PATTON BOWL REGATTA
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Manchester Yacht Club invites all yachts to participate in the Patton Bowl Regatta in either the spinnaker, racing division, or in the non-spinnaker, cruising canvas division. MYC is making an extra effort to make the racing fun for even the most casual cruising canvas sailor. At 1630 following the race everyone is invited back to MYC for an awards chowder and barbecue.
Entries must be received by 1900 hours June 20th with a valid PHRF rating certificate and entry fee. PHRF ratings are very easy to obtain. Contact Manchester's PHRF representatives: Paul McMahon or Andrew Sheriff if you need one. You don't need to get your boat measured. For standard classes, just tell Paul or Andrew what kind of a boat you have, a Sabre 386 for example, and they'll help you complete the PHRF Handicap Application Form
Patton Bowl History
The Patton Bowl Regatta began to take shape in 1953 when the Manchester Yacht Club was looking for a way to encourage racing among "auxiliaries", as sailboats with engines were known. On June 21, 1953 Beatrice Ayer Patton, the widow of General George S. Patton, Jr., and her brother, Frederick Ayer, donated a trophy to the Club to be know as the Patton Memorial Trophy to honor the General. The following year, Mr. Ayer donated the Beatrice Ayer Patton Memorial Trophy in honor of his sister.
 In the early days, the regatta consisted of a Saturday race from Manchester to the Eastern Point Yacht Club in Gloucester, and a return race on Sunday. There was an overnight stay at Eastern Point that usually included much "jollification". In the 1970's the format was changed so that all of the racing took place off Manchester.
 General Patton, who lived in Hamilton, was an avid sailor. In the 8,665 1930's, he and his wife, Bea, sailed the 67-foot schooner Arcturus to Hawaii in 1935, upon his military assignment there. They sailed Arcturus around the islands while they were there returning her to California in 1937. In 1939, General and Mrs. Patton commissioned a 63-foot Alden schooner to be built in Maine. The General said of the new vessel, "When the next war is over, and if I live through it, Bea and I are going to sail her around the world." Patton's untimely death from a vehicle accident after the war prevented that dream from coming true, but the schooner, appropriately named When and If, graced Manchester's waters for many years, sailed by Bea and her brother Frederick Ayer. Both the Arcturus and the When and If are still sailing today in the charter business.
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