J/105 Teams Sweep Class S2- J/111, J/29, J/37 Win Class!(Hyannis, MA)- The 41st Annual Figawi Race Weekend, renown as one of the world's largest "pursuit" races, was blessed with nice weather conditions that permitted most all 240+ boats to finish in time at the Nantucket Harbor entrance to clean up, dress ship and attend a fabulous evening of entertainment and merriment-- a dramatic improvement over last year's event that saw 95% of the fleet motoring into the harbor due to lack of wind!
As is the hope for these pursuit style races, bunches of boats finish together at the finish line as both little and big vie for line honors, faster boats overtaking earlier starting slower boats and the little guys vainly trying to maintain clear air as the monsters from behind descend upon them at great rates of speed, massive bow waves boiling in their teeth. For the Spinnaker Class cruiser-racers, the race committee sent them all sailing the longer course #7 that took them around a few buoys for 27.9 nm race to the finish line, it was indeed a spectacle at the end of the line. Over a ten minute time period, twenty-plus boats in the Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker Classes finished ranging in size from a Baltic 52 to J/24s! The J/Teams clearly loved the course, with 10 J's placing in the Top 20 and winning 3 of the 6 Spinnaker Classes. Amongst the winners were the J/29 SEEFEST sailed by Ira Perry from South Dartmouth, MA; the J/105 DARK'N'STORMY skippered by Andrew Reservitz from Easton, MA and the J/111 WICKED 2.0 sailed by Doug Curtiss from South Darmouth, MA.
It was a fun race for all, with a mix of jib-reaching and spinnaker reaching, much to the liking of the various J sailors racing a mix of J/24s, J/29, J/100, J/42, J/105, J/111, J/160, J/35, J/37c, J/120 and J/46 models.
The Spinnaker Classes were comprised of six divisions, two of which were Sprit Class I and Sprit Class II. In the "big boat" Division A (PHRF ratings of -75 to 33), the J/46 VANISH sailed by William Jacobson from Boston, MA finished 3rd in class and 10th overall. Fifth in class was Kevin McLaughlin's J/44 SPICE from Fairhaven, MA.
In Division B (PHRF rating of 51 to 81) the J/40 JAZZ sailed by Kirk Brown from Hingham, MA was 5th in class and 18th boat to finish overall.
In Division C (PHRF 84 to 117), the J/29s pre-dominated, with Ira Perry's SEEFEST from South Darmouth, MA finishing first by over eight minutes (!) and finishing 17th overall. Third in class was Tom Zapini's APEIRON from Boston, MA.
Class D (PHRF 132-174) had the venerable, "classic yacht", the J/24 showing its stuff after thirty-five years of legendary performances. Tops amongst the J/24s was Jonathan Wenderoth's DRAGIN-Z-BALZ from West Mystic, CT, finishing 2nd in class and 9th overall, just 6 minutes off the pace from winning the whole thing! Next up was Rick Bishop's J/24 ZIPCODE SUPERSTITION finishing 4th in class and 12th overall! Great showing for these two boats!
In the sprit divisions, the J/111 WICKED 2.0 won Class S1 and was fourth boat to finish overall! They were followed by the J/120 URSUS MAXIMUS sailed by Jim Maseiro from Sterling, MA, finishing second in class. Fourth in class was Dave Follett's J/120 GLORY. If there were about another 1-2 nm of "ramp" left in the race, it's likely the J/111 and J/120s may have won the whole race overall given how fast they were catching the boats in front of them, just 3 minutes ahead at the finish!
It was the J/105 teams in the Class S2 division that perhaps did the most serious damage to the trophy collection on offer for the race. The J/105 sailors swept the top five in their class and four of the top 16 overall! Leading them all home was Andrew Reservitz's DARK'N'STORMY just narrowly beating out the J/111 WICKED 2.0 right at the finish line to win Class S1 but also be third boat to finish overall! Behind them was the Nantucket High School sailing team from Nantucket, MA sailing an amazing race to garner 2nd in class and 5th overall! Cool. Great offshore sailing experience for the kids, too! Third in class was Lisa Schmitt from Bourne, MA sailing HARDTACK, also managing a 13th overall. Fourth in class was Jonathan Bloom on BEAR SPIRIT from North Falmouth, MA, getting a 16th overall. And fifth in class was Chris Lund sailing WHOMPER from South Dartmouth, MA.
In the Non-Spinnaker Classes, there were J's sitting on the podium in three of the classes! In Division E, Alan Fougere's J/160 AVATAR from Pocasset, MA finished 3rd in class, followed by Rick Eagan's J/46 WINGS from Osterville, MA in fourth. The winner of Division F was the J/37 DESTINY sailed by Andrew Davis from Groton, MA. Finally, third in Division G was the J/40 SMITTEN sailed by Bill Jones from Marblehead, MA. Good fun for all and an enormous haul of silverware for the numerous J/Teams both in Class and Overall. Sailing photo credits- Blake Jackson For more FIGAWI Race sailing information
