(Birmingham, AL)- The Birmingham Sailing Club held their annual Leukemia Cup Regatta and hosted the J/22 fleet for their Southeast Championship Regatta. The event was held over the weekend of September 17-19, 2010. The regatta counts for double points in the Southeast Circuit and rotates from year to year amongst the major sailing venues of the Circuit. Previous championship regattas have been held on Percy Priest Lake-Nashville, TN, and Choctawachee Bay-Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
With double points on the line, everyone brought their “A” game. Eight J/22s were there for the racing. Three boats were local and the remaining five trailered in from Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky. High pressure moved in for the weekend and settled in over the area making for very light and shifty conditions. At the end of one race what had been the windward mark was now almost a perfect set for the leeward mark! In conditions like this it’s sometimes hard to remember that the only place worse to be than on your own boat trying to go forward is to be on the race committee boat trying to get in a few quality races.When it was over, three races counted and Sean Clare sailing WHITE TRASH with crew of Doc Bellows, Ashley Sulkalski and Micah Souza (Ashley’s 6 year old son won the regatta). Finishes were 3-1-2. A very determined past Rolex competitor, Jennifer Grant with crew of Sam Grant took a solid second with finishes of 2-4-1. Local knowledge paid off for Bob Blythe and crew of Rebecca Blythe and Larry VanHorne who placed third with finished of 1-5-5. Contributed by Wayne Cassady. For more J/22 One-design sailing info.