Excellent sailing at American Yacht Club Spring Regatta

2024 American Yacht Club Spring Regatta © American Yacht Club

This past week, the American Yacht Club hosted its annual Spring Regatta from Friday to Sunday on Western Long Island Sound.

Dozens of J/crews from around the region enjoyed racing in coastal PHRF and ORC fleets as well as one-design racing for J/44s, J/88s, and J/105s. Here is what took place for each division.

Coastal PHRF 1

In this dozen-boat fleet, Len Sitar's majestic J/160 COUGAR took on a fleet of full-blown offshore racing boats and ended up getting a "gentleman's fourth" place for their efforts.

Coastal PHRF 3

Leading a near-sweep of this fleet was Richard West's J/120 CHARLOTTE. A close second was Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE, followed by Albrecht Goethe's gorgeous fire-engine-red J/46 HAMBURG II in fourth place.

Coastal PHRF 4

Winning this class was Robert Schwartz's J/109 NORDLYS, followed by Todd Aven's J/99 THIN MAN in fifth place.

Coastal PHRF 5- White Sails

Nearly sweeping this fleet's podium was a fleet of J/100s. Winning was the trio on BLUEFIN (Tom Boyle, Bob Clyatt, and Doug McKiege), followed in second place by William Hennes's LIBERTY, and the trio on FREEDOM (Dre Fung, Barry Gold, and Pat Jakobson).

Coastal ORC 2

Winning this fleet was Leo Vasiliev's J/105 SLEEPER.

J/88 Class

This was the proverbial match race between just two teams entered (all the other boats were in Annapolis for that regatta). Winning was Justin Scagnelli's ALBONDIGAS over Diego Sacristan's WILD THANG.

J/105 Class

Winning the 105s was David Willis's SOLUTION, followed by Paul Beaudin's LOU LOU in second place and Cristiano Ramponi-Serrao's SHAKEN NOT STIRRED in third position.

J/44 Class

The J/44s enjoyed good one-design racing using their class sails. In the end, a familiar family was at the top of the pack: Commodore Bill Ketcham's MAXINE, with just 5 points next in five races! Second went to Willet Meyer's BEAGLE, with 8 points net, while June and Amanda Kendrick's PALANTIR 5 earned the bronze medal with 9 points net.

For more American YC Spring Regatta sailing information: www.yachtscoring.com/emenu/16312