Russian J/70 Sailing League Finale Report

(Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia)- Last weekend, the season-long five-event Russian J/70 Sailing League series held their finale in Sevastopol, Crimea.  Sponsored by major corporations like GAZPROM and NORD SEA Gas, the sailing league is organized and supported by the Russian Sailing Federation.  As in year’s past, the fleet participated in a matched fleet of J/70s supplied for the event- with regattas taking place in Moscow (Konakovo River Club), Sochi, St Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Sevastopol.  We get this brief report from a Russian woman J/70 champion skipper- Valeriya Kovalenko from ARTTUBE RUS-1:

“We had a very successful year sailing J/70s in the Russian National League as well as in Europe and the USA for the J/70 Worlds,” said Ms Kovalenko.  “I am extremely proud of my team- Aleksey Borisov, Alexander Bozhko, Igor Lisovenko, and Max Titarenko- they are amazing!  We finished 2nd in this finale in Sevastopol and this year took 2nd place in the overall Russian National Sailing League- a performance that we are happy with after such a long season.  It is wonderful to see the level of Russian sailing improving dramatically and, in fact, it is the J/70 one-design class that has helped elevate our sailors not just in Russia, but in European and International events!”

Of interest to J/70 sailors is the fact that Valeriya Kovalenko’s team on ARTTUBE RUS-1 has been the two-time Monaco Winter Series J/70 Class winners and a podium finisher in the famous Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse hosted each spring by YC Monaco. Sailing Photo credits- by Maksim Sheremetyev.
Enjoy Russian J/70 Sailing League videos on Facebook here.   For more Russian J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

ARMEN HABITAT Crushes French J/80 Nationals

(Pornic, France)- The 2018 edition of the French J/80 National Championships took place in Pornic, France and was hosted by the CN Pornic club from November 1st to 4th. Forty-four teams from France, England, Spain, and Ireland enjoyed a total of nine races sailed over the four-day event on the beautiful Bay of Biscay.

The fleet enjoyed a wide variety of weather conditions.  Nevertheless, it was quite apparent one crew stood head and shoulders above the rest of the teams from the four nations that were participating; Simon Moriceau’s team on ARMEN HABITAT (Jean Queveau, Pierre Loic Berthet, Paul Medinger, and Vincent Guillarm).  After starting off with a 1-1-2, Moriceau's team never looked back.  Despite a 16th in race four, they closed with a 4-1-4-1-2 to win with just 16 pts net; a full 18 points clear of the second place team.

While not maintaining the same pace of podium finishes, the English crew on J.A.T. (skippered by Kevin Sproul and crew of Phil Taylor, Chris Taylor, Jessica Slater, & Helen Yates) nevertheless kept the pressure on the French team.  Their tally of 5-3-4-8-1-8-3-6-4 was good for 34 pts net to take the silver medal.

Rounding out the podium was another French team- Simon Bertheau’s APCC EQUIPAGE JEUNE; they barely took that honor over the next two boats in the top five.  Simon’s crew of Nicolas Bouchet, Baptiste Hulin, Marine Cottenceau, & Theau Guilcher managed a 7-9-17-5-8-3-9-8-9 for 58 pts net.  Just one point back in fourth place was a leading Spanish team, Iker Almondoz’s GARATU with 59 pts net.  Then, only one more point in arrears in 5th place was the top women skipper for the regatta- Maxime Rousseaux’s CN ST CAST GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTE team.

As for the other top awards, here is the list:
- the first Women crew- SAMBA skippered by Christelle PHILIPPE
- the first Masters crew- the Spanish GARATU skippered by Inigu JAUREGUI (J/80 World Champion- silver)
- the first Youth crew (under 25)- Simon BERTHEAU’s APCC EQUIPAGE JEUNE

For more French J/80 National Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/Crews Enjoy The Great Pumpkin Race!

(Richmond, CA)- Over the Halloween weekend, the Richmond YC hosts their annual Great Pumpkin Regatta over two days in the northeastern part of San Francisco Bay.  It is a wildly popular event, with costume parties, Halloween parties, and plenty of revelry all weekend long as it also marks the calendar as one of the premiere end-of-season sailing regattas.  The event featured one-design classes for J/70s, J/24s, J/105s, and a PHRF Pursuit fleet that included J/111s, J/120s, J/105s and so forth.

