Friday, May 16, 2014

J/22 North Americans Preview

J/22s sailing one-design(Annapolis, MD)- With spring well underway on the Chesapeake Bay, local hotshots in the J/22 class are looking forward to welcoming top teams from around the country for J/22 North American Championships, hosted by Annapolis YC and sailing from May 16th to 18th.

Thirty nine boats have registered so far and they will be looking forward to the possibility of a soaking on Friday  sailing in 8-15 kts SE breezes.  However, the weather forecast continues to improve and with temperatures in the mid-60s Saturday and Sunday, the sailors will pray they’re not spending time “chilling” on the docks as the light northerlies die out early morning and wait for the afternoon sea-breeze to fill in from the SE-SW quadrants.

Amongst the top “Napolitan’s” battling for local bragging rights will be Allan & Katie Terhune sailing DAZZLER (current J/22 World Champion) along with Brad Julian on THREEDORIES.COM, Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY, JR Maxwell on SCOOBY, and Jen Gaffney on PIRATE PRINCESS RACING TEAM.

The always strong northern New York contingent (from Youngstown and Rochester areas) will see top teams like Peter Doyle on AXE WOUND, Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER, Kevin Doyle on MO’MONEY and Chris Doyle on THE JUG 4 1.  The Jamestown team on BAD NEWS TOO, skippered by Mike Marshall will be hoping to repeat their recent Annapolis NOOD winning performance.

The Canadian J/22 teams have come out strongly in support of this year’s NA’s, with several members of Hudson YC in Quebec taking the long trip down across the border.  Ron & Cathy Harris sailing BROOMSTICK, David & Yves Godin together on WON TON, and Trevor Collins on ALTERNATIVE GIRLFRIEND not only hope to put in a good showing, but will certainly have the necessary training under their belts for their upcoming J/22 Canadian’s later.

Finally, don’t count out the two Texan teams that are making an assault on the Napolitan teams, as both of them have World and NA credentials to their names— one is Terry Flynn & Scott Nixon racing TEJAS from Fort Worth Boat Club and the other is Mark Foster from Corpus Christi YC.  With these crews stirring up the pot a bit, it will surely be fun & games for all!   For more J/22 North American Championship sailing information