Mirage wins J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship
by J/Boats 4 Nov 2019 08:02 AEDT
26-27 October 2019
J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship © Annapolis Yacht Club
The Annapolis Yacht Club Race Committee wrapped up their weekend regatta schedule after serving on nine out of the last 10 weekends, including two weekends where the Club put two Committees on the water for two separate events.
The fall championships for two long-standing one-design fleets took place over the weekend with the J/105s competing in the Chesapeake Bay Championship and the J/35s for their Mid-Atlantic Championship.
PRO Steve Kling and his signal boat crew headed out to a location just off R2 Buoy and kicked racing off on time with the J/35s at 11:05am. With the breeze steady out of the NE ranging in strength from 5-10kts, the RC knocked out three races for both fleets, with only the J/105s starting under the Z flag for the final race of the day, and sent them ashore to put their boats away and head to the Sailing Center for the competitors party.
Sunday morning's forecast was bleak with a strong system moving in from the south and predictions of gusts over 30kts, but the signal boat posted their intended location in hopes of getting at least one more race on the board.
After anchor down at 0950, the Committee kept up with constant updates from the Leeward and Windward mark boat teams who reported sustained high 20s and gusts in the mid 30's. The radar showed a large patch of yellow and red heading from west to east with stronger sustained breeze, so the RC made the decision to hoist N over A at 1024 and head back to the harbor.
For the J/105s, the event served as a warm-up for the 2020 J/105 North Americans being held there at the same end-of-October weekend, drawing a strong turnout of 20 locals plus one out-of-town team, Good Trade from San Francisco. In light and shifty conditions, Fredrik Salvesen and Cedric Lewis on Mirage won the first day with a 1-2-1 record for four points. Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault followed them on Good Trade with a 2-1-5 for eight points. Rounding out the podium was AJ Libby's Doghouse, matching Ben DuPont's Control ALT Delete at 17 points each, with Doghouse winning the countback in the tie-breaker. Andrew Kennedy's BAT IV and Carl Gitchell's Tenacious were close behind with 18 and 20 points, respectively, to complete the top five.
Lilla Salvesen from Mirage was awarded the "Steve Gale Memorial Trophy". This is a perpetual trophy awarded to the bow person of the winning J/105 in the J/105 Regatta held in the fall at AYC. Gale was a long time bowman in the J/105 fleet and passed away in 2010.
In the J/35s, it was yet again Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel's Aunt Jean taking class honors for the gazillionth time. However, an up and coming team that took two seconds and won the last race to take the silver was prepared to topple them off their pedestal- Bruce Artman's T-Bone. Securing the bronze was local J/35 Fleet Captain Roger Lant on Abientot.
More information at annapolisyc.com