In the J/70 Class, it was Mark Thomas’ KANGAROO JOCKEY that won with all bullets, with Tom Thayer’s RAMPAGE in second and Jim Diepenbrock’s WINGMAN RACING in third.

Similarly, the J/105 class also saw a clean sweep, with Sergey Lubarsky’s RUSSIAN ROULETTE winning handily, followed by Chris Kim’s VUJA STAR in second and Larry Levit’s ARCHIMEDES in third.

The J/24s had tight racing for the top five with everything depending on the outcome of the last race.  Winning was Darren Cumming’s DOWNTOWN UPROAR with 5 pts, followed by Jasper Van Vliet’s EVIL OCTOPUS in 2nd with 7 pts.  Third was determined by a tiebreaker on 10 pts each, with Paul Ravenswaay’s FERAL ROOSTER taking the bronze on countback over Val Lulevich’s infamous SHUT UP & DRIVE!  Fifth was Richard Stockdale’s FROG LIPS.

In the Sunday Pursuit Race, Zach Anderson’s J/125 VELVET HAMMER took the silver, followed by Reuben Rocci’s J/111 SWIFT NESS in third. Peter Cameron’s J/70 KANGAROO JOCKEY took 10th as the top small boat and Dave Britt’s J/88 SPLIT WATER placed 12th; a great showing for these four boats in a fleet of 138 boats!  For more The Great Pumpkin Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/109 BLUE SKY Sailing Fast in Sydney Harbour Racing

(Sydney Harbour, Australia)- The Blues Point Hotel and Blues Point YC hosted the annual Balmain Pub Challenge last Sunday. It was a handicap pursuit race sailed in the western end of Sydney Harbour.  Here’s the report from J/109 BLUE SKY owner Carl Braden:

“G'Day from Down Under! We raced our J/109 BLUE SKY in the Balmain Pub Challenge against a strong fleet of fast well-sailed boats.  We were beaten by a DK46 to secure second. This race showed again what a great performer the J/109 continues to be! We love the boat!” Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Stormy Chesapeake Champs for J/105s & J/35s

(Annapolis, MD)- On the Chesapeake Bay, “weekend” racing does not stop until mid-December when the first half of Frostbite Season ends.  However, the slate of annually run regattas wrapped up with J/105s competing for their Chesapeake Bay Championship and J/35s gunning for a Mid-Atlantic Championship title. Here is the report on the stormy weekend.

“With a nor’easter bearing down on us, Race Chair Sandy Grosvenor and Event PRO Steve Kling made the decision to postpone Saturday’s first warning by two hours to allow the sea state to settle in and the predicted 30-40kt gusts to continue northward.

The official announcement was posted online and presented to a grateful group of competitors, who were able to bring their crew up to speed in a timely manner. At 1300 the first race of the day kicked off in 20+ kts and 2-3’ swells, but considering how many days we lost of racing this year due to no wind, the conditions were perfect, if not challenging, for a mid-fall championship weekend.

The Race Committee ran two races on Day 1 including a five-leg course for race 2, which put the tired, cold, and wet competitors closer to home at the finish line.

Day 2, Sunday, kicked off 30 minutes earlier than initially planned to give the Committee a good chance of fitting in three races in a timely manner before sending crews ashore to warm up in the Skipjack for the trophy presentation. With the sun out and the breeze in the mid to high teens, the 1030 warning sent the J/35s and J/105s off on the first of two 4-legged races before wrapping up Race 5 for the regatta with 5-legs and very happy sailors.

Topping the podium in the J/35 class was long time fleet member Aunt Jean with Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel. In second place, local J/35 Fleet Captain, Roger Lant on Abientot. Wrapping up the trophy recipient list for the class was member Bruce Artman on T-Bone with Brian Wiersema trimming headsails. To no one’s surprise, Cedric Lewis and Fredrik Salvesen with their long time crew on Mirage once again found themselves on the trophy list for the J/105 class, picking up 1st place for the regatta. In 2nd place, John White sailing with Shane Zwingelberg and Sarah Russell. In 3rd place, Andrew Kennedy’s team on Bat IV.

