Pearson 26 Regatta Write up and Testimonial
BYC
100th Anniversary Invitational Regatta,
This regatta consisted of one beautiful day of racing and
many wonderful people. Jon Faudree and myself took this weekend to sail with two
customers in this momentous regatta. The weather was great, the wind was fair
and the sailing was awesome.
I was sailing with Erik Grape and his father Tom on
“Dolly”, a Pearson 26. We were racing in the GO fleet with two other boats
and for the overall 1st in the regatta against a handful of other
Pearson 26’s and many other boats. Our game plan was to get good starts (big
shocker, I know), do what we had to do to stay in clear air, and let the brand
new Tri-radial Pentex Mainsail and Genoa do their job. We played a few shifts
throughout the day, but usually looked for the better breeze and sailed to it.
Erik did a great job sailing the boat. He had 4 great starts out of the 5 races
we had. He was focused on those telltales the whole race and took a little
breather down wind as we sailed wing on wing.
We felt fast and walked all over other Pearson’s and even
boats that should have been faster than us. We new that we won every race in our
division, but would have to keep our fingers crossed for the overall after all
the numbers were crunched. I will let Erik Grape’s Testimonial explain the
rest.
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Doug and everyone at
Haarstick:
It is with great pride that I write to you today.
I have been racing with my Dad since the early 1970's, and for the most
part, we have gotten the crap beat out of us from year to year. We have
never won anything "big" at BYC, although we have fought for 2nd and
3rd places in our division throughout the years, winning an occasional race or
two. Last year, we (finally) switched to a used Pearson 26 named Dolly, so
that way we could race head-to-head with the other ten Pearson 26 yachts at our
club. While I did fairly well in the non-spinnaker division last year
(2nd), I was not competitive overall with the other Pearsons. The winner
of my non-spinnaker division was also a Pearson 26, who had bought new sails
from a Haarstick competitor the year before.
We made the decision for this sailing season to go with
Haarstick. What won us over was your attention to detail. You had a
representative come to the club to discuss sails. You also had a
representative come and look over Dolly, figure out the best sails for the
rigging we had, and worked with us financially to get the best material for the
limited budget that we had. You kept us informed of the status of our
order for a new 153% Pentex genoa and new Pentex mainsail, and let us come to
the shop to look them over before we accepted them. When we had a problem
with the sail slugs not fitting quite right on the mainsail, you fixed them in
one day, at no charge.
The spring series is now over at Brockport Yacht Club.
Of the seven races that were run, I came in 2nd in the first two in my
division, and WON the last five. The other Pearson 26 that is in my
division that bought sails from your competitor has not beaten me once in a
division series race this year...not once. But the ultimate was the
recently held BYC invitational regatta. Not only did Dolly with her
Haarstick sails and fine crew (of which Doug Burtner from Haarstick was a
fantastic help) WIN EVERY single one of her five division races, she also WON
two of the five races at the regatta, and was the OVERALL 1st place winner of
the whole regatta.
I firmly believe that the biggest reason we have been
consistently winning this year is Haarstick. The biggest reason, BY FAR, I
might add. I am on cloud 9 today, and I have Haarstick to thank for it.
Thank you!
Eric Grape
Owner, Dolly, Pearson 26 #893
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I would like to personally thank Erik Grape for his nice words and having me aboard “Dolly”. His dad, Tom and crew member, Debbie Trout were also great to sail with and did a great job on the boat. Everyone at Brockport Yacht Club made Jon and I feel right at home. Thanks to Larry Beneway and Patricia Brantingham for running a great regatta. I only wish that I would have discovered this beautiful club years ago. I will be back soon.
-Doug Burtner