(Fort Worth, Texas)- This coming weekend, the Fort Worth Boat Club will
be hosting the J/80 North Americans on Eagle Mountain Lake form Oct 31st
to Nov 4th. Thirty-one teams are expected to compete with an
incredibly talented group of sailors participating, with multiple North
American and World Champions represented. With a weather forecast that
looks considerably better than the "Superstorm Sandy" the northeast had
to contend with, it looks like sunny and southerly breezes will prevail
until Saturday, then a chance of thunderstorms with partly cloudy skies
Sunday. Nevertheless, since Eagle Mountain Lake is surrounded by
rolling hillsides, the sailors will be tactically challenged all weekend
to figure out which side of the lake to choose on each leg!
As
a precursor for the J/80 NA's, the FWBC hosted the 38th "Old Man of the
Sea Regatta" this past weekend- it was a great regatta warm-up for the
up-coming J/80 North Americans. Many of the top teams were sailing for
"Old Man of the Sea" honors. Fittingly, the Terry Flynn/ David Whelan
team onboard QUANTUM RACING took the event with four 1sts in their 7
races (past J/80 North American Champions). Second were the renowned
Forth Worth locals, Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard racing LE TIGRE just
three points back (also World, North American and Key West Champions).
Third was Jay Lutz from Houston, TX sailing FIRED UP (another World and
Key West Champion). Fourth was Brian Keane from Marion, MA on SAVASANA
fresh off his J/80 East Coast Champs effort in Annapolis (also a Key
West Champion) along with Bruno Pasquinelli (a North American champion)
on TIAMO in fifth. If you had to write a script as to which top five
teams would be fighting it out for the top five spots at the J/80 North
Americans on "home turf" on Eagle Mountain Lake, there you have it-- any
one of them can win it! Showing up for the event from other parts of the compass across America to give the "local cowboys" a "run-for-the-money" include top California team Curt Johnson sailing AVET from California YC; Kerry Klingler (a World and North American Champion) and Abuzeni Nizar sailing ARROW from Long Island Sound; the family team of Tom Klok, Will & Marie Crump sailing GULDFAXE from Annapolis, MD and Copenhagen, Denmark (SW NOOD Champions); class ring-leaders Kirsten & Brian Robinson with Tim Borland on the famous ANGRY CHAMELEON from Annapolis; and Chris Chadwick on CHURCH KEY also from Annapolis, amongst many others! For more J/80 North Americans sailing information
