress of
the Opera House, together with the late maitre d' Chick Walsh, offered
to throw the post-race party and donate the trophy – a sterling
silver wine bucket – if the yachties actually got a race together.
By the end of the evening, the Opera House Cup was in the works.
What began as the
"first all-wooden, single hulled classic boat regatta on the East
Coast to welcome all classes of boats to compete for a single trophy",
has evolved to accommodate a vast fleet of yachts who wouldn't dream of
missing the northeastern summer's event de résistance. Sixty-four
boats competed in this year's Opera House Cup regatta, from the 103ft
Whitehawk, to Owl, a 26ft Alerion sloop who won overall
and took home the grand prize – which included the Cup, of course
– and this year, a gorgeous Panerai watch and wall clock. The OHC
is also now the primary fundraiser for island youth programs through Nantucket
Community Sailing.
The traditional grand
finale – the annual OHC Awards party at Jetties Beach – was
better than ever, from the famous raw bar to dancing the night away under
a miraculously clear sky. The harbor, which gradually filled throughout
the week, was quite the spectacle by the weekend. Scores of spectators,
in town for a Nantucket weekend, cruised the docks, ice cream in hand,
to take in the glimmering perfection of the growing Opera House fleet.
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103
Ruggles Avenue