Bob Armbruster: Regatta Chairman; Chuck Millican and Jeff Gross: RD; Mike Martin and Jed Korthals: Scoring; Jeff Gros and Scott Graf: Course Architects; Larry Kmiecik: Photography and Trophies; many members of the Chicago club: Support.

A truly impressive National Championship for the J Class. The largest J Class fleet to ever race together. Twenty-six skippers from sixteen states in all parts of the United States. Twenty-two heat races over two days. Both light and strong winds to challenge our magnificent J boats. Our well loved AMYA President, Chuck Millican, generously changed hats from skipper to race director when some health issues struck the Chicago regatta team at the last minute. Chuck and Jeff Gros ran an outstanding regatta - no small feat for an event of this magnitude.
Given the large number of large boats, the regatta committee set up Odd and Even heats, with two races for each fleet. So the odd fleet would do two heats on the water, then the even fleet would do two heats before changing to new odd and even fleets. This maximized our time racing and reduced our time launching and retrieving the heavy J boats.
At the boat ramp we had two strong, young men as boot guys to lift, launch and pull the boats. The boot guys got a workout and were greatly appreciated!
Saturday had rain all morning and it was COLD! Lightening kept us out of the water until 11 a.m. Light air characterized the day as we sailed a north-south course.
Saturday evening we enjoyed a lakefront barbecue of pulled pork and chicken together with jovial fellowship. Sunday was sunny, warm and WINDY! B-rig mains and some wild broaches downwind highlighted the fast action. The course was set east-west at the south end of the pond.
A number of skippers enjoyed first place finishes in their heat, but the regatta's first and second place boats were sailed consistently well.
Dave Ramos earned the 2022 J Class National Championship with 11 points sailing his Shamrock. Eric Reno and Wick Smith co-skippered Eric's Enterprise II to a strong second place finish with 15.6 points.
The team of Bob Eger, Gene Novak and Dan Robinson from Elk Grove Model Yacht Club in Sacramento, California took home the prize for coming the greatest distance, over 2,000 miles.
The Schloemer team won the prize for three generations of skippers, Ron, Erich and Matthew, sailing three J class model yachts built by Ron, the eldest of the team. Ron challenged everyone with, let's get your children and grandchildren sailing, too.

2022 J Class National Championship Results
Place Points Skipper, Co-skipper Hull Design Sail #
1 11 Dave Ramos Shamrock 105
2 15 Eric Reno, Wick Smith Endeavor II 88
3 29 Bruce Andersen Shamrock 112
4 31 Erich Schloemer Ranger 255
5 32 Scott Graff Shamrock 1811
6 32 Rob Hill Shamrock 107
7 35 Bill Sysyn Shamrock 183
8 37 Ron Schloemer, Brett Biwer Ranger 11
9 42 Domenick Bonanno Shamrock 25
10 44 Sean Fidler Shamrock 94
11 47 Gene Novak Svea S1
12 49 Matthew Schloemer Whirlwind 97
13 51 Mark Fleckenstein Shamrock 104
14 56 Dan Robinson Svea S4
15 63 Jarl Wathne Shamrock 188
16 64 Clark Fremgen Whirlwind 5/8"150
17 69 John Hancock Svea S9
18 75 Ralph Smith Shamrock 115
19 85 Allan Thorsen Shamrock 152
20 86 Doug Reiger, Bob Green Ranger 160
Bob Eger Svea S2
Ned Nielsen Svea 55
Chuck Millican Svea 56
Chris Chatain Shamrock 1