J/Newsletter- July 29th, 2009

J/95 BANJO Northeast Tour

Jump Aboard and Play With Us!

(Stonington, CT)- The Tour'd'J/95 is on a roll.  J designer Rod Johnstone is on tour with BANJO for demo sails in various ports in the CT, NY, NJ area with local dealers.  The updated itinerary includes the following:

July 25-30 - BANJO at McMichaels/ Mamaroneck, New York.
July 31 - Rod sails BANJO from Mamaroneck to Bay Head, NJ Yacht Club for the weekend.
August 1 & 2- Regatta on the weekend.
August 3-4 - Rod demos at Bay Head including Tuesday night Race.
On August 5th Rod sails BANJO back to Stonington via Mamaroneck, or via the South Shore of Long Island

Please contact J/Boats if you want to join Rodney for the trips from Mamaroneck to Bay Head, or Bay Head back to Stonington (or somewhere in between in LIS or the South shore of LIS).   For the NJ Tour, please contact Burt Geiges at Custom Offshore – 856-764-8181.  The J/95 will race in the Squan Tri-Sail Regatta in Bay Head NJ on August 1st and 2nd.

J/122 Debut at Sydney International Boat Show

J/Boats' Australian distributors, YachtSpot, will be debuting their J/122 at the Sydney International Boat Show.  The show runs from 30th July to 3rd August, and is held at Darling Harbour in Sydney.

"There has been a lot of keen interest in the J/122 since she was commissioned in December.  People from around the country have taken notice of this impressive yacht and have been keeping an eye on our race results since we won our first regatta straight ‘out of the box’.  The beauty of the J/122 is that she also has exceptional cruising qualities. With the fourth J/122 due to arrive in Australia in October, this yacht is certainly turning heads.  Our beautiful harbour city is a great draw card for bringing people from all over the country to see what’s on offer at the Sydney Boat Show", said Ray Entwistle.  For more boatshow info.

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

August is upon us and the weather has yet to improve in Northeast America, with summer still taking a breather.   But, it's safe to say others around the world have not suffered the same malady and have been enjoying some great sailing conditions.  In America, several fun regional events took place, including the Whidbey Island Race Week in the Pacific Northwest; Marblehead Race Week in New England; the Fiesta Cup and Tour'd'J/105 in California.  The European events counted the famous RORC Channel Race, the "training wheels" for the notorious Fastnet Race and Cowes Week which are upcoming in the first weeks of August.   Read on!  More importantly, if you have more J Regatta News, please email  it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries. Photo Credit- Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing.

Fiesta Cup Festival

Local "Barbarians" Dominate J/105s

(Santa Barbara, CA- July 25-26)- Santa Barbara Yacht Club was host to a one design event this past weekend called the Fiesta Cup- a regatta held to honor the historical "Fiesta Festival" that is celebrated in Santa Barbara, commemorating the strong Spanish history in the region.  One design fleets included J/105s, Farr 40s and Melges 24s.  The J/105s had the largest class with nine competitors showing up from as far south as San Diego Yacht Club (the Howell's BLINK) and others from the Los Angeles area like California Yacht Club's Leahey racing GRACE O'MALLEY.

The fleet was greeted with two gorgeous days of sailing, the local thermal developing each day late morning and building into a fairly steady WNW wind 8-18 knots.  Racing took place about two miles west of the SBYC to get the fleet outside of the enormous kelp beds lying just offshore from the headlands.  Saturday's racing was clear with strong, steadily shifting winds.  Sunday dawned with fog and clouds that burned off as the seabreeze built in the afternoon.  In all, six great races were run by the seasoned SBYC Race Committee, setting windward-leeward courses just outside the kelp beds.

The racing was very competitive with different winners for almost every race- including Howell's BLINK, Harteck's REPEAT OFFENDER,  John Demourkas's ROCK'N & GROOV'N, Bernie Girod's ROCK & ROLL, Peter Lufkin's SHORT SKIRT, Alex Rasmussen's FREE ENTERPRISE and Leahey's GRACE O'MALLEY.  Nevertheless,  the local contingent of "Barbarian" J/105 sailors led the fleet of nine boats home when all seven races were completed.    The winner of this year's event was Alex Rasmussen's team (see pic) racing their J/105 FREE ENTERPRISE.  Just three points back in second was local hotshot Larry Harteck racing REPEAT OFFENDER and third overall seven more points down the ladder was Peter Lufkin on SHORT SKIRT.

SBYC should be commended for hosting such a fun event.  All crews were treated to music, barbecue chicken, copious beers on the beach/ outside decks and a nice slide show by Sharon Green (of Ultimate Sailing Calendar fame) on Saturday's windy racing.  For more regatta info.   Photo Credits: Sharon Green

J/Teams Sweep Chicago-Mac Double-Handed

J/122 SKYE, J/35 CHAS, J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS Dominate

(Chicago, IL- July 19-21)- The J/Team does it again.  Proof positive that J's are easy to sail boats and that all types of sailors can race them competitively, from women to couples to kids (OSTAR) to experienced offshore veterans.

This year's 101st running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac was a real challenge with lots of sail changes and a burning need to maintain apparent wind angle to get good boat speed.  In these types of conditions, J's shine as being easy boats to sail and keep the "edge" on competitors.  This is particularly important for sailing singlehanded or short-handed.  The less stress put on the crew, the better the overall performance since better decisions are generally made over the course of a long race.

This year's sixteen boats in the Doublehanded Division were all competitively sailed.   It is a testimony to the preparation not only of themselves as sailors, but of the boats, too, that the top three boats in the Doublehanded Division in the Chicago-Mac were all J's.  Most interestingly, they were of all vintages, too, from some of the oldest to the newest.  Bill Zeiler and Richie Stearns won on their J/122 SKYE.  Remarkably, SKYE won Section 3 in last year's Chicago-Mac with a full crew!

The second boat in the Doublehanded division was the J/35 CHAS, sailed by Jeff Roney and Chris Wells from Thunder Bay YC, Ontario, Canada.  They double-handed their delivery down from Lake Ontario, across Lake Huron and all the way down Lake Michigan!!  What a remarkable team to have essentially "practiced" for over 1,000 miles prior to the start of the Chicago-Mac Race!  Talk about determination!  Congratulations to Jeff and Chris, especially to be rewarded for their perseverance.

Perhaps the long-time loyalist award must go to George and Kim Petritz sailing into third place their J/29 called TFWB RELENTLESS.  They hail from Grand Traverse Yacht Club and Beulah, MI    For more regatta info.

SW NOOD Marblehead Race Week

Strong J One-Design Contingent in J/24s, J/30s and J/105s

(Marblehead, MA- July 25-26)--  The local yachts clubs, Eastern YC, Boston YC and Corinthian YC, as usual put on a good show and hosted another excellent event.  The weather cooperated enough to provide solid winds, too much on Friday, in fact--- an issue New Englanders have grown use to this summer.  An enormous low pressure system was winding its way ENE in tight pinwheel delivering a whole lotta wind and rain (the pic here is totally cool- courtesy Sailing Weather Services).

After Friday's blowout it was business as usual off Marblehead Neck for Saturday and Sunday with everyone getting in the full complement of races. Saturday was sailed in a light southerly full of holes and shifts and as the day wore on the breeze cranked up to a smooth 10 knots. The sun was shining, crews were hiking, and the current was ripping across the race courses. Midway through the day dozens of boats had drifted into the weather mark after approaching on close layline calls. A few even hit it twice in the same rounding!

In the twenty strong J/105 class, the team of Jon Samuel/ Mike Royer / Robert Mann, hailing from Jubilee YC, sailed a very roller-coaster series (1, 11, 16, 1, 1) to win the event on a tie-breaker against Jon Wales from Eastern YC who consistently improved throughout the series to near take it all (8, 6, 3, 3, 2).  In fact, so close were the top three that anyone of them could've taken the series overall.  Third was the Henry Brauer/ Stew Neff team aboard their newly acquired SCIMITAR (see pic above).  According to Henri, "the team gives credit to their friend and sailing instructor, Stu J, who made a heroic guest appearance in Marblehead this past Thursday, to help the team figure out which end goes forward." Interestingly, there were three ties to break to determine the top six finishers- 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6.

