LIONESS was the fastest boat in her class at the 2026 Vineyard Race, and the handicap sheet still put her fifth. That is distance racing.
Stamford Yacht Club sent the fleet 238 nautical miles from Shippan Point out to the light tower at the entrance to Buzzards Bay and back to Stamford Harbor, leaving Block Island to starboard on the way out and on the way home. Class 12 started on Friday at 13:05. LIONESS crossed the finish on Saturday night at 23:03:07, an elapsed time of 1 day, 9 hours, 58 minutes and 7 seconds.
Nobody else in the class sailed the course faster. The five J/120s in the class gave up between 30 and 58 minutes on the water, and the closest boat to us all race was SUMMER STORM, a J/111 rated identically to us at 24. After 238 miles we beat her by 26 seconds.
On corrected time it went the other way. Our 1 day, 14 hours, 27 minutes and 58 seconds put us 5th of 10 in Class 12 and 15th in fleet, 6 minutes and 42 seconds off fourth and 1 hour 11 minutes behind CHARLOTTE, the J/120 that won the class. The 26 seconds we took out of SUMMER STORM on the water became 29 seconds after the ratings were applied, so that one at least stayed ours.
Quick boat, good miles, and a clear read on where the time goes. Thanks to the crew and to Stamford Yacht Club for another well run race.
Preliminary results: https://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative/50775
