For the fourth straight spring, we had a very eager and talented class for the Skippers Choice Regatta on Boston Harbor. This 2001 class was composed of a boat builder, a sailmaker, dinghy sailors, keelboat sailors, cruisers who haven't raced since being a kid, and a long time star crew who never grabbed the helm. The regatta was hosted by Boston Harbor Star Fleet and Cottage Park Yacht Club, and was open to all boat owners, and their chosen skippers.

We couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions for this event. Bright & sunny 70+ degrees. The day started with a steady 8-10 knot breeze from the Southeast, and picked up to about 10-12 by mid-afternoon -- enough, so the owners had to droop-hike in the later races (yet another lesson in crew appreciation!)

Hatch Brown, Danny Mullane, Jim Frazier, and Joe Zambella set five short windward-leeward courses between the airport pier, and Deer Island Light. Gary MacDonald, and new star sailor Chip Sparling chased the fleet in an inflatable giving praise, and tips to the new skippers.

As expected, the racing was very tight. The starts were all aggressive, and close, with a couple of boats caught OCS, but returning to start properly. Again, the chosen skippers were all experienced sailors, and there was no damage to any of our yachts.

The regatta was won by boat builder Mark Lindsay sailing the oldest star in regatta with owner, naval engineer John Fox as crew. Although Lindsay had built stars with Andrew Menkhart, and had worked in local star legend Joe Duplin's shop a while ago, and participated in two-boat testing, he had never raced one, was excited to do so, and accepted the challenge winning 4 of the 5 races.

J/24 and dinghy sailor Will Welles, sailing with regatta chair and fourth year star crew Sergey Leonidov, gave them a run for their money leading the fleet to the windward mark several times, but Lindsay/Fox in the speedy Gerard 6767 seemed to just scoot by the Folli boat downwind. Lindsay commented that he's not quite sure how it happened, but 6767 just sailed really fast downwind. Leonidov on team Lindsay's performance: "Foxy has again shown with his # sub 7K boat that the shine and price of the boat don't matter."

Peter Rodriques, who will be occasional crew for Peter Costa this season, won the fourth race. Bob Carlson, perennial star crew, who had just done two round-trip deliveries of BH stars from Florida, enjoyed his first skippering experience.

After hauling and cleaning up from the day's racing, all went to the CPYC Pilot House for refreshments and trophies. The new star sailors said they had a great time, and hope to be back in a star soon. Many of us, including the new sailors stayed at the Pilot House long after the awards ceremony.

This regatta was started 4 years ago by Peter Costa as a way to expose other sailors to the Star class. The idea is not necessarily to get them to buy a star, but to show them a good time, and they will inevitably recount their Star experiences to other sailors at other events. It also increases our pool of available crew.

The regatta has paid dividends as there is growing interest in sailing stars around Cottage Park Yacht Club, and New England. Many of the Skippers Choice participants have been seen in stars again, and have been overheard talking enthusiastically about their star sailing experience.

Big thanks to Sergey Leonidov for chairing another great event: rallying the fleet to find a great class of skippers, procuring breakfast, and scoring some great prizes. Thanks to Quantum Sails and Cottage Park Yacht Club Commodore Philip Marks for helping with the prizes. And thanks to CPYC, RC, support boats, and the owners who found skippers and lent their boats for this year's event.