In the J/30s, Luke Buxton from Palmers Cove YC led the six boat fleet home counting straight bullets in six races to finish with an average of first!!  Second was Ken Deyett from Manchester YC averaging second and third was David Bows from Boston YC, the only other person to take a first from Luke Buxton.

The J/24s had solid turnout of fifteen boats.  John Denman from Jubilee YC sailed a very consistent series to drop a third place and win the J/24 class with nine points.  Matthew Herbster and team from Corinthian YC were second and Ted Johnson from Boston YC was third.   For more regatta info.  Photo Credits- Tim Wilkes.

J/105 Tour de San Diego

Yellow Jersey Racing in J/105s?

(San Diego, CA- July 18-19)- So what happens when you combine the best aspects of bicycle racing into a format for yacht racing? The SoCal J/105 fleet experienced the sensation last One Design Weekend when the SDYC Race Committee decided to shake things up in honor of the start for Le Tour de France.

Twelve boats came together on an ultra short course, taking a mere four minutes to complete a leg. Combined with the fact that two laps constituted a race and only two minutes between races and there you have the makings for close racing and some very tired crew. As in bike racing, there were not only prizes for winning the race, but intermediate prizes termed “primes” for random accomplishments such as the first to the mark, the fastest timed leg of a race, the fastest start and the ever coveted box of doughnuts to the last finisher of race three (delivered hot and fresh courtesy of the SDYC race committee boat).

In all, eight races were run on the day with the highlight being the last which was run in a “win and out” format. In this race the winner of each leg claimed a prime and retired from the race. The winner of leg one was first, the winner of leg two second and so on until the final sprint for fourth. Rails were scraping, Dacron was stretching and halyards were flying to be the boat to capture the title for the first edition of the Cardiac Cup. 

Overall, Doug Werners’ JAVELIN won the day followed closely by the Driscoll/ Hurlburt combination on TRIPLE PLAY and third went to the ever quick Dennis Case owned WINGS.  Overall the regatta gave a chance for the fleet to learn about the boat and about themselves, ultimately leading to better crew work and faster racing on the course.  Photo Credits: Mark Johnson

RORC Channel Race

J/133 BATFISH III Takes IRC 1

(Southampton, England- July 25-26)- The renowned RORC often acts as the "practice race" for many teams participating in the infamous Rolex Fastnet Race in the first week of August.  Seventy one boats started Saturday morning and most of the fleet finished in less than twenty four hours.

In IRC Class Zero Bill Blain's J/133, BATFISH III, is not only leading its class for the season but is also leading in IRC overall for the RORC IRC Offshore Season Championship.  It appears that Bill and team's strong performance over the weekend may have strengthened their position to take overall honors in the RORC's IRC division.  BATFISH III attained first in IRC Class Zero and third in IRC overall!  They finished the course in a relatively quick 18 hrs, 37 minutes.

The J/109 ARIA sailed by Luca Rubinelli was tenth overall and second in IRC Class 2.

In IRC Class 2 there were three J Two-Handed entries that are having a very successful season: Robin Taunt's J/105 JIBE, Nick Martin's J/105 DIABLO-J and David Walters' J/39 JACKDAW.  When the smoke cleared at the end of the race and times were tallied, it was clear that David Walters' JACKDAW finished second in the Two-Handed Division and Nick Martin sailed his J/105 DIABLO-J into third position.  Remarkably, it's one of the few races all season long that Robin Taunt's J/105 JIBE finished out of the running.  For more regatta info.

WHIDBEY ISLAND RACE WEEK

The J/125 ROXANNE and J/105 MONEY SHOT Win

Oak Harbor, WA, USA (July 17, 2009) – One of the highlights of the summer regatta circuit in the Pacific Northwest is the five-day Ohana Harbor Coffee Whidbey Island Race Week regatta. The theme is fun and with a little bit of nice weather becomes a feast for the eyes, gorgeous scenery, great sailing and lots of "apres sailing" activities to keep the troops occupied.

The final outcome of the hotly contested P0 class wasn't known until the results party Friday evening in the rum tent of the grounds of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club. Once the throw-out was factored in, it was Greg Slyngstad’s beautiful blue J/125 ROXANNE taking second for the day and first for the week with a total of 22 points.

For some of the 94 competing boats, Friday’s gybe mark was set close to the Coupeville dock, much to the delight of the spectators lining the rails. Well-performed gybes earned loud cheers from the crowds – or jeers for those maneuvers that “earned the ugly award” according to one energetic fan.

The top three spots in the 12-boat P2 class proved that solid sailing can overcome challenging ratings. Race week veteran, Wayne Berge’s J/35, THE BOSS, took third place for the week, behind Stuart Burnell’s J/109 TANTIVY that came in second.

In Class P3, Tom Kerr’s J/33, CORVO, landed in third with some good sailing and were not too far out of the lead at the end.

Class P4 was one of two one-design classes at this year’s Ohana Harbor Coffee Whidbey Island Race Week. Nine J/105s battled eachother all week ong, with Erik Christiansen’s JUBLIEE winding up in third behind JP Peterson’s LAST TANGO, and in first, with five bullets, Mike Schlitz at the tiller of his MONEY SHOT--- yes, they did finish "in the money" the whole time, but probably could've renamed it "HOLE SHOT"-- Mike and crew simply sailed off from the starts and could do no wrong!

The P6 class saw former race week Boat of the Week winner, Pat Denney’s J/29 HERE AND NOW, take second.   For more regatta info.

J/Community:

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* Seth Hall aboard the J/124 MARISOL had this to report from the recent 65 mile jaunt from Newport Beach to San Diego Race.  "We sailed out of Newport Beach with the Genoa, switched to the Code 0, sailed down the rum line at 7.5 to 8.5 knots for 10 hours with 10 to 13 knots of steady breeze.  Perfect day on the water.   Then the wind died at La Jolla and left the fleet tacking back and forth along the kelp beds off San Diego working to the finish.  Race started at 11:05 and we finished at 11:10. Ultimately we won the race!"  Congratulations to all of you from the J/Team!

* Terry Hutchinson and crew are struggling in the TP52 MedCup aboard their boat QUANTUM RACING, finishing out of the money in their last regatta but still hanging in for third overall in the TP52 MedCup standings.  Seems the new next-gen boats are getting cranked up and are hard to hold back, particularly the Team New Zealand boat.

* Ken Read is in semi-retirement from North Sails, recharging from an exhausting Volvo Ocean Race PUMA Project.  Ken was last seen on a golf course practicing his swing and getting in some good family time with wife (Kathy) and daughter (Torry).  Can't blame him.  Would you?  After living on a boat, cramped quarters with guys, encrusted with salt and eating dried food for seven-plus months, who wouldn't go golfing for awhile, or for that matter hiking Mount Kilmanjaro or chasing wildebeests across the plains of Africa!

* Dr. Laura, world renowned psychologist with a nationally syndicated radio/Internet show has now joined the J/105 fleet in Santa Barbara, CA. The local J/105 fleet hosted a "Welcoming" party for her this week and look forward to her participation in this fun, low key J/105 fleet that races off the beachside location of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club.

* A Correction on America's Cup meanderings-- ooops- got our RI J-Alumni mixed up last week regards who was doing what and where.  Dirk Kramers is over playing with some seriously mangy, dangerous cats in the ALINGHI world and Scott Ferguson has been living the SoCal beach life in San Diego playing with tri-cycles (maybe even cats?) with the ORACLE/BMW crowd.  Good luck to all of them.  We know next week, by August 8th it appears, where these frail looking things will race--- or perhaps more likely self-destruct in any kind of breeze.

Featured Boat

New 2009 J/80s Available

There’s plenty of new J/80 talk these days, thanks to the extraordinary coverage garnered by the record J/80 fleet of 131 boats in Santander, Spain.

The J/80 is now the largest sprit boat one-design in Europe as well as the USA.  Learn more about this remarkable, simple, easy to sail boat.  Call your dealer now and learn more about it.
Several are just completing in Bristol, RI - Base Price- $49,900.  Please contact J/Boats or your nearest J dealer for details.

