NOYC SENDS FIVE J-22’s TO FLEET 46’s
SUMMER ON THE COAST REGATTA
For about seven years now, the local J-22 Fleet 46 sailors have been going to the Gulf Coast in late July to get away from our dead calm lake and enjoy a fresh sea breeze. NOYC had five boats participate in this three weekend series and they all seem to have had a great time. The three weekends of racing included two regattas in Pass Christian at PCYC and one weekend in Gulfport at GYC. The three regattas that make up the Fleet 46 Summer on the Coast Series are “Summer in the Passâ€, “PCYC Birthday Regatta†(GYA J-22 Championship) and the “Angus Invitational†(named after living GYC Race Committee member). This year NOYC had the following skippers and boats sailing, Ryan Bancroft’s Throwdown, David Rubin’s Stars & Bars, Phillip Okeeffe’s Fast Company, Chris Wientjes’ 22 Caliber and Steve Ramke’s Runnaway.
In the first weekends racing, Ryan Bankroft’s Throwdown posted finishes of 4th, 4th & 6th to finish third overall. Throwdown chose to take advantage of the light-medium conditions by sailing with only two people. The ever so nimble Ryan Bancroft performed both middle position and foredeck for driver Gilbert Maclachlan to help get their boat around the course. Ryan & Gilbert were quite happy with their finishes. David Rubin placed fourth overall with finishes of 10th, 3rd & 3rd. David was a little slow out the gate in the first race but soon figured out that the north side of the course inshore towards the beech had less current which helped him pick up a few boats on the down wind legs. Our other NOYC sailors had overall finishes of 8th, 9th & 11th. The first weekend’s winner was Peter Gamble & Keith Andrews on Wild Tchoupitoulas. Dwight Leblanc’s Wavemaker finished second.
The second weekend of this series was the J-22 GYA Championship that sailed in conjunction with Pass Christian Yacht Clubs Birthday Regatta (PCYC celebrates this yearly as it is the oldest yacht club south of the Mason Dixon line). The breeze was out of the southwest at about 4-8 knots and the current was ferocious on both Saturday & Sunday. Throwdown with Gilbert & Ryan was once again, NOYC’s top finisher. Throwdown had finishes of 5th, 10th, 3rd, 4th & 7th to take third overall. Only nine points separated the top half of the 18-boat fleet in this five race series. Chris Wientjes sailing 22 Caliber was able to hit three marks in one weekend, one snagged on his rudder, one snagged on the keel and the third, he just mowed over with enough finesse to avoid the snag. The real story this weekend was Dwight LeBlanc on Wavemaker. This boat scored 19 points in the second race from an OCS that was upheld in a redress hearing and still won the 1st Annual J-22 GYA Championship. Wavemaker put 11 boats between them and Wild Tchoupitoulas in the last race to tie in series points and win overall.
The third weekend’s races were postponed because of the threat of Tropical Storm Barry and then cancelled because of rain the following weekend. J-22 Fleet 46 is the most organized, competitive and active one design racing fleet in the GYA. Try and get on a J-22 soon, but be warned, as some very good handicap racers have been humbled by the competition. Check out their web page and results at: http://fleet46.j22.org/2001/sotcnh.html.
-steinkamp
