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Sweeping Success at the 2015 J/109 North American Championship

Don Filippelli’s Caminos has placed second at the J/109 North American Championship three times.

With the success of Quantum sails in the J/109 fleet, Quantum rep Terry Flynn worked with Filippelli this spring to outfit his boat with new Quantum sails. At their first regatta, Caminos not only won the J/109 North American’s, he also won Block Island Race Week, winning the Everett B. Morris Memorial Trophy for best overall performance.

Flynn connected with Filippelli through his son-in-law, Ryan Dempsey. “I know Ryan from the J/80 class, and was a customer of mine,” said Flynn. “We started talking in the spring about switchingCaminos over to Quantum sails and me sailing the regatta with them. The timing worked out that I could do it, so he ordered the new main and class jib.”

Caminos raised the sails once before Block Island Race Week to make sure they fit and there were no issues. “I set up the boat to Kerry Klingler’s tuning guide, and it seemed really fast,” said Flynn.
Flynn said getting out to practice was key to their crew, who was sailing together for the first time. “It gave us time to get comfortable with our jobs and each other,” he said. “Sunday we had wind from 4-18, so we got to test different rig settings.”

The practice and sails paid off.

Caminos dominated the week, winning four of 11 races and never finishing below fourth. They easily took the win with a 17-point victory over second place and 27 points ahead of third.

Overall, it was a sweep, as Quantum-powered Rush and Storm took second and third, 19 points ahead of the competition. Quantum rep Kerry Klinger, who sailed on Storm, said the results were clear.

“Rush and Storm are both top competitors in the J/109 class. Storm has won the North American’s three times and Rush has a very good record. The top three Quantum-powered boats were clearly faster than the rest of the fleet.”

Overall, it was a great week for everyone. “The Storm Trysail Club did a great job with the organization and the volunteers for the event,” said Flynn. “I haven’t been to many Block Island Race Weeks, but the weather was everything you could as for. After the week we had, I wouldn’t change a thing about how we sailed.”

Congratulations to all three teams on an amazing event!

J/109 North American Championship
1 – Don Filippelli, Caminos
2 – Bill Sweetser, Rush
3 – Rick Lyall, Storm

For full results, click here

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The Discussion

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