On Saturday and Sunday, July 31 and Aug. 1, eight boats from Edgewood Yacht Club participated in the Leo J. Telesmanick Beetle Cat Championships in Chatham, Massachusetts, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Beetle Cat boat class.

The all-wood Beetle Cat was first built by John Beetle in New Bedford in 1921 and has been in production ever since, and Beetle Cats have sailed at Edgewood Yacht Club for nearly all of their 100-year history.

Last weekend’s regatta, nicknamed “The Leo,” serves as the “World Championship” for the Beetle Cat class. To mark the 100th anniversary, a record number of 75 Beetle Cats participated in 6 races over two days.

The top boat from Edgewood, which placed 31 of 75 overall, was skippered by Georgia Shuster and crewed by her sister Greta Shuster. While both girls are past Junior Division champions of the event, this year they placed 5th overall among Juniors, with all 4 Junior boats above them hailing from Chatham Yacht Club itself.

The racing became quite exciting on Saturday with high winds in Pleasant Bay, where one Edgewood boat snapped its wooden mast, another had its rig separate from its boat, and still another lost a gudgeon, part of the hardware attaching its rudder to the boat.