The
Gloucester Schooner race is an annual event, where schooners
come together from across the east for a friendly race and
series of events, including a parade of boats, fireworks,
bands, and food. This
festival celebrates the many fishing schooners that have
sailed out of this historic port.
The schooner’s race for the mayor’s Esperanto Cup,
a trophy from the first International Fishermen's Races sailed
in 1920. This
year, our class consisted of American
Eagle, Harvey Gamage, Spirit of Massachusettes. Liberty
Clipper, Lettie G. Howard, and the Ernestina.
After
a night filled reuniting with schooner folk and enjoying the
festivities in Gloucester, we awoke to a clear morning for
race day. By 0900 we had boarded everyone, and set off from the dock
with a total of 85 people.
We
set the fore and the jumbo and joined the parade of boats
passing the fisherman statue on the way out of the Harbor.
We raised the rest of our sails and headed for the
starting line just off of Eastern Point. The starting gun sounded with a bit of confusion at 1110 and
we crossed the line late along with much of our fleet.
The
race course was a two mark course with a windward and a downwind
leg. With a
decent 10 knot breeze, we set out on the windward mark on a
port tack. We
held this tack and passed the Lettie and the Gamage. By 1200 the wind had begun to die and by the time we tacked
along the lay line towards the mark, the wind was light and
variable. With
the flooding current none of the boats were actually making
way, and hoping for a lift, we fell off to increase our speed.
The
hoped for lift materialized and as the wind increased, we
rounded the mark following the American
Eagle and the Liberty
Clipper. Both
the other vessels fell off onto a broad reach.
Hoping to catch them we gybed and headed directly down
wind towards the mark, our huge mainsail driving the
Ernestina. Behind
us the rest of our class rounded the weather mark and the Lettie
G. Howard raised a spinnaker.
We rounded the last mark and headed towards the finish
line with a good breeze, crossing the line in third place
behind the American
Eagle and the Liberty
Clipper. With
a great race behind us we said a big thank you to the galley
and the singers onboard and returned to the dock.
Thank
you to Gloucester for hosting the race and we look forward to
seeing you again next year!
Program Coordinator:
Gretchen Stuppy
Captain: Sophie Morse
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