HOSS Was Boss @ J/105 Midwinters

(Fort Worth, TX)– The J/105 Midwinter Championship returned to the calendar this year as eleven teams competed at Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX from March 7th to 10th. Locals Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard led the HOSS team to victory with 24 points. They racked up three bullets over the weekend and never finished lower than sixth. Following HOSS in second place was Bill Zartler’s DEJA VOODOO (30 points) and Kenneth Horne’s FINAL FINAL in third (33 points).

While being awarded the J/105 Midwinter Championship trophy, Darden commented, “It was a wild three days of tight racing with winds ranging from 3 to 30 knots. Eagle Mountain Lake always makes it interesting!

I would like to thank my HOSS team! First, my co-owner and long-time shipmate Reese Hillard!  Then, trimmer Jake Scott, tactics and mainsheet Tony Waldon, on bow Peter Philpot, and at the mast Lindsay Scott. They really guided and pulled HOSS to the top.

The Fort Worth Boat Club ran a top-notch event, and PRO Dwight Bengston and his race management team did an outstanding job in getting in eight quality races in three days!  Thanks to everyone again, it was lots of fun!”

Added Matt Arno, J/105 Chief Measurer, “It’s not often you get to race in three different seasons in three days. Winds from 0 to 40 knots and temperatures from 40F to 80F gave us the full range of conditions. Despite that, racing was tight for the whole regatta.”

Rounding out the top five was Dwight Horton’s BEAUTY in fourth place with 35 pts, just two points from third. Then, Rick Schaffer’s DOUBLE DARE took fifth with 38 pts. It was very close racing for the teams in 2nd to 5th place, the last two races seeing their positions flip fast like a game of “chutes and ladders”!  Sailing photo credits- Regattashots.com.  For more J/105 Midwinter Championship sailing information

Weakley Tops 2018 Texas J/22 Circuit

(Houston, TX)- Texas is a stronghold for the J/22 one-design sailing; areas like Galveston Bay can see 18 boats on the line for Wednesday night racing, which makes for plenty of competitive racing. Sailing his J/22 consistently throughout the seven regattas making-up the Texas J/22 Circuit, Doug Weakley (Corpus Christi, TX) came out on top after winning four events and placing well in the remaining three.

The primary keys for his success were Doug’s relentless drive to keep his older boat (hull #24) and his crew competitive. Sporting a new suit of sails, combined with awesome crew-work, good speed, and extraordinary perseverance to do tactically well in all weather conditions, ultimately, led to their tremendous performance.  Here is Doug’s take on the season:

“2018 started out great with Jim Kondziela and Joe Mayfield sailing with me on HNL (#24) at the Houston Yacht Club’s Midwinter regatta. We were really fast throughout the event and starting with a bullet in race one. We were pretty excited about our 6th place finish in the 39-boat fleet, competitive fleet.

We then sailed using our new radial jib at Austin Yacht Club and took first in a competitive fleet made of locals and traveling boats.

We got back into the boat in the fall and took back-to-back wins at Corpus Christi and Canyon Lake yacht clubs and the HYC Heritage Cup. At Corpus, we sailed with the cross-cut jib for power through the chop and we used it again at Canyon Lake in the light conditions. Canyon is all about avoiding a really bad race in the shifty conditions there, and we were the boat that did just that.

At HYC’s Heritage Cup, we went back to the radial jib and we were very fast in all the conditions. Saturday started out in very light air and we were quick in the light stuff, coming back from a terrible start to win the first race. The breeze quickly built and our old boat was set up really well for it. The radial jib was great, the boat just felt really fast. We had great downwind speed also with the new spinnaker design.

We look forward to more success in 2019, beginning with the J/22 Midwinters at Ft Walton Beach in March!” Thanks for contribution from Adam Loory at UK Sails.  For more J/22 Class sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/70 Texas Circuit Announcement!

