Camden Classics Cup - Ten J/46s celebrate rendezvous in Maine

Camden Classics Cup Regatta © Event Media

Ten J/46s enjoyed a fabulous rendezvous July 25 to 27 as part of the Camden Classics Cup in the absolutely stunningly beautiful harbor of Camden, Maine.

Instead of enduring the high density, five deep raft up at Lyman Morse Wayfarer for the Classics Regatta, all of the visiting J/46s took over the nearby Town of Camden dock and slips for their own private J/Community.

The secret sauce for this event was for any J/46 to cruise into Camden and be able to race competitively without going into "race mode". No spinnakers, Max 100% jib, dodgers up, anchor and chain on the bow. Most boats had their bimini up, a grill on the rail and here and there, an outboard to round out the cruise attitude. Whisker poles, electric winches, auto pilots, canine crew were all permitted and encouraged. Deep keel boats owed shoal keel boats nine seconds a mile.

While the prospect of 120 tons of J/46s converging at the start sounds daunting, everyone behaved nicely and on the water, where the action was close and very exciting (think ten 46 foot Lasers). Friendships were still strong at the end of each day.

Friday's race was in a sparkling 15 to 20 knot sea breeze. On the weather leg, the local knowledge went left and the smart money went right, and the smart money was in the lead with Scott Miller's Resolute leading the way. At the finish, it was Resolute (deep keel) first by 14 seconds over Bernie Coyne's Mystic Rose (shoal) with Jay Nolan's AKAI (deep) third.

Saturday was another cracking good sea breeze day and more very close racing, on a course that saw a tight fleet maneuvering through the beautiful islands of Penobscot Bay. Resolute, AKAI and Jeremy Fletcher's Thistle (shoal) led a tightly bunched fleet around the weather mark. At the end of a ten-mile run leaving 700 Acre Island to port and Dark Harbor to starboard, it was Thistle and Tom Babbitt's Bravo (shoal) nearly overlapped for the lead with AKAI. Resolute and the rest of the fleet were just boat lengths behind. At the finish, it was Thistle (shoal), Akai (deep) and Bravo (shoal) edging Resolute off the podium by 13 seconds.

Overall, Resolute took the honors on a tie breaker over AKAI with Mystic Rose third.

How much fun was the sailing? Well five of the J/46s have committed to race singlehanded on August 25th in Camden! Mark your calendar for next year's event July 23 - 25 2020!

Learn more about the versatile J/46 offshore cruiser here.