Boat building event a sellout in the best way

BY CHRIS STEVENS

Longtime volunteer Jan

Lamkin feared the Arts Festival boat building event on July 4 would be a washout, but she was wrong.

“We thought with the rain today, forget about it,” she said shortly after handing out the last remaining boat building kit. “But everyone came out. We couldn’t have asked for better.”

A longtime staple of the Arts Festival, the event drew well over 140 hopeful builders, many of whom lined up in the rain hours later to race their creations across Redd’s Pond.

“We went through about 140 kits in an hour,” Ron Lamkin said.

Which resulted in some disappointed wannabe builders when the “sold out” sign went up. Organizer Dan Tucker said he’d like to order more kits but 140 is about all they can handle during race time.

“We did 175 one year and it was too stressful,” he said.

Samantha Levinson remembers taking part in the boat building event when she was a kid, and July 4 she was in the Lee Mansion garden carrying on the tradition with her children, Esther and Ryan Jeon.

Levinson joked that she participated when the boats were made of Styrofoam.

Tucker agreed they were large Styrofoam contraptions that only a few people actually got to create.

Today’s models are sleek and wooden-bodied with bright sails that come from Tippecanoe Boats in Washington state. Paint is also provided so the builders can create their own one-of-a-kind racer.

Tucker has been heading up the event for the better part of 15 years.

“It’s marginally organized chaos, which is always fun,” he said when asked about his long tenure. “I’ve been a sailor my whole life, that’s another thing that keeps me coming back.”

Tucker said he also loves the intergenerational aspect of the event, seeing parents and grandparents working with kids. “It’s fantastic.”

That intergenerational aspect extends to his own family as well. Tucker’s son, Trent McKinnon Tucker, moved among the crowded tables offering tips to boatbuilders.

“I’ve been doing this basically my whole life,” said the 17-year-old.

“His sister is 23 and she’d probably say the same thing,” Dan Tucker said with a laugh.

But for Ben Singh, this was his first time creating a boat and he put his heart into it.

“We’re making the American Flag,” said the 5-year old who boldly added broad red and white stripes under his blanket of stars.

Ben’s dad, Teghpal, said they had just moved to Marblehead six months ago and it was their first time attending the Festival.

“We’ve had loads of fun at the Children’s Festival,” he said, adding that Ben also painted a cod, planted seeds, created pottery and made a bracelet.

Ben planned to head to Redd’s Pond to race his boat later in the day, as did Winslow Lane, who was pretty confident his boat “Shark Fin” would take home a prize. His 3-yearold sister Greer was more philosophical.

“My boat is going to win its own way,” she said.

Jonathan Thompson wasn’t sure he was going to make it to Redd’s Pond to race his black and yellow “Bumblebee.”

“I might just stay home and race it in the pool,” he said.

The race

The gray skies opened up with a soft but steady rain at race time at Redd’s Pond which led to an unprecedented turn of events. There was no winner in the first heat of 8-year-olds and under.

“Well, that’s a first in my 20 years of doing this,” Tucker said. “We’ve never not had a winner.” Tucker started the race, boats flew into the water but most went immediately starboard when they collected in a corner of the pond, refusing to cross the water to the finish line on the other side. up late studying, but my main hope is to set a tone where we are cool, calm and collected as we face the challenges of this race,” Kane explained.

“No wind,” Tucker said by way of explanation after calling the race 15 minutes in.

State Rep. Jenny Armini positioned herself in a kayak in the middle of Redd’s Pond where she played boat wrangler, scooping up wayward vessels and delivering them back to their owners.

With the rain increasing and more bad weather in the forecast, Tucker decided to skip the second heat and do one final “all in” race, where everyone, regardless of age was invited to participate.

The small front moving through had kicked up enough wind that a winner was in fact declared in the final heat. Ryan Jeon, whose mom Samantha Levinson had raced all those years before him, brought home the prize, a festival T-shirt for his efforts, along with bragging rights.

