The PUG, JENNY Go PLUM CRAZY, Too!
Annapolis, MD (October 30-31) - "The breeze was fantastic," said Regatta Chair Dick Neville, "more like San Francisco than Annapolis at this time of year." Dominating the regatta was the J/122 PUGWASH sailed by David Murphy of Westport, CT, scoring a 2.25-1-1-1-1-1 for only 7.25 points. PUGWASH's tactician and match racing champ Ian Williams was impressed with the J/122. "It's a great boat and rates well." PUGWASH's strategist and Olympic gold medalist Kevin Burnham was extremely impressed with the team and their ability to maximize performance with their new, groovy sails. As winner of IRC Class 3, PUGWASH posted a string of five straight first-place finishes in the buoy races. In second was FLYING JENNY VI, a J/122 sailed by David Askew (Annapolis, Md.), which posted 16.25 points with a strong 2.25-3-4-2-3-2 record. Not a bad year for FJ VI either, following on a string of firsts as she toured the Great Lakes this past summer. Finally, not to be outdone by their sisterships, Andrew Skibo and crew on PLUM CRAZY II finished third with a 4.5-2-2-10-2-3 for 23.5 points; other than a DNS(10), PLUM CRAZY II was in the hunt for second in the no throw-out series.
In IRC Class 4, J/109 RUSH owned by Bill Sweetser (Annapolis, Md) also held a huge lead for first with about as dominating a performance as her larger sisterships in IRC Class 3. Sweetser's RUSH scored a 1.5-3-1-1-1-1 for just 8.5 points!
The only dedicated IRC rating event on the Chesapeake, the IRC East Coast Championship was the IMS East Coast Championship before 2005. This marks the tenth year that the championship has been organized by the Storm Trysail Club’s Chesapeake Station and the sixth year it has been run under the IRC rule. For 2011, the event will be part of the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex, scheduled for June 19-24, 2011. Sailing photo credits: Sara Proctor For more STC IRC East Coasts Sailing information