It would be hard to find a tougher test of racing skill than at the 2008 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex. 120 boats competed across 6 classes in this four day event that featured the J/109 North American Championship and both the J/122 and J/105 East Coast Championship. Thursday’s racing was wet and woolly with all fleets having to race inside the Bay due to the severe conditions. Friday and Saturday conditions eased enough to sail outside but with very lumpy seas. Then the T-Storms returned on Sunday with winds hitting 50 knots to shorten the day’s racing.
In J/109 action, Ted Herlihy (South Dartmouth, MA) and his mostly family crew aboard GUT FEELING sailed an impressive nine-race series to narrowly beat out GOSSIP (Steve Kenny & Greg Ames, Wainscott, NY), and CAMINOS (Donald Filippelli, Amagansett, NY) for the North American title. “Five of our eight crew are family,”said Herlihy, who came close to winning the North Americans two years ago. "We thought we'd do well but this feels great," he said about his victory.
"You know it's windy when everything is going sideways -- the wind, the rain, the boat," said Damian Emery on ECLIPSE (Shoreham, N.Y.), who won the J/105 East Coast Championship. Starting out with two bullets, Emery was able to hold off a strong charge by Brian Keane's SAVASANA. "Today we were definitely sailing against each other," said Emery, who finished second to Keane's fifth in what was to be the final race before a rapidly moving line of thunderstorms forced cancellation of the final race.
In the J/122 class, Andrew Weiss (Rye, N.Y.) on CHRISTOPHER DRAGON opened the series with 6 straight bullets, before being really tested by both FLYING JENNY VI (David Askew, Annapolis, MD) and GAMBLER (Doug Shaffer, Houston, TX). The J/122s raced around the Island on Sunday, and with a 3rd place finish (behind FLYING JENNY and GAMBLER), Weiss locked up the J/122 East Coast Championship by two points over FLYING JENNY VI and 10 points over GAMBLER.
Event website
It would be hard to find a tougher test of racing skill than at the 2008 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex. 120 boats competed across 6 classes in this four day event that featured the J/109 North American Championship and both the J/122 and J/105 East Coast Championship. Thursday’s racing was wet and woolly with all fleets having to race inside the Bay due to the severe conditions. Friday and Saturday conditions eased enough to sail outside but with very lumpy seas. Then the T-Storms returned on Sunday with winds hitting 50 knots to shorten the day’s racing.
In J/109 action, Ted Herlihy (South Dartmouth, MA) and his mostly family crew aboard GUT FEELING sailed an impressive nine-race series to narrowly beat out GOSSIP (Steve Kenny & Greg Ames, Wainscott, NY), and CAMINOS (Donald Filippelli, Amagansett, NY) for the North American title. “Five of our eight crew are family,”said Herlihy, who came close to winning the North Americans two years ago. "We thought we'd do well but this feels great," he said about his victory.
"You know it's windy when everything is going sideways -- the wind, the rain, the boat," said Damian Emery on ECLIPSE (Shoreham, N.Y.), who won the J/105 East Coast Championship. Starting out with two bullets, Emery was able to hold off a strong charge by Brian Keane's SAVASANA. "Today we were definitely sailing against each other," said Emery, who finished second to Keane's fifth in what was to be the final race before a rapidly moving line of thunderstorms forced cancellation of the final race.
In the J/122 class, Andrew Weiss (Rye, N.Y.) on CHRISTOPHER DRAGON opened the series with 6 straight bullets, before being really tested by both FLYING JENNY VI (David Askew, Annapolis, MD) and GAMBLER (Doug Shaffer, Houston, TX). The J/122s raced around the Island on Sunday, and with a 3rd place finish (behind FLYING JENNY and GAMBLER), Weiss locked up the J/122 East Coast Championship by two points over FLYING JENNY VI and 10 points over GAMBLER. Event website
