J/95 Demos Ready to Roll in FL and CT
Experience an Awesome Shoal Draft Performance 31 footer!
J/95 #1 arrived in Sarasota, Florida and CrossCurrent Marine is busy with demo sails and an upcoming open house-- both dealers/ customers are welcome. Hull #2 is launching May 6th in Barrington, RI and will spend the rest of May at Dodson Boatyard in Stonington, CT. Meet J/Boats' designer, Rod J, for demo sails-- truly a fun and unique experience! Then, relax afterwards at Clay Burkhalter's renowned watering hole, The DogWatch Cafe, for a refreshment or two. We encourage you to contact J/Boats to arrange a demo in FL or CT and factory visit to Bristol.
J/97 Launched in May
The new 32 foot cruising sensation debuts in Europe!
J/97 Hull #1 launched in Les Sables d'Olonne, France this past weekend. This refreshing, innovative design re-defines space, comfort and enjoyable sailing for the 28-32 foot size range. Sea-trials performed by designer Alan Johnstone were successful, "she sails sweetly and is an excellent handling boat. We expect the J/97 to sell well in the European market. She will debut in America in the fall boatshows." During May, press trials and demo sails may be scheduled with the J/Europe. Find out more here.
J/Regatta News
The Sun Never Sets on J/Owners Racing Around the World
Spring ushers in a bevy of regattas in Europe and the USA. J's are having fun out West- Cabo San Lucas Race, Newport-Ensenada Race; out East with Charleston Race Week, Bermuda Race Week; in the Caribbean in St. Maarten Regatta, Antigua Sailing Week; in Europe at Warsash Spring Regatta. More importantly, if you have more regatta news, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below is a summary of recent events.
Sailing World NOOD Annapolis
Brian Keane's SAVASANA dominates J/105s, Tim Healey Rolls the Dice in J/24 Pre-Worlds!
(Annapolis, MD- April 25-26)- The Annapolis SW NOOD saw 266 boats spread across 18 fleets. The J's dominated the one-design fleets, 167 J's representing 63.0% of all boats sailed 8 classes- the J/22, J/24, J/80, J/29, J/30, J/35, J/105 and J/109.
In the J/105 class, Brian Keane's SAVASANA (picture) dominated the 30 competitors and took home the coveted overall award, giving them a spot at the overall NOOD championship in the B.V.I. this fall. Tactician Michael Lague, who's sailed with Keane for many years, summed up their win as simply as he could. "Good starts."
In the J/24 unofficial "Pre-Worlds" with 52 boats, Tim Healey managed to pull off a nail-biter event over regatta leaders Pete Levesque, Chris Larson (Moose as tactician). In the last race, Pete and Chris dove right after the start and disappeared off the face of the Earth. Tim started left and stayed left to finish 2nd and win overall. With 70+ boats registered for the J/24 Worlds hosted at Annapolis YC this coming weekend, it will be interesting to see how the American crews fare against the Europeans and South Americans who've come into their own in recent years.
The J/22 class saw 37 boats sail in incredibly tight racing with New York's Chris Doyle ultimate prevailing over this talented class.
Chris Johnson from Eastport YC won the 11 boat J/80 class in what was purported to be the tightest racing seen in all the fleets.
The 5 boat J/29 fleet saw Ira Perry travel down from New Bedford YC to take first place silver.
Local sailor Dave McConaughy from Hampton YC won the 12 boat J/30 class.
The J/109s had 9 boats race with veteran campaigner Bill Sweetser winning.
And, Jerry Christofel on the venerable AUNT JEAN took the honors in the 11 boat J/35 class.
For more info, news and scores see the Sailing World reports.
Charleston Race Week
A fun fest for all in a Caribbean-style event
(Charleston, SC- April 16-19)- The CRW saw 150+ boats, representing strong growth from the previous year. The 33 J's in attendance had strong showings across three PHRF classes and three one-design fleets- J/24, J/80 and J/105.
In the J/80 class, Kerry Klingler sailing J-HAWK beat 9 other boats in a closely fought class. In the J/24s, Chip Till raced his MURDER Inc. to win over 16 boats.
The J/105s had Patrick Eudy's BIG BOOTY prevail over 5 competitors.
