Thursday, February 22, 2018

MINOR THREAT Wins J/70s @ SCYA Midwinters

J/70s southern California(Marina del Rey, CA)- California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey hosted the 2018 Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) annual “Midwinters” regatta for J/70s.  Fourteen boats turned out on the starting line to enjoy the first regatta of the season.  The CYC PRO managed to run five races offshore in the big rolling swells of the Pacific Ocean, running double windward-leewards.

After the first three races on Saturday, Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara YC was leading with a 3-2-4 for 9 pts and enjoyed some celebratory “brew-skies” on the dock after racing.  Riding the big roller coaster of pain were Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT from Cal YC with a 7-3-1 score sheet for 11 pts, good enough for second place, and Tony Collins’ FLY from Kings Harbor YC with a 2—9-2 for 13 pts.

As Sunday dawned, the big question was whether any of the top three teams could maintain any degree of consistency to stay at the top of the leaderboard.  Such was the tightness and competitiveness of the fleet that, despite being just fourteen boats on the course, not one team could post all top five finishes.  However, the standings did experience a bit of a juggling of positions.  The “Big Doggers” may have had too much fun celebrating their good luck on the huge Saturday dinner and band at the club; their final two races of 5-6 dropped them to third in the final standings.  By closing with a 2-3, Janov’s MINOR THREAT won the regatta with 16 pts total and taking second was Collins’ FLY with 18 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Chris Snow’s San Diego YC crew on COOL STORY BRO in fourth place and in fifth was Jim Murrell’s HUCKLEBERRY from Kings Harbor YC.  For more SCYA Midwinters J/70 sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.