J/100 Stark Raving Mad wins 2024 Hot Rum Series
by J-Boats 13 Dec 2024 23:27 PST
2024 Hot Rum Series © Mark Albertazzi
There is an old wise tale about the three-race Hot Rum Series. One of the races will feature one '"perfect weather" day with sun, no clouds, flat seas, and a perfect westerly breeze that boats can reach/run around the course. Then, another race will have stormy conditions, not limited to blustery southerly winds, significant swell/waves, and maybe some rain to make it truly miserable. Then, another race that has little to no wind!
Hot Rum Series races 1 and 2 were nearly identical featuring the most desirable "perfect weather" conditions. Winds were in the mid to high teens from that sweet westerly direction. Consider the finish times for Jim Madden's J/100 STARK RAVING MADE with consistent top-level performance: Race 1 finished at 14:11 and Race 2 finished even faster at 14:07. Race 1 enjoyed 110 finishers in about 32 minutes, while Race 2 clocked 114 finishers in about 1 hour.
And so, while the morning of Race 3 dawned bright, it was also warm and dry, suggesting light Santa Ana conditions — and so it was. The Race Committee administered a 20-minute AP (postponement) due to the absolute lack of wind across the start area and a flood tide that would have caused boats attempting to start to pile up within the first few hundred feet of the course. By 12:30, there was enough wind to get boats moving down the course toward mark 1, with marginally better wind outside the harbor.
But, there wasn't enough for most sailors. By the time the race clock ran out at the 4:30 PM time limit, 34 boats had finished in the preceding 30 minutes with Jim Madden's third place STARK RAVING MAD crossing the line at 15:58. Even subtracting the 20-minute postponement, his finish time would have been 15:38, around an hour and a half longer than his Race 1 or Race 2 elapsed time.
PHRF Overall
In the overall series scores - Class 6 was the huge winner. The top 3 boats were J/Teams that do well, especially, on a powerful reaching course. Third place was awarded to J/105 J-ALMIGHTY skippered by Mike Hatch. Second place went to the J/105 PERSEVERANCE owned and driven by Bennet Greenwald and Dave Vieregg. And first place went to defending Overall winner, Jim Madden and crew aboard his J/100 STARK RAVING MAD.
PHRF 2 Division
In this thirteen-boat fleet, it was the story of the trio of J/145s. All well-sailed teams. In the end, it was Rudy Hasl's PALAEMON that took third, followed by Steven Ernest's AIMANT DE FILLE in fourth. Alec Oberschmidt's ARRGH took seventh place.
PHRF 3 Division
This eighteen-boat division had a very bizarre and eclectic group of boats racing against each other. Imagine, a J/122 or J/111 against a Cape 31, Melges 32, or Farr 30. Not exactly, a level playing field. Nevertheless, Mark Stratton's J/122 CHEEKY won the bronze medal. Meanwhile, Erostino Dagfish's J/122 DOUBLE HELIX took fourth place and Ed Sanford's J/111 CREATIVE ended up fifth.
CLASS 4 Division
In this twenty-one-boat fleet, three J/teams faired quite well. Garnering third place was Eric Axford's J/120 CAPER, They were followed in fourth place by a past multiple times winner of this division; Chuck Nichol's and Kyle Clark's CCRIDER. Then, rounding out the top five in fifth place was Jeff Shew's J/121 RAVEN.
CLASS 5 Division
Amongst the dozen boats sailing in this fleet, it was Jim & Scott Barber's J/109 FELEENA that took fifth place.
CLASS 6 Division
Winning with straight bullets in this large two-dozen boat fleet was Jim Madden's J/100 STARK RAVING MAD. Second place went to Bennet Greenwald & Dave Vieregg's J/105 PERSEVERANCE. Then, Mike Hatch's J/105 J-ALMIGHTY ended up in fifth place.
CLASS 7 Division
It was a duel between two J/crew for the top of the leaderboard in this seventeen-boat fleet. Winning by a single point was Scott Bennett's J/92 FANDANGO. Meanwhile, settling for the silver despite winning the last race was Chuck Bowers's J/29 RHUMB RUNNER.
Thank you to perennial event supporter Mt. Gay Barbados Rum, and to the volunteers serving on the Protest Committee arbitrating knowledge and experiences on the race course, and to the Race Committee volunteers that manage the starts, mind the buoys, and score this winter hallmark event.
For more San Diego Yacht Club Hot Rum Series sailing and scoring information sdyc.org/calendar/event/hot-rum-series-1-24