Larchmont NOOD
Larchmont Yacht Club
Rye, NY
September 8-10
A decent collection of J-80s (15) got together for the 2000 NAs at the Larchmont NOOD. This year, I crewed with my good friend Pete Carelli from Cleveland. Joining me in the crew were Chris Carroll and Greg Fisher. Our team was definitely well-stacked and we were looking forward to winning this event.
We started racing on Friday and it was a great day for sailing. The wind was out of the Southwest between 8-12 with very little shifting. Sun shining! Asymmetricals! I was having fun.
The first race started out bad for the USA-69 crew. We started at the pin in a huge pile up and got off the line last. We ground back and got a 6th, but had hoped for a better start to the regatta. The second and third races proved to be the battle that we had expected. We finished 2nd in both to Jay Lutz (Lightning World Champ) with Moose McClintock (AmericaOne trimmer). There was some tight racing/match racing. We just missed out in each race, but it bacame clear that it was a 2-boat regatta.
Saturday was a drift-out. No wind, no racing. Pete, Greg, Chris and I had fun considering there was no racing. We chatted about politics, investing, sailing, etc. It made the day go by.
Sunday was our day. We posted a 3,1 and made up some points, but Lutz's spectacular Friday proved to be too much. Jay was gracious in accepting the NAs and knew that we were close. If not for a few breaks, we would have won, which drives us for next time.
Thanks to Pete and his wife Melinda for taking good care of the "team".
Next stop, Annapolis for the J-22 East Coasts.