Tuesday, September 13, 2016

J/111 Crushes Windjammers Race!

J/111 wins Windjammers Race (Santa Cruz, CA)- On September 2nd, the 74th Windjammers Race took place, the classic late-summer dash from San Francisco past Año Nuevo down to the sunshine of Santa Cruz 90nm to the south; the event is one of the oldest annual regattas on California's Pacific Coast.

J/111 sprit inspirationThe Windjammer Regatta was first hosted by The Santa Cruz Yacht Club in the early 1930's but enjoys deep roots going back to the Pacific Yacht Club's Race To Santa Cruz in 1884. Racers can always expect exciting downwind fun as they fly down the coast to the “Surfer’s City”. Finishes are scored off the Santa Cruz Wharf throughout the day and into the night.

The big winner in this year’s race was Howard Turner’s J/111 SYMMETRY from Santa Cruz YC.  After sailing to windward from the start line on the face of Alcatraz Island, out under the famous Golden Gate Bridge in typical westerlies on San Francisco Bay, the J/111 turned left and quickly went through a succession of J/crew on winch grinder!double-head rig with jib and Code Zero to the A3 offshore reaching kite to the big A2 runner towards the end of the race.  Winds were reported to hit 30 kts at times with the J/111 flying down the enormous Pacific swells at 20-22 kts!  In the end, Turner’s SYMMETRY corrected out at 10:35:36, good enough for the class win in PHRF 2 and taking 2nd overall on corrected, just behind one of those enormous SoCal sleds- the Santa Cruz 70 Buona Sera.

SYMMETRY’s win marked the second time in a row that J/111s have won their class in this offshore classic; last year they won over the infamously fast all-carbon/foam/epoxy J/125s (finishing just 5 minutes elapsed time behind them)!  For more Windjammers Race sailing information