A J/Fest of J/24s, 80s, 105 and 120s
(San Diego, CA)- While the Cabo Race sailors on Sunday were getting pounded by the massive low pressure system traversing the southern California coastline, the Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta in San Diego had great winds and some great sailing. The strong turnout of J's, the large J/120 and J/105 classes and the very competitive J/24s and the J/80s, made the most of Sunday's windy conditions to get in good, hard, fast races.
As
the largest fleet in the regatta, the eighteen boat J/105 fleet has
attracted a good out-of-town contingent, The local California
contingent of class leaders like the Case's WINGS and Howell's BLINK!
had an off weekend, neither cracking the top five. Sailing a very
strong regatta was Long Beach YC's Gary Mozer on CURRENT OBSESSION 2,
sailing to 3 straight firsts to win by 5 pts over San Diego YC's Tomm
Hurlburt on BLOW BOAT. Third was SDYC's Chris Logan sailing his PHOLLY
to a 2-4-8 for 14 pts. Fourth was OFF THE PORCH skippered by Scott
McDaniel from SLBYC to a 11-3-4 score for 18 pts, beating on a
tie-breaker TRIPLE PLAY sailed by Dave Vieregg from SDYC with a 4-5-9
record for 18 pts.
The
J/120 fleet saw eight very competitive boats sail three solid races.
This year it was CAPER sailed by San Diego YC's John Laun that walked
off with the gold, sailing to a 1-1-3 for 5 pts. Lying second was last
year's winners, Chuck Nichols and his SDYC team racing CC RIDER to
straight 3rds for 9 pts. Were it not for a first race snafu, Peter
Zarcades' MELTEMI from SDYC might have gotten second, sailing to a 6-2-2
for 10 pts, just one point back from second. Fourth was J-ALMIGHTY
sailed by Mike Hatch from CRA and fifth was SHENANIGANS skippered by
Gary Winton from CBYC.
The
local SoCal J/24s showed up in force with a very competitive fleet of
thirteen J/24s to vie for "top dog" billing in SoCal over the course of
four tightly fought races. As it turned out, THE top dog was, in fact,
THREE BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara YC, sailed by current J/24 North
American Champion Pat Toole. Their 1-1-2-1 record just beat out past
National/ NA Champion Chris Snow on BOGUS from San Diego YC who raced to
a 2-2-1-2 record, trading out all of the top two spots in the fleet
with Pat's TBD team. Third was ON BELAY raced by Don Taylor from RYC,
sailing to a 3-5-7-3 and beating on a tie-breaker SUPER STRINGS sailed
by Norm Hosford from DPYC that had a 7-3-4-4 tally. Fifth was Erik
Hemmi from SWYC.
Finally,
the ten J/80s had perhaps the closest racing of all the J one-designs,
with the top five only separated by 13 points after seven races.
Winning this tight fleet was Curt Johnson from California YC racing AVET
to a 1-6-1-2-3-2-1 for 16 pts. Steve Wyman survived an unfortunate
occurrence in the last race where a trailing competitor hooked his
backstay and broke their mast, getting average points for that race. As
a result, Steve's NUHUN from Dana Point YC got a 3-3-2-3-6-3 record for
20 pts. Just behind in third was Kurt Wiese from NHYC sailing to a
4-2-5-7-1-3-3 score for 25 pts. Two points back in fourth was another
"dog boat", UNDERDOG raced by John Steen from SWYC and sailing to a
2-5-3-1-4-1-11 score for 27 pts. And, just two points further back
again was BLUE JAY raced by Bob Hayward from SMWYC to a 5-1-4-4-8-5-2
record for 29 pts.Mike Lovett at SAILING WORLD magazine interviewed John Steen- "According to the crew of John Steen's UNDERDOG, the J/80 is the perfect boat for ripping down the swells at the Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD.
For Kyle Archer and the crew of John Steen's UNDERDOG, getting into the J/80 class had a lot to do with envy. "About nine years ago, we were sailing the NOOD down in South Bay aboard a chartered J/24," says Archer. "We were having a lot of fun with the crew we had, but we were watching the J/80s launch their spinnakers, come up on plane, and just rip by us. That drew John's interest, and he asked us, 'What do you think about switching over the J/80?'"
The crew's enthusiastic reply inspired Steen to research the class and ultimately purchase UNDERDOG. "There's a lot of things we like about the boat," says Archer, who serves as jib and spinnaker trimmer. "You don't have to worry about putting together a big crew. It's big enough to be comfortable in the cockpit, and it's easy enough to put on a trailer."
The portability of the J/80 has helped nurture a strong fleet up and down the West Coast. The UNDERDOG team frequently leaves its home base at San Diego's Southwestern YC to attend events in the Los Angeles area and beyond, and boats from the north return the favor by traveling to events like the Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD. Although UNDERDOG was not able to make the trek to the J/80 Worlds in Newport, the team is encouraged to know that local boats can compete on the international level. "We were just hearing some stories from the Worlds last night," says Archer. "It gives us some vindication to know that boats from our area are competitive. It gives us a way to measure up."
As much as Archer and his UNDERDOG cohorts would've loved to join the J/80 class's East Coast tour last year, there's nothing they enjoy more than hooking into a Pacific swell and blasting downwind. "When we get a big swell and we turn and burn under the spinnaker, it's just so much fun. The water's coming across the bow, hitting you in the face, and you're just hanging on for dear life!!" Sailing Photo credits- Tim Wilkes. For more Sperry Top-Sider NOOD San Diego sailing information and racing results.