We spent last Thursday evening in the saliently empty “press boat” at the preliminaries for the Fourth Annual Hedge Fund Regatta, trolling the murky Hudson and watching life-preservered hedgies race sailboats for charity.

The white boats, rented at a $1000 each, left the Manhattan Sailing School in a gapped procession, arriving late at a two-story barge half a mile off Ellis Island for a two-leg course towards lower Manhattan and back. The race itself was, to euphemize, relaxed. About fifteen minutes after the opening horn, one reporter sharing the boat asked, “So when do they start?”

We expected a tense half-hour of strenuous knot-tying, rope-pulling and foul language, but instead, as we pulled close to hedgies, we were greeted with smiles and friendly waves. Apparently, much of the actual sailing was left to the Club-provided skippers; the finance majors seemed more adept at running from side to side, keeping the boats balanced.

By all accounts, the race went swimmingly, despite the last-minute intrusion of a wake-making white speedboat called “The Whatever” from Wayne, New Jersey.

Eight teams advanced to the finals on August 13, a second preliminary round will be held tonight.

Thursday's results after the jump.

Place Team (Boat #)
1 Lime Capital (4)
2 Connecticut Hedge Fund Association Boat A (FC)
3 Lucas Energy (9)
4 Moore Capital Management (13)
5 Alternative Investment Group (1)
6 Connecticut Hedge Fund Association Boat B (12)
7 Caxton Associates (2)
8 SAC Capital (6)
9 JP Morgan Investment (10)
10 Octane Research (14)
11 MAK Capital (7)
12 Hudson Bay Capital Management (5)
13 Fortress Investments (FF)
14 Alliance Bernstein (8)
15 MAK Capital (3)
16 Blue Harbour Group Boat A (11)