J/Fest Southwest a family affair!

2024 J/Fest Southwest Regatta © LYC photographers

J/105 ROCKY Wins Class with McKiege Family!

The J/Fest Southwest Regatta celebrated its 14th Anniversary and it has been a popular tradition among the J/Boat owners throughout the region. For the 2024 edition, thirty-five J/Teams participated from around the country. Here is how it all went down amongst the various fleets.

J/105 Class

The eleven-boat J/105 fleet saw a New York-based family- the McKeige's- take home the bacon after an eight-race series. Father Doug and sons Will and Ian sailed ROCKY to an insurmouontable 6-point lead counting three bullets and three 2nds in thei 17 pts total! The balance of the McKiege family crew included Birger Balteskard, Sean Curry, Roscoe Taylor, Torkel Rhenman, and Sean Walsh.

Taking the silver medal with 23 pts total was Don Peloquin's USUAL SUSPECTS, with crew of Mark Funk, Velko Roskar, Mike Royer, Roscoe Taylor, Jaime Torres, and Chris-ann Tortora. Then, rounding out podium with the bronze medal was Tom Collier's INFINITY with crew of Alan Bates, Doug Cagfle, Corrie Lambert, Paul Parsons, and Drew Peerless.

J/22 Class

This ten-boat fleet saw complete dominance from the first day by Tom Meeh's MEEHEM. Starting off with a blistering triple bullets, they closed with a pair of deuces in their five-race scoreline to win handily with just 7 pts. Tom's crew included Robert Brann and Tom Johnson.

The balance of the podium was Casey Lambert's BLACKBURN MARINE RACING that won two races, but not enough to overcome the MEEHEM madness. Lambert's crew included Jesse Fulmer and Evan Smith. The bronze medal step on the podium was taken by Brant Koepke's SKANK team of Shawn Brennan and Vincent Ruder.

J/24 Class

The ten-boat J/24 fleet also saw a near clean sweep by Chris Holmes's BAD MOON. Winning four of five races, Holmes crew won by a country mile- Sarah Francis, Luke Fricke, David Hayslip, and Johanna Holmes.

Finishing a distant second was Carlos Marrero's URAYO/ CHUPA CABRAS team from Puerto Rico of Joe Maes, Jorge Martin-de-Nicolas, Makai Prejean, and Gilberto Rivera. Earning the bronze medal was Elizabeth Hudson's TWO SHOTS with crew of Nathan Henderson, JR Hudson, Noah Melchor, and Stephanie Myers.

ORC Division

Winning this division was Chris Lewis's J/121 BEAR, winning all seven races in the "no discard" regatta! A "white-wash" is what that's called... maybe a "schooling", too! Second went to Dave Christenson's J/109 AIRBORNE with 16 pts. Then, taking third was Stephen Guerin's J/124 MICRO-DARCY with 22 pts.

For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information www.jfestsouthwest.com.