BMW Sailing Cup 2010 in J/80s
BMW Wins Sports Marketing Award
(Munich, Germany)- BMW won this years Sports Marketing Award in Munich with the BMW Sailing Cup Series on J/80s, one of the most coveted prizes in the sports business industry. It is quite an honor for BMW to be the winner of this award in Europe's biggest sports business conference- the Congress of ISPO SpoBiS held this year in Germany. BMW decided earlier this winter to continue the series with the International J/80 One-Design fleet. As a result, BMW will prepare their eight J/80s for the new season that starts in May with 14 events at different locations all over Germany in 2010.The project, known last year as "SAILING CUP 2009", by the Bavarian car maker BMW has now established itself as the world's largest amateur regatta series. According to the results of the online vote in Germany, it has BMW demonstrating that its marketing efforts with J/Boat's International J/80 Class in Germany is an ideal way to combine the positive images of the yachting experience with sales/CRM measures that measure impact on auto sales.
Manfred Bräunl, Marketing Manager for BMW of Germany: "We are delighted with the award. We are, with the BMW Sailing Cup, on a successful path and our commitment to yachting continues in the future. In the field of yachting, BMW can take the opportunity to demonstrate our technological competence and we can also share common values such as teamwork, innovation and high-tech to be experienced. Sailors and sailing enthusiasts are already looking forward to sailing the J/80s in the BMW Sailing Cup 2010."
The BMW Sailing Cup, which goes into its fifth season in 2010, has been an inspiration to the sailing community around the world. Promoted under the slogan "pleasure is sailing" it has attracted sailors from around the world, including teams from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain. BMW has established with the BMW Sailing Cup Regatta series for a sport boaters. Every year more than 1,200 sailing enthusiasts are participating in the event. BMW has a long tradition in yachting and is a premium partner and presenter of major sailing events: Since 2002, BMW has been involved actively in international yachting and the America's Cup as a partner in the Team BMW ORACLE Racing.
For this year's qualifying regattas, the BMW Sailing Cup is handled by a combination of the local BMW dealer organization and a local sailing club.
TOUR CALENDAR 2010
May 1-2- Leipzig, Cospuden, Leipzig branch
May 8-9- Hamburg, Elbe, Office Hamburg
May 15-16- Northeim, Northeim Big Lake, Autohaus Leinetal
May 29-30- Munster, Lake Aa, Autohaus Hakvoort
For more BMW and J/80 Sailing Cup information.
J/Fest NW Celebrating 27 years
Sail Northwest would like to invite all J Boat owners and their crew to join us at the 27th annual J/Fest Northwest regatta June 19th and June 20th hosted by Sail Northwest and Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle.Fleets expected this year are J/22, J/24, J/80, J/29, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109, J/PHRF and J/Cruising.
The J/Cruising Class, J/28, J/32, J/35c, J,37c, J/40, J/120, J/42, J/130, J/44, J/46, J/160, and any other J that wants to do a casual one day race on Saturday. PHRF ratings will be assigned for flying sails and no flying sails. Last year the J/Cruisers had a great time joining in on the festivities and we expect a large turnout this year.
