At the conclusion of the Port Canaveral Race last weekend, Andrew Clark’s J122 ZIG ZAG was announced as the overall winner of the four-race 2022-23 SORC Islands in the Stream Series. After correcting out for the race win over Pat Harr’s first-to-finish Cookson 50 EN GARDE, ZIG ZAG won both the race to the Cape and the entire SORC series over a packed fleet of 40-something-footers.
A third-place finish for the race was enough for another J122 – Tom Sutton’s LEADING EDGE – to lock up second for the series. Eamonn DeLisser and Jim Bill’s Farr 395 SENARA broke up the J122 design dominance in the top five by claiming third place for the series, ahead of Matt Schaedler’s BLITZKRIEG and Constantine Baris’ DIRE WOLF in fourth and fifth, respectively.
“It was a terrific series,” said organizer Chris Woolsey, “with a handful of boats within striking distance of the win going into the last race.” ORC scoring for most races were chosen among the range of point-to-point course model options found on Page 2 of the participant’s 2022 ORC USA certificates.
At the awards ceremony in Port Canaveral, the final award of the evening was the Luiz Legacy Trophy, awarded to the person or team who raised the most money for Warrior Sailing’s Luiz Legacy program, in honor of our friend Luiz Kahl’s legacy of support for our sport. According to Warrior Sailing National Director Ben Poucher, the fleet raised enough money to train one warrior for a year. Read more about the campaign on the Warrior Sailing’s Luiz Legacy page.
“No race has been requested more than the old classic SORC race, and there will be no easing into the new season,” said Woolsey, alluding to this race’s reputation as being a challenging sail down the Gulf coast to make then make the turn east at Key West into the full teeth of the Gulf Stream up the South Florida Atlantic coast to the finish in Ft Lauderdale.