SEISA Match Race Championship

Fort Worth Boat Club Eagle Mountain Lake; Ft. Worth, TX J-22s

Teams were welcomed to an overcast Fort Worth Boat Club (FWBC) and Eagle Mountain Lake on Saturday morning, with the winds from the South between 10-12 and a forecast to build substantially as the day went on, preceding a large front later that night. Teams drew for boats among the FWBCs club owned fleet of matched J-22s, however they were not allowed to use the good set of race sails due to the forecast.

Initial racing went well and the fleet began to separate relatively early. By the semifinal round there were gusts up to 20 and very fine rain from time to time. Most shifts were to the right with very puffy conditions. The racing became very aggressive with several penalties called by the umpires and one black flag. By the finals winds had increased to a sustained 18-20 with much larger gusts (25-28). Since this was a championship, the RC and SEISA Representative chose not to restrict the use of spinnakers, regardless of the high winds. However, neither team chose to fly a spinnaker during the finals and it was still very exciting. The finals were actually closer than the score suggests, one of the A&M Galveston losses (Race 2) was forced because TAMUG was over early and did not hear the horn or see the flag in the conditions. They actually won the race only to find out afterwards that they were disqualified. TAMUG attempted a rally, but Tulane prevailed in the end.

Congratulations to Tulane University, who will represent SEISA at the ICSA Match Racing National Championship in a few weeks. In the mean time the FWBC will be busy hosting their own Club Fall Championship and the J-80 North American Championship before the ICSA returns.