Saturday, June 3, 2017

Cedar Point One-Design Regatta Preview

J/70 fleet sailing off start (Cedar Point, CT)- This coming weekend, the Cedar Point YC is looking forward to hosting four J/classes for their annual Cedar Point One-Design Regatta.  Racing will be taking place in western Long Island Sound for fleets of J/70s, J/88s, J/105, and J/109s.

The biggest class at the event will again be the J/70s, with most of the top Long Island Sound contingent participating in the nineteen-boat fleet.  The leaderboard is difficult to handicap, but look for top crews like John & Molly Baxter’s TEAM VINEYARD VINES, Dan Goldberg’s BAZINGA, Josh Goldman’s BUILDING A, Andrew & Melissa Fisher’s BUTTON FLY, Carrie & Ed Austin’s CHINOOK, and Bodo & Nick von der Wense’s TURBO TUCK to be in the chocolates, somewhere, in the final standings.

For the nine-boat J/88 class, the event amounts to the Long Island Sound Championship, also acting as a “training camp” for many top boats sailing at Block Island Race Week for their East Coast Championship.  Many familiar top teams are participating, including Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION, Doug McKeige’s Block Island Race-winning JAZZ, Mike Bruno’s WINGS and Kevin Marks’ VELOCITY.

J/109 East Coast Championship is featuring a tremendous fleet of eighteen boats, with many past champions hoping to collect the East Coast title before vying for their North American Championship at Block Island Race Week in a few weeks time.  In other words, Cedar Point is the “training camp” for many of these teams to ensure they are up to speed.  Who’s on form at the moment?? Several teams, including Bill Rogers’ BIG BOAT, Jon Rechtshaffer’s EMOTICON, David Rosow’s LOKI, Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY, Bill Sweetser’s RUSH, Brooke Mastrorio’s URSA and Bill Kneller’s VENTO SOLARE.

The J/105 class has ten good teams lined up for their first start on Saturday, including Nicole Breault’s GOOD TRADE, Duncan Hennes & Za Jelliffe’s ARETE, Max Kalehoff’s LAURA BEA, Jordan Mindich’s SHAKEDOWN and Richie Palmer’s TOLO.  For more Cedar Point One-Design Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.