2025 J/70 Mixed Plus National Championship - Final Report
At the first ever 2025 J/70 US National Championship Mixed Plus, it came down to the very last meter.
Sailing fans got to watch a great contest between Boris Luchterhand's Team 'Riff' and Dalton Bergan's Team 'Mossy', a rivalry started in March at the POD when 'Riff' very narrowly won in the 8th and final race. Yesterday was no different as the teams started the day tied at 7 points with 'Riff' ahead in the tie breaker.
At the start of race six, 'Mossy' had a clean lane one boat up from the pin and 'Riff' was in the middle of a pack in the middle of the line. 'Riff' put on a master class on hanging in a thin lane, but 'Mossy' had more room to work with and had gained enough to tack and cross 'Riff' and the rest of the fleet three minutes into the beat. Keith Whittemore's 'Rodeo Clown', who would go on to win the race going away, tacked a bit farther to the left and 'Riff' a bit more left than that. Everyone now had wide lanes and started to stretch their legs. At the first weather mark it was 'Rodeo Clown', 'Riff', then 'Mossy' essentially overlapped. 'Mossy' gybed first, and had squeezed in front of 'Riff' by the time they got to the gate, 'Mossy' turned left and had to sail through the throng of spinnakers while the other two turned right and missed the bad air. It seemed like a questionable call, but Dalton made it work and when the boats came back together 'Mossy' was only just ahead and clamped right on 'Riff' who tacked immediately, match racing style. Two tacks later, 'Riff' decided to tack a third time before getting fully up to speed and 'Mossy' let them go.
When they came back together 'Mossy' was on starboard and 'Riff' could not cross, but 'Mossy' tacked in front of 'Riff' instead of letting them duck. Thirty seconds later 'Rodeo Clown' tacked upwind of both of them, and probably hurt 'Mossy' more, making the rounding order the same at the second weather mark, but with a bit more space between the boats. In the run to the finish, 'Mossy' squeezed up to the stern of 'Riff', simul-gybed, and forced 'Riff' to gybe away. They probably should have waited just a second because they gybed back right into 'Yolanda's' dirt and that was that. Finishing order: 'Rodeo Clown', 'Mossy', 'Yolanda', and 'Riff'. After six races, Dalton Bergan's team 'Mossy' lead the regatta with 9 points to Boris Luchterhand's team 'Riff' with 11 points.
As race seven started the places were similar, 'Mossy' at the pin, 'Riff' midline. This time when 'Mossy' tacked they could not cross and 'Riff' clamped right on them and they immediately tacked back. This scene was repeated a couple of times until 'Mossy' had been driven back into the next group. 'Rodeo Clown' was again out front on the left, 'Yolanda' in the mix as well. While this was consuming all of the attention, 'War Canoe', 'BammBamm', and 'Lift Ticket' had picked up some nice pressure on the right and came back ahead of everyone. So at the first weather mark it was Mike Goldfarb's team 'War Canoe' launched by several boatlengths, followed by 'Rodeo Clown', 'BammBamm', 'Jabberwocky', 'Riff', 'Lift Ticket', 'Mossy', 'Yolanda', 'Rosemary', and then the most incredible port tack layline cluster munch you have ever seen that somehow went off without anyone getting a scratch.
For those of you keeping score, with 'Lift Ticket' in between them, 'Riff' and 'Mossy' were tied again with 'Riff' ahead and therefore winning the tie breaker. 'Mossy' had the added problem of the throw outs. Since 'Riff' had thrown out a 5th, any worse finish would be replaced by the 5th. 'Mossy' did not have that luxury, having thrown out a 7th. So 'Riff' could take risks that 'Mossy' could not, and when everyone including 'Mossy' gybed onto port, 'Riff' kept sailing on starboard for several minutes. It seemed like quite a risk until the throw out math was considered. They were in 4th and could not get worse than 5th. 'Mossy' was in a big pack of bad air, and they could get clear breeze all for themselves. The left turn at the gate was favored so it was easy to tell the order of the boats: 'War Canoe', 'Rodeo Clown', 'BammBamm', 'Riff', and 'Mossy' who had gotten past 'Lift Ticket' and was back into he lead for the regatta -- and just had to hang on to 'Riff' for one more lap.
Meanwhile, while everyone was playing the right side because it had worked so well on the last beat, 'Jabberwocky' took the unfavored right turn at the gate and went left, got some pressure and a bit of a shift and came back right in between 'Riff' and 'Mossy', putting 'Riff' back in the lead for the regatta. Then 'Riff' and 'Jabberwocky' passed 'BammBamm', adding to their lead. At what would turn out to be the final weather mark rounding of the regatta, it was 'War Canoe' by a bunch, then 'Riff', 'Rodeo Clown', 'Jabberwocky', 'BammBamm', and then 'Mossy'. 'Riff' needed one boat between them and had three. And 'Mossy' was in a pack with other very fast boats on their tail including 'Dime' and 'Lift Ticket'.
Just like in the POD regatta in March, 'Mossy' was far enough behind 'Riff' that they could get a split pretty easily and so they gybed right away and in minutes had more than enough leverage to make something happen and somehow also had plenty of space without being harassed by the boats behind. OK Mr. magician, let's see what you have in that hat! Then, things got kind of crowded over by 'Riff'. Then 'Rodeo Clown' and 'Jabberwocky' took themselves out by carrying on too far to the west. Then 'BammBamm' squeaked by 'Riff' by, I don't know, 2 meters at the finish line. And presto, 'Mossy' finished right behind 'Riff' to win the regatta. What a show!
The first ever J/70 Mixed Plus US National Champions: Dalton Bergan, Lindsey Bergan, Ben Glass, and Regan Edwards. Thank you to Jim Murray for donating the perpetual trophy.
Runners up: Boris Luchterhand, Ron Rosenberg, Emmett Beadnall, and AnaLucia Clarkson (pictured with Quentin who did not sail).
Third Place: Michael Goldfarb, Julia Mamen, Alyosha Strum-Palerm, Jen Glass, and Farzana Mohamedali
Ron Rosenberg has made the Pacific Northwest into world class center for J/70 sailing and has created a open and welcoming regional team with a significant focus on learning and improvement. In addition to great watching for the fans, the sailors got seven fair and professionally run races by PRO Charley Rathkopf and the terrific CYC Seattle race committee. The environment created by the regatta organizers paid off for everyone as Paul Garner, helmsmen of Jabberwocky, said: “The daily progression we all experienced from Friday morning to Sunday evening was remarkable! We all learned so much and improved and incredible amount.”
Finally, visiting pro sailor Tommy Dietrich remarked, “I cannot believe how deep and talented this Pacific Northwest group of sailors has become. We had so much fun racing with all of you.” Next we get to see how we stack up on a bigger stage as four of our teams head to the Mixed Plus World Championship on Lake Garda in just two weeks.
More on our event page here.
Awesome Dennis Pearce photos here