(Rye, NY)- The American YC hosted their annual Fall Series over the past
two weekends off Rye, New York. Western Long Island Sound delivered
its typical broad range of facilities over the four day series, with
sunny, mild, shifty conditions in the first weekend, with grey skies and
breezy weather for the second. One-design fleets of J/44s, J/109s,
J/88s, J/105s, and J/70s had great fun, with PHRF handicap fleets also
enjoying the competition.The J/44’s had a fantastic turnout with eight boats on the starting line both weekends. Jeff Willis’ CHALLENGE IV sailed a magnificent series and counted all top three finishes to win their class in a convincing fashion with just 21 pts net in eleven races. Taking second was Don & Rick Rave’s RESOLUTE with 24 pts and in third was Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE with 25 pts. Behind the top three were Len Sitar’s VAMP in 4th and Jack Neades US Coast Guard Academy team on GLORY taking 5th.
The
ten-boat J/109 class saw many of their top crews collecting
silverware. Adding a bit more to their “pickle dish” collection was
David Rosow’s LOKI, having an amazing rebound after an opening 7th
place; posting basically all top three finishes for a 17 pts net score
over ten races for a 1.7 pts average! Yikes! The battle for second
place was epic, with a tie-breaker determining the podium. Jonathan
Rechtshaffer’s EMOTICON won that fight on count-back over Bill Rogers’
BIG BOAT. The balance of the top five was Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY
in 4th and Bengt & Marie Johansson’s ZIG ZAG in 5th.The J/88s had a total of eight boats sailing over the two weekend series. While many used the first weekend for practice for their upcoming J/88 North Americans, others could only participate in part of the series. The first part of the regatta was light airs; the second part had significantly stronger winds. In the end, the combined scores of the two series saw Doug Newhouse’s YONDER win the series by a scant one point margin over Mike Bruno’s WINGS. Yet, another one point back was John Pearson’s RED SKY with 38 pts. Fourth place was determined by a tie-breaker! Kevin Marks’ VELOCITY won that decision over Doug McKeige’s JAZZ at 48 pts each!
The largest class in the regatta happened to be the J/70 class! A first for the regatta! With eighteen boats, the fleet enjoyed spirited racing on western Long Island Sound; it was planing mode conditions for most of Saturday and a mix of modes on Sunday as the breezes shifted further around the compass. Winning the talented fleet with a surprising five bullets in a row was Oivind Lorentzen III’s NINE with just 20 pts net. Second was Bill Walker & Allan Stern’s VICTURA with 33 pts net. Trevor Roach’s SEMI-CHARMED took the final place on the podium with 42 pts net. Rounding out the top five was Scott Bursor’s SLINKY with 44 pts and fifth place was Marshall Saffer’s LET IT RIP with 46 pts.
The seventeen boat J/105 Class, saw an epic performance by Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault’s GOOD TRADE. Scoring six 1sts, three 2nds and one 3rd place finish, St. Francis Yacht Club members Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault crushed the locals on their own turf in the two weekend American Yacht Club Fall Series, not only winning the J/105 fleet in their East Coast boat “Good Trade”, but also earning the trophy for best overall performance in a one-design class. They were assisted by bowman Bill Higgins and trimmer Philipp Berner, both regulars on their SF Bay based J/105 “Arbitrage”. Also, crewing were two different cadets each weekend from Mass Maritime Academy. Behind them, Damian Emery’s ECLIPSE took second with Harald Edegran & Jeremy Henderson’s CONUNDRUM in third, Paul Beaudin’s LOULOU in fourth, and George & Alex Wilbanks’ REVELATION in fifth. Notably, the all youth crew from American YC, the YOUNG AMERICAN JR BIG BOAT TEAM took 6th place, closing out with a strong 3rd place in the last race.
Stone and Breault are lending their boat to Mass Maritime for the Storm Trysail Foundation’s Intercollegiate Regatta next weekend at Larchmont YC, then their team returns to Larchmont for the Manhasset Bay Fall Series and the J/105 North Americans, where 45 boats are already registered.
The PHRF 1 Division was eclipsed by David & MaryEllen Tortorello’s J/111 PARTNERSHIP, taking five 1sts, two 2nds, and three 3rds on their way to a 15 pt win in their class, posting just 18 pts net. A distant 6th place was Marcus Cholerton-Brown’s J/120 SUNSET CHILD with 62 pts.
In PHRF 2 Division, it was Jason Viseltear’s J/80 UPSETTER that lived up to her name to take second place overall. Behind them by just one point in 3rd place was John Krediet’s J/97 PARTICIPANT II. Taking 6th place was Aleksandr Tichter’s J/29 AKULA and 7th place was Trace Dittenhofer’s J/92S. For more American YC Fall Series sailing information
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