On Aug. 30, the 2020 South Skaneateles Sailing and Sailing Society (S5) Regatta was held off of Spafford Landing Road on Skaneateles Lake.
The S5 Regatta was a revival of an annual event first held in the mid 1960s.
Originally, the racers were exclusively Tritons, which were built by the Thompson Brothers Boat Manufacturing Company of Cortland.
Over the years the racers switched to racing Lightnings, built originally by the Skaneateles Boats Company (Thompson Brothers competitors further to the north).
The last S5 was held in 2008.
This year’s regatte boasted representation of five different boat classes: Buccaneer, Laser, Sunfish, Lightning and Triton. Memorably, in formidable NW winds, John Hinchcliff raced his beautiful mahogany 1957 Triton, hull #3, which had also participated in the early S5 regattas in the 1960s.
And true to tradition, the post-race party at the Wickwire’s beach boasted hearty rounds of (socially distanced) nautical themed singing.
The S5 Race Committee extended its thanks the Skaneateles Sail Boat Club for their support of the regatta and hopes that in the near future, sail boat racing will grow from one end of the lake to the other.
