J/Boats dealer Don Finkle from RCR Yachts had some interesting observations for the event- "One thing that struck me was the wide variety of boats that took part in the event. Apparently almost anything that floats can get an IRC rating. I don’t mean that in a negative way; just an observation that you don’t need any certain type, age or style of boat to compete.
For example, on one end of the spectrum we had a Farr 30 and Melges 32, very light high performance sportboats. You could throw the canting-keel Shock 40 in there too. On the other end there was the vintage “Red Jacket”, the 39 foot custom ocean racer that first put C&C on the map by winning the SORC overall back 1970. Of course, RJ has been heavily updated and optimized (now called a Bruckmann 39, not a C&C 39), yet she is still over 40 years old.
There was also a Hunter Legend 37 that you would not think of as a racer but that does very well, lots of boats from the 1980s such as C&C 34s and J/35s, an assortment that you need to scan the scratch sheet to truly appreciate. The in the middle, so to speak, were more recent but not extreme designs such as the Beneteau First 36.7s, 10Rs and 40.7s and C&C 115s.
The amazing thing is that the top five overall boats at the end of the regatta came from across the board and included boats from the fastest (John Odenbach’s Farr 47 Rampage) and slowest (Winston Beckett’s Santana 30-30 Fortitude) divisions and those in between as well. And, the overall champion is the mid-1980’s designed J/35 BUCKAROO BANZAI owned by David Ogden- winning with a 1.8 average score!
We had a ring side seat of BANZAI’s dominating performance because they were in our division, and we owed them time (on our Beneteau 36.7). The bottom line is that boats of various vintages and types seem to be able to compete, and for sure older designs are still very much alive in IRC. For more IRC North Americans sailing information.
