J/Teams crush Edlu Distance Race at Larchmont Yacht Club
by J/Boats 25 May 07:02 PDT
Edlu Distance Race at Larchmont Yacht Club © Larchmont Yacht Club
Last weekend, Larchmont Yacht Club held its EDLU Distance Race, the first of the major offshore races that take place on Long Island Sound all summer long.
The Edlu Race first sailed in 1954, has long been a classic tune-up race for the around Block Island Race held on Memorial Day Weekend and Block Island Race Week. Followed by a classic party, "the Edlu" is one of the "must-do" events on western Long Island Sound.
The spinnaker course is 32.0 nm from the Larchmont Breakwater to Gong 11B off Eaton's Neck and back. The non-spinnaker course is approximately 20.0 nm. The race has always been popular with offshore racing J/Teams as it's a good "shakedown cruise" for any offshore racing team.
PHRF 3 Division- Big Boats
This small division of four boats saw Lennie Sitar's gorgeous flag blue J/160 COUGAR take the silver medal, while the J/125 GOOD NEWS, skippered by Macrae Sykes, took home the bronze medal.
PHRF 2 Division
Of the fourteen boats sailing in this hotly contested division, TEN (71.0%) were J/Teams. In the end, it was a near sweep of the podium. Winning was Bill & Jackie Baxter's J/111 FIREBALL, followed by Bill Ingraham's J/124 TENEBRAE in third place. Fourth went to Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE.
PHRF 1 Division
The J/teams in this fleet led a podium sweep! The top two steps were occupied by J/105; winning was David Owen's TEMPEST II followed by Randy Bourne's STRANGE BREW. Taking the bronze medal on the podium was Adam Zakka & Jonathan Krumeich's J/99 WIZARD.
PHRF Doublehanded
This popular division saw three J/99s finish in the top five. Todd Aven & Gerard Girstl's THIN MAN garnered the bronze medal, while Mike Kohler's EVENTYR and Doug McKeige's SAVE THE SOUND took fourth and fifth places, respectively. Notably, it was very tight racing amongst the three J/99s, with just 56 seconds separating them after 32.0 miles of tough racing!
J/88 Class
The J/88 class had a nice turnout of five boats. Winning was Nicolas Delcourt's OH JEE by a 3-minute margin. Taking second was Justin Scagnelli's ALBONDIGAS, and third place went to Ken & Drew Hall's NEVERMORE.
For complete EDLU Race sailing results: yachtscoring.com
For more EDLU Distance Race sailing information: larchmontyc.org