J/Newsletter- November 18th, 2009

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NEW 2010 J/Sailing Calendar Is Hot!

The Ultimate Gift for People Who Love Sailing!

We have created a beautiful J/Sailing Calendar for J owners and J sailors who love and appreciate the joys of sailing a J in some of the most spectacular harbors and waters of the world. Whether you are a cruising, competitive or armchair sailor, the stunning photographs will transport you to wonderful sailing experiences in far away places. Enjoy the color and excitement of J sailing with these gorgeous photos.

The J/Sailing Calendar features photos of flying J/80s, a wildly planing J/100 off Hawaii, a powerful J/122 surging upwind, an inspirational sail off the Maine coast on a J/42, J/120s battling up the San Francisco waterfront during the Rolex Big Boat Series and tranquil shots off the world's most beautiful harbors and coasts on J/22s, J/24s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and more. For those who love the sailing lifestyle, it's the perfect gift for friends and family. Photo Credit- KOS  To order yours today, please visit the J/Sailing Calendar website.

Regatta Schedule

Nov. 8-29- GARMIN Winter Series (J/80, J/109, J/105)- Solent, Hamble, England
Nov. 18-21- J/24 South Americans- Porto Alegre, Brazil- Veleiros do Sul
Jan. 18-22, 2010- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL- invited classes include J/80s, J/105s, J/109s, J/122s

J/Regatta News

J's Chasing Rainbows Sailing Worldwide

The Americas saw their fellow Bermudians stage their National Keelboat Championship in Bermuda Shorts (not fair!). While in slightly cooler climate, the action continues in Europe with the conclusion of the Ice Cup near the Arctic Circle, a bit further south on England's Solent, the Garmin Hamble Winter Series saw some good racing for the J/109, J/105 and J/80 one-design classes and Benelux had their Open J/80 Championship. And, in seriously nice Mediterranean weather, the J/80s continue to have a great time sailing in the Med racing off the Spanish seacoasts of Bilbao, Santander and Palma. And, in South America, the Brazilians, Peruvians, Chileans and Argentineans are now sailing for the J/24 South American Championship in Porto Alegre, Brazil. 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- Paul Wyeth

Garmin Hamble Winter Series

The J-DREAM Sailing into the Sunset Winning Again

(Solent, Hamble, So'ton, England)- After gale force winds on Saturday and rain squalls early on Sunday morning, the weather settled down to a picturesque day of sunshine and cloud for the sixth round of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series.
Despite the windward going tide that might be expected to benefit the smaller boats, most of the class leaders maintained their form. In the J/109 one-design class, David & Kirsty Athorp's J-DREAM continued their hot streak, leading home the fleet over the weekend and Chris Jones' JOURNEYMAKER 5 won the J-105 class.

The White Group classes were as usual closer to the mainland shore, and sailing in a 250 degree breeze. All three races went off without mishap, but to the frustration of the committee and probably the competitors the wind backed by 10 degrees during the final race start sequence.

In the J/80 class, OI! won two of the three races. John Cooper and his crew slipped up with an OCS in race three, with Cressida Robson and Allan Higgs' JUICY winning this one by four seconds from Patrick Liardet's AQUA J.

Next Sunday's racing (22nd. Nov) continues with the full Winter Series programme for White and Black Group racing.  For more information and sailing results. Photo Credits: Paul Wyeth

Yachts & Yachting Announces RORC Boats of the Year

J/133 BATFISH III Overall IRC Winner

(London, England)- The Winner of the Jazz Trophy for best total points score overall under IRC for the RORC was Bill Blain's J/133 BATFISH III and Robin Taunt's J/109 JIBE was third. The comment was heard that with good production boats like these “crewed by amateur sailors.... you do not need an expensive custom yacht with professional crew to do well.." In short, when it comes to winning IRC offshore events with friends aboard, a J is the way to go...proof from the hotbed of IRC racing--- England and France where the J/122s and J/109s continue to lead the pack on both sides of "La Manche" (the Ditch a.k.a. The English Channel). Photo Credits: Paul Wyeth   For more information on RORC Sailing Events.

J/80 Open Benelux Championship

(Port Zelande, Holland)- After some years steadily building the structure of a class organization and the J/80 fleet, this weekend was the long awaited first J/80 Open Benelux Championship, sailing out of Port Zelande. The start and the race management was under the auspices of the Dutch Sailing Federation and the host organization was in the hands of Grevelingencup Regatta. The field had international allure with participants from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with a total of fourteen boats attending.

Under widely varying conditions, that included rain, clouds, gusts, wind shifts and constantly changing wind strengths, the Race Committee did a great job getting lots of sailing in for all participants, getting in five races the first day. At the end of this day, QUANTUM SAILS TEAM sailed by William Garschagen, Nic Bol, Tom van der Werf, Charlotte Heijstek and the crew were first, followed by TEAM+FABER MUNKER sailed by Jan-Piet Stuursma, Christopher Savoy, Joris Walraevens Twan and Hanse. Just behind in third and fourth place were JOI DE VIVRE raced by the sharp-looking crew of Laura Vroon with Wouter de Vries Lentsch, Kelly, Caroline van Beelen and JALAPENO RHINUS was sailed by the enthusiastic crew of Erik Scheeren with Jade Ottema, Erick Vink, Emanuelle Scheeren.

On the second day, the conditions were clearly different, sun and a light and somewhat unstable and decreasing wind were the ingredients for the next four races. The battle for first place between the QUANTUM SAILS TEAM and the FABER MUNKER TEAM was essentially a match race. When the gun smoke from the start and finish line and the jury room had cleared, TEAM FABER MUNKER was the first Benelux champion. Second was Jack William Garschagen and third was Laura Vroon. For J/80 Class Regatta Report.

Bermuda National Keelboat Championship

J/105 MAYHEM Reigns Supreme

(Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Bermuda)- The annual shoot-out on the Great Sound to ultimately crown the Bacardi National Keelboat Champions in the three classes for Bermuda was held this past weekend, the action was hot and heavy in the J/105 class.

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club race officer Jay Hooper and his team were constantly tested (along with the sailors) with winds shifting as much as 80 degrees between south east and south west throughout the day. Sailors experienced all types of wind conditions ranging from 10 knots to the mid twenties. The highest wind conditions were seen during the 4th race in the middle of a 'whiteout' rain squall. A number of boats, slightly worse for wear, elected to retire before the 5th and final race.

The hotly contested J/105 Class saw five boats on the line with Jon Corless and his crew sailing MAYHEM with the most consistent form with four first place finishes and a second, posting a total of 6 pts. Glenn Astwood sailing OCKHAM'S RAZOR and James Macdonald's PASSION battled it out for second place with Glenn prevailing with 13 pts.

A very wet, cold and tired group of sailors arrived back at the host Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for some well deserved liquid refreshment thanks to Bacardi and a BBQ courtesy of the Bermuda Sailing Association. Winners were presented with product and logo gear from Bacardi and specially engraved clocks to mark the accomplishment by Bacardi's Craig Smith and BSA President Somers Cooper. For more regatta and sailing information.

Bancantabria Sailing Cup

FUNDESTIC (Toño Gorostegui) Winning Overall

(Santander, Spain- 15-16 November)- An excellent turnout of thirty five boats were treated to some classic, windy conditions off Santander's famous waterfront and gorgeous beaches. Act III remains under the dominion of the ECC VIVIENDAS sailed by Torcida Pichu. A great weekend of strong south winds also helped SPACIO 10 sailed by Paulo Santurde get into second place and Tono Gorostegui retain third place in FUNDESTIC. Finally coming into their own after several weekends of sailing were 470 World Champions Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos, skippering PROPENOR to 2nd and 4th in the strong wind conditions and fast downwind surfing of the last day. Overall for the Bancantabria Sailing Cup, FUNDESTIC is still leading with a tie being broken in their favor over Santurde's SPACIO 10. Pichu Torcida has fallen off the pace a little bit and is now lying third overall for the series racing ECC VIVIENDAS.   For more regatta and sailing info.

Commodores Trophy- Espana

Martinez's ZEIK Crowned Winner Overall

(La Coruna, Spain- 15 November)- Due to the cancellation of the last race because of some storms predicted for later in the day, Paul Martinez and his crew aboard ZEIK were declared the winner of the Commodore's Trophy. Sailing with Paul were Alejandro Zapata, Cristina Governors, Francisco Diéguez and Antonio Parra. In second place, tied on points but with fewer first places was the Spanish Navy boat skippered by Paul Chavert Coruña. Just three points behind were Stuart Shimeld's AUSSYCRAWL-BIG BOY NAUTICAL. This regatta concludes the J/80 racing season in La Coruna. Next year, the Spanish J/80 class will be holding their Spanish National Championship off the picturesque coast of La Coruna.  Photo Credit by ChapiFoto.com     For more regatta and sailing info

J/80 and J/92 ICE CUP

(Stockholm, Sweden- November 14-16)- Here's the report from the Ice Cup in Stockholm by the J/80 Swedish teams participating in the event: "We were two teams from the J/80 gang, who raced in this year's Ice Cup organized by Stockholm's Match Racing. The boats we sailed were specially built J/92s with spinnaker poles-- it was fun to race the bigger sailboat model of the J/80. For our team usually familiar with asymmetric spinnakers, we solved this problem with spinnaker handling by bringing in two experts in the field: Olle Larsson and Martin King. Martin was past SM-SK30 winner in 2008. How did we do? It was quite tolerable. We finished seventh out of fifteen teams. And, we had a lot of fun. Cold, though, you had to dress warmly. And, the hot tub was great! According to rumor, a similar event will be held here in April, so just keep an eye on www.matchracing.nu.   For more match race sailing information

J/Community:

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

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* J/109 sailor Keith Wilson and crew are having fun racing their J/109 MAJIKAL Down Under in Australia sailing around the Sydney Harbour region. Here's one of Keith's own accounts of racing this past weekend around the "Heads":

"The wind for the day blew 15-20 knots from the NW at the start and then swung to the NE for our run down the coast - it was absolutely ideal for the asymmetric kites- as a result, we got 3rd overall.

The first race for MAJIKAL was in the Cronulla estuary at start of an offshore race. The "PJ to PH" was actually in Sydney Harbour during a race back to Cronulla.

Here's the geography: Sydney Harbour is on Port Jackson . Cronulla is on Port Hacking . The estuary is at the mouth of PH, where the Hacking River runs into Tasman Sea (e.g. Pacific Ocean). At the downstream end of the estuary, the river actually empties into Bate Bay. Further detailed information re geography: Cronulla is the beach-side suburb of The Sutherland Shire, about 20 km south of Sydney. The Shire is also known as God's Country. The Shire is bounded by Georges River to the north, ocean to the east and Hacking River to the south (beyond the river to the south is Royal National Park - oldest national park in the world - even older than Yosemite National Park in America)."

We wish Keith and crew fair winds and fast sailing in the upcoming months racing in this fascinating part of the Pacific. To learn more about Cronulla and this part of Sydney where they are doing lots of sailing and racing, check out this GoogleMap link
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*J/44 sailor Jeff Willis had a great interview with Windcheck Magazine this month- From Huntington, NY, Jeff is the Co- Founder and President of Willis Marine Center Inc and the owner of one of the most successful racing yachts on Long Island Sound. “I started sailing in 1951 with my dad on a 37-foot Whistler that was built of wood by my uncle here in Huntington,” Jeff recalls. “The first boat I owned was a Dyer Dhow that I raced in the junior sailing program at Huntington Yacht Club. I’ve sailed Ensigns for quite a while and was the fleet champ three or four times.” Jeff ’s J/44 Challenge IV, the winningest boat in a very competitive one-design class, is his fourth boat with that name.   Read more about Jeff's sailing experiences at Windcheck Magazine OnLine
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*Anna Tunnicliffe- Just can't keep a good girl down for too long. The Anna steam-roller just keeps on truckin. Beijing Olympic gold medallist Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) talks to US Sailing about 2009, a year when she won the Laser Radial ISAF Sailing World Cup title, numerous match racing titles and was crowned female winner of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards. Since winning an Olympic gold medal in the Laser Radial in 2008, Tunnicliffe has excelled in a variety of boats and multiple disciplines, proving her talent and versatility as an elite sailor. She has been a dominant force on the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit by winning three gold medals and a bronze, as well as the first-ever ISAF Sailing World Cup trophy in the Laser Radial. The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member has also proven to be a talented match racer, winning bronze medals at the ISAF Nations Cup and Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. Women’s Match Racing will make its debut as an event in the 2012 Olympic Games, so Tunnicliffe had to choose which passion to pursue. She tells US Sailing why she'll match race in 2012 and shares what it takes to be one of the best sailors in the world.  Read more about Anna's sailing experiences at the US Sailing site.
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* Peter Willauer- EIGHT BELLS J/42 Cruising Escapades- For starters, congratulations to Pete and the EIGHT BELLS crew for passing the 50,000 mile mark cruising worldwide...that's about 5,555 miles per year! Pete believes they may be one of the top 5 J/Boats cruising around the world. GAIA must certainly be up there after their World Tour (see link above). Certainly Dr. Scott Piper's J/160 PIPE DREAM is up there as is possibly the York’s J/46.

Here's an excerpt of one of their frequent posts online:
- 0915 posi: 22-09/65-07 sog 5.3 , cog 180 motoring w/o sails into confused slop. About 225 mi to go. Wind 12 from south and predicted to stay that way or less for next three days....so eta depends on fuel. So far we have used about 17 gal of about 53, but not all useful with flat tanks with usual crud/water in bottom, no doubt. We had a nice sail with one or two reefs yesterday afternoon, and with 100% jib on, but dead to windward. Stars and sheet lightning made for a good show. We are on the edge of a ridge that is lined up 22n/65w to20n//63w with squalls to 30-40 kts west of us. Now completely overcast, as expected for next two days...cannot play with the sextant as planned today! In fact all we all want to do is sleep when can...some a little under the weather. But all hands partook in Carol's turkey thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings and kept it down! Thank you again. Peter

Featured Boat

NEW J/105 Race-ready for 2010

US Watercraft will have a race-prepped and ready-to-rock new J/105 ready to ship by January 2010. USW does a gorgeous job of building these J/105s. For those of you interested in jumping aboard the fun, competitive J/105 fleet this is a great opportunity to get a rocket-ship and go have fun next year. These USW sailboats have beautifully fair hulls, keels and rudders and are nicely appointed below. The deck and rigging are top notch and are race-ready.
For more information, please be sure to contact you J/Dealer or J/Boats- Ph# 401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com.

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:
http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm

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