Four for four at Chester Race Week

Chester, NS (August 17, 2019) – With a full four days of ideal weather including steady south-east winds – unheard of in recent Chester Race Week memory – sailors were understandably tired but ready to give their best effort on the fourth and final day of the 2019 edition.

The C&C 99 Class held its North American Championships during Chester Race Week and Agent 99 skipper Rob Crutcher out of Bedford Basin Yacht Club came first all seven races in the Inshore 2 Fleet to claim the championship title. C&C 99 Fleet Association President Rod Stright, skipper of Equinox 99, came in second overall behind Crutcher, pleased with how consistently close the boats were all week.

“We were able to draw five of the six C&C 99s from Nova Scotia where we had a great few days of racing and there were some really close finishes. We’re looking to grow a solid fleet and we’re starting to see that happen. My vision is to see more C&C 99s taking part from Ontario and other parts of Canada.”

For the event’s last six years, Rod Johnstone, well-known co-founder of J/Boats, has skippered the J/35 J’ai Tu with four members of his original crew from 30 years ago. Johnstone placed fourth overall in the Distance 2 Fleet which was won by Chester Yacht Club’s Larry Creaser, his two sons and crew in their J/100 Young Blood.

“Every summer we have a crew reunion at Chester Race Week because there are lots of J/Boats here and the competition is strong,” said Johnstone. “In fact, J/Boats make up 24 per cent of the boats registered in Chester Race Week this year and won six of the seven fleets they were in, so we must be doing something right.

“Mahone Bay and these awesome conditions remind us a lot of where we sail at home in Stormington (CT), and we really enjoy sailing the longer legs in the Distance fleets. It’s more fun than sailing around buoys all the time.”

Racing was held from August 14 to 17.

Event information – Race details – Results – Facebook

Final Results (Top Three):

Bluenose (One Design – 22 Boats)
1. Wahoo, Henry Demone , CAN – 4 -4 -1 -1 -3 -11 -2 -9 -7 -[12] -1 -2 ; 45
2. Privateer, Connor Mraz , USA – [12] -3 -3 -2 -4 -4 -9 -5 -5 -8 -9 -1 ; 53
3. Faster, Chris von Maltzahn , CAN – 1 -11 -6 -[18] -7 -10 -1 -3 -1 -9 -4 -5 ; 58

Classics (Pursuit – 8 Boats)
1. Seneca, David Creighton , CAN – 1 -1 -1 -2 ; 5
2. Virginia, John Wurts , USA – 2 -2 -2 -1 ; 7
3. Hayseed IV, Christopher Wurts , CAN – 3 -3 -4 -3 ; 13

Distance 1 (PHRF_ToT – 7 Boats)
1. Ramillies, David Wilson , CAN – 1 -2.5 -1 -1 -1 -3 ; 9.5
2. Deviation, Stu McCrea , CAN – 6 -1 -2 -2 -3 -2 ; 16
3. Chaos, Mark Gosine , CAN – 2 -6 -3 -3 -2 -4 ; 20

Distance 2 (PHRF_ToT – 11 Boats)
1. Young Blood, Larry Creaser , CAN – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -3 ; 8
2. DogParty, Terry McKenna , CAN – 5 -4 -2 -2 -3 -1 ; 17
3. HELOC, Andrew Childs , CAN – 2 -6 -3 -4 -4 -2 ; 21

Distance 3 (PHRF_ToT – 9 Boats)
1. Poohsticks, Colin Mann , CAN – 1 -1 -2 -2 -1 -1 ; 8
2. Scotch Mist IV, Chris MacDonald , CAN – 3 -2 -1 -4 -2 -4 ; 16
3. Paradigm Shift, Don Williams , CAN – 2 -3 -4 -1 -4 -3 ; 17

