Wednesday, February 5, 2020

DEVIATION Crowned J/88 Midwinter Champion

J/88s sailing Midwinters off St Petersburg, FL
(St Petersburg, FL)- Five J/88s participated in the 2020 J/88 Midwinter Championship, a part of J/Fest hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida. Conditions on Tampa Bay ranged from 6-8 knots on Friday and Sunday, with Saturday having the best breeze at 10-12 knots.

Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION won half of the eight races to capture victory with 11 net points. Vogel is the J/88 Class President based out of New York, and her crew included Alan Capellin, Kevin Costello, Dave Coughlin, Tim Longo and Bill McCulloch.

J/88 Deviation winners of Midwinters
Giving Vogel's DEVIATION team a run-for-the-money all weekend was the highly regarded crew from the Chicago J/88 FLeet, Andy & Sarah Graff's EXILE. Both boats were mostly a step ahead of the rest of the fleet in terms of boat-handling and boat-speed; between them they collected six 1sts and six 2nds! EXILE secured the silver with 13 pts net, while William Purdy's WHIRLWIND just sneaked onto the podium on the last day with 22 pts net. Losing that battle in the last race for the coveted bronze position was Larry Cutler & Andrew Weiss' ONE TOO MANY.  For more J/88 Midwinters & J/FEST St Petersburg Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.