Saturday evening will be the ever popular J/Fest dinner and door prize give-away. Join us to make this 27th J/Fest one you won’t want to miss! For more information you can call Sail Northwest at (206) 286-1004 or email us at sales@sailnorthwest.com or go to http://www.sailnorthwest.com
Race Charter J/80s At J/World San Diego
J/80 North American and J/80 World Championships are just around the corner right here in the US and J/80 sailing is gearing up from Coast to Coast. J/World San Diego recently entered four J/80s into the San Diego NOOD Regatta, adding to the class totaling 12 competitive boats. Bring your crew to San Diego and tune up for the season and big races this fall. Yachting Cup 2010is coming up the first weekend in May. J/World San Diego is offering individual positions as well as full boat charters for the regatta. Contact us for more information at info@jworldsandiego.com or http://www.jworldsandiego.com
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Apr 1-5- SPI OUEST- La Trinite, France- http://www.spi-ouestfrance.comApr 8-11- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC- http://www.charlestonraceweek.com
Apr 9-11- J/Fest San Francisco- St. Francis YC- San Francisco, CA- http://www.stfyc.org
Apr 15-18- Strictly Sail Show- Alameda, CA- http://www.strictlysailpacific.com
Apr 30-May 2- Annapolis NOOD- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com
May 5-8- J/80 UK Nationals- Cardiff Bay YC, England- http://www.j-80.co.uk
May 10-14- J/22 South African Nationals- False Bay YC, South Africa- http://www.j22.co.za/
May 14-16- Seattle NOOD- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 18-23- J/24 North Americans- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.j24northamericans.com/
May 22-23- Race For the Case- Lloyd Harbor YC, Long Island, NY- http://www.lhyc.org/
May 27-30- J/80 Copa Espana- Barcelona, Spain- http://www.rcnb.com
Jun 5-6- Sprit Fest Regatta- Breakwater YC- Sag Harbor, NY- http://www.spritfest.org
Jun 10-13- J/80 Italian Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 21-26- J/80 European Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 20-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Is, RI- http://www.blockislandraceweek.org
Jun 25–27- Long Beach Race Week/ J/120 NAS- Long Beach YC- Long Beach, CA- http://www.lbrw.org
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
J/Regatta News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
This past week was a busy one worldwide in the J sailing world. Starting with the Caribbean, the renowned International Rolex Regatta lived beyond its promises to stage an event to remember. In the Americas, the Balboa-Cabo Race saw J/125s crush the competition and a J/44 do the same in the Islands Race off Southern California. In classic Texan hospitality, the Fort Worth Boat Club hosted the Sundance Cup on J/22s for the girls' WIMRA. Europe's strong spring season is kicking into higher gear with yet another nice weekend for the Warsash Spring Sailing series, the completion of the J/80 Winter Series won by "girl power" and the start of the famously ginormous SPI OUEST Regatta in La Trinite, France where over one-third of the fleet is J's and 93 J/80s are racing! 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.
SPI OUEST Starts With 430 Boats
Monster J/80 Class with 93 Entries
(La Trinite Sur Mer, France)- A cast of thousands have descended upon the quaint, beautiful seaside village of La Trinite for this Easter weekend. Renowned not only for its premiere sailing event but also for its soothing thassolotherapy spas along the seashore, La Trinite will serve up yet another fantastic weekend of sailing for some of the top sailors in France and the rest of Europe. The J/Fleet is enormous. Of the 430 boats racing, over one-third- about 125- are J's ranging from ten J/24s to ninety-three J/80, a smattering of J/92s to J/97s and over twenty J/105s, J/109s and J/122s. Sailing on Circle B will be the J/105, J/109 and J/80 classes (only J/Boats- a first in French sailing) and on Circle C will be the three IRC Classes- 1-2-3. More than ten nationalities will be represented with crews from Germany, England, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Russian and Sweden. Within IRC1 with 32 boats starting on the line will be 5 J/122s, including last year's winner Philipe Delaporte's champion PEN AZEN. For more SPI OUEST Sailing information.J/125s Crush in Balboa-Cabo San Lucas Race
WARRIOR, RESOLUTE Finish 1-2 Overall
(Coronado del Mar, CA- March 31)- Balboa Yacht Club’s 2010 Corona del Mar to Cabo Race started this past Friday and Saturday with a fleet of thirty six boats. All competitors were focusing on the extremely competitive Class D fleet with four J/125’s and three Farr 40’s racing one-design as well as for class and overall corrected time. Their fears of getting blitzkrieged by this group were not unfounded.The seven J's sailing the race were all highly competitive, mostly placing in both Class D and E. In Class D, the four J/125s, WARRIOR, RESOLUTE, DERIVATIVE and REINRAG2 finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th in class and 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th overall! CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. To give you an idea how competitive it was, REINRAG2 has won or placed in several TRANSPACs and is an extremely well sailed boat. We bet that Jim Madden wished he'd brought his J/125 STARK RAVING MAD into the fray to have some fun class racing! Just off the furious pace set by the J/125s in Class D were the two J/133s, PICANTE and TANGO. In Class E, the J/120 ADIOS sailed a good race to post a third class and 26th overall. For more information: http://www.balboayachtclub.com/
International Rolex Regatta
J/122 LOST HORIZON Wins Spinnaker Racing Class
(St.Thomas, USVI- Mar 26-28)- The three-day event, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, has a track record - spanning 37 years - for delivering the goods when it comes to racing and island-style hospitality. This year, it delivered again. With sixty-nine teams competing in four divisions (IRC, CSA, One-Design IC 24s and Beach Cats), the forecast of 12-17 knots over the three sunny days, and plenty of Caribbean parties, music and cuisine to fill any time not used up by racing, there's no question this year's International Rolex Regatta completely delivered a getaway to remember!"This year we arranged for some races to snug up next to St. John, so competitors could expand their horizons and our sister island could share in some of the excitement of seeing the spectacle of the fleet racing," said Regatta Co-Chair John Sweeney. "For the same reasons, we had the IC-J/24s racing off the beachfront at the Ritz Hotel on Saturday, and later that night, hundreds of sailors, organizers, volunteers and townspeople took part in a giant reggae music concert and food festival at Yacht Haven Grande, where some of the event's larger boats are berthed. All to say, everyone really enjoyed getting around to different places on the island and out on the water."
