Friday, July 10, 2015

J/Teams Sweep Stratford Shoals Race

(Stratford, CT)- The Riverside Yacht Club in Connecticut ran the annual Stratford Shoal Light regatta last weekend.  It is a popular event for those who enjoy offshore racing as it all takes place from mid-Long Island Sound to eastern Long Island Sound.  If you sail it fast enough, you can even be back to the Riverside YC in time for cocktails and dinner!

This year’s race took place on a fairly windy Saturday, sailing in the same conditions as the J/70s in the Bacardi Newport Sailing Week regatta.  Strong easterlies made for big waves on Long Island Sound.  With such a long “fetch”, the beat upwind to the first marks were rough, but the effort was well worth it for those crews that stuck it out (some boats DNF’d) to enjoy crazy-fast surfing and planing conditions all the way home to the Riverside YC finish line.  The two courses the fleet had to sail include Course I- the Stratford Shoal Light Course of 45.5nm and Course II- the Cable & Anchor Bell Course of 28.5nm.

In these challenging conditions, every J/Team in their division performed well and finished at the top of their respective classes!  In the PHRF Doublehanded class, Todd Aven’s J/92 THIN MAN relished the conditions and simply sailed away with their class win.

PHRF 1 Class had Steve Chronert’s J/109 ZUMA win over another 35 foot classic- the J/35 IMPROMPTU skippered by Brian Warner that took 2nd in class.  Fifth place was taken by Mark Parry’s J/35 BLUE MOUSE.  Of note, “lightweights” like the MC 38 Carbonado got killed in the heavy upwind going.

In such demanding sailing, it’s not surprising the J/105s swept the podium in PHRF 2 class.  Marcus Wunderlich’s team on STRATOS took class and J/105 honors.  Second was the American YC Junior Big Boat Team on YOUNG AMERICAN- another fantastic performance for this young crew.  Then, giving the two leaders anxiety attacks was yet another junior crew, the Larchmont YC Junior Offshore Team sailing PRIVATEER into third overall.

In the shorter Cable & Anchor Bell Race, the J/105 STRANGE BREW sailed by Randy Bourne won the PHRF Non-Spinnaker I class. Not far off the pace was Ken & Drew Hall’s J/100 NEVERMORE, taking 3rd in class.
For more Stratford Shoals Race sailing information