(Tampa, FL)- Looking forward to a warm, sunny winter break for those
north of the “Mason-Dixon Line” will be dozens of J/70 sailors that will
be happy “escapees” from the crazy winter weather; especially those
that can travel Friday down to Tampa from the northeast coast that have
experienced what amounts to a “winter hurricane”.Imagine that, winter storm “Grayson” starts off Jacksonville, Florida on Tuesday, drops to a near record “low” pressure of 28.02 inches (about 955 millibars- way deeper than most tropical hurricanes), races up the eastern coastline, expands in size from the Bahamas Banks to north of Labrador (a breadth of 2,500+ miles), and lays waste to all maritime related states and provinces of North America. Right now, heading down to Florida’s sunny southwest coast is lookin’ pretty good to those J/70 sailors!
Will Brian Keane’s Boston-based SAVASANA crew actually dig out and escape from the northeast in time to defend their first regatta win in the Quantum J/70 Winter Series? No question, all those from the south are hoping they arrive late, dazed, and confused from shoveling too much snow!
Hoping to challenge the SAVASANA team over the January 6th to 7th weekend on Tampa Bay, an event hosted by the Davis Island YC, are at least a dozen strong crews. Those crews that may possibly challenge their hegemony on the race track might be Doug Strebel’s BLACK RIVER RACING from Texas; Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT from Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota; Jacko Franco’s FLOJITO 3 JT from Texas; Rob Britts’ HOT MESS from the local club (past Corinthian’s winner); Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT from California; Kevin Downey’s MR PITIFUL from Seattle, Washington; Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE from San Diego, California; Peter Cunningham’s POWERPLAY RACING from Cayman Islands; Will Welles’ SCAMP from Newport, RI; and Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE from Texas.
In the Corinthians Division, only the good Lord knows how this division will play out over the weekend and much depends on weather conditions. There are several very competitive crews from across the spectrum that will factor at the top of the leaderboard, such as Andrew & Melissa Fisher’s BUTTON FLY (last year’s winners), Frank McNamara’s CHINOOK, Rob Britts’ HOT MESS, Forbes Durdin’s MOJITO, and Al Poindexter’s USA 241 from Houston. For more Quantum J/70 Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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