J/95 At Bayfront Boat Show
For those J sailors in the Southeast, you will have an opportunity to see the new shoal-draft J/95 daysailer on display at the Bayfront Boat Show from September 25 to 27. The show is located at Marina Jack in Sarasota, Florida and the members of the team at Crosscurrent Marine will be happy to give you a tour and schedule you for demo's of the J/95 after the show. Marina Jacks marina information.Bayfront Boatshow information.
J/97 Demos In Newport
The Newport International Sailboat Show held this past weekend was a resounding success. With four gorgeous days of weather, the enthusiasm and interest level was high amongst sailors that had come from all over the Northeast, South America and Europe to see the new J/95 and J/97. Rod Johnstone brought up his J/95 BANJO from Stonington, Connecticut for demo sails, stimulating great response amongst potential buyers-- some fleet sales are even pending for clubs in Southeastern America where shoal-draft, high-performance boats don't even exist. Experienced sailors who took the J/95 for a spin were surprised by the J/95's turn of speed and remarkable stability in the 20-25 knot winds. The J/97 saw tremendous traffic and interest, too, amongst those wishing for more performance, comfort and room to cruise with small families and have fun in local club racing. The J/97's maiden voyage in America took place on Monday. The comments so far from experienced offshore cruisers and one-design racing sailors have been quite posititve-- such as "the lightly balanced helm, speed and stiffness upwind in 18 knots of breeze are amazing" and comments on the huge, open interior space down below-- "wow, this is bigger inside than my 40-footer". For J/97 Newport demos, contact J/Boats- Phone 401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com.Regatta Schedule
Sept. 23-27- J/24 US Nationals- San Francisco Bay- San Francisco YC (more info below).Sept 29-Oct 2- J/22 North Americans- Lake Ray Hubbard- Rush Creek YC- more info.
Oct. 1-4- J/30 North Americans- Long Island Sound- Cedar Point YC- more info.
Oct 23-25- J/80 North Americans- Galveston Bay- Lakewood YC- more info.
Oct. 24-30- J/24 European Championships- Eastern Mediterranean- Chania, Greece- more info.
Oct. 28-Nov. 1- J/105 North Americans- Long Island Sound- American YC- more info.
Nov. 18-21- J/24 South Americans- Porto Alegre, Brazil- Veleiros do Sul- more info.
Regata Copa Mexico- con el Presidente!
The Mexican J/24 Class Association and the Mexican Sailing Federation has announced a spectacular J/24 Regatta to be held in Mexico from March 5th to 13th, 2010. The President of Mexico will be in attendance and the bene's available to regatta participants are simply extraordinary. Check it out. The venue will be Bahía de Banderas or better known as Puerto Vallarta- e.g. the Mexican Riviera. You will be racing out of the Marina Riviera Nayarit (http://www.marinarivieranayarit.com), a world-class marina. Eight World-Class J/24 crews will be invited by the Mexican J/24 Class and they will be provided with a J/24 (free), free registration and free hotel accommodations!! In addition the first ten US/ International crews to register will have a $2000 USD incentive (one free hotel room for three persons for a week) plus a subsidized J/24 charter (or an additional $1000 USD cash if you bring your J/24). Peter Wiegandt in Mexico is chief of the Organizing Committee for J24 Copa Mexico Regatta. Register NOW for this amazing event.
J/30 Turns Thirty!
In anticipation of celebrating the 30th Anniversary for the J/30, the J/30 Class Association is anticipating up to 25 boats for their North Americans on Long Island Sound. Come on down and join the passionate, enthusiastic, fun-loving J/30 owners and their crews to celebrate the 30th year for the J/30. A sailboat with lasting versatility, the J/30 attracts a dedicated owner group who have managed a successful one-design class and insured lasting resale value. 545 sisterships were delivered!!Perhaps most importantly, the Owners Rule! Since the beginning the J/30 class has been run by the owners and because the boat does not draw from the professional side of racing, competition at events is of the friendly corinthian type and appeals most to families and weekend warriors, sailors who know how to have fun and enjoy racing on their local waters.
Now that economic times have sharpened everyone’s sense of value, today is about as good a time as any to consider buying this ubiquitous J/Boat and joining in the fun that the class still offers. J/30 has withstood the test of severe weather and the test of time, having survived the famous and tragic Fastnet storm of 1979 (single handed!) and with a class association that has survived three severe recessions. Despite one design competition from hundreds of other “new” one-design keelboats since her introduction, the J/30 class continues to thrive. This is a testament to the dedicated and loyal owners, the versatility of the design as well as the durability of balsa core/e-glass construction- leaping lizards, can you believe this shot of a J/30 "wave-jumping"?? Oh well, just a "walk-in-the-park" for this remarkable sailboat!
