WIND CZAR Repeat J/111 NA Champion!

(Harbor Springs, MI)- The J/111 North American Championship was sailed over the July 24-27 weekend at the Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI.  Thirteen J/111 boats attended the event in beautiful Northern Michigan ready to race during the LTYC annual Ugotta Regatta. Blue skies, clear water and perfect breeze kicked off the regatta on Thursday as the sailors competed in three races.

At the end of Day One, WIND CZAR (Rich Lehmann) led the fleet with a 1-4-1, followed by NO SURPRISE (Dave Irish) in second posting a 2-2-5 and KASHMIR (Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson, Mike Mayer) in third with a 7-1-2 score. While WIND CZAR and NO SURPRISE were 1-2 in the first race, Annapolis YC offshore veteran Martie Roesch took 3rd.  During the second race, KASHMIR dusted off an awful first race 7th and posted their first (and only) winning race of the regatta, followed by the omnipresent NO SURPRISE (a local by the way) and Bill Smith’s WOOTON in third.  The last race of the day saw several of the top teams start to predominate, with WIND CZAR again taking a first, followed by KASHMIR in second and then Ryan Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF team from Cleveland, Ohio in third.

Day Two had a slow start, but as the afternoon breeze filled in, the race committee was able to run 3 more races.  KASHMIR moved up from third after day two, finishing the day with 20 points as NO SURPRISE took third with 21 points.  Starting fast out the blocks was WIND CZAR, again taking the first race followed by the fast-learning KASHMIR crew in second and Bill Smith’s somewhat roller-coaster riding crew on WOOTON again posting another third.  The fifth race saw Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF find their Key West Race Week winning stride, comfortably taking first and they were followed by the tenacious WIND CZAR gang not wanting to give up their “locals” advantage with a second and taking third again was NO SURPRISE (perhaps the “uber” local, Mr. Irish).  For the final race of the day, local host Dave Irish showed everyone the way home to his boatyard, winning the last race and providing lots of free beer and wine afterwards!  As he should, right?  Second was SPACEMAN SPIFF and third was KASHMIR.

Saturday, the J/111 sailors participated in the “Tour of the Bay” race.  After the wind filled in around 2pm, heavy breeze and large waves sent the sailors on a fun ride around the course.  What everyone knows about this race is that when the wind fills in, sailing in the middle of the bay is a bit like sailing into a “black hole”.  In fact, the faster you sail the “edges” (e.g. the coastline) of the bay the better you do.  While everyone expected locals to do well, and not unexpectedly WIND CZAR won the race, but taking second in the premium-counting race was George Gamble’s MY SHARONA from Pensacola, Florida (the Gulf Coast Offshore series winning team).  Third was NO SURPRISE, fourth was SPACEMAN SPIFF and fifth was KASHMIR.

The last day of racing was threatened with storms in the vicinity but the Race Committee was able to get two races off as the storms stayed off the course.  At the end of the Championship, WIND CZAR, NO SURPRISE and KASHMIR took the first, second, and third, respectively.  While WIND CZAR closed the regatta with a 3-1 to win the event in a somewhat convincing fashion with 18.5 total points, the balance of the top five was nowhere near a “closed and done” deal.  In fact, how everyone did on the last leg of the last race determined the ultimate fate for all four teams that were in contention.  Now that some of the visiting teams to that crazy bay in Harbor Springs had learned a few tricks or two, the gloves were off for the final two races.  Holding on by a thread for second place happened to be NO SURPRISE, posting a less than stellar 4-8 to keep second overall with 37.5 pts.  Just 3.0 pts back after posting another riveting, memorable 7-6 score was the KASHMIR team, just hanging on for third with 40.5 pts.  A slightly better tally of 6-3 was knocked out by Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF team to take fourth with a total of 42.0 pts, only 1.5 pts back!  Then, going from “zero-to-hero” on one day was Marty Roesch’s team on VELOCITY, posting the best score of the day (a 1-2) to close out the regatta with 42.5 pts, just a half point back from 4th.

In the aftermath of some great, incredibly close racing, many teams were discussing next steps for J/111 one-design racing.  Included in that evolution were plans for Key West Race Week in 2015 and the J/111 Worlds for 2015 in Newport, RI.  Furthermore, various formats were also considered, like just W-L courses or a mix of W-L and an “offshore random leg” course.  In the theme of “horses for courses”, it was clear that more offshore-oriented teams liked having the offshore experience combined into the modern W-L mix.  Time will tell.   Sailing Photo Credits- Gretchen Dorian   For more J/111 NA’s sailing information

Dramatic Roller-Coaster Day Three for J/111 NA's

(Chicago, IL)- No one could have scripted the extraordinary day experienced by the fourteen J/111s that are sailing in their inaugural J/111 North American Championship.  With a forecasted easterly breeze in the 4-7 knots range and an insane amount of chop bouncing off the Chicago city waterfront (with a few thousand powerboats adding their wakes into the mix watching the Chicago Air & Water Show), it was anyone's guess who would continue to lead the fleet after day three.

