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Marblehead Sailors Win Top Prize At Bermuda International
Race Week May 4, 2001 - Hamilton, Bermuda - Marblehead residents Bruce Dyson, Bernard Coyle, Norm Lothrop and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro teamed together to finish first in the overall championship for the International One Design Class at the 2001 Bermuda International Invitational Race Week. In addition to the overall week's championship, Dyson also won the opening five-race Bermuda Series and finished third in the Norwegian Series at the week's end. Results from both of these series are combined to determine the Race Week Champion. The six-day, nine-race regatta, hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Spanish Point Yacht Club and sponsored by Bacardi and the Bermuda Ministry of Tourism, concluded on Friday May 4th. Dyson earned the right to skipper the Marblehead entry in this regatta by winning a seventeen-race qualifying competition during last summer's sailing season. The Bermuda Race Week competition in the International One Design Class was intense. Skilled teams representing International Class fleets from Norway, Scotland and Bermuda, and U.S. teams from Northeast Harbor, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Fishers Island, New York; Larchmont, New York, San Francisco, California and Marblehead began the competition under fair skies and moderate northeast winds on Sunday April 29th. After eight of the nine races were completed, the final results were still in doubt. Even as the last beat of last race of the regatta began, any of three teams could have won the overall championship. On that final windward leg, the Marblehead team, sailing up the middle of the course, took maximum advantage of oscillating winds to improve their race position from sixth to third and seal the victory. Courtenay Jenkins, representing Northeast Harbor, Maine, and Charlie VanVoorhis, representing Fishers Island, New York, took the second and third positions overall. "Bermuda Race Week is one of the most enjoyable regattas that I have even been privileged to attend," said Bruce Dyson. "The sailing conditions are ideal, the boats are beautifully prepared and the international competition is first class. Thanks to hard work all week by Norm Lothrop on the foredeck; Bernie Coyle trimming the jib and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro handling the mainsheet, we managed to get the job done. At the beginning of the final beat of the regatta, I thought we might have missed our opportunity to win, but the team kept the boat moving fast and we were able to do what we needed to do to squeak out the victory for Marblehead." Bruce Dyson has now brought teams to three different Bermuda Race Week titles. Dyson first achieved top honors at the 1977 Bermuda International Race Week sailing in the 505 class with Bill Pevear. During the 1999 Bermuda Race Week, sailing with Mancusi-Ungaro, Bill Widnall and Robert Duffy, Dyson finished first in the International One Design Class. Dyson next turns his sights to qualifying for the upcoming 2001 International One Design World Championship. That regatta, coming to Marblehead for the first time since 1992, will be hosted by the Corinthian and Eastern Yacht Clubs between September 15th and 21st, 2001. (see www.iodworlds.com for more information.) A twenty-four race series, beginning on Memorial Day and ending at the conclusion of Marblehead Race Week, will be sailed to determine which two of the fourteen Marblehead teams will represent the local fleet at this prestigious event. Dyson is ready to compete, "With this week of international competition behind us, I feel like our team has a real jump start on the summer's championship campaign." Final Results (*throwouts) (1) Bruce Dyson, Marblehead, MA: 4, 5*, 1, 3, 2,
8*, 3, 1, 3 = 16.5 pts. (Photos: Jennifer Mancusi-Ungaro) |
Bernie Coyle, Norm Lothrop, Bruce Dyson (skipper) and Greg Mancusi-Ungaro (left to right) claimed the prestigious Vrengen Gold Cup after winning the International One Design Class at the 2001 Bermuda International Race Week Regatta.
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