J/111 Sailing Fast!
(Bristol, RI)- This past weekend, the J/111 was launched in Barrington, RI in northern Narragansett Bay. Sailing on the 111's maiden voyage was Joe Pimenta of builder CCF Composites, Ben Hall and Corey Butlin of Hall Spars, Didier LeMoal of JB Composites (J builder in France), designer Alan Johnstone, and other J family members including Rod, Stu, Jeff and Matthew.The weather forecast was partly cloudy with spotty ESE breezes from 0-12 knots, which is exactly what we saw for the 111's first shake-down sail. It was a good test of the boat's balance and acceleration capabilities in the low wind ranges. As designer Al Johnstone commented, "even with a #3 jib flying, we could tell right away that the J/111 has all the elements we were hoping for in terms of speed, acceleration and a feather light touch on the helm both upwind and downwind.”
On day 2, the full Doyle inventory (including #1 jib) was flown and a five person crew took the J/111 upwind in a steadier 12-16 knot southerly to test the balance, responsiveness and stability. Grins all around as the J/111 sliced effortlessly upwind with minimal wake and very easy steering/ trimming with helmsman able to drive and play the mainsheet (fine-tune) like a J/80. Two people could handle the tacking duties, and the jib trimmer was in heaven being able to freely adjust the fore/aft/inboard jib leads with the cockpit led controls.Jeff Johnstone added “we then hoisted the large A-Sail (130m2) and took right off. The boat balanced great and we felt we had equal opportunity to either go deep and rotate the kite out, or heat up to double digit speeds. We threw in several jibes, including a double-handed one in 15-17 knots with Rod on helm and mainsheet and Al on both kite sheets.”
This week the commissioning continues with sailing electronics install, engine trials and final commissioning at Bristol Marine with sailing starting again this weekend in Newport.
With the schedule beginning to fill up in August/ September for the Newport demo sails, please be sure to contact your J Dealer soon to get a taste of J/111's sweet sailing experience. For photos of the first sail, please go to the J/111 photo gallery.
J/Regatta News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The world appears to be experiencing a welcome reprieve from the summer long heat wave. In Europe, the sailing conditions for England's Cowes Week continue to improve, recently providing "champagne sailing" for the 700+ boats and 3,000+ competitors attempting to divine the mystical Solent currents. The week before, women J sailors came out in force to support Breast Cancer Care in the Women's Open Keelboat Championship in Hamble, England. In the Americas, Santa Barbara hosted the start of a West Coast summertime offshore classic, the Santa Barbara-King Harbor Race with a large J contingent participating. The J/22s had their J/22 Canadian Championship on Lake Ontario; the J/120s and J/105s sailed one-design in St. Francis YC's Aldo Alessio Trophy; J/105s sailed the New England Solo/Twin in Rhode Island Sound; and a fleet of J/105s had fun at the Youngstown Level Regatta in New York. Finally, don't forget to read the J/Cruising Community section below. 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.Regatta & Show Schedules:
Aug 1-7- Cowes Week- Isle of Wight, England- http://www.cowesweek.co.ukAug 6-8- J/30 North Americans- Boston, MA- http://j30.us/na2010/
Aug 6-8- J/80 USA Tour/ Buzzards Bay- Marion, MA- http://www.j80.org
Aug 13-20- J/24 Worlds- Malmo, Sweden- http://www.j24class.org
Aug 17-22- J/22 North Americans- Buffalo, NY- http://www.j22.com
Aug 20-22- Verve Cup- Chicago, IL- http://www.chicagoyachtclub.org
Sep 9-12- J/80 North Americans- Marion, MA- http://www.j80.org
Sep 10-19- Southampton Boatshow- Southampton, England- http://www.southamptonboatshow.com
Sep 11-12- Larchmont NOOD Regatta- Larchmont, NY- http://www.sailingworld.com
Sep 11-12- J/109 East Coast Championships- Larchmont, NY- http://www.sailingworld.com
Sep 14-19- J/24 UK Nationals- Cornwall, England- http://www.royalcornwallyachtclub.org
Sep 15-18- J/105 North Americans- Chicago, IL- http://www.j105.org
Sep 16-19- Rolex Big Boat Series- San Francisco, CA- http://www.big-boat-series.com/
Sep 18-19- J/Fest Newport Beach- Newport Beach, CA- http://www.balboayachtclub.com
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Cowes Week Update
J's Sailing One-Design Having Fun!
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Of all 700+ sailboats participating in this year's renowned Cowes Week, surely the thirty-five boat J/109 class has to be one of the most fun and competitive classes going, if not the largest offshore one-design keelboat class going by a country mile. At this stage in this ginormous class, Rick Garret's JEROBOAM is leading, followed by Mike Smith's ZELDA, Matt Boyle's SHIVA, Adam and Helen Wright's VELVET ELVIS and Glyn Locke and Gill Ross' JAMBHALA in the top five all within eight points of each other! The "tale of the tape" will be told in the last three days in this closely fought and very competitive class.The racing conditions have been challenging with the fourth day of racing producing some "champagne sailing" conditions. A patchy early-morning westerly wind built into a 15-20 knot south-westerly by lunchtime, giving perfect racing conditions.