Last year he lost this event in the final races on the last day, but this year at the 37th International Rolex Regatta (March 26-28), Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo had built some good padding into his score line over two days and followed form on the third, today, to win the IC/24 class and a Rolex timepiece (which he awarded to his trimmer Milton Gonzalesz) as proof of his team's prowess shown over 17 races. Lugo now can claim eight International Rolex Regatta victories in a variety of classes. The IC/24s kept with short round-the-buoy races after the event's opening "town races" on Friday, while their counterparts in six other classes (IRC, Spinnaker Racing 1 and 2, Non-Spinnaker Racing, Spinnaker Racing/Cruising and Beach Cats) took to the more scenic winding courses through and around the cuts, cays and islands off the east end of St. Thomas, USVI, where host St. Thomas Yacht Club is located.
Another winner of a Rolex timepiece was James Dobbs' (Antigua) J/122 LOST HORIZON in Spinnaker Racing/Cruising Class. "I knew which boats had a chance of winning before the race," he said, referring to a tight group at the top of the scoreboard that included second-place finisher Three Harkoms, a Beneteau 442 skippered by James Hudleston (Yarmouth, UK). "I've sailed against them before, and they are serious about racing, as we are." Just behind them finishing third was Rick Wesslund's crew on EL OCASO, the very well sailed J/120 that has won Key West Race Week in the past. Not to be missed was the beautiful J/46 MISS MAGIC, sailed by Jim Baus, finishing a well-deserved sixth overall.In IRC class, Bill Coates' J/122 OTRA VEZ consistently sailed in top three handicap overall during the three days. However, two bomber finishes in the fourth and sixth races hurt their opportunity to get a Rolex Submariner! After sailing well enough to be second at one point, they fell off the podium to finish fifth overall.
Yet another proud winner of a Rolex watch was Tony Sanpere. For CSA Non-spinnaker Racing, it was all CAYENNITA GRANDE, the J/36 sailed by Tony and friends and family. They won with straight firsts in five races! 'It's my crew's fault,' deadpanned Antonio Sanpere (Christiansted, VI), who handily won both races on the last day with his J/36 CAYENNITA GRANDE in CSA Non-Spinnaker Racing Class. 'No matter how I tried to screw up, they made it right.' In the following easterly at the start of the first race, Sanpere launched his 120% reacher to easily pass to port of natural navigational obstacles that others had to come 'way up' to avoid. That was the start of his winning moves, which have enabled him to win this regatta four times before as a skipper. For more Rolex Regatta sailing information
http://www.rolexcupregatta.com
J/44 PATRIOT Wins In "Islands Race"
PATRIOT Third Overall in Fleet!
(Newport Beach, CA- March 10-13)- It was billed to be a fun new race around the islands off the southern California coast. "Great parties, an offshore overnight race of 130 nautical miles taking us around our own beautiful Channel Islands Catalina and San Clemente, wind (if it will be windy anywhere it will be offshore in March), a course that will test various points of sail and fun class racing." The promise held true to form with good conditions and a great turnout of forty one boats. J/s were prevalent in Divisions 1, 2 and 3.Paul Stemler's J/44 PATRIOT won Division 2 with Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL finishing in third. PATRIOT also sailed well enough to garner third overall in fleet, missing the overall win by only twelve minutes!
