Sunny, Fogless Chester Race Week!
by J/Boats 19 Aug 2022 01:29 BST
August 10-13, 2022
Helly Hansen Chester Race Week © Tracey's Photography
The final day of Helly Hansen Chester Race Week may have been the most spectacular day of racing this year. Day 4 certainly made up for Day 3 when there were no winds at all, but gorgeous and sunny anyways. Crazily enough for this often fog-bound coastline, this global warming stuff has unintended consequences and benefits for some... one is sunny Halifax, Nova Scotia!
Pat Nelder, the on-water chair of Chester Race Week, commented, "the weather was completely different to the forecast. I am pretty sure it's being forecast out of a basement in Moncton," he joked. "We had lovely sunny days the first two days with light wind. On the third day, no winds but beautiful and sunny. Today champagne winds and even sunnier!"
For the 117 boats that participated this year, it was a welcome change from past race weeks. Loving it was a large group of J/Teams in the various classes.
In PHRF 1 Division of nine-boats, Matt Stokes' J/133 Blue Jay III managed to sail consistently to earn the bronze medal. Then Richard Calder's J/120 Brilliance ended up fifth and Ray Rhinelander's J/133 Bella J was sixth.
PHRF 2 Division of eleven boats was treated to a clean sweep by J/100s. Winning was Larry Creaser's Youngblood by winning 3 of five races for an 8 pts total. Second was Terry McKenna's Dog Party winning the remaining two races to take the silver with 12 pts. Then, rounding out the podium on the bronze step was Paul Rafuse's CROWS with 16 pts.
The dozen-boat PHRF 3 Division was pretty well dominated by J/Temas. The top dog was Paul Fillbee-Dexter's J/29 Painkiller, taking the silver. The bronze medal went to perennial favorite Colin Mann's J/92 Poohsticks. Behind him were four more J/29s! Fourth was Don Williams' Paradigm Shift, fifth was Chris Power's Jaeger, sixth was Chris MacDonald's Scotch Mist IV, and seventh was Terry Schnare's Head Games.
The PHRF Inshore I division saw two J/30s post good performances (seen above). Jordan MacNeil's Flux took the bronze medal on a tiebreaker at 15 pts each over Jesleine Baker's Just Add Water.
Finally, the J/105 Class saw Sean McDermott & Rory MacDonald's McMAC walk off with class honors after winning four of six races. Capt. Bradison Boutilier's Shipyard J105 took the silver only counting 1st and 2nds! Rounding out the podium for the bronze medal was Jim Mosher's Mojo.
One of the highlights for CRW was the Friday night appearance of Brooklyn Blackmore. Her sound reflects influences of the old-school mystical style of Stevie Nicks and modern artists like Miley Cyrus. Blackmore won the Global Country Star Search in 2016, and Female Vocalist of the Year and Female Entertainer of the Year at the North American Country Music Association International in 2017. New single "Paint The Sky" was released in June 2022.
Mre Chester Race Week sailing information available here...