(Charleston, SC)- Nick Johnstone (son of Peter J) sailed aboard the winning J/22 College of Charleton team that recently participated in Charleston Race Week. Here is Nick's report:"It was a great turnout this year at Charleston Race Week for all of the J/boat classes. The inner circle in particular saw a highly competitive field of J/80’s, J/24’s, and J/22’s all racing on the same course.
Day one saw tricky conditions with a very light northerly breeze with the windward mark placed a stones throw away from the battery. The infamous Charleston ebb current made the strategy throughout the day to see how close you could tack up alongside the downtown shoreline without running aground. This involved numerous tacks along the shoreline, which was a joy with the dinghy like handling of the J/22. This strategy continued until the last race when Tom Hubbell on Air Force One noticed the current had switched on the right side of the course and decided to separate completely from the fleet on the right side. He ended up winning the last race of the day by several minutes.
Day two saw better breeze out of the southwest and the course being moved further out towards James Island Yacht Club. Air Force One won the day (scoring a 3, 1) with superior speed to the competition and closed in on Los Tres Bigotes lead.
The final day was raced tucked up against Castle Pickney again in a strong southerly seeing around 15+ knots in the puffs. Air Force One started the day off strong with a bullet, but Los Tres Bigotes would go on to win the final two races of the day. The final race was very invigorating in particular with a match race showdown pre-start between Los Tres Bigotes and Air Force One. Los Tres Bigotes were able to get the better of the two boats off the line and ended up finishing the race with a sizeable lead by the finish. Los Tres Bigotes skippered by Chase Shaw and crewed by Bobby Boger, Morgan Buckley, and Nick Johnstone finished atop the podium. Air Force One skippered by Tom Hubbell (president of US Sailing) finished in second and Wild Goose skippered by David Buckley finished third.
The J/22 sailors were composed of a great variety of competitors sailing College of Charleston’s new fleet. The regatta was sailed exclusively in the college’s fleet, which made the boats themselves a very even fleet, almost similar to college sailing. It was great to see the warrior sailing team fielding a boat with all disabled sailors minus the bowman, even including a completely blind competitor aboard. They had a modified J/22 with a bar for the skipper to cross the boat, which only goes to show how great a boat the J/22 can be for disabled sailing. Also sailing was College of Charleston’s dock master Jacob Raymond who is also an active warrior sailing volunteer and Iraq veteran military policeman. It truly a great experience and hope to compete in the class again whether it is at Charleston Race Week or other events in the future."
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