Great White crowned J/70 Canadian Champion at Chester Race Week

Helly Hansen Chester Race Week © Chester Yacht Club

Dozens of competitors from across Canada and the Eastern Seaboard descended upon the picturesque fishing village of Chester, Nova Scotia for Canada's largest keelboat regatta - Chester Race Week- sailed from August 15th to 18th and hosted by Chester Yacht Club.

Under variable conditions that included light air, fog, and medium air with brilliant sunshine, over 150 yachts competed in this year's running of Chester Race Week.

J/70 Canadians

The hot nine-boat fleet saw incredibly tight competition for the podium. In the end, just five points separated the three leaders at the top of the leaderboard. With three 1sts and five 2nds in their 11-race scorecard, it was Mitchell Horn's GREAT WHITE that was crowned the 2024 J/70 Canadian champion with 20 pts net. Just four points back to take the silver medal was Federico Donzino's LIFTED with 24 pts net. Then, rounding out the podium for the bronze was Graeme Carr's JOYRIDIN with 25 pts net.

J/105 Class

The eight-boat J/105 class enjoyed a spirited competition for most of the fleet except for the winners! LOL! Simply crushing the fleet and counting all bullets after the single discard race in the seven-race series was Sean McDermott & Rory. Macdonald's McMAC. For the rest of the podium, it was a battle to the final race. Taking that duel to earn the silver medal was Robert Merchant's AUSTER II with 15 pts net. Then, garnering the bronze was Evan Oulahen's BEAR with 19 pts net.

PHRF A1 Division

This dozen-boat fleet was Andrew Childs's J/120 JANE took the bronze medal and a fellow J/120 owner, Jordan MacNeil on HELIX took 5th place.

PHRF A2 Division

This seven-boat fleet saw a clean sweep by J/100s that enjoyed a nip-and-tuck battle between those three teams! Winning was Terry McKenna's DOG PARTY with 10 pts net, followed by Paul Rafuse's CROWS in second with 12 pts net, and Larry Creaser's YOUNGBLOOD taking the bronze medal with 13 pts net!

PHRF B1 Division

With eight J/29s, this could easily have been the J/29 one-design class. Nevertheless, it was not surprising to see the 29s occupying most of the top six slots. Second went to Chris MacDonald's SCOTCH MIST. Third went to the popular Colin Mann skipping the J/92 POOHSTICKS. Fourth was Paul Fillbee-Dexter's J/29 PAINKILLER and fifth place was Terry Schnare's J/29 HEAD GAMES!

PHRF B2 Division

With seven boats, it was nice to see Jesleine Baker's J/30 JUST ADD WATER team secure the silver medal by closing with an impressive 3-3-2-1 in her last four races!

For more Chester Race Week sailing information.