Zartler's J-TEEZ Triumphant
(Houston, TX) The Lakewood Yacht Club in Houston, TX hosts this annual even that is heavily attended by the regional one-design classes...the winners all get "sailin' shoes for the crew" (these are no Tod's nor Manolo's, bet the girls wished they were)! This year, heavy thunderstorms, wind and rain caused abandonment of Saturday's racing, while light air and high temperatures made for some brutal conditions on Sunday. Over sixty sailboats participated, including one-deSIgn classes for J/22s, J/80s, J/105s and J/109s.The J/105 class, along with a set of shoes, was won by Bill Zartler and crew on J-TEEZ with 5 points. Bee Bednar and crew on STINGER squeezed out a second with 7 points. Malcolm Bremer and crew on BABE finished third with 8 points. The most interesting race had all the J/105s crossing the finish line within seconds of each other.
In the J/22 class, Steve and Anna Willits from Lakewood YC were first with ten points, solidifying their lead in the last two races with two bullets. Vincent Ruder was second after torpedoing their early regatta lead with a 6-3 in the last two races. Ruthie Lambert from GBCA was third racing her J/22 OUT OF SIGHT, winning on a tie-breaker over Richard Volyes' MUST GO FASTER with thirteen points each.
The J/80s had a nice turnout with some very competitive racing. Winning on a tie-breaker at six points a piece was Bob McMahan from Lakewood YC winning on his J/80 KAOS with a 3-1-2. Losing the tie-breaker with an identical record of 1-2-3 was Forbes Durdin also from LYC finishing second sailing MOJITO. Third was Bill Rose from GBCA on KICKS sailing to a 2-3-4 record for nine points.
The J/109 class had a great turnout for this versatile offshore/ one-design racer. Most of the Houston area J/109 contingent showed up in full force to race for their share of the shoe inventory (that's a lot of them for a 9+ person J/109 crew)! The winner was John Mather from GBCA sailing FRENCH CONNECTION to win with five points. LYC's Albrecht Goethe sailed HAMBURG to second with seven points and Mark Smith showed up from Ft Worth Boat Club sailing HARM'S WAY to third place, just one point back from HAMBURG. For more Shoe Regatta sailing and results information