Tuesday, October 3, 2017

WILD RIDE For J/35 North American Championship!

J/35 Mr BILL's WILD RIDE crew- sedated (Annapolis, MD)- With the “tail feathers” of Hurricane Jose just scraping by on the mid-Atlantic coast, the ten-boat fleet that assembled for the 2017 J/35 North American Championship were expecting to be in for a wild, wild ride during the course of their four-day regatta.  However, it was MR BILL’s WILD RIDE that truly gave them a lesson in “wildness”, how to go fast and have a helluva-lotta fun at the same time.  The notoriously fun-loving crew of Bill Wildner and friends from Detroit, MI were, ultimately, crowned the winners of this year’s event.

J/35s sailing North Americans on Chesapeake BaySailed on the Chesapeake Bay and hosted by the Annapolis YC, the J/35 fleet enjoyed the usual most-excellent red-carpet treatment from AYC and its amazing crew of Race Committee volunteers.  The AYC RC and PRO managed to run five races in the difficult sailing conditions.  After starting off with 3 straight bullets, Wildner’s crew on the “WILD RIDE” took a breather and dropped back to 3rd place in their fourth race. However, after clearly disappointing themselves with a blemish on what was a perfect record until that time, they put the hammer down again for the 5th and final race to post yet one more bullet to win the series with just 7.0 pts total.

Behind the WILD RIDERS, it was a very close regatta for the balance of the podium and the top five. Taking the silver was Roger Lant’s ABIENTOT with a record of 5-2-3-2-2 for 14.0 pts.  Third just three points back was William Vogan’s MAJOR DETAIL with a scorecard of 3-4-4-1-5 for 17 pts total.  A scant one point back was Jim Sagerholm & Jerry Christofel’s AUNT JEAN with a 2-3-2-7-4 tally for 18 pts.  Rounding out the top five was Bruce Artman’s T-BONE with a 7-5-5-4-6 record for 27 pts.   J/35 N.A. Yachtscoring.com results   For more J/35 North Americans sailing information