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by: 11 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors in 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!   For background info.

J/Newsletter- July 22nd, 2009

J/95 BANJO Northeast Tour

Jump Aboard and See Why She Humms Along!

(Stonington, CT)- The tour'd'J/95 is shaping up to be a fun one--- the yellow "J" jersey autographed by Rod J. going to the first person to walk in the door with a deposit!  J designer Rod Johnstone is ready to embark on the BANJO tour soon to various ports in the CT, NY, NJ sailing regions for sails with local dealers.  The itinerary includes the following:

July 11-July 24 - Demos at Stonington CT.
July 24 - Rod sails BANJO to McMichaels at Mamaroneck.
July 25-30 - BANJO at McMichael. Brokers give demos at Mamaroneck.
July 31 - Rod sails BANJO from Mamaroneck to Bay Head, NJ Yacht Club for the weekend.
August 1 & 2- Regatta on the weekend.
August 3-4 Rod demos at Bay Head including Tuesday night Race.
On August 5th Rod sails BANJO back to Stonington via Mamaroneck, or via the South Shore of Long Island

Please contact J/Boats if you have any potential customers who might want to join Rodney for the trips from Stonington to Mamaroneck, Mamaroneck to Bay Head, or Bay Head back to Stonington (or somewhere in between in LIS or the South shore of LIS).

For the NJ Tour, please contact Burt Geiges at Custom Offshore – 856-764-8181.  The J/95 will race in the Squan Tri-Sail Regatta in Bay Head NJ on August 1st and 2nd. There is a crew position open for Saturday August 1st racing. The boat will remain in Bay Head for the following Monday August 3rd and Tuesday August 4th for demo/test sails.

J/105 North Americans

Ready to Roll At American YC

(Rye, NY)-  J/105 Fleet 6 will be hosting this year's J105 North American Championship October 29- November 1 at American Yacht Club in Rye, New York.  Entrants are expected from  around the U.S. and Canada, but not all will be bringing their own boats.  If your boat is either still in the water or on land close by to Rye, it would be terrific if you would consider chartering it out so we could attract the largest number of participants.

Jordan Mindich and Byron Callan are responsible for matching charterers with charterers for this year's North American Championship.  Additionally we can answer questions about insurance, charter terms and conditions and any other queries you have.

Please contact either:
- Jordan Mindich-  516 383 3254/  telemon1@aol.com
- Byron Callan-  203 655 7320/ bcallan@pwpartners.com

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

With July drawing to a close the world event calendar was taking a breather.  The American events featured the famous Chicago to Mackinac Island Race and the equally infamous Marblehead to Halifax Race-- both notorious "crap shoots" and their legendary reputations lived up to all pre-conceived expectations.  The European events included the J/92 UK Nationals in the Hamble....a preamble to what will be happening in one of the word's premiere events on the summer circuit- Cowes Week on the Solent and hosted by the Cowes Combined Clubs.  Read on!  More importantly, if you have more J Regatta News, please email  it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

J/122 SKYE Wins 101st Chicago-Mackinac Race

J/105 ASYLUM And Inmates Win Mac Cup!

(Chicago, IL- June 19-21)- The J/Team does it again.  The 101st Running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac may go down in the history books as a record slow race-- thanks to the renowned phenomenon known as global warming, right?  As one crew member put it during the Saturday morning start, 'It's always a crap shoot.'  Nevertheless, the inmates were truly running the J/105 ASYLUM and the wily veterans aboard the J/122 SKYE shot for the moon and won, too.

The official count for the fleet is 337 boats, among 21 different sections.  The debut of the new Double-Handed Division brought additional excitement as several veterans of past Mac Races were on hand to compete for top prizes.  All eyes were on the 16 boats in the Doublehanded Division, as each boat is manned by two crew working the sails for optimum starting position under the day's conditions. This type of shorthanded sailing takes extra experience and skill. These are qualities demonstrated by the crews in this section, such as Bill Zeiler and Rich Stearns on SKYE, a J/122. Skye won Section 3 in last year's Mac with a full crew and now counts the Two-handed Crown amongst its laurels.

Jon Weglarz on J/105 ASYLUM not only won the Mackinac Cup Division, but also netted the fastest corrected time of the five division winners?  Awesome job guys!!   The J/105 ASYLUM's elapsed time was just under 62 hours and with handicap adjustments, the boat's finishing time was 54 hours 35 minutes 39 seconds--- hours faster than the next nearest competitor!   Fifteen J/105s competed in the annual event, which is being described as the "flukiest" ever. Following Weglarz in the J/105 top three were Clark Pellet on SEALARK and Peter Fray on PRONTO II.

In the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Divsion, WILLIE J, a J/130 sailed by Robert Vander Weele & Doug Petter finished 4th overall and 3rd in Section 2! They beat the famous Farr 40 FLASH GORDON 5 raced by renowned world commercial building architect Helmut Jahn!  Good on ya WILLIE J for a strong performance in such vexating conditions!

The strong J/109 contingent saw REALT NA MARA raced by Tom and Joe Londrigan win J/109 Class Honors as well as garner a 7th overall in the Chicago-Macminac Trophy Division!  2nd in J/109s was ZEITGEIST raced by Robert T and Dr Cornelia Zerban and 3rd was K III raced by  Irv Kerbel. For more info.

J/105 JADED Wins Marblehead to Halifax Race Double

Fog, Glassy Calm, Grey Mist, Rolling Swells Doesn't Dampen Spirits.

(Marblehead, MA- July 22nd)-  A 360 nm screaming reach?  That's always the wish.  But,  who's complaining?  Despite yet another light wind classic drifting match through greyness, fog and littl wind to Halifax, Peter Rugg's J/105 JADED wins the PHRF Doublehanded Competition.

The running of the 2009 Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is preceded by a long and prestigious history. The race began in 1905 as an informal competition among sailors from the Boston, Eastern, and New York Yacht Clubs. The race was run sporadically until 1939, when the Boston Yacht Club (BYC) joined with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (RNSYS) to formalize a biennial event. Since that time, the Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race has run regularly on alternate years from the Newport Bermuda Race, as one of the pre-eminent ocean races of the North Atlantic.

In PHRF 2, Eberle's J/130 CELISTA was second by only twenty five minutes corrected time.  And, in PHRF 3 Petley-Jones's J/35 HARRIER won by a convincing two hour corrected time margin and the J/109 HEATWAVE raced by Weisberg cruised into fourth place a bit off the pace of the winners. For more info.

J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship

Doyle Reigns Supreme Again

(Buffalo, NY- June 18-19)-  Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY excelled in the wind and waves at the 2009 J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship at the Buffalo Yacht Club.  In breeze of 15-25 knots and waves up to eight feet, team SOLID LAYER bested 42 other teams over eight races.  Following Chris Doyle were Jim Barnash on THUNDER CHICKEN (Rochester, NY) and local Kevin Doyle on MO'MONEY.  The event also featured the popular Raw Bar on Saturday night.  Don't forget, the Buffalo Yacht Club is hosting the 2010 North American Championship!  For complete results.

J/92 U.K. Nationals

Neilson's REDEYE Takes the Title

(Hamble, So'ton, England- July 13th)-  Last weekend saw the main event in our racing calendar with the J/92 UK  National Championships.  We’ve had our name on the cup in the past but that was in the days when the ‘older’ J/92 boats dominated the fleet and the newer J/92 S was the new kid on the block.  The tables have turned and the newer boats now out number the older designs and the time was right for us to have a bash at the overall trophy.

Base for the weekend was the Royal Airforce Sailing Club on the Hamble River and racing was to be in the northern Solent.  So all was set for a great championship.  The forecast was for showers and sunshine and winds of around 10 knts from the SW.  Not ideal for us as we tend to sail better in the windy stuff but with the chance of the sea breeze building on the gradient wind we hoped for some good sailing weather.