J/Regatta News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The fall sailing season is in full swing. In both the Americas and Europe, major offshore and one-design events took place in a wide variety of weather conditions-- as is often the case in fall sailing and furious winter weather patterns begin to establish themselves across the globe. In Europe, the French J/80 Class hosted the France Cup, the Swedish J/80 Class hosted their Fall Series Cup and the Spanish J/80 Class hosted their Autumn Cup in Bilbao and Central Optica Cup in Santander Bay, respectively. In the Americas, the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York held the first weekend of their classic Fall Series Regatta and the J/24s held their Western Regional Championships on San Francisco Bay. 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.
American Yacht Club Fall Series
Tight Racing in J/122, J/109 and J/105 Fleets
(Rye, New York- Sept. 19-20)- The AYC Fall Series first weekend Saturday was a gusty northerly and clear air was hard to find, but the shifts and leverage made climbing the ladder pay off. With the Z flag flying, three races were completed on Saturday of the first weekend of the American Yacht Club Fall Series. The J/105s are once again the "big fleet" with 23 entered (twice as big as any other). Therefore the start line was short, similar to the Larchmont NOOD Regatta. And the gusts were curling across the sound so that by the time of the start sequence, the line was no longer square to the wind. Outsiders might think that the J/105 fleet was a wild posse of bumper boats. Yet when 20 big boats are trying to win the start on a short line with a highly favored end, even the gentlest men and women are tested. Sunday unfortunately was a dud, with no wind or races.In the twenty six boat J/105 One-Design class, there is a seven-point tie for first place between George and Alex Wilbanks' REVELATION from Westport, CT and Joerg Esdorn/ Duncan Hennes' KINCSEM from Katonah, NY. Close behind them in third place is Damian Emery's ECLIPSE only one point back but with two first places (which may be helpful if enough races are sailed to get a throw-out).
In the eleven boat J/122 Class, Mike Bruno, Tom Boyle and Jim Callahan's WINGS is leading the fleet in the tricky wind conditions everyone saw on Saturday. In a tie for second only one point back are David and Mary-Ellen Torterello's PARTNERSHIP and Stephen Furnary's PATRIOT.
Continuing the momentum garnered over the course of the summer sailing season is Rick Lyall's STORM from Wilton, CT. Rick and crew again showed why they're strong contenders in this year's J/109 One-Design Class racing. With a 1-2-1 record, they're leading the nine boat J/109 Class with four points. Not to be intimidated at all is Al Minella's team from Greenwich, CT racing their appropriately named RELENTLESS just one point back with a 2-1-2 record. Hanging in there for third overall is Bob Schwartz's NORDLYS from Port Washington, NY with a 3-3-3 record.
The highly competitive J/44 Class has perennial class leader Jim Bishop racing his renowned aquamarine-colored GOLD DIGGER leading the fleet of seven boats with a 2-3-1 record. Don and Rick Rave's RESOLUTE from Huntington Bay, NY is second with a 1-2-5 record and Bill Ketcham's MAXINE from Greenwich, CT is lying third with a 4-1-4 record. The placings of these top three boats have been riding quite a roller-coaster because of the shifty, puffy conditions the fleet saw on Saturday.
As for the handicap classes, the J's are putting in a good showing overall. In the IRC 40 Class, Mark Glimcher's J/122 from New York, NY is leading with a 1-3-1 record. In second is Tom Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG also from New York city. And, a bit further back is Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE in sixth. For the IRC35 Class, the J/35 HYPNOS sailed by Merlin Suggs from Kings Point, NY is third overall after Saturday's racing. In the PHRF class, the J/29 HUSTLER sailed by John & Tony Esposito from Mohegan Lake, NY is second on a tie-breaker. The J/29 RENEGADE raced by Logan Koltermann from Kings Point, NY is fifth.
J/80 Dynamant Cup in Sweden
Sundelin/ Kallstrom in First
(Sweden- Sept. 21)- There were fifteen J/80s participating in this year's Autumn Cups and Dynamant Cups in Sweden. The competition was very even between the top boats ENG 386 and ENG 562 in first and second, respectively. And the battle for third place was also a very even battle between bla MK PRODUCTS, HEAVY DUTY and DOG. Great prizes are promised to all of the top three in the overall rankings. First prize was a voucher with a total value of 6000 Kroner from the main sponsor Dynamant and second prize is a set of fine sailing shoes from SLAM.The traditional Autumn Cup organized by KSSS took place in non-traditional winds. Autumn storms lost some of their strength, thank goodness and the fleet was treated to beautiful sailing on the archipelago in 17 degree C temperatures, clear blue skies and a southwest breeze of 2-4 m/s.