Distance 4 (PHRF_ToT – 9 Boats)
1. Just Add Water, Jesleine Baker , CAN – 1 -4 -2 -2 -3 -3 ; 15
2. Gersemi, Paul Bezanson , CAN – 7 -1 -1 -1 -4 -6 ; 20
3. Apres Ski, Tony Thompson , CAN – 6 -2 -5 -5 -1 -1 ; 20

Distance 5 (PHRF_ToT – 7 Boats)
1. Afterhours, Charles Walker , CAN – 2 -1 -2 -1 -2 -2 ; 10
2. Foxy Lady, Bob Cragg , CAN – 1 -2 -1 -5 -1 -1 ; 11
3. Roguewave, Elizabeth Whyte , CAN – 4 -3 -3 -4 -3 -4 ; 21

Distance 6 (PHRF_ToT – 4 Boats)
1. sea breaker, bruce nunn , can – 1 -1 -1 -1 -3 -2 ; 9
2. To’Mater 3, Warren Webber , Canada – 2 -3 -3 -5 -1 -1 ; 15
3. Nesbitt, Anthony Rosborough , CAN – 3 -2 -2 -2 -4 -3 ; 16

Inshore 1 – J105 (PHRF_ToT – 5 Boats)
1. McMac, Sean / Rory McDermott / MacDonald , CAN – [1] -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 6
2. MOJO, James Mosher , CAN – 2 -3 -3 -3 -2 -2 -[4] ; 15
3. Buzz, Barry Eisener , CAN – 3 -[4] -2 -2 -3 -4 -3 ; 17

Inshore 2 – C&C 99 (PHRF_ToT – 5 Boats)
1. Agent 99, Rob Crutcher , CAN – [1] -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 6
2. Equinox 99, Rod Stright , CAN – [2] -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 ; 12
3. Showgirl2, Drew Bethune , CAN – 3 -3 -3 -[4] -4 -3 -4 ; 20

Inshore 3 (PHRF_ToT – 7 Boats)
1. Painkiller, Jane Filbee , CAN – 1 -[2] -2 -2 -1 -1 -2 ; 9
2. Head Games, Terry Schnare , CAN – 2 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -[4] ; 9
3. Unlimited Data, Alan Chandler , CAN – [3] -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 ; 18

Inshore 4 (PHRF_ToT – 6 Boats)
1. Hoonigan, Ivan Fitch , CAN – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -[4] ; 6
2. Cheap Thrill, Karen Fowler , CAN – 2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -[3] -3 ; 13
3. Hotspur, Tyson Hynes , CAN – 4 -4 -3 -[5] -4 -2 -1 ; 18

Sonar (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. Ping, Andreas Josenhans , Can – 2 -1 -[6] -2 -2 -1 -1 -3 -1 -1 -4 -2 ; 20
2. Barbarian, Rob Barbara , CAN – 1 -[3] -1 -3 -1 -2 -2 -1 -3 -3 -3 -3 ; 23
3. Echo, John Franklin , USA – 3 -2 -[4] -1 -3 -4 -3 -2 -2 -2 -1 -4 ; 27

Farr 30 (One Design – 6 Boats)
1. One More Time, Rob Gale / Ed Steeves , Can – 1 -1 -1 -1 -3 -2 -2 -2 -[5] -3 -3 ; 19
2. Yardsail, Roby Douglas , CAN – 5 -[6] -2 -3 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -2 -1 ; 22
3. Matador, Gregory Blunden , CAN – [4] -4 -3 -2 -2 -1 -3 -1 -3 -1 -4 ; 24

Intenational One Design (One Design – 9 Boats)
1. Bella, Evan Petley-Jones , CAN – 4 -2 -1 -1 -2 -4 -3 -4 -1 -2 -4 -[10] ; 28
2. Enigma, Steve Bush , USA – [5] -4 -2 -3 -3 -3 -2 -2 -2 -3 -5 -3 ; 32
3. Squall, Peter Wickwire , CAN – 2 -[10] -10 -2 -1 -1 -1 -3 -10 -1 -1 -1 ; 33

Source: Holly Dunn