Figawi - Sailing Charters, Newport, Rhode Island

other identical Beneteaus in our 14boat,
non-spinnaker class, which provided
a nice little one-design element
to the day’s exercise. At the outset, Stu
had made one thing perfectly clear. On
handicap, he didn’t particularly care if
we trailed the other boats in our division,
which included an Ericson 38, a
Baltic 37, a C&C 38, a Sabre 38, and an
Alerion 33, all relatively quick steeds.
But if we weren’t the first Beneteau
home, boat-for-boat, returning to Newport
might not be an option.
For the first 21 miles, it was all going
very much according to plan. We’d nailed
the pursuit-style start. The sun was shining
overhead, the 15-knot southwester was
ideal, and we had the boat in a groove. The
other Beneteaus were all properly astern.
And then that gorgeous 50-foot Concordia
schooner from Hyannisport, Mya,
came roaring up from behind, and we had
one more obstacle to overcome before
glory (such as it was) would be ours.
Yup. Ted Kennedy.
Packed into Nantucket Boat Basin (left)
after a lazy afternoon of sailing, competitors
relax before descending into Figawi’s
nightly madness. it was standing room
only at the legendary Joke-Telling Session
on Sunday morning.
So this guy goes to the house next door
and says to his neighbor, “Gee, I think my
wife is dead.” And the neighbor says, “Really.
Why do you think that?” And the first
guy says, “Well, the sex is the same but the
dishes are piling up in the sink!”
—Unknown Comic No. 1, Figawi Annual
Sunday Morning Joke-Telling Session
As we stepped on the launch in Newport
for the ride out to the boat before
heading to the regatta, a woman with a
Nantucket sweatshirt was stepping off. I
happened to mention we were headed in
that direction and her companion asked
about our plans.
“We’re doing the Figawi,” I said.
Her friend raised his eyebrows and
chuckled knowingly. “Bring those rumdrinking
shoes,” he said.
To say the Figawi’s reputation precedes
itself would be an understatement.
The first Figawi, so the story goes, started
in 1972 when a handful of friends and
families decided that a fun race from Hyannis
to Nantucket during Memorial Day
weekend would be a swell way to spend
a day and launch the sailing season, not
to mention an inarguable means by which
to settle the ongoing discussion of who
owned the fastest boat. In this very grassroots
manner, a tradition was launched.
Figawi? The following anecdote may be
apocryphal, but there’s little doubt that
Nantucket Sound and nearby Vineyard
Sound can attract more than a small bit
of fog. In the days before GPS satellites
put an end to navigational nightmares, it
was not at all uncommon to become wayward
when transiting from the mainland
to the island. And so when that first lost
navigator, in his best Cape Cod accent,
34 S a i l i n g W o r l d O c t o b e r 2 0 0 7
stuArt strEulI, hErb MccOrMIck