The host club KSSS was quite ambitious and planned eight races. However, they managed to still get in five races thanks to an alert and quick race committee crew. Sundelin / Kallstrom did what they could to snatch the top honors by taking home the regatta. But their main competitor Rosenberg finished up nicely with a second place. The American Tom Whitmore who showed good form, despite a very bad first race to finish third. It was extremely even between 4, 5, 6, and 7 spots with only one point separating these four boats. You will find all the results on the KSSS site.
http://www.ksss.se
J/80 Autumn Trophy Series
Bilbao Squalls Make For Exciting Racing
(Bilbao, Spain- Sept 19-20)- It was a clear victory for Jose Azqueta in the first test of the Autumn Trophy Series for J/80s racing off Bilbao. It was also the J/80s first racing since the long summer break. The weather conditions were harsh but fun since it blew 15 to 25 knots large seas on top of a huge ground swell. These conditions made it challenging upwind but the crews were showered with salt spray from monstrous bow waves as the teams had fun planning wildly downwind on the big seas and swells.The start was rather uneven as it was highly favored to the Race Committee boat and there was not much room on the line. So whomever won the Race Committee boat end enjoyed a ginormous advantage over their competitors. The boats that had strong starts - Mandovi and Montarto - held their lead up the first leg. However, because of a strong right shift, they ended up second and third at the weather mark behind Azqueta's team; Bizkaia rounded fourth. After a wild planing downwind leg, Mandovi dropped back to fourth.
A strong squall of rain and wind buffeted the fleet with Azqueta lengthening their lead over Montarto and Bizkaia- that's how the first weekend ended up for the Autumn Trophy Series. The Race Committee canceled the second race because the squally conditions had deteriorated to the point where the ability to race safely around the course would be difficult for most teams.
Central Optica Trophy Series
J/80 ECC VIVIENDAS Winning
(Santander, Spain- Sept 19-20)- The Federation Cantabra de Vela is hosting the Central Optica Trophy series for the twenty-one boat J/80 fleet, racing on the spectacular setting of Santander Bay, sight of this year's record 133 boat J/80 World Championships. The leader of this fall series classic is the J/80 team of BANCAJA raced by Javier Lopez-Vazquez.The Santander J/80 class raced the second of three parts of their series this weekend under very gusty west wind conditions, with ginormous changes of strength and direction that allowed two long races with three-times around windward-leeward legs. The tidal currents helped some of the racers, like BANCAJA and ECC VIVIENDAS, ride favorable currents up inside the Santander Bay to the Moors. The two races were won by the ECC VIVIENDAS team of Pichu Torcida and his skipper Pablo Arrarte. Second for the weekend was BANCAJA raced by Javier López-Vázquez and his skipper Alvaro Mazarrasa, strengthening their overall series lead. MAQUECHE sailed by Alfonso Pascual ended up finishing third for the weekend. After sailing well on the first weekend, NEXTEL's Ignacio Camino had a relatively poor showing to lose the lead after the first weekend.
Currently, the standings for the series after six races and one discard is Jose Lopez-Vazquez's team on BANCAJA by just two points over Ignacio Camino's NEXTEL and Pichu Torcida's team on ECC VIVIENDAS. Next weekend completes the series for the Central Optica Trophy where tough competition is sure to breakout amongst these top three teams who collectively have a sizable lead (by ten points) over the rest of the fleet.
J/24 Western Regionals
Whittemore's TUNDRA ROSE Wins!
(Berkeley, CA- Sept. 19-20)- The 2009 J/24 Western Regional Championship was held on the waters of San Francisco Bay this last weekend. It was hosted by the Berkeley Yacht Club ,who delivered great racing and exceptional hospitality! As we know, the Bay Area is considered one of the most popular sailing venues in the country and once again it proved that premise is true. BYC held a practice race on the evening of Friday, which allowed the out-of-town teams to get oriented to the local conditions prior to the Western Regionals kicking-off.The Western Regional Championship was planned as the "feeder" event for the J/24 US National Championships being held this weekend at San Francisco Yacht Club. The Western Regionals were comprised of seven relatively short course races which were sailed by seventeen teams from as far away as Annapolis, MD, Seattle, Washington and Dana Point. The racing took place on the “Berkeley Circle” and the PRO was Jeff Zarwell of RegattaPro. Conditions on Saturday went from eight to sixteen knots and on Sunday the wind range was even greater. The fleet raced in five knots in the first race and ended up racing in twenty-two knots in the seventh race of the series.
Keith Whittemore sailing his TUNDRA ROSE from Seattle bested Mark Hillman aboard his J/24 WIP from Annapolis, MD. The racing was very close and competitive as TUNDRA ROSE, SMALL FLYING PATIO FURNITURE and TREMENDOUS SLOUCH all nailed bullets (first places)! TUNDRA ROSE themselves knocked off four bullets, Tremendous Slouch two and Small Flying Patio Furniture took the last one. Look for these three teams to again have a good showing this coming weekend for the J/24 US Nationals.
J/105 Great Lakes Championship
The "IT" is it!
(Mentor Harbor- Sept. 19-20)- A nice fleet of twelve boats showed up for two gorgeous days of racing on Lake Erie for the J/105 Great Lakes Championships. The event was hosted by the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club and their Race Committee did a wonderful job to get off a tremendous regatta getting off eight races!Jim Sminchak and Doug Moose racing their J/105 "IT" won, Jim's team finished with seventeen points over eight races for an average of about second! Ed Palm and Richard Listwan on TENACIOUS came in second with thirty-one points, followed by Michael Morin and Duane Rose on JUNTO.
photo credit- David Mathias
J/80 Atlantic Coasts- France
Team ATLANTIS- Lawrence Sambron Wins.
(Lorient, France- Sept 19-20)- Twenty-one teams gathered in Lorient this past weekend to race the "Atlantic Telegram" regatta, emblematic of the J/80 French Atlantic Coast Championships.Under very light winds and somewhat unstable weather conditions, the ATLANTIS Team skippered by Lawrence Sambron with the crew of Jean-Yves Jaffrezic, Pierre-Yves Tinel and Stephane Guilbaud won the regatta. The ATLANTIS team was closely followed by Sylvain Pellissier and Dominic Vittet racing their J/80 VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE. The J/80 from La Trinité, AXELLE, raced by Damien J Zucconi finished third on the podium. JACUZZI from Breton was fourth and Gilles Drouet from Cherbourg was fifth.
This regatta was good practice and an indicator of which teams will be contenders for the upcoming French J/80 Nationals which will be sailed in Cherbourg, France from November 8 to 11. After the French J/80 Nationals, the J/80 French Class will announce the winners of the hotly contested J/Cup in France for the J/80 Class--- so far, everything is still in play for the top spots for many of the crews.
Lawrence Sambron commenting on his win had this to say about his team and the event: "It was the first time we had come to the Atlantic Coast and raced on the Bay of Biscay. We were seduced by the awesome racing, the beautiful waters and the warm welcome on this site. On the water, we started well on Friday and we continued our momentum. Jean-Yves Jaffrezic tactics were excellent in conditions that were not obviously clear for most crews this particular Sunday. We got a good result and this is good preparation for the J/80 French Nationals to be held in Cherbourg in November. The
outlook is positive so far!" For more info.
J/Community:
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Over the weekend of the Fall Off-Soundings Series, Steven Marenakos, an avid J/27 fan, had this to say to Rod, Al and crew afterwards: "I saw Rod, Al and John at Off-Soundings and thought they'd enjoy this shot of "Flyer" (hull #3) off Plum Island, NY doing about 15 knots under main in 40+ knots of wind!! She handled beautifully and felt like I was driving my Flying Dutchman dinghy rather than a keelboat as we "blew" by other boats." Thanks Steve! Awesome photo and love to get stories like these from our passionate and loyal J owners.* J/24 Mafia Dominates NYYC Invitational Cup!? Yes, it's true! As we predicted after seeing the results and tactics from the first day of racing, there was no question the two main players in the NYYC Invite were going to be ARETHUSA raced by experienced J/105 campaigners Phil and Wendy Lotz (representing NYYC) and DARING raced by sometime J/24 Canadian sailor Terry McLaughlin for the Royal Canadian YC. After eleven races, it was pretty clear that the tacticians on both boats knew the Newport conditions better than anyone else- Ken Read (College Sailor of the Year and J/24 World Champion a few times) was calling the shots aboard ARETHUSA and Geoff Moore (College All-American and J/24 Champion multiple times) was guiding the Terry/John/John trio around the course on DARING. Congratulations to both teams and kudos to Kenny and "Goofie" for getting their teams onto the podium with great success and style.
Featured Boat
Stock J/80s are 1-2 at the 2009 J/80 Worlds
“Race-ready” and “fast out-of-the-box” take on a whole new meaning with the J/80. Consider that in this year’s J/80 World Championship in Spain, the 1st and 2nd place teams (out of 132) raced newly built, un-modified charter boats supplied by the local J/Dealer. No time in advance with the boat, no time to even think about changing anything – just add sails and go. The Worlds winners sailed an incredible regatta in dynamic conditions, but isn’t it great to know you can hop aboard a new boat in a competitive class without having to complete a laundry list of items to get up to speed? 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:
http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm
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http://www.jboats.com/lists/?p=subscribe
