J/30 NORTH AMERICAN MILLENIUM CHAMPIONSHIP
results
The South will rise again….in a General Lee type fashion …. Zephyr raced for the J/30 North American Championship. The venue was Columbia Yacht Club on Lake Michigan. The weather for August was incredible and the race committee work was perfect. This championship was a who’s who of J-30 sailors. Past North American J/30 Champion Carl Sherter racing Fat City who won this regatta the last time it was in Chicago in a loaner boat showed up. 2000 North American champion Dorsey Owings sailing the renowned Sea Biscuit came to defend his title. Key West Race Week regulars Ed Austin & crew on Chinook brought their boat in from New Jersey. 2000 MORC International Champion John White trucked in his tricked out J- Boat from Annapolis. Local favorite and J/30 President Dennis Bartley on Planxty had his boat tuned up from the Verve Cup. Dan Darrow on Salacious sailed in from Waukegan. John McArthur from the East Coast hauled in his J-30 Smiles.
In Race one, the breeze was light at 6-9 knots and fading. The seas were lumpy and confused. We were told at the docks from one unnamed East coaster that MORC Champ John White from Annapolis would be the boat to beat. Some of the SR 33 Snake Eyes crew from Key West and a hotshot sail maker were spotted on the boat and we bought into it. I think the same unnamed east coaster told White that we were the boat to beat (pretty smart…play us against each other early). Back to the race, with forty seconds to start, John White seeks us out and shoots head to wind as we tack from port to starboard. This move puts us over the line but we were lucky as there was a general recall. Same race second start, we use the same approach on port tack, mid-line and complete our tack to starboard and aim at White before he can set up to leeward. We nail the start, pin end with bow out on entire fleet. Unfortunately, we were going right and so was the breeze. We sailed a 15-20 degree header for about 300 yards, we got more header and tacked. We looked ok at first and then the breeze gradually headed us on the new tack. We dropped six boats already and things were looking not-so great. We decided to get to the right side of the course so nobody else could get leverage on us. As we got to lay line, we got great circled and lost another 6 boats. We rounded the weather mark in last. The breeze was dying so two crewmembers went to sit on the keel. We were able to grind a few boats down on the second beat and finish 8th. The first place boat, John MacArthur on Smiles had a good bit of their crew in the cabin sitting on their keel and it seemed to pay.
In Race two, the breeze had slacked to about 4-8 knots and the seas were nasty. We quickly sent two people down below on the keel to help the boat settle down in the slop/chop. We had a real sweet start but the fleet quickly divided into two. Half working the right and half working the left. We worked the middle and left on the first beat and got past on both sides. Our brain trust that had no local knowledge was really having trouble dialing in on the shifts. Plus, we had another problem that Zephyr rarely encounters….the other boats had boat speed all over us in anything less than 8 knots. We were having trouble hanging with our competitors even when we went the same direction. We were deep most of the race but some how salvaged a fifth. I’d love to tell you how, but I had my turn down below in the cabin for some time in this race also. The only good news in this race, was that several of the top finishers of the first race, finished in the back of the pack for the second race. The results at this point were real scrambled. We were already hoping that they would finish enough races for a throw out.
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