(Newport, RI)- The St Petersburg YC is hosting the J/70 Midwinters from
February 25th to 28th! Many of the leaders in the J/70 class will be
present. However, missing will be the last three Midwinter champions,
Tim Healey’s HELLY HANSEN and Carlo Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK from
Italy. In fact, the leading the charge at this years Midwinters may be
an entirely new contingent of top teams that may be ushering in a
welcoming changing of the guard. There will be familiar faces in the
crowd of veteran J/70 skippers, including J/22 World Champion Al Terhune
on DAZZLER from Annapolis, MD; Joel Ronning’s champion crew on CATAPULT
from Wayzata, MN; Tim Molony’s JOUST from New Orleans, LA; Kerry
Klingler’s MENACE from Norwalk, CT; Joe Bardenheier’s MUSE from Boston,
MA; Tom Bowen’s REACH AROUND from Charleston, SC; John Brim’s RIMETTE
from Fisher’s Island, NY; Will Welles’ SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM (recent St
Pete NOOD Regatta J/70 winner); Dave Franzel’s SPRING from Boston, MA;
Geoff Becker’s USA 25 from Annapolis, MD; and Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS HEARING
from Houston, TX (the Pan Am Games Gold Medallist in the Lightning
class). In addition, there are new teams that have started to assert their presence, most notably some from “days of futures past”. For example, closing the last Quantum J/70 Winter Series with two bullets was Glenn Darden & Reese Hillard’s HOSS from Fort Worth, TX- these guys ain’t no spring chickens, that’s for sure. Watch out as this veteran crew has J/80 and J/105 North American Champion belts hanging on their trophy shelves at home, not too mention a few J/24 championships of various types in the Texas Circuits and elsewhere. Don't forget, there's a friendly “transplant” from the West Coast one-design wars, that happens to be Jacko Franco on JT 3 BALL from Kemah, Texas. Plus, a J/109 Great Lakes Champion will be joining them in the form of Leif & Laura Sigmond’s NORBOY from Chicago, IL. Then, you have a top J/111 Great Lakes and North American skipper (top 3!), Dick Lehman from Harbor Springs, MI that will be sailing WIND CZAR, winner of one of the St Pete NOOD races. Finally, the foreign contingent includes Chuck Millican’s ELUSIVE from Bermuda, Antti Luhta’s LM INFORMATION DELIVERY from Finland; and Haroldo Solberg’s OCEANPACT from Brazil. For more J/70 Midwinters sailing information
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