In Division 3, the J/92s STING sailed by Charlie Underwood from MWYC was third and just behind in the venerable J/35 PREDATOR were Tom and Terri Manok from OYC. For more Islands Race information
J/22 Sundance Cup Regatta
Annie Get Yer Guns!
(Fort Worth, Texas- Mar 16-20)- Long-time J sailor Annie Gardner Nelson recently attended the Sundance Cup racing J/22s out of the Fort Worth Boat Club. Here's here amusing report: "The 2010 Sundance Cup was hosted by the St Worth Boat Club and sailed on the club's fleet of matching J/22's. This year the event was preceded with a 2 day clinic run by WIMRA (Women's International Match Racing Assoc) Director Liz Baylis and assisting her was Kirsten Lane of Sausalito, CA. Baylis did an excellent job of balancing drills with chalk talks and on the water coaching.Skippers were invited based on ISAF ranking and/or resume and 7 teams from across the country and Canada attended with many teams using at least one Texan to fill the boat. My team was all Texan other than me and boy did I learn some funny jokes and accents! Anyone who was there will fondly remember my bowchick Kritter who wore camouflage pants, hockey shirts, and had us all in stitches at meetings and on the water.
Race day one was extremely light and the FWBC they were only able to complete 4 flights. Day 2 the storm was coming and by mid day the wind increased with puffs to 20 so the no spinnaker rule came into play. Even without kites the racing was fun and intense as match racing is always about constant action. Day three a snow storm was close by, and with wind gusts hitting 29 knots the RC and OA decided to abandon any further racing. The results went back to the round robin scores, and the winners were Maegan Ruhlman 1st, Katy Lovell 2nd, and Liz Hyorth 3rd. With a day off, the girls went shopping and watched as the snow flurries hit the ground. The awards dinner saw several crews wearing cowgirl hats which stayed on all the way through the night while we rode bulls and danced to Travis Twitt at his concert at the famous Billy Bobs's in downtown Ft. Worth. Texas will never be the same! Yeehaw! Annie Nelson" Photo Credits: Cindy Cady 
Close Racing in UKs Warsash Spring Series
J/97 JIKA-JIKA Racing Fast!
(Hamble, So'ton, England)- The third week of Warsash Sailing Club's Spring Series saw the first south-westerly breeze of the season. The wind stayed true in direction with the strength varying from 10 to 14 knots, providing near ideal sailing conditions if still cold. Despite the clocks going forward, competitors were out early for practice with new entries joining the fleets.The Black Group committee boat anchored near Hamble Yacht Services buoy and used Air Canada, close to the Bramble Bank, as the first windward mark with a finish at East Knoll. Adjustments were made to the lengths of the courses with IRC1 completing 15 miles and IRC3 12.5 miles. IRC4 used a White Group start line but also finished with the other Black Group boats at East Knoll after a course covering over 10 miles. High water occurred during the start sequence, so competitors had the favoured combination of beats with the current and runs against it. Tacticians kept careful watch of the depth to benefit from or dodge the tide.
The number of "Big Boats" competing in IRC1 has increased as their Spring Championship after Easter approaches. In IRC1 the J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH sailed to an uncharacteristic 7th, but still remained in second overall in the standings. the J/133 JAMMY DODGER raced by Neil Martin sailed a great race to get a third to move into fifth place overall. In IRC3, the J/97 JIKA-JIKA sailed by Mike and Jaime Holmes again made another jump up in the standings from this past week to move into second overall!
For J/105s, there was an unprecedented three-way tie for first place last week. And, in short, they're still only separated by a point. Chris Jones JOURNEYMAKER 5 is now first one point ahead of a tie for second between Paul Griffith's FAY-J and Rob Dornton-Duff's JAVA. Bet everyone's relieved to not have to race Easter Weekend!
The J/109s saw Kirsty and David Apthorp's J-DREAM start to separate themselves from the pack by winning this weekends race to be ahead by two points. James Arnell's JEEZ-LOUISE is now second and moving up the standings with a well-deserved third place was David McGough's JUST SO.
The J/92s continue to have very tight class racing amongst the top competitors. The trio of Andrew, Matt and Peter Campbell sailing JAMMIN are now in second, just behind Dominic Horner's JEKYLL. Rory and Cathy Staunton on JAYA and Bill Howard's team racing WIZARD are just off the pace.The J/80s seem to have a new class standard to live up to since the leader by a wide margin is Terri Palmer on JUST DO IT with twenty one points after nine races, just over a second average!! The fly-boys on TEAM SPITFIRE are now solidly in second with thirty three points and John Cooper's OI! has dramatically risen in the standings with three firsts this past weekend to jump into third place with forty five points. Full results on the Warsash Website. Photo by Eddie Mays- http://www.eddiemays.com.
