Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE 2 Dominates J/109s
(Chicago, IL)- A strong turnout of J one-design classes by the J/105s and J/109s assured some great racing. The weather overlords even cooperated to supply some breeze but perhaps a few too many lightning bolts in occasional thunderstorms rolling in off the vast prairies just West of downtown Chicago. On Day 1 of the Sperry Top-Sider Chicago NOOD, the sailors had a little bit of everything. The first race on Circle B, the southern-most of the three circles finished in a steady, but fading, southeast breeze. That breeze all but vanished as PHRF 4, led by Robert Armstrong’s modified J/100 Good Girl, rounded the first windward mark in Circle C’s second race. Local J/Boat dealer Rich Stearns is sailing the new J/97 in that fleet. The 100-yard offset leg took him a few minutes to complete when the wind dropped to nothing. But the breeze returned and the J/97 showed some light-air legs on the run. For the rest of the weekend, the RC PRO's were able to get in a good set of races, six each for the J/105 and J/109 classes.
In the sixteen boat J/105 class, local hero Don Wilson (Mr. Chicago Match Race Center) showed that he had not lost his touch racing J/105s and took CONVEXITY to a 6-1-1-1-1-5 finish to win the regatta by 11 points! Dueling it our for second were Tom Petkus on VYTIS and Dorin Candea on MESSY JESSY. Dorin pulled every trick in the book to overcome the steady sailing shown by Tom's experienced team, including winning the last race. However, even a first place finish in Race 6 was not enough for Dorin's MESSY JESSY team to grab second place. In the end, Tom's VYTIS sailed to a 3-3-2-6-5-7 finish to secure second and Dorin's MESSY JESSY started slow and finished strong with an 8-2-5-8-3-1 score.A familiar face in the J/105 fleet, Len Siegal, jumped ship to race J/109s and took his LUCKY DUBIE 2 to a win in a very tightly contested series. LUCKY DUBIE 2's scores of 2-2-1-1-3-1 were very consistent and dominant to win by 7 points. Battling it out for second and third were Jack Toliver's VANDA III and David Gustman's NORTHSTAR. The gloves were off going into the last race whomever beat who would grab the silver. However, only three boats actually finished in the final race #6 within the time limit, so five boats were scored with TLE's (Time Limit Expired)! As a result, Jack's VANDA III finished second with a 1-1-3-5-2-TLE record tied with David's NORTHSTAR with a 4-3-2-2-1-TLE tally to finish third.
In the PHRF4 handicap classes, Richie Stearns reports- "The J/97 sailed great! I sailed a few races and the new owners of the J-111 sailed the others. The J/100 GOOD GIRL was untouchable and was well-sailed. We learned quite a bit about the J/97, the in-hualers work well on the boat. We were not sailing to polars downwind and that hurt. The weather was mixed anywhere from 3 to 15 knots and the boat is a pleasure to sail in all winds. The real great thing about the boat is how easy it is to sail. We were third in section, the J/100 GOOD GIRL was first, fifth was the J/29 RELENTLESS and sixth was the J/27 RELENTLESS! In the Level 35 Class, the J/35s swept and went 1-2-3 with William Newman's AFTERSHOCK running the table winning with ten points, Larry Taunt's BAD DOG in second and Bruce Metcalf's BOZO'S CIRCUS in third." For more Sperry Top-Sider Chicago SW NOOD sailing information.