American Yacht Club Fall Series Preview
(Rye, New York)- The 33erd annual American Yacht Club Fall Regatta, virtually a J/Fest regatta for passionate J/Sailors, will be taking place for the next two weekends in succession. Of the 73 offshore keelboat teams sailing the regatta, 47 J/teams will be representing 64.0% of the fleet.
The American YC team will be hosting ORC/ PHRF Handicap fleets as well as one-design classes for J/44s, J/109s, J/88s, and J/105s. Racing will be taking place in Western Long Island Sound just south of Rye, New York.
Looming over the first weekend of sailing is a large tropical storm “Ophelia” bearing very strong east to northeast breezes for Saturday and residual effects of plenty of overcast skies, torrential rains, and blustery winds on Sunday.
J/44 ClassSeven J/44s are sailing as a large offshore one-design class with many class veterans hoping that a summer-long campaign may pay off in big dividends for the summer finale. Some of those teams include Commodore Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE, Don & Dick Rave’s RESOUTE, Tom Blackwell’s BREAKWAY, Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE, and June & Amanda Kendrick’s PALANTIR 5.
J/109 East Coast ChampionshipFive J/109s will be vying for East Coast Championship honors. To say that anyone could handicap this group would be defying gravity, after all, just about every team has won major events over the years. The two weekends of sailing for this fleet will become a true “cage match” between these five boats that include Bud Rogers’s BIG BOAT, John Greifzu’s GROWTH SPURT, Trever Roach’s INCENDIARY, Adrian Begley’s MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN, and Bob Schwartz’s NORDLYS.
J/105 ClassWith the impending J/105 North American Championship taking place at American YC after the conclusion of the AYC Fall Series, it’s not surprising that many top teams will be treating the AYC Fall Series as a great final “practice session” before the J/105 NA’s.
Given their past performances in the class, some of the following teams will be a factor on the leaderboard; Bruce Stone & Nicole Breault’s ARBITRADE, Bill Zeitler’s DEJA VOODOO, Max Kalehoff’s LAURA BEA, Paul Beaudin’s LOU LOU, and Damian Emery’s WARLOCK.
J/88 East Coast ChampionshipVying for class honors in the J/88s will be Andrew Weiss and Lawrence Cutler’s ONE TOO MANY, Bill Purdy’s WHIRLWIND, and Justin Scagnelli’s ALBONDIGAS.
PHRF Coastal Racing DivisionThis wildly popular twenty-nine boat division features thirteen J/Teams! Here is the breakdown of the fleet.
The eleven-boat PHRF 1 Division features the gorgeous J/45 ACADIA sailed by Erik Asgeirsson & Tom Stokes, two J/133s (Ron Richman’s ANTIDOTE and Ove Haxthausen’s RUMBA), and the J/111 SUMMER STORM sailed by Andrew Berdon.
The ten-boat PHRF 2 division features three J/99s (Todd Aven’s THIN MAN, Ray Warner’s UPBEAT, and Kevin Marks’s VELOCITY 2) and Bill Ingraham’s J/124 TENEBRAE.
The half-dozen boats sailing PHRF 3 division include Steve Landy & Derek Soohoo’s J/100 SANGUINE, Jason Viseltear’s J/80 UPSETTER, and twin J/92s (JC ZUcconi & James Townsend’s EASY RED and EJ Haskell & Jim Weil’s VIXEN).
Sailing in the seven-boat PHRF 4 Non-spin division are four J/100s sailing as one-designs, including the trio on BLUEFIN (Tom Boyle, Bob Clyatt, & Doug McKeige), the duo on FREEDOM (Drew Fung & Pat Jakobson), William Hennes’s LIBERTY, and Clemmie Everett’s RESOLUTE. For more American YC Fall Series sailing information