(San Diego, CA)- Over the February 21-22nd weekend, the Southern
California Yachting Association (SCYA) hosted their famous SCYA
Midwinters at over four yacht clubs in four different venues across the
region. A number of J/Classes participated including J/70s at Coronado
YC and J/80s and J/120s at San Diego YC.Since the J/70 North Americans are being hosted by San Diego YC later in the fall, the J/70s had a modest, but deeply talented fleet, ready to cut their teeth at closely-packed college-style racing. Leading home teams from not only the local area, but also many from Los Angeles and San Francisco fleets, was none other than John Fuller and Vince Brun (past J/24 Champion, Etchells 22 World Champion and Star World Champion). While their three bullets and a pair of deuces took the 70 crown with just seven points, the next six places were hotly contested all weekend long.
In
fact, there were three pairings that were essentially decided by
tie-breakers- perhaps a first in any fleet ever! In the first pairing,
Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER from San Francisco YC closed out strongly
with a 2-2 to take 2nd overall by just one point over Tom Jenkins &
Eric Kownacki’s DFZ. In the next pairing, Craig Tallman’s JAYA started
the regatta strongly with a 3-1-5 to hang onto second place, but
faltered in the last two races to still end up in a tie for fourth
place, winning that tie-breaker on 23 pts each over Jeff Brown’s San
Diego YC team. In the third pairing, Dave Vieregg’s SOGGY DOLLAR
included a bullet in his scoreline, enough to take the tie-break on 27
pts over Karl Pomeroy’s ZERO TO 60, to take 6th and 7th, respectively.In the world of J/120s, two of the past winners of the regatta dueled all weekend long. Somewhat like their J/70 colleagues, Chuck Nichols’ crew on CC RIDER started off with a dominant 1-2-1 tally to be leading after three races. Nevertheless, it seems Saturday night may have done in some of Chuck’s crew as they posted a modest 3-4 to close out the regatta in 2nd place! Long-time nemesis and close friend John Laun sailed the mighty CAPER from a distant second early in the game to close with two bullets and the J/120 title in the end. Third was Mike Hatch’s J-ALMIGHTY.
The universe of J/80s also saw a very, very close fight for the top of the podium all weekend. Perhaps it was the first time in recent memory that Curt Johnson’s crew on AVET had to claw and scratch their way back into the lead in the last race to win! AVET’s record of 1-1-2-2-1 for 7 pts was just good enough to sneak in front of Steve Wyman’s NUHUNU team that managed to accumulate a near identical record of 2-2-1-1-2 for 8 pts! Taking third was J/WORLD #4 Team with 17 pts. Sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels/ JOYSailing.com. For more SCYA Midwinters sailing information
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