Zartler, Goethe, Flynn, Shaffer Get Straight Firsts!(Houston, TX)- The first J/Fest Southwest took place on Galveston Bay this past weekend, hosted by Lakewood Yacht Club. Forty boats participated ranging from the majestic J/122 GAMBLER down to fleets of J/22s, J/24s, J/80s, J/105s and J/109s! On Saturday the fleet awoke to a beautiful sunny, crisp fall morning, with a light northerly. By afternoon the sea breeze filled in for some great racing on Galveston Bay. Sunday a similar scenario played out for the weather. In short, it was amazing work by the regatta committee, led by Lakewood YC Fleet Captain, Carl Drechsel, to get off up to six races for some of the fleets on what was a beautiful weekend. The general theme voiced by all the competitors is that the race committee’s did an outstanding job, and the racers handled themselves in a corinthian manner both days!
In the J/22 class, Brant Koepke from Galveston Bay Cruising Association sailed RICH SKANK into first place after a slow start, garnering a 5-3-1-2-1-2-1 score to win with 10 points after seven races, one throw-out. Second place was a duel between Pat Gibson from Houston Yacht Club sailing CRIMSON RIBBON and Casey Lambert from Lakewood Yacht Club racing OUT OF SIGHT. Pat started out strong with a 1-2 to Casey's 4-5. But, after a tough seven races, Pat prevailed on the tie-breaker with his 1-2-4-4-3-1-4 score for 15 points. Finishing third was Casey getting a 4-5-3-1-2-3-2 also with 15 points.
The J/24s had a strong turnout with ten boats. Racing was close for the top five. But getting three firsts and keeping himself out of trouble allowed Pedro Gianotti from Galveston Bay Cruising Association to race AMBASSADOR to the top of the heap with a 2-1-4-1-5-2-1 with 11 points. The race for second and third was very tight, with the final result determined by who beat who in the last race. Stuart Lindow sailed TROPICAL AGGRESSION into second place by just a whisker over Dov Kiviovitz's NO NAME. Stuart's 1-6-2-3-1-6-4 record for 17 points just gave him the edge over Dov's 5-3-1-5-8-1-3 for 18 points. Kelly Holmes placed fourth. Kelly did a really neat thing and crewed on his boat with the University of North Texas Sailing Team. Lots of smiles on the UNT sailors faces.
Fresh from having raced the J/80 Worlds and, most likely, still licking their wounds, was the team of Terry Flynn and Dave Whelan from Fort Worth Boat Club racing QUANTUM RACING. That experience in Newport seemed to have sharpened their skills, winning 6 of 7 races to win by 6 points over Paul Parsons team hailing from Galveston Bay Cruising Association sailing PARSONS PROJECT. Third was Ramon Torres' 80 PROOF from Fort Worth Boat Club another 6 points back. What was really cool was that Kurt Vanderwall pulled his J/80 down from Dillon, Colorado to partake in the festivities.Special J/Fest guest Rod Johnstone was brought aboard Scott Spurlin's J/105 RAGTIME-JTEEZ to have some of that special karma help them get around the course faster and smarter. It nearly worked! Winning the J/105s was long-time J/105 champion Bill Zartler from Lakewood Yacht Club sailing SOLARIS to straight firsts after five races! Ouch! Talk about a "spanking". Even Rod J was impressed, wondering himself what special voodoo or karma was being practiced aboard the great yacht SOLARIS-- something special that's for sure! Scott and Rod managed to sail well to finish 2nd ten points back with a 3-2-2-5-3 score. Giving them a run for the money was Matt Arno from Fort Worth Boat Club sailing the BLUE FLASH into third with a 2-5-3-2-5 record.
The J/109s were having fun amongst themselves. It was the HAMBURG boys using the FRENCH CONNECTION to stay out of HARMS WAY!! Ha! Well, nearly the case. Albrecht Goethe's HAMBURG from Lakewood Yacht Club pretty much showed their tail feathers to the rest of the 109 class all weekend, getting straight bullets. Second was John Mather's FRENCH CONNECTION from Galveston Bay Cruising Association and third was Mark Smith's HARMS WAY from Fort Worth Boat Club.
Over in handicap land, the J Fleet sailed PHRF and managed to get in three races. At the end, Doug Shaffer's well-campaigned J/122 GAMBLER from Lakewood Yacht Club managed to pull off the top of the podium finish also with straight firsts. Just behind was Alex Ascencios' J/120 PREMIER from Lakewood Yacht Club and in third was Walter Caldwell's J/40 SHAKEN NOT STIRRED from Galveston Bay Cruising Association.Of note was the chance for Rod Johnstone to catch up with Rita Matthews (pictured at right). Rita, and her husband Ed, owned the first J/24 on Galveston Bay. Over the years Rita and Ed sailed many times with Rod. Rod took the opportunity to tell the attendee’s about that first J/24 on the bay and that “Rita was the mother of all J/Boats in Texas”. A touching, sweet moment for all! For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information.