The officers feel that part of the experience of sailing to Halifax is to build decision-making knowledge at a time when everything is compressed, which helps midshipmen become better leaders.

“If everything goes smoothly, then we are not really learning but we have to adapt and overcome situations,” said John Tihansky, the older safety officer on the boat. “Being here offers a lot of perspective while we also are trying to race hard and get into the competitive side of things as we learn.”

Second place Wahoo, a Kerr 50, is helmed by midshipman Madelyn Ploch. Her teammate Jesse Wedlock said, “We do major crew work preparing for this race, but so far in our experience we have not had a heavy air race. However, we are super dedicated, and we want to do well.”

Prior to the start of the race, Blue Skies owner William Gunther of Essex, Connecticut, introduced his team, which includes Frank Bohlen, whose first Marblehead-to-Halifax race was in 1979.

Bohlen is best known for his understanding of the Gulf Stream, and he offers and helps sailors develop many winning Newport Bermuda race strategies. As an oceanographer, he knows the challenges of the Marblehead-to-Halifax race as do the other veterans on Blue Skies, including Ty Sweeter who has done four or five Halifax races, and Al Burnet whose first race was in the early 1970s.

“Our strategy will be to play the wind conditions versus the tide conditions at Cape Sable as there is always the risk that you might be barreling along, then the tide changes and the wind goes to zero,” Gunther said. “I do love this race, and we have many people on our team who keep returning to it.”

Despite the currents, tides and ongoing challenges of this ocean race, what draws people back to it is the friendships and comradery that are part of the experience.

“Ocean racing is a very collegial sport, and it has to be introduced consistently to younger people. Once people have done it, they want to come back and do it again,” said Steve Sarazan, vice commodore of the Boston Yacht Club and chairman of the event.

Commodore of the Boston Yacht Club Bruce Baker agreed.

“Distance racing is still considered a high-end event for sailors today,” he said. “We are the oldest offshore race to date between two countries, and we feel so lucky that there was so much interest in the race this year after a four-year wait.”

Marblehead competitor and America’s Cup yacht designer J.B. Braun noted that the idea of having a big ocean adventure right in our backyard is so unique. Braun is competing this year double-handed with his son, Ryan, on board their boat Taylor 38 Eos. This is his fourth Marblehead-to-Halifax race.

Marblehead sailor Doug Halsted, who will be racing with Seamus Hourihan on board the Gunboat 55 catamaran Thirst, agreed that he, too, is drawn to the challenge of ocean racing.

“This particular race looks like it will have a lot of upwind, light air sailing and that is hard work,” he said. ”However, there is a lot of camaraderie and tradition, and I believe I have done this race 12 times.”

Braun added that winning or sailing well is important at some level to almost everyone racing, and it is always an unknown with variables throughout the course.

“You never know what will happen, and you put your boat in the right place at the right time and you can do quite well,” Braun said.

At press time, J.B and Ryan Braun were in second place in their division.

Marblehead sailor Rick Williams, on board his J130, Chariad, noted, “Our team has trained, and we have prepared the boat. We have really been focusing our efforts and are fully prepared. We will be in an upwind race with upwind strategies. This means light wind will require a very high level of concentration for the helmsman. They must really focus.”

This will be Williams’ third Marblehead-toHalifax race.

“Doing well in the Marblehead-to-Halifax race has a certain cache,” said Martin Lentsch of Canada, who is racing aboard his Graves 37, Sassy, designed by Jim Taylor and built in Marblehead by Graves Yacht Yard. Lentsch’s first Halifax race was in 1987.

“We are very happy to be here and this race means a lot to me,” he said.

Yachting enthusiasts can follow the progress of the race at marbleheadtohalifax. com. Each competitor is equipped with a GPS transponder. The progress of each yacht can be tracked on the MHOR website, and you can replay the racing sequence during and after the race ends.