(Austin, TX)- Huge news, cause for celebration!  After much debate, consternation, cogitating, planning, pleading, and brainstorming, the Texas fleet captains have created the J/70 Texas Circuit, sponsored by Parkway Chevrolet and J/Boats Southwest!  Please mark your calendars and go J/70 one-design racing all over Texas! Here are the dates and locations for each event:

• Apr 20-22- Fort Worth Boat Club- Annual Regatta
• May 19-20- Lakewood Yacht Club- Shoe Regatta
• Sep 22-23- Houston Yacht Club- One Design Regatta
• Oct 13-14- Lakewood Yacht Club- J/Fest Southwest
• Nov 2-4- Fort Worth Boat Club- Ol’ Man of the Sea Regatta

For more J/70 Texas Circuit sailing information, please contact Scott Spurlin at Mobile# 512-423-2179 or email- scott@jboatssouthwest.com. Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/70 North Americans Preview

(Seabrook, TX)- The 2016 J/70 North American Championships are being held on sunny, warm Galveston Bay southwest of Houston, TX.  Hosted for the event is the amazing Lakewood YC, famous for being the host of the annual J/Fest Southwest!  Forty-two boats are participating with teams from across the USA, Mexico, Japan, and Brazil.  While the fleet may be more diminutive than past events, the quality of the fleet is truly world-class- with World, Pan AM and North American Champions in J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, Lightnings and Etchells 22s all in the mix.

Perhaps the most impressive group pound-for-pound may be the foreign contingent beating a path to the world’s largest “honky tonks” to do battle with many top notch sailors that call Galveston Bay home port.  The two Brazilian teams from Rio de Janeiro (host of the 2016 sailing Olympics) include Mauricio Santa Cruz and Harold Solberg’s OCEANPACT and Phil Haegler’s CLOUD NINE.  A past J/24 Japanese Champion and offshore TP52 World Champion that will be testing the waters against top J/70 teams will be Makeo Uematsu sailing ESMERALDA from Tokyo, Japan.  The top Mexican team is back, with World Champion Julian Fernandez from Club Nautico Valle de Bravo near Mexico City, sailing on FLOJITO Y COOPERANDO with Etchells 22 World Champion and Rolex US Yachtsman of the Year Bill Hardesty on mainsheet/ tactics.

The host contingent from Texas will be fielding several well-known crews that have proven they can top the leaderboard, including three teams from Fort Worth Boat Club- Bruno Pasquinelli’s ascendant crew on STAMPEDE, J/70 Midwinter Champion Glenn Darden on HOSS and Rich Shaffer on USA 820; four from Lakewood YC- Jack Franco’s 3BALL JT, Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS POWER BY NAUTALYTICS, Al Poindexter’s USA 98, and Doug Strebel’s BLACK RIVER RACING; and two from Austin YC- Matt Romberg/ Terry Flynn’s USA 175 and Bruce McDonald’s ROGUE WARRIOR.

From out West, three crews have made the trek across the Arizona and New Mexico deserts to compile more practice/ training time against top crews in preparation for the J/70 Worlds in San Francisco.  Those crews include West Coast Champion Bruce Golison on MIDLIFE CRISIS from Alamitos Bay YC, Peter Vessella’s RUNNING WILD from St Francis YC, Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE from San Diego YC, and Tracy & Christy Usher’s CHRISTINE ROBIN from St Francis YC.

The Midwest contingent is strong, well-represented by Bob Hughes’ HEARTBREAKER from Macatawa Bay YC in Michigan, Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT from Wayzata YC in Minnesota, Bob & Jess Willis’s IZULA from Columbia YC in Chicago, Jim Prendergast’s USA 167 from Chicago YC, John Trey Sheehan’s HOOLIGAN: FLAT STANLEY RACING from Put-in-Bay YC in Ohio, and Travis Odenbach/ Dave Kerr’s USA 364 from Edgewater YC in Ohio.

Despite the fact that Seabrook, TX is about 1,800 miles from many J/70 fleets on the East Coast, none of the top teams attending could possibly pass up the best Tex-Mex cuisine and awesome tequila/ margarita refreshments on offer in the southernmost parts of ‘Merica! On a more practical note, a vast majority of the teams are taking the opportunity to ship boats west via Houston as part of their plans to sail the J/70 Worlds in September on San Francisco Bay.  Included in that group are three boats from Annapolis YC- Jenn & Ray Wulff’s JOINT CUSTODY, Tom Bowen’s REACH AROUND, and Kristen & Brian Robinson’s ZOMBIE; Dave Franzel’s SPRING from Boston; Brandon Flack’s TORQEEDO from Stonington; Dan & Gannon Troutman’s PIED PIPER from Virginia; Peter Duncan’s RELATIVE OBSCURITY from New York; Henry Brauer’s RASCAL from Marblehead; and Brian Keane’s SAVASANA from Buzzards Bay.   For more J/70 North American Championship sailing information

BAD MOON RISING Over Heritage Cup

(Dallas, Texas)- The 3rd Circuit Stop of the Texas Circuit took place May 2-3rd and was hosted by Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club and J/24 Fleet 163. This regatta is not only the annual fundraising regatta for DCYC, but it is also the J/24 Fleet 163 Corinthian Cup Regatta.

