FM J/70 Lake Ontario Top Dog!(Youngstown, NY)- The Youngstown YC hosted yet another awesome CanAm Challenge Regatta on western Lake Ontario this past weekend. The fun and games included an “impromptu” (but, fiercely fought) street hockey game along the waterfront parking lot between Canadian and American sailing teams; bragging rights for North American supremacy again go to the Canadians with a 2-1 victory!
Perhaps the consolation prize goes to the Americans for winning the principal J/one-design classes- the J/70s and J/88s.
After eleven races, it was quite apparent who was going to become the 2018 J/88 Great Lakes Champion. By winning the first three races and closing the last day with a 1-1-2, Laura Weyler’s HIJINKS had a seemingly unassailable control over their 88 colleagues in terms of tactics and speed. Their record was six 1sts and four 2nds for just 14 pts net! A distant second, like in the next county, was Tim Finkle’s SEAWEED, winning the fight for the silver in a nail-biting, anxiety-ridden final race over Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION. The women skippers are sailing fast in the 88’s, as Cindy Goodin’s QUIXY took 4th and Tim Sweet’s Canadian crew on GIVE’R was fifth.
Also sailing an amazing eleven races over three days was the largest class in the event, the dozen-boat J/70 class. Tod Sackett’s FM crew sailed the most consistently, posting all podium finishes as his counters to win with 19 pts. The balance of the podium was determined by a tie-breaker at 24 pts each, with Travis Odenbach’s USA 40 winning the countback over Kevin Morgan’s WILD CARD.
As anticipated, the duel in the J/22 class of a half-dozen boats would come down to Vic Snyder’s MO’MONEY and Mark Sertl’s MONEY FOR NOTHING, the outcome poetically determined by tie-breaker on 8 pts each! Snyder’s crew got the win based on the most 1sts. Third was Trevor Collins’ ALTERNATIVE GIRLFRIEND team from Canada.
In the world of PHRF handicap racing, the PHRF 1 Spinnaker saw the two J/35s finish next to each other; 3rd was CRIME SCENE (Paul Angus Bark) and 4th LOYALIST (Andrew Koolman). In PHRF 2 Spinnaker, the J/80 LIFTED (Ed Berkhout) was 2nd and the J/24 SQUIRMY (Alex O’Brien) was 3rd. In PHRF 1- Non-spinnaker, Doug Clarke’s J/35C won the class, with Jocelyn Sikorski’s J/34 SOUND WAVE in third. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes 2017. For more J/88 Great Lakes and CanAm Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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