Closing out the presentation was the most meaningful award for local J/105 sailors, as a trophy lost in the fire was adopted by member Andrew Kennedy, Bat IV, and Andy & Leslie Skibo, former owners of Plum Crazy, and presented for the first time since its loss. The Steve Gale Memorial Award was awarded to Mirage’s Greg Larcher. Gale, who passed away in 2010, was a long time bowman for both Plum Crazy and Bat IV, and the trophy was created to recognize the bowman for the top place boat in the fleet’s fall championship. The trophy is now on display in the Clubhouse and will be updated with the winners’ names since its origination.”  For more Chesapeake Bay Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

HONEYBADGER Tops J/24 East Coasts

HOT TODDY Crowned J/22 East Coast Champs
(Eastport, MD)- It was another fantastic fall weekend of racing in Annapolis for the J/24 & J/22 East Coast Championship. Teams traveled from across the northeast & mid-Atlantic to join in on the fun this weekend and for the top competition in both classes. 26 J/24 teams raced Friday – Sunday, joined by 13 J/22 teams Saturday & Sunday.

On Land Festivities
We’ll get to the action on the water in a moment – the highlight on land was the Saturday evening regatta & costume party! Over 170 J sailors enjoyed dinner under the tent and shortly afterward, the DJ started pumping the tunes and the costumes came out. The crowd even demanded the annual flip-up challenge between the 24s and 22s before dessert! We were too busy dancing under the tent to even hold the costume contest, but we’ve decided that the “Party Patrol” placed 3rd, George Washington placed 2nd, and the entire cast from Gilligan’s Island, aka the Blo’viate team, was the 1st place winner!

Prior to the party North Sails Zeke Horowitz and Will Welles led the Saturday dock talk, which focused on big air techniques both upwind & down. The breeze was in the high teens, so the focus was on de-powering upwind & weight placement down wind.

Then, champion oyster shucker George Hastings shucked 400 local Delaware Bay oysters during Oyster Happy Hour before the Low Country Boil, prepared by Bread & Butter Kitchen.

Friday evening, Quantum Sails’ Travis Odenbach led a great dock talk and was joined by Mike Marshall, Ian Coleman and Quinn Schwenker. Afterward, the crowed enjoyed local Maryland and cream of crab soups, sandwiches and snacks, before heading out to the Boatyard Bar & Grill’s Full Moon Party!

On The Water Recap by Quantum Sails’ Travis Odenbach
Friday’s weather was what you might expect for fall sailing – misty, chilly and a little bit of everything in terms of breeze – very light with winds out of the east at 4 to 6 knots and lots of current. In the easterly breeze with an ebb tide, the place to be on the race course was the left side! You get up current first and into less current than the right side of the race course. Unfortunately, for Friday there was only one race, but with the rest of the weekend looking like breeze-on, the race committee stayed patient and sent us in to warm up for Saturday.

Saturday brought rain and big winds early in the morning, but at 12:00 the rain lessened and the wind moderated. With the wind direction mostly out of the NW and the breeze at 12 to 18 knots, the J/24’s & J/22’s were eager to get started. The racing was very tricky with a starting line pin-favored and the current pushing out, it was hard to make the line. Starting at the pin-third was a must and getting on to port quickly was a good call. This is sometimes the hardest move in sailing. To be on the line at the start with a tide against you, and to be able to tack and clear the fleet, is tough. Although it was not critical to tack right away, teams were certainly looking to tack early. Something I have learned when this scenario presents itself is to try to be reaching on or just below the line with about 20 seconds to go and then when the gun goes off you can turn up quickly and look to tack. Sounds easy, right? The breeze held on all day and we were able to get three in on this amazing day of racing.

On the way out to the race course Sunday for a 1000 warning we had about 10 knots – then the skies cleared, the sun came out and the breeze picked up once again 12 to 18 knots out of the WNW. These were tricky conditions as the breeze was coming from the land and the Severn River. There were plenty of shifts to catch and with the tide starting to come in the fleets became mixed up as everyone tried to regain their bearings. The tide was different than the prior two days and the wind was shifting 20 degrees. The J/24 fleet had a bit of alphabet soup on the menu for the day – I believe one race had 14 or so Z flags handed out and that meant the scores were shuffling!

