J/80 North American Class Association

Thanks to Brian Gibbs for this report: Back in January, I got word of a new J/80 regatta coming to New England this summer. Bengt Johansson, a long time J/Boat sailor (J/24, J/109 and now J/80 owner), had reached out that he was working on getting a J/80 class start for us at the Cedar Point One Design Regatta in Westport, CT on June 1-2. He already had a few local boats committed, and our friends on PARTY TREE had already signed up. Having sailed many Lightning regattas at Cedar Point over the years and with firsthand experience of their excellent facilities, hospitality and good race management, I immediately signed up. At the next class BOD meeting, I mentioned to the group that there was a new regatta on the calendar and that they should seriously consider going. Within a few weeks, our current Class President signed up, our Past Class President signed up, and our friend of the Class and current J/Boat liaison Peter d’ Anjou signed up. This was going to be great! Now we just needed to wait 4 months for the snow to melt....
So finally, last weekend, we all converged on CPYC on Friday morning, several by land (from as far away as Maryland) and a few by sea. We spent the day rigging, catching up with old friends and making some new ones. Some teams went out and practiced in perfect conditions in the afternoon to knock the rust off.
Arriving early at the club on Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised to see an 8-10 knot northerly breeze out on Long Island Sound. The whole fleet, including about seven J/109s, a half a dozen J/105s and the nine J/80s, made our way out to the course. The first race was a W/L twice around with one-mile legs. BLINDFAITH and PARTY TREE rounded the first mark 1,2 and proceeded downwind. Two-thirds of the way down the leg, we noticed the J/105s stopped and dropping their kites. A fast 180-degree shift came in as the seabreeze filled. RC sounded three horns to abandon the race and get set up for the rest of the day in the southerly seabreeze. The RC rattled off three races in a 6-10 knot breeze with plenty of shifts, patchy spots and current to keep things interesting. BLUR, a somewhat local boat from just across the sound in Long Island, sailed very well with a 1,2,1. PARTY TREE was also super fast all day, posting a 2,3,2, and BLINDFAITH put up a 5,1,3. Pretty tight racing across the entire fleet considering the conditions.
CPYC hosted an excellent BBQ dinner. Rumor has it that a few adult beverages may have been consumed.
The forecast for Sunday was 1 knot, gusting to 4. On the way out to the course, the breeze filled to 5 knots or so, and RC started the classes on time. Patchy, shifty breeze with quite a bit of current made for some challenging racing. Lots of Chutes and Ladders stuff going on. Bengt Johansson on BLAZE was "on fire" in the light stuff and posted a 1,1 on Sunday. The last race was finished at the second weather mark due to dying breeze and foul current. Boats were quickly hauled and packed up. After a very nice awards ceremony, everyone was on the way home.
Thanks to Cedar Point Yacht Club, the RC, the ODR event organizers and the sponsors for hosting a fabulous event. We hope to make this a permanent J/80 regatta on the calendar. Come join us next year!
Full results: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16374