Benelux J80 Winter Series
Ms. Vroon's JOIE DE VIVRE Wins!
(Belgium)- After 18 races, divided over 6 racing days, the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) J80 winter-trophy goes to the JOIE DE VIVRE sailed by Laura Vroon. Racing took place at the Grevelingen, Zeeland, a salty formed sea branch, closed off by the sea with a dike, with fair weather, smooth water and a moderate to fair breeze. Up to the last racing day on March the 14th, the number one and two positions were uncertain. Before the last day Faber Munker from Twan Hanse was in the lead with only a few points difference with her closest contender.So, on this last racing day of the winter series, stakes were high. Not all the contenders fully applied the racing rules during the starts but no protests were fought out in the Jury rooms. Port side of the course had a more favourable wind angle and the starboard side more pressure with hardly any noticeable advantage for either side. After all, FABER MUNKER took place three, JALAPENO place two. JOIE DE VIVRE took first convincingly with the three first places, and won the daily prize, too. That just did the trick for her to come out of this winter series as the glorious winner. Third place overall was for Erik Scheeren's JALAPENO.
In total 18 boats have joined this winter series. After being launched only three years ago, the J/80 class in the Benelux shows a steady growth, in terms of fleet size as in the level of sailing.
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Australian J/122 MARTA JEAN Sailed Her Maiden Voyage recently from Sydney to Newcastle. Here's a report from Ray Entwistle - "For the start of this story we’ve borrowed the tune from an old Billy Joel song– see if you can pick it..... Its 9am on a Saturday, the south-easterly breeze is kicking in, We’re sailing up to Newcastle, the maiden voyage of the J/122 - ‘Marta Jean’. Lah de dah, de de da’ah.......... That’s the extent of our combined creative talent, so it’s back to our usual narrative. The Rae family’s pride and joy ‘Marta Jean’, a new J/122, left Greenwich Flying Squadron, west of Sydney Harbour Bridge with water and fuel tanks half full and the dockbox fitted holding the inflatable, for her maiden voyage up to her new home base, Newcastle, about 70nm north of Sydney. She had spent her first couple of months at Greenwich, nestled close by to 2 other J/122’s, Lithium and Jackpot.We motored under Sydney Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House and hoisted the mainsail in the lee of Watsons Bay. After a quick radio check reporting into Sydney Marine Rescue, 3 on board, destination Newcastle, zeroed the speedo and a few minutes later we sailed through Sydney Harbour Heads. A couple of 44 footers were half a mile ahead also heading north. Good, something to chase, even though we were in full cruising mode. ‘Marta Jean’ dipped her bows into the Tasman Sea swell and with the wind now at 16 knots over the starboard beam we surfed down the first big wave and hit 12.4 knots, with the owner Steve on the helm grinning from ear to ear and commenting “it really does what it says on the label“. We knew it was going to be a nice days sailing. Manly and Dee Why beaches soon slid past and within the hour we were clearing Long Reef - the other two larger yachts we had passed were already specks in the rear view. Twenty five miles further north we radioed to Gosford Marine Rescue, it was almost midday and we were making great time. We tested the auto pilot in the two metre swell but not for long, we were having too good a time surfing down the waves at the wheel.
Averaging over eight knots, we soon found ourselves checking in with the chirpy Swansea Marine Rescue on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie, as we continued to surge north. We were already 75% through our journey. We were now sailing through all the gigantic coal ships which were at anchor waiting for their turn to be called into port to take their precious loads to all parts of Asia. We were also pushing 2 knots of the Australian eastern current but with the wind dropping to 12 knots and swinging a little more south we hoisted the spinnaker and sped towards Nobby’s Head beach. Nobby’s Head was made famous when the giant coal carrier “Pasha Bulker “made global news when she grounded on the beach in a huge winter storm in June 2007. After gybing a few angles we dropped the spinnaker and sailed into Newcastle Harbour on a twenty knot squall hitting 12.3 knots and being amused by the fact that we had finished as we started. We found ‘Marta Jeans’ new pen and checked our watch and instruments. We covered the 70.8 n.miles in eight and a half hours averaging 8.35 knots. Ten minutes later we were sat in the new Newcastle Yacht Club with a well earned beer in hand and watched a rain squall cover the harbour, wondering how far back the other two boats were that started their journey just ahead of us from Sydney.