All in all, it was a beautiful, sunny, fall day in Annapolis and I would not have rather been sailing anywhere else! By regattas end, we had sailed 7 races and only one in breeze under 10 knots. Annapolis delivers in the fall once again!

Thank you again to all who helped put on this event and to all that travelled & participated! Everyone had a part in making this event the perfect regatta and I hope to see everyone next year!

J/24 Results
Now, on to the best part…the awards! Veteran J/24 class sailor Mark Hillman and his team captured 5th place with 53 points. Regatta Co-Chair Jim Bonham and his team on SISU captured the top Corinthian Award with a strong 4th place finish and 52 points.

North Sails’ Mike Marshall & the Bogus team finished 3rd. Tony Parker and his team on Bangor Packet finished 2nd with 41 points.

Finally, congratulations to our 2018 J/24 East Coast Champions — Travis Odenbach, Ian Colman, Geoff Ewenson, Collin Kirby and Monica Morgan on Honeybadger!

J/22 Results
Local J/22 sailor Ian Jones placed third with a total of 18 points. In second place, Jacob Doyle finished with a total of 12 points. And, our 2018 J/22 East Coast Champions are Jeff Todd and his crew on Hot Toddy, Chris Ryan and Chip Carr, finishing with a total of 12 points!

New this year – Drone Footage from Sam Greenfield
Drone Videographer Sam Greenfield, fresh off the 2018 Volvo Ocean Race, joined us in Annapolis for the J/24 & J/22 East Coast Championship! Sam hosted a presentation on Thursday night to discuss the use of drone video in sailing, and other topics including equipment, safety, and more. Sam filmed racing, in addition to SSA’s Carlos Linares, and we’ll post highlight reels from Friday and Sunday available for viewing soon.

Thank You Sponsors, Volunteers & RC!
A big thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, The Rigging Company for their financial support, in-kind donations and staff support throughout the regatta. Year after year, thank you to Tony Parker and Parker Tide for their Gold Sponsorship. And our Bronze sponsors included Boatyard Bar & Grill, and FitzGerald Design Build. Thank you to North Sails, Quantum Sails, APS for their generous in-kind contributions once again to the regatta. And last, but obviously not least a big thank-you to the race committee, headed-up by PRO Juliet Thompson and to the many volunteers that helped make this regatta a great one.  For more J/24 East Coast Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

M.NIL Club Wins Inaugural Swiss J/70 Women’s Cup

(Tenero, Switzerland)- The newly-created Swiss Sailing League Women's Cup was hosted by the National Youth Spot Center Tenero and the YC Locarno this past weekend on Lago Maggiore, Switzerland.  The fifteen women’s teams from across Switzerland enjoyed a total of eighteen races over the two days of racing in highly variable wind and weather conditions.  While the first day was partly sunny with good winds, Sunday turned into a fiasco with little wind and lots of rain. In the end, it was Team M. NIL from Zurich, skippered by Nathalie Winiger and crew of Meret Gebistorf, Irina Hotz, and Livia Naef that won with three 1sts, two 2nds and a 3rd.

Day One
After 15 races with winds ranging from 4 to 10 kts, the SC Thalwil Team, skippered by Mara Bezel with crew of Giulia Corelli, Fiona Müdespacher and Alexa Bezel were leading the Women's Cup on Lake Maggiore. The racing was tight and exciting. In fact, so close that SC Thalwil was leading on a tiebreaker over Team M. Nil skippered by Nathalie Winiger.  Then, just one point back was the Zurich SC Team with Armei Keller, Franziska Gluer, Olga Henneberg, Zoé Straub, and Karin Nordstrom.

The YC Locarno PRO and RC team were lucky to get in so many races considering the weather forecasts.  The initial expectation was for continuous rain and just 1-5 kts of wind from the south.  However, apart from two rain showers, the sailors stayed dry and the atmosphere was excellent.  From 1000 to 1600 hrs, the regatta PRO managed to run 15 races and 5 flights for each of the 15 women’s teams, so each team could sail 5 races.

The racing was fast and thrilling and the lead changed constantly. In addition to the top three teams, Team CER, Société Nautique de Genève, Regattaclub Oberhofen and Thunersee Yachtclub all celebrated chances for victory in at least one race. The sailors from Club de Voile de Lausanne showed their potential with 2 race wins, but were thrown back to seventh place by a premature start.

