Coates had only been sailing for six months before he bought his first J/105 in 1995. In fact, he named the boat Charade to imply his minimal sailing experience. "I originally bought the boat to sail around San Francisco Bay for fun, but some friends and other (St. Francis Yacht Club) members wanted to race with me and to be honest, I had no idea what I was doing," admits Coates. He enjoyed racing the J/105 so much that four years later, he bought a second J/105 to keep on the East Coast to race at regattas like Key West Race Week and the NYYC Regatta in Newport.

Coates races with North upwind sails and bought a new North AP Mainsail and North 3DL® AP Jib for the North American Championship. "We were absolutely thrilled with our new sails and look forward to using them in January in Key West," said Coates. "The shape and performance were great, I was very impressed (with them)."

"Tom and his team work very hard and earned the North American title the hard way this year," said Seadon Wijsen of North's San Francisco Bay-area loft. "Over the past twelve years, I have witnessed Tom fine-tune his sailing skills, which have made him one of the best J/105 sailors in the country. I really enjoy working with him and I hope Team Masquerade continues their winning streak in Key West."

"Seadon has always taken good care of us and we get excellent service from North Sails," concluded Coates. "We buy new North sails at every available opportunity and I have always been very happy with them, but have never been happier than I am now."

For more information and complete results from the J/105 North Americans, visit www.annapolisyc.com.

Long time North client Pete Schellie won the 45 boat J/105 class at the Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD Regatta held April 27-29 on the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, MD. Pete and his crew aboard his J/105 FREEDOM had consistent finishes of 7,7, 3 to take the regatta over the next J/105 by four points. The conditions were very trying as no racing took place on Friday due to the light and fickle wind. Saturday wasn't much better with the fleet sitting around for a good part of the day waiting for the breeze to decide a direction and build to a sailable strength. The Race Committee managed to get one race off in unstable conditions. Sunday brought more promise as the front that plagued the East Coast finally moved off shore setting up a nice westerly flow and some much more suitable racing conditions. The two final races were held on Sunday. Read on...