Wednesday, April 9, 2014

King Harbor Race Week Report

J/111 sailing King Harbor Race Week off Los Angeles, CAThe Duels: 70 vs 80 & 109 vs 111!
(King Harbor, CA)- The spring kick-off for racing in King Harbor took place over a nice weekend for sailing off Los Angeles.  Respectable conditions, sun, wind and warm weather, were the rule for the happy-go-lucky fleet of thirty-three boats spread across two PHRF fleets and four one-design classes.  The King Harbor YC PRO Bill Stump managed to fire off four races over the weekend.

In PHRF A class, the J/111 JATO sailed by the team of Bill Webster and Mike Moorhead from host KHYC lost their duel to Alice Leahey’s J/109 GRACE O’MALLEY from California YC.  It was literally a game of “seconds” in every race that separated these two boats on handicap time.  A botched tack here, a slow takedown there, a wrap in the chute after a gybe were all part of the ingredients that unwound good intentions by their crews.  Nevertheless, all put in their best efforts and in then end Alice’s GRACE O’MALLEY crew took third in class, beating their classmate JATO by just three points.  Apparently, Alice was quite happy to add another “pickle dish” to her trophy shelf!

PHRF B division was a mix of J/70s and J/80s vying for class honors. It was close racing all-around for this group, but it was clear that local sailor Curt Johnson sailing his J/80 AVET had the upper hand.  With a 1-1-1-2 for 5 pts Curt’s crew were quite happy to take home their silverware.  Giving them a strong challenge and taking second in class was the famous DFZ from San Diego YC- led by Alex Kownacki and Cole Jenkins.  Their 2-3-3-1 for 9 pts was just enough to beat classmate Craig Tallman from host KHYC sailing his J/70 JAYA.  For more King Harbor Race Week sailing information