J/133 SIREN SONG Victory Chorus!
(Rye, NY)- The AYC Spring Series concluded with a fairly light and streaky weekend of winds with sunny skies and unseasonably warm weather (must be that volcanic cloud circling the Earth again). The American YC Race Committees and PRO's provided the sailors with great racing in challenging conditions over the two weekends of sailing.The J/122 One-Design class saw Tom Boyle and Mike Callahan aboard WINGS continue their leading ways from the previous weekend to win this tightly fought class, with a 1-2-2-1-1-2-2-3-1 record for 12 points to win by three points over Andrew Weiss' family racing CHRISTOPHER DRAGON to a 3-1-1-3-2-1-3-1-3 tally for 15 points. Barry Gold and Jamie Anderson sailing SUNDARI stepped up their game this weekend to punctuate their previous finishes with a 1-2-2, but not enough to move them up the standings from the previous weekend. So SUNDARI's scores of 2-3-4-2-3-5-1-2-2 for 19 points kept them on the podium, finishing third for the series.
Bill Ketcham and his team aboard the J/44 MAXINE, held off the hard-charging crew on Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER to win the J/44 One-Design class. GOLD DIGGER's 1-1-2 this past weekend was not enough to overcome the remarkably consistent scores of MAXINE. After a strong start the previous weekend, Jeff Willis on CHALLENGE IV fell off the pace a bit, garnering a 6-2-3 to drop down to third place for the series. All in all, it was a good showing and start of the year for both MAXINE and CHALLENGE IV to give the GOLD DIGGER gang a run for the money. The J/44 One-Design Class continue to enjoy fantastic racing with their "class matched/supplied" one-design sails. Draw each sail out of a hat and off you go! It's been a terrific formula for success. Look out for another large J/44 class for this year's Storm Trysail Club Bermuda Race.
The J/105 One-Design class continued their very competitive racing and, as usual, it all came down to the last day to determine who would be the top three on the leader-board. The anxiety level was high as anxious skippers and crews sought to get good clean starts, avoid the corners and get in three solid races on the last day. The weather conditions sure didn't cooperate since anyone shooting the corners could flip-flop the standings rapidly. Despite the difficult conditions, Bruce Stone's and Scott DeWeese's POWERPLAY prevailed over their seventeen competitors, just winning by three points over Damian Emery's ECLIPSE. In fact, both boats must've spent a lot of time watching each other on the same side of the race track as both had their worst daily scores for the series- POWERPLAY sailing to a riveting 3-7-4 record and ECLIPSE matching them with a mind-blowing 11-13-7 score, uncharacteristic for both well-sailed J/105s to drop that far down the standings. Redeeming themselves nicely after the first weekend were Kevin Grainger on GUMPTION 3, getting on to the podium for third overall with a late charge of 2-5-3-3 in the last four races to bring them into contention. Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson CONUNDRUM started off well the first weekend, but a 9-15 in the last two races hurt their chances to a podium finish to finish fourth. In fifth was George and Alex Wilbanks REVELATION.
The IRC 40 Class appeared to be a playground for the J/133s these past two weekends. The class was dominated by Thomas Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG with seven bullets in nine races- clearly they were singing their own tune and marching to a different drummer! Their 4-1-1-6-1-1-1-1-1 tally for 11 points was the most dominant performance of any boat in the AYC Spring Series, winning by 13 points. Finishing third was Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE, coming on strong in the final weekend to just miss out second overall by one point. Fourth was George Petrides' J/120 AVRA.
The J/109s racing IRC35 Class saw two of the leading J/109s not participate this past weekend. One of them, Rick Lyall's STORM sailed in the SW NOOD Annapolis for the J/109 Mid-Atlantic Championship and the start of the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy. Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN sailed a nice series, getting a 5-5-4-1-3-5-6-3-3-7-1 score for 36 points, just missing out third overall by one point due to their forgettable second to last race 7th place finish.
True to form, the J/29 HUSTLER sailed by John and Tony Esposito simply walked off with PHRF Division honors. Again, their performance in light airs and flat water with a lump is pretty devastating with their powerful masthead rig and chutes. The Esposito's managed to dash off a 3-3-1-1-1-3-1-1-1-1 record for 13 points for a thirteen point lead over the next boat. Photo credits- Alan Clark/ Photoboat For more race and sailing information on the American YC Spring Series.
