Saturday, June 30, 2018

NYYC One-Design Regatta Preview

J/70s sailing NYYC One-Design Regatta (Newport, RI)- Thirty-five J/70s will be plying the waters of Narragansett Bay this coming weekend in the annual New York YC One-Design Regatta.  The fleet is comprised of numerous one-design class National, North American, and World Champions, most of whom are sailing the regatta as part of their training programs leading up to the J/70 World Championship, hosted by Eastern YC in Marblehead, MA later in September 2018.

The headline crews include such class leaders as Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT from Excelsior, MN; Jack Franco’s 3 BALL JT from Lakewood, TX; Glenn Darden’s HOSS from Fort Worth, TX; Martie Kullman’s HYDRA from St Petersburg, FL; Jenn & Ray Wulff’s JOINT CUSTODY from Annapolis, MD; Jim Cunningham’s LIFTED from San Francisco, CA; Peter Cunningham’s POWERPLAY from Cayman Islands; John Brim’s RIMETTE from Fishers Island, NY; Pam Rose’s ROSEBUD from Chicago, IL; Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE from Fort Worth, TX; John & Molly Baxter’s TEAM VINEYARD VINES from Riverside, CT; and Tim Healy’s famous USA 2 HELLEY HANSEN.

There is a strong presence of Japanese teams, as they are conducting their three-regatta “Japanese National Championship” in order to qualify one of their teams for the J/70 Worlds in September.  For those in the TP52, Farr 40 and M32 world, you will recognize some of the leading crews.  Makoto Uematsu’s ESMERALDA from Tokyo hardly needs any introduction, he helped create the TP52 class with the support of Newport’s own Ken Read at North Sails.  In addition, there is the famous “SLED” team, composed of a number of boats- Hideyuki Miyagawa’s IT’S SLED from Hyogo; Takashi Okura’s SLED from Alpine, NJ; and Eichiro Hamazaki’s THE SLED from Kanagawa.  In addition, there is Yasutaka Funazawa’s NATSUKO from Tottori.  That should be an interesting competition to watch!  For more New York YC One-Design Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.