J/24 Regatta Report
| Well. After an inaugural
20 boat J/24 regatta in 1999, the 2000 version of the Early Bird Regatta
attracted twenty-six J/24 teams and eight J/22 teams from Virginia Beach
to Cleveland, Ohio to Freeport, Maine. The regatta, hosted by the US Naval
Academy’s Offshore Sailing Team, was a great success and featured eight
races per class over two days on a motorboat-wake undisturbed Chesapeake
Bay. We are pleased with the turnout, and expect to increase participation
even more next year.
This year’s event took a new race management tack and featured a “dinghy-style” three-minute starting sequence, and open VHF radio communication between RC and competitors. This allowed Early Bird tacticians to know where and why marks were set/moved, and what our compasses said about the breeze both at the committee boat and at turning marks. All eight races featured the modified windward-leeward course, once around, start and finish in the middle, with the start/finish line un-crossable on Saturday and open on Sunday. Competitor input made it clear that the latter was much preferable, and offered better downwind tactical racing. Input also noted strengths and weaknesses of the three-minute sequence. RC felt it a qualified success, and with improvements, a potential for future regional events. To the sailing, race one. Saturday’s weather dawned bright and sunny but quite chilly, with a 5-10 NE breeze and 40-50 degree temperature. Tony Parker, skippering Bangor Packet, showed the J/24 fleet how to sail the flukey Chesapeake Bay breeze/current and won the first race. A quick look at his crew showed that he had some impressive help, with local sailors Ted Hopper, Ross Dierdorff and Kim Couranz aboard, along with many time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison. Behind Bangor Packet came Ryan Cox with Patriot, and Pagan Ritual, steered by our own standout Will Crump and owned by Ohioan Joe Colling, in third. Rounding out the top five was Newport, RI sailor Tim Healy with team Daisy-Head Maisie and Bill Newberry’s Needful Thing, all the way from Freeport, Maine! Race two for the J/24’s was captured by Tim Healy with team Daisy-Head Maisie, followed again by Patriot, Pagan Ritual, Bangor Packet, and Scott Kulp’s Fat Boyz. It seemed after this race that the battle for overall honors might well be played out between Parker, Healy, Cox, and Crump, all with top four finishes in the first two races. Race three changed the regatta. Called over early by the RC, team Daisy-Head Maisie flew their spinnaker to get back to the starting line and re-start. With such a delay, the best they could manage was a 14th, while Parker and Colling/Crump also had their worst finishes of the regatta, a 7th and 8th respectively. Local sailors Paul Van Ravenswaay and trimmer Ben Kaplan exchanged a well-earned hand shake as they crossed the finish line aboard Sundance, helping sail the boat flawlessly to victory, while Cox aboard Patriot hung tough with another 2nd, followed by Dave Wicker aboard More Wind, Fat Boyz, and Pennsylvanian Ernie Martelli aboard Windsprint. As a weak seabreeze attempted, with some success, to kill our dying northeasterly, race four began. Wasting no time regaining their world level form, Daisy-Head Maisie won the final race of day one, which turned into a drifter. Displaying stunning consistency, however, Patriot notched their fourth consecutive second-place finish, followed by More Wind’s second consecutive 3rd, ahead of Sundance and Bangor Packet. Crews then motored in to treat themselves to a cookout, beer, video from the day’s racing, and our “Top-Three Clinic” paneled by Ryan Cox (Patriot), Betsy Alison (Bangor Packet), Tim Healy (DaisyHead Maisie), and Will Crump (Pagan Ritual). All four are outstanding keelboat sailors and fielded questions from the rest of us who wonder how they do it again and again. Thanks for their time, effort, and sharing of their expertise!! |
Standings after Day
One:
| Place
Sail Name
Points
Skipper
Homeport
1. 2123 Patriot 8 Ryan Cox Thousand Oaks, CA 2. 3942 Bangor Packet 17 Tony Parker Washington, DC 3. 4349 DaisyHead Maisie 20 Tim Healy Newport, RI 4. 3757 Pagan Ritual 21 Colling/Crump Fairview Park, OH 5. 4161 Fat Boyz 23 Scott Kulp Lancaster, PA 6. 798 More Wind 24 Dave Wicker Annapolis, MD 7. 2274 Sundance 39 Paul VanRavenswaay Annapolis, MD 8. 669 Show Dog 40 Peter Rich Annapolis, MD 9. 4120 Needful Thing 47 Bill Newberry Standish, ME 10. 4039 Tufts 47 JR Reynolds Medford, MA |
| Day two brought
a brisk, veering 10-17 knot east-southeasterly, healthy chop, and temperatures
again in the high 40’s, but rising nicely by late morning. Displaying blazing
speed in both light air and big breeze, and picking up where he left off,
race
five was dominated from start to finish by
Tim Healy’s DaisyHead, followed once again by Ryan Cox’s Patriot.
This
gave Patriot five second-place finishes in a row! Rounding out the
top five was Pagan Ritual, Bangor Packet, and More Wind.
Races six through eight cemented what seemed to be inevitable. While DaisyHead won five of eight races in this regatta, a 14th and a 6th cost them the title. Normally, averaging just over a 3rd place finish would be more than enough to win a regatta. Ryan Cox’s Patriot, however, bested that average, and emerged victorious with a remarkable 16 points total. Day two also witnessed a nice comeback by Peter Rich with Team Show Dog, leaping up from 8th to 5th overall with a third and second in the last two races. Also cracking the top three in the last race was Mark Toso aboard High Five. And finally, our (somewhat disputed) distance award winner, New Hampshire’s own Impatient, sailed by Ed Philpot, moved from 12th to 10th to finish out the top ten. We were done by 1230 Sunday. Eight college teams competed in this event, which was won by SUNY Maritime’s Kaleidoscope. College Results: 1. Kaleidoscope
SUNY Maritime
|
FINAL RESULTS:
| Final Results (top
ten of 26):
Place Sail Name Points Skipper Homeport 1. 2123 Patriot 16 Ryan Cox Thousand Oaks, CA Top Amateur 2. 4349 DaisyHead Maisie 29 Tim Healy Newport, RI 3. 3942 Bangor Packet 34 Anthony Parker Washington, DC Top Fleet 8 4. 3757 Pagan Ritual 38 Colling/Crump Fairview Park, OH 5. 669 Show Dog 57 Peter Rich Annapolis, MD 6. 798 More Wind 61 Dave Wicker Annapolis, MD 7. 4161 Fat Boyz 62 Scott Kulp Lancaster, PA 8. 2274 Sundance 82 P. VanRavenswaay Annapolis, MD 9. 3760 High Five 88 Mark Toso Wenham, MA 10. 4183 Impatient 97 Ed Philpot Laconia, NH |