(Annapolis, MD)- Over the course of a three week period, the
International J/80 Class will be hosting two massive events on their
calendar on the Chesapeake Bay, with their North American Championship
hosted by Annapolis YC from September 10th to 14th and the World
Championship hosted by Eastport YC from September 25th to October 4th at
Eastport YC. While predominantly a North American affair, both events will feature a “who’s who” of top J/80 teams from the past few years. The J/80 NA’s have 25 boats registered while the J/80 World’s have 30 teams scheduled to start; there’s about 95% overlap between the two as many are using the NA’s as a “pre-Worlds” practice regatta.
First up are the NA’s. The local talent includes top teams like Mike Hobson’s MELTEMI, Bert Carp’s ELEVEN, David Andril’s VAYU and the trio of Will & Marie Crump & Tom Klok sailing WHO’s HEIDI (the current J/80 NA champions). Top visiting teams will be Nizar Abuzeni’s ARROW (St Paul, MN), Tod Patton’s BLONDIE (Northbrook, IL), Tim Mahoney’s CANNONBALL (Staten Island, NY), Chris & Liz Chadwick’s CHURCH KEY (Weston, FL), Gary Panariello’s COURAGEOUS (Manhasset, NY), Forbes Durdin’s MOJITO (Houston, TX), Kevin Hayes’ MORE GOSTOSA (Gilford, NH), Terry Flynn’s QUANTUM RACING (a team from League City, TX that are also past World Champions), David & Elisabeth Neasmith’s SEQUEH (Nepean, Ontario, Canada), and Bill & Shannon Lockwood’s SHENANIGANS (Holmdel, NJ).
After these crews sail the NA’s, they will see other top American teams join them for the World’s, including Ryan McCrillis skippering ALOHALANI from Kailua, Hawaii; Bill Blank’s BLIND SQUIRREL from Purcellville, VA; John Dickey’s BORN 2 RUN from Lewes, Delaware; Les Beckwith’s FKA from Wolfeboro, NH; Chris Palabrica’s HIJO DEL BANDIDO from Carmel, IN; Ken Mangano’s MANGO from Severna Park, MD; Paul Parson’s PARSONS PROJECT from Houston, TX; and Brian Keane’s famous SAVASANA from Weston, MA (past Key West J/80 Midwinter Champions). For more J/80 North Americans sailing information
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