Friday pm we spent with the boys from Hyde Sails checking the fit of our new mainsail that had arrived the previous week from their sail loft in the Philippines.  We were using some new technology they had developed with Dimension-Polyant (DP) – the German sail cloth manufacturer – where the sail designer is able to specify the thread density and load direction in the cloth prior to it being laminated and made into a sail.  Sounds technical and it is - but it produced a lovely looking sail that after some tweaking set beautifully on our little boat. Most of the drive for these modern lightweight yachts comes from the mainsail and as such it’s important that the sail and rig (mast & boom) work together to create a sail that can power the boat well in all wind strengths you may find on the race course.

The regatta started in the usual fashion with too many beers and a curry on the Friday night – crew house for the weekend was Compass Point – a great little B&B in the heart of Hamble Village – Mike the landlord really looks after us when we race in this area so a hearty breakfast set us well for the first days racing.

Race 1 saw a poor start from Team Neilson Redeye and that along with a big wind shift in the still fickle conditions saw us on the wrong side of the race course and picking up an 8th place with our arch rivals (and current National Champions) Andrew Roberts and Stepehn Etheridge in ‘Just in Time’ (JIT) from Lymmington picking up the winning slot. Race 2 - and with our ‘race faces’ on we had a better start and finished with a dead heat with our other rivals from the East Coast Richard Sparrow and his crew on ‘Who’s to know’ (WTK) – JIT came in 4th.  Race 3 - and we picked up the 1st slot this time by a  41 second margin – still close after nearly an hours racing.  Race 4 was also a close one with us again having a dead heat with Peter Olden’s ‘Solan Goose’ (SG) another popular and well sailed boat.

Once all the points were totted up we were leading the regatta overnight by 4 points and with 4 more races and more wind forecast for the second day – there was still all to play for.

WTK picked up the 1st race with us in 2nd beating 3rd by just 1 second and 4th by just 16 secs, in fact the top 5 boats finished within 90 seconds of each other after nearly an hour of racing – so still incredibly close racing. JIT took the 6th and 7th races and we picked up a 2nd and a 3rd. Doing the maths for the overall leaders was getting very complicated but it was obvious we had to sail our hearts out in the final race.

The wind had increased to a steady force 6 by now and a swift sail change by the crew saw us sporting our ‘blade’ headsail – a useful sail in our racing wardrobe and a sail we rarely use but one we particularly like so we approached the race with some confidence – almost too much as we were on the start-line too early and almost had to tack away as the clock ticked slowly down to the gun.  Jronimo, another local Brighton boat, owned and raced by david Greenhalgh and John Taylor, who had been there or there abouts all weekend with places just off the podium took some pity on us and we found the smallest of gaps by the committee boat but were forced to tack away for clean wind rather than cover the fleet up the first leg. At the first corner we were well down the pecking order but some great crew work and sail handling by the team saw us creeping back through the fleet on the spinnaker leg.  A great rounding at the leeward mark and some slick tacking got us back in the yacht race and into 3rd by end of the next lap a position we held till the finish. JIT took the honours and Jronimo had a well deserved 2nd place.

But had we done enough to win the Championships?  It had been a great regatta with some great good natured racing – everyone obeyed the rules, there were no protests and over half the fleet had podium finishes – it was going to be tight.  JIT, last years victors, won the day with 3 wins and a 6th but when combined with the previous days results Neilson Redeye took the overall Championship by just 2.5 points.  With Just in Time in second and Who’s to Know taking the third overall slot but best in class for the J/92.

J/Community:

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

--------------------
* Ed "Cool Kat" Baird- his latest steed truly flies!  Wow, flying a 90 foot catamaran on its first day of trials is quite extraordinary!  And, it's powered by a snowmobile engine!  Imagine that....just $30 million worth of carbon fiber and high technologies relying on a bit of cast aluminium to power up a few winches and some hydraulics- who knew!  SKIDOO!  Yup, rumor has it they're hankering to be the named sponsor of the latest in "powered" multihulls!  LOL, what's next gang?  Some of our famous J/24 alums like Dirk Kramers and Scott Ferguson are making sure this flying spider on water holds together long enough to collect some silverware from that gift of gab from SFO- Sir Larry and his erstwhile partner in crime, yet another J/24 aficionado and alumni- Tom Ehman, formerly of Newport, RI.  Read more at Alinghi's site.   Some fabulous Carlo Borlenghi Photos.

Featured Boat

New 2009 J/80s Available

There’s plenty of new J/80 talk these days, thanks to the extraordinary coverage garnered by the record J/80 fleet of 131 boats in Santander, Spain.

The J/80 is now the largest sprit boat one-design in Europe as well as the USA.  Learn more about this remarkable, simple, easy to sail boat.  Call your dealer now and learn more about it. Several are just completing in Bristol, RI - Base Price- $49,900.  Please contact J/Boats or your nearest J dealer for details.

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by: 11 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors in 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!   For background info.

J/Newsletter- July 15th, 2009

J/95 Long Island and Great South Bay Demo Tour

Cruise Wherever OPTI's Can Sail!

In late July and early August, designer Rod Johnstone will be taking BANJO to various ports in the CT, NY, NJ sailing regions from demo sails with local dealers.  The itinerary includes the following:

July 11-July 24 - Demos at Stonington CT.
July 24 - Rod sails BANJO to Essex CT
July 25 - BANJO on dislay at Essex Yacht Club.
July 26 - Rod sails BANJO to McMichaels at Mamaroneck.
July 27-30 - BANJO at McMichael. Brokers give demos at Mamaroneck.
July 31 - Rod sails BANJO from Mamaroneck to Bay Head, NJ Yacht Club for the weekend.
August 1 & 2- Regatta on the weekend.
August 3-4 Rod demos at Bay Head including Tuesday night Race.
On August 5th Rod sails BANJO back to Stonington via Mamaroneck, or via the South Shore of Long Island

Please contact J/Boats if you can identify any potential customers who might want to join Rodney for the trips from Stonington to Essex, Essex to Mamaroneck, Mamaroneck to Bay Head, or Bay Head back to Stonington (or somewhere in between in LIS or the South shore of LIS).

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The peak of summer sailing continues in July with plenty of action to report on in both the American and European circuits.  The American events featured the finish of the famous bi-annual TransPac Race and the SailNewport Regatta.  The European events included the J/80 Worlds in Santander, Spain, the J/105 UK Nationals in England and the enormously popular Volvo Regatta in Dun Laoghorie, Ireland.  Read on!  More importantly, if you have more J Regatta News, please email  it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

J/80 World Championship

Rayco Tabares is the World Champion

(Santander, Spain- July 6-9)- A record fleet of 132 boats competed for this years J/80 World Championships in Santander, Spain.  The event organizers were credited for hosting an extraordinary regatta considering the cast of thousands that had descended upon the historical seaside town.  The conditions were epic with strong breezes blowing onshore with an enormous crossing swell that made for interesting crossing scenarios upwind and downwind.  The swells were so large at times you could not see the heads of the crews on the boats a few boatlengths away!

It was not until 12th race was finished that the the World Championship was ultimately decided. The fight between both boats that had the options of winning, Rayco Tabares and Martínez, was basically a match race.  They both fought boat for boat at the starting line, where Martinez took the advantage to Tabares by three boat lengths. But Tabares did not miss the opportunity to find a gap in the fleet, crossing a few boats without the right of way, giving him the opportunity of having free wind and getting farther from the bigger groups that were slowing down Martinez.  In addition to these two, the Spanish dominated the rest of the top twelve.

The English boat JOYSTICK skippered by Rob Larke, who ended up in 13th position just in front of the French Nantes Saint Nazare of Jean Queveau, was the best International. French boat Volileire all Purpose sailed by Sylvain Pellissier was 16th, while the USA boat skippered by Jeff Johnstone and his JACUZZI finished in 27th position. For full results.

Coastal Living SailNewport Regatta

Keane's SAVASANA Victorius in J/105s

(Newport, RI)- After a very wet June, Newport was finally blessed with some gorgeous sailing conditions for the annual SailNewport Regatta, appropriately sponsored this year by Coastal Living magazine.  What better way to celebrate the peak of the summer sailing season than to race one-designs around the buoys under sunny skies and strong thermal breezes in and around the bays of Newport.  The regatta features one-design classes, mostly dingihes, but includes the J/105s and J/24s in the keelboat divisions.

