Sunday, December 11, 2016

Quantum J/70 Winter Series I Preview

J/70s sailing Tampa Quantum Winter series(Tampa, FL)- The 2016/ 2017 edition of the third Quantum J/70 Winter Series continues to grow in popularity with sailors from across America, Canada, and even the Caribbean!  The “sailingest yacht club in the south”, the Davis Island YC, is again proud to host the enormous contingent of J/sailors descending upon them for racing the weekend of December 10th to 11th.  There are fifty-five entries, with 28 Corinthian crews and 27 open division teams.

With a massive cold snap about to hit the continental U.S. with a Siberian high pressure system sweeping south with temperatures in the low 30s F for northern Florida (!), no question the “snow birds” heading south have to be pretty happy!  The crews have to be excited that Tampa Bay’s forecast-  sunny, warm 60-70’s F northeaster at 10-16 kts on Saturday and more sun with ESE winds of 5-10 kts on Sunday!

The Corinthians division continues to grow and increase in competitiveness.  Returning champion Robb Britts’ HOT MESS from the host DIYC will be hoping to duplicate that feat again.  His team’s challenge will be to maintain good form and pace against a number of hot crews that have jumped into the frying pan to have some fun down south this winter.  Some of those crews include Ed Austin’s CHINOOK, Henry Brauer’s RASCAL, Jon Pollak’s MONKEY BUSINESS, Bryan Cameron’s B-SQUARED, Stu McCrea’s GONE, Holly Graf’s SPICE, and Mike Sudofsky’s CARLOS.  Of note, is that the US Coast Guard Academy is fielding a team from New London, CT, spearheaded by coach Doug Clark sailing with a crew of USCG cadets.

Not surprisingly, the Open division will have a number of top crews that should be near the top of the leaderboard for the series.  Amongst those crews are Doug Strebel and Jay Lutz combining together again on the famous BLACK RIVER RACING from Texas; Chuck Corbishley’s LATE LIFE CRISIS, Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE from Fort Worth, TX; Leif Sigmond’s NORBOY from Chicago; Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE from San Diego; John Brim’s RIMETTE from Fisher’s Island/ Palm Beach; Al Terhune’s DAZZLER from Annapolis; Will Welles’ SCAMP from Newport; John Heaton’s EMPEIRIA from Chicago; Darby Smith’s AFRICA from Marblehead; Peter Cunningham’s POWERPLAY from the Cayman Islands; and Brian Keane’s SAVASANA from Beverly.  For more Quantum J/70 Winter series sailing information