A J/Fest of J/24s, 80s, 105 and 120s
(San Diego, CA)- While the Cabo Race sailors on Sunday were getting pounded by the massive low pressure system traversing the southern California coastline, the Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta in San Diego had great winds and some great sailing. The strong turnout of J's, the large J/120 and J/105 classes and the very competitive J/24s and the J/80s, made the most of Sunday's windy conditions to get in good, hard, fast races.
As the largest fleet in the regatta, the eighteen boat J/105 fleet has attracted a good out-of-town contingent, The local California contingent of class leaders like the Case's WINGS and Howell's BLINK! had an off weekend, neither cracking the top five. Sailing a very strong regatta was Long Beach YC's Gary Mozer on CURRENT OBSESSION 2, sailing to 3 straight firsts to win by 5 pts over San Diego YC's Tomm Hurlburt on BLOW BOAT. Third was SDYC's Chris Logan sailing his PHOLLY to a 2-4-8 for 14 pts. Fourth was OFF THE PORCH skippered by Scott McDaniel from SLBYC to a 11-3-4 score for 18 pts, beating on a tie-breaker TRIPLE PLAY sailed by Dave Vieregg from SDYC with a 4-5-9 record for 18 pts.
The J/120 fleet saw eight very competitive boats sail three solid races. This year it was CAPER sailed by San Diego YC's John Laun that walked off with the gold, sailing to a 1-1-3 for 5 pts. Lying second was last year's winners, Chuck Nichols and his SDYC team racing CC RIDER to straight 3rds for 9 pts. Were it not for a first race snafu, Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI from SDYC might have gotten second, sailing to a 6-2-2 for 10 pts, just one point back from second. Fourth was J-ALMIGHTY sailed by Mike Hatch from CRA and fifth was SHENANIGANS skippered by Gary Winton from CBYC.
The local SoCal J/24s showed up in force with a very competitive fleet of thirteen J/24s to vie for "top dog" billing in SoCal over the course of four tightly fought races. As it turned out, THE top dog was, in fact, THREE BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara YC, sailed by current J/24 North American Champion Pat Toole. Their 1-1-2-1 record just beat out past National/ NA Champion Chris Snow on BOGUS from San Diego YC who raced to a 2-2-1-2 record, trading out all of the top two spots in the fleet with Pat's TBD team. Third was ON BELAY raced by Don Taylor from RYC, sailing to a 3-5-7-3 and beating on a tie-breaker SUPER STRINGS sailed by Norm Hosford from DPYC that had a 7-3-4-4 tally. Fifth was Erik Hemmi from SWYC.
Finally, the ten J/80s had perhaps the closest racing of all the J one-designs, with the top five only separated by 13 points after seven races. Winning this tight fleet was Curt Johnson from California YC racing AVET to a 1-6-1-2-3-2-1 for 16 pts. Steve Wyman survived an unfortunate occurrence in the last race where a trailing competitor hooked his backstay and broke their mast, getting average points for that race. As a result, Steve's NUHUN from Dana Point YC got a 3-3-2-3-6-3 record for 20 pts. Just behind in third was Kurt Wiese from NHYC sailing to a 4-2-5-7-1-3-3 score for 25 pts. Two points back in fourth was another "dog boat", UNDERDOG raced by John Steen from SWYC and sailing to a 2-5-3-1-4-1-11 score for 27 pts. And, just two points further back again was BLUE JAY raced by Bob Hayward from SMWYC to a 5-1-4-4-8-5-2 record for 29 pts.Mike Lovett at SAILING WORLD magazine interviewed John Steen- "According to the crew of John Steen's UNDERDOG, the J/80 is the perfect boat for ripping down the swells at the Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD.
For Kyle Archer and the crew of John Steen's UNDERDOG, getting into the J/80 class had a lot to do with envy. "About nine years ago, we were sailing the NOOD down in South Bay aboard a chartered J/24," says Archer. "We were having a lot of fun with the crew we had, but we were watching the J/80s launch their spinnakers, come up on plane, and just rip by us. That drew John's interest, and he asked us, 'What do you think about switching over the J/80?'"
The crew's enthusiastic reply inspired Steen to research the class and ultimately purchase UNDERDOG. "There's a lot of things we like about the boat," says Archer, who serves as jib and spinnaker trimmer. "You don't have to worry about putting together a big crew. It's big enough to be comfortable in the cockpit, and it's easy enough to put on a trailer."
The portability of the J/80 has helped nurture a strong fleet up and down the West Coast. The UNDERDOG team frequently leaves its home base at San Diego's Southwestern YC to attend events in the Los Angeles area and beyond, and boats from the north return the favor by traveling to events like the Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD. Although UNDERDOG was not able to make the trek to the J/80 Worlds in Newport, the team is encouraged to know that local boats can compete on the international level. "We were just hearing some stories from the Worlds last night," says Archer. "It gives us some vindication to know that boats from our area are competitive. It gives us a way to measure up."
As much as Archer and his UNDERDOG cohorts would've loved to join the J/80 class's East Coast tour last year, there's nothing they enjoy more than hooking into a Pacific swell and blasting downwind. "When we get a big swell and we turn and burn under the spinnaker, it's just so much fun. The water's coming across the bow, hitting you in the face, and you're just hanging on for dear life!!" Sailing Photo credits- Tim Wilkes. For more Sperry Top-Sider NOOD San Diego sailing information and racing results.
As for the racing, it seems that the Congo line dancing to music was translating onto the race course with home-boy Benz Faget leading the J/22s home with nearly all firsts sailing his great yacht called, appropriately, FATS (a New Orleans famous jazz musician). Second was Bob Muller with nearly all seconds and third was another local boy, Dwight LeBlanc III sailing WAVEMAKER well enough to almost spoil the party for Muller to snag second place. 
* J One-Design Expertise Helps! Past J/24 World Champion John Kostecki (right) led the Farr 40 Worlds fleet home sailing on TRANSFUSION. Another former J/24 Champion Chris Larson (left) was doing the same further down the ladder. Great story, consistency is King, as they say in tight, college-style fleets.
winner in the Farr 40 Worlds, lived up to his reputation as one of the world's best as the local boat clawed its way back to finish second behind Nerone, and win the title! While five different boats won races during the series, Transfusion won only once, but never dipped below a seven. Consistency pays.
At the end of the fight for global J/22 midwinter domination, it was Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY who narrowly won the J/22 Midwinter Championship in a tie-breaker over Chris Doyle's SOLID LAYER. Only 8 points separated the top 7 finishers! Todd won the tie-breaker with his bullet in race 4. In third, Tim Healy on SAILORS FOR THE SEA squeaked past Scott Young (tied at 47). Travis Odenbach on INSTIGATOR trailed them by one point finishing fifth, then Benz Faget on TEAM FATS sixth and Allan Terhune on SEA BISCUIT seventh (tied at 49). Bringing up the rear of this tight pack was past World Champion Terry Flynn in eighth on MARGO. The final day of racing featured 3 more races for a total of 9. Don't know what was the cure, but a combo of Pepto Bismol, Advil and a "chill pills" (Bud or PBR?) may have been the prescription to keep these crew's anxiety under control and focused on the game at a hand.