Light winds open J/105 North American Championship

Toronto, Ont (September 25, 2014) – Rod Wilmer and Terry McLaughlin excelled in the light air of the opening day of the J/105 North American Championship hosted by Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

McLaughlin (current J/105 Midwinter Champion and Sail Canada’s Rolex Sailor of the Year) and the Mandate team tallied at 1,3,2 in Thursday’s contests for a three point advantage. Rick Goebel’s Sanity stands three points behind. Following closely in third is Peter Hall’s Jamaica Me Crazy (10 points) and James Rathbun’s Hey Jude (current J/105 North American Champion) with 11 points.

The fleet of 27 J/105s took to the waters of Lake Ontario under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 70s. The winds began around 4 knots when the Wilmer/McLaughlin team grabbed the regatta’s first victory. Kevin Pask’s Full Tilt trailed in second and Rathbun in third. In the next battle, Goebel took line honors, as Hall and Wilmer/McLaughlin followed. Rathbun moved to the top spot in the day’s last race in winds hovering at 6 knots. Wilmer/McLaughlin were the runner up, with Hall in third.

Twenty-seven teams are competing from Bermuda, Canada and the United States. Racing continues through Sunday.

Day One Standings (Top 10 of 27; 3 races)
1. Mandate, Rod Wilmer / Terry McLaughlin , CAN – 1 -3 -2 ; 6
2. Sanity, Rick Goebel , USA – 3 -1 -4 ; 8
3. Jamaica Me Crazy, Peter Hall , CAN – 4 -2 -3 ; 9
4. Hey Jude, James Rathbun , CAN – 2 -7 -1 ; 10
5. The Usual Suspects, Suspect Syndicate , CAN – 6 -4 -6 ; 16
6. Live Edge, Michael Mountford , CAN – 8 -6 -10 ; 24
7. Arbitrage, Bruce Stone , USA – 16 -5 -5 ; 26
8. Thunderstruck, Andrew Moor , CAN – 11 -12 -7 ; 30
9. Endeavour, Bill Bevan / Paul Martini , CAN – 9 -9 -13 ; 31
10. Starcross, Michael Penny , CAN – 7 -17 -9 ; 33

Event website – Complete results – Photos
Photos from Tim Wilkes, as well as complete results are available at http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=987.

Report by class media.