Tuesday, June 24, 2014

J/One-Designs Love Cleveland Race Week!

J/70 sailing off Cleveland (Cleveland, OH)- Dozens of one-design boats invaded Cleveland Race Week at Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, Ohio from June 13-15. Eight fleets competed, including 25 J/70s duking it out for the Great Lakes Championship.  Fortunately, the J/70s began their series on Friday, which featured northwest breezes in the teens and typical Lake Erie waves. Winds started strong again on Saturday morning when all fleets got in on the action, but died off throughout the day. Sunday dawned with light breeze but increased, making for a beautiful day of racing in Cleveland. The Race Committee ran three separate circles and was able to complete up to 11 races on certain courses.

J/70s sailing off start in ClevelandFor the twenty-five J/70s, it was Paul Hulsey's TEAM BAYVIEW that handily won the 10-race series with 49 points to be crowned the 2014 Great Lakes J/70 Champion. The Corinthian team beat out Henry Filter's WILD CHILD and Paul Cannon in second and third, respectively--both with 62 points.

The fifteen boat J/22 class saw the New Yorkers take the top two spots. The MO’MONEY team of Vic Snyder/Kevin Doyle from Youngstown Yacht Club had just 17 pts in six races to win their class.  Second was RJ Moon’s crew on AXE WOUND from Rochester YC snatching defeat from near certain victory, posting a 2-10-6-1-1-3 tally for 23 pts (bet they would pay anything to get back the 10th!).  Third was Dave McBrier’s VAMANOS/ HARDWARECHIMP.COM team from Erie YC with 26 pts.

The J/24s were taken by the BLACK & TAN crew led by Erie YC’s Steve Hronek with 9 points in 6 races.  In fact, they won on a tie-breaker over Chris Glynn’s crew on THE MYSTERY MACHINE by virtue of winning the last race.  Third was Terence Bowdish’s CARRY ON.

For the J/105s, it was clear the class act of the regatta was Team IT led by Jim Sminchak & Doug Moose, starting out with four straight firsts!  In the end, they accumulated a 1-1-1-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.  Second was Jim Uhlir’s TRIO with a 2-2-3-2-1-3 for 13 pts, just narrowly nipping the crew of Bob Mock’s UNBRIDLED with a 3-3-2-3-2-1 for 14 pts.   For Cleveland Race Week sailing information