The Famous BRUSCHETTA Wins By A Nose
(Dallas, TX)- The crews that showed up for this year's version of the J/24 Layline US Nationals were in for an experience no one bargained for. As the fleet assembled at Dallas Corinthian YC, Mother Nature was brewing a storm of simply epic proportions off to the West. By Wednesday, it was clear there was going to be no sailing. It was blowing so hard with thunderstorms, line squalls and God's lightning bolts spraying everywhere, that people's shows were getting blown across the parking lot! Forget about "dogs blowing off chains", this was human stuff flying everywhere! By Thursday it was clear it was going to be just as crazy, so not much happened in the way of racing. However, Friday worked out nicely and the fleet were treated to some terrific sailing. By Saturday, the weather was nearly post-card, chamber of commerce perfect, with strong, shifty breezes and sunny skies.
Perhaps
the story of the regatta was how a nice Brazilian guy named Mauricio
Santa Cruz could show up on a lake in Texas, figure it out, then squeak
by at the end, on the last day, to win the US J/24 Nationals by one
point! Must've been a cliff-hanger for the entire top five going into
the last two races of the regatta. Literally, anyone could've won!
Competing for those five spots were Mauricio on BRUSCHETTA, Bob Harden
on MR HAPPY, Roger Harden on NEW RULES, Dave Irwin on IBAJ 2 and Jorge
Murrieta on BMW/ SCAPPINO from Valle de Bravo, Mexico. By winning the
last two races, however, Mauricio and his Brazilian crew took the regata
from Bob Harden on MR HAPPY. In fact, it was Bob's regatta to lose, as
leader of the J/24 pack at the beginning of the day. 
In
the end BRUSCHETTA had 28 points, Bob's HAPPY gang had 29 points due to
a 7-9 for their last two races. Third was Roger Harden on NEW RULES,
sailing to a 2-5 to end up with 30 points. Fourth was Dave Irwin's IBAJ
2 sailing to a 3-8 to get 31 points. And, Jorge's BMW/ SCAPPINO
finished fifth due to a 5-2 for a total of 35 points. Imagine that,
only seven points separated the entire top five! Just a wee bit of
anxiety for the tacticians and even a few catatonic skippers wondering
how they'd been beaten and twisted to a pulp to end up where they did!
Great racing and good times for the J/24 sailors in Dallas. Pictured
above was Mauricio's fan club from Brazil! As usual, the DCYC hosts
were simply fantastic. For more Layline J/24 USA Nationals sailing information Sailing photo credits- McDonald Photos of Dallas, Texas.