The perpetual Corinthian Cup trophy began in 2005 by Fleet 163 founders Kelly Holmes-Moon, Pete Pitzer and Brian Carter to recognize the growing fleet in North Texas.

Because of the low water in North Texas and the 2nd Circuit Stop being held at DCYC on behalf of Fort Worth Boat Club, J/24 competitors arrived with their 17 boats already set up and ready to go in the water. In the two weeks between regattas, North Texas got several inches of rain and competitors had to wade in some ankle deep water to get their boats to the crane.

On Saturday, after a one hour postponement to the first gun due to roads being shut down for an event near the yacht club that prevented several competitors from arriving on time, boats began their jaunt out to the racecourse in temperatures of about 75 degrees and winds around 7.5 knots out of the SSE. The weather prediction for the day was supposed to be light to medium.

As boats sailed around the predicted racecourse, the race committee began to set the marks and start line. Races were a go and the boats started racing to the first weather leg of the day. The winds fluctuated throughout the day from SSE to South and back and varied from 8 to 11 knots. There was a fair amount of land effect to consider so many of the top boats played the corners of both courses. It appeared that regardless of the side that was played, boats made out. The key was how much of a commitment to make on that side. It was a very competitive day of racing on Saturday and several newcomers took some top wins. The top 4 finishers of races on Saturday were:

Race 1: 1st James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 2nd Amanda Casey/Team Momentus; 3rd Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES; 4th Tonja Holmes-Moon/Team Siren

Race 2: 1st Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 2nd Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I; 3rd Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 4th Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES

Race 3: 1st Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES; 2nd Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I; 3rd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 4th Tonja Holmes-Moon/Team Siren

Race 4: 1st Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 2nd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 3rd James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 4th David Broadway/Team Superman

The weather on Sunday was predicted to be much windier and teams were eager to hit the racecourse early. While still somewhat out of the South, the 8-knot winds were shifty and puffy once again. Winds ranged again from 8 knots to 12 knots with a few bigger puffs later in the morning, and shifted from South to SSW and back, but not quite long enough for a course change. The top 8 boats were very tight in their numbers and there was no clear winner going into Race 5. Top 4 finishers for Race 5 were: 1st James Freedman/Team Misconduct; 2nd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 3rd Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 4th Tim Johnson/Team Gray Wolf.

Sitting in first place by one point after racing on Saturday and still holding onto it in Race 5, there was still some strategizing to do for Team BadMoon in order to win the regatta. They sailed a good clean race on Race 6 and took home the win. Top 4 finishers of Race 6 were: 1st Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 2nd James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 3rd David Broadway/Team Superman; 4th Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy.

Congratulations to Team Bad Moon’s Kelly Holmes-Moon, David Haslip, Chris Pittman, Drake Ditmer, and Chris Lombardo for winning the Corinthian Cup and 3rd Circuit Stop of the Texas Circuit, and the additional top 5 winners! It was a tight and competitive weekend of racing!

First Place with 17 points – Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon
Second Place with 23 points – Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy
Third Place with 24 points – James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct
Fourth Place with 26 points – Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES
Fifth Place with 43 points (and beating the tie-breaker) – Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I
For more Texas J/24 Circuit sailing information

Natalie’s GIGGLES Stampedes Cowtown!

(Dallas, Texas)- The 2015 Cowtown Stampede & J/24 Southwest Championship started out with excitement even before the racing began. Normally hosted at the Fort Worth Boat Club, due to low water at Eagle Mountain Lake, the venue was moved to Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club on Lake Lewisville. The weekend though had a little bit of something for everyone – light air, medium air and gustier breeze up to 21 mph, delicious food and a few extracurricular activities.  Staying flexible seemed to be a good strategy!

