Six J/105s checked in to Galveston Bay Cruising Association’s March 19-20 Performance Cup. They were greeted by 20-30 knot north winds gusting to 35+. There were reports of 39 knot gust with many seeing sustained 30-35 knot breezes. The super strong gusts on Saturday moved the buoys around to the extent that GBCA’s PRO was forced to cancel racing. While testing crew skills in the tough wind conditions, Bill Lakenmacher sailed around the windward mark only to jokingly report that he watched it sail past him as he returned to the starting area. Winds on Sunday were originally predicted to be 10-15 knots but to no one’s surprise were actually in the 20-25 range with 30+ knot gusts. With some difficulty, GBCA managed to get the line set and start all races on time. Bee Bednar’s Stinger was forced to withdraw before the first race with equipment failures. John Bell’s Kinderspel2 and Uzi Ozeri’s Infinity had similar issues during one or the other of the following races. With what surely amounted to super crew work and great tactics, Brad Robbins’ Rumpus, took the tie breaker over John Barnet’s Vici and Bill Lakenmacher’s Radiance to win their first ever J/105 regatta. Although very experienced racers, Brad and company are relative newcomers to Fleet 17, having joined the fleet in 2015. Congratulations guys!