(Key West, FL)- For the first time ever, a group of J/95s gathered
together to go out and have some fun bashing and crashing "around the
cans" in a regatta. The three J/95s decided to participate in PHRF 2
and had an entertaining series sailing against each other and the rest
of their PHRF competitors. What was most interesting was to see the
enthusiasm these sailors had for sailing their boats in windward-leeward
races in a boat that was originally designed to be a shoal-draft
performance sailing boat! The J/95s performance was quite remarkable
considering the conditions at Key West are way, way less than ideal for a
keel-centerboard boat. In fact, conventional wisdom says that a
sailboat in this configuration is not supposed to go upwind in a steep,
in-your-face 2-3 foot chop where the bow gets tossed around often times
violently by cross-chop. All three PHRF boats that beat them were all
deep, narrow keel boats (Cape Fear 38, C&C 37, Ben First 42), and
next in line in the standings were the three J/95s! Pretty remarkable
performance for a shoal-draft performance cruising boat!
Leading
the charge amongst the J/95s was veteran Key West sailor Ed Palm from
Naples/Detroit sailing his STILL CRAZY to a 4-3-5-4-4-5-5-6-2 record for
38 points; proving in the last race with a 2nd place that a well-sailed
J/95 can even beat deep-keel boats given half a chance! Second in the
J/95s was Terry Mckenna who brought his boat down from CANADA to sail
FINN to a 7-8-4-3-5-4-4-3-3 record for 41 points; were it not for their
slow start (due to teething problems), Terry and crew may have been top
J/95 and their record amongst the fleet, again, proves it's possible to
take a great keel-centerboard design and give the deep keelers on a
windward-leeward course a run for the money! Third was Trudie Ficks
from Naples, FL sailing her lovely boat SEVENTH HEAVEN to a
6-4-7-5-6-7-6-5-7 score for 53 points. It may be a toss-up as to who
had the most fun sailing their J/95 at Key West, but our betting is on
Trudie for having a ball, "thanking heaven" that she had the time and
opportunity to sail Key West for the first time in her life and be
"blessed" with a wonderful crew and warm weather!
Sailing photo credit- Tim Wilkes. For
more J/95 sailing information.