(Annapolis, MD)- For starters, PRO Mike Waters did one helluva job to
get 55 boats off the line over the three days to get in five reasonably
good races for the Hillman Capital Management J/24 East Coast
Championships. Hosted by Severn Sailing, this regatta marked one of the
last events in the 2011 sailing calendar that enabled ANY J/24 team to
"qualify" to sail in the 2012 J/24 World Championships in Rochester,
NY-- basically, all you had to do was register, pay the fees and go
sailing. Big Kudos to Mark Hillman and family at HCM for having the
"cojones" to support and sponsor this fun, crazy, warm-hearted group of
sailors who not only love sailing against one another, but have a
helluva party just about anywhere they go. Hard to argue, some of those
friendships have been earned over decades, literally! Pain box?!
Maybe. But, "liquid therapy" seems to lubricate a lot of things in this
class (Advil seems to help, too). Chief amongst the protagonists in this on-going, traveling, circus (soap opera?) are guys like Flipster, Chuckie, Wilbur, Mikey, Petey, Tim-boy and "old man" TP. Don't know who they are? Perhaps you should-- amongst them are multiple World Championships and North Americans in J/24s and even a World Team Race Championship, or two. Needless to say, this is one incredibly competitive fleet and they have fun doing it, too.
This time around, it was Flip's turn. Sailing his infamously named TEAMP POOP from Rochester, NY, Flip Wehrheim and crew, obviously practicing way, way too hard for the upcoming J/24 Worlds at their home club, sailed to a 2-2-1-3-11 to show their tail-feathers to the rest of the practitioners at the top of the J/24 kingdom. Second was a spoiler, Stuart Challoner sailing SPOILSPORT from Island Heights YC. Third was a class stalwart, Will Welles from Newport, RI sailing with Chuckie Allen to a solid 1-21-8-1-3 (Will was clearly not happy with the one double-digit result!). Fourth was Mike Ingham from Rochester YC, showing signs that he's not lost his touch and will clearly be a contender next year in Rochester for the Worlds. Just one point behind him was Pete Levesque sailing WEST MARINE RIGGING from New York YC. Of note, past World Champion Tim Healy sailing TEAM 11TH HOUR/ SAILORS FOR THE SEA finished in 7th despite some excellent scores (a bomber 30th hurt their chances); top Canadian finisher was Rossi Milev from Port Credit YC in Port Credit, Ontario finishing 6th; and the "long distance award" clearly goes to 9th place finisher Satoshi Kume sailing SOKOKUMARU from Hayana Marina YC in Japan! For more J/24 East Coasts sailing information
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