* CITYSAIL NYC- Wants a J/24!! For the last five years CITYSAIL has taken out over 100 Jersey City school children. Although the kids live within a mile of some of the most exciting visually stimulating sailing around, they literally never get out on the water. They might as well live 1000 miles from the water for as much as they are able to enjoy it - until City Sail. "Without City Sail I'd never have learned to sail," says Derrik age 14. Dozens of children entered our free sailing school and competed for points through three levels of seamanship. Next year we would like to make this opportunity available to even more kids. We are hoping to add a J/24 to our fleet!! Anyone interested in helping us can contact us at citysail@gmail.com, all contributions or boat donations are fully tax exempt.
* Christos Patsavos sent us a recent note and photo of his J/44 from Athens, Greece- "I am a happy owner of a J/44 based in Athens, Greece and I am cruising, day sail or racing occassionaly. I wonder if I could get in touch with other J/44 owners in US and would appreciate to have your advice about this possibility. Kind regards, Christos!" For you J/44 owners, you can reach Christos at email- "patsos2002@yahoo.gr"* Six U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Sailors comprising the U.S. Armed Forces Sailing Team competed in a J/24 Match Racing event against representatives from 21 countries at the 44th World Military Sailing Championship March 13-21. Hosted for the first time by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the World Military Sailing Championship was hosted by the International Military Sports Council, which is headquartered in Belgium and boasts 122 military member nations worldwide. The main mission of the International Military Sports Competition is fostering friendship through sport and enhancing military-to-military ties.
The U.S. team is part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Armed Forces Sports Program, which promotes goodwill and a positive image of the armed services through sports, encourages physical fitness by promoting a highly competitive sports program and provides the avenue for military athletes to participate in
national and international competitions. The U.S. team spent five days practicing in J/24 sailboats at J World in Key West, FL, prior to the match races at the Bahrain Sailing Club's Al Jazayir beach. The Team finished #15 out of 21 with Italy, Russia and Turkey taking the top three places.Team Members: CAPT Eric Irwin, USN - Senior US Military Delegate- Newport RI; CDR Jay Cavalieri, USN - Team Captain/Skipper, San Diego CA; LT Nicole Auth, USCG- Pearl Harbor HI; LTjg Brittani Koroknay, USCG- Hampton Roads VA; LTjg Abby Lafond, USCG- Portland, OR; AN Michael Fleck, USN- Boston, MA. The team members, who had been selected earlier this year by submitting resumes to the DoD Armed Forces Sports Program, had never met before their first practice on March 5. To learn more about opportunities to participate in the U.S. military's sports program, visit the Web site at http://www.armedforcessports.com
* J/80 champion Spanish sailor, Antonio ("Toño") Piris from Santander, is skippering in the New York-Barcelona Race in IMOCA 60s. You'll have seen his name frequently pop up in reports of the extremely competitive J/80 fleet racing off Santander, especially in this last Winter Series. Great training to keep you sharp offshore in a 3,000 match race!! Toño began sailing in the Optimist class and soon moved on to the Laser, becoming runner-up in the Spanish national championships in 1981, and later winning in the youth category , as well as taking part in the Junior IYRU Laser World Championships in Portugal. He has sailed on boats across many different classes, such as J/24s, J/80s, IOR, IMS, IACC, TP52, as well as having taken part in the building process of many of them: Hispania, Galicia Pescanova, EF Education y EF Language, España 92, Rioja de España, Bravo España, Caixa Galicia and Iberdrola. Read more about this epic assault on a Trans-Atlantic record with two IMOCA 60s racing. http://www.ny-bcn.org/en/index.jsp * Jen Edney Photography- she did a magnificent job of shooting the J/24s in the recent Regata Copa Mexico event in March. She dropped us a quick note since some of here girl friends in the area also started sailing on J/24s in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Said Jen, "I had the incredible opportunity to photograph two amazing female athletes. Both Olympians, Tania Elias Calles and Lisa Ross. A top Mexican sailor, Tania just recently achieved a new Guinness Record for distance by sailing by wind alone in a laser sailboat from Los Cabos to Riviera Nayarit. Her next step is to sail from Cancun to Puerto Progreso in 2011, as part of her route to the Olympic Games in London in 2012. After competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Lisa is currently sailing and training full time, working towards the goal of representing Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games. Their coach, Rosie Chapman is an incredible athlete herself and is the new Nova Scotia Sailing Team Coach. Rosie, is from the UK where she was a member of the Great Britain national Sailing Team and has a number of years of coaching experience. Cheers ladies!"