What was known was the "wind wizards" on Richard Lehmann's WINDCZAR team from Harbor Springs, Michigan only had to stay in sequence with the breeze and walk off with the regatta.  Or, at least that seemed to be the case after their dominating performance on Friday.  Not to be discounted as a contender was the fact that the LUCKY DUBIE gang spearheaded by Len Siegal were not far off the pace and that Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL gang of merrymakers had a shot at the gold.

The day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and an easterly breeze in the 4-6 knots range and the Chicago YC PRO determined the fleet had to start far enough offshore to mitigate the enormous spectator chop from powerboats partaking in the Chicago waterfront festivities.  It was a good idea!  The first race started off in an ESE breeze in the 135-140 degrees range. From there it was anything but obvious that the left hand side of the course would pay off for the rest of the day sailing upwind. 

Starting fast off the starboard end of the line in the first race of the day, William Smith's WOOTON simply sailed off to the left, tacked once for the weather mark and won the race by a country mile.  Simple, smart and a no-brainer.  Sailing an incredibly smart race behind them was Rob Ruhlman's SPACEMAN SPIFF from Lakeside YC in Ohio, taking second place after rounding the weather mark in the top half of the fleet.  Also showing signs of brilliance were Dr George Miz's team on IMPULSE, sailing fast and taking a third in a closely fought race.

In the second race, Smith's WOOTON followed the same formula.  Why not?  Start conservatively, sail higher and faster than anyone around them and simply win the race!  That's exactly what they did.  Starting mid-line, they took off and after a few hundred yards simply sailed away from the fleet, taking their second first in a row with a dominating performance.  Second was Dave Irish's NO SURPRISE crew from Harbor Springs, MI and third was Paul Stahlberg's ascendant Milwaukee crew on MENTAL.

The third race proved to be the roller-coaster ride so far for the regatta.  For many, the "wheels fell off the shopping trolley", in other words, like the proverbial "Icarus" flying too close to the sun, their wings got burnt off and came crashing down to the reality of Earth.  Remarkably, the regatta leader WINDCZAR fell into that category.  After a brilliant second day, the "wind wizards" posted a 6-8-8 for the day to drop into a tie for second place one point off the lead!  The Lucky Dubsters led by Señor Siegal sailed a solid day to take a 4-7-2 for the day to become, again, the regatta leaders by one point.  Finishing in triumphant fashion after their first two races was Stahlberg's MENTAL, improving every race to post a 5-3-1 score to emphatically put their mark on their bid for top honors overall.  Tied with them is Marty Roesch's VELOCITY team from Annapolis, Maryland in the top five.  Just behind this group with a shot at the top three are Rob Ruhlman's SPACEMAN SPIFF, Brauer's FLEETWING, and Miz's IMPULSE.

Tomorrow promises to be another cliff-hanger for the fleet with a light ESE breeze that will likely be fed by an onshore sea-breeze effect midday.  The fact the lead has changed hands so dramatically in the last two days and that the top five are all within ten points of one another means the championship is wide open for the team that can rise to the occasion.

Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block @ Blocksail.com
Social Media credits- Alan Block @ Blocksail.com

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Wind Wizards Leading Second Day of J/111 NA's

(Chicago, IL)- The second day of the International J/111 class's first North American Championships dawned with no breeze, a spectacularly sunny, cool day and lots of on-shore activity keeping the crews entertained.  Why?  Because Friday is practice day for the famous Chicago Air & Water Show that takes place Saturday and Sunday and attracts well over one million people to the spectacular Chicago waterfront to watch all sorts of insane human pyramids going six levels on water skis and innumerable aerobatics displays by fighter jets, bi-planes and simply crazy helicopter stunts doing barrel-rolls and inverted fly-overs!

With a harbor postponement that lasted until 12pm, the CYC PRO wisely waited for the classic summer sea-breeze to develop from the ESE.  By 1300 hrs the first race was off in a building SE breeze of 5-6 kts.  The wind shifted dramatically a number of times with breeze lanes forming in both corners of the course.  As the breeze clocked further left to 115 degrees (a bit unusual, but not unlikely) the fleet was having to contend with dynamic fleet scenarios that saw many boats going deep into corners only never to be seen again.  As a result, there were some substantial changes in the standings after the results of day two on the water.

