Sunday, May 21, 2017

Youth J/70 Sailors Sailing Fast Offshore!

J/70 youth team off Newport Beach, CA (Newport Beach, California)- Tom Garrett reported, “it was a fun J/70 day of racing here in SoCal. Robert Garrett, my son, and his team on Saturday beat a varied fleet of 23 other boats by a wide margin (about 2.5+ miles!).”  Here is their report:

“Newport Harbor Yacht Club on Saturday May 6th held its annual Opening Day Race over a 16 mile course that after a short upwind leg of about 2 miles, from lower Alamitos Bay to the west end light of the Long Beach breakwater, takes the racing fleet homeward to the finish off of the Newport Beach pier. The race conditions were pre-frontal with a gale blowing 40 knots plus 50 miles offshore that resulted in a Catalina Eddy with good pressure on shore. At the time of the starts for the pursuit race the wind was 14 – 16 knots from the WSW and this held down the course with left hand puffs coming in in the 16 – 18 knot range. The angle and velocity proved ideal for a J/70. Robert Garrett and his five man youth team (two of whom were part of his crew in winning this year High School Keelboat Championship in J70s, hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club last November) came out on top by a wide margin.” Add to Flipboard Magazine.