To see some cool photos of the girls sailing Lasers and more of the J/24s in Bahia de Banderas, Mexico, please go to- http://jenedney.wordpress.com/
Featured Boat
Gorgeous J/124 in Long Island, NY
Exceptionally well maintained without regard to cost, this highly customized J/124 is truly stunning! Equipped with Raymarine ST6002 auto pilot; Tack Tick speed, depth, wind, hand-held remote & Race Master; Raymarine C120 GPS/radar w/removable pole, stereo, elkhide-covered interior handrails, custom line bar in lazarette, retractable bowsprit for asymmetrical spinnakers, carbon spinnaker pole for conventional spinnakers and much, much more! Priced far below replacement, seller wants offers now to capitalize on future vessel. Talk to Tim Mariner at McMichaels- email "timm@mcmyacht.com or go to http://mcmichaelyachtbrokers.comAbout 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: 15 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:
http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm
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ounded in 1970 and which later (in 1994) acquired the first license to build J's in France. Mr. Ringeard is president of FAST Groupe, a third generation, family-owned holding company with business interests across many fields including mass transportation, healthcare, eco-cars and even sailing charters. Didier LeMoal is well known to the J community for his 15 year involvement overseeing European J production and sales including project directing the successful launching of the J/109 and J/122.
* Environmentally, Safety-Conscious LEDs- Although they’re clearly a superior technology, LED lights haven't become mainstream because they’ve been too expensive, too "blue" and too dim compared to incandescent bulbs. While we can't yet offer you a jumbo-tron 60" LED HDTV flat screen (yet), current J/122 owner JD Hill is the factory agent for a new generation of LEDs that are as bright as the halogen bulbs on your J/Boat, but use only 1/10th of the electricity!! HOLY SMOKES Robin, get to the Bat Cave now and change all those bulbs, we need those carbon credits now!! What's even "cooler", they don't get hot, are fully dimmable, color correct and will last for the lifetime of your J -- guaranteed. Reducing the strain on your J/Boat’s electrical system will also prolong battery life! As well as our liferaft- EARTH! For more information, please visit: 
When the smoke cleared on the waters of Bahia de Banderas, it was pretty clear J/24 class veterans used to very tight, close quarters racing with an unmistakeable capability to make the best of really bad situations at starting lines, mark roundings and weather conditions were the ones whom ultimately prevailed. The cream would rise to the top after such a long series of five days and ten races. While Chris Snow from the USA sailing "S" won "college-style" on the water with the most consistent no-throw out scores, it was Maurizio Santa Cruz from Brazil sailing BRUSCHETTA who prevailed by four points by tossing two bad scores for an impressive victory over a talented and remarkably, deep fast fleet. Just off the pace in the top three was Maurizio's Brazilian colleague, Claudio Ruschel racing A QUE SI, finishing a solid third. The Mexican contingent are proving to be not only fast, but wily as coyotes. They know their waters, are strong tactically and are a force to be reckoned with--- guess it doesn't hurt to race every two weeks in fifty+ boat fleets on Valle de Bravo for bragging rights as best sailors in Mexico! Both Jorge Murrieta on VIVO MEXICO and Ken Porter on MONSTER FISH COMEX sailed strong last days to finish 4th and 7th overall, respectively. Of note aboard Jorge's boat was Regatta Chairman Peter Wiegandt, DELL Computer's chief sponsor representative for the regatta. The top ten shows the diversity of international talent in the world's largest one-design keelboat class; Brazilians were 1st, 3rd; Americans 2nd, 5th; Mexicans 4th, 7th, 10th; Germans 6th; Puerto Ricans 8th; and Peruvians 9th. For 
