J29 North American Championship aiming for a record

by John Heseltine on 22 Jul 2012 Campaigning to make the J29 North American Championship the biggest of all time has been underway since the initial influx of competitors in the spring. The record, I`ve been told and have been repeating ever since, is 18. It’s unofficial but I read it in Sailing Anarchy so it must be true.

We were within hailing distance early at 17 but John Lavin`s untimely death subtracted one boat and we have inched back with the stellar Scotch Mist IV getting us back to 17 a month or so ago and, yesterday, Bill Ftch`s Maestral getting us to the magic 18.

Bill is bringing his masthead inboard from Shediac, New Brunswick. He had the misfortune of breaking his mast at Charlottetown Race Week last year, so I assume he will be sporting a new mast.

We, of course, have to get all the boats that have indicated their interest registered and in Lunenburg for August 9 when we will be holding the weigh in. Ten Nova Scotia boats pre-registered before the early registration deadline and I know of one other boat that simply missed the date and will definitely be joining the fray. That`s a decent one-design fleet and there is no reason to expect that the remaining seven boats on our list won`t follow through to give us a record tying event.

We still hold out hope to break the record. I have a special candle in the window for John Esposito but I`ll be happy for anyone who wants to join us and make this year`s event the best of all Event website