(Newport Beach, CA)- A keynote event on the Newport Harbor Yacht Club
circuit is the famous Ahmanson Cup Regatta held on the third weekend of
September every year- this year from September 20th to 21st. Featured
for this year’s event was the J/70 West Coast Championship.Posting a riveting performance against an all-star cast of competitors, local favorite Tom Garret’s SLOOP JOHN B from Newport Harbor YC carefully orchestrated a massive come-from-behind victory to take J/70 class honors and be crowned the first J/70 West Coast Champion!
Garret’s path was not an easy one, for they were up against multiple World Champion (J/24, Etchells 22, Star) Vince Brun crewing for John Fuller on BLISS, also an NHYC “local”. The Fuller/Brun team posted an extremely consistent performance in the first four races, taking a 1-2-2-2 home to be leading by over four points on the fleet. However, a most unfortunate incident in race 5 resulted in their DSQ, effectively putting them into an effective with SLOOP JOHN B going into the last race. That scenario setup the proverbial match race for “who-beats-who” to win the regatta in the 6th and final race. Taking the gun was SLOOP JOHN B and securing 2nd place with a 3rd in that race was BLISS.
It was tight racing for the balance of the top five with only six points separating the three boats, again the last race becoming the determining factor in the overall standings! Pulling their version of a “rabbit-out-of-the-hat” was Karl Pomeroy’s ZERO TO 60, posting a 4-1-1-3-4-4 to just hang in for 3rd with 13 pts. Taking fourth was Dan Gribble’s GO-RILLA from Balboa YC with finishes of 2-4-3-4-3-5 for 16 pts. Then, rounding out the top five was Eric Kownacki’s DFZ, starting quite slowly but finishing with a flourish, posting a 6-5-5-5-2-2 tally for 19 pts net. Next up for this crowd is J/Fest in San Diego! Sailing photo credits- Cate Brown. For more J/70 Westerns sailing information
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