(Charleston, SC)- Expectations were high for this year's celebration of the 25th anniversary of Charleston Race Week. Hosted at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, the dozens of volunteers from the Charleston Offshore Racing Association (CORA) delivered in spades after more than a year off. With the added bonus of having the weather Godz cooperate for once, most all fleets were able to fulfill their full schedule of races, with most one-design fleets experiencing ten races after three days of sailing!
The sailors experienced mostly sunny days with southerly winds; with winds varying from southeast to southwest, depending on the degree of cloud cover, and breezes ranging in velocities from 6 to 16 kts. As usual, the mostly ebbing currents of up to 3.5 knots played havoc with laylines both upwind and downwind for many sailors...many boats "doing donuts" after hitting one of the robotic MarkSetBots being used as marks.
A total of 188 boats in 16 classes were finally able to celebrate the 25th anniversary race week in Charleston, SC. Not surprisingly, passionate J/Sailors across the country couldn't wait for this rendezvous with destiny! Of the 188 boats registered, 103 of them were J/Boats sailors (a stunning 55.0% of the fleet)!
The regatta featured five one-design J/Classes, including J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/88s, and J/105s. In addition, there were two “Pursuit-style” sailing divisions for both PHRF and ORC handicap rated boats that included a J/30, J/35, J/109s, J/111s, J/120s, J/121s and a J/122.
Starting with the biggest fleet in the regatta, the J/70s near runaway winner was Bruno Pasquinelli's STAMPEDE. With the red bull billowing broadly on their big white chute, there were most often seen at the front of the fleet, posting seven podium finishes to win with just 24 pts net; quite a feat in this hotly contested fleet! Joel Ronning's CATAPULT returned to their regatta-winning form and gave the Stampeders a good run-for-the-money, but were not able to close the gap fast enough on the last day, taking the silver with 40 pts net. Rounding out the podium was Mike Goldfarb's WAR CANOE, winning two races on their way to earning the bronze with 43 pts net. The balance of the top five include John Heaton's Chicago team on EMPEIRIA in fourth and Dave Jannetti's VERY ODD in fifth.
The J/70 Corinthians Division was won by Henry Filter's Napolitan crew on WILD CHILD, followed by Alex Meleny's TRUCKIN in second, and Mike Sabinash's SABOTAGE in third position.
The large 19-boat J/24 class saw a full-blown duel take place for class honors. In such a classic confrontation, it was the final race that determined the outcome for the two protagonists that are well-known amongst J/24 class veterans- Kirk Reynolds on TYRUS and Aidan Glackin on MENTAL FLOSS. After trading off bullets in the first six races, it became a war of attrition to see who would blink last. In the end, it was Reynolds' TYRUS crew that avoided the "send it down the mine shaft" race to win by two points. Glackin's MENTAL FLOSS crew sailed a stellar series, save for their 9th place in race 2 that slowed down their chances for the win. Watching the fireworks taking place all weekend-long from the bleacher seats was Denny Vaughn's HABANERO, themselves winning two races but suffering from inconsistency to settle for the bronze. Rounding out the top five were Chris Stone's VELOCIDAD and Jim Thurlow's FORTITUDE in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The J/22s were subject to a good'ole butt-whippin' by Justin DaMore's YEM team, counting seven bullets in their scoreline to win with a mere nine points net. An easy second-place performance was earned by Fed Plasecki's CoC 7 team with 17 pts. net. The bronze went to Nathan Bowen's USA 8 team with 29 pts. net.
A near-dozen J/88s showed up for some of that famous southern hospitality and no one left disappointed. Great sailing, great food, spirited competition across the board. Such was the evenness of the racing that every single boat on the podium had a double-digit race to get discarded, a first to be sure for this class. Sitting in third place after the first day, brothers John & Jordan Leahey's DUTCH from Chicago, IL decided they were ONLY going one-way on day two- "go left young man" was the local advice they heeded in spades. For four straight races, they would start at the port end of the line, check-in with the tour guides at Fort Sumter, stamp their ticket for being the ONLY boat in the left corner, then proceed to the windward mark to rejoin the fleet. A winning formula it was for that day! They were rewarded with three bullets in four races to leap to the front of the fleet at the end of the "moving day" (the second to last day of the regatta). The final day dawned gray and served up the most bizarre wind conditions of the regatta. Not doing themselves any favors, the DUTCH team posted their second-worst race of the regatta with a 9th place. That left the final race to determine who amongst the top three teams would win the regatta. In the end, the DUTCH'ers traded in their "left turn signal" for a "right turn signal" in the finale...and rolled the dice. In short, that strategy worked again..."when in doubt, hit a corner", if not left, then why not right?! LOL. DUTCH won the final race to take class honors by 4 pts. Second went to their arch-nemesis in the hotly-contested J/88 Chicago Fleet- Andy Graff's EXILE. Just three points back, after torpedoing their chances at a class win with a DFL in race 9, was Justin Scagnelli and Tim Price's ALBONDIGAS from the Long Island Sound J/88 fleet. The balance of the top five included Brian O'Malley's BLUE in fourth and Andrew Weiss' ONE TOO MANY in fifth.
Not surprisingly, the J/105 fleet was treated to a complete "white-washing" by Ken Horne's Houston, TX team on FINAL FINAL. Proving themselves in the 2019 J/105 North American Championship in Marblehead, MA with a second place, Horne's crew continues to post strong performances in the class. After nine bullets in nine races, they elected to not sail the last race and went home. The Schaedler/ Taylor duo on WHISTLER posted eight podium finishes in their final tally to take home the silver. Third was Joe Highsmith's DEAD ON ARRIVAL with 35 pts net. The rest of the top five were Joe Pitcavage's SPECTACLE in fourth and Bill McKenzie's RUM FRONT in fifth place.
The ORC B Offshore division was treated to a podium sweep by three top J/Teams. Winning for the millionth-time was Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK with 6 pts net. They were challenged hard by two J/121s. Bob Christoph's LOKI traded bullets with TEAMWORK in a few races, but that was not enough to overcome TEAMWORK's consistency. Both teams tossed 3rds (!) but LOKI had to count one more third to settle for second place. Third was Bill Wiggin's & Ashley Maltempo's WINGS.
In PHRF A Pursuit Spin division, J/Teams took six of the top eight places. Richard Moore's J/120 KEELFORCE took the silver with Bob Musor's J/130 SCEPTRE earning the bronze. Fourth was John Keenan's J/120 ILLYRIA, sixth Willy Schwenzfeier's J/35 ARROW, seventh Ed Goss' J/36 SOUL, an eighth Bill Hanckel's J/120 EMOCEAN.
The PHRF B Pursuit Spin division, the Warrior Sailing Team took third place with their J/95 WARRIOR 95, while Mark Swatta's J/30 LAS BRISAS finished fifth.
Thanks to Quantum Sail Design Group for its team of professionals that did on-site daily weather briefings, discuss tactics and strategy provided on-the-water "live" commentary on all racing circles. For more Charleston Race Week sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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