J/105 Midwinter Championship 2019 at Fort Worth Boat Club
by Julie & Christopher Howell 12 Mar 2019 19:43 NZDT
7-10 March 2019
2019 J 105 Midwinter Championship © RegattaShots.com
The J/105 Midwinter Championship returned to the calendar this year as 11 teams competed at Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX from March 7-10. Locals Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard led the Hoss team to victory with 24 points. They racked up three bullets over the weekend and never finished lower than sixth. Following Hoss in second place was Bill Zartler's Deja Voodoo (30 points) and Kenneth Horne's Final Final in third (33 points).
Darden summarized, "It was a wild three days of tight racing with winds ranging from 3 to 30 knots. Eagle Mountain Lake always makes it interesting! I would like to thank my Hoss team, first, co-owner and long-time shipmate Reese Hillard trimmer, Jake Scott tactics and mainsheet, Tony Waldon on bow, Peter Philpott at the mast and Lindsay Scott doing everything else. They really pulled Hoss to the top. The Fort Worth Boat Club ran a top-notch event, and PRO Dwight Bengston and his race management team did an outstanding job in getting in eight quality races in three days." Added Matt Arno, J/105 Chief Measurer, "It's not often you get to race in three different seasons in three days. Winds from 0 to 40 and temps from 40 to 80 gave us the full range of conditions. Despite that, racing was tight for the whole regatta."
Overall Results:
| Pos | Bow No | Sail No | Yacht Name | Owner/Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 11 | USA 237 | Hoss | Darden/Hillard | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 24 |
| 2 | 19 | USA 130 | Deja Voodoo | Bill Zartler | 9 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 30 |
| 3 | 10 | USA 396 | Final Final | Kenneth Horne | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 33 |
| 4 | 20 | USA 285 | Beauty | Dwight Horton | 6 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 35 |
| 5 | 17 | USA 628 | DoubleDare | Rick Schaffer | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 38 |
| 6 | 13 | USA 437 | Amor Azul | Matt Talton | 7 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 46 |
| 7 | 12 | USA 69 | Eau La La | Mark Smith | 4 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 48 |
| 8 | 16 | USA 344 | Two Feathers | Mark Masur | 3 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 53 |
| 9 | 15 | USA 124 | Blue Flash | Matthew Arno | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 56 |
| 10 | 14 | USA 172 | EB2 | Martin Peacey | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | DNS | 10 | 11 | 10 | 83 |
| 11 | 18 | USA 624 | Texas Ranger IV | Chuck Wielchowsky | 11 | 8 | DNF | DNS | DNS | DNS | 10 | 11 | 88 |