In the J/105 class, perenial class favorite Brian Keane from Boston, MA raced SAVASANA to another class win.  Challenging Keane was Bruce Stone from San Francisco sailing POWER PLAY, ultimately losing by only one point as a result of the closely fought last race.  Between the two they had won six of the eight races, Nelson Weiderman sailing his KIM sailed a beautiful last day to win the last two races.  Third was the sly old fox Charlie Shumway from Newport.

In the J/24 class, Tim Heally from Newport, RI dominated the event with four firsts and two seconds to win by eleven points.  Aidan Glackin from Huntington, NY was second with nineteen points and Paul Van Ravensway from Washington, DC was third with twenty three points.  For more info.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

J/109 CHRISTIE CANCER CARE wins Irish Nationals

(Dun Laoghaire, Ireland- July 11-13)-  The spirit of summer was in full swing in perhaps the largest regatta in Ireland all summer.  The after race party at the Dublin based regatta is one of the many reasons why about 3,000 competitors are here, and the live music, fine fair and Irish craic will be going well into the evening.

The fleet of 460 boats were met with a wide variety of conditions. On the first day there was racing with the sunshine breaking through the low clouds. A 10 to 15 knot north westerly wind produced some testing sailing conditions, shifting significantly in the puffs. Towards the end of the day, the wind started to fade but did stabilize and it was time for heads out of the boat, to spot the best route to stay in the breeze.   Saturday's gale force winds and rain gave way to sunshine for the final day of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, with the 460-boat fleet sailing their last races in glorious conditions on Dublin Bay.  On the last day of the regatta, these sparkling conditions on Killeney Bay were met with great enthusiasm by all.

In the J/109 fleet, Tino Hyland & Nigel Biggs', CHRISTIE CANCER CARE, put opening day jitters behind them to open up a commanding lead at the top, with a string of firsts and seconds putting them six points clear in the end.   The 15 strong J/109 Class were competing to win not only the regatta but also the Irish National Championship.  There was high drama, right from the word go-- two blasts of the horn and the X Flag flying, confirmed that someone was over the line at the start. Peter Redden's JETSTREAM, helmed by son Simon, crossed the finish line after the windward leeward race by a handsome margin but was disqualified for being to eager at the start. "We were miles ahead of the rest, so to be called out was a real kick - we're sick, but there's always tomorrow." Said Simon Redden.  Nevertheless, at the end Simon and crew managed to finish sixth overall.  Belfast boat, JUNIPER, owned by Kenneth Hunter was never out of the top running and was thus gifted the inaugural race win of the event in the J 109 Class, a fitting result for a regatta that is celebrating 125 years of cross-border competition on the water.  In third was STORM.

In IRC Three, Flor O'Driscoll's J/24 HARD ON PORT finished off the regatta in style, scoring their fourth bullet of the regatta. In a class of 29 boats there wors/t result was a fourth and Flor O'Driscoll's J/24 HARD ON PORT was rightly crowned best boat at the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Overall in IRC!  “This has been an extremely well run regatta and I congratulate all of the Clubs on a tremendous effort," he said. "Thanks also to my crew - having a consistent team is so important and one of the main reasons for our success.” Grainne Murtagh, working the bow on Hard On Port, said: “It was just superb sailing conditions today, 15 to 20 knots in the puffs and flat water, it really doesn’t get better than that. From Sutton we could see hundreds of boats in the sunshine, an amazing sight. Flor O’Driscoll is a great guy and I am really happy that we have won at such a high profile event.”

In the J/80 class,  DYNO ROD was first, barely beating out classmate SMART TELECOM by one point.  Lying third was DL MARINA six points back in this closely fought competition in this eight boat class.  For full results.

J/105 UK National Championships

Newton's JELLY BABY Triumphant

(Southampton, England- July 4-5)-  The J/105 UK Class Association held their 2009 National Championships over the weekend of 4/5 July.  Nine J/105's took part over eight windward/leeward races over the two days, with race organisation superbly managed by the Royal Airforce Yacht Club.

After an early morning shower on both Saturday and Sunday the weather was fantastic, mostly sunny with a building south easterly on Saturday from 6 to 14 knots and a south westerly on Sunday, peaking at 20 knots in the final two races of the day.  The racing was close: classic, unbeatable one design racing at its best. Four boats won individual races: FAY J (Paul Griffiths) 3, JAVA (Rob Dornton-Duff) 2, JELLY BABY (William Newton) 2 and DIABLO J (Nick Martin) 1. After seven of the eight races JELLY BABY and FAY J were tied for first with 13 points each, so everything hinged on the final race of the series. This race saw an incredibly close finish with seven of the nine boat fleet arriving at the final leeward mark virtually together with the result in doubt right up to the finish.  Newton's JELLY BABY ultimately prevailed, winning the race and the series.  Paul Griffith's FAY ended up second four points back and Rob Dornton-Duff's JAVA completed the podium, finishing third on JAVA tied on points with FAY J but losing the tie-breaker.

Thanks go to the RAF Yacht Club for hosting the Saturday night party and to North Sails for supporting the event and donating prizes.

Transpac Race Sets Records

Holthus's J/145 BAD PAK Wins Division IV

(Los Angeles, CA- July 5th)- The bi-annual Transpac Race from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, Hawaii is a 2,225 nautical mile surfing contest most years and this year in particular conditions were such that many records were broken-- Neville Chricton's ALFA ROMEO broke the course record by over a day!  The medium sized boats, including all the J's in the race started on July 3rd, the big boats all started on July 5th.  The smaller boats started at a significant disadvantage as the first three to four days offshore were considerably lighter than the start for the big boats.  Nevertheless, speed and angle were king in this monster of a race and most of the boats that did well ended up well north of rhumbline compared to the small/midsize boats and enjoyed considerably better pressure as they surfed in the trade-winds on fast downwind gybing angles towards Diamond Head, Hawaii.

BAD PAK, Tom Holthus' J/145 out of San Diego, picked their way through the Division V, VI and VII boats and won Division IV on corrected time.  The previous Transpac Division Winner and Overall Transpac Champion, Tom Garnier's REINRAG 2 from Portland, Oregon held on to finish fourth in Division IV despite being a few miles off the pace of BAD PAK.   J/WORLD, Wayne Zittel's J/120 from San Francisco, was doing quite well but blew out all their chutes and ended up motoring to Hawaii!
For more info and tracking.

J/Community:

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* Oscar Meade sailed his J/105 KING OF SHAVES in this year's OSTAR- read his SAILING WORLD interview:  "A couple of hours after the start, the sheer scale of it all hit me.  Earlier that morning, I was so keen to get going and as I reviewed the other skippers in their boats, I thought to myself, 'This is going to be big.'"

This enthusiastic 18-year-old from Cowes, England, was the youngest sailor to finish the Original Single-handed Transatlantic Race from Plymouth, England to Newport, Rhode Island. Over the course of the 3,000-mile race, Mead held his own against an experienced crowd, placing second in the Gypsy Moth class and a sixth overall.

After a rough first night in 46-knot winds, Mead had to suppress all of his reservations. "It's all mind over matter," says Mead. "Even if you are thinking, 'It is going to be a long race,' you just got to say to yourself, 'I am doing this because I want to do this' and then you just go."

Days later, however, Mead was enjoying high-speed surfs down blue-water mounds. "I thought the whole way across it would be a battle and a race, yet I'd be standing there, even though it was cold, wet and raining, and I'd see some amazing things.  Once I was going down a big wave and a whale jumped out of the wave next to me.  You just can't account for that kind of stuff!"

He also had his share of nightmarish experiences. While carrying his A5 spinnaker in 30 knots, the tack-line jammer unexpectedly opened. The kite filled 25 feet to leeward and King Of Shaves was knocked straight sideways, the hatch inches away from being completely submerged. His quick response of swimming to the leeward winch to release the sheet and then the halyard remedied the potential disaster.  "Afterwards, I sat in the cockpit, having dealt with the issue, and thought, 'Oh my God, that was really scary.'"

