Tuesday, September 18, 2018

GUT FEELING Cruises J/109 East Coast Championship

J/109 sailboat (Newport, RI)- After a long summer of racing up and down the eastern seaboard, the J/109 Northeastern fleet gathered together for their 2018 East Coast Championship, hosted by Ida Lewis YC, in Newport, RI.  The fleet of nine boats enjoyed six races over their two days of racing from September 8th to 9th, 2018.

After starting off with three bullets, the question was whether Ted Herlihy’s North American Championship winning crew on GUT FEELING from Buzzards Bay could repeat as the 2018 East Coast Champion? The answer was quickly forthcoming, in the form of a 2-1-3 closing tally to toss a podium 3rd place finish to end with just 6 pts net.  Domination?  A “schooling”?  Perhaps.  Nevertheless, it was an eye-opener for the balance of the J/109 teams that were assembled for their end-of-season finale.

Giving their all in a run for the gold was Tom Sutton’s Houston, TX crew aboard their bright-red LEADING EDGE, posting a steady 3-4-3-1-3-1 for 11 pts net. Closing out the podium, and also winning the Corinthians Division, was Albrecht Goethe’s HAMBURG with a 2-2-4-3-5-8 scoreline for 16 pts net.  Top woman skipper was Brook Mastrorio’s URSA in 4th place.  Past regatta winner, Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY YCC crew took 5th position.  For more J/109 East Coast Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.