American Yacht Club Fall Series preview

2018 American Yacht Club Fall Regatta © American Yacht Club

For the next two weekends in succession, the American YC will be hosting their annual Fall Series Regatta for IRC and PHRF Handicap fleets as well as one-design classes for J/44s, J/109s, J/88s, J/105s, and J/70s. Racing will be taking place in Western Long Island Sound just south of Rye, New York.

Showing up with a fleet of seven teams are the remarkably resilient, and popular, J/44 One-Designs. This was a class that was popularized by the late Jim Bishop that used to sail his famous Caribbean green-colored Gold Digger for decades. Honoring that legacy will be teams like Willets Meyer's Beagle, Tom Blackwell's Breakaway, Suny Maritime's Charlie V, Chris Lewis' Kenai, Bill Ketcham's MaxinE, Don & Dick Rave's Resolute, and Len Sitar's Vamp.

Fourteen teams are sailing in the J/109 one-design class, with many of the top east coast teams participating. Those crews include John Greifzu's Growth Spurt, Albrecht Goethe's Hamburg, Tom Sutton's Leading Edge, David Rosow's Loki, Adrian Begley's Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Carl Olsson's Morning Glory, Robert Schwartz's Nordlys, and Dave & Maryellen Tortorello's Partnership III.

The eight-boat J/88 one-design class has a number of class veterans as well as several new participants in the event. The more experienced crews include Mike Bruno's Wing, Iris Vogel's Deviation, Justin Scagnelli's Albondigas, and Doug Newhouse's Yonder.

Amazingly, the biggest one-design class will be the twenty-strong J/105s. Leading crews include Duncan Hennes/ Za & Lib Jelliffe's Arete, Damian Emery's Eclipse, Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault's Good Trade, Paul Beaudin's Lou Lou, Jon Rechtschaffer's Raptor, George Wilbanks' Revelation, and the Young American Sailing Academy's Young American team.

Despite the fact that ninety-one teams from around the world are competing this week in the J/70 World Championship off Marblehead, MA, there are nearly a dozen J/70s participating in the Sound this weekend! Those top crews include Dan Goldberg's Bazinga, Carrie & Ed Austin's Chinook, Mike Zupon's Loki, Andrew Shea's Shake'N'Bake, and Alex Meleney's Truckin.

The sole handicap participant in the J/stable will be sailing in PHRF 2- Scott Devine's new J/112E Reviver. For more American YC Fall Series sailing information, see americanyc.org.