Press Release:

By Tom Wicks, (2025 Hospice Turkey Shoot Regatta Committee--Publicist)

Wind, wind, my kingdom for some wind! -a sailor King must have offered long ago. The forecast on the weekend of October 4th and 5th was for sunny skies but little wind!  And this year’s 30th anniversary Hospice Turkey Shoot Regatta based at the Rappahannock River Yacht Club and co-sponsored by local club Yankee Point YC, was special, dedicated to the memory of John McConnico, a well-loved co-founder of this regatta who crossed the bar this year. 

Seventy seven boats registered with 63 making it to the starting line on Saturday but had little wind to power their sails--  The Race Committee announced that the warning would be delayed until 1300h. Patience! When the breeze finally came in—6 kts at 115 degrees at 14:15h, the RC set up a B fleet (slower rated boats) triangle course with windward finish, of 3.4 nautical miles (NM) and an A fleet course of 5.7 NM (going around the same triangle course and finishing to windward.)  The first of six starts went off at 14:35 with winds building up to 8-12 kts as the race progressed. Bombshell (John Congdon’s XP-44) won line honors and finished at 15:40pm, with all boats finishing at 16:30.  Side note: mark roundings were unusually crowded but good sportsmanship prevailed!

Luna, the Colonial Seaport Foundation’s 18th century Bermuda sloop, well-sailed by John Collamore and crew add a flair at the finish by firing their cannon: hear ye-- cocktails, dinner & music await!

After the wonderful meal Saturday night, there was a memorial tribute to John McConnico who had co-founded and brought this regatta into Hospice 30 years ago. Speakers included former crew leader and local racer Bill England and local sailor Norm Faulkner, who now races John’s Blackwatch 37 Country Woman.

Well, sober Sunday’s forecast was for more of the same light wind, so the usually exciting Pursuit Race was canceled and the Committee, led by PRO Tom Chapman, set up the awards ceremony with all results based upon Saturday’s racing.

The overall winner of the Virginia Spirit Trophy--that giant silver bowl that often resides at RRYC--was Last Boat III, a Morgan 24, owned by Frank Murphy of the Fishing Bay Yacht Club (FBYC) with helm work by Scott Vail and trim by Chris Capel.   Compliments of the Tides Inn (tidesinn.com), Murphy also received a prize of a free room and slip for the 2026 regatta. In addition, they will receive a plaque engraved with an image of their boat, compliments of AGA Correa and Sons.

Second Place Overall, was last year’s winner Lisa and Bob Fleck’s Thomas 35 Orion, also from FBYC.  It is worth noting that on corrected speed, they only trailed Murphy by 1.1 seconds per mile, a barely detectible margin!

Third Place Overall, was won by another previous overall winner Dennis Hannick’s Goin’ a Tripp 26 also of FBYC.

The Corinthian award, awarded for the best performing cruising boat, sponsored by Ed Tillett (Director of Waterway Guide Media, was won by Russ Seltzer in Joie de Vie a Cape Dory 33.

The  Most Beautiful Boat Award, voted by observers on the Race Committee, was won by John Bailey in Morgana, his Van Dam 32 gaff rigged ketch.

Wobbly Compass Award, for best finish by a classic wooden yacht, was Krister Allen in Talelayo a Cape George Cutter.

The John and Carole Jean McConnico trophy, presented by Carole Jean McConnico, awarded to the Yacht Club or Marina with the best fleet finishes of their top three boats was a tie between RRYC and FBYC.

Division Results:

Division 1 was won by Bombshell; second Tom Richardson/Glenn Oxford in Skyelark; third Gary Hooper in Spirit.

Division 2: First, Irrational Exuberance, Jesse Swartz; second, Victoria, Mark Maiocco; third, Makai, William Wirt.

Division 3: First, Trilogy, Randy Alley; second, Endurance, John Pender and third, Catitude, Louise Moore and Lew Thatcher.

Division 4: First, Orion, Bob and Lisa Fleck; second, Goin’, Dennis Hannick and third, Clementine, Shaun Thaxter.

Division 5: First, Last Boat III, Frank Murphy; second, Freedom, Glenn Solt and third, Yankee Point, Todd Patterson.

Division 6: First, Encore, Hal Starke Jr; second, Joie de Vie, Russ Seltzer and third, Resolute, Jake Pender.

Division 7: First, John Bee, Marco Monti; second Acorn, Bill McHugh and third Gypsea, John Tidwell (also the co-event Chair.)

Division 9: The Typhoon fleet, first, Ad Astra, Arabella Denvir; second, Slippery, Danielle Kuper and third Friday’s Child, John Friday.

Division 10: First, Talelayo, Krister Allen; second, Morgana, John Bailey and third, First Light, Chuck and Kathy Hall.

According to Co-Chairs John Tidwell and Tom Chapman the regatta is a joint organizing effort of the Rappahannock River Yacht Club (rryc.org), the Yankee Point Yacht Club (ypyc.com),  Also supported by The Tides Inn, the Town of Irvington and Lancaster County, VA community and Riverside and Northern Neck, VA Hospice Services, this regatta is the high point of this annual fund-raising campaign to benefit Hospice services and is a big success. 

At the awards ceremony PRO Tom Chapman and RC’s Jerry Latell, thanked the many who made this event work: Karl and Nancy Hamm who provide the Signal Boat, Karibe Kat, Vicky Foley, Libby McClary, Lorene Latourette, Dede Ramoneda, Charles and Sue Springett, Bernie Cline, Tom Wilson, Roy Combs, Ed Peake, Greg Kirkbride and Joe Hotard and Tom Wicks, (HTSR publicity director) and Bob Waldrop for photographs. And YPYC’s Mitch Bober and Charlie Costello who operated Dwindle Down as the Photo Boat as well as RRYC’s Shaun Thaxter who leads the water taxi service with Michael Schmid and Gene Edmonds, and Kimberly Vail and crew who handles the registration process.  In addition, thanks went out to Frannie Bernard and her catering crew as well as John Arsenault, Jeff and Jackie Congdon, Scott Vaden, Gene Bruner and Mark Holdaway who assisted with docking and parking.

 And John Tidwell also thanks so many others from YPYC and other groups who pitched in, including Commodore Jonathon Truwit, Jim Bennett, Emily Hinton, Ed Richardson, Jay and Lynne Hornick, Ellen Dugan, Glenn Reinhardt, Jane Knecht, Will Linne, Warren Ryan, Jim Smith, Carroll Schwab, Rita Thiesen, Lydia Foster and others, with outside volunteer Leslie Newman.

 For more information and addresses for donations, go to www.hospiceturkeyshootregatta.com and more results may be found at www.yachtscoring.com.

Photos by Bob Waldrop and Tom Wicks, credits as noted.

The 2025 Results and Photos can be found here.

The 2024 results and photos can be found here.