2007 News
Mark Sadler Sails to J/22 World Championship
By Tommy Ballantyne
Near-perfect sailing conditions prevailed offshore Durban, South Africa on Friday, December 21 for the closing stages of the J/22 World Championship with Mark Sadler of the Royal Cape Yacht Club capping a superb performance over the previous week aboard Orion Express to claim the world title in this Class for the first time.
Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship
Taking home a memorable experience regardless of finish
Shoreacres, Texas, USA (November 19, 2007) – Sally Barkow of Nashotah, Wis. and her crew of Amanda Callahan (Canton, Mass.), Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and Annie Lush (Poole, U.K.) have won one of the world’s most prestigious women’s sailing regattas: US SAILING’s 2007 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship. Sailing as Team 7, the four women topped a 39-boat fleet that included many impressive competitors such as skipper Cory Sertl ( Rochester , N.Y. ), a Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, and skipper Anna Tunnicliffe ( Plantation , Fla. ), an Olympic hopeful in the Laser Radial class, who finished second and third overall, respectively. Racing took place on Galveston Bay and was hosted at the Houston Yacht Club, in Shoreacres , Texas .
Greg Fisher Prevails at J/22 North American Championship
Cleveland
Yachting Club
September 18-23
Greg Fisher of Annapolis , MD conquered 67 other teams at the 2007 National City J/22 North American Championship. Held at the Cleveland Yachting Club in Rocky River , OH from September 20-22, Fisher bested second-place finisher Kelson Elam and local Chris Carroll. Both Elam and Carroll came within 10 points of the lead, but Fisher’s consistency and overall speed landed his team at the podium. Sailing with Jeff Eiber and Todd Hiller, Fisher scored three bullets and never finished out of the top ten in any of the eight races.
Competitors enjoyed first-class treatment at CYC and on the race course with Bob Frey at PRO. Visit the regatta website at www.j22na2007.com for complete results, string charts from each race and photos.
J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship
Chris Carroll from Cleveland Yachting Club won the J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship hosted by Fleet 73 and The Buffalo (NY) Yacht Club from July 21-22. The 52-boat fleet sailed five races in very challenging conditions.
Saturday started with a postponement on land as the high pressure area over the Great Lakes produced a beautiful blue sky with little wind. The fleet was sent out about 10:00 a.m. and managed to complete two races on a day that saw a 140-degree wind shift from start to finish.
2007 Smith Barney Midwinter Championship Regatta Report
By Kelson Elam
Website
New Orleans and Southern Yacht Club are alive and well. Just a year and a half after one of the worst disasters in history, the resilient folks from the Gulf Coast provided a lesson on how to put on a regatta. The temporary clubhouse made up of trailers located where the old one burned the year before was more than adequate for hosting the event. 37 boats showed up from as far away as Minnesota and Canada to enjoy three days of crawfish, sun and great s
ailing from March 9-11.
Greg Fisher took the top spot followed by Kelson Elam in second and Terry Flynn in third. Temperatures ranged from t-shirt to light spray top, and the winds started out fickle but came in nicely. After abandoning the first race for a big shift, the race committee was able to pull off three good races on both Friday and Saturday which led up to the final showdown race on Sunday. Big wind shifts on the first beat were the norm for the series so everyone kept a close eye on the locals for some help.
Fisher began Sunday with a six-point lead over Elam and seven points ahead of Flynn and local Chris Wientjes. Although most boats followed the locals headed to the right side on the first leg, the left came in big and jumbled up the leaders. The wind went up and down throughout the race and Fisher managed to claw back to finish fourth right behind Elam and seal the win. Complete results may be found at www.southernyachtclub.org.
Many thanks go to Dwight LeBlanc, Peter Gamble and all the great people at Southern Yacht Club for putting on a wonderful event, and to Smith Barney for their sponsorship.
