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Quantum Sails Dominate Chicago Verve Offshore Regatta

2016 Chicago Verve Offshore Regatta

What a wild event! Mother Nature had something for everyone at this year’s Verve Cup Offshore Regatta at the Chicago Yacht Club. Competitors saw everything from wild storms and large wind shifts to light air tactical racing and everything in between. Competition was tight, with ties at the top and podium finishes coming down to the final race. Teams using Quantum sails showed up in nearly every fleet and took home a boat load of trophies.

Friday started ominously with dark clouds to the west. The race committee attempted to get racing in between storms, but the fleet was quickly engulfed in a squall. After a brief battle with Mother Nature, all of the boats returned to shore. The wind, however, never returned, and the sailors retired to the rum tent.

Saturday brought better conditions for sailing, though no less challenging for the race committee. Fleets sailed as many as four races with wild shifts and reaching finish. Norboy was fast out of the box in the Farr 40 fleet with a 1, 2, 3 score line, leading reigning North American Champs Flash Gordon 6 by a point. In the J/111 fleet, Bradley Faber’s Utah was the model of consistency with straight second-place finishes to lead the fleet going into day two. In the T-10 fleet, two Quantum teams, Skidmarks and Retention, posted two wins and identical score lines to lead a tight fleet.

Sunday, the final day of the event, was more typical of a late summer fall day. Lighter, more consistent breezes dominated the day as the race committee sent the fleet out for two final races. Racing heated up as final positions were decided.

Newcomer Exile, skippered by Andy Graff, led the way on day three with two bullets in ORR2. Exile, a J/88, showed excellent speed in the light stuff to launch themselves to a second place finish. In the T-10 fleet, Meat came on strong with first and second place finishes that launched them into second, just in front of Skidmarks. Retention, however, was able to hold on and take the class. Flash Gordon 6 repeated their winning ways and powered into a first place finish in the Farr 40, leaving Norboy in third. Utah suffered a restart after an over early start in the J/111 fleet; they battled back, but ended up on the wrong end of a tiebreaker to finish second in the fleet.

Congratulations to everyone in the Quantum family who raced the event!

Farr 40
1st Place – Helmut and Evan Jahn, Flash Gordon 6
3rd Place – Leif Sigmond and Marcus Thymian, Norboy

J/111
2nd Place – Bradley Faber, Utah

T-10
1st Place – Mark Croll, Retention
2nd Place – Brian Kennalley, Edward Mui, and Craig Roehl, Meat
3rd Place – Lou Jacobs, Skidmarks

ORR 2
2nd Place – Andy Graff, Exile

For full results, click here!

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The Discussion

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