The Return Of The Three-Handled Mug: SS Class Association Set To Hold Races For Dudley Trophy, Fabled Mug This Saturday At Westhampton Yacht Squadron

As the story goes, told by Chris Dalmasse, who was originally told it by his late father, the three handles on the three-handled mug that racers competed for between the longstanding SS Class Association represented the three different bays the races were sailed on — Shinnecock, Quantuck and Moriches — and subsequently the clubs that called them home, Shinnecock and Quantuck yacht clubs and the Westhampton Yacht Squadron.

According to SS Class Past Commodore Robert Dudley, the three-handled mug was originally won by John Atwater, sailing SS 1 Lusitania at the Shinnecock Yacht Club in 1909, the first year of the SS Class. Atwater gave his sailing trophies to the now disbanded Quantuck Yacht Club in 1944, which in turn gave the trophy to the SS Class Association. Since then, the mug has moved around between the three clubs, most recently landing at the yacht squadron.

Albert “Abby” Connett, current commodore of the SS Class Association, felt the need to get back to sailing on Quantuck Bay, and what better way to bring back a three-race series for the three-handled mug. Connett passed his idea on to his board of trustees who, without issue, approved it. There would be a total of nine races, three on each race day. The first race was sailed on Quantuck Bay for the Atwater Trophy won by Robert Dudley and Jim Ewing on July 16. The second race was sailed on Shinnecock Bay for the Horton Trophy and won by Jim and Ellen Sanders on August 13.

This Saturday, September 3, on Moriches Bay at Westhampton Yacht Squadron, the third and final races of the summer will decide the winner of two different trophies: the Dudley Trophy, which has traditionally gone to the sailor who has won the day’s races, and the three-handled mug to the overall winner of the SS Class Association Championship.

“The Quantuck Yacht Club sailed their SSes for many years from the Kidde property on Quantuck Bay. Unfortunately, interest waned in the ’60s, and the yacht club disbanded, which meant the end of SS racing in the bay,” Abby Connett explained last week, of the antique, wooden, gaff rigged sailboats. “The trophies and races moved to Westhampton Yacht Squadron, and that club became the center of SS racing for many years, for which the SS Class Association is very grateful. Now, the focus is moving back toward the Shinnecock Yacht Club. During all of this time, the SS Class Association and its past leaders have been diligently overseeing the class.

“One of the highlights of this season was bringing racing back to Quantuck Bay,” he continued.

Leading up to this weekend’s races, Abby and Ian Connett in SS 96 Fiji along with Rob Dudley and Jim Ewing in SS 116 Fey are tied in the standings with 6.7 points apiece, but the rest of the class is not too far behind. Luke and Brent Camery in SS 81 Dreamer are a close second with 7.7 points, Jim and Ellen Sanders in SS 98 Mirage are third with nine points, Mike Nelson and Allen McMillin in SS 128 Moonshine are fourth with 10 points and Deb and Denise Dalmasse in SS 13 Friday are fifth with 11 points.

As commodore for many years, with many of the SS races taking place at the yacht squadron, Dudley always wanted to expand the racing to the surrounding clubs and gave Abby and his young cousin Ian Connett credit for being able to achieve such a feat.

“Abby and his cousin Ian had some enthusiasm, and there are quite a few people who house a number of their boats at Shinnecock Yacht Club, so I had been looking to shift some of the races over from Westhampton Yacht Squadron for quite a while now,” he said. “As we got going and we started to transition to more numbers it just kind of grew until now where we reactivated racing on the three bays.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend,” Dudley added. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The skipper’s meeting starts this Saturday at 10 a.m. at Westhampton Yacht Squadron with sailing to start not long after.