Sunday, June 18, 2017

J/Fest @ Cedar Point One-Design Regatta!

J/70s sailing on Long Island Sound (Cedar Point, CT)- As usual, the Cedar Point YC were fabulous hosts for the four J/classes for their annual Cedar Point One-Design Regatta.  Racing took place in western Long Island Sound for fleets of J/70s, J/88s, J/105, and J/109s. The fleet experienced a wide variety of weather conditions, from good breeze to near drifters.

The nine-boat J/88 class was a close battle between two top woman skipper/owners- Elizabeth Barry on ESCAPE and Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION.  After taking a first race DNF, Barry’s crew on ESCAPE came roaring back to post a 5-2-1-1-1 for 10 pts net!  An amazing performance by this crew since it was their first appearance in a major J/88 event- essentially the Long Island Sound Championship!  Vogel’s crew took the silver, winning the first two races, but then posting a 3-3-6-3 for 11 pts net.  Doug McKeige’s crew on JAZZ were just off the pace, posting a roller-coaster scoreline of 6-2-1-8-2-2 for 13 pts.  Rounding out the top five was John Pearson’s RED SKY in 4th and Mike Bruno’s WINGS in 5th place.

J/109s sailing off Cedar PointThe winner of the seventeen-boat J/109 East Coast Championship was David Rosow’s LOKI.  It was a stellar performance by Rosow’s team, posting five bullets in just six races, discarding a 2nd place to win with just 5 pts!!  Just behind them, it was an all-out battle for the rest of the podium.  Going neck-and-neck all weekend were Jonathan Rechtschaffer’s EMOTICON and Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY. Both boats had pretty roller-coaster-like scorelines and in the end, it was EMOTICON over MORNING GLORY by just one point.  Taking 4th place was Bill Rogers’ BIG BOAT and in 5th position was Bill Sweetser’s RUSH.

The nineteen-boat J/70 class was a battle all the way for six races.  Amongst the top five boats, it was close until the waning hours of the regatta when some boats made good moves and trumped the other teams.  Winning was Doug Clark’s US Coast Guard Academy Sailing Team on POLAR, posting all top five finishes of 1-5-1-1-5-5 for 13 pts net.  Matching them closely all regatta long was Andrew & Melissa Fisher’s BUTTON FLY, logging a respectable 3-6-5-2-3-1 for 14 pts net.  Third was TEAM VICTURA with a record of 6-2-3-8-1-6 for 18 pts net.  Rounding out the top five were Trevor Roach’s SEMI-CHARMED in 4th with 19 pts and 5th place went to Canadian Louis Donahue’s NIRVANA 7 with 22 pts.

In the J/70 Corinthians Division, it was Roach’s SEMI-CHARMED that won, with Donahue’s NIRVANA 7 in 2nd place and Carrie & Ed Austin’s CHINOOK in 3rd place.

The eleven-boat J/105 class was taken by the dynamic duo of Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault, posting 4 bullets in seven races to comfortably win with just 8 pts net.  Second was George & Alex Wilbanks’ REVELATION with 11 pts net.  Third place was secured by David Willis’ SOLUTION with 18 pts net.  The rest of the top five included Jordan Mindich’s SHAKEDOWN in 4th and Randy Bourne’s STRANGE BREW in 5th place.  For more Cedar Point One-Design Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.