J/88 North American Championship at Youngstown Yacht Club - Overall
by Christopher Howell 30 Jul 2017 22:52 BST
28-30 July 2017
J/88 North American Championship © Christopher Howell
Of the nine races at the J/88 North American Championship (part of the CanAm Challenge at Youngstown Yacht Club in New York), Laura Weyler's Hijinks won five of them. Their performance dominated the 13-boat fleet, allowing the local team to sit out the final race.
Owner Weyler was joined on board by Adam Burns (helm), Pete Doyle (bow), John Goller (headsail trimmer), Kevin Morgan (strategist) and Kris Werner (tactician). Tim Finkle's Seaweed came on strong to take the silver position with 23 points. Doug Newhouse's Yonder tied on points with Iris Vogel's Deviation at 29 for third and fourth, respectively.
Weyler bought her J/88 about a year and a half ago, and was especially satisfied to win this Championship on her home turf. When asked who on her team she'd like to recognize, she said, "If I were Belichick, I'd have to say it's Brady. Adam was flawless, as well as the rest of the crew!" The J/88 Class was formed earlier this year, and Weyler thanked Iris Vogel, the first Class President, for "leading this Class into the future. It's going to be a growing Class. The level of competition will continually attract people to buy these boats."
Winds on Lake Ontario were around 5-7 knots on Sunday, when Hijinks won the first two races, giving them a scoreline of 1,1,3,1,5,2,1,1. The rest of the fleet battled in the ninth and final duel to determine the final leaderboard.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 |
|---|
| 1 | USA 27 | Hijinks | Laura Weyler | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | DNS |
| 2 | USA 93 | Seaweed | Tim Finkle | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | USA 35 | Yonder | Douglas Newhouse | 2 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| 4 | USA 24 | Deviation | Iris Vogel | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | CAN 56 | Touch 2 Play | James Egloff | 3 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | USA 80 | Wings | Mike Bruno | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | USA 1 | Jazz | Douglas McKeige | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| 8 | USA 2 | Easy Eights (Corinthian) | Joseph/Jeffrey Pawlowski | 12 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 7 |
| 9 | USA 88 | Exile | Andy Graff | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 5 |
| 10 | USA 34 | Albóndigas (Corinthian) | Al Minella | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 11 | USA 64 | BLUE | Brian O'Malley | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| 12 | USA 11 | Night Owl | Richard Lohr | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 10 |
| 13 | USA 76 | QUIXY (Corinthian) | Cindy Goodin | 13 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
The top Corinthian team was Joseph & Jeffrey Pawlowski on Easy Eights.
More photos are available on the J/88 Class Facebook page.