On a warm spring day in 2006, Houston YC’s harbor was alive with sailboats, large and small, coming and going from their slips. Signal flags fluttered from the club’s yardarm, and masthead vanes pointed into the 10-knot afternoon southeasterly sweeping across Galveston Bay. This was not my first visit to Pier 10, home of the club’s Ensign fleet. Many times before I’d walked the dock to admire the Ensigns, wondering which one might be the best fit for me, and on this occasion a blue hull caught my eye. Its skipper deftly headed her into the breeze and coasted into a slip. As I watched, I could imagine myself at its helm.

The elegant lines of the Carl Alberg design, its stout fiberglass hull, bright work coaming boards and 8-foot cockpit seemed a perfect answer to the question looming over me: What would be the best class for an older sailor like me after years of fast, wet racing machines?

I was searching for something to race and sit comfortably inboard with a backrest yet still enjoy the thrill of one-design racing. For my wife, Paula, and me, the Ensign stood out as our next perfect sailboat. I could take part in a competitive fleet one day or set out on a ­comfortable day sail with friends and family.

Once I expressed interest in the Ensign, it wasn’t long before I was introduced to Dean and Kay Snider, who hosted us for a sunset sail on Little Oil. We anchored in Woozy Bay for cold drinks and a picnic dinner. Little did I know, they were romancing me into their fleet. After that inaugural cruise, I crewed on Little Oil many times and took careful notes on rigging, sail trimming and spinnaker evolutions. In the fall, I began to take inventory of available Ensigns at the club, ideally one that didn’t require major rehabilitation. In February 2007, I finally found No. 1029, a 1966 Pearson-built hull, in Dunedin, Florida. I trailered it home to Houston and christened her The Other Woman, with Paula’s blessing, of course. After seven years of club racing at the Houston YC, I was ready to take her on the road to compete with East Coast Ensign sailors. Our first trip was to St. Petersburg, Florida, for Midwinters. There were 10 Ensigns on the starting line for the three-day regatta, and having never raced with more than five or six Ensigns at once, it was an entirely new experience for The Other Woman and its crew. We posted three fourths in the seven-race series and finished fifth overall.

We were pleased with our midfleet standing in our first major regatta, and the experience only served to wet our appetite for national-level racing. Soon after, plans hatched for the long haul to Niantic, Connecticut, for the 2015 Ensign National Championship. The one thing we learned from our trek to Florida was that successful road trips with a heavy sailboat in tow is all about one thing: the trailer.

Three hours into our haul to Connecticut, we felt a jolt, heard a bang, and in the rearview mirror, I could see trailer tire parts flying across Interstate 10. We knew immediately we had a big problem. With no paved shoulder, changing the tire was a challenge. We had to break the last stubborn lug nut to remove the damaged tire and put on the spare. We crept into Crowley and found a tire store. After a three-hour delay and the purchase of two shiny new trailer tires, we were back on I-10. “Niantic or bust,” was our mantra.

Following our GPS navigation system, we entered Connecticut on the Merritt Parkway, passing under a steel-frame bridge with a 9’6″ clearance. I had driven under it before, but never with a sailboat on a trailer. Not actually knowing the height of our haul with the mast tied atop, I shifted to the center lane as we drove under the many historic stone-bridge crossings.

At one point, while crawling in stop-and-go rush-hour traffic, an ambulance driver ahead of us stepped out of his vehicle and walked up to my driver side door, admonish. “You should be on I-95,” he scolded. “There are big fines driving on the Merritt Parkway with a boat trailer.”

I begged his pardon, telling him we were from Texas and didn’t know any better. Besides, we were bound for the next exit, New Canaan. The next morning, I measured the mast height: 9’4″ above the pavement, and thanked our lucky Texas stars. Forty Ensigns competed in eight races, and our best finishes were an eight and a 12, so we finished 20th. After the last race, a fellow Ensign sailor told me that with our placing, we’d won the Doug Wood Mid-Fleet Trophy. What a surprise, in our first Ensign National Championship regatta, The Other Woman had hardware to haul back south. Our travels continued to the Ensign Midwinters on Lake Murray, South Carolina, where we chalked up another midfleet finish.

