NOYC SENDS FIVE
J-22’s TO FLEET 46’s
SUMMER ON THE COAST REGATTA
For about seven years now, the local J-22 Fleet 46 sailors
have been going to the Gulf Coast
in late July to get away from our dead calm lake and enjoy a fresh sea
breeze. NOYC had five boats
participate in this three weekend series and they all seem to have had a
great time. The three weekends of
racing included two regattas in Pass Christian at PCYC and one weekend
in Gulfport at GYC. The three
regattas that make up the Fleet 46 Summer on the Coast Series are “Summer in
the Pass”, “PCYC Birthday
Regatta” (GYA J-22 Championship)
and the “Angus Invitational” (named after living GYC Race Committee
member). This year NOYC had
the following skippers and boats sailing, Ryan Bancroft’s Throwdown, David Rubin’s Stars & Bars, Phillip
Okeeffe’s Fast Company, Chris Wientjes’ 22 Caliber and Steve Ramke’s Runnaway.
In the first weekends racing, Ryan Bankroft’s Throwdown
posted finishes of 4th, 4th
& 6th to finish third overall. Throwdown chose to take advantage of the light-medium
conditions by sailing with only two people.
The ever so nimble Ryan Bancroft performed both middle position
and foredeck for driver Gilbert Maclachlan to help get their boat around
the course. Ryan & Gilbert were
quite happy with their finishes. David
Rubin placed fourth overall with finishes of 10th, 3rd
& 3rd. David was a
little slow out the gate in the first race but soon figured out that the north
side of the course inshore towards the beech had less current which helped him
pick up a few boats on the down wind legs.
Our other NOYC sailors had overall finishes of 8th, 9th
& 11th. The
first weekend’s winner was Peter Gamble & Keith Andrews on Wild
Tchoupitoulas. Dwight Leblanc’s
Wavemaker finished second.
The second weekend of this series was the J-22 GYA
Championship that sailed in conjunction with Pass Christian Yacht Clubs
Birthday Regatta (PCYC celebrates this yearly as it is the oldest yacht club
south of the Mason Dixon line). The
breeze was out of the southwest at about 4-8 knots and the current was
ferocious on both Saturday & Sunday.
Throwdown with Gilbert & Ryan was once again, NOYC’s top
finisher. Throwdown had finishes of
5th, 10th, 3rd, 4th & 7th to take third overall. Only nine points separated the top half of
the 18-boat fleet in this five race series. Chris Wientjes sailing 22 Caliber was able to hit
three marks in one weekend, one snagged on his rudder, one snagged on the keel
and the third, he just mowed over with enough finesse to avoid the snag. The real story this weekend was Dwight
LeBlanc on Wavemaker. This boat
scored 19 points in the second race from an OCS that was upheld in a redress
hearing and still won the 1st Annual J-22 GYA Championship. Wavemaker put 11 boats between them and
Wild Tchoupitoulas in the last race to tie in series points and win overall.
The third weekend’s races were postponed because of the
threat of Tropical Storm Barry and then cancelled because of rain the following
weekend. J-22 Fleet 46 is the most
organized, competitive and active one design racing fleet in the GYA. Try and get on a J-22 soon, but be
warned, as some very good handicap racers have been humbled by the
competition. Check out their web page
and results at: http://fleet46.j22.org/2001/sotcnh.html.
-steinkamp