To cope with his isolation he turned to his iPod, which worked for the first five days. After that, Mead had to amuse himself: "I grew to dislike the characters of Harry Potter," he says, "You'd be there, drenched and exhausted, and they'd be like, 'Harry threw himself backwards into his soft feather cushion.'  Singing Disney songs in howling winds to entertain himself?  Easy. Eating grey, mushy Irish stew? Not so.

"You think, 'I know this is going to be nice.' Then you pour it into the pan and it is still grey water.  You really have to muster up the energy to eat it because it doesn't look and smell like it's going to be delicious."  Mead made up for the sub-par meals with his snack of choice: Oreo cookies.  "When I ran out of Oreos three-quarters of the way across, I didn't know how I was going to cope," he says. There was, however, a box of them waiting at the finish line in Newport.

As for many a solo sailor before him, the OSTAR was a steppingstone for loftier plans for Mead, including the Vendee Globe 2016. "I am quite a big dreamer, so at the age of 12, I thought I could get an Open 60 and sail across the ocean," he says with a laugh. Inspired by Ellen MacArthur, Mead pursued sailing with fervor.  Last year's Solo Channel Week was his first taste of solo sailing, a taste he found irresistible: "With single-handed sailing, you run the boat your way and you are going to go as fast as you can."  Next for Mead is the Fastnet in the J/105 and possibly the 2010 Velux Five Oceans.  For more info.

Featured Boat

New 2009 J/80s Available

There’s plenty of new J/80 talk these days, thanks to the extraordinary coverage garnered by the record J/80 fleet of 131 boats in Santander, Spain.

The J/80 is now the largest sprit boat one-design in Europe as well as the USA.  Learn more about this remarkable, simple, easy to sail boat.  Call your dealer now and learn more about it.  Several are just completing in Bristol, RI - Base Price- $49,900.  Please contact J/Boats or your nearest J dealer for details.

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by: 11 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors in 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!   For background info.

J/Newsletter- July 7th, 2009

J/97 in UK Women's Open Keelboat Championship

J-UK/ COFFIN MEW 2nd Supporting Breast Cancer Care in England

(Solent, England- July 4-5)-  The second Women's Open Keelboat Championship proved as exciting as the inaugural event last year.  The event was again hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club at Hamble. The regatta committee set windward/leeward courses that were quite manageable on the first day (6-12 knot winds) and more challenging on the second day with 17 knot breezes, sunny and gorgeous!  In the IRC fleet, the J/97 was sponsored for this wonderful women's event by COFFIN MEW, J/UK and STARSPRAY.  The J/97 was sailed quite competitively by Marie-Claude Heys and Sally Pike and by the last race on Sunday were only seconds behind the leader.  Read more below.    Complete results here.

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Now that we are past the summer solstice and the regatta circuit gets busier in July, there was plenty of action to report on in both American, Europe, as well as our ertswhile colleagues in the Southern Hemisphere- South America and even Australia.  The American events featured J/Fest Northwest in Seattle and the start of the famous TransPac Race with the fleet halfway home.  The European events included the Breast Cancer Care UK Women's Open Keelboat Championship, the J/80 UK Nationals, the on-going J/80 Worlds in Santander, Spain, the Biscay Challenge in France and the Petit Bateau Channel Week in England.  Finally, way down south there's the Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week in Brazil and J/24 Asia-Pacific Championships in Australia.  Next week will be the report on the J/80 Worlds in Santander, Spain with a record fleet of 130 boats!  Read on! More importantly, if you have more J Regatta News, please email  it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

"Breast Cancer Care" Women's Open Keelboat Championship

J/109 J-DREAM Wins Class, J/97 J-UK/COFFIN MEWS 2nd in IRC

(Hamble, England- July 4-5)-   The second Women's Open Keelboat Championship on the weekend of 4th and 5th July proved as exciting as the inaugural event last year.  The J/109 J-DREAM came second overall and first in J/109 Class and the J/97 J/UK/ COFFIN MEW was third overall and second IRC Class. The event was again hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club at Hamble.

140 women crewed at WOKC this year, including Marie-Claude Heys, Lucy Burn, Colette Blair, Charlotte Lawrence, Liz Savage, Sarah Allan, Ursula Bagnall and, of course, Louise Morton.  Of the seventeen boats represented in this wonderful event, it was apparent the J Owners in the UK are incredibly supportive of such programs helping women-- fully 50% of the fifteen boat fleet was J's- seven J/109 One-Designs and one J/97 taking 4 of top 5 spots!

Competitors were set imaginative and challenging courses mainly windward / leeward in nature. The final race encompassed a windward mark rounding of West Knoll buoy close to the Brambles bank down tide at low water, encouraging navigational and tactical decisions. Conditions were consistently light for the first day providing an agreeable introduction for the relatively light crews with the wind between 6 and 11 knots whereas on the second day the wind rose up to 17 knots. 6 races were completed in 2 days.

J-DREAM sailed by Kirsty Apthorp and Lucy Burn dominated the J/109 fleet from the start despite the slight hindrance of hot, hot pink tutus and legwarmers as their chosen crew uniform! They won 4 out of 6 races and therefore the overall class by 7 points from their nearest competitor. Further down the class Gillian Ross's boat Team Breast Cancer Care had a scratch crew some of whom joined only 12 hours before racing began. Gillian took home the fantastic Dubarry of Ireland bronze boot as winner of the Spirit of the Event Award. Gillian's boat was branded for Breast Cancer Care and her efforts in supporting the event, giving women new to sailing a chance to compete, and fundraising for the chosen charity were all well recognised.

In the IRC fleet the J/97 J-UK/COFFIN MEW presented the ultimate winner, ESPADA, with cause for concern as the races went on, so that by the penultimate race the J/97 was less than one minute behind Espada on corrected time and on the last race Marie-Claude Heys and Sally Pike raced J-UK/COFFIN MEW to only 30 seconds behind on corrected time. Had there been a third day's racing, Marie-Claude and crew might have been knocked off their first place spot.
Photos by Nick Farrell and Ric Searle.    Complete results here.

Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week

Andrea Grael's All Woman Crew Racing J/24 EIGER

(Ilhabela, Brazil- July 5-9)-   The beautiful island of Ilhabela provides a stunning setting and a variety of great challenging conditions for the 2009 Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week. The event, which had its first edition in 1973, has been a tradition for Brazilian sailors throughout the years and its unique blend of island-style hospitality, competition and camaraderie has been attracting sailors from all over the world for every new edition. The steady trade winds produce great sailing conditions and offer a testing variety of both offshore and inshore handicap racing.

Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week is now in its 36th edition and has proved once again to be the most important regatta in South America gathering 'la creme de la creme' of the South American yacht-racing community for a week of competitive sailing in the waters off the paradise of Ilhabela - 'the beautiful island,' located 140 miles north of Sao Paulo.  Amongst the 205 boats and competitors is the winning skipper of 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race, Torben Grael, as tactician aboard MITSUBISHI.  For those who might wonder why Grael is taking part in Rolex Ilhabela Sailing Week racing on MITSUBISHI so soon after nine-months of sailing the Volvo Race he has good reasons--- his wife, Andrea, is racing on the all-female crewed J/24 EIGER, which won in the ORC International 700 class in the opening long-distance race.  Proving that her beauty is matched by a competitive inner-core, Andrea and her crew toughed out the first race in very demanding conditions for a J/24 offshore.  At the start, the wind was a mere 5-knot northeasterly offering a downwind run to Alcatrazes Island. Once in the open sea, however, the wind built to 20-knots and the waves peaked at 8 feet!  More news and info.  Also at Rolex.
Photo credit- Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi

J/Fest Northwest

Burnell's J/109 TANTIVY Wins Overall Trophy

(Seattle, WA- June 20-21)-  Corithian YC member Stuart Burnell and the crew of his J/109 TANTIVY took top honors in the annual J-Fest regatta, winning the Francis LeSourd Trophy.  The regatta was held on Puget Sound off the Shilshole Bay Marina.

