By Sail1Design’s Elizabeth Dudley
This past weekend, Annapolis was host to four different J-Boat events, bringing around 100 J-Boats out onto the Chesapeake Bay. The Hillman Capital Management J-24 East Coast Championship, the J-80 East Coast Championship, the J-22 East Coast Championship, and the J-105 East Coast Championship were all taking place. Sail1Design was on the water with the J-24’s and our GoPro Camera, videotaping and commentating on the event.
Friday October 28, day one of the regatta, brought sunny skies and moderate winds out of the North, North East. A fun race was held from the harbor out to the race course. 11 boats competed for the handle of rum trophy. Sail1Design was also there, following the fun race, handing out fun prizes for boats that fit random criteria such as having a whale on your main and being the last boat to drop your spinnaker. Out on the actual race course, things were more serious. Two 5-leg Windward-Leeward races were held with 1.25 mile legs. Current was a factor, especially towards the top of the mark, and in the puffy conditions, it was important to keep your boat in the breeze.
Bow 26, Will Welles won the first race followed by Bow 62 Flip Wehrheim, and Bow 56 Stuart Challoner. It is interesting to note that the top three in this first race also finished as the top three for the regatta as a whole.
Race two was raced in a lighter wind and with a slackened current. Bow 71 took the bullet, followed by Flip Wehrheim for his second, second of the day, and Bow 22 Mike Ingham in third. With a severe drop in the breeze level, racing was called for the day around 3:00.
Saturday arrived with rain, sleet, and gusts in the upper twenties. Racing was canceled for the day but four brave boats went out for about two hours for some mini races in the harbor. According to Tom of Sail1Design who went out to do some videoing, it really was not that bad.
But due to the lack of racing on Saturday, the first warning for Sunday was moved an hour forward to 10:00 am. After a general recall, the first race started at 10:15 in a light West North West breeze and slack current.
The puffs picked up as the day went on but the lulls were big enough and the courses long enough, that by the end of the race, the leaders were an entire leg, if not more, in front of the back of the pack. That became a trend for the day—the races were incredibly spread out.
The race committee was able to get in three 5-leg Windward-Leeward courses on Sunday as the breeze picked up and stayed up longer than most thought it would. Flip Wehrheim took the first bullet of the day, only extending his lead on the rest of the fleet. He was followed by Bow 48 Mark Laura in second and Bow 14 Tim Healy in third. Race two of the day, race four of the regatta, was won by Will Welles, followed by Stuart Challoner in second and Flip Wehrheim in third. Going in to the last race, Wehrheim, having finished in the top three in every previous, only needed to be in the top 20. Second through
fifth place were much more up for grabs. But Stuart Challoner and Will Welles were able to hold on to their standing of second and third by placing first and third respectively. Mike Ingham, finishing second, jumped from seventh to fourth and Bow 34 Pete Levesque held on to fifth by placing fourth in the final race.
fifth place were much more up for grabs. But Stuart Challoner and Will Welles were able to hold on to their standing of second and third by placing first and third respectively. Mike Ingham, finishing second, jumped from seventh to fourth and Bow 34 Pete Levesque held on to fifth by placing fourth in the final race.
Barry Gately was out on the course all weekend coaching five of the J-24’s as well as handing out words of wisdom to anyone who wanted some. Speaking with him on the way in Sunday afternoon, we discussed the trend of the left paying off for most of the day. The way the course was set, with the windward marks just to the right of the radio towers, the left side experienced a funnel effect from the Severn River. Boats on that side of the course generally found better pressure and a better angle to the mark. It was the side that the leaders usually came from. Due to this favored left, the right gate tended to be the favored gate. Although there were boats that took the correct shifts back from the right and were able to gain.
Gately also mentioned the span of ability that is seen in this fleet, both tactically and technically. Ability levels this weekend ranged from World Champions to sailors very new to the fleet and that is one of the really interesting things about sailing. It is such a small world that the new comers have real chances to race against and learn from the best of the best.
Unique to this regatta were the coaches that were out on the water. They were available to everyone who felt that they needed them. The better the bottom half of the fleet gets, the better the competition will be and the better for the rest of the fleet. It is a continuous cycle—if the best sailors help everyone else up, the level of competition will only increase. Sailing is not an exclusive sport and this regatta was a perfect example of that.
Congratulations to Flip Wehrheim and his crew Willem VanWay, Max Skelley, John Goldberry, and Matt Pistay for winning the 2011 Hillman Capital Management J-24 East Coast Champoinship.
For Full results go here:
