J/Newsletter- November 25th, 2009

November 25th, 2009

J/111 Rocketing Out of the Blocks

Worldwide interest in J's latest speedster seems to be growing exponentially every week.  From every corner of our blue planet, enthusiasm for a fun, easy-to-sail 36 footer continues to grow-- and it's from all members of the sailing community.  Not just J sailors.  People who've sailed other racer-cruiser production boats, out-of-control over-canvassed "wedges of cheese" and everything in between.  Everyone appears to be zeroed in on having a great time, with great performance and solid R.O.I --- in the J vernacular, that means FUN for the dollar!  Specs and pricing will be out in December.  Don't be surprised if you have a hard time getting one-- we've had overwhelming interest in the J/111-- talk to your J/Dealer now!  Learn more about this exciting new sailboat.

J/95 Wins SAIL Magazine's 2010 Best Boats "Performance Sailboat" Award

The Performance Sailboat category was populated with an excellent group of new boats, including the J/97, each of which are sporty, forward-thinking racer-cruisers.  Ultimately, the J/95 edged out its competition by virtue of an interesting combination of features that combine to make it a potent sailing package-- its centerboard, twin rudders, cockpit layout and powerful, well-balanced sail plan.
Thanks to its shoal-keel, the J/95 unlocks entire areas to one-design racing that were previously unable to accommodate fixed-keel sailboats.  This is beginning to happen now in such areas as the Chesapeake, Florida and the lakes in Europe.  As SAIL said, "If you want a grin-inducing ride every time you go sailing, the J/95 could be the boat for you."

Learn more about sailing the J/95.       SAIL Magazine Review

J Sailing Calendar Is A Hit!

The reviews are in from the madding crowds at J Dealers and J Sailors from around the world--  the J Sailing Calendar is a cool, breathtakingly beautiful and very useful calendar to keep not just the parents organized, but the kids headed in the right direction and your work week organized most of the time in today's hectic schedules.  And, for adult "playtime" we've added another wrinkle into the equation- an interactive version of the J Sailing Calendar.  Cool, eh?  The J Sailing Calendar of events, regattas, seminars, boatshows and so forth are now posted "live on-line" for you to coordinate your sailing schedules with one another.  Whether you have an Apple iPhone, RIM Crackberry, Nokia Smartphone, Motorola Droid (yup, that Google Android thing) you can now download at the click of a button your sailing schedule for most major sailing events worldwide that are attended by the extended family of J sailors and friends.  That's not all-- much, much more cool stuff soon!   Learn more about the J Sailing Calendar

Regatta & Show Schedules:

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
Dec. 5-13- Paris Sailboat Show- Paris, France
Jan. 8-17, 2010- London Sailboat Show- London, England
Jan. 18-22, 2010- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The Americas and Australia continue taking a breather, especially the Americans celebrating their Thanksgiving this week.  The action was way, way too windy in Europe.  And, in South America, the Brazilians, Peruvians, Chileans and Argentineans sailed the J/24 South Americans 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- ChapiFoto.com

Garmin Hamble Winter Series

J/109, J/105 and J/80 Fleets Postpone Sailing

(Solent, Hamble, England)- This past weekend the Winter Series saw all racing canceled, postponing in effect until next week.  The fleet made some spirited attempts to work around what amounted to a near hurricane, e.g. the double-red flags on the Beaufort Wind Scale - Force 10.  However, the strength and the persistence of the Low was far too overwhelming to even consider venturing forth onto the infamous Solent.  Can't imagine what a 6 knots current again gusts up to 60 knots might look like--  how about a webcam mounted on a titanium tripod on the Bramble Bank in the middle of the Solent-- would be kinda cool! 

