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Officine Panerai Announces the Winner of the 2014 Opera House Cup
Nantucket, MA – August 18, 2014 – Italian watchmaker Officine Panerai presented the coveted Panerai Award – a beautiful Radiomir Black Seal 3 Days Automatic (PAM 388) timepiece — to GOSHAWK, a 76'3" Spirit of Tradition sailboat, captained by previous OHC winner and passionate competitor Wendy Schmidt, the Best Overall winner of the 42nd annual Opera House Cup (OHC) at this Sunday’s Nantucket Race Week Awards Ceremony.
SUMURUN, a 94' Fife ketch, took home the Opera House Cup silver trophy for Best Corrected Time Overall. The Opera House Cup Trophy and the Opera House Cup Panerai Timepiece Award are two separate prizes given at the Opera House Cup and can now be won by different boats; in the previous 8 years it was won by the same boat.
The Opera House Cup is the second regatta of the three-part North American Circuit of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge (PCYC) global series, which is comprised of 11 regattas worldwide. The PCYC North American Circuit also includes Marblehead’s Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta, which was held last weekend under nearly perfect sailing conditions in Marblehead, MA and the Museum of Yachting Classic Yacht Regatta, held Labor Day weekend in Newport, RI.
Nearly fifty beautiful classic sailing boats competed in this year’s Opera House Cup, one of the classic yachting world’s most anticipated racing events. On OHC morning, captains and crew woke up to fog overhead and medium winds around 8-10 miles per hour, reminding sailors and spectators alike why this beloved sailing island is oft-called “The Grey Lady.” By the time racing started just after 11 AM, however, winds from the southwest had picked up to 12-14 mph. This enabled the larger Grand Prix Class boats to catch up to the smaller, more fragile Corinthian Class wooden boats in the middle of the race course, making for a beautiful turn of large and small vessels rounding the first mark.
Beginning with the colorful pageantry of the annual Rainbow Fleet Parade off of Brant Point, the much anticipated Opera House Cup race course started with a 19.5 mile sea-faring trek toward the northwest direction under medium and variable winds out of the southwest. The three hour race then moved toward Great Point Light before returning toward picturesque Nantucket Harbor.
Special Mentions and Racing Awards
This year, in the spirit of fairer and more competitive racing, Panerai and its partner Regatta Organizing Committees unveiled a new Class Category system which separates the boats into 4 major classes – Grand Classic, Corinthian, Day Racer and Grand Prix. After an unanticipated delay in the Awards Ceremony in the interest of ensuring that the results carefully adhered to this new scoring methodology, Diana Brown, CEO of Nantucket Community Sailing, took the stage to begin the Awards presentation. Ms. Brown began by announcing that George Bassett, a staunch supporter of Nantucket Community Sailing who is retiring after 30 years of serving as Dockmaster of the Nantucket Boat Basin, would this year’s recipient of the “Gwen Gaillard Spirit of the Race Award”. Next, the Classic Cruisers were recognized by name and awarded Gary Jobson’s latest book “NANTUCKET A Sailing Community.” SIREN of Rochester, MA won first place in the Corinthian Classic division, with ELSKA, owned and skippered by Marc Feigen, taking home top honors in the Day Racer division and Wendy Schmidt’s GOSHAWK winning the Grand Prix category. SUMURUN, a splendid 1914 Fife ketch skippered by Buzz Goodall, was a big winner of the evening, taking away the Robert H. Tiedemann Award for the most beautiful and best cared for sailing yacht, the Panerai Award for the Grand Classic category, the Opera House Cup trophy for Best Overall, and the coveted Panerai timepiece, presented by Panerai NA President Rafael Alvarez.
Nantucket Community Sailing served as the organizing authority of the regatta, with assistance of the Nantucket Yacht Club and Great Harbor Yacht Club. The planning committees were aided by hundreds of volunteers who helped the organizers make the week a success. Nantucket Race Week and the OHC are the major fundraising events for Nantucket Community Sailing, a non-profit organization that teaches over 1,000 children to sail each year.
Panerai and Sailing Heals
As has become tradition, Opera House Cup Title Sponsor Panerai North America hosted a “healing sail” and seaside lunch for local community residents who are dealing with serious health setbacks.
This year, Panerai NA’s PR Director Michele Gallagher hosted about 12 VIP Guests on-board the oft-winning Sparkman & Stephens 12M Gary Gregory’s VALIANT out of Marblehead, MA; and the 43’ classic vessel FINESSE, owned by John Tiguiri and based out of Glouscester, MA. Patients and caregivers alike enjoyed the refreshing feel of the winds and waters while enjoying Panerai’s hospitality on Nantucket.
Final Regatta in Series moves to Newport, RI
The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge North American Circuit concludes with the Museum of Yachting Classic Yacht Regatta (MoY), which is held every year in Newport, RI over Labor Day weekend. In addition to the individual MoY Awards, Panerai Trophies will be given for Best Overall in the Classic/Vintage Category and in the Grand Prix/Spirit of Tradition category for the entire NA Circuit, making this upcoming prize-giving event the first Panerai event ever to present two trophies for Overall Performance in the circuit.
Press Release
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2014-08-21 16:36:24
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Officine Panerai Announces the Winner of the 2014 Opera House Cup
Nantucket, MA – August 18, 2014 – Italian watchmaker Officine Panerai presented the coveted Panerai Award – a beautiful Radiomir Black Seal 3 Days Automatic (PAM 388) timepiece — to GOSHAWK, a 76'3" Spirit of Tradition sailboat, captained by previous OHC ...
