It was another fantastic fall weekend of racing in Annapolis for the J/22 East Coast Championship. Teams traveled from across the northeast & mid-Atlantic to join in on the fun and for the top competition. 13 J/22 teams raced Saturday & Sunday, October 27-28.
We’ll get to the action on the water in a moment–the highlight on land was the Saturday evening regatta and costume party. Over 170 J sailors enjoyed dinner under the tent and shortly afterward, the DJ started pumping the tunes and the costumes came out. The crowd even demanded the annual flip-up challenge between the J/24s and J/22s before dessert. We were too busy dancing under the tent to even hold the costume contest, but we’ve decided that the “Party Patrol” placed third, George Washington placed second and the entire cast from Gilligan’s Island, aka the Blo’viate team, was the first place winner. Prior to the party, North Sails Zeke Horowitz and Will Welles led the Saturday dock talk, which focused on big air techniques both upwind and down. The breeze was in the high teens, so the focus was on depowering upwind and weight placement downwind. Then, champion oyster shucker George Hastings shucked 400 local Delaware Bay oysters during Oyster Happy Hour before the Low Country Boil, prepared by Bread & Butter Kitchen. Friday evening, Quantum Sails’ Travis Odenbach led a great dock talk and was joined by Mike Marshall, Ian Coleman and Quinn Schwenker. Afterward, the crowd enjoyed local Maryland and cream of crab soups, sandwiches and snacks, before heading out to the Boatyard Bar & Grill’s Full Moon Party.
Local J/22 sailor Ian Jones placed third with a total of 18 points. In second place, Jacob Doyle finished with a total of 12 points. And, our 2018 J/22 East Coast Champions are Jeff Todd and his crew on Hot Toddy, Chris Ryan and Chip Carr, finishing with a total of 12 points!
For full results, video and more, visit http://j24j22eastcoastchampionship.com.