Trader's Racing Career

The 35 was the boat that gave C and C its reputation as an awesome racer. When it was first introduced in the early '70's it was hard to beat. We understand that when it was being designed the racing handicap rules were being changed from the CCA (Cruising Club of America) rules to the IOR (International Offshore Rule) but the final version of the IOR had yet to be published. Therefore the C and C designers built a boat that would sail fast figuring it would hold its own whatever the rules were. They succeeded admirably and Trader is still fun to sail and a delight to handle although for racing she has been pretty much out-designed since the mid 1980's.

1999 Portland Observatory  in Background

We participated for years in the CYC Wednesday night series, some years winning trophies but always having a great time. The Wednesday night series is great for breaking up the work week and the after race dinner and camraderie has always been a lot of fun. The picture on this blog of Trader with the red spinnaker is from a Wednesday night race. We had a few years where we were second for the season and several thirds. Trader has also done the Centerboard Regatta, the Monhegan Race and the MS Regatta. These races were fun but we seldom placed third or higher.

A Wednesday night - 1999

The Yarmouth Cup Trophy - Trader is on it!

The highlight of Trader's racing career hasbeen the Yarmouth Cup Race. This race runs on Labor Day weekend and goes from Portland Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. It is an offshore race, 180 miles across the Gulf of Maine. The race was first run in the late 1800's and was then resurrected in 1989 with the Portland to Yarmouth format. Our first race was 1995 when we achieved a third in class and we went on to obtain several thirds, a second and in 1998 we won first overall.
It took over a month to come down from the high that First Place created!

In 2006, because of the extensive cruising we were doing, we decided to retire Trader from active racing. The following is a brief summary and pictures of our first race and some of the succeeding races.

Trader starting past the committee boat

Our first race (1995) was interesting and a real challenge. We had a five person crew, Doug and Maggie, Dennis, Jesse and Steve. We had a great start, then wound up with no wind and hanging onto a lobster trap for a few hours to keep from going backwards. The race started at noon on Thursday and we finished about 10 AM on Saturday. We ran much of the race under spinnaker.

Jesse,Dennis,Maggie,Steve and Doug

Trader (background) with Night Train

One of the boats that we raced with was a C&C 39 named night train. The 39 was a stretched out version of the 35 and was being raced by an experienced crew from Saint John, NB.

We kept her in sight a good deal of the first night and the next day and felt we must be doing fairly well to keep up with her.



We finished on Saturday morning just as the ferry from Portland was arriving. Jean and (son) Steve were on it and were able to get a couple of pictures of us motoring into Yarmouth Harbor after we finished. It's several miles into the harbor from the finish.

Trader motoring past Cape Forchu light at entrance to Yarmouth Harbor

Trader headed into Yarmouth

Steve and Jean were able to join us for all of the post race activities which made it even more special. Race weekend is a big deal in Yarmouth. There is also a local race that finishes in Yarmouth that weekend. People come in from all over Nova Scotia and there are seemingly continual functions and entertainment all weekend. That year there was a big reception on Saturday night and a dinner dance on Sunday night.

Jesse and Steve with some locals whose boats were rafted
to us at the dock - the Canadians always seem to know
how to party!

Each race yacht was assigned an Ambassador who was a local Yarmouth resident. Their job was to help you see the area, locate any supplies you might need and try to make sure you had a good time. We had great Ambassadors for all of our races and were fortunate to get Jim and Jeannine as our Ambassadors that first race.

Dennis, Jeannine and Jean on Lobster boat

Jeannine's father was a lobsterman and she had arranged for us to take a trip to his lobster "shanty' in the Tuskett Islands for a muscle (and beer) feed. we were dead tired after 2 nights at sea racing but we went anyway and had a great time. Lobster season in Nova Scotia is February to June so they were not fishing at that time. The Tuskett islands are beautiful and our hosts were great! In addition to the lobster boat trip, they entertained us with cocktail parties at their house and took us on a tour of the area on Sunday.

The shanty in the Tuskett Islands

The Sunday night dinner also was the awards ceremony.

Steve, Jeannine and Jim with our third place trophy

Boats preparing for parade out of harbor. Trader is dark hull in middle of picture

The weekend's festivities ended with a parade of the racing boats out of the harbor on Monday morning and we arrived back in Portland late Tuesday afternoon. Jean and Tom were my crew for the trip back which was mostly under motor.















As noted above, we did the race several more times. We finished third again in 1996 and second in 1997 but our big thrill was the first in 1998. The following are some pictures from that race.

Peter tending the spinnaker

The winning crew - Peter, Carol, Sarah,Paul and Michael
Steve in the back with the trophy

Trader under sail on the way back

The 2001 crew with the Yarmouth Cup Trophy which now has our names on it
Jim, Michael, me, Sarah and Steve

Sarah and Jim with the 2001 third place trophy

The following is my copy of an article I wrote for Points East Magazine on winning the Race. This is a scan of the pages and it doesn't come out as neat as I would like!