(Toronto, Ontario)- It could be said there are other good Canadian
sailors other than Terry McLaughlin (an Olympic Medalist, America’s Cup
sailor and two-time New York YC Invitational Cup winner), but that is a
short list amongst the sailing cognoscenti north of the border.
Nevertheless, in the world of one-design sailing it can happen that at
any one time even pretenders to the throne are more than capable of
upsetting the status quo. Amongst those sailors happens to be Jim
Rathbun.Jim is a quick learner; having sailed with Terry McLaughlin as tactician on his boat HEY JUDE in the 2009 J/105 North Americans on Long Island Sound. With Rathbun steering and McLaughlin on tactics, they nearly pulled off a “quickie” on their “south of the border” neighbors, having to settle for second place instead. In 2013, Rathbun’s team on HEY JUDE pulled off the inevitable, taking the J/105 North Americans in Annapolis, MD, the very seat and hotbed of all J/105 talent in all of the USA. So, it’s not surprising that Rathbun’s team on HEY JUDE are continuing on that winning role by taking the Canadian J/105 Championship in 2014. He promised as much in Annapolis, MD last fall!!
While Rathbun’s team won three of six races to take the overall win over Terry McLaughlin’s MANDATE team, it was clear they were the only teams in contention. All other J/105 crews in the top five were fighting amongst each other for the remaining scraps in the pile. Greg Mezo’s team on FORRO took third, with Peter Hall’s JAMAICA ME CRAZY on fourth and Bill Bevan’s ENDEAVOUR taking fifth.
This event was the last major regatta for all Lake Ontario J/105 teams taking place in the upcoming J/105 North American Championship hosted by Royal Canadian YC late in September. For more J/105 Canadian Championship sailing information
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