Day Two
The one and only flight determined the outcome for the Women’s Cup for the day.  That meant that all fifteen teams could sail just one race in the final showdown due to the terrible weather.  The day dawned with continuous rain and very light winds from the north.  After an initial postponement, the YC Locarno PRO sent the teams out for a “drift-a-thon” with northerly whispers of breeze of 3-6 kts max.

Team M. NIL and SN Geneve each won races, as did Thunersee YC. However, SC Thalwil had a disastrous 4th place.  As a result of those performances, Nathalie Winiger’s crew on Team M. NIL won the regatta with 10 pts total.  However, the balance of the podium and the top five were determined by tiebreakers!  At 12 pts each, Zurich SC took the silver with a 2-1-5-1-1-2 tally over Team SN Geneve (Laurane METTRAUX, Nathalie BRUGGER, Elodie-Jane METTRAUX, Marie van der KLINK, Coraline JONET) that had a 1-3-3-1-3-1 record. Then, the battle for fourth saw a tie-breaker on 13 pts each, with Team SC Thalwil (Mara BEZEL, Giulia CORBELLI, Alexa BEZEL, Fiona MÜDESPACHER) taking the 4th with a 1-2-4-1-1-4 scoreline over Team Thunersee YC (Sophie MOSEGAARD, Fiona SCHÄRFER, Maya SIEGENTHALER, Linda FAHRNI, Monika MEIER) that had a 2-2-2-2-4-1 tally for 5th place.  Of the fifteen teams, it was readily apparent that the top five crews were all highly competitive and it only took one bad race to drop them out of contention for the gold.  Each of those teams had a least one Olympic sailor, a World circumnavigator, World Match Race sailor, or a Swiss champion on board!  For more Swiss Women’s J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/111’s Sailing FUN Down Under!

(Melbourne, Australia)- Rod Warren, the owner of the J/111 JOUST in Melbourne, Australia, provided this report on the Australian J/111 Class activity.

“We started our season with a regatta held at the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron. Five boats, JAKE, JOUST, PLAYLIST, SCARLET RUNNER and VELOCE, competed in the 42 km passage race, followed by four windward-leewards held in medium to heavy conditions over three days.

The first day of the regatta was a passage race beginning in light winds from Sandringham Yacht Club to Blairgowrie. Each boat led at different stages, with VELOCE heading a long way to the right, so far, that we thought they had the course wrong, only to find a shift in breeze and come in 30 seconds ahead of JOUST after six and a half hours of sailing.  SCARLET RUNNER was close behind, followed by JAKE and PLAYLIST.

The Saturday began with fresh breeze and two windward-leewards were held in 20-30 knot breezes. This gave an opportunity for downwind planing and exciting sailing.  VELOCE led JOUST on the first lap but a close gybing contest on the downwind run in 20 knots resulted in a victory to JOUST just ahead of VELOCE and SCARLET RUNNER.

The second race was held in even heavier conditions and, not surprisingly, carnage followed. Every boat had its issues. JAKE blew a spinnaker. VELOCE dropped one over the side and SCARLET RUNNER had an impressive broach. The halyard stripped on JOUST and despite knifing the halyard and dropping the spinnaker, JOUST was able to finish on main alone to win that race with PLAYLIST second and SCARLET RUNNER third.

After a terrific regatta dinner on Saturday night at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron, hosted by Robert Date (owner of SCARLET RUNNER), the final day of windward-leewards began in 10-15 knots. The first heat saw JOUST lead and extend to get their third heat win. In the second race, a very close start saw all boats vying for position. After an unexpected crash tack, JOUST was back in last position by several hundred metres, with SCARLET RUNNER leading, followed by PLAYLIST, VELOCE and JAKE. A good downwind shift allowed JOUST back into third place, but the heat win went to SCARLET RUNNER, with PLAYLIST a half-boat length ahead of JOUST in second.

The final regatta standings saw JOUST first, SCARLET RUNNER second and PLAYLIST third. This will become an annual event. The five owners of the J/111 are great friends and excellent companions.  This class will surely grow and there is increasing interest around Port Phillip Bay, with a close racing, excellent performance, reasonable budget and great camaraderie.” Add to Flipboard Magazine.

