J/42 CEOL MOR and J/35 PALADIN Succeed Double-handed
(Newport, RI- August 22-23)- The end of season long distance race to commemorate the famous lighthouse keeper, Ida Lewis, who became the namesake for the equally renowned Newport yacht club, Ida Lewis YC, was a very fast one indeed for all entrants. While the maxi sleds (all owned of note by ex-J/24 sailors!!) that included Tom Hill's Reichel-Pugh 75 foot TITAN and George David's 90 foot RAMBLER and Irvine Laidlaw's brand spanking new Wally 90 footer HIGHLAND FLING all started to fly around the course in near record time while the rest of the fleet watched the "three musketeers" take off in a cloud of dust and spray. Only one of the "big dogs" managed to get around the track without a mishap, Tom's TITAN- winning overall while George's RAMBLER repaired a running backstay and hung on without dropping it's 120 mast over the side. Only Irvine's HIGHLAND FLING suffered enough of a mishap, tearing all jibs out of its new new carbon luff foil to have to retire, other than look like an awfully expensive 90' Laser cruising around the race course.
The J's had a very nice showing in the DoubleHanded Division with the J/35 PALADIN sailed by Robert Fischer and Jason Richter from Setauket YC finishing 2nd overall. They were followed by the J/42 CEOL MOR raced by the able bodied team of Jim Wilson and Brian Klippenstein from NYYC handily getting 3rd in the division.
For PHRF Class 2, the beautiful J/42 TRUE owned and well-campaigned by Howard Hodgson from NYYC and Newport, RI finished third overall in class.
