Tuesday, February 6, 2018

J/111 VELOCE Triumphs @ Festival of Sails Regatta

J/111s sailing off Geelong, Melbourne, Australia111s Sweep Podium in Super 11s Class Too!
(Geelong, Australia)- It is always on everyone’s calendars in eastern Australia to make sure that you have enough time with family and friends to enjoy the “Festival of Sails” off Geelong, an amazing event hosted by the Royal Geelong YC. More importantly, it was the 175th annual celebration of sailing in this beautiful corner of Australia on the long holiday weekend known as “Australia Day”!

Participating in this year’s regatta was the Super 11s class and the J/111 one-design class.  After a seven-race series, there was no question who was the dominant team in the J/111 class- Phil Simpfendorfer’s VELOCE with a 4-2-2-1-1-2-1 tally for 9 pts net (after toss race).  Keeping pace most of the time was Rob Date’s SCARLET RUNNER 11 with their tally of 1-3-3-2-2-1-2 for 11 pts net.  Then, rounding out the top three in class was Rod Warren’s team on JOUST with a 3-1-1-3-3-4-3 record for 14 pts net. 

J/111 winners at Geelong Festival of SailsWhat is remarkable about these results is the fact that top Australian sailors on J/111s are advancing the ball quite rapidly in terms of overall performance.  Why?  Because, JOUST’s crew recently sailed the J/111 World Championship in San Francisco, CA and finished 3rd, just 2 pts off the lead!  Good news for the Australian J/111 contingent!

While the J/111s were competing for one-design honours, they were also competing for handicap honours in their “Super 11s” handicap class.  Guess what?  The J/111s swept the podium as well!  Same cast of characters- 1-2-3 in handicap class as well, with Simpfendorfer’s crew on VELOCE collecting all the silverware. 

J/111 & Super 11 honours to VELOCE
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2028022773891614/
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2027874367239788/

Sports boats class on last day- “a glam day”
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2028166730543885/

Festival of Sails FB page
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For more Festival of Sails sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.