San Diego YC Repeats J/105 Lipton Cup Win

(San Diego, CA)- There were a dozen teams from across California (9) and from outside of California (3) that participated in the 104th edition of the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup sailed in a fleet of matched J/105 one-design sailboats supplied by incredibly generous owners from the local J/105 fleet.

As anticipated, the protagonists were going to be all Californian.  In the end, the duel saw a few changes, with the primary actors this time being the local heroes (the San Diego YC team) pitted against a surprising newcomer at the top of this year’s leaderboard- the Long Beach YC team.  In the end, it was a wild finish to the three-day series. Here is how it all played out.

Day One
Southern California’s home teams showed true perseverance on the first day. Five Southern California yacht clubs dominated the top of the fleet, despite some critical challenges on the course. With tight competition and teams finishing all over the score sheet, there’s no predicting the end of this regatta.

The conditions on the beautiful, city front course in San Diego Bay were favorable. Light, easterly winds started off the regatta but the breeze quickly increased between 8-10 knots for the rest of the day. Sunny skies and flat waters made for a smooth day of sailing.

Currently standing in first place is San Diego Yacht Club (15 points), followed by Long Beach Yacht Club in second (20 points) and Coronado Yacht Club (24 points) in third.

Skipper Tyler Sinks was once again representing the San Diego Yacht Club. The team proved their experience in the regatta with a bullet in race one and race five. In addition to their first place finishes, SDYC stayed consistent at the top of the fleet for the entire day. Team SDYC is the current defender of the Lipton Cup trophy, having won last year’s event.

Sinks explains his success in day one. “We had good speed and really good team work. In sticky situations, we were able to dig our way out. We’re happy to have a good start but we know we’re a long way away from the finish line. We’re going to continue to stay aggressive, keep pushing and get a little bit better tomorrow.”

Although SDYC showed an impressive skill set today, they had real competition against second place team, Long Beach Yacht Club. LBYC, skippered by Shane Young, had remarkable scores across the board starting the day with a bullet and a second, and finishing in third place in race four and five. The team would have finished first overall for day one if it wasn’t for a critical error in race three.

“We averaged under fifth place, which was a goal of ours. I just had one incident resulting in a foul at the top mark that made it pretty difficult for us to recover. We had to do a couple spins to put us back. Other than that, we’re trying not to do anything too aggressive. We want to stay conservative and get off the line,” said Young.

Day Two
It was a busy day on San Diego Bay for day two. With a 580’ Bulk Carrier anchored directly in the middle of the course, U.S. Navy ships making their way in and out of the channel and the CRA Halloween Regatta interweaving, navigating through the course was nothing short of exciting. San Diego Bay was a spectator’s paradise.  For the sailors, it was absolutely chaotic!

The regatta started out under postponement due to fluky and light breezes. Around 1 pm, the breeze picked up to about 8-10 knots and stayed consistent enough to hold four races. Traffic on the Bay made for choppy conditions and many race course obstacles, testing the skills of our twelve Lipton Cup teams.

Race Director Jeff Johnson explains the challenges that come with choppy conditions. “It makes it really hard for the competitors when the water is choppy like it was today. They’re constantly having to put the boat in acceleration mode. The sails are full, the bow is down and you’re driving it really hard. It can be tough to execute your strategy.”

“It becomes a safety issue as well. When there are a variety of boats on the course, crossing in each other’s paths, their unpredictable maneuvers make it hard for the boats racing to react. Today, we had to shorten the course, which gives the boat less time to separate and causes a crowd at the marks, making them more likely to collide,” Johnson continued.

The current overall standings show Long Beach Yacht Club (32 points) in first, San Diego Yacht Club (35 points) in second and California Yacht Club (54 points) in third. Race finishes remained inconsistent all over the board with the exception of Long Beach Yacht Club who maintained their position in each race at the top of the fleet.

Series race six started off with San Diego Yacht Club and California Yacht Club holding their positions at the top of the fleet at each mark rounding. Race seven saw two completely different teams take the lead, with Long Beach Yacht Club and Chicago Yacht Club dominating the majority of the race. Southwestern joined in the competition leading at every mark rounding alongside Balboa Yacht Club in race eight.  With the exception of SDYC ahead of the fleet by a minute and a half in race nine, every mark rounding saw a new team on the quest for first.

