J35 Class New Years Message 2021
Greetings J35 Racers,
As the tumultuous year of 2020 comes to an end it is time to start looking to what I certainly hope and expect to be a much better season in 2021.
Unfortunately, nearly all major sailing events (with a few notable exceptions) were cancelled or postponed in 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic. This included the J35 North American Championship Regatta that had been scheduled to be held in Milwaukee WI in September, the Chicago to Mackinac race (though Port Huron to Mac were able to get it done), NOOD, and most other regional regattas. Many club races continued albeit in a modified format with limited onshore activities. . My local club was able to hold an almost full season of Wed night races and we even were able to run the Lake Michigan Clipper Cup from Muskegon Michigan to Port Washington Wisconsin. Congratulations and THANK YOU! to the many yacht clubs and countless volunteers, skippers, and crew, that gave us the opportunity to continue to enjoy the sport that we love.
The South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, the host of our scheduled NA regatta was hit with a double dose of trouble in 2020. In early January, a massive storm coupled with a record high water levels in Lake Michigan did significant damage to the protective seawall and marina of the club. I coincidently was with the leadership team of SSYC in Chicago as the storm was hitting and their phones lit up with calls about the destruction in progress. SSYC is rebuilding but the seawall damage is going to take time and as such we have made the difficult decision to move from postponement to a cancellation of the 2020 NA Regatta.
Given the logistics and planning involved, and the significant advance notice that is required to be given to potential competitors for a successful NA Championship regatta and given the continued uncertainties as we overcome the impact of the pandemic, we will now focus on planning for the 2022 event. We have several possible locations in discussion, and we hope to make an announcement soon as to the location of our biannual event.