Moving into first place by virtue of an outstanding day on the water was Richard Lehmann's "wind wizards" on the mighty WINDCZAR from Little Traverse YC in Harbor Springs, Michigan.  Their 2-1-5 record was added to their 1-3 on day one to put them 8 pts clear in first place with 12 pts total.  Having a less "smokin hot" day was Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE.  While sailing a brilliant last race of the day, the first two races were simply forgettable.  After posting a 9-7-1, the Lucky Dubsters dropped into second with 20 pts total.  Third is now the famous red boat called MENTAL piloted by Paul Stahlberg and gang from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Their very consistent 5-2-6 pulled them into third overall with 28 pts.

The forecast for Saturday's racing will be most interesting-- first because of Chicago's festivities.  While the J/111 crews were on the water, the CYC PRO announced to everyone that Saturday's starting line would be at least 4 nm further east into Lake Michigan and, if we went far enough, might have to bring our passports for Canadian customs and immigration control!  Just kidding.  But, the simple reason for the announcement was that with a million people on the waterfront of Chicago and another quarter million party-crazy boaters watching the Chicago Air & Water Show from the water in all manners of floating things like inner tubes, kayaks, inflatable swimming pools, inflatable king-sized air-mattresses, a few million SeaRays and Bayliners plus 200 ft mega yachts and every in between, it was probably best to steer clear of them all!

With regards to the weather conditions, theoretically the forecast shows easterlies blowing on-shore in the morning at 4-7 kts, building and backing to the ENE by late afternoon.  In short, local knowledge has clearly shown that it hasn't helped in the last two days.  So, perhaps throwing all caution to the winds, we may see some locals simply hit the left corner hard to see if it pays off!  One wonders.

The one interesting statistic that pops up again after the second day of racing is how close and how competitive the sailing has been amongst the fourteen boats.  Now, ten of fourteen boats have posted finishes in the top five!  That's simply unheard of in ANY one-design fleet.  More fun and games for the crews tomorrow.

Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block @ Blocksail.com
Social media credits- Alan Block @ Blocksail.com

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Challenging First Day at J/111 NA's

The "Lucky Dubie" Smokes The Fleet
(Chicago, IL)- The new International J/111 One-design class is hosting its first North American Championship from August 14th to 18th, 2013 at Chicago Yacht Club's Belmont Station. First taking the world by storm in 2010, the J/111 has grown dramatically as an International class worldwide, with over 100+ boats now sold across six continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia/New Zealand).  For this championship, fourteen J/111s have assembled from three major coasts around the Americas (Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes and East Coast).

The first day of racing was going to be an interesting one. Many of the teams had never sailed against one another in a one-design regatta, so no one had really any idea how the chips were going to fall going into the first race.

With a reasonable forecast of SSW breezes in the 4-7 kts range slowly veering into the West meant the fleet could be treated to "classic" offshore, ultra-shifty breezes, on the spectacular Chicago city waterfront.  As can be the case, the forecast could not have been  more wrong. As the fleet headed out onto the race track for their first start Thursday morning, the breezes slowly increased into the 12-15 kts range for the first beat.  From there it rapidly diminished to the point that by the finish of the fourth leg of the 1.25nm run, spinnakers were collapsing from no wind and the fleet was spread out into every corner of the race course.

Leading around the first windward mark was recent Verve Cup J/111 Champions, Henry Brauer and crew on FLEETWING.  However, it didn't take long for the fleet to split, with FLEETWING covering the majority of the fleet going left downwind while a small trio of boats (Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE, Dick Lehmann's WINDCZAR and Paul Stahlberg's MENTAL) headed hard right on their own.  As the fleet converged at the leeward gates, FLEETWING and the "tres amigos" rounded as a pack.  From there the second windward leg saw fairly dramatic shifts with some boats gaining lots of ground while others fell down the ladder.  On the final drama-filled run with boats hitting every corner imaginable, Dick Lehmann's WINDCZAR managed to hang on to win the first race, followed by Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE in second and Henry Brauer's FLEETWING in third.

After the first race, the wind continued to abate and by noonish, the CYC PRO elected (somewhat valiantly) to start a race in 3-5 kts of wind from the West, but it was clear it was not going to be a fair race to the sailors.  By the time most of the fleet had drifted to the windward mark, the race was abandoned due to a complete "glass out" on the water.

After about an hour postponement, the breeze filled in nicely from the Southeast (not forecasted, of course) with an extraordinary amount of cloud cover.  The first start attempt was postponed due to the fact the breeze kept veering right from 125-135 degrees in the Southeast to over 145 degrees.  The fleet started in a decent 6-8 kts breeze from the SE and it became quickly self-evident the right was going to pay off big.  A small number of boats got squeezed out at the starboard end and bailed right.  A pack off the left end of the line got railroaded into the left corner.  And, a few in between made it across the middle.  At the top mark, those boats that had to bail right early led by an enormous margin-- with Dr George Miz skippering IMPULSE rounding first at the weather mark followed by LUCKY DUBIE in second.  A very holy, shifty and streaky run produced a number of position changes, but the two leaders maintained their grip on the fleet.  Behind them is was a bit chaotic.  After the final windward mark (where going right paid-off big again), the final run home produced yet more dramatic changes as the wind veered further into the 175 degree range.  At that point, LUCKY DUBIE passed IMPULSE to post a commanding 2-1 scoreline to lead the fleet for the first day.  Second was IMPULSE. Posting another top finish was WINDCZAR, whose 1-3 tally put them in second for the day.  Third on the day was FLEETWING with a 3-8 for 11 pts. 

On the way into their slips the J/111 crews were treated to a Heineken "beer toss" for those thirsty crews who swung by the end of the CYC piers.  A wonderful reception with munchies, Mt Gay and Heinekens was held for the tired crews in the CYC "beer garden" onshore. 

With three days yet to go, it's extraordinary to see that eight of fourteen boats all posted top five finishes in the first two races.  As Jack Slattery (tactician on IMPULSE) commented afterwards, "it was like a game of 'Chutes & Ladders' on the Charles River in Boston! The boats point so high upwind tacking through 75 degrees, that one little puff with 5-8 degrees of lift and 2-3 kts of wind meant you went straight upwind!"  With so many good teams assembled, it's not surprising the fleet will likely see their fair share of ups and downs over the next few days.

Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block @ Blocksail.com
Social media credits- Alan Block @ Blocksail.com

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J/111 North Americans Preview

(Chicago, IL)- The new International J/111 One-design class is hosting its first North American Championship from  August 14th to 18th, 2013 at Chicago Yacht Club's Belmont Station.  It's sure to be an exciting regatta as the Chicago Air and Water Show will be taking place at the same time.

First taking the world by storm in 2010, the J/111 has grown dramatically as a class worldwide, having achieved International status with the International Sailing Federation in November 2012.  With over 100+ boats now sold across six continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia/New Zealand), the fourteen J/111s will all be on a fast learning curve as boats congregate from three major coasts around the Americas (Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes and East Coast).

With seven boats sailing from the Chicago fleet, all eyes will be upon them to be amongst the leaders in the first major continental event for the 111 class.  With a combination of Chicago-Mackinac and Bayview-Mackinac Champions as well as Sailing World NOOD Champions, Verve Cup Champions and Singlehanded Society Champions amongst them, this formidable group of 111 teams will be a force to contend with.  Don't be surprised if many of the following boats either place or fire top three finishes with some degree of regularity, including KASHMIR (Karl Brummel skippering), MENTAL (Paul Stahlberg), LUCKY DUBIE (Len Siegal- also Regatta Co-Chair), IMPULSE (George Miz skippering), NIGHTHAWK (Steve Dabrowski skippering), WOOTON (Bill Smith), MISTY (Tom McIntosh) and ROWDY (Rick Witzel).

Other local Great Lakes hotshots will surely include the two Harbor Springs speedsters, NO SURPRISE (Dave Irish) and WINDCZAR (Rick Lehmann)-- both winners and podium finishers in the Harbor Springs Ugotta Regattas and Irish is a Chicago & Bayview-Mac silverware winner as well.  Toss in HOBGOBLIN (Dick Hobbs) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who recently won the Chicago-Mac J/111 class, and the crystal ball clouds up a bit more with three fast horses on the track to mix it up with the Chicago crowd.

Finally, the "out of town" visitors include two top teams from the East Coast and a new crew from the Florida Panhandle.  Marty Roesch's team on VELOCITY, based in Annapolis, MD, have dominated many Chesapeake Bay events as well as posted excellent results in Charleston Race Week and New York YC Annual Regatta, taking silverware more than once in both events.  Newcomer Henry Brauer on FLEETWING from Marblehead, MA has a fairly formidable crew, having recently won the New York YC Annual Regatta 2013 as well as the NYYC Race Week in 2012.  George Gamble's crew from Pensacola, FL are sailing MY SHARONA in their first major one-design event and may yet prove to be one of the spoilers in the event.  Look for some fantastic racing amongst this fleet of fourteen teams and don't be surprised to see some significant roller-coaster scorelines amongst the leaders in the fleet.   For more J/111 North American Championship sailing information