The inshore end of the line worked for the J/80 start. Simon Ling’s SPITFIRE expertly snaked through from behind the slower-moving boats on the line to pop out ahead of the pack. Within five minutes he’d caught up with the back markers in the Daring fleet that had started 10 minutes earlier. Ling crossed the finish first, two minutes 20 seconds ahead of Robin Fielder’s WARP FACTOR lX, in his third win of the regatta. Sebastian Ripard’s AGAINSTMALARIA.COM was third. At this stage of the racing, the J/80 Class leader is Sebastian Ripard's AGAINSTMALARIA.COM (a family crew from Malta), followed by Thor Askeland's ELLE S'APPELLE and Simon Ling's RAF SPITFIRE.
By late morning as the larger handicap classes started, the champagne sailing conditions kicked in. The wind in the central Solent rose to a solid south-westerly of 15-20 knots, giving an increased tempo and energy to the short tacking and progressively more anxious calls for water as all boats headed upwind to the first markers. In IRC 1, the J/133s are having a good time racing against both handicap boats as well as sailing in one-design configuration. So far, it's Fiona & Malcolm Thorpe's KING LOUIE, Yves Grosjean's JIVARO and Herman Bergshaven's SOLNESS III rounding out the top three in J/133 class.The J/122s are racing both handicap and class within IRC 2 Class. On handicap, Ian Matthews' JINJA is in third and Rodolphe Marchais' JOLLY JOKER is in sixth. In one-design class, JINJA, JOLLY JOKER are first and second, respectively, followed by David Richard's JOLLY in third.
A surprising top five leader in IRC 3 class is the extremely lightweight, fast (very NON-IRC design) 30 footer, JOE 90, the McDonald clan's J/90 with Duncan McDonald guiding them very fast around the track. Surely, the conditions on Wednesday were to their liking as the long, broad reaching conditions would see the J/90 rocketing downwind at speeds in excess of 20 knots.
In IRC 5, J/97s are seemingly dominating their class and dueling it out with ex-J/39 owner Adam Gosling on YES! The J/97s have taken mostly firsts, seconds and thirds. At this stage, Grant Gordon's FEVER is tied for first with YES! However, Mike and Jamie Holmes' JIKA JIKA started amongst the leaders with a 4-6 then took two DNS's for next two days. And, Jim Dick's JACKAROO has a 3-3-34-3 record. We hope both JIKA JIKA and JACKAROO round out their weeks with strong finishes and that FEVER gets hot and takes over the top of the podium.In conjunction with Cowes Week, the J/92s are running their J/92 Nationals. After four races, the leader is Steve Etheridge and Andrew Roberts' JUST IN TIME, Andrew Dallas' HULLABALOO and Mark Lloyd's JUNGLE FEVER.
Racing in IRC configuration are more J/92s. In the J/92 IRC class, the leaders are HULLABALOO, JUST IN TIME and Pip Tyler's NEILSON REDEYE. For more Cowes Week sailing information. Sailing photo credits- Rick Langford- Ocean Images
J's Love Women's Open Regatta
(Hamble, England)- It was a weekend of awesome sailing for this year's Women's Open Keelboat Championship, with the top J being the J/105 JOS of Hamble, skippered by Clemency Ives, coming in third overall.One hundred and sixty women from all over the UK and abroad took part in the event, with J's being by far the largest brand (over 50%!!) supporting Breast Cancer Care for Women in the U.K. (the charity that is the beneficiary of the WOKC event). The regatta was hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble and supported by championship sponsor Coffin Mew LLP, race sponsor Dubarry of Ireland and drinks sponsor Wight Vodka. Six races over two days were split into three classes - IRC1, IRC2 and J80.
Participating J's this year included the J/105 JOS (Clemency Ives), the J/105 JOURNEYMAKER 5 (Louise Makin), the J/109 JAMBHALA (Gillian Ross), the J/80 SWALLOW (Vicky Lincoln), the J/92 WIZARD (Cathy Vise), the J/109 J2EAU (Jody Windmiller), the J/92s NEILSON REDEYE (Marion Piper) and others.
SWALLOW, skippered by Viks Lincoln, came out on top in the J80 class in the inaugural year for one-design racing at the event. She also managed to finish fourth overall behind much larger boats.
Racing in the Solent was challenging with competitors having to contend with gusty winds of 22 knots on Saturday afternoon and the postponement of racing for an hour due to light winds on Sunday morning. Peter Bateson (PRO), from the Royal Southern Yacht Club, set a series of challenging courses accommodating the range of boats participating and creating some exciting mark roundings.
One of the event's organizers, Jody Slater, commented: "It was a fantastic weekend, with all the competitors really getting into the spirit of the event, whether at the front or back of the fleet. It was also great to see the Championship so well supported by both our sponsors, but also other sailors. The Frock's & Flip-Flops Party was a great success, attracting lots of sailors from the local area, and raising £800 for Breast Cancer Care, a charity that WOKC is proud to support."
Several other teams took awards including Cathy Vise's J/92 WIZARD, named "Most Improved Team." For more WOKC Sailing information. Sailing photo credit- Rick Langford- Ocean Images UK
McIlquham Wins J22 Canadians
(Port Credit, Ontario)- Port Credit Yacht Club put on a great 2010 Canadian Championship regatta from July 10 – 11. Despite fairly light