J/122 CATAPULT Wins IRC40 Class!
(Rye, New York- Sept 19-20 and 26-27)- The RC for American Yacht Club did an admirable job, as always, of conducting solid racing in a wide variety of conditions over the two weekends for their eponymous fall classic. Seemingly, and increasingly so over the years, this event has become a "de facto" J/Fest East-- as there were so many J's participating in the regatta it looked like a J Regatta with a bunch of spectators sailing around in other boats! Of the ninety-seven boats participating in ten classes, fifty-four J's were represented in four one-design and two handicap (IRC/ PHRF) classes- over 56% of the fleet!
For the first weekend, the J/122s essentially "practiced" hard for their upcoming East Coast Championship raced this past weekend. The eleven boat J/122 class was quite competitive, but Stephen Funary's PATRIOT walked off with a win followed by Mike Bruno's/ Tom Boyle's/ Jim Callahan's WINGS in second. David and Mary-Ellen Tortorello sailed their J/122 PARTNERSHIP well to finish third.
The seven boat J/44 One-Design class was won by Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER over Don and Rick Rave's RESOLUTE on a tie-breaker. Incredibly, both had nearly identical records, so the tie-breaker went to who had most seconds!! Wow! Just off the pace but hanging tough against these two was Bill Ketcham's MAXINE.
The five boat J/109 class saw a virtual three-way tie going into the last race with the entire regatta for the top three spots depending on the outcome of the finishes. After the dust settled, again it was Rick Lyall's STORM just winning by one point over Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN. MAD DOGS themselves won on a tie-breaker based on most firsts over Al Minella's RELENTLESS! That was tight racing for the top three players in the J/109 class.
The biggest fleet of the regatta, the twenty-three boat strong J/105 class, had some tough gringo's fighting it out for top honors. All season long, Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes KINCSEM has been dueling it out with Damian Emery's ECLIPSE and Bruce Stone and Scott DeWeese's POWER PLAY for the podium finishes at four events this summer. POWER PLAY started with a 5-4-12 to torpedo any change of wining the regatta. KINCSEM sailed a strong, consistent series to win, followed by ECLIPSE in second and POWERPLAY in third.
In the IRC40 class, Marc Glimcher's J/122 CATAPULT won on a tie-breaker followed by Tom Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG from New York, NY finishing in third place. Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE sailed well to get fifth and George Petrides' J/120 AVRA finished sixth.
In the IRC35 class, Merlin Suggs from King's Point sailed their J/35 HYPNOS to a fourth overall.
In PHRF5, John and Tony Esposito, racing their venerable J/29 HUSTLER, again demonstrated to non-believers that a strong war-horse like their J/29 is, indeed, very competitive over the course of time. The Esposito's followed their domination and supremacy at ROLEX Block Island Race Week to also win their PHRF division, finishing with a strong 3-1-2-1-1-2-2.
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