WINDCZAR Crowned J/111 North American Champion

(Chicago, IL)- The newly International J/111 One-design class held its inaugural North American Championship from August 14th to 18th, 2013 at Chicago Yacht Club's Belmont Station.  It was an exciting show for the fourteen boats sailing from across America, with teams participating from the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes and East Coast.  An unexpected treat for the sailors was the fact the wildly popular Chicago Air & Water Show was being held concurrently, with over one million people watching along Chicago's spectacular waterfront with simply epic aerial, smoke-trailed acrobatic maneuvers performed by World War I bi-planes/ tri-planes, World War II vintage fighter planes and modern fighter jets just blowing away the bystanders with twisting, diving, spiraling, loop-to-looping balletic displays of breathtaking aerial maneuvers.

After four exciting days of sailing in very challenging wind conditions that rarely topped 7.5 kts of wind, the legends of Harbor Springs, Rich Lehmann's crackerjack team on their mighty WINDCZAR, sailed to the top of the class-- crowned as first ever J/111 North American Champions.

It was truly a roller-coaster ride for many of the top five teams in the event that saw fairly dramatic swings on the leaderboard each day until the last day of the regatta.  Of the four days sailed, the most wind was seen by fleet on the first three legs of the first race on Thursday-- that's when it broke the supersonic 10 kts barrier, albeit briefly.  Thereafter, the next 3.5 days of racing were spent in the easterly quadrant with breezes blowing onshore from ENE to ESE in varying degrees of intensity from 5 to 7.5 kts.  For those who had good light air speed upwind, in particular, it was a heaven sent gift no one could've ever imagined.

From day one, it was clear the regatta was going to be between two well-sailed crews, Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE from the host Chicago YC (and regatta co-chair) and Rich Lehmann's WINDCZAR from Harbor Springs, Michigan. Leading from the outset, the LUCKY DUBIE gang was part of the trio of boats that prophetically split on the first downwind run in the first race from the entire fleet to be one of the leaders of the regatta from there on end (the others were Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL and Lehmann's WINDCZAR!).  After the first day, the LUCKY DUBIE gang was leading with WINDCZAR in second and the Verve Cup J/111 class winner, Henry Brauer's FLEETWING, was hanging in for a solid third place position.

Day two was a dramatic reversal of fortunes for many.  Moving into first place by virtue of an outstanding day on the water was WINDCZAR with a daily 2-1-5 record to put them 8 pts clear in first place with 12 pts total.  Having a less "smokin hot" day was Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE.  While sailing a brilliant last race of the day, the first two races were simply forgettable.  After posting a 9-7-1, the Lucky Dubsters dropped into second with 20 pts total.  Third was the famous red boat MENTAL piloted by Paul Stahlberg and gang from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Their very consistent 5-2-6 pulled them into third overall with 28 pts.

The third day of the regatta produced the surprise performance so far.  William Smith's WOOTON helmed by Jim Alvert smoked the fleet in the first two races with two firsts by a country mile!  However, the third race proved to be the roller-coaster ride so far for the regatta.  For many, the "wheels fell off the shopping trolley".  In other words, like the proverbial "Icarus" flying too close to the sun, their wings got burnt off and came crashing down to the reality of Earth.  Remarkably, the regatta leader WINDCZAR fell into that category.  After a brilliant second day, the "wind wizards" posted a 6-8-8 for the day to drop into a tie for second place one point off the lead!  The LUCKIE DUBIE gang sailed a solid day to take a 4-7-2 for the day to become, again, the regatta leaders by one point.  Finishing in triumphant fashion after their first two races was Stahlberg's MENTAL, improving every race to post a 5-3-1 score to emphatically put their mark on their bid for top honors overall.  Tied with them was Marty Roesch's VELOCITY team from Annapolis, Maryland in the top five.

The last day promised to be another cliff-hanger for the fleet with a light ESE breeze that was fed by an onshore sea-breeze effect midday.  The fact the lead had changed hands so dramatically in the last three days and that the top five were all within ten points of one another meant the championship was wide open for the team that could rise to the occasion.

With racing scheduled to start at 1030 hrs, the Chicago YC PRO and crew did a magnificent job to get the ball rolling and after two general recalls the fleet took off into an ESE breeze at 105 degrees blowing 5-7 kts. With yet another "classic southeast sea-breeze" building the big question would be which way the "locals" would go and how would the "foreigners" figure it all out?  With the breeze fluctuating from 90 to 125 degrees, it was anyone's guess what would happen.  As it turns out, just about any strategy worked so long as you stayed on the lifted tack AND had good light air speed. For the top five boats, it was going to pose a difficult challenge.

Sailing "lights out" in the first race of the day was WINDCZAR, taking the lead in the regatta with a first place in race nine while Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE had to score their worst race in the series, a tenth.  Paul Stahlberg's crew on MENTAL sailed a great race, working their way through the fleet to register a fourth and put themselves in a position to have a shot at the overall title.

With the stage set for the last race, it was anyone's guess what the outcome would be for the championship.  In the end, Lehmann's team on WINDCZAR stayed out of trouble, sailed a smart and conservative race to finish third and were crowned the first overall J/111 North American Champions!  While their disastrous ninth race hurt their chances at the overall title, Len Siegal's crew on LUCKY DUBIE concluded their regatta with an emphatic first place in race ten to take the second spot overall. Sailing their hearts out all week were Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL crew taking third overall.  Fourth in the regatta was Marty Roesch's VELOCITY crew from Annapolis, Maryland and fifth was Bill Smith's WOOTON crew from Bay Harbor, Michigan.

The J/111 crews all had a wonderful time.  Thanks to the sponsors SLAM Gear, Richie Stearns from Stearns Boating, Skyway Yachtworks and friends of Chicago Yacht Club.  Furthermore, the Chicago YC Race Committee and PRO did an admirable job of producing great racing in what many would consider to be very challenging wind conditions.

During the regatta, the social media/ photography team of Alan and Meredith Block provided excellent coverage for the event.  For more beautiful photography, please see Meredith's photo albums on the J/Boats Facebook page.

Here are several interviews of J/111 sailors off the top boats:

Len Siegal (LUCKY DUBIE)- J/111 NA Co-chair interview	Len Siegal (LUCKY DUBIE)- Sunday interview	Mark Ploch (LUCKY DUBIE) interview- first day racing
Henry Brauer (FLEETWING) interview- first day racing	Rich Lehmann (WINDCZAR) interview- first day racing	Rich Lehmann (WINDCZAR)- Sunday interview
Jim Alvert (WOOTON)- Sunday interview	Rich Stearns (Regatta sponsor/ Stearns Boating)

Furthermore, what many have discovered is that J/111 sailing is very attractive to women for a number of reasons (the boat is easy to sail, women can steer, trim jib, trim chute, do pit, do bow; women love the head; plus you can sit inside to stay cool; plus it has a very comfortable cockpit).  Here are a few cameo interviews with some of these "Ladies of the J/111 Fleet":

Marnie Smiley (VELOCITY)	Shannon Devine (MENTAL)	Carolyn Rieg (VELOCITY)
Ginger Aaron (MY SHARONA)	Andrea Miz (IMPULSE)

Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block@Blocksail.com/ Social Media credits- Alan Block@Blocksail.com   For more J/111 North American Championship sailing information