In short, the UK MET Office issued all kinds of dire warnings.  The BBC was positively shrill...worried perhaps that train service would again cease operations because leaves blown into the air-intakes would stop the trains running again.  As one of the Race Officers put it, "latest info we have is SW 25 - 30 kts, with gusts to 45 kts, increasing towards midday with averages of 35 kts with gusts to near 60 kts in thundery showers. This forecast has increased again since last night and racing is clearly impractical."  Good on ya, the pubs clearly appreciated the windfall business.  For more regatta and sailing info

J/24 South American Championship (Los Sud Americanos)

Argentinean Rossi and SHARK Team Win

(Costa Del Sol, Brazil)-  The Argentine team, led by Alejandro Rossi, won the South American Class J24 which ended on Saturday in South Sailboat In rank he was vice commander Brazilian Mauricio Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro. And the Uruguayan Diego Garcia, who began leading the competition, finished third. The three final races were very exciting with heated competition among the top five in the fleet; in fact nearly full blown match racing between the current J/24 World Champion and the ultimate race winner.

When crossing in 3rd place at the finish line of the last race, the crew of the boat SHARK celebrated their victory nearly shouting themselves hoarse. Skipper Alejandro Rossi, 34, had won for the first time the South American title after sailing for fifteen years in the J/24 class. "The Brazilian, Mauritius Santa Cruz, offered tough competition on the race course, it was important to sail with great speed and be sensitive to changes in the wind. Santa Cruz is three times J/24 World Champion, so we expected a tough battle," said Alejandro.  Another element of difficulty was the weather, pointed out Mr. Rossi. "The wind streaks were complicated, with very fickle wind, both in direction and intensity and with a lot of rain."

The Mauritius Rio Santa Cruz team from Brazil sailed better in the last few races, but it was not enough for the title. Mauritius regretted having started the racing in bad form on the first day. "We lacked a bit of calmness and focus in the beginning. I sailed with a new crew.  Sailing as a team is very important and we learned fast.  All who were with me here are excellent," said the current J/24 World Champion.  Santa Cruz said his team was Andre "Cheek" Fonseca, Marcos Grael, Georgia Roberts and Frederick Sidou.

Finishing third not too far off the pace from the two leaders, Rossi and Santa Cruz, was Uruguayan Diego Garcia, finishing with 26 points.

After the bad weather during the week, forcing cancellation of racing on Thursday, conditions were favorable for good sailing the last few days. The wind in Guaíba was east, with an average wind speed of 12 knots.  This meant everyone was fast, so you had to sail nearly perfectly to maintain lanes and get the right wind shifts.

Captain of the Brazilian J/24 Class, Cláudio Ruschel said he was pleasantly surprised with the fleet turnout-- "We have a promising future", he says. Ruschel was fifth in this year's J/24 South American Championship.

The J/24 South Americans sailed nine races from Wednesday until Saturday with a total participation of fourteen boats from Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. The 2010 edition will be held from 15 to 20 November in La Punta, Callao, Lima, Peru.    For regatta, sailing, information.

J/Community:

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

* Steve McManus- J/109 owner of SAYKADOO has been on an upward trajectory since getting his team rolling in the past year on his J/109. Local Annapolis papers had a nice profile on Steve and his team this past fall. It was entitled "SAYKADOO Tops Tight Wednesday Night Class" by Bill Wagner. "There are not many classes more competitive than PHRF A2 of the Annapolis Yacht Club's Wednesday Night Races. Four of the thirteen registered boats have the exact same rating (75) while several others are extremely close to that figure.

That is evidenced by the fact four different boats won a race during Series 2, which wrapped up last Wednesday. SAYKAYDOO, the J/109 skippered by Steve McManus, did not win any of the five races held between June 10 and July 29, but nonetheless wound up capturing PHRF A2 Class for Series 2.

"The whole fleet is very evenly matched. The rating band is extremely small among the top seven or eight boats", said McManus. "It was simply a matter of consistency for our boat. We weren't able to win a race, but we were always in the money." Indeed, SAYKADOO counted three seconds and a third in totaling nine points, just one better than Jeffrey Caruso's Ben 36.7 SHOCK WAVE. Only five points separated the first and fifth place boats.

