(Youngstown, New York)- For the past decade the Youngstown YC has hosted
the popular "Youngstown Level Regatta" for a variety of classes. Over
time, it has evolved to address the needs of local racers for both
handicap sailing (PHRF and IRC) as well as one-design racers. This year
the sailors were treated to a combination of great sailing (as
memorialized by Tim Wilkes great photography- timwilkes.com),
great committee work (as demonstrated by few complaints from
competitors) and great fun on shore-side festivities (as manifested by a
few morning headaches described by a number of crews). Out of the 150-odd boats in attendance in this corner of New York on Lake Ontario, there were at least 28 J/Teams seen sailing in the vicinity that had managed to honor the local YYC SI's, paid, scored themselves, and walked off with a haul of silverware worthy of good pirates pillaging the Spanish Main off Cuba in the days of old.
Starting
with the local J/One-Design fleets, the J/24s had a nice turn-out with
some well-known teams like HOWARTH HAMMER sailed by Mike Howarth
finishing 1st overall. Second was a VERY well known local team called
MR BUMPY sailed by Kevin McAuley and third was the J/24 JOKER sailed by
AJ Ficcardi. From what we've heard from the local Newport J/24 fleet,
"beware", party-animals all these guys are!In the local J/105 fleet on Lake Ontario, it's clear they take their one-design quite seriously. What's amazing was to see that a J/105 North American's contender Jim Rathbun was eclipsed by another local sailor, Peter Hall. Both solid teams, strong sailors. In the end, Peter's JAMAICA ME CRAZY gangsta's took the gold medal. Jim's well-seasoned, fast crew on HEY JUDE had to settle for a 2nd to these characters. Then, another good team in the form of Terry Michaelson's THE USUAL SUSPECTS had to settle for a less than usual 3rd place.
The
IRC Fleet has continued to grow over the course time as sailors have
looked for better ways to handicap themselves. This year's event
continues to see the fleets diversify and get tighter as the sailors
learn (like the J/35 fleet in particular) how to optimize and go even
faster. In IRC 1 Class, it was the J/133 HOT WATER sailed by John
McLeod that managed a 4th in class. In IRC 2, the new gorgeous J/111
LAKE EFFECT sailed by Bob Hesse sailed to a solid 4th overall as they
learned how to sail their boat faster and faster. In IRC 3 the J/109s
also hung in there for some great performances, including the J/109
MOCCASIN skippered by Ed Werner to a 4th place overall and the J/109
LIVELY sailed by Murray Gainer to a 5th in class. For the IRC 4 class,
the J/35s simply smoked their "comp", taking 2 of 3 in class with the
J/35 CRIME SCENE skippered by J/35 superstar Stephen Trevitt 1st place
followed by fellow partner in crime, the J/35 JAEGER skippered by Leszek
Siek in 3rd place.Next in the PHRF handicap world, it was nice to see that in PHRF 1 the J/100 SQUIRMY Joe O'Brien sailed well in their class. So did the new J/70 JUNIOR in PHRF 2 sailed by Morgan Paxhia & Tim Finkle, garnering an unprecedented 1st in class. In PHRF 3 the J/Teams nearly swept class, with 1st going to the J/34 SOUND WAVE sailed by Fred White, 2nd going to the J/35c MOONRISE skippered by David Braitsch and 4th going to another sistership J35c ROGUE WAVE guided by Doug Clarke. Next up was PHRF 4 that was simply smoked by some fast-sailing, fast-talking, very clever J/27 sailors. Three of the Top 5? Wow. Way cool. Awesome, perhaps? Yeaaah. So, top dog in 1st was the J/27 NORTHERN SEITZ sailed by the veteran of Lake Ontario sailing wars Mike Seitx. Next up on the podium in 3rd was the J/27 SHADES OF AVALON directed by Peter Winkelstein. Not disappointing his classmates in 4th was the J/27 MESSING ABOUT conducted by Andre Beese. Can't imagine a more fun group of sailors having fun in some incredibly fast, "classic" J/27s. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes For more Youngstown Regatta sailing results