Overall it was a well attended J/Fest NW with thirty-nine boats racing in seven fleets, two as PHRF handicap and five as one-designs- the J/24, J/30, J/35, J/105 and J/109s.

In the PHRF handicap classes, the J/100 TOURIST won the only PHRF Class 1 race they could fire off due to extenuating circumstances.  The J/46 CLAYMORE and the J/35 BLUE STREAK finished second and third, respectively.  The PHRF Class 6 managed to get in four races and the team of Moynihan/Conway simply put the rest of their fleet into a clinic of how to race around the track, garnering four first in their J/29  WINGS.  The lone J/60 SKYE ROCKET raced by Mckinnon was second and Schutte's J/80 TAJ MAHAL was third.

For the one-designs, the J/109 TANTIVY raced by Stu Brunell sailed an almost perfect series, too, garnering four firsts in six races to win by seven points over Greene's IT'S ONLY ROCK'N'ROLL, Woodfield's SHADA slipped into third by one point after not covering the ROCK'N'ROLL team well enough.  In the J/35s, White's GRACE E sailed in a very competitive class to just beat out Deyo's DIVERSION by three points, who in turn won on a tie-breaker over Berge's THE BOSS.  In the J/105s, the largest and most competitive fleet with ten boats, Schlitz's MONEY SHOT won on a nail-biting finish based on results of the la

st race...they had to at least tie or beat by one boat over Diercks' DELIRIUM in order to win.  Finishing third just off the pace but coming on strong in the last four races was Kristen's JUBILEE only three points back.  The J/30s had a fun time racing around the track themselves with the team of Gardner/Adair sailing ROUNDER atop the leader board with Bottles' CELEBRATION two points back in second and the team of Marsden/Geck racing BOB (what about Bob??) in third.  The J/24 class saw Milne's TREMENDOUS SLOUCH beat out Brown's MOUSE TRAP and Mason's RYLAH to win all the marbles in this classic class.

Bob Ross and his staff at Sail Northwest organize the popular event for J Boats and use the Corinthian YC race committee and clubhouse to support it. The Francis LeSourd Trophy is named for the sixth commodore of CYC. It was donated by his law firm as the J-Fest best-performance trophy in 1998, when the firm sponsored the regatta.
Photo credits- Geoff Pease.

Hamble Yacht Services J/80 UK National Championships

JANE'S SISTER Led the Fleet Home

(Hamble, England- June 10-13)-  The HYS J/80  UK National Championships were held in the Solent under the burgee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club. A sportsboat sailor himself, the PRO for the event was Nick Hollamby. The series consisted of eight races each for the J/80s, which were sailed in a variety of conditions from five to twenty-eight knots over the course of the three days.

Ultimately it was Kevin Sproul and his team on JANE'S SISTER who took home the National Championship title for the J/80 Class.  No one would deny that Sproul and the team on JANE'S SISTER sailed an A1 series, never dropping a result out of the top five, but here again, the on-track leaders were just too close to call on many occasions during the racing.

The major pressure on JANE'S SISTER was from Victoria Gregory and Rob Larke’s JOYSTICK and Ian Atkin’s Boats.com. After two races on the final day JOYSTICK had secured her second place overall and had just pushed Boats.com into second place by just two points. In fourth place overall was Charles Somerset and his boys on board LOUDWATER. These guys are relative newcomers to the J/80 Class and charge at their racing; their results are impressive. Tom Phipps of Plymouth University also slotted in a great result of fifth overall and this is his first J/80 UK Nationals.

Hamble Yacht Services (HYS), the event sponsor gave the J/80 fleet free use of their launch and lift facilities for the duration of the event, along with some great prizes, and whilst the benefit of HYS’ investment in the event, the three J/80s which were racing for the charity Toe In The Water could not have competed at the National Championship without their support. This charity aims to speed the recuperation and rehabilitation of injured servicemen and women through sailing, and it seems to work; Kev O’Brien’s Toe In The Sky topped the three in fourteenth place and Sam Mettam’s Toe In The Sea came in sixteenth overall leaving Lloyd Hamilton and his team on Toe In The Sand in nineteenth and buying the beers. Those Toe In The Water boys and girls were certainly thirsty.

Biscay Challenge Race

J/133 PINTIA Wins, J/105 ONLY JUST Second

(Solent, England- July 4-5)-  Last week’s bi-annual Biscay challenge was a complete contrast to the previous race, being dominated by a high over Biscay giving very light winds and forcing many competitors to retire.  The race started with a brisk beat in a force 4 out of the Solent and swiftly degenerated into a foggy windless scenario with boats anchoring in up to 60m of water. The slow run down to Ushant caused the leaders to bunch up and there was only approximatley 3 hours between the leading boat on the water (SPLIFF, an Open 40) and ONLY JUST (J/105). However, cracking off after Ushant allowed the high speed planing boats to break away ahead of a high whilst ONLY JUST was left to sit in the middle praying for a push from a following whale!  Varying conditions at the end meant the Open 40 and the J/133 PINTIA reached into the finish at high speed whilst at the back end of this group ONLY JUST crept  in a 3 knot zephyr.   J's were placed 1st and 2nd with the J/133 PINTIA taking 1st and Andy Hill's J/105 ONLY JUST in second.

Petit Bateau Channel Week

J/105 VOADOR Overall Winner

(Lymington, England- May 29-June 6)- It was a fantastic weeks racing with a very active social side, all made possible with some superb weather (not a cloud was spotted during the first four days) and a great bunch of skippers.

Racing at Petit Bateau Limited held its 6th annual Single Handed Channel Week. This year’s event involved six races, covering 305 miles. The event started and finished in Lymington and all ports; Alderney, St Peter Port, Treguier, Brixham and Weymouth were visited as planned.  There were a total of 11 skippers that started in Lymington and these ranged from the new J/122 OOJAH to its smaller sisters the 30 foot J/92s.

The first race involved either a close spinnaker reach or fetch from Lymington to Alderney. Initially there was some concern that Alderney may have to be by-passed due to the forecasted North Easterly winds, however thankfully the winds had enough East in them to ensure the moorings in Alderney were tenable.   Race two was a short race from Alderney to St Peter Port in what could only be described as Champagne sailing conditions in 15 to 22 knots of wind from the East / North East, enabling boats to carry large Spinnakers the whole way from start to finish. Such conditions lead to a very early arrival in St Peter Port, which provided the opportunity for a light lunch and a few drinks followed by an afternoon siesta.  Race three lead the fleet south to the delightful town of Treguier. The race started in very light conditions and again in clear blue skies. The wind remained light throughout the race and was generally from the East / North East, however there were some considerable wind shifts. Spinnakers were flown the whole way and the fleet finished in good time for dinner at very nice Creperie in the marina side of the town.  Race four from Treguier to Brixham was the longest race (88 nm) of the series and given the initial light conditions the race continued throughout the hours of darkness. At one stage the wind dropped to zero but the forecasted strengthening winds from the east kicked in at about 23:00 and ensured a much speedier night time passage. Race five from Brixham to Weymouth was postponed due to the very light winds. At Petit Bateau we always try to ensure we keep the event moving to the next destination, hence the fleet motored until the Race Director felt there was enough wind to ensure a reasonable race could be completed. After about three hours of motoring a reasonable breeze built up and the ‘self starting at sea process’ was instigated. A few gates were built in to the course in case the breeze failed but thankfully these were not required and the fleet made it to Weymouth via an 8 knot beat with a nice reach to the finish after we rounded Portland Bill.  Race six proved to be the sting in the tail for the series and the fleet were faced with an easterly breeze and hence a beat the whole way from Weymouth to Lymington. This breeze averaged around 20 knots but gusts of 28 knots were experienced at the headlands. Due to the wind and tidal conditions before Anvil point the favourable route involved tacking up the beautiful Dorset coastline. However the never ending salty spray, attention to navigation and high physical demands when solo sailing in such conditions ensured a limited amount of time could be spent admiring the countryside. Once the fleet were all safely accounted for a dash was made to the warmth of the Mayflower for dinner and refreshments, this was followed by the series prize giving on the very nice new J/122 OOJAH.

