Larchmont Yacht Club, in partnership with American Yacht Club, hosted the second annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta for sailors with disabilities. Spanning the four days from June 3 – June 6, 2010, LYC became the home away from home for 18 crews of disabled sailors, plus over 100 volunteers from the two clubs. John McRoberts (Vancouver, BC) and his crew Brenda Hopkin, Canadian Bronze Medalists at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, won the hard-fought regatta, with the top four boats separated by just three points.

After a rules seminar Thursday night by Adam Loory from UK Halsey Sailmakers and a highly-motivating clinic/practice race day Friday run by Brian Hayes of North Sails, competitors were anxious to race Saturday and Sunday.  McRoberts and Hopkin tied Duane Farrar and Nina Kagan at the top of the leaderboard after Saturday’s four races under sunny skies and a steadily building 10-16 knot southwester. They faced tough competition from the teams of Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, CT) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Boston) as well as Jen French (St. Petersburg, FL), Ted King (Brentwood, NH) and LYC Vice Commodore Dr. Carl Olsson with McRoberts’ wife Jackie as crew. Maureen McKinnon-Tucker’s participation brought more Paralympics experience to the Robie, having crewed for Rolex Sailor of the Year Nick Scandone in Beijing where they won gold in the Skud-18 class.

With a tornado watch and threat of thunderstorms on Sunday, the LYC Race Committee used caution and set shorter courses that allowed four more races by early afternoon.  In the end, the McRoberts/Hopkin team was able to overcome a DSQ in Race 5 and beat out Fisher/McKinnon by a single point, with French and King nipping at their heels.   Commodore Olsson moved up to fifth overall by dominating Sunday’s racing with three firsts and a third. 

Several newcomers to the disabled sailing fleet included Ted King's crew, 28-year old Jim Scott, who had never sailed until Friday’s practice day.  Scott admitted that sailing is much more athletic than it looks, but after the final race he said he was anxious to come back and keep learning.  Scott’s mother, who had been at the regatta all weekend, was in tears Sunday afternoon, saying, “I haven’t seen Jim smile this much since before his accident.” Also new to racing was William Lehr from Manhattan, who grinned and said he'd never been to a regatta like this, but just loved to go sailing.  And Peter O'Hara, a deaf sailor from LYC, joined the disabled sailors for the first time this year.

Sara Everhart-Skeels (Tiverton, RI) wrote in a follow-up note: “When we landed after racing Sunday and I looked back at (para) Jonathan Evans (Boxford, MA) and his able bodied daughter taking down the sails, I just had this big love feeling for the Robie.  Do you know how COOL it must be for him to sail with his daughter after all he has been through since his accident?  And that is just one boat out of 18 of us.  How do we say ‘thank you’ enough to the committee and the sponsors for all you did for us!”

Buttons Padin, Event Chair, said "It's encouraging to see the disabled sailing fleet grow, and we were excited to include amputees and physically disabled along with blind and deaf sailors and stroke survivors.  I promised the Trustees that LYC would never be the same after hosting its first Robie, and that promise came true."

Perhaps the most amazing result of this year’s Robie Pierce regatta happened the next day in Newport.  Robie Pierce continues to be a driving force in disabled sailing around the world, but could not be persuaded to compete this year.  However, Robie later wrote: “The last weekend gave me such mojo that after a 2-year layoff I went back PHRF racing last night in Sarah’s Sonar. After 63 years of racing, I kind of said enough in 2008. Concerned about strength issues and did not want to find myself pulling off the race course.  But we sailed a 6-mile buoy race, 12-15 mph, full Monty, finished 5 out of 16 boats , corrected out in 6th place. All kinds of proud…thanks RPODR !” 

Over 100 LYC and AYC club members volunteered to make this regatta the success it was led by co-chairs Buttons Padin (LYC), Joanne Clark (LYC), Siobhan Reilly (AYC) and Bill Sandberg (AYC).  Members sailed as able bodied sailors in the boats, worked on the construction of the special adaptations to the Ideals (led by Rear Commodore Rob Snedeker), manned safety teams on the water, staffed the registration desk, drove spectator boats and performed many other responsibilities.  Lincoln White’s Marine Facilities staff didn’t miss a beat thanks to contributions from Brenden Randall, Gene D’Alessandro and AYC’s Sailing Director Jim Travis.

In addition to LYC’s Arthur Maguire, John Wall and Chef Rob Rainone, this year’s Robie Pierce Regatta was made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship and support of Heineken USA, Mercedes-Benz of Larchmont, Vineyard Vines, Ben & Jerry’s, Nestle Water, the Northeast Oyster Company, UK Halsey Sailmakers and North Sails.