American Yacht Club Fall Series
by J/Boats 5 Oct 2018 15:20 PDT
29-30 September 2018
American Yacht Club Fall Series © American Yacht Club
For two weekends in succession, the American YC hosted 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 was held on Western Long Island Sound just south of Rye, New York from September 22-23 and September 29-30. After promising winds and leaden grey skies in the first weekend, the last weekend ended up being sunny but with light airs.
After last weekend, the South Course had already held seven races and the East Course held six races. Coming into this weekend two boats were tied for first place in the IRC and PHRF Divisions on the East Course, while the South course had tight competition in the J/70 Division.
Saturday (Sep 29) racing started off slow with little wind, but beautiful weather otherwise. In total, the South Course was able to get two races in. In the J/88 Division, ESCAPE skippered by Elizabeth and Matthew Barry had a perfect day winning both races to move up to first place, tying with Douglas Newhouse's YONDER.
The neck and neck competition between Daniel Goldberg's BAZINGA and Alex Meleney's TRUCKIN carried on in the J/70 Division, as BAZINGA ultimately pulled ahead of TRUCKIN by one point.
David Rosow's LOKI continued a steady performance finishing fourth and eighth in the two races to maintain the lead in the J/109 division. Also in the same division, ZIG ZAG skippered by Bengt & Marie Johansson had a strong day on the water finishing first and second in the two races, as a result, moving up to fifth place.
At the end of Saturday, GOOD TRADE, skippered by Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault, remained in the lead of the J/105 Division. CONUNDRUM helmed by Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson continued to gain ground behind them, finishing first and second in both races to stay in second place. Unfortunately, the East Course did not race due to lack of wind.
After racing, sailors were provided a presentation in the American Yacht Club ballroom by Tucker Thompson. Tucker was the official host of the Volvo Ocean Race and returned to AYC to give expert commentary on what was the closest race in the history of the event. His presentation included stories, analysis, and a look at details of life aboard the VO65. Tucker also gave the attendees a sneak peek at the next Volvo Ocean Race. The presentation, sponsored by Volvo, was a great way to finish off the day after food and drinks on the front lawn.
On Sunday (Sep 30), the light wind continued along with beautiful blue skies. On the East Course, Chris Lewis' KENAI finished first place in today's race to take the division and, in turn, win the J/44 North American Championship, which was held in conjunction with this year's Fall Series. Rounding out the top five were Len Sitar's VAMP in second, Ketcham's MAXINE in third, Don & Dick Rave's RESOLUTE in fourth and Tom Blackwell's BREAKAWAY in fifth position.
Like the East Course, the South Course also held one race on Sunday to conclude the regatta. LOKI finished second in the one race held to secure the J/109 Division after outstanding sailing on both weekends. Bill Rogers' BIG BOAT ended up second, Carl Olsson's MORNING GLORY third, Bengt & Marie Johansson's ZIGZAG fourth and John Greifzu's GROWTH SPURT fifth place.
The J/88 Division came down to a tiebreaker with YONDER finishing first and ESCAPE locking down second. The rest of the top five included Bruno's WINGS in third, Justin Scagnelli's ALBONDIGAS in fourth and Iris Vogel's DEVIATION in fifth.
GOOD TRADE won the J/105 Division, the largest division of the regatta, after holding the lead throughout both weekends. GOOD TRADE also won the Zilph Trophy for best performance in level rating classes. The balance of the podium included Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson's CONUNDRUM in second and George Wilbanks' REVELATION in third. The balance of the top five had Jon Rechtshaffer's RAPTOR in fourth and Thom Hering's TRIFECTA in fifth.
And finally, Goldberg's BAZINGA came through to finish one point ahead of Meleney's TRUCKIN to win the J/70 Division. Third was Carrie & Ed Austin's CHINOOK, fourth was Marcus Wunderlich's STRATOS in fourth and Ernest Bourassa's ALTHEA was fifth.
Sailors reconvened on the front lawn to enjoy food, drinks, and live music by Cover Story. After a wonderful awards ceremony, the sun set over the New York City skyline for sailors to enjoy a picturesque view ending two great weekends on the water.
Full results