(Erie, PA)- This past weekend, the J/35s held their North American
Championships at Erie Yacht Club on Lake Erie. The simple report from
Aaron Hertel sailing his boat MAGIC was the following: "Eleven races!!
Awesome regatta, 8 boats from Buffalo, Port Dover, Erie, Toledo, and
Detroit. FALCON best sailed boat, RITUAL and MAGIC battled it out for
2nd and 3rd. 15+ kts breeze every day, got 11 races in 3 days! Great RC,
great entertainment including live band, steak dinners, silent auction,
J-70 rides from RCR yachts."As for the racing and how it all broke down, it was pretty clear the regatta leader from day one was the team of Ed Bayer, John Bayer and Jim Barnes on FALCON. Starting off with a 2-1-2-1 they were never going to be swayed from being at or near the top of the leader board for the balance of the regatta. A fast, fun crew they were. They finished off the event with four 1sts and two 3rds to "seal the deal" and put the rest of the fleet behind them in their "afterburners". The FALCON team are well-deserving of the tile of J/35 North American Champion 2012!
The battle for the balance of the podium was anything but a "sealed deal" for Aaron's team on MAGIC and John Valle's team on RITUAL. After five races, the two teams were in a virtual tie. Were it not for a "stumble" in race 7 where MAGIC's team notched a 7th place, a bit uncharacteristic for them, the final results would've been even tighter. Nevertheless, Vallee's team on RITUAL took a 1-2-3-2-1-2-1-2-3-2-2 record to close out the event with 18 pts total. The MAGIC team took home a 3-3-1-3-2-3-7-3-2-3-1 for a total of 24 pts. Rounding out the top five were Bob Gordenker's TIME MACHINE with 43 pts in fourth and Tom Tepas' SISTER finishing with 53 pts for fifth overall. For more J/35 North Americans sailing information
