(Greenwich, CT)- Eight boats entered the New England J/88 Championships
at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Ct. on Columbus Day weekend.The event was held alongside the Gearbuster distance race, but the J/88s had their own Race Committee and starting area.
Saturday began with a shifty northerly breeze that diminished during the morning and changed to a southwesterly in the afternoon. The race committee, with Jonathan Nye as PRO, did an outstanding job in very tough conditions, moving marks numerous times to keep up with the shifts, and managed to get three races in.
Sunday,
the fleet was sent out an hour earlier and got five races in a 12-14
knot breeze from the southwest. The racing was close, fast paced and
exciting. Some drama ensued in race seven, when Cloud9 lost a crew
member overboard at the weather mark, but they managed to pick her up
and hoisted their chute, all in less than a minute, well done!After eight races, the winner with 8 points was the newest J/88 owner, Mike Bruno on WINGS, whose American YC team had an outstanding performance. Second place with 16 points went to John Sommi on CLOUD9 and Kevin Marks’ VELOCITY from Noroton YC took third with 24 points. Rounding out the top five were Iris Vogel’s VELOCITY from Huguenot YC in 4th and Doug Newhouse’s YONDER from SailNewport in 5th.
“It
was a really fun event,” said Iris Vogel. “We had excellent racing and
great hospitality at Indian Harbor Yacht Club, and hopefully there will
be even more J/88s on the line next year!”The winner, Mike Bruno, commented, “We had two nice race days. Great conditions Sunday, got in 5 races. Yesterday got in 3 races, some big shifts but all good races although on the lighter side. Sunday was about perfect with around 12 kts and pretty steady. Indian Harbor did outstanding race committee work. Our tactics and crew work were extraordinary, we’re lucky, virtually no crew mistakes the entire regatta! No joke. Absolutely love the boat!” Sailing photo credits- Howie McMichael. The event was co-sponsored by McMichael Yachts and J/Boats. For more J/88 New England Championship sailing information
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