LBYC Skipper Shane Young talked about his success finishing first in day two. “It was all about staying in tune with your trimmers today. John Busch trimming jib was super communicative, talking a lot to me and keeping the boat up to speed through all the chop. The last three races saw breeze all over the map. Hitting shifts and keeping the boat moving through the chop and traffic was super important.” LBYC has stayed in the top of the fleet the entire regatta with an exception of a penalty in race three.

California Yacht Club saw an impressive climb up the score sheet today, finishing the day in third place. Skipper Allie Blecher is a Lipton Cup veteran and was the first female skipper sent by CYC to the regatta. “We have the most amount of girls on board in the fleet and it’s really working out well for us. We’ve been spending as much time as we can out on the water together practicing.” Time in the boat has paid off for the California Yacht Club, who started the day with a second and finished with a third.

Day Three
The final day of the Lipton Cup started with gloomy skies and cool breezes around two knots resulting in postponement. Traffic in San Diego Bay was limited, allowing for a wide-open course and minimal wake. Once the breeze picked up to over eight knots, the teams were ready to compete in their final day of races. The sun broke through the clouds and spectator boats surrounded the course in anticipation of the final results. With only three races left to pull to the top of the score sheet, stakes were high on two teams in particular, San Diego Yacht Club and Long Beach Yacht Club.

LBYC started off day three in first with 32 points followed closely by SDYC’s 35 points. Little did they know those three points would follow them to the last race of the day. Interestingly enough, neither team saw particularly great races today. SDYC’s third place in race 11 was the highest placement for either team all day. However, with incredible races on days one and two, the teams were able to hold their positions at the top of the fleet. The real race today was a match race between LBYC and SDYC.

SDYC went into the final race of the day, race 12, with 48 points, three points behind LBYC. Crowds cheered the sidelines of the final race, watching both boats compete at the back of the fleet. SDYC finished in ninth place only beating LBYC by three boats. That was enough for the two teams to end the day in a tie at 57 points. Four bullets for SDYC determined that the tie breaker go to the home team.

“It was a close race. Kudos to those guys for sailing a hell of a regatta. It could have easily been the other way around. It was high stress but we’ve been in these situations before and the guys were cool, calm and collected,” explained Sinks.

LBYC Skipper Shane Young described the races behind the tiebreaker. “There were three races left and we knew we were tight with San Diego. It came down to one point over the whole regatta and losing the tiebreaker. It came down to the last leg and there were three boats in between us, giving them the points they needed. Congrats to them and hats off! Hopefully we can come back next year and we’ll be ready to rock and roll with you guys [SDYC]”.

The overall first place winner was San Diego Yacht Club, followed by Long Beach Yacht Club in second and California Yacht Club in third.

A notable connection between the two teams were their crews. San Diego Yacht Club brothers John and Chris Busch raced head to head on opposing teams, SDYC (Chris) and LBYC (John). The brothers have been racing together for 45 years. They typically sail against each other in long distance races, but this weekend the two saw a friendly family rivalry.

“We started out crewing in my father’s boat and eventually started sailing other boats. Chris went the professional route and I went to work, but still play on the weekends and have a great time. It’s really good seeing Chris do as well as he is throughout his professional sailing career. It’s a fun family rivalry and we’re still going to talk at Thanksgiving and Christmas!” John joked. John and Chris will be sailing against each other again in the 2019 Transpac.  For more J/105 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

JOINT CUSTODY Dominates J/70 Fall Brawl

(Annapolis, MD)- The Eastport YC hosted the annual J/70 Fall Brawl for a fleet of eighteen boats on the Chesapeake Bay.  The fleet was treated to a total of five races in nice sailing conditions.

Winning the regatta with four deuces and a bullet was Ray Wulff’s crew on JOINT CUSTODY for a total of 9 pts.  Taking second was Henry Filter’s team on WILD CHILD with a 6-5-3-3-3 for 20 pts. Third was Dan Goldberg’s BAZINGA with a tally of 3-6-4-7-7 for 27 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Peter Firey’s PHOENIX in 4th and Peter Bowe’s TEA DANCE SNAKE in 5th place.  For more J/70 Fall Brawl sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.