Youngstown Regatta - Big J fleet sailing

by J/Boats on 29 Jul 2013 It what may be the 40th, and last Youngstown Level Regatta hosted by the Youngstown YC, sailors in the northeast have showed up 180 boats strong to celebrate a wonderful four decades of summer sailing tradition at the western end of Lake Ontario.

The J/70 class debut is making a huge splash with sixteen teams showing up as the largest fleet in the event. Notable New York locals sailing are Tim Finkle on 'Juniour', Marty McKenna on 'USA 168', Don Finkle on 'Seaweed' and Kris Werner sailing 'Superfecta'. Visiting sailors that could give them lots of headaches will be past J/80 World Champion Kerry Klingler sailing 'Menace'; Morgan Paxhia sailing 'Penny Pincher' from Newport, RI; J/24 champion sailor Marc Pincus sailing 'Pipistrello' from Miami, FL; Ed Furry from Culver, IN sailing 'Sail22 Fale'; Martin Kullman skippering 'Touch 2 Play' from St Petersburg, FL; Andy Papierz sailing 'Dyammo' from Port Credit, ONT, Canada; and Brandon Flack from Stonington, CT driving 'Torqeedo'.

The J/24 one-design class has three boats sailing with a notable class leader diving into their midst-- Travis Odenbach's famous 'Honey Adger'! Watch out, the badger is hungry for a win!

In handicap offshore racing world, there are IRC and PHRF classes. PHRF one class has the appearance of a 35 ft J class with a number of J/109s, J/111 and J/35s all participating. Bob Hesse's J/111 'Lake Effect' should lead the fleet around the track, being chased by J/109s like Bob Eckersley's 'Blue Streak', Denys Jones' 'Carpe Ventus', Murray Gainer's 'Lively' and Ed Werner's 'Moccasin'. Also giving them a run for the money will be J/35s like Andrew Kooiman's 'Loyalist', Mark DePaul's 'Remarkable', Doug Mitchell's 'Sassafras' and Ken Bruce's 'Zone'.

Sailing PHRF two is the J/105 ALI-KAT skippered by Ed Berkhout and the J/100 Squirmy led by Joe O'Brien. PHRF three sees the appearance of two J/29s, including Mark Bowman's 'Untamed' and Alex Miller's 'Pagan'. PHRF four has the classic J/30 'Crusader' being sailed by Dan Mather as well as Fred White's J/34 'Sound Wave' mixing it up in the fleet. PHRF six has the lone J/22 'Mo`money' being sailed by Aaron Snyder from Niagara Falls. PHRF Cruising one has Doug Clarke's J/35c Rogue wave sailing in their class in what many might perceive as 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' sailing amongst them! Finally, IRC three class has two J/27s including Mike Seitz's 'Northern Seitz' and Andre Beese's 'Messing About'. Event JBoats website