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J-35 NORTH AMERICANS The 1998 J-35 North American Championships were held in Seattle, June 26,
27, and 28. Overall, the sailing in Seattle doesn't get any better with
the Chamber of Commerce serving up a very unusual combination of wind and
sun. While there was no racing on Friday due to a lack of wind, Saturday
and Sunday more than made up for that with a consistent 6-11 knots of wind
from the north. There were interesting rivers of current on the course
that made the lanes very narrow in some places. As one person from San
Francisco mentioned, how often do you see the same side of the course pay
both upwind and down.
The J-35 class is another that has tightened it's rules regarding crew and
helmspeople and unfortunately it may have had a deleterious effect on
participation. In addition to the gnashing of teeth and mutterings under
the breath about who should be a Cat 1 vs Cat 2 vs Cat 3, the measurement
nazi's made life as difficult as possible over things like lifeline
tension, interior wood, and what was standard vs what was not. This after
not all boats were measured while they were out of the water.
The bottom line: only 10 boats showed up for the NA's. In the end,
amazingly enough, the boat that prepared the best and sailed smart, won.
Melange, chartered and co-skippered by Jim Kerr (mild-mannered stock
broker and helmsman) and John Spurrier ( a semi-mild-mannered stock
broker) dominated the event with five (5) firsts, two thirds, and threw
out a fifth. Jack Christiansen, the local North loft manager, called a
near flawless series for Melange. Second place went to Amarcord owned by
Lou Bianco but sailed by Tom Rutten, former North loft manager, and Ian
Beswick, former Bay Area standout. The Boss in third was the first boat
that was helmed and skippered by its owner, Wayne Berge.
Even with only 10 boats, once the series got started, it was a great event.
It will be interesting to see how the class evolves in the future. --
Bruce Hedrick