J/Teams Win Lotta Silver in Vineyard Race!

ByStuart Johnstone
Sailboat with black sails on calm water.


Wired logo with a pixelated design.

Two Division Sweeps, 15 Trophies Total!
(Stamford, CT)- Stamford Yacht Club’s 2025 edition of the Vineyard Race proved to be a light to medium breeze challenge, with key decisions being made on how to enter and exit the infamous, treacherous tidal narrows known as “The Race”. The 238-mile course stretched from inside Long Island Sound at Shippan Point in Stamford, Connecticut, to the light tower at the entrance to Buzzard’s Bay, and then returned to the finish in Stamford Harbor, leaving Block Island to starboard on the way out and back. Those who were successful credited their local knowledge of the infamous “The Race” at the opening of Long Island Sound, most going through Plum Island Gut outbound, and coming back through the main Race channel inbound to Long Island Sound.

The race has been popular with many offshore J/Teams for decades, with many sporting multiple divisional wins, and some J/Teams even achieving overall race wins. This year’s event featured over a dozen J’s across multiple ORC and PHRF handicap divisions. And, top J/Teams again garnered lots of silverware. Here’s the breakdown of those sailing the race.

PHRF Doublehanded Division
The J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN from American Yacht Club, sailed by Peter Becker & Adrien Blanc, again repeated another great performance by getting the silver medal. She was followed by a trio of well-sailed J/99 duos- Doug McKeige’s SAVE THE SOUND in third place, Mike Kohler’s EVENTYR in 4th place, and Kevin Marks’s VELOCITY 2 in 5th place.

ORC 7 Division
Winning this fleet was Todd Aven’s J/99 THIN MAN, followed by Ned Jobson’s J/105 SLEEPER, taking the bronze medal.

ORC 9 Division
The two J/122s (Andrew Clark’s ZIG ZAG & David Rosow’s LOKI) had their usual two-boat battle for the duration of the race. This time, Clark’s ZIG ZAG got the bronze medal on the podium, missing the gold medal by a mere 5.5 minutes and the silver medal by 61 seconds! Taking fourth was Rosow’s LOKI, while Albrecht Goethe’s J/46 HAMBURG II finished sixth.

ORC 11 Division- J/Sweep I!
Half of this dozen-boat fleet was J/teams, many with loads of offshore experience, and with many Vineyard Race veterans amongst those teams. It’s not surprising the J/teams swept the podium!

The two J/121s led the sweep, with Steve Losik’s HABIRU winning by 10 minutes corrected time over Trevor Roach’s TOUCH OF GREY. Third place went to Steve Brownlie’s J/133 ASSARAIN IV, just one minute behind TOUCH OG GREY! Finishing in fifth place was yet another J/133- Ove Haxthausen’s RUMBA.

PHRF 8 Division
Fresh from a near-win at the recent J/109 North Americans in Chicago, the betting odds were that John Greifzu’s GROWTH SPURT team would finish near the top of the leaderboard. In the end, they lived up to their reputation as a hot offshore team, earning a well-deserved silver medal for their 1 day, 15 hrs, 33 min corrected time efforts!

PHRF 10 Division- J/Sweep II!
As we mentioned in our preview to this race, one has to feel some empathy for the four competitors up against a quintet of very experienced J/120 teams entered in this fleet. True to form, the experienced offshore teams on the J/120s led a sweep of their division. After 1 day and 11+ hours of sailing, just 40 minutes separated the top four boats. Winning was Richard West’s CHARLOTTE, 13 minutes behind was Brian Spears’s MADISON, taking second, another 20 minutes back was William Klein’s SPECK, taking third, and just 6 minutes further in arrears was Andrian Lubimov’s DUET, taking fourth place.

PHRF 12 Division- Repeat Winners!
Not surprisingly, the “Four J/Horsemen of the Apocalypse” in this fleet cashed in their chips for ever more silverware to fill their groaning trophy shelves. Leading the charge and first across the line was Len Sitar’s magnificent blue J/160 COUGAR, finishing in time for “last call” at the local pubs at 10:46 PM Saturday night. Next boat to finish was Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL at “0 dark hundred” Sunday morning at just 10 past 12:00 AM. While missing last call, the Baxter’s FIREBALL crew celebrated yet another victory in the Vineyard Race, winning PHRF 12 Division and taking 10th overall, not far off their time of winning PHRF Overall in 2024! Second on corrected time was Sitar’s J/160 COUGAR. Then, rounding out the top five were Peter Chirlian’s J/111 CIAO BABY in fourth place and Constantine Baris’s J/122 DIRE WOLF in fifth place.

For more Vineyard Race sailing information
https://www.stamfordyc.com/Sailing/Vineyard_Race_(1)