(Houston, TX)- Hosted by Lakewood YC on Galveston Bay, the 2nd annual
J/Fest Southwest was a huge success! There were fifty boats on the line
with J/80's and J/24's leading the way with 15 boats in each class,
followed by the J/22's with 10 and the J/105's with 7 boats. A norther
blew through on Friday leaving light and fluky winds for Saturday's
racing. As usual PRO Dwight Bengston's RC did a superb job of getting
two races off on each of the two lines before the winds died for good
mid-afternoon. Not to worry, the Lakewood YC had it going on shoreside
with a live band, a Cajun feast, Kattack replays of the day's racing,
and streaming photo's. The sailors were gathered around the various TV
sets enjoying the photo's and Kattack well into the night. Rod
Johnstone also attended and talked with just about everybody on-hand,
providing pearls of wisdom about having fun cruising on J/95s or J/105s
or sailing J's faster-- conversations enjoyed by all!
Sunday's
weather forecast looked pretty grim, but fortunately the weather man
was wrong! The fleet headed out for a 10am start and when rounding the
corner to head out the cut by Kemah Boardwalk the wind was blowing well
into the high teens! In fact, with the wind on the nose and the foul
current, it made getting through the cut a challenge for the sailors
headed out to sea! Once on the race course, skippers were uncertain
whether the wind would hold, strengthen, or die as predicted! Do we back
off the rig, expecting a dying breeze or crank it on a few turns in
case the wind stays? The wind stayed and both fleets got off a couple
races, much to the delight of all the sailors!The racing was tight and a lot of fun. This year saw two "repeats", not "three-petes yet, but Bill Zartler sailing his j/105 SOLARIS won his class for the second year in a row while Terry Flynn/ David Whelan also won the J/80 class on their boat GULF COAST RACING.
The
J/22 fleet got obliterated by a DC Comic book hero, the GREEN FLASH!
Sailed by Chad Wilson from Royal Dickinson YC, the Flash-Men sailed over
the horizon to a remarkably consistent, conservative scoreline-- four
2nds and one 1st! With just nine points, FLASH topped Ruthie Lambert's
team sailing OUT OF SIGHT from Galveston Bay Cruising Association by
four points. Ruthie's team sailed a respectable 3-2-1-4-3 for 13 pts.
Rounding out the podium was a J/22 class veteran of many one-design
wars, Farley Fontenot sailing RINGO from Houston YC. Farley's team
managed a 5-5-4-1-4 for 19 pts to take third. 
While
MR HAPPY didn't rule the roost again in the J/24 class, it was the
RUMLINE gang that took the gold from them. Bryan Dryer's RUMLINE from
way, way up north in Texas (Fort Worth Boat Club) came down south to
show the Houston honky-tonk crowd how it's done- starting off with a
bullet and never letting the pressure off the fleet- amassing a
1-2-3-5-2 for 13 pts to win their class. Bobby Harden's team on MR
HAPPY from way West in Texas (Austin YC) managed to win two races, but
it wasn't enough to overcome the challenge laid down by the boys from
the North. HAPPY's 4-5-1-1-6 was good enough for 17 pts and second
place. In fact, there was a "bad moon rising" behind MR HAPPY most of
the regatta! Kelly Holme's team from generally around Dallas, TX were
sailing BAD MOON and the "Moonies" were, in fact winning (or tied) for
winning the regatta going into the last race! But, it seems the
hangovers from the wild festivities at LYC the night before took their
toll, with the Moonies taking the big fade on the last race-- their
3-1-4-2-8 tally gave them 18 pts, securing the bronze for sure on the
podium (but less beer to celebrate with, too)!
The
J/80s were graced by the presence of mondo J/80 World Champion/ North
American Champion Terry Flynn and Dave Whelan sailing their boat GULF
COAST RACING. These boys from Ft Worth Boat Club sailed to three 1sts
and one 3rd for a total of six points-- ouch! Looks like they schooled
the fleet pretty badly, winning by 10 pts. Behind them was a real
battle for 2nd and 3rd, not resolved in fact until the last race! And,
at that in a tie-breaker! Getting the short end of that stick was Bill
Rose on KICKS while Greg Buck and crew on LICKETY SPLIT won the luck of
the split! Of special mention, J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone was
sailing with a "pick-up" crew on FIRED UP and still managed to win a
race!
As
usual, the J/105s all seem to go the same speed, making for some fun
racing and tight mark roundings. The fleet standings would jumble up
and down rapidly depending on boat-handling errors or (doh!) mental
errors. While the "Z-man", Bill Zartler, and crew aboard SOLARIS set
the standard for the top of the podium with an impressive 2-2-1-1
scoreline, behind them it was anything but "clear as mud" (or Galveston
Bay) as to who would take the next four spots. Ever heard of the
saying, "off to the races like a herd of snails in a dust-storm"? Well,
that's what happened, things were going nowhere fast and you couldn't
see anything-- it was totally unclear who would arise to lead this
pack. Seemingly glued together anywhere they went, the "gang of four"
had a heckuva fun time racing for the silver and bronze. Winning the
tie-breaker for second was Mark Masur on TWO FEATHERS with a 1-6-4-2
while Matt Arno sailing BLUE FLASH had to settle for third with a steady
3-3-3-4 for 13 pts. Just behind them were Uzi Ozeri sailing INFINITY
into 4th with a 7-1-2-5 for 15 pts and JB Bednar on STINGER getting
stung for 5th place with a 4-4-7-3 for 18 pts.
The
"big boys" in J/PHRF saw the mighty yacht GAMBLER, Doug Shaffer's
J/122, sail around the course in fine fashion with some Gucci-looking
North 3di sails to beat the sleek J/111 "007" sailed by Scott Spurlin in
their weekend-long match race.Finally, a big "Thanks" to the J/Fest's two biggest sponsors- the City of Seabrook and Parkway Chevrolet. Furthermore, the LYC volunteers did a phenomenal job running the event. It was a lot of fun and all of the participants will be back! Ya'll come back by and join us too, ya hear!? Sailing photo credits- John Lacy Photos For more J/Fest SW sailing information and results
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