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 MartÃnez, 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.
