J/145 wins 2007 Around Long Island Race (with Morgan Buffum aboard)

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From back in the day…  Morgan Buffum was just 13!…

We had a great time and crushed it!  Winning more silver than we could carry…

http://jboatnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/j145c-wins-around-long-island-race.html

From back in the day…  Morgan Buffum was just 13!…  We had a great time and crushed it!  Winning more silver than we could carry…

Here is the text from the J/Boats website archives:

TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2007
J/145c Wins Around Long Island Race

Mark Hansen’s J/145c Sweet Lorraine just recently won class as well as overall IRC and overall PHRF in the Around Long Island Race. They were slowest rated boat in the big boat fleet that included USMMA’s Andrew’s 77 Alchemy, USNA’s NM 66 Zarafa, NM 55 Rima 2, Santa Cruz 52 Magic and Steve Benjamin’s High Noon (ILC 40). Mark previously owned a J/120 (also Sweet Lorraine). Sweet Lorraine finished the 190 mile race in just under 31 hours and was the 4th of 66 boats to cross the finish line. Crew was an all-star J/Boat Owner group including Mark Hansen (skipper/owner), Kerry Klingler (tactician, owns J/80 Lifted), H.L. DeVore (navigator, owns J/44 Honahlee), John and Dan Fallon, Greg Davis, Jim Buffum, Morgan Buffum (age 13) and Rick Lyall (owns J/109 Storm). Impressive performance considering this was the second time Mark had raced the boat and the first time the crew had sailed together. Awards included:

– 1st Place PHRF Overall
– 1st Place IRC Overall
– 1st Place IRC Division 1
– 1st Place Div. 10
– Foredeck Award (to the foredeck captain on the winning boat)

You can’t buy memories like this one!… We’re all 10 years older now…and Morgan Buffum has graduated from college 0-:  Time flies!

Morgan Buffum, great contributor to Newport Bermuda Race class victory.

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A little bit late in coming (to say the least!) but thought I’d post a little thanks and tribute to my nephew Morgan Buffum.

Preparing for a Newport Bermuda Race is tough.  There are safety requirements to double and triple check.  Logistics of crew transportation and lodging to coordinate.  Meals to cook, buy, transport and load.  There are just 1,000 little details to attend so that when it finally come time to start the race you can be focused on the 635 miles ahead.  In many ways the competition starts long before the actual start.  Those who are prepared and have all of their i’s dotted and t’s crossed are already winning the race before the starting gun goes off.  And so, with that said a crew member who can assist in the burdens of preparation is an invaluable crew member.  For Honahlee’s 2014 class win in the Newport Bermuda Race (www.bermudarace.com) Morgan Buffum was a priceless crew member.  When the boat needed to be sailed through the night from Larchmont to Newport, Morgan Buffum was there for me.  We had a great time on the delivery, but it was also a chore.  Morgan was jovial and easy going and made it fun.  And, he recruited a good friend, Bennett Capozzi, to help out!  When we finally made it to the dock at Newport Yachting Center it was a relief, but there was still work to do.  Bennett had to hit the road to get back to Harvard and do a little studying, but Morgan was more than willing to stay for hours and help clean up the boat so that things were in order when the racing crew arrived.  Yes, Morgan Buffum , the invaluable crew member was not a part of the crew that sailed the boat to Bermuda but he was an integral part of the crew that made the victory happen!

Morgan, thank you!  It was great to spend that time with you…and now, like any good uncle is duty-bound to do I shall embarass you with pictures (:  But seriously, great to see the young man you have become!

Morgan BuffumMorgan BuffumMorgan Buffum