Published in Scuttlebutt on September 11th, 2019
by Josh Toso
This is a really great article on the special bond that sailing and J24 sailing in particular brings to our lives and I recommend you have an enjoyable read, maybe even pat yourself on the back to be part of this community.
A week before the start of 2019 J/24 US National Championship, I was presented with the opportunity to hop on a crew for the regatta. A buddy of mine, whom I have sailed against for many years and a couple times on his J/24, was in dire need of crew as his had bailed and he was contemplating just bagging the event altogether.
Having not raced in a major regatta in over 3 years, although I grew up racing and campaigning J/24s through high school, college and into my late 20s and early 30s, I jumped at this chance to get back in the saddle again.
Our final result was not exactly what we had hoped for, finishing around mid-fleet, but being at the event I was reminded how absolutely amazing the sport of sailing truly is and how special the J/24 class is, which was on full display this late August weekend in Rochester, NY.
New Friends become Old Friends
Because my driver’s entire crew had bailed, we ended up scrambling to fill out our crew. I was slated to trim the genoa upwind and the spinnaker downwind, but we still needed to find a bow, mast and middle/tactician. As we turned our sights to the crew-boards we were able to secure three women to complete our crew.