(Santa Barbara, CA)- In one of the more competitive one-design fleets in
America, the Santa Barbara YC's sailors have proven time and again they
can more than meet their match in most National or North American
Regattas in various one-design classes. Larry Leveille's J/29 RUSH
STREET is a champion offshore and J/29 sailor; John Demourkas is a
champion Farr 40 and Farr 30 sailor (including, of course, his wife
Deneen who just won the Farr 30 Worlds in San Francisco); Bernie Girod
is J/105 Class President and a champion J/105 sailor; John Ziskind was a
world-class America's Cup sailor on BMW/ORACLE and on the World Match
Race Cup pro-circuit; and recent J/24 North American Champion Pat Toole
on his J/24 THREE BIG DOGS is always at the top of the class. At some
point or another over the course of a season, many of these top sailors
hop aboard J/105s during regattas or the Wet Wednesday Series to have
some fun and enjoy spirited, very close, one-design sailing around the
kelp beds, pods of curious seals and negotiating capricious offshore
currents in the chilly Santa Barbara Channel.While not all of them sailed in this year's J/105 Fall Championship, nevertheless the competition was tight. SBYC Race Director Brad Schaupeter said, "it was an awesome regatta and amazing racing, a great day for sure for everyone!" It was clear that "Johnny D's" recent experiences battling for the lead with his wife, Deneen, in the Farr 30 Worlds meant that John was going to give no quarter to nobody! Racing ROCKIN & GROOVIN, "Johnny D" and the gang sailed hard and fast to amass an unassailable 2-4-1-1 record for 8 pts. Local rock-star Larry Harteck took REPEAT OFFENDER into second overall with a solid 1-5-2-3 tall for 11 pts. Rounding out the podium and lying third was Mark Noble on ESCAPADE, sailing one of his better regattas in awhile with a 6-1-4-2 record. Fourth was a real sailing rock-star, John Ziskind, steering PERFECT TIMING 2 to a bit less than perfect 4-2-5-4 tally for 15 pts. After sailing both the J/105 Marblehead NOODS (which he nearly won) and the J/105 North Americans (where he finished a respectable 9th), Bernie Girod on ROCK & ROLL can be forgiven for perhaps relaxing and enjoying the Santa Barbara sunshine and ambience, collecting a 3-6-3-5 for those efforts to finish fifth. Sailing photo credit- Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing. For more Santa Barbara J/105 Fall Championships sailing information