Encouraged by three midfleet finishes, we have plans for Cedarville, Michigan, in August to compete in the Ensign Nationals. It’s another long haul, but one guided by the wisdom of our christening prayer for The Other Woman a decade ago: “We pray for safe sailing, and spare us large expenses along the way.”

While we’ve returned home safely from every race and every escapade, she does demand constant upkeep and tender care to keep her in Bristol fashion ready for the next sailing ­adventure. Certain ladies, however, are worth every extra penny.

To read more stories about sailors who love their one-design classes, new and old, click here.

The post My Class, My Story: The Ensign appeared first on Sailing World.

“The weekend was pretty wild,” said Conor Hayes, skipper of the J/80 “More Gostosa” and Overall Winner of the regatta. “Yesterday was great breeze, really shifty, and today was off the hook. Breeze on the whole time.”

Organizers select the overall winner based on the weekend’s most competitive fleet, and Hayes said the conditions made for exciting challenges on the water for the J/80s. The Gilford, N.H., native attributed his success to the quick, precise maneuvering of his crew, which included his father Kevin Hayes, cousin Dan Jolda and friend Graham Philpot.

“We’ve been together for years and years, which was huge today. That’s the difference-maker when you’re sailing in big conditions, where you have no margin of error for mistakes. Sometimes you have to throw pretty risky maneuvers in, but I was not at all concerned because the crew work was on point all day.”

As the Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD’s overall winner, team “More Gostosa” will compete in the Helly Hansen NOOD Caribbean Championship Regatta, presented by Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands in October.

While Hayes has never been a winning skipper at a NOOD Regatta, the weekend proved successful for a couple of previous Overall Winners. The 2016 Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD champion, Terry Flynn, once again won the J/22 class and in the J/70 class, Bruce Golison followed up his win at the 2016 Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD with another first-place finish. Still new to the class, this event was the “Midlife Crisis” crew’s opportunity to make strides in the direction of future championships.

“We were able to qualify here for the 2018 Worlds, and that was important to us,” said Golison. “It was a good regatta and a good learning experience, and kept us going on our way to what we want to accomplish.”

FINAL RESULTS (Top Three)

J/22 (One Design – 29 Boats)
1. Tejas, Terry Flynn, USA – 4 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3; 15
2. Uncle Fluffy, Zeke Horowitz, USA – 1 -12 -6 -1 -2 -2; 24
3. USA 789, Jake Doyle, USA – 2 -4 -10 -4 -5 -5; 30

Alberg 30 (One Design – 9 Boats)
1. Argo, T.C. Williams, USA – 2 -3 -2 -4 -2; 13
2. Latika, William Woodford, USA – 3 -4 -1 -5 -1; 14
3. LinGin, Tim Williams, USA – 1 -1 -5 -3 -4; 14

Cal 25 (One Design – 5 Boats)
1. White Cap, Timothy Bloomfield, USA – 1 -1 -2; 4
2. Chicken Little, Charlie Husar, USA – 2 -2 -1; 5
3. Harlequin, Leo Surla, USA – 4 -4 -3; 11

Ensign (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Chowder, William Murphey, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -2; 6
2. Never Enz, peter heffernan, USA – 3 -3 -2 -2 -1; 11
3. The White Lady, Peter Kogut, USA – 4 -4 -8 -3 -4; 23

J/70 (One Design – 43 Boats)
1. Midlife Crisis, Bruce Golison, USA – 4 -2 -1 -8 -7; 22
2. Savasana, Brian Keane, USA – 9 -7 -4 -5 -1; 26
3. New Wave, Martin Kullman, USA – 15 -6 -2 -3 -3; 29