After a postponement due to no wind, the wind filled in enough to get a start going. In the first (and only) race on Saturday, Mark Smith must have listened to his jet plane rockstar Joshua Bone as After Midnight took off and one tacked the weather leg for a commanding lead they never relinquished. It was probably the longest two-leg race in history as the wind died to very light air, with John Parker and Team Chupacabra steadily moving up to finish third behind Kelly Holmes-Moon and Team BadMoon. The rest of the day was abandoned and the shore festivities began. The fleet was blessed with a great dinner served up by Tonja Holmes-Moon.

On Sunday, much better winds awaited the fleet. In Race 2, James Freedman and the boys aboard Miss Conduct rode the left side to round the first mark in the lead with David Broadway and Team Superman, Natalie Penner and Team GIGGLES, and Kelly Holmes-Moon and Team BadMoon in close pursuit.  On the last weather leg, Team Superman found the big right shift and surged for the victory.

The trend for the rest of the day were large and persistent right shifts and the RC, from the Fort Worth Boat Club, had its hands full adjusting the course and even abandoned one race because of a large shift. In Race 3, Natalie Penner and Team GIGGLES took first place, while James Freedman and Team Miss Conduct, Tonja Holmes-Moon and Team Siren and Kelly Holmes-Moon and Team BadMoon followed in second to fourth place finishes. On Race 4, Natale and Team GIGGLES continued with their strong sailing and took another bullet with Kelly Holmes-Moon and Team BadMoon, Mark Smith and Team After Midnight, and James Freedman and Team Miss Conduct followed in second to fourth place finishes.

Some of the fleet had a challenge dealing with the large shifts at the starts, but when the dust all settled, Natalie Penner and Team GIGGLES, consisting of Bobby Harden, Chris Rousseau, Rachel Loziuk and Reed Cleckler, played the wind well to score two bullets in Race 3 and Race 4 for the overall victory of both the Cowtown Stampede and the District 14 Southwest Championship.  But, that wasn’t the last of GIGGLES accomplishments.

Seems a few fleet elements conspired to assist Natalie Penner into a full dunking in the DCYC pool to help cap off the celebration of winning the Southwest Championship! Natalie, ever been to Japan?  Congratulations to Natalie Penner and Team GIGGLES for their chance to represent Texas at the 2016 J/24 World Championship!!  For more J/24 Southwest sailing information

Fun & Games @ J/Fest Southwest

(Seabrook, TX)- J/Fest Southwest Committee Chairman Al Goethe and the team at Lakewood Yacht Club (LYC) welcomed the 58 J/Teams to the 5th Annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta, sailed November 1st to 2nd on Galveston Bay. Over the weekend, most fleets were treated to 6+ races in classic Galveston Bay sailing conditions, breeze, chop and plenty of wind shifts!

There was a nice turnout for the J/PHRF and One-design fleets (J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/105s & J/109s). As he has done several times over the past few years, J/Boats co-founder Rod Johnstone sailed in the event as well as played host to entertaining festivities on Saturday evening.

The ten-boat J/22 class had an unexpected early eclipse happen in their fleet.  Sailing “lights out” for all six races was Casey Lambert’s team on BLACKBURN MARINE RACING, posting the obscenely low score of just 8 pts, an average of just over a 1st!  Sailing fast and learning fast was Marek Valasek, the only other boat to take any 1sts away from Lambert’s crew!  Third was Dov Kivlovitz.

As part of their Texas Circuit, the 15-boat J/24 fleet saw top competitors pull out all the stops to win the event.  It was a donnybrook for the top three boats.  Surviving the “shootout at the OK Corral” was Natalie Penner’s GIGGLES, perhaps the first time a woman skipper eviscerated “the boys” in this popular regatta.  She collected three bullets on her way to a 4 pt win.  Just behind her, the final race saw Stuart Lindow’s TROPICAL AGGRESSION win the race to also win the tie-breaker for 2nd overall against Tonja Holmes’ SIREN.  It’s a milestone in Texas J/24 racing history to see two women skippers in the top three— congratulations to both for such a terrific achievement!

