Great Sailing for J/111s, J/109s, J/105s & 88s!(Chicago, IL)- The annual regatta that marks the start of the offshore sailing season in Chicago on Lake Michigan is Columbia YC’s Goose Island Colors Regatta. There was an enormous turnout of J/crews supporting the event, by far the biggest brand of sailboats at the regatta, 36 J/crews in a fleet of 110 keelboats (about 35% of the fleet). Depending on weather and fleets, most boats sailed just 3 to 4 races over the weekend in the challenging weather conditions.
As usual, the nine boat J/111 class was as tight as ever for the top of the podium! In the end, it was the first big regatta win for Len Siegal’s LUCKY DUBIE crew! Starting off with double bullets, they were not to be denied, with the “Dubsters” closing with a 2-6 to just snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! Not unexpectedly, chasing them hard were the three musketeers on KASHMIR (Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson & Mike Mayer); in the end they came up just shy of taking class honors, their 2-2-4-4 for 12 pts good enough for the silver. Third place was John Kalanik’s PURA VIDA crew with a terribly slow start in the first two races (an 8-5), but an extraordinary comeback in the last two races- double bullets! Rounding out the top five was Rick Witzel’s ROWDY in 4th place, just one point back with 16 pts, and Kevin Saedi’s & Raman Yousefi’s MOMENTUS in 5th place with 19 pts.
In the eight boat J/109 fleet, it was Peter Priede’s FULL TILT that walked off with class honors with a 1-1-4 for 6 pts. Second and third were determined on a tie-breaker; with Jim Murray’s CALLISTO winning that battle over Laura Wagner’s NORTHSTAR. Rounding out the top five were Keith Eickenberg’s BLACKFIN in 4th and Scott Sims’ SLAPSHOT II in 5th place.
A familiar face was at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon in the J/105 class of eight boats! Clark Pellet’s SEALARK won with straight bullets while Mike Sheppard’s FLYING PIG was 2nd, Bob Amos’ SOUTHBOUND was 3rd, Gyt Petkus’ VYTIS was 4th and Vanessa Gates’ STRIKING was 5th place!
In the PHRF Spinnaker Division, wackily comprised of a TP52 at the top end and the J/88s at the bottom end, it was going to be a “condition-based” outcome for the event. In the end, the 88s had a rough time, with Tim Wade’s WINDSONG taking 5th and Andy Graff’s EXILE in 7th and Tod Patton’s BLONDIE 2 in 8th.
However, in the PHRF Offshore distance racing scenario, the J/88s did quite well! Winning was Ben Wilson’s RAMBLER, with Tom Papoutsis’ J/133 RENEGADE in 5th and Boyd Jarrell’s J/88 SLOT MACHINE in 14th.
Then, in the PHRF Singlehanded division, three of the top four were J crews!! Rick Stage’s J/35 ALPHA PUPPY was 2nd, Mark Gannon’s J/105 GANGBUSTERS was 3rd, and Mitch Weisman’s J/35 FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER was 4th position! Monsters they were all!! For more COLORS Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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