2007 J-80 North American Championship Report

Just six weeks before the J/80 NA Championships the J/80 Class organization faced a terrible problem. Lake Norman, N.C., where the regatta was scheduled to take place was drying up because of the severe drought in the southeast USA. With too little water to launch boats and race it was panic time! The class’s first call was to Kristen Robinson to ask if Eastport YC, in Annapolis, could host the regatta. The club accepted and started organizing a first class event in record time. The class embraced the move and teams from as far away as California changed plans. The end result was a true championship regatta, raced by 33 competitors who love the boat… Complete wrap-up.

The regatta started on Friday, November 8th, with a light southwesterly breeze. Unstable winds resulted in four general recalls before the committee let the fleet go. With big shifts and bad holes, only six boats finished before the time lime expired. The rest of the fleet ended up scored TLE, and eight of those also had a Z-Flag penalty to boot – including the eventual winner.

The next day things looked up. After a front passed, a fresh northwester blew 10-15 with gusts higher. This was the day to get in a lot of races – four to be exact. The shifity, puffy breeze made tactics and placement on the course important. As it turned out, two past World Champions struggled for the lead —Glen Darden on Yoko won the first two races and Kerry Klingler on Lifted won the next two. At the same time Bruno Pasquinelli on Tiamo turned in very consistent scores to hold onto the lead by one point. With only one point between the three top boats, things would be very interesting on the last day.

The forecast was for a light northerly shifting through the east and ending up in the south by the end of the day. This was to be very challenging light air sailing. After reading all the internet forecasts, Klingler planned on the wind shifting right and therefore started at the committee boat, while Darden and Pasquinelli chose the pin. After two forty-degree shifts, Klingler was launched and won the race easily. Leading going into the last race, Klingler needed to finish within four places of Pasquinelli to win the regatta. With good starts and solid sailing up the first beat, Darden, Klingler and Pasquinelli rounded the windward mark 2, 3, and 4th. On the last run, Klingler split with Darden and Rick Schaffer sailing C’est Nasty who jibed and headed right, which had paid off upwind and downwind all day. Klingler bore off and went left seeking better wind. That choice paid off with a race and regatta win for Lifted.

The crew of Lifted consisted of Doug Lynn, Neil Bresnan, John Bowden, and Kerry Klingler. This victory was Klingler’s third North American Championship and second consecutive win.

Results are posted at: http://regattaweb.net/j-80nas/j-80nas.html