(Marblehead, MA)- The 2019 J/105 North American Championship was sailed from September 5th to 8th off Marblehead, MA on the open waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Hosting the event was Corinthian Yacht Club, along with title sponsor “The British Virgin Islands Tourist Board”. After eight races run on three of the four days of racing (one day lost due to Hurricane Dorian passing by offshore), it was Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault’s GOOD TRADE (with crew of Halsey Richartz- trim, Bill Higgins- bow, John Sahagian- mast, and Stu Johnstone- tactician) winning their second J/105 North American title. Here is how they managed to repeat their N.A. title.
Day One- Gorgeous fall weather
Eighteen teams from across the USA and Canada enjoyed spectacular early fall sailing conditions, with winds starting clear, cool from the Northeast, and saw winds shifting into the Southeast by late afternoon. The Corinthian YC PRO managed the conditions well, getting off three races in a breeze that persistently shifted right all day, as forecasted.
Leading the regatta after the first day was Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault’s GOOD TRADE from San Francisco, CA with a 2-2-1 record for 5 pts, in a no-throw out up to 12 race series. Second was Ken Horne’s FINAL FINAL crew from Houston, TX with a 3-1-6 tally for 10 pts. Third was hometown local hero Charlie Garrard’s MERLIN with a 6-4-3 scoreline for 13 pts. Rounding out the top five were Tim Russell’s NE*NE crew from San Francisco, CA with a 8-3-4 scoreline for 15 pts and Terry Michaelson’s Canadian team on THE USUAL SUSPECTS with a 1-8-8 score for 17 pts.
Day Two- Blustery Nor’easter, Massive Waves
Friday morning dawned with grey scudding clouds, ENE winds in the 9 to 17 kts range, and massive cross-chop and ground swells from the ESE pushing up to 9 foot heights. The conditions were quite difficult for the helmsmen to steer, as on port tack the bows slammed into massive headwalls of water, while on starboard tack, the boats were being rocked sideways by the massive, often breaking seas, like palm trees waving in a full gale. Three more races were run, testing the crews and, in particular, the skippers.
Still leading by a greater margin of points was GOOD TRADE, after posting a 4-1-2 for the day to, they were repeat daily winners on points. Not far off the pace was the FINAL FINAL team with a tally of 2-2-5 to maintain their second spot and a good chance for the top of the podium on the final day. Jumping up into the third spot was Tim Russell’s NE*NE after posting two bullets and a 6th for the day.
Day Four- Light, Shifty NNW’er, Flat Water
Saturday’s racing was canceled on Friday afternoon due to the Hurricane Dorian forecasts showing even larger waves in the 10-18 foot range and gale force winds of 20-35 kts just offshore.
Sunday morning dawned with a spectacular fall day with bright blue skies, puffy white cotton ball clouds flying by overhead, and nice cool weather. The breeze forecast was less than rosy, as it was clear the rapidly receding Hurricane Dorian off to the ENE was not going to have sufficient power to maintain a strong NNW breeze of 8-13 kts. With a one-hour earlier starting time, the CYC PRO managed to run two races in a rapidly dying breeze. In fact, it was hard to set the course as the winds were fluctuating through a 40-degree arc and with 4 to 8 kts of breeze by the time the first race started.
With an amazing RC boat end start for the first race of the day, Horne’s FINAL FINAL crew started off in first and were never to be challenged again, simply sailing away from the fleet and winning by at least 500 yards over the 2nd place boat. Talk about throwing down the gauntlet, their performance had the GOOD TRADE team scrambling to stay in contention for the regatta. With yet another less than stellar start, the GOOD TRADE crew had to double-tack to clear the starting line in last place and work extra hard to stay in touch with the top third of the fleet by the first weather mark. Three legs later, and a bit of good fortune thrown in for good measure, the GOOD TRADE team pulled off a 5th place finish to now lead the regatta by only 2 pts. The Texans had the SF Bay Champions quaking in their boots, as the San Franciscans could visibly see how fast the Texans were in the light stuff.
The tension was electric going into the last race. Yet again, the two regatta leaders eyed each other like rabid dogs; circling with guns drawn and knives in their teeth, ready to do battle for the final match. After starting next to one another, literally, the FINAL FINAL team sped out from under GOOD TRADE, forcing them to tack off first. However, by the top mark, it was GOOD TRADE rounding 4th with FINAL FINAL in 5th. The ensuing downwind tactical duel was quite dramatic, as various race leaders like NE*NE, Charlie Garrard’s MERLIN from Marblehead, and Terry Michaelson’s THE USUAL SUSPECTS from Toronto all ended up in a massive clump at the leeward gate. Meanwhile, GOOD TRADE masterfully pulled off a quick double-gybe in less than 200 yards to round the leeward gate in first, headed to the favored left side of the course upwind. Meanwhile, FINAL FINAL rounded 6th after the melee at the bottom marks. In the end, GOOD TRADE sailed a good, conservative final beat and downwind run to secure the race win by 400 yards and take the 2019 J/105 North American Championship title with just 18 pts total.
Despite their final race travails, Horne’s FINAL FINAL team avoided the “down the mine shaft” score and held on to 6th to take the silver with 26 pts. Meanwhile, the drama continued to build behind them on the leaderboard. Leaping onto the podium in the bronze position was Charlie Garrard’s MERLIN team, by virtue of taking 2nd in the final race for a total of 29 pts. The biggest fall from grace was Russell’s NE*NE team, posting a 15th in the finale to drop down to fourth position with 41 pts. Rounding out the top five was Michaelson’s THE USUAL SUSPECTS with 54 pts.
Sailing videos:
Day 1- Thursday Sailing Day 2- Friday Sailing Day 3- Saturday Clubhouse J/105 Panel (Matt Arno, Nicole Breault, Stu Johnstone) Follow J/105 Class Facebook page For complete J/105 North American Championship results For more J/105 North American Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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