J/Teams Dominate Four Divisions
(Port Credit, ONT, Canada)- Congratulations to all the racers who made it out of their own clubs to compete in the “Coolest Race on the Lake”, The Susan Hood Trophy Race. This year provided many obstacles around Lake Ontario just to get boats in the water and sailing (due to abnormally high water levels, but 91 yachts were on the start line Friday, June 3rd to take on the 78 mile overnight challenge.
At the start of the race, winds were looking solid and a tight reach to Burlington was anticipated. Somewhere between the first and the eight starts the winds died and moved west with the lead boats pulling away, creating the largest gap between fleets ever experienced in this race!! With the wind vanishing from the west end of the lake for over half the competitors, a special congratulations goes to all those who had the perseverance to endure and finish the race. In total, 28 yachts withdrew from this year’s Susan Hood Trophy Race!! A record for the race!! Bummer.
Nevertheless, a special congratulation goes to this year’s Susan Hood Trophy Race Champions! SWITCH, a J/92 skippered by Andrew Sharp from Olcott Yacht Club, finishing with a corrected time of 0:16:19:46. SWITCH competed in FS-FC 4 and finished with many boats from Division 3, almost a full hour ahead of the next division 4 finisher, which is great sailing. It is worth noting that according to our records, SWITCH has become the first boat from an American Yacht Club to win the Susan Hood trophy! The SWITCH crew included Doug Folsetter, Zoe Folsetter, Louis Johnson, Maureen Johnson and Ethan Sharp.
Overall, J/teams performed incredibly well. In the IRC 1 class, Bruce Pierce’s J/122 HOOLIGAN II was second, just 5 minutes off from winning on corrected time! In the PHRF Singlehanded class, Kim Piller’s J/109 LIVE WIRE won overall. In the PHRF Doublehanded class, Leszek Siek’s J/35 JAEGER also won class by over 45 minutes! In the PHRF FS-FC 1 class, J/crews were five of the top 7 boats, including Matt Emerson’s J/120 RED LEAF in 2nd, Graham Toms J/120 THE CAT CAME BACK in 3rd, Mike Pietz’s J/35 SHORTHANDED in 4th, Murray Gainer’s J/109 LIVELY in 5th and Paul Cavanaugh’s J/35 TOP GUN in 7th placed. In PHRF FS-FC 2 class, Denys Jones’ J/109 CARPE VENTUS was 6th place.
Behind Sharp’s J/92 SWITCH in PHRF FS-FC 4 class, it was a complete sweep by J/teams of the top 6! In second was Geoff Clarke’s J/105 CASUAL ELEGANCE, 3rd was Ed Berkhout’s J/105 ALI-KAT, 4th was Tom Accardo’s SOTTOVENTO, 5th was Sean Matthews J/33 WEE BEASTIE III, and 6th was Peter Wolniak’s J/105 ANOTHER HAZARD. IN PHRF FS-FC 5 class, Wendy Northcotte’s J/30 NORTHCAUGHT placed 4th. For more Susan Hood Trophy Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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