NYYC 175th Anniversary Regatta, July 2019
While the NYYC clocked 175 years during their Anniversary Regatta this year, the new Gunboat 68 CONDOR made her racing debut. In a fun collaboration, the core of team Bronco along with ex-Elvis pros Anthony Kotoun and Scotty Bradford joined CONDOR’s owners and crew, along with Spike Abram on behalf of Gunboat. A lot of cooks in the kitchen? On the contrary, they had a blast being the first group to get to put the Gunboat 68 through her paces out on a racecourse. The team set out to learn the boat, execute clean maneuvers, and try out different modes – with an eye on confidently owning line honors by the end of the week.
And the way that the luff tension is maintained on the flying jibs as the wind increases makes those sails way more effective and is a real performance benefit. I have always felt you should change sails because another will be faster, not because you are afraid of breaking something. This boat gives me that feeling.”
but it lit up in the light as well and we saw enough for a little hull fly. Then on Friday’s second race, the breeze kicked up over 22kts and we got a taste of it. We had a new team, new boat, new owner to racing, and we came out of that all smiles, with excellent team morale, no breakages, no working nights, and finishing on a high note.”
Gunboat 68 CONDOR Photos by Billy Black; On-board photos by the Condor Crew