BillBlevins.com :: Mostly about 2.4mR sailing

No, I Didn’t Buy a J-24, Today Was J-Daze!

2008 J-DAZE Regatta, (Photo by Bill Blevins)

I took the Skeeter out this morning and photographed the first few races of the 2008 J-Daze J-24 Regatta that is being hosted by Canandaigua Yacht Club this weekend on Canandaigua Lake in Canandaigua, New York.

(I secretly wondered how many times Canandaigua could be used in a sentence. Now I know.)

2008 J-DAZE Regatta, (Photo by Bill Blevins)

I watched the first few starts and they seemed to have about 35 boats on the line. I measured steady winds at 11 mph with some puffs to 14. (The racers will say it was much higher.) It was a perfect day for racing with an occasional sprinkle of rain but the predicted storms held off until the evening after racing was finished.

Everyone looked like they were having good times - even the folks that ripped a headsail on someone else’s rigging - The collision was near the bottom of the course as the boat that rounded and was heading back upwind on port tack and tried to thread the needle between a whole lot of boats coming downwind.

That’s racin’!

I may try to wet the hull on my 2.4 Meter tomorrow and see if I can pace on the outside of the race course with J-24s. More storms with heavy rain are moving through this evening but tomorrow is looking like it will be another great day.

All of the small versions of the photos and a slideshow are posted over at flickr.com and I’m going to give Pam and John (Albatross J-24 #3024) a disk with the full-sized images if anyone wants a print from the higher quality photo.

2008 J-DAZE Regatta, (Photo by Bill Blevins)

Feel free to leave a comment and tell about the Saturday afternoon races, the party, Sunday’s races and the results!