RASCAL’s Over AFRICA Beat MOXIE Kids?(Deltaville, VA)- The first J/70 Chesapeake Championship was held at Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville, Virginia, on November 1-2. The event saw challenging weather conditions as a cold front rushed into an offshore Low Pressure, creating a NE Gale with gusts above 30 knots and temperatures in the low forties.
Faced with large waves and heavy gusts in the Chesapeake Bay, the races were moved into the Piankatank River in Fishing Bay. In difficult conditions, the Race Committee led by John McCarthy, got off two races Saturday before winds exceeded Class Guidelines, consistently gusting above 25 kts. The fleet then sailed back to the Club outside the lee of Fishing Bay, facing winds over 30 kts and steep, short interval waves in the mouth of the Piankatank below Stingray Point.
The sailors enjoyed libations and southern BarBQ while licking their wounds and drying their foul weather gear. Around dinnertime, with a numerous dire forecasts for Sunday, racing was abandoned for the following day and results and awards were presented.
Surviving
the gear-buster were Will Welles’ crew on RASCAL and Bruce Golison
sailing AFRICA. Both teams posted a 1-2, but Welles won the last race,
therefore winning the tie-breaker for first. Third was Cole Allsop on
MOXIE also winning on a three-way tie-breaker at 8 pts with Blake and
Lud Kimbrough’s NOSTALGIA and Tom Bowen’s REACH AROUND; they finished in
that order.In the Corinthians Division, top boat was the Kimbrough’s NOSTALGIA, followed by Ron Thompson in 2nd place and Drake Johnstone’s CAT’S PAJAMAS in 3rd place.
Said Jon Deutsch about their experience, “it was a wild day of racing on Saturday at the J/70 Chesapeake Bay Championship with the winds in the 20's and 30's and gusts into the 40's by the time we were headed in. We got two races in and ended up abandoning Sunday's racing with heavier winds expected. For you couch-potato sailors, we got some decent video of us on HOTTY TODDY that you might enjoy!” See Deutsch’s wild & woolly experience on the southern Chesapeake Bay here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joPSxsnpHFQ For more J/70 Chesapeake Bay Championship sailing information
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