Switching Gears: Jumping off a J109 onto a Chartered Moorings 45 Club

Brooke Mastrorio, from Newport, RI, has spent time on boats literally since she was in the womb; when her mom was pregnant with Brooke she sailed in a Sunfish until the boom wouldn’t clear her belly anymore. Her family had a Bristol 27 when she was a kid and while Brooke never raced when she was younger she was always comfortable on a boat.

“They would hand me the helm and I would drive all the time because it is probably the easiest thing for a kid to do while they were trimming sails,” Mastrorio smiled.

She’ll test that comfort level at BVI Spring Regatta when she and her long-time crew from the Newport, RI/Narragansett Bay area will race a chartered Moorings 45 Club which they will also live aboard at Nanny Cay during the regatta. She’ll be sailing with Robert Taylor (main trim/tactics), Tabor French (pit and jib trim), and Stephanie Lambert-French (bow)

Mastrorio credits her early introduction to sailing with her passion for being on the water, and while it was many years before she formally became a sailor and sailboat racer, she’s not lost any time becoming a skilled helmsperson.

“The family boat was sold when I was 12 and I didn’t get back into sailing until my mid-30s when I took lessons at the Boston Sailing Center,” Mastrorio notes. “I sailed J24s there for about 5 years and loved that experience so much that I bought my first boat, a J24, so that I could sail almost every day closer to where I lived. I raced it on Wednesday nights but it took me a long time to figure out how to sail fast. I never sailed it with a spinnaker but I was persistent and open to what people were willing to share and teach me.”

Moving on from the J24 she bought a J109 Ursa to enjoy racing in that competitive fleet. She met Tabor, who had raced J109s in Long Island Sound, at a North U sail trim class, and Robert who has won multiple North American Championships joined her boat through friends to do tactics in 2013.

“We’ve pretty much had the same crew for over ten years and there are not a lot of words when we’re on the water,”  Mastrorio laughs. “We’re so used to each other, everything is in sync, it’s a lot of fun, we have a great time together.”

Fond memories of good times on and off the water at a previous BVI Spring Regatta prompted Taylor to suggest that the team head south for some warm weather racing this winter. Mastrorio had traveled to the BVI and the Exumas for the past ten years to cruise with friends but had never raced the BVI Spring Regatta.

“When Richard suggested we do something different – some racing regattas – at first I was like, are we racing a regular charter boat which probably has a water maker and things like that?” Mastrorio laughed . “But it’s kind of the whole island vibe, so why not? Others are chartering the same or similar boats so I guess it’s still technically one design. It makes the whole thing more interesting because yes, we’re sailing our vacation home but it’s a really nice way to combine being in warm weather and having that fun racing experience.”

Taylor, who owns a cruising sailboat and a few smaller sailing boats anticipates strong competition at BVI Spring Regatta.

“So far there are 4-5 similar charter boats from the Moorings/Sunsail fleet registered which should make it close and fun racing, not quite one-design but good enough for this venue! I have raced the BVI Spring Regatta once before about 10 years ago; it’s a great location with generally dependable weather/wind conditions, a well-organized race committee and its great connecting with fellow competitors.”

Mastrorio, who is a consultant to the medical device industry, is mostly looking forward to racing in a new environment and just settling into island time culture. Having cruised in the area previously she’s all-too familiar with the range of conditions that could be thrown at them, and that racing versus cruising the area will call for different skills.

“I know there are some interesting currents in between the islands – when we cruise there we are not really paying attention to currents so we’ll be paying closer attention to those and the wind conditions. We’re expecting anything from a breeze perspective – we’ve been in the BVI when we’ve had 40+ mph gusts and intense squalls come through and we’re always told, “Oh, it’s the Christmas winds”, but I’ve still experienced Christmas winds in March!”

She added, laughing, “It’ll be good to get some local knowledge and figure out how to get as much speed as we can out of a cruiser! With a monohull and no spinnaker, we should be fine with just four of us. I’m sure the after-parties will be a lot of fun just to catch up with people about how their day went, and I know the views will be amazing!”