Sunday, June 8, 2014

J/120 J-HAWKER Is Bayview One-Design Champ!

J/120 sailing Bayview YC one-design off Detroit, MI (Detroit, MI)- This year’s Bayview One Design was a light-wind regatta. For Friday and Saturday, the sailing conditions were similar. On most courses, the PRO’s we were able to sail one race in the mornings before the breeze shut off leaving most boats drifting around the weather mark and then resumed after 12p when the PRO was able to pull off 1 to 2 more races. Sailing conditions remained light and tricky, the fleets didn't see anything past 7-8 knots and paying attention to the current was very important in the light breeze.  According to Bryn Bachman, sailing on a friend’s boat in the regatta, “while we and other competitors were in a holding pattern for the wind, we could hear the Grand Prix cars qualifying on-shore in downtown Detroit!”  She also commented that, “on Sunday, the wind came out of the Southwest with puffs over 9 knots and some serious shifts. The race course was tactically challenging and you had to follow those shifts!  Bayview hosted an excellent after party with daily awards and the J/120 fleet was the hit of the party!”

J/120 cruiser racer sailboats rafted on Lake St ClaireSailing on Lake St Claire in front of downtown Detroit is always challenging.  Nevertheless, it makes for fun “sweetwater” sailing that, undeniably, has its attractions.  The J/120s made the most of the situation on Saturday, creating a giant raft-up of all their boats and simply continued to enjoy themselves sailing in “day’twah”.  After their Course B PRO managed to squeeze in six races, Dve Sandlin’s J-HAWKER counted a 1-1-1-3-2-6 tally to win with 14 pts.  Just three points back was Henry Mistele’s NIGHT MOVES with a 2-4-4-1-1-5 record for 17 pts.  Mike Kirman’s HOT TICKET was third with a punch-line of 3-9-6-2-4-1 for 25 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Bill Bresser’s FLYIN IRISH and Charlie Hess’s FUNTECH RACING, in 4th & 5th, respectively.

In the world of PHRF Handicap racing, the trio of J/35s occupied most of the top five in PHRF 1.  Top banana was Ed Bayer’s FALCON in 2nd, followed by Bill Wildner’s renowned MR BILL’S WILD RIDE in 3rd and Bill Jenkins’s DOUBLE SHOT in 4th.

Over in PHRF 2, Terry Stuck’s J/29 BARON took on the local S2 9.1 fleet and managed to finish second, just one point out of first. In fact, their division standings were all determine by where you finished in the last race!  The top three were all tied on points beforehand!   Sailing Photo Credits- Martin Chumiecki   For more Bayview One-Design Regatta sailing information