In the PHRF world, hot off a good showing at ACURA Key West Race Week, Brian Team led his friends on the J/122 TEAMWORK to first in PHRF A.
Ira Perry topped PHRF C sailing his J/29 SEEFEST. Having fun, relaxing and winning in non-spinnaker PHRF F was Dick McGillivray's J/130 GONE.
For more info, news and scores see the Charleston Race Week site.
Newport-Ensenada Race
The Party Starts in CA, Go Race, then Party Again in Mexico!
(Newport Beach, CA- April 24 weekend)- It was a good year to race to Ensenada. 267 boats actually finished- that's 99% of the fleet! A record. And, the winners all said it was the straightest race in recent memory with good breezes the entire length of the course. There were 30 J's in attendance participating in the J/120 class, Sprit A and Sprit B. The winner of the J/120's was Carlos Avila Escoto racing with his seasoned team aboard MELTEMI.
For more info, news and scores see the Newport-Ensenada site.
Bermuda Race Week
Pink beaches, RBYC, Dark'n'Stormies--- Life Doesn't Suck!
(Hamilton, Bermuda- April 24 weekend)- The fleet was greeted by good breeze, plenty of sun and solid race management by the veteran RBYC crew.
The J24 group saw Trevor Boyce with crew Carlton Adams, Samantha Mallory, Gary Taylor, Jorge Chiapparro and Anna Kinsten hold on to the lead and won the J24 Gipper Trophy, for the second year in a row. Sixteen year old Lance Fraser and his all-Bermudian, all-16 year old crew held on to second place, two points ahead of Tim Lynch. The top three J24 teams were all from Bermuda. The long distance traveler award went to Bruce Stone, a perennial J/24 and J/105 sailor from St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA.
The J/105 group had very close racing. The Williams/Rego team sailed strongly enough to not have to sail the last race. They topped former Sunfish World Champion Chuck Millican and the others to win by 10 points. Chuck had a rough time the last race holding off Jim MacDonald and Jon Corless to finish second on a tie-breaker.
Find out why this event has to be counted amongst the best in the world- heck, who would object to pink sands, temps in the 70s, 20 knots of breeze, flat water, Goslings rum and ginger beer (aka Dark'n'Stormies) and extraordinary hospitality. Frankly, we're jealous we weren't there!
Find out what happened here.
J Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Dennis Conner (ex J/120 owner) convinced another J/Boat sailor and owner (J/80, J/92s, J/125), Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the famous psychologist with a nationally syndicated radio talk show to go sailing with him on the Newport-Ensenada Race aboard his 60 footer "Stars & Stripes". Read more about this interesting development on SailingScuttlebutt's Scuttleblog.
* Ken Read sailed his VOR 70 PUMA into 4th place in the Rio-Boston leg of the VOR race. While not exactly a J/24, it was clear his World Championship performances in one-designs like the J/24 were paying off in the Inshore Races and early tactical decisions off the starting lines. Unfortunately, Kenny's early lead off Brazil evaporated...we believe someone heard him say, "darn, I just can't buy a shift!" We wish him well in the TransAtlantic leg coming up soon.
* Ed Baird and his ALINGHI mates are apparently experiencing some anxiety now that the America's Cup might actually have to be sailed sometime in the near future. His wife and sons have been content going to school, relaxing and enjoying life in St. Petersburg. They hope that Dad doesn't go cartwheeling off into the sunset on some giant spider of a multihull sometime in 2010. Ed was overheard remarking that "...it's way easier sailing those darn J/24s in the BVI than these temperamental beasts we've been racing in Europe!"
Featured J/Brokerage
If you have a passion for speed, the J/65 BRAND NEW DAY is in a league of its own. The J/65 is the flagship passagemaker in the J Boat line-- the ultimate private sailing yacht for dedicated J Boat enthusiasts. The J/65 has exceptional performance under non-overlapping headsails, double-handed ease of operation, minimum on-deck maintenance, luxurious accommodations, stunning aesthetics, and great value.
Built in 2006 this boat is located in New England in the Newport/Portsmouth area. She has been lightly sailed, finished 2nd in Class in 2008 STC Bermuda Race and enjoyed the New York YC 2008 cruise. Please contact J/Boats dealer Jeff Brown at JK3 Enterprises for more information on this unique boat.
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 more background info.
