Leahey take J/88 North American title

The 2022 J/88 North American Championship was held September 22-25, with John and Jordan Leahey’s Dutch winning overall honors in Chicago, IL. Sailing in the Corinthian Division, Dutch also took home the prize for the top Corinthian boat. Dutch won in convincing fashion, scoring four bullets in the 12 race series.

“We saw a little bit of everything in this regatta, and the competition was outstanding,” noted John Leahey. “It was great to see so many teams doing well at various points.

The fleet did see a little bit of everything, as conditions varied dramatically during the four-day regatta. Thursday featured northerly winds over 20 knots for much of the day, with five to seven-foot waves. Friday’s conditions offered light and lumpy conditions, with southeast winds in the six to eight knot range for much of the day. Saturday brought lighter southwesterlies and a smoother sea state. And the finale on Sunday offer with west to northwest winds in the 10-15 knot range, with gusts of over 20 knots.

The differing conditions gave many teams opportunities to excel. Lindsey Duda’s Sin Duda!, Ben Marden’s Banter, and Iris Vogel’s Deviation scored two wins apiece, while Michael and Grace Gillian’s Julia won Saturday’s contests with a 1-2-3 performance in the three races that day.

Final Results (Top 5 of 24; 12 races, 1 discard)
1. Dutch, John & Jordan Leahey , USA – 1 -1 -1 -4 -3 -3 -1 -6 -6 -8 -2 -[25/DNS] ; 36
2. Deviation, Iris Vogel , USA – 8 -2 -2 -1 -[13] -7 -8 -3 -8 -3 -6 -1 ; 49
3. Exile, Andy Graff , USA – 4 -4 -3 -5 -6 -[13] -2 -5 -3 -13 -5 -3 ; 53
4. Gaucho, Dave Tufts , USA – 2 -6 -4 -8 -7 -8 -4 -10 -2 -2 -10 -[14] ; 63
5. Piranha, Dave Dennison , USA – 6 -10 -5 -2 -8 -4 -[15] -8 -7 -10 -7 -8 ; 75
6. Spray, Robbie Lowrance , USA – 10 -7 -7 -11 -10 -6 -6 -[25/DSQ] -12 -6 -3 -4 ; 82

Details: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15016

Source: CYC