(Long Beach, CA)- As anticipated, the various J One-Design classes had
some great sailing this past weekend in the Southern California Yachting
Association Midwinters regatta, one of the largest midwinters sailing
events taking place in the northern hemisphere. The J/105s and J/120s
sailed out of San Diego YC out off Point Loma and the J/80s sailed out
of California YC in Marina Del Rey, just north of the monstrous Los
Angeles International Airport.The J/105s, who are gearing up for their 2012 North Americans in San Diego, saw a highly competitive fleet with the top honors determined by the outcome of the last two races. Climbing back on top of the fleet were Dennis and Sharon Case sailing WINGS to a 1-1-4-2-1 tally for 9 pts. They just beat out the Hurlburt/ Driscoll gang racing BLOW BOAT, who managed to start slow but increasingly gained momentum during the event, accumulating a 4-2-2-1-3 for 12 pts to snag 2nd overall. Sean O'Keefe and crew aboard DECOLORES started out even slower, with a 6-6, but shared the best record for the last three races with a 1-3-2 to claw their way back into 3rd overall with 18 pts.
In the J/120 fleet, there some familiar names that managed to jump onto the podium, but no one was expecting to get thoroughly dominated by one boat! Talking about taking out a can of "whup-ass" and using it up in one regatta, John Laun and the gang took CAPER to FIVE straight bullets to win with 5 pts only. That's a spanking and a half! They sure seemed to have everyone's heads spinning as to what or how they uncorked such an impressive win. Surviving the whipping was Mike Hatch's crew on J-ALMIGHTY blazing to a 2-3-2-3-2 for 12 pts to hold onto second place. J-ALMIGHTY just edged out past SCYA Midwinter Champion Chuck Nichols' famous CC RIDER, whose 4-2-4-2-4 for 16 pts was good enough for third.
Over in J/80 world at Cal YC, it was pretty evident that Curt Johnson's team on AVET were not going to eclipse their friendly competitors as they had last year. Giving them a run for the money was Bob Hayward's BLUE JAY. In the end, Curt's team on AVET managed to score a 2-1-2-1-1 for 7 pts, enough to beat Bob's BLUE JAY team that scored 1-2-1-2-2 for 8 pts. Lying third was Dave Angers' MISS DEMEANOR with five 3rds. For more SCYA Midwinters sailing information. Sailing photo credits- Peter Howson
