MANDATE Rules J/105 North Americans

Toronto, Ontario)- Light air and spectacular sunny, cool weather was the forecast for nearly a week prior to the J/105 North American Championship, hosted by Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  And that is exactly what the fleet of twenty-seven boats from three nations (Canada, USA and Bermuda) enjoyed for the four-day event that ran from September 24th to 28th.  As anticipated, the RCYC threw down the red carpet for the J/105 crews all week long and provided a wonderful experience for sailors and visitors alike.  Sitting on an island right off the spectacular Toronto city skyline, the glittering shoreline and magnificent CN Tower “Space Needle” provided a magnificent backdrop for the evening social activities at the club.

While the RCYC members provided excellent festivities ashore, the weather Gods simply would not cooperate.  An enormously fat and wide high-pressure system lay across two-thirds of the North American continent for much of the week, with pressure gradients so weak and so far apart it was hard to find them even on continent-wide weather charts!  Nevertheless, having sailed for decades in such light-air conditions on Lake Ontario, it was hardly surprising that hometown hero Terry McLaughlin and co-owner Rod Wilmer dominated the five-race series.  Their crew consisted of themselves plus John Millen, Sandy Andrews, Fraser Howell, Graham Hicks and Andrew McTavish.  Starting fast out of the blocks on the first day of racing, they compiled an impressive top-three scoreline of 1-3-2-2-2 for only 10 pts in the no throw-out series.

Often starting in the front-row, the MANDATE team sailed a near flawless event, always rounding in the top five at the first windward mark and having to claw their way through the highly competitive fleet to post their impressive scores.  Fellow Canadian Rick Goebel, a resident of San Diego but having grown up sailing on lakes in Calgary, Alberta in the Rocky Mountains, also proved that his light-air expertise would  come into play. Goebel’s SANITY team included a renowned local expert, Greg “Twister” Tawastjerna, a former Toronto resident now living in Monterrey, California.  As tactician/ strategist, Twister kept Goebel’s team in the game, also posting all top four finishes of 3-1-4-3-1 for 12 pts to take second overall.  Keeping both leaders honest with perhaps their best performance ever in the J/105 class was Peter Hall’s crew on JAMAICA ME CRAZY, taking a well-deserved third place with a record of 4-2-3-1-3 for 13 pts.  To say the top three boats enjoyed a near three-way battle for the top would be an understatement.

With such a difficult mission to accomplish, the RCYC PRO did a remarkable job to just get in the five races to constitute a North American Championship series minimum of five races. In fact, it nearly didn’t happen!  On the first day, a several hour postponement resulted in three races sailed in 4.0 to 6.5 kts of breeze in a light east/southeaster.  McLaughlin (current J/105 Midwinter Champion and Sail Canada’s Rolex Sailor of the Year) and the Mandate team tallied at 1,3,2 in Thursday’s contests for a three-point advantage. Goebel’s SANITY stood three points behind. Following closely in third was Hall’s JAMAICA ME CRAZY (10 points) and James Rathbun’s HEY JUDE (current J/105 North American Champion) with 11 points.

Racing on day 2, Friday, was under harbor postponement until 1430 hrs when the RCYC PRO finally canceled racing for the day due to no wind— it was truly “glass-out” conditions all day long, making for pretty pictures of the Toronto waterfront perfectly reflected in the harbor like a mirror!

The third day of racing on Saturday was nearly washed out as well due to no breeze. Nevertheless, the PRO was determined to get some races scored since the Sunday forecast was even worse— 0 to 3 kts versus Saturday’s 2 to 4.5 kts!  With the fleet disembarking at 0930 hours to the race course area about two miles offshore, the fleet’s patience was rewarded with a small seabreeze that developed from 195 to 210 degrees at 3-5 kts.  It was just enough breeze to get in 2 races (the second one shortened to 3 legs only) before the wind completely died out again!

With five races now on the books, only three points separated the top three teams- MANDATE, SANITY and JAMAICA ME CRAZY!  In fact, Hall’s JAMAICA ME CRAZY team tied for best record of the day with SANITY posting a 1-3 to close on the top two leaders. However, that’s how it all ended sadly enough!  Sunday’s racing was canceled due to no breeze after the crews again relaxed on the beautiful grounds of RCYC under a harbor postponement (and most witnessed a beautiful wedding under the trees at 11:15am, facing the Toronto skyline!).  With no racing permitted to start after 1430 hrs, the RC’s PRO wisely canceled all racing around 1300 hrs.  Behind the top three were Jim Rathbun’s HEY JUDE in fourth and the Suspect Syndicate’s USUAL SUSPECTS taking fifth.

McLaughlin has swept the major J/105 championships this year, as he is also the current J/105 Midwinter Champion. The next J/105 North American Championship moves to St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco from September 14-20, 2015.  Be sure to reserve your charter boats now!  The racing on San Francisco Bay promises to be epic, with fresh-to-frightening breezes under sunny, cloudless skies!  Sailing Photo Credits- Tim Wilkes.com.   For more J/105 North Americans sailing information