A repeat win for a great team as Tom Coates and crew from San Francisco Bay aboard Masquerade topped the record 68 boat J/105 fleet in Annapolis earlier this month. With a slow start and a stellar finish these guys literally came out of nowhere to win again. As far as J/105 one-design events go, this was a milestone event and a culmination of 16 years of class development and growth. A record turnout of boats and some competitive racing and challenging conditions. During the buffet dinner party on Friday night, special recognition was given to long time J/Dealer Paul Mikulski by J/Boats President Jeff Johnstone for Paul’s un-tiring contribution to the success of the local J/105 class and his work promoting J/Boats on the Chesapeake over the past two decades. A special J/105 half hull model was awarded to Paul who now continues as broker with the new J/Dealer in Annapolis Ken Comerford of North Point Yacht Sales at J/Port.Each J/105 competing at the North American event was GPS monitored by the folks at Kattack who recorded every race and through the magic of the web will allow anyone to play, rewind, and replay any race of the series. Go to kattack.com to download the player….it’s pretty cool stuff.
For complete reports and links to the daily commentary from the event as well as to online photos please visit the J/105 Class web site.