SAIL Magazine has announced that Bryan Huntley of Sandusky, Ohio, and the crew of the Kelly 28 InfraRed have won SAIL’s 2013 Best Around the Buoys (BAB) contest. They will race aboard Tutto Bene, a brand-new Beneteau First 35, at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week from April 18-21, 2013.
Now entering its third year, SAIL‘s Best Around the Buoys program is a grass roots initiative that rewards sailors for their team’s performance locally and provides them an opportunity to take their racing to the national level. This will be the second time SAIL has entered a BAB team in Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week. In 2012, the BAB-winning crew of the Florida-based Tripp 38 Warrior took first place at Charleston in the PHRF G class aboard the Beneteau Oceanis 37 BeneRound.
Huntley and his team have been racing for decades on Western Lake Erie in a variety of different boats and classes. The team’s BAB win was based on its strong performance in a number of 2012 events, including the Sandusky Islands Race, ILYA Bay Week, and the Port Clinton Yacht Club’s Green Island Race and Snow Flurries Regatta.
“It is an honor to be chosen from among the field of strong competitors that entered,” Huntley says. “We are looking forward to racing the regatta, and count on us giving our very best effort as a team on the race course.”
“Bryan Huntley and his team represent exactly what we are looking for in a BAB crew—excellent PHRF racing results combined with a strong commitment to their local racing scene and the sport,” says Adam Cort, SAIL‘s Executive Editor. “Now they can test their skills at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week.”
Huntley’s winning BAB team of six (one skipper/five crew) will receive free entry to Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week 2013, housing, dockage and the use of a Beneteau First 35 equipped with hardware from B&G, a new set of North Sails, bottom paint supplied by Pettit Paint, sailing gear from Ronstan, and rulebooks from U.S. Sailing.
Photos courtesy of Bryan Huntley
