Governor's Cup for Lark

Here's (most of) our crew of the "Island Lark" accepting the coveted Governor's Cup on Sunday, July 27th. Skipper Tad duPont is standing behind the cup. Co-owner and brother Ebby duPont is standing with sunglasses around his neck. The two brothers have been racing Island Lark for 30 seasons; Tad in the stern with the tiller and Ebby in the bow with the jib. The first race they ever won was the Governor's Cup, back in 1979.

There was no swimming for me this weekend on the Miles River as we sailed 3 races in the Annual Miles River Yacht Club Governor's Cup Weekend. The Lark was moving fast enough to get 3 bullets (first boat to finish gets a shotgun shot off from the committee boat) and correct to 2 seconds for the Covington and Duke Trophies and a first for the Governor's Cup. Other folks did not fair so well in the swimming department.

Island Bird on her side with one of her chase boats Metropolitan giving assistence. Lark's chaseboat, Brougham, waiting in the wings.

Judge John C. North's "Island Bird" took a dip Saturday morning in the Miles River. Every canoe experiences such fates on a regualar basis, some more than others. "Bird" went on to complete the Governor's Cup Race on Sunday. Judge North has sailed "Bird" for over 50 years.

The women of Jay Dee swim in the Miles River Saturday morning; pink shirts and all.

Judge North's son, Dan, has built two wonderful base crews for his canoe "Jay Dee"; the regular crew and the women's crew. The boat was given to the women's crew for the day Saturday as the men of the regular crew helped set up and watched the women attempt the heavy air that awaited us all. Unfortunately, in an effort to fix a gear problem, attention was shifted and down Jay Dee went before the official start of the morning race. Adorned in pink shirts with the female symbol on the back, the crowd of veteran women sailors fought with the 74 year old canoe and seanettles to get "Jay Dee" back on top for the second race (the men were gentlemanly enough to lend a hand...I think Bob Flower even helped).

Lark sails the Oliver Duke Race with a bone in her teeth.

For fear of jinxing our crew, I don't often comment on how well things go aboard Lark. But, for all the wind we had Saturday, I'd must say, we didn't have any close calls while racing. Loligagging around before the starts is another story. Attention to keeping the canoes upright is spread thin when we are manuveuring before the starting sequences. Four canoes capsized before the start of the first race on Saturday.

For the entire weekend Island Lark and Island Blossom were neck and neck while racing. The close competition between the two boats has made us both better competitors and FASTER canoes! Though we finished first ahead of Blossom each race, because of the 12 second per mile handicap we give to her, we lost the first two races by 12 and 39 seconds, respectively. However, the final race, which was for the 1927 Govenors's Cup we beat Blossom with enough time to hold onto first place. The "Silver Heel", owned by Bob Hewes since 1960, was third.

On other adventure fronts, our friends and my family will be heading up to the summit of Mt. Washington during Oxford Regatta weekend. We will be overnighting in the Lakes of the Clouds Hut in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. You can read about one of my trips there last year with adventure partner, Michael "Tuckerman" Valliant, on his blog: http://the4onerun.blogspot.com/2007/08/adventures-of-tuckerman-and-wood-frog.html

Training partner Dan Bieber is trying to get me to do a Sprint Triathlon on August 17th in Delaware. It looks like a good chance I'll make it. My next entry should be one from the trail. Happy training and sailing everyone!