Fair Haven Celebrates Mayor's Cup

Story by Allison M. Perrine and Photos by Art Petrosemolo
FAIR HAVEN – It was a windy and warm day on the Navesink Saturday – perfect for a sailing competition. After the blare of the starting horn, 12 sailboats crossed the starting line and tacked across the waters of the Navesink toward the windward mark in the fifth annual Mayor’s Cup at the Shrewsbury River Yacht Club (SRYC). Competitors came from various parts of the Two River area. With wind speeds of 10 mph, it was sure to make for a good race.
“This started five yers ago when Fair Haven celebrated its centennial,” said principal race officer Joe Malik, 73, of Middletown, who’s been boating since the 1960s. “The first year they called it the ‘centennial cup.’ Folks liked it, so they’ve kept it every year since.”
This “bridge race” format had participants sail, because of the westerly wind, toward Red Bank, specifically Lewis Point, bak toward Rumson’s Oceanic Bridge, and finish at an anchor-point of Malik’s committee boat in front of the SRYC with a two-hour time limit.

He and his wife Carole have been sailing together since 1973 and have participated on the race committee for an estimated eight to 10 years. Prior to the start of the race, Carole filled out the stat sheet and obtained the sailboat names, handicaps – which she found by using U.S. Sailing’s “Portsmouth Handicap” series – and start times. Promptly at 10 a.m. Joe blew the starting horn and the competitors were off.
A little over an hour later, Malik signaled with his air horn that the first sailboat, Warhorse, had finished, completing the course in 63 minutes and 33 seconds, before handicaps were calculated into the time. The other sailboats then had 30 minutes to compete the race once the first boat finished; those that didn’t make it in time were scored as “DNF” (did not finish). Three final blows of the horn signaled the end of the race at 11:36 a.m., only two of the 12 receiving a DNF.

“Even if you come in first, you may not take first place because of the handicap,” Carole said.

Each competitor had a different type of boat, and certain models move differently based on size, shape and other factors. To ensure that the race is fair, hadicaps are added to the final time of each competitor to diminish unfair advantages and create an even playfield. The winner is the boat with the lowest corrected time.

Skipper of A Lightning “Show Boat,” Pat Corr, of Monmouth Beach Club, won the NJYRA Irwin Bowl/Mayor’s Cup with a surprisingly small corrected time difference of shortly under 2 minutes, and also won overall in the one design class. He topped Monmouth Boat Club’s Dale Barney sailing a sanderling. Winner of the Keel Boat division was skipper of “Warhorse,” a Pearson 28 sailed by Jeff Senkeleski, of Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club. Monmouth Boat Club’s Chuck Hunneywell, sailing a Stuart Knockabout, was second in the class six minutes behind Senkeleski.

“Thanks to the volunteer help from all the clubs involved, this year’s regatta was flawless,” said Sam Oncea, who hosted the event. “We continue to pull in racers from the clubs on the Two Rivers and beyond, including Atlantic Highlands and Keyport.”

Next year, Oncea plans to hold the regatta again. The date is not firm, but said it will likely be held on Saturday, July 8, 2017.