The 13-boat J/70 fleet was loaded with talent from all three points of the Texas compass.  In the end, it was the talented young Taylor Lutz on ZOUNDS HEARING that also performed a near eclipse of his class, scoring two bullets and five 2nds to win class with just 12 pts.  J/70 class veteran, Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE, took 2nd despite the fact his team won four races!  Third was Chris Lewis’s GB, managing to take a bullet themselves on their way onto the podium.  “Good show” to Dillon YC member Kurt Vanderwall for traveling the 1,500 miles from Dillon, Colorado to take 4th overall!

The well-traveled and very experienced team on Mark and Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS won the J/105 class in a closely fought affair.  Not surprisingly, just 2 pts behind them was Uzi Ozeri’s INFINITY.  However, the biggest dog fight in the entire regatta may have been for the bronze in the J/105s, with FIVE (yes 5) teams all scrapping for any advantage over one another to claw their way onto the podium.  When the smoke cleared from the field of battle, all five teams finished just four pts apart!  Holy rattlesnakes, Robin!  Winning this dustup by the nail-biting margin of just one point was John Barnett’s VICI with 32 pts to take the bronze.  Fourth was Bill Lakenmacher’s RADIANCE with 33 pts after suffering an SCP (scoring penalty) in the last race.  Then, fifth yet one more point back was Alan Bates’ ZIPPITY with 34 pts.  Sailing like rabid dogs in the last two races, with each boat winning a race, were John Bell’s KINDERSPIEL 2 and Mark Young’s KILLER RABBIT.  Incredibly, both boats also had a mathematical possibility of finishing 3rd, but instead ended up tied with one another, with KINDERSPIEL 2 getting the nod on countback for 6th place!  Fun racing in these near equally matched boats!

The J/109s saw a “two-peat” performance by Albrecht Goethe’s HAMBURG, winning their class counting five 1st in their 7 race scoreline.  Second was David Christensen’s AIRBORNE and third was Tom Sutton’s LEADING EDGE.

Finally, the J/PHRF fleet was divided into Asym & Sym divisions. In the Asym Division, it was George Cushing’s well-sailed J/92 that took first overall.  Second was JD Hill’s beautiful J/122 SECOND STAR and in third was Scott Spurlin’s J/88 THRILLER.

In the Sym Division, the classic warhorses of the J/Boats line-up, it was a pair of J/27s that engaged in an all weekend-long match-race.  In the end, Chris Alk’s FOOTLOOSE took class honors, followed by Gary Trinklein’s TOCCATA.  Sailing photo credits- Andrea Todaro/ John Lacy   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

J/Fest Southwest Announcement

(Seabrook, Texas)- J/Fest Southwest Committee Chairman Al Goethe has announced that Lakewood Yacht Club (LYC) will be hosting its 5th Annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta on November 1st and 2nd.   “We wanted to get a ‘save the date’ message out to racers now so that racers will be sure to plan on participating in this superb event,” Goethe explained.  The regatta is open to the public and all races will be held on Galveston Bay.

J/Fest regattas have been held for at least 30 years in Annapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, New Orleans and Seattle.  The focus of the J/Fest is to give J/Boat racers a chance to compete in one-design races.  “Our J/Fest Southwest will be another great opportunity for Lakewood to promote and support a national caliber event,” added Goethe.

With the City of Seabrook again being the primary sponsor of the event, the overall theme of the J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a venue that is all-inclusive to J/Boat owners, their family and friends.  While the racers are on the water, their spouses and family can enjoy a myriad of activities and tourist attractions in and around the Bay Area Houston arena.

One design fleets slated for the J/Fest Southwest Regatta include J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/105, and the J/109.  It will be a circuit stop for the J/24, J/70, J/80, J/105 and J/109 classes.  Race tracking will be available to the one-design classes and can be observed live on large screen TV’s in the clubhouse.

For more information, please contact Scott Spurlin at scott@Jboatssouthwest.com or Al Goethe at lyc@lakewoodyachtclub.com   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

FREIGHT DOG Tumbles to Dallas Honky Tonk Win!

(Dallas, TX)- Yet another Dallas Race Week goes down in the history books the 34th edition again considered an unqualified success amongst the many happy evening racers on Lake Ray Hubbard just southeast of downtown Dallas.  Hosted by the only three yachts clubs on the lake (Chandlers Landing YC, Bayview YC & Rush Creek YC), the one race per night “pursuit race” style format over a 5nm random-leg course proved popular for the local members of the Fortune 500 (ya’know, all those wild-catters and stuff that own J/22s and J/24s).  As usual, the evening “after-party” was always popular and a great way to relax after a stressful day at the office rounding up yet another massive herd at the OK Corral (yes, they do things differently in Texas).

