We are avid J/105 sailors promoting seamanship and competition on Lake Michigan.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Long Distance Series - Waukegan
The Fleet 5 distance series is hotly contested with three boats tied atop the standings at 10 points each.
Friday, March 19, 2021
Hall of Fame - Tomas Petkus
Tomas Petkus, former J/105 Fleet Captain and long-time skipper of
Vytis (#104), has been elected to the Lake Michigan Sailing Hall Of Fame, it
was announced Friday.
The formal induction ceremony will take place later in the 2021 sailing season. The award honors individuals who are dedicated to the betterment of sail racing and leaders in the sport. Petkus' Corinthian spirit as Fleet Captain was evident by his willingness to provide access to his and his crew's technical expertise including rig settings, sail handling and other racing tips for new members of the Fleet. A tradition that continues to be emulated among the J/105s decades later.
Petkus, along with his brother "Gyt" successfully
skippered Vytis to snag the CYCRTM Mackinac Cup as the overall winners in the
2007 Chicago - Mackinac Race. Petkus and the tightly knit crew (many
family relatives) has consistently won honors throughout a storied racing
career on Lake Michigan. They have twice won the Chicago NOODs overall
(2009 and 2019). Here's what Tomas had to say after the first win as
reported in US Sailing:
"This
is huge for us. This is a regatta we've always aspired to win, and we
come to the NOOD every year."
By every year, he meant every year for
the past 18. The 2009 NOODs was his 15th in the J/105 class. The
Vytis guys sail their boat like a professional crew, but they'd never let you
mistake them as such.
"We're a family boat," says Petkus. "For us, it's more important to have fun with family and friends than to win."
In addition to his racing prowess,
Petkus served in a number of administrative capacities. He was the
Appeals Committee Chair of LMSRF Appeals Committee and was part of the Legal
Committee for US Sailing. He was Fleet Captain of the J/105 Fleet Five
and served as its Treasurer for more than a decade (2002-2013). An
unfortunate spinal condition forced him to permanently retire from sailing
about six years ago, but his love for the sport remains. Petkus
graduated from the University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of
Law. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1980 and . He still
practices law at the firm of Tobin & Munoz. His parents emigrated to
the US from Lithuania (after Stalin invaded the country in 1953) when Tomas was
just one year old.
Tomas Petkus stands in the middle of his Vytis crew moments
after winning the overall 2009 NOOD regatta in Chicago, IL:
Monday, February 8, 2021
2021 Draft Schedule
This a draft of the J105 Fleet 5 2021 schedule (pick link below). The plan is to return to the normal regatta's and our historical racing series. However, this is perhaps dependent upon where things are with Covid 19, vaccines, & herd immunity. It is unlikely there will be large social events. Especially, at the start of the season.
As of now they are planning to do the GLIOR again.
Please note that CASRA and the Clubs are still working together to finalize, so there may be some changes.
The Queen's Cup, the Third Coast Cup Long Distance race to North Point, & do we want to do Sheldon Clark or join in the MORF Open that weekend need to be considered. As are LD vs. Buoy races for some of the weekend regattas. Do we want to organize Training Regatta's? All food for thought. Your comments and any suggestions are always welcomed.
We will have a couple Zoom calls to catch & see how everyone is doing.. A separate evite will be sent out to all. We will update if any changes come about and vote to finalize the schedule at the Spring Meeting.
It looks like we will have several new boats joining us this summer!
I would say wish for warm weather, but I know several people still have ski trips to come.
J105 Fleet 5 - 2021 Draft Schedule
Monday, August 24, 2020
JFest
J/Fest Chicago Announcement
(Chicago, IL)- Despite all odds against it happening, the Chicago Corinthian
Yacht Club is looking forward to host Chicago's first fully-autonomous
one-design keelboat regatta- J/Fest Chicago.
The event is planned to take place August 29th to 30th, sailing out of Montrose Harbor, with racing taking place on the gorgeous azure blue waters of Lake Michigan. One-design classes that are invited include J/24, J/70, J/88, J/105, J/109, and J/111.
Thanks to regatta sponsors/ supporters such as MarkSetBot (the fully autonomous mark setting miracle), Stearns Boating, Evolution Sails, Skyway Yacht Works, and SAIL 22.com. For more J/Fest Chicago sailing andregistration information
Verve Cup
Great Sailing @ Chicago Yacht Club Verve Cup
(Chicago,
IL)- One of the largest course-racing regattas in North America, the
Verve Cup is an annual world-class sailing event attracting many
national and international competitors. Both the 3-day Offshore Regatta
and, later, the 2-day Inshore Regatta host well over 100 yachts off the
beautiful Chicago lakefront and skyline.
For this year's edition
of the Verve Cup Offshore Regatta, it featured three J/One-design
fleets (J/88, J/105, & J/109) along with ORR and PHRF Handicap
fleets. Overall, J/Crews had strong performances in all classes, with
just about every one of them enjoying an eight-race series!
The six-boat J/105 class saw a runaway winner in their class. Breaking out their can of Popeye's spinach was Jon Weglarz's THE ASYLUM. The inmates were on fire! Starting out graciously with a 3rd, they scorched the race track with five 1sts and a 2nd, closing again graciously with a 3rd in the last race for a total of 13 pts. Getting schooled were two teams that are accustomed to being at the top of the leaderboard, Clark Pellet's SEALARK and Mike Sheppard's FLYING PIG. In the end, both teams had good races, taking 1sts, 2nds, 3rds, but not enough to overcome the inmates dominating performance. SEALARK took the silver while FLYING PIG took the bronze.
New Website
We have moved (select link below to go to new site) J105 Fleet 5 - Chicago
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Saturday we had a great turnout for the clinic with 5 boats out on the water. Conditions were perfect with 12 knots of breeze early on, ...
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2018 VIN Long Distance Series Results As always weather always play a big part, but the competition was especially tight this yea...