Race Results

Place	Sail #	Skipper	Boat Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total Points
1	CAN25	Brian Cramer	Remarc	1	1	2	-3	1	3	1	9
2	50226	Margo Taylor	Quetzal	2	3	1	1	-4	1	2	10
3	8	Colin Mann	Poohsticks	3	2	4	-4	2	2	3	16
4	43979	Richard Calabro	Pinocchio	-4	4	3	2	3	4	4	20
5	64	Steve Small	Feral Child	5	5	-6	6	5	5	5	31

September 10, 1998 Newport, RI.......... Racing begins Friday for the 1998 North American Championship for the J/105 and J/92 classes. 20 boats are registered for this three day event being hosted by the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. Race Committee Chairman Lou Burns plans to run as many as 7 races over windward-leeward courses in Rhode Island Sound.

The J/105 Class, now with 230 boats worldwide, held regional qualifiers around the country in advance of the Championship. The local favorite is Bob Taylor of Charlestown, RI. Taylor won his class at the J/105 New Englands and the recent GMC NOOD Regatta in Newport. Taylor will be pushed by other Rhode Island teams led by Nelson Weiderman of Wakefield, Jack Colby of Providence, Bill Riggs of Warwick, and Don Priestly of Newport. Other teams to watch are John Zakin of Chicago, IL, 3rd at the 1997 J/105 NA's, and Steve Phillips of Annapolis, MD.The J/105 is 34.5' and is sailed with a J/24 size crew (5-6 people). Each boat is limited to three sails- mainsail, 100% jib and an asymmetric spinnaker.

The J/92 Class welcomes two Canadian teams: Brian Cramer of London, ONT and Colin Mann of Nova Scotia who both trailered their boats to Newport. They will be competing against "local knowledge" in Richard Calabro of Narragansett. The J/92s will be sailing with large genoas and a higher weight limit, as most of the owners have their boats equipped for PHRF handicap racing.

Each morning the competitors will receive a weather briefing by Sailing World Magazine senior editor Ed Adams. North Sails, Hall Spars/Hall Rigging and Lewmar Marine are also providing important support to the event.

Friday 9-11-98 7:40pm Newport, RI........ The North American Championship for the J/92 and J/105 classes got underway today in Newport. After a one hour postponement, Ida Lewis Race Committee Chairman Lou Burns sent the fleets on two races off of Brenton Reef.

Bob Taylor, of Charlestown, RI and his team on the J/105 HIJINX continued their winning ways by picking up two first places, each by over two minutes. In fact Rhode Island boats made a clean sweep of the day, with Jack Colby of Providence finishing with two 2nds, and Bill Riggs of Warwick with a 3rd and 9th. Taylor won the J/105 New England Championship held earlier this season in Newport. In all, 15 J/105s representing 7 states are participating.

In the J/92 class, Canadian Brian Cramer and his team aboard REMARC, sailed as if they were locals, playing the shifting south-westerly breezes to win both races in their class. Elizabeth Talyor of New York and Colin Mann of Novia Scotia are tied for 2nd place.

Up to 7 races are scheduled for the three day series, hosted by Ida Lewis Yacht Club and sponsored by Lewmar Marine, North Sails, J Boats, and Hall Spars/Hall Rigging.

With a 10 knot southwesterly wind already blowing at 8am there was no doubt in the minds of the competitors that lots of racing was in store for the 2nd day of the NA Champs for the J/92 and J/105 classes. Sailing World's editor Ed Adams, in his morning weather briefing, called for a building breeze with a solid 12-18 knots all day. In the first start of the day, the J/105 class aggressively pushed the line, causing the second general recall of the regatta.. The second try got the fleet off on a 3 leg 5..32 mile course. With a long 2 mile first beat, the fleet split in both directions, but at the top the left side paid with Jack Colby of NO SURRENDER and Bob Taylor aboard HIJINX continuing their duel from day #1, rounding 1, 2 at the first mark. Close back was Bob Carballal on TAR BABY and Nelson Weiderman on KIMA. While the long beat did help in separating the top four from the rest of the pack, the middle of the fleet was tightly bunched down the run. With a short beat to the finish, NO SURRENDER tightly covered HIJINX and took the bullet by just under a minute. TAR BABY followed in 3rd, and KIMA held off the tight pack to capture 4th. The 4th-10th place finishers all crossed the line within 50 seconds, making it one of the tightest finished of the series.

For the J/92s, Margot Taylor aboard QUETZAL won the daily 1st with a 1,1,4 day, putting her team only 3 points behind Brian Cramer going into the last day.

The cold front passed through during the night leaving a 10-12 knot northeasterly wind at dawn. Ed Adams forecasted a shifty breeze trying to veer to the south as the inshore thermals built. After a brief postponement, the fleets were sent off on a M1 3-leg course in only 6-7 knots of wind. It took but one leg to see that the light air was going to shake up the standings in the J/105 fleet. Excelling in these conditions were Jim Sorenson of East Hampton, NY and Jon Zakin of Chicago, IL who rounded 1-3 at the first mark, accompanied by KIMA and Hugh McLean on ALLRIGHT. Six lengths back HIJINX held a two length advantage over NO SURRENDER. While most of the fleet jibed onto the headed port jibe, HIJINX stuck like glue to NO SURRENDER and they sailed into the unfavored right corner. This enabled TAR BABY (7th at the weather mark) to pass the regatta leaders downwind. At the front of the fleet, Jon Zakin on ELIZABETH called three excellent tactical jibes and was able to skirt around KIMA and WET LEOPARD to round first at the bottom and bring home the well deserved bullet. TAR BABY again demonstrated their comeback prowess by coming back to finish 3rd behind WET LEOPARD. In the race for 1st overall, HIJINX covered NO SURRENDER to the end, forcing both boats into their worst finishes of the series: 6th and 8th.

In the duel for J/92 class honors, Margo Taylor on QUETZAL and Brian Cramer of REMARC engaged aggressively before the start. QUETZAL nailed the pin end start with REMARC on the hip. A minute into the race, QUETZAL forced REMARC to tack off, allowing QUETZAL to take the favored left side and then cover conservatively around the course. In one of the tighter races in the series Colin Mann on POOHSTICKS and Richard Calabro on PINOCHIO gave REMARC a true fight to the finish. At the line, QUETZAL got the gun followed by POOHSTICKS and REMARC. This left QUETZAL and REMARC with a final Race #7 showdown- winner takes all.

With the wind up to 10-12 knots, the Race Committee decided to run a final 5-leg M2 course. NO SURRENDER's tactics were clear. They needed to beat HIJINX by 2 places and finish in the top 4 to take the championship. Easier said than done. With the wind back up into their "magic range" HIJINX was back in high gear. At the first mark HIJINX and NO SURRENDER were 4th and 5th. The regatta was essentially clinched later on the downwind leg when HIJINX baited NO SURRENDER off to the right side of the run then quickly jibed for the "change of course" mark unseen by several of the race leaders. The fleet remixed at the leeward mark, the breeze built to 12-15 knots, and HIJINX and NO SURRENDER pulled to the front of the fleet holding off WET PAINT and Terry Laughren of WINGED VICTORY to the finish.

The J/92s had no less fun as the start of their race #7 almost duplicated that of race #6, with QUETZAL gaining the leebow favored position off the line. This time though REMARC managed to escape traffic better than QUETZAL and held a narrow margin at the first mark. Employing what had now become familiar match-race like tactics, REMARC covered tightly the rest of the race and with the bullet, beat QUETZAL by 1 point in the overall standings.