2010 National Keelboat Championships
The 2010 Bacardi National Keelboat Championships were completed this weekend for the J105, International One Design and Etchells Classes. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club were the host club for the annual Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) event. Winds eased throughout the day on Saturday forcing the sailors to continue to “change gears” and adjust equipment to deal with the constantly changing conditions.
Defending National Champion Jon Corless and the crew of ‘Mayhem’ prevailed by a slim margin in the J105 class and we re-crowned 2010 National Champions. Sailing with Corless was Jen Quinn, Rebecca Roberts, Craig Scott, Jeff Roach and Jordan Smith. All six of Bermuda’s fleet of J105’s made it out to the Great Sound. ‘Mayhem’ edged out her nearest rivals by 2 points leaving a tie breaking count back to determine 2nd place. James Macdonald’s ‘ Passion’ ended up taking 2nd while Chuck Millican and his crew onboard “Elusive’ were 3rd.
2010 Bermuda National J105 Champions –‘Mayhem’. Pictured below, L-R front, are Jon Corless (skipper), Jen Quinn, Rebecca Roberts, Craig Scott, Jeff Roach. L-R back – BSA president Tim Patton, Jordan Smith.
The International One Design (IOD) class saw an interesting result as Tim Lynch and his crew on ‘Impulse’ dethroned defending National Champion Penny Simmons aboard ‘Ariel’. Simmons’ poor 5th place finish in race four opened the door for Lynch to lift the title. Lynch and his crew of Steve Musicant, Barry Zurbuchena and Stephen Benn are normally seen sailing in the J24 fleet. The J24 National Championships will be sailed next week on Saturday, November 27th.
The Etchells class enjoyed 2 days of racing to determine their champion while the other two classes completed their racing on Saturday. Chris Britton sailing ‘Fram’ along with Will Thompson and Malcolm Graham-Taylor were the leaders after the first day and continued their fine form on Sunday in very light winds to win by a comfortable margin. In second place was frequent visitor Jason Owen from the UK and Martin Vezina in 3rd place.
Complete results can be found at www.bermudasailing.com
Why was the IOD class the only class where the 3rd place finisher not mentioned? Are they not important enough?