Thursday, February 18, 2016

VINEYARD VINES Wins Tampa Series

J/70 Vineyard Vines crew champions Kullman’s NEW WAVE Wins Quantum Series #3
(Tampa, FL)- John and Molly Baxter’s Team VINEYARD VINES sailed a very consistent three-regatta series from December until last weekend to take the Quantum J/70 Winter Series in Tampa, Florida.  Hosted by the amazing volunteers at the Davis Island YC (the “sailingest sailing club in the south”), the fleet of forty-seven J/70s were treated to great sailing and over-the-top hospitality over the three weekends.  By finishing 6th in the final regatta at Act 3, the Baxter’s secured the overall series win.

The final event of the series held over the February 6th to 7th weekend saw some significant changes in the standing.  For starters, Marty Kullman’s NEW WAVE sailed a very strong, consistent regatta, posting a 5-1-4-2-2 to win comfortably with 14 pts.  The big impact on the regatta was the presence of two Fort Worth Boat Club teams that jumped onto the podium; both are familiar faces in J/Boats’ winner’s circles in the past having been J/80, J/24 and J/105 Midwinter and North American Champions.  Not surprisingly, Glenn Darden’s crew on HOSS figured things out fast on the race course, closing with two bullets to add to their scoreline of a 3-4-10 to finish with 19 pts and take second overall.  Their colleagues from FWBC, Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE, started out with a bullet in race one and sailed a consistent series of 10-5-7-4 to finish with 27 pts to take the bronze.  Rounding out the top five was Dave Kerr’s USA 364 in 4th and yet another Texas team, Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS HEARING, taking 5th place.

In the Corinthians Division, Rob Britts HOT MESS took the top spot, followed by Brian Elliott in B-SQUARED in second, John Arendshorts’s 20/20 in third Matt Braun’s E.L.E. in fourth and Chuck Millican’s ELUSIVE crew from Bermuda in fifth.  For more Quantum J/70 Winters Series sailing information