The series results were as follows:  The Overall IRC prize went to Simon Curwen on the very well sailed J/105 VOADOR. The prize for 3rd under IRC went Race Director Peter Olden’s J/92s SOLAN GOOSE.

The overall Class 1 second place went to Peter Tanner on his J/122 OOJAH.   In Class 2 it was a J/Boat 1, 2 and 3 with the Open 1st prize going to Simon Curwen on the J/105 VOADOR,  second was Peter Olden on the J/92s SOLAN GOOSE and third was Rod Knowles on another J/105 JULIETTE. The special J/Boat Trophies that are awarded based on IRC results went in the same order.

The Rookie prizes are awarded to the best skippers who have not previously competed in a significant off-shore solo race- special mention must go to Luke Bond for finishing third on his J/92s DRAGONFLY.
For more details

Transpac Race Mid-race Report

J's Dialed In as Leaders in the Fleet

(Los Angeles, CA- July 5th)- The bi-annual Transpac Race from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, Hawaii is a 2,225 nautical mile surfing contest most years.  The medium sized boats, including all the J's in the race started on July 3rd, the big boats all started on July 5th.  The smaller boats started at a significant disadvantage as the first three to four days offshore were considerably lighter than the start for the big boats.  Nevertheless, speed and angle are king in this monster of a race and many of the big boats have heated up significantly and are well north of rhumbline compared to the small/midsize boats--- the entire fleet is in the trade-winds surfing towards Diamond Head, Hawaii.

BAD PAK, Tom Holthus' J/145 out of San Diego, is picking its way through the Division V, VI and VII boats and is the front-runner in Division IV on corrected time although Hula, Bill Mills' and Maury Myers's SC 52 is just a few miles closer to its homeport of Honolulu.  The previous Transpac Division IV Winner and Overall Transpac Champion is Tom Garnier's REINRAG 2 from Portland, Oregon holding in just a few miles off the pace of BAD PAK.   J/WORLD, Wayne Zittel's J/120 from San Francisco is doing quite well also as the front-runner boat-for-boat in Division VI.  A few dozen miles behind them is Lindsey Austin's J/35 ADDICTION from Honolulu in the same Division VI.  From a race navigation perspective, the J/145 BAD PAK, the J/125 REINRAG 2 and the J/120 J/WORLD are all well positioned to leeward of the fleet sailing faster and hotter angles to maintain surfing speeds in the tradewinds and all should pull well ahead of their respective classes in the coming days.  More news next week!!  Meanwhile, you can follow the excellent race tracking from OneEarth on their site.  For more info and tracking.

J/24 Class Asia-Pacific Championship

Royal Perth Yacht Club sailors Sean Wallis Wins!

(Adelaide, South Australia)- Sailing WETTY GRIPPER, the team of Sean Wallis and crew Simon Cunningham, David Somerville, Todd Harnett and David Higgins have won the inaugural J24 Class Asia-Pacific Championship at Adelaide's Cruising Yacht Club, South Australia.

After winning his second J/24 Australian title earlier this year the Wallis team headed into the Asia-Pacific Championship expecting to perform well against tough competition.  Event conditions varied with light conditions on the first day resulting in only two of three races sailed. Day two presented the fleet with a nice 10-14 knot breeze in which the three races were completed, while the final day saw rough seas and winds around 18-24 knots gusting to 30 knots. A 40 knot squall during the second race resulted in abandonment for the day resulting in only six races for the series.

Racing in the twenty strong fleet was close however the West Australian's dominated winning all but one of the six races sailed and finished nine points ahead of Ben Lamb's ARMED & DANGEROUS from New South Wales and Vladimir Borstnar's FUN from Singapore in third.  Rounding out the top five were Dave Suda's PACEMAKER from Victoria and Alyn Stevenson's FUN 2 from South Australia.  The WA team will defend their Australian title in January before challenging the World Championship in Sweden.   Info at Yachting Western Australia

Waukegan to Chicago Race Update

As Seen From Clark Pellet's J/105 SEA LARK

(Chicago, IL)-  What a ride!  It was a beautiful sunny day, with winds gusting around 32 kts. (Although we didn't have any wind instruments--probably a good thing.   :)

Unofficial elapsed time for the trip from Waukegan back to Chicago was an estimated 2 hrs 35 minutes with a self-timed finish at 12:01 p.m.--since the committee boat was not on station.  Average speed over the 26.2 mile course was 10.14 kts.  Highest course-over-ground reading was 16.2 kts (while surfing :) with SEALARK traveling at a sustained speed exceeding 14.5 kts for 43 seconds according to the Velocitek GPS tracking.  We popped the kite seconds after crossing the starting line and held it nearly the entire way.  Since there was no committee boat, we doused the chute off Montrose and went in search of a finish, finally taking our time once we had sailed well past Belmont and calling the race committee.

We had only 3 (or maybe 4?) round-ups, but quick recoveries.  About 30 minutes into the race, the two trailing J/105s rounded up in a gust and chutes blew out.  But we held down and never looked back--charging to our second highest speed of 15.8 kts.  We had the Bahai Temple abaft the beam at 11:00 a.m. and at the end we sailed to the 420's finish line a bit north of Belmont, just in case it was the finish.

Two J/105s finished at least 12 minutes behind us (they were number 2 and 3 "across the line"), with the first T-10 finishing at least 19 minutes behind us.  We tracked the first 7 boats finishing until the committee boat finally got there and threw out the orange mark to set up a finish line.  SEA-U finished with a fouled prop (from wrapping a spinnaker line prior to the start), and a torn jib.

J/Community:

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* Jay Lutz- the 2006 J/80 World Champion has been involved in a rather unfortunate accident at the J/80 Worlds in Santander, Spain.  In fact many describe it as the most bizarre incident they've ever seen on the water at any sailing event.  Somehow a photoboat leapt across their J/80 while sailing, smashed the boom, blew apart the mainsail and partially landed on Jay and broke his hip in three places.  This picture here does not justice to what actually happened other than the fact you can see the engine stuck on the windward rail and the photoboat out to windward.  We wish Jay well and hope that he recovers in good health and spirits quickly!

SA's description of the incident: There was a ridiculous accident at the J/80 Worlds today when a rib crashed USA 407 "Fired up", the 2006 World Champions, right before the practice race. They crossed the boat from port to starboard and the prop got stuck in the cockpit. Steve LeMay is being checked into the hospital as a precaution. He's seeing halos, so probably a mild concussion. and from Jay Lutz: "I used my superhuman strength to move the boat off me, but fractured my pelvis (3 places) and slight fracture of my L2." Incredible.  Photo credits- Jesus Renedo

* Ed "Cool Kat" Baird- his latest steed has just been unveiled in Switzerland.  Just another carbon catamaran with 30,000 square meters of carbon and looking a bit like a giant D-35 cat he's been sailing and training on for the past few months on Lake Geneva, Switzerland.   As described by a recent news release:  Alinghi, the Defender of the 33rd America's Cup, unveiled its 90ft catamaran this weekend in Villeneuve, Switzerland. This multihull represents a culmination of Swiss multihull heritage and is the first step in Alinghi's development process towards the 33rd America's Cup in February 2010. The boat will be launched by helicopter next week on Lake Geneva before the process of 'debugging' begins and the boat goes sailing for the first time. Note- a former Newporter and also a J/24 sailor like Ed is the co-designer and chief engineer on the project- Dirk Kramers (also worked at Hall Spars for awhile along with some other famous J/24 alums like Scott Ferguson).
Read on about Alinghi here.   Photos from Carlo Borlenghi (The Master) and others.

Featured Boat

New 2009 J/80s Available

There’s plenty of new J/80 talk these days, thanks to the extraordinary coverage garnered by the record J/80 fleet of 131 boats in Santander, Spain.

The J/80 is now the largest sprit boat one-design in Europe as well as the USA.  Learn more about this remarkable, simple, easy to sail boat.  Call your dealer now and learn more about it.
Several are just completing in Bristol, RI - Base Price- $49,900.  Please contact J/Boats or your nearest J dealer for details.

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by: 11 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors in 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!   For background info.