Yacht Club Hosting North American J/30 Sailboat Championship Regatta

J/30 sailboat racers from across the East Coast started gathering at the Barrington Yacht Club Thursday, July 25, for the 2013 North American Championship regatta this weekend, July 25-28.

Approximately 20 boats will sail up to the starting line in the upper south part of Narragansett Bay for 7 to 9 races over the next three days, said Barrington’s Charlie Stoddard, the regatta chairman for the fourth time and the J/30 class measurer.

Barrington hosted the J/30 championship previously in 2004 and 2000. The regatta moves around the East Coast each year, Stoddard said. 

Racing starts at 11 am each day with the warning signal. The best spot to watch the races is Colt State Park in Bristol, said Mark Rotsky of Bristol, the district governor for southern New England.

Each of the races is 6 miles long and takes anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes to complete, depending on conditions.

Light winds are forecast for the weekend, so racing conditions should be a significant test for the 30-foot long boats and their seven crew members, said Rotsky.

“That will create challenging race conditions,” he said.

The lightweight fiberglass boats typically can hit 6 to 8 knots, said Stoddard.

“They are great for racing with a super underbody,” he said.

Of course, the weekend won’t all be about racing. The yacht club will host a cookout under tents after racing today, July 26, a banquet on Saturday night, July 27, and an awards presentation on Sunday, July 28.

The J/30 boats all were built between 1979 and 1986, said Stoddard. Approximately 550 were manufactured with about half of them still racing.

“It’s a combination family and racing boat,” said Dave Erwin of New Orleans, the co-class president who is a five-time North American champion. He’s not racing this year, though, just helping to organize the event.

The sailor with the lowest number of points over the three days will become North American champion. Plaques will go to the top six finishers, said Kathy Rotsky, a sailor herself with her husband, Mark. She was registering sailors and handling other details for the yacht club on Thursday. 

Many of the boats were sailed into Barrington from ports all along the East Coast; a few were trucked in from as far away as Michigan.