Friday, September 14, 2012

J/111 MENTAL Wins Tri-State

J/111 MENTAL sailing fast upwind with Ed steering and Paul trimming(Michigan City, Indiana)- The annual Tri state race has divided into the Tri-State and the Bi-State Race. The first leg of the race from Chicago to St. Joe (just over 50 miles) had 94 entries and J/Boat dominated when they were in a section.

Friday night saw the small boats start in a light SW wind then when the section 2 boats started a Northerly wind came through and blew around 12. A power reach to St Joe Michigan for a few hours then the wind started clocking finally turning into a light beat.

The J/111 MENTAL, sailed by Paul Stahlberg and crew, was the eventual winner and sailed all the way to the Michigan shore where within one mile of shore there was a reverse thermal breeze coming offshore into the lake. The sand dunes cool off and cause this to happen. MENTAL short tacked the shore to beat J/120 JAHAZI and J/111 NIGHT HAWK who sailed more of a straight line to St. Joe.

Returning to Chicago was a beautiful run in 12-15 kt winds with the J/111s MENTAL and NIGHTHAWK going 1-2 with the J/120 JAHAZI in third.   For more Tri-State sailing information