J/122 WINGS Wins IRC 2. Big One-Design Battles For J/70s, J/105s, J/109s & J/44s.(Rye, New York)- For the second and final weekend of the American Yacht Club Spring Series, the sailors could not have seen two radically different days for sailing. While Saturday was somewhat sunny and benign with reasonable winds, Sunday’s racing was beyond epic, like other events in the northwest, this Long Island Sound adventure also made for a “fresh to frightening” day. For some it was simply too much and many boats didn’t even venture out on Sunday with winds gusting up to 30 kts from the WNW all day.
In IRC world, loving every minute of the windier weekend was J/122 WINGS sailed by her trio of owner in IRC 2 class. Their classmates were not nearly as fortunate, finishing “out of the chocolates” overall.
The J/44 One-Designs saw Jeff Willis and gang aboard CHALLENGE IV continue their winning ways from the previous weekend, finishing up with 21 pts total in 10 races (an average of 2nd!). Making a strong comeback was Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE, climbing up the ladder fast with a 1-2-1 in the last three races to capture second overall. After a slow start the first weekend, relative class newcomers and no stranger to close one-design racing were the duo of Joerg Esdorn & Duncan Hennes on KINCSEM taking the third slot after closing the series with a 1-5. Fourth was past champion Jim Bishop on GOLD DIGGER and fifth was Don & Rick Rave’s RESOLUTE.
After establishing a significant lead the previous weekend, it was up to Adrian Begley’s MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN crew to hang touch and close out the series with good finishes this weekend. And, that they did with a 2-1-1 score in the last three races to win by 10 pts! Steve Chronert’s ZUMA sailed consistently to take second, never finishing out of the top four both weekends. Third was Jonathan Rechtschaffer skippering EMOTICON another ten pts back.
The J/105s also shared the same scenario as the 44s and 109s. The clear winner was Harald Edegran & Jeremy Henderson’s CONUNDRUM, winning half the races and finishing with just 19 pts. 12 pts back was Paul Beaudin’s LOULOU with 31 pts, good enough for second and in third was Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY.
The J/70s were the largest fleet in the regatta and, arguably, one of the most competitive. Unlike the previous weekend, no one in the top three managed to stay in the top three! The ultimate winners were the brother team of Scott & Alex Furnary sailing NO NAME YET to a total of 22 pts, finishing the regatta with three 2nds and taking their first regatta win! Second overall was Carrie & Ed Austin on CHINOOK and third were the Ploch sisters (Megan & Madelyn) sailing SUGAR DADDY- in fact, winning the last windiest race! Fourth was Dan Goldberg sailing BAZINGA and fifth was Trevor Roach on SEMI-CHARMED.
J/88 Sailing downwind sailing video For more American YC Spring Series sailing information
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