J/70s Debut, Enormous Showing for J/22s, J/24s(Houston, Texas)- Lakewood YC hosted the third annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta for sixty-two boats! Awesome atmosphere! Great band and free beer waiting for all the crews as they came off the water! Everyone is in party mode!The focus of the J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a Regatta venue that is extra fun for J/Boat owners, their family, and friends. While the racers are on the water, their spouses, children, family, and friends can enjoyed a myriad of activities and tourist attractions in the Bay Area.
One-design fleets that participated this year include the J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and a J/PHRF class. In the J/22s a great class of fourteen boats sailed with the local host team, BLACKBURN MARINE RACING skippered by Casey Lambert, simply walking off with the overall honors with four straight firsts for 4 pts. Second was Fred Lindsey's team CACTUS JACK with a record of three 2nds and a 3rd for 9 pts. Third was RICH SKANK sailed by Brant Koepke's team from Galveston Bay Cruising Association with three 3rds and a 2nd for 11 pts. 
The J/24s had an excellent showing with sixteen boats participating. It was a knockdown, drag 'em out fight for the top three with Corey Harding's team on HAPPY DANCE taking the gold with a 1-3-2-2 record for 8 pts to win by one point. Second was Bryan Dyer skippering RUMLINE from Fort Worth Boat Club with a 2-1-3-3 tally for 9 pts. Third was Stu Lindlow on TROPICAL AGGRESSION with a 3-2-1-4 for 10 pts. Great racing to the end for this trio of teams! 
The J/70s had their first one-design racing on Galveston Bay. It was fun racing for all as the teams were all learning how to get the most out of their new boats. In the finale, it was Bruce McDonald sailing ROGUE WARRIOR 2 from Houston YC that managed to score four 1sts and a 2nd for 6 pts. Second was Jimmy Mitchell on BOOMTOWN from Fort Worth Boat Club that managed to wind a count-back tie-breaker based on most 1sts, etc. Jimmy's 3-1-3-2-3 was good enough for 12 pts, overcoming Dave Hinrichsen's #51 that had three 2nds and two 3rds for 12 pts, too.
The J/80s had a great cross-section of sailors amongst the eight teams, including a team from Dillon, Colorado- Kurt Vanderwal on HENDRIX. In some respects, this regatta was a great practice warm-up for local sailors all participating in the upcoming J/80 North Americans being held in Fort Worth Boat Club later in October. Topping out the fleet was local J/80 champion sailor Jay Lutz sailed USA 803 with four straight 1sts! Jay's performance was all the more remarkable considering the fact that they were up against another J/80 NA and World Champion, Terry Flynn and David Whelan, who ultimately finished second. The Flynn/Whelan team sailed QUANTUM SAILS/ GULF COAST RACING to four 2nds to easily finish behind their local, friendly competitors. Third was Alfred Poindexter sailing ANDALE that managed to just secure their position with a consistent 4-5-5-4 for 18 pts.
After the Fort Worth Boat Club's One-Design weekend and racing seminar, it was clear the ten boat class was going to have some very competitive racing as many of the teams had stepped up their game and were sailing their boats much more effectively and faster around the race track. In the end, local rock star Bill Zartler on SOLARIS again proved to be the "wiseman" of the class and managed to sail to four 1sts and a 5th for 9 pts, easily winning their class. Behind them was Greg Turman's HORNY TOAD, a well-sailed team that featured some great local talent from the Houston area; their 4-2-4-2-2 record for 14 pts was good enough for 2nd place. Bill Lakenmacher sailed his RADIANCE to a third place position overall with an 8-6-3-4-1 record for 22 pts, showing improvement every single race. 
The J/109s had one of their best showing in years with six boats sailing with one of the local host sailors simply dominating the fleet. It was the HAMBURG "show" as Albrecht Goethe's teams led the fleet with five straight 1sts for a 5 pts total to win by a landslide. Behind them was a real donnybrook of a fight for second place with Tom Sutton sailing his LEADING EDGE to a 2-3-4-2-5 record for 16 pts, to win a count-back tie-break based on 1-2-3 tally. Losing that tie-break battle was Dave Christensen racing AIRBORNE into third place with a consistent 4-2-2-4-4 record also for 16 pts. Finally, in the PHRF division, Doug Shaffer's beautiful J/122 GAMBLER sailed well as the "big boat" in the division to win with yet another "picket fence" performance- garnering four straight bullets for 4 pts to win class. Second was Chris Alk's J/27 FOOTLOOSE with 11 pts. Third was Bob Crutchfield's J/120 BLUECHIP with 18 pts. For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information
