Bangor Packet eclipses J/24 East Coast Championship
by J/Boats 8 Nov 2021 09:06 AEDT
J/24 East Coast Championship 2021 © j24eastcoastchampionship.com
On the same weekend the Severn Sailing Association was hosting the J/22 East Coasts, they were also playing host to a massive fleet for the J/24 East Coast Championship.
The J/24 fleet enjoyed an amazing three-day, nine-race championship regatta.
Who would have guessed that octogenarian, old-man-of-the-sea, J/24 Portland rock star, wise-man-of-the-sea, Tony Parker, and his BANGOR PACKET team would simply blitz, obliterate, roast, toast, nearly white wash, and school the "locals" on how to get around the race track. Well, for many of you other sailors who don't know Tony, he's been racing J/24s since 1979... maybe earlier. And, he nearly won a J/24 Worlds some time ago. So, his performance was not unsurprising for many J/24 class veterans.
It may have helped that Tony's BANGOR PACKET crew were not exactly a bunch of hackers. Sailing with him were Zeke Horowitz, James Niblock, and Will Bomar. Their record of five 1sts, two 2nds, a 3rd and 5th were quite an eye-opening performance for even the most jaded of all J/24 class sailors. They won with just 17 pts after 9 races, a 1.89 average.. wow!
Behind Parker's remarkable performance was an amazing "shoot-out at the OK Corral". To say it was battle would be an understatement. Second to fifth placed teams were separated by only five points, with the last race determining everything for the balance of the podium.
Surviving that scrum with a few bumps, bruises, and scratches was Mike Stasko's REDLINE team of Mays Dickey, Austin Zauner, Gavin Smith, and Jeff Becker. Taking the silver medal, REDLINE finished with 50 pts due to their consistent performance in the last four races of a 4-2-7-2.
In such tight, close racing, the final step on the podium, unsurprisingly, was determined by a tiebreaker at 52 pts each. Winning that battle to take the bronze medal was Mike Wilde's GOIN LEFT team of Billy Stuart, Max Lopez, Danny Lawless, and Patrick Murphy. Losing that countback was Bill Fastiggi's WHISKEY RIVER with crew of Steve Callison, Matt Bologna, Monica Morgan, and Suzy Coburn. Rounding out the top five just three points back was Aidan Glackin's MENTAL FLOSS.
More information at j24eastcoastchampionship.com