Sunday, July 28, 2013

Big J Fleet Sailing Youngstown Regatta

J/70s sailing off starting line (Youngstown, NY)- It what may be the 40th, and last, Youngstown Level Regatta hosted by the Youngstown YC, sailors in the northeast have showed up 180 boats strong to celebrate a wonderful four decades of summer sailing tradition at the western end of Lake Ontario.

The J/70 class debut is making a huge splash with sixteen teams showing up as the largest fleet in the event.  Notable New York locals sailing are Tim Finkle on JUNIOR, Marty McKenna on USA 168, Don Finkle on SEAWEED and Kris Werner sailing SUPERFECTA.  Visiting sailors that could give them lots of headaches will be past J/80 World Champion Kerry Klingler sailing MENACE; Morgan Paxhia sailing PENNY PINCHER from Newport, RI; J/24 champion sailor Marc Pincus sailing PIPISTRELLO from Miami, FL; Ed Furry from Culver, IN sailing SAIL22 FALE;  Martin Kullman skippering TOUCH 2 PLAY from St Petersburg, FL; Andy Papierz sailing DYANMO from Port Credit, ONT, Canada; and Brandon Flack from Stonington, CT driving TORQEEDO.

The J/24 one-design class has three boats sailing with a notable class leader diving into their midst-- Travis Odenbach's famous HONEY BADGER!  Watch out, the badger is hungry for a win!

In handicap offshore racing world, there are IRC and PHRF classes.  PHRF 1 class has the appearance of a 35 ft J class with a number of J/109s, J/111 and J/35s all participating.  Bob Hesse's J/111 LAKE EFFECT should lead the fleet around the track, being chased by J/109s like Bob Eckersley's BLUE STREAK, Denys Jones' CARPE VENTUS, Murray Gainer's LIVELY and Ed Werner's MOCCASIN.  Also giving them a run for the money will be J/35s like Andrew Kooiman's LOYALIST, Mark DePaul's REMARKABLE, Doug Mitchell's SASSAFRAS and Ken Bruce's ZONE.

Sailing PHRF 2 is the J/105 ALI-KAT skippered by Ed Berkhout and the J/100 SQUIRMY led by Joe O'Brien.  PHRF 3 sees the appearance of two J/29s, including Mark Bowman's UNTAMED and Alex Miller's PAGAN.  PHRF 4 has the classic J/30 CRUSADER being sailed by Dan Mather as well as Fred White's J/34 SOUND WAVE mixing it up in the fleet. PHRF 6 has the lone J/22 MO'MONEY being sailed by Aaron Snyder from Niagara Falls.  PHRF Cruising 1 has Doug Clarke's J/35c ROGUE WAVE sailing in their class in what many might perceive as "a wolf in sheep's clothing" sailing amongst them!  Finally, IRC 3 class has two J/27s including Mike Seitz's NORTHERN SEITZ and Andre Beese's MESSING ABOUT.  For more Youngstown Level Regatta sailing information