(Galveston, TX)- Lakewood Yacht Club's annual J-Fest Southwest Regatta enjoyed
some of the most amazing sailing conditions they’ve enjoyed in years. Sailed
over the November 2nd and 3rd, the sailors were treated to Northerly winds in
the 20-25 kts range on Saturday, producing the usual “monster chop” renowned
for Galveston Bay. Then, on Sunday's “easy-going” breezes in the 16-20
kts range made for somewhat better conditions for the fleet of fifty J’s
assembled for this year’s hugely popular J/Fest Southwest!
Starting out with the J/22s, their seven boat fleet produced a runaway winner
in the “big breeze”. No question, it was Casey Lambert and crew on
BLACKBURN RACING that had the conditions wired, taking all firsts in six races
to win by a “Texas-mile”. Second on the distant horizon was Dov Kivlovitz
with 13 pts and rounding out the podium was Chris Morlan’s TILT with 17 pts.
As the largest fleet in the regatta, thirteen J/24’s enjoyed a nice resurgence,
showing up to lay it all on the line for Texas domination of the one-design
world. They enjoyed some close competition, but it was clear that Bryan
Dyer’s RUMLINE had everyone’s number in the breezy conditions, finishing 1st
with just 13 pts. Second was TROPICAL AGGRESSION sailed by Stu Lindow
with 17 pts. Happily finishing in 3rd overall was HAPPY DANCE skippered
by Bill Worsham with 19 pts; taking the tie breaker over GIGGLES sailed by
Natalie Penner.
As the “new kid on the block” and one boat shy of the largest fleet, the J/70’s
twelve boat fleet also proved to be one of the most competitive fleets at the
regatta and, given the windy conditions, clearly the ones that had the most fun
going into “planing mode” all over the Galveston Bay race course hootin’ and
hollerin’ like cowboys at a stampede! Appropriately enough, the winner by
a comfortable margin was STAMPEDE, Bruno Pasquinelli’s team from Fort Worth
Boat Club with a total of 10 pts. While STAMPEDE has enormous experience
sailing in a variety of highly competitive J/70 regional & national
regattas, the balance of the top five was extremely tight! Runners-up was
GB sailed by Chris Lewis from Lakewood YC with 18 pts. Following them in
third was JBoats SW sailed by Scott Spurlin from Austin YC with 21 pts.
They just nipped fourth place finisher Sean Nunes from Austin YC with 22
pts. A wind shift or two made the difference for 5th place finisher AKULA
sailed by Rick Bell from Corpus Christi YC with 27 pts.
J/80s had a very competitive fleet of seven boats participating with several
world and regional championship teams participating. Topping the fleet,
un-surprisingly, was GC/ QUANTUM RACING sailed by the team of Terry Flynn &
David Whelan, representing Fort Worth Boat Club. Against such formidable
talent, it was a duel for the balance of the podium with PARSONS PROJECT
skippered by Luke McAllum from Houston YC taking second with 18 pts. They
narrowly beat out third place finisher HENDRIX sailed by Kurt Vanderwall
from Dillon YC with 19 pts.
The eight boat J/105 class enjoyed close racing all weekend long. In
fact, the last two races of the regatta completely turned the standings upside
down. Closing with a strong 1-2, it was INFINITY’s Uzi Ozeri from
Lakewood YC that took class honors with 18 pts total. Starting slowly
with an 8th in the opening race, BLUE FLASH’s Matt Amo from Fort Worth Boat
Club dialed in two bullets in the middle races, but was insufficient to
overcome the strong closing of Ozeri’s crew, taking second overall with 20
pts. Sailing perhaps the most consistent regattas was JB Bednar’s STINGER
from Lakewood YC with a total of 22 pts.
Over in PHRF handicap world, the J/PHRF Sym fleet saw Chris Aik’s FOOTLOOSE
from Galveston Bay Cruising Association take first overall with 5 pts.
Second was Glenn Stromme’s PRESS TO MECO from the Seabrook Marina Association
with 12 pts. Taking third was TOCCATA’s Gary Trinklein from Galveston Bay
Cruising Association.
The J/PHRF Asym fleet had a diverse fleet of seven boats. Taking first
was the J/92 sailed by Kevin Hayes & Mike McGaugh from GBCA with 11
pts. Albrecht Goethe’s Lakewood YC team onboard the J/109 HAMBURG took
second with 16.5 pts. Making its debut was the J/88 IT’s A THRILL sailed
by J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone with 19 pts. For more J/Boats Southwest sailing information