While the sailors always seem to have fun, perhaps the biggest beneficiary are the sailors helping support the corporate-sponsored community service projects of the Rockwall Breakfast Rotary Club. The mission is to provide funding for programs that address issues of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and health care affecting the community. The motto is “Sail Into Service” and it is a belief that represents the value placed on teamwork by sailors and community servants throughout history. The main sponsors this year are Gus Sails, The Matteson Realty Group and SailWithScott.com.

Despite the low lake levels (there is a drought of epic proportions in mid-America that eclipse John Steinbeck’s famous novel- “The Dust Bowl”), the sailors still managed by throwing boats on their shoulders or on beach dollies and heaving them into the muddy waters along with frantic catfish leaping for their lives.

While the conditions obviously change radically week to week, witness the fact that Dallas has see tornado’s, baseball-sized hail, freakish sheet lightning and hurricane-force winds just in the last two weeks, it’s “all good” for the sailors on the lake— they always manage to make it work.

In the PHRF B Class, it was pretty apparent that J/sailors almost always seem to “make it work”!  Taking class honors was the J/24 FREIGHT DOG, sailed by that dynamic duo of Bob Williams & Pete Pitzer from Chandler’s Landing YC.  Their three bullets contributed to a runaway win for their class.  Taking third was the J/22 RIJJIJOFRIJIK, skippered by Kathy Kulpers from Chandlers Landing YC.  Then, in 6th was the J/24 AUDACITY sailed by George Conklin and in 7th was the J/22 MAUDE skippered by Jim Oursler.For more Dallas Race Week sailing information

Neither Tornado’s Nor Tumbleweed Stop Dallas Race Week!

The World’s Best Honky Tonk “Pursuit Sailing” Regatta!
(Dallas, TX)- With an event history going back to 1982, Dallas Race Week always bridges the week of Summer Solstice in June and is held on Lake Ray Hubbard. The founder of the event, Scott Self, wanted a week long regatta to always be in the evening so no one needed to miss work during the day. Scott’s son, Billy, has helped him organize the event for the past 10 years. The two have kept this event going for 33 years.

Dallas Race Week is a coordinated event between three yacht clubs located on Lake Ray Hubbard. Chandlers Landing YC, Bayview YC and Rush Creek YC. The schedule is one race per night at 7pm with a party each night at each yacht club. The race is a 5 mile point to point or around the lake format directed toward the 40+ PHRF boats actively sailing on Lake Ray Hubbard. It is the single event all year that the entire lake gets together to race and party together. The key to racing in Dallas Race Week is the pursuit start, which allows the slower boats to start first according to their PHRF rating, and for line honors to win the race.

Dallas Race Week is a corporate sponsored sailing event benefiting community service projects of the Rockwall Breakfast Rotary Club. The mission is to provide funding for programs that address issues of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and health care affecting the community. The motto is “Sail Into Service” and it is a belief that represents the value placed on teamwork by sailors and community servants throughout history. The main sponsors this year are Gus Sails, The Matteson Realty Group and SailWithScott.com.

For 2014, the event is challenged with extremely low lake levels causing the start/finish location to be equidistant from the three yacht clubs. The lake is 7’6″ below normal levels due to drought conditions in the southwest. The sailors have really embraced the situation to make the most of Dallas Race Week, with a modified format so the show goes on. Races are scheduled June 15 through 20.

The J sailors participating in the event come from the spectrum of classic J’s on the lake.  In the “big boat” division of PHRF A is Anthony Broadfoot’s J/29 ACADIA.  In the pursuit-style race, they will be hoping to chase down some J/22s and J/24s in PHRF B.  The three J/24s include George Conklin’s AUDACITY, Bob Williams & Pete Pitzer’s FREIGHT DOG and Jack Marsh’s USA 3411.  The two J/22s sailing are Kathy Kulpers’s RIJJIJOFRIJIK and Jim Oursler’s MAUDE.  Of note is that a fleet of five IC-24s (modified J/24s) has been converted to race on the lake as an indigenous class rating at 174 PHRF.  For more Dallas Race Week sailing information