J/Teams sweep NYYC 175th Anniversary Regatta
by J/Boats 28 Jul 2019 12:40 BST
15-20 July 2019
Onboard Outlier during New York Yacht Club's 175th Anniversary Regatta © Paul Todd /
www.outsideimages.com
Celebrating the 175th anniversary of its founding in 1844, the New York Yacht Club hosted a week-long regatta at Harbour Court, July 15 to 20.
The participation was limited to members of New York YC and the four invited yacht clubs (Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron, St. Francis Yacht Club and Yacht Club Costa Smeralda). It has been a busy summer of sailing at NYYC HC, starting with the Annual Regatta, followed up by the One-Design Regatta, the 175th, and then soon a slew of team racing and culminating in the Invitational Cup in September.
J/Crews participated in both the IRC and PHRF fleets. Appropriately leading a sweep by J/crews of the IRC 2 Division was NYYC Commodore Bill Ketcham on his gorgeous navy-blue J/44 Maxine.
Ketcham's team opened the regatta with a stunning trio of bullets on the opening day on Tuesday. However, it was apparent that even the "lay day" after the enormous 175th Anniversary party Tuesday evening was not enough time for his crew to fully recover. Their next four races saw them never cracking the podium spots, posting a 5-5-7-5. Thereafter, a much sobered up and fiercely determined team cracked the whip and closed with a magnificent set of races on the last day with two bullets. Their win was not an easy one, as those two bullets meant they tied at 37 pts each with St Francis YC's Peter Wagner on his J/111 Skeleton Key, with Wagner losing the tie-break on countback.
Rounding out the J/Sweep of the podium in third was yet another J/111, Andrew and Sedge Ward's Bravo. The balance of the top five was also J/crews, with Joe Brito's J/121 Incognito in fourth and Paul Milo's J/122 Orion in fifth place.
Easily eclipsing the PHRF Navigator's Division was Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault's J/105 GOOD TRADE, counting all podium finishes to win with just 13 pts total! Fourth went to yet another San Francisco J/105 team, led by Bill Dana.
More information at nyyc.org/175th-anniversary-regatta