by Fritz Horton
This is a photo of “Mohawk Warrior” going head to head, so to speak, with “Playstation” Sunday off Newport, RI after the last race of the J-35 N/A’s.
The good doctor and his loyal crew (Doc, Don, Bill Shore, Phil Gorman, Rick Stevens, Mark Montour, Kurt Kling, and Jack Wallace,lost first place by half a point to “Aunt Jean” after a DSQ.
NYYC’s commodore gave Doc a special award for bringing the “Warrior” out of mothballs up in Vermont to a near-win at one of the biggest regattas on this coast in just three weeks. Full results at www.NYYC.org .
The campaign had the feel of “The Blues Brothers”, that great Belushi/Ackroyd movie about “gettin’ the old band back together for a gig…” The boat had been on jack stands for three years, the sails had holes eaten through them by mice in the sailbags, the venerable – but battered – “War Wagon” needed a brake job; but when the challenge to show up came to Doc from NYYC’s commodore, suddenly the team was, indeed, on a ‘mission from God’. They filled up the ‘War Wagon’, grabbed a pack of cigarettes and their sun glasses and were off to the races!
Great credit goes to David Gorman, Don Brush and the whole crew for putting a great effort together for this event.