Meet Taylor Lutz from Houston, Texas. He’ll be competing in the J/22 Class. If his name sounds familiar, you’ve either read about – or sailed against – his dad, Jay, or his uncle Jody. Both have been fixtures in competitive sailing for decades.
A little more than five years ago, the younger Lutz was sailing for Boston College and during that era he had the good fortune to be teammates with some heavy hitters, including match-racing ace Taylor Canfield. Lutz and Canfield were part of the crew that won the 2009 Sloop National Championships. He Lutz also did a fair bit of match racing at B.C. as well. “College sailing was a blast,” he recalls. “I learned so much and it was such a good experience.”
Eventually, Lutz transferred and finished his studies closer to home at the University of Houston. These days, he spends his non-sailing hours in Houston as a rigger with Bahama Rigging.
“In sailing,” explains Lutz, “I’ve got an advantageous situation. My dad’s a professional sailor and I essentially grew up in the sport. Now, I’ve got a lot of contacts throughout the industry and that gives me an in within the competitive sailing community that’s unique.”
Though Lutz has never competed in Charleston Race Week before, he says he’s looking forward to it. “As a kid, I sailed Optis for 10 years. I went to nine Optimist nationals, and one of those was in Charleston. So, I’ve sailed there in the summer, but I’m really not familiar with the springtime conditions. I’m eager to check it out.”
“The elite sailors in this class don’t sail every event, just select ones, so for me, coming to Charleston will be important.”
Lutz says he hopes that 18 or 20 J/22s will show up for the regatta. “For me, coming to CRW is the opportunity to travel and sail with good competition. We’re getting ready for the worlds, which will be up in Toronto, so this will be good preparation. For me, it’s important to seek out good competition. The elite sailors in this class don’t sail every event, just select ones, so Charleston will be important.
So, who will be on board with him? Lutz says he plans to have Sam Myers on the bow and Matty Schon from Gill North America in the cockpit for CRW. Their big goal for the regatta? “To win. We definitely want to be in the top three. If the elite guys in the class show up, I want to be right on their heels. We’re pretty good in this boat, but we’ve still got a ways to go to beat the top guys like Terry Flynn and Marvin Beckman, but we’re getting there.”
Lutz has been sailing the 22 as actively as possible recently, including an event in Ft. Walton Beach and one in Austin this fall. “I’ve been racing pretty actively, and we’re definitely improving.”
As for his outlook on the class, he says, “What would be really cool for this class would be to see a bunch of former collegiate sailors – the guys who went to college between 2007 and 2014 – get into the boat. The J/22 is affordable and having that talent would really add so much to the class. Right now the people who are owning this class (winning) are in their 40s and 50s. At least that’s the case in the South. So getting a lot of former college sailors into the class would be so much fun. And for me, I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t want to come off the water remembering how well I did in the race. I want to remember how much fun I had out there. That’s what this sport is all about.”
