The winner of the J109 East Coast Championships held this past weekend during the New York Yacht Club race week was Electra, owned by Craig Crossley of Barrington, R.I. Electra posted a total of 17 points, with the closest competitor, Storm owned by Rick Lyall of Wilton, Conn., with 23.75 points overall. “This was hard core racing,” said Crossley, “We have never sailed four races in one day”.
After the first race on the first day (they finished fourth), we said ‘we’ve got to keep racing and do better.’ After that, everything started to click and we kept getting better.” Crossley attributed the boat’s success to the team’s positive atmosphere. He recalled looking around the course and seeing one of sailing’s great names, Rod Johnstone, on a boat next to him at the first start. “We knew we had to do well against Rod,” said Crossley. “At the end of the last race, we were both crossing the finish line together. We thought they had us, but we wound up winning it by an inch. And we won the series.”
To read more about the regatta please click on the link below.
