SAIL Senior editor Kimball Livingston chats with Don Trask about the J/105 class, which turned out 69 entrants - a record for a 35-foot one design - for its 2007 North American Championship November 1-4 at Annapolis Yacht Club, Maryland. The first success story of the J/105 class was San Francisco Bay, where Don Trask, then a J/Boat dealer, built Fleet 1. If you don't know "the Don," think of him as one of the few people who know how to actually promote and grow sailing. When Don was building Lasers from a West Coast factory, Northern California had four times more Lasers per capita than any other sailing center. Bringing him into building up the J/Boats line is one of the smarter moves, among many, of the Johnstone family. These days, Don lives in the Carolinas, but there is nothing new about his love for the fast. He races cars as well as boats, and the people at the Camaro Mustang Challenge quote him thus: "I just want to beat my son Jeff across the finish line once more before I retire." Racing. It's a family thing. We'll have a separate J/105 text story online some time Friday. Meanwhile, click HERE to listen to "the Don" on the J/105 phenomenon

Posted: November 1, 2007