Monday, July 25, 2011

J/109 BLUE STREAK Wins Lake Ontario 300

J/109 sailors wins Lake Ontario 300 35 Foot J's Clean Sweep IRC Overall/IRC 2/ PHRF 1! 
(Port Credit, Ontario, Canada)- It's not often that one brand can command clean sweeps in separate classes in two premiere Great Lakes offshore races in a single weekend.  But, that's exactly what happened.  Other than the Double-handers in the Chicago-Mac walking off the podium with all the pickle dishes, the 35 foot J's swept IRC Overall and IRC Class 2 and PHRF 1 in both the long course and Scotch Bonnet short course to take home all the silver.

J/109 Blue Streak winning Lake Ontario 300For starters, "congratulations" to Sperry Cup winner Robert Eckersley and the J/109 BLUE STREAK crew from Queen City Yacht Club, winning the not just the coveted Sperry Cup, but IRC 2 Class Overall.  Not only did they sail one heck of a race to beat their closest rivals, it was fellow J sailors who were giving them a run for all the marbles.  Just behind was the J/35 JEAGER sailed by Leszek Siek to get 2nd class and 2nd overall!  Then, as if to ice the competition altogether, the J/109 LIVELY sailed by Murray Gainer got 3rd class, 3rd overall!  Astonishing.  Awesome. Unprecedented?  Perhaps.  Then to add insult to injury to all their competitors, yet another J/109, Denys Jones's  CARPE VENTUS finished 4th class, 7th overall!

As if to prove their stablemates in IRC were not the only ones to show the fleet the way home, in PHRF 1 the J/35 SHORTHANDED sailed by Michael Pietz was also 1st class, 3rd overall!  Remarkable, nearly total domination of 35 foot J's in the long-course 300 mile Lake Ontario race.

J/35 sailboats starting Lake Ontario 300 sailing raceOn the shorter Scotch Bonnet Course, it was clear that yet another 35 foot J set the pace, to be the first boat into the marina after all had taken off the day before.  In PHRF 1, the J/35 ABRACADABRA sailed by Klaus Noack and team were not only first boat to finish in fleet, but 1st Class, 2nd overall!  In short, like their 35 foot counterparts on the Chicago-Mac, the Lake Ontario crowd also demonstrated why they are a force to be reckoned with offshore-- easy to sail and awfully damn fast in nearly all conditions on all points of sail.   For more Lake Ontario 300 sailing information   For full LO300 Sailing results