J/70 Corinthian (One Design – 21 Boats)
1. Pinch and Roll, Jay Greenfield, USA – 3 -18 -10 -14 -12 ; 57
2. Muse, Heather Gregg / Joe Bardenheier, USA – 2 -12 -27 -13 -6; 60
3. Leading Edge, Todd Hiller, USA – 7 -20 -15 -10 -13; 65

Viper 640 (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. Jenny, Jackson Benvenutti, USA – 2 -1 -12 -1 -1; 17
2. Henry,Doug, David & Madeline, Henry Amthor, USA – 4 -10 -4 -4 -3 ; 25
3. Copperhead, Hugh Dougherty, USA – 7 -12 -10 -3 -2; 34

J/24 (One Design – 8 Boats)
1. Bangor packet, Tony Parker, USA – 1 -1 -1 -1 -3; 7
2. Buxton, Peter Rich, USA – 3 -2 -3 -2 -2; 12
3. Spaceman Spiff, Pete Kassal, USA – 4 -3 -2 -3 -1; 13

J/30 (One Design – 14 Boats)
1. Totaled Mayhem, Doug & Amy Stryker, USA – 1 -2 -1 -2 -5; 11
2. Blue Meanie, Steve Buzbee, USA – 2 -1 -3 -1 -4; 11
3. Bebop, Bob Rutsch, USA – 4 -5 -4 -6 -2; 21

J/80 (One Design – 23 Boats)
1. More Gostosa, Conor Hayes, USA – 3 -4 -1 -1 -1 ; 10
2. USA 1162, John White, USA – 4 -1 -2 -2 -6 ; 15
3. Courageous, Gary Panariello, USA – 1 -5 -4 -14 -7; 31

Etchells (One Design – 8 Boats)
1. Caramba, Jose Fuentes, USA – 3 -4 -1 -1 -1 ; 10
2. Ca$h Money, Matt Lalumiere, USA – 1 -3 -2 -2 -2 ; 10
3. R + D, Christopher Brady, USA – 2 -1 -4 -4 -3; 14

J/35 (One Design – 7 Boats)
1. Aunt Jean, James Sagerholm / Jerry Christofel, USA – 1 -1 -2; 4
2. Abientot, Roger Lant, USA – 2 -2 -4; 8
3. Medicine Man, Chuck Kohlerman, USA – 5 -3 -1; 9

J/105 (One Design – 22 Boats)
1. Live Edge, Michael Mountford, Can – 1 -6 -4; 11
2. Bat IV, Andrew Kennedy, USA – 3 -7 -6; 16
3. Mirage, Lewis/ Salvesen, USA – 6 -1 -10; 17

J/111 (One Design – 9 Boats)
1. Skeleton Key, Peter Wagner, USA – 1 -1 -1; 3
2. Velocity, Martin Roesch, USA – 3 -3 -2; 8
3. Bravo, Sedgwick Ward, USA – 6 -4 -3; 13

C&C 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Extreme2, Dan Cheresh, USA – 1 -1 -1 -2 -3; 8
2. Don’t Panic, Julian Mann, USA – 3 -3 -4 -3 -1; 14
3. Nemesis, Walt Thirion, USA – 2 -2 -3 -5 -2; 14

Farr 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Ramrod, Rod Jabin, USA – 1 -1 -2; 4
2. Seabiscuit, Kevin McNeil, USA – 2 -3 -1; 6
3. Tangley, Peter Toombs, CAN – 4 -2 -3; 9

North Sails Rally – Cruiser (Saturday Only) (PHRF – 7 Boats)
1. Magic 8 Ball, David Robinson, USA – 1; 1
2. Celerity, Rick Lober, USA – 2; 2
3. Carry On, Russ Matijevich, USA – 3; 3

North Sails Rally – Spinnaker (Saturday Only) (PHRF – 3 Boats)
1. Jeroboam, Laurent Givry, USA – 1; 1
2. Orion, Jon Opert, USA – 2; 2
3. Priority One, Brian Olson, USA – 3; 3

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