[J24 ListSrv] J/24 Championship Series 'A'

[sean delaney]

Congratulations to Team OZ For winning the first ever J/24 "Rumble in the Bay" taking the lead in the Champ and winning the 'A' series trophy cup!

Based on the confident walk with which crews approached their boats it appeared most would use this day as a chance to gel their Nationals teams.  The conditions certainly gave the ultimate work-out, wether it was practicing a quick maneuver up front or crew communications in the back.  A beautiful cool spring day with at least 5-10kts @ 350º and variable++++.  We ran 6 back to back W/L's starting a bit after 10am with starts and finishes in the center of the course, we could have done a 7th.

It all came down to the final race which was to be the only W3. Bubbles went in leading by a single point with 8, so whoever finished first was going to take home the cup. It was a similar situation in 3rd for Kattack and Voodoo, both carrying 18 points.  

The wind was usually seen building off Sunsets with smaller alternating shots coming out of WYC.  On the final DW leg, Oz, Bubbles and Kattack were inside as the wind shut down. We were drawn to this texture sitting off the club presumably about to work its way down the course.  When it just never moved it was time to look to the opposite side and find out what competing force was keeping it 'at bay'. Only then did we see Voodoo accelerate, rolling around the fleet.  The cool water allowed the still air to lower, which denied the formation of cat's paws   Voodoo legitimately called Bubbles for room to round from the outside and the left being so powerful, all any of us could do was take the stern of the boat in front and point it at the finish pin.

1 Oz
2 Bubbles
3 Voodoo
4 Kattack
5 Motorhome
6 Dirty Paws
7 Redcoat

Thank you to all the competitors and the early rising RC.  I apologize for not telling RC to allow a break, for even J/24 sailors like to savor a beer or a lunch.  Please leave your comments regarding your experiences; this is the first one after all and it's helpful to know what you enjoyed or that which you did not.

Having eagerly anticipated this day I was shocked that every boat was not out, I just assumed the entire fleet would want to be in on this historic and weighty event.  I wonder if our weekend schedules were not already set long before this event was finalized.  If so, we might be able to better plan for it in future years (nature  permitting).

It's a lot of fun and really worth getting out to the fleet 1 Championships, if you need crew let me know, I will try and help.  Please take the time to save the dates:

July 7 10am
Aug 4 10am
Sept 1+(alternate make-up?)


SPD
Bubbles Racing
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wyc.org/pipermail/j24/attachments/20130604/e01d4fe9/attachment.html>