"I'm blessed to have a regular crew and we do a lot of cross-training so that people can fill in other positions if someone can't make it out for whatever reason", says McManus. Dave Robinson (pit), Stuart Numan (jib, spinnaker), Bob Taylor (tactics, bow), Jack Hunt (jib, spinnaer), Don Handy (main, bow), Carl Turek (pit) and Marie Dallacqua (mast) comprise the regular crew aboard SAYKADOO, which also won Series 1. In fact, McManus is on a bit of a roll, having won Series 2 and placed second in Series 1 last year. "We've been doing the Wednesday Night Series for about six years and we seem to be getting the hang of what it takes to be successful", he said.

Competition was equally close in two other PHRF classes...with Richard Born's J/120 WINDBORN second in Class A1.

In the nineteen boat J/105 class, it all came down to the wire with the Salvesen/Lewis team on MIRAGE edging out Peter Schellie on FREEDOM in the battle of the family-based boats. In third was Jim Konigsberg's INIGO.

For the J/30s, Steve and Katherine Bardelman on VALHALLA vanquished their fleet of eight boats, leading home Bill Wallop's CANNONBALL and Ron Anderson's INSATIABLE in second and third, respectively.

The J/35s had a wonderful turnout this year with seven boats. Barry Moss's BAD COMPANY won by a landslide over the perennial competitor AUNT JEAN, ably raced by the team of Kaminer/Christofel in second and Mark McGonigle rounding out the podium in third onboard WINDEPENDENT.

* Carlos Aguilar Match Race - the event is being held in the IC-J/24s in St. Thomas, USVI. "We enjoy racing in St. Thomas. The conditions are great," said Genny Tulloch, after her team's recent victory at US Sailing's 2009 Women's Match Racing Championship, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club. Tulloch is becoming one of USVI's biggest cheerleaders. The Californian has won two major match racing championships this year in St. Thomas. She will return to the spectator-friendly waterfront of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI to defend her title in the Second Annual Carlos Aguliar Match Race, December 2-6, 2009.

Tulloch will face stiff completion from Claire Leroy (FRA) and her 2007 and 2008 Women's World Match Racing Champion team. Women's International Matching Racing Association President, Liz Bayliss (USA) and her team are among the top ranked WIMRA teams returning to the warm Caribbean waters for one of the few ISAF Grade I Women's Match Racing events in North America. Marie Rameris (POR) and Renata Decnop (BRA), Katy Pilley-Lovell (USA), Julie Brossard (FRA) and Kelly O'Brien-Uszenski (ISV) and her all Virgin Island crew will round out the international fleet.

In the open event, Virgin Island sailing and match racing legend, Peter Holmberg has an all Virgin Islands team. Holmberg's trusted tactician, trimmer and bowman for many years, Maurice Kurg, Morgan Avery and Ben Beer, bring more local knowledge and seasoned IC 24 boat-handling skills to the team.

Holmberg won the USVI's first and only Olympic medal and continues to inspire Caribbean sailors. His proteges love trying to take races and matches off of the America's Cup skipper and former #1 match racer in the world. Taylor Canfield (USVI), winner of the 2008 Carlos Aguliar Regatta, will field a strong team to defend his title. Team COORS-LIGHT, with Frits Bus at the helm, Andrew Rapley as tactician, Chuck Pessler as trimmer and Tommy Koyskin as bowman have won many Caribbean regattas on their Melges 24 are up for the challenge as are; Juan Carlos Escobar (ELS), Collin Rathbon (IVB), Fraito Lugo (PUR), Jes Gram Hansen (DEN) and Dave Perry (USA). -- Lynn Fitzpatrick- More Match Race Sailing Information.

Featured Boat

Beautiful J/42 Ready For The Islands

MAISTRALI is a lightly sailed, beautiful J/42. Carbon mast, standard keel, B&G's, Water maker, custom canvas and all the right factory options make this a very desirable boat for you to consider for serious cruising. She is ready to go and needs nothing. The current price of $259,900 is a tremendous value in today's market. Please call Paul Mikulski direct for more

information. 410-961-5254 Email- paul@northpointyachtsales.com

Photo of Sistership- same white hull.

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 and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world.  Sailing is all about friends.  Come join us and expand your social network everywhere! 

For more information on J/Boats