J/Fest Southwest Fun & Frolic!
by J-Boats 29 Oct 2023 12:28 NZDT
October 7-8, 2023
J/Fest Southwest Fun & Frolic! © J-Boats
J/Fest Southwest Regatta celebrated its 14th Anniversary with over 70 J/Boats and avid J/Boat competitors from around the country. This year's event featured one-design fleets of J/22s, J/24s, and J/105s.
Winning the nine-boat J/105 fleet was Bill Mead's SPITFIRE by a mere point over Don Peloquin's USUAL SUSPECTS. The third went to Joel Scott's PESTO. An unusual situation took place in the third race where all three boats on the podium got scored DSQ or DNF!
The ten-boat J/22 class saw Tom Meeh's MEEHEM winning the regatta by closing with a blistering tall of three bullets on the last day. Nevertheless, just two points back to take the silver medal was Alex Schwinn's TILT; having started with a 2-1-1-2 but getting "tilted" on their pinball wizard effort to maintain their lead! Taking the bronze medal was Larry Wise's LET THE WOOKIE WIN by posting four 3rds!
The seventeen-boat J/24 class saw a past J/24 World Champion providing the fleet a "schooling master class" on how to sail J/24s fast, consistent, and avoid major pitfalls. Paul Foerster's GRAND SLAM 2 posted a 3-1-2-1-1-3 for 11 pts to win by a Texas furlong. The familiar BAD MOON, skippered by Chris Holmes, took second with a 1-2-3-6-5-4 tally for 21 pts. Rounding out the podium was Jim Freedman's LOL with a roller-coaster tally of 8-4-1-7-2-1 for 23 pts. The balance of the top five included Corey Harding's HAPPY DANCE in 4th place and Gilberto Rivera's URAYO from Peru in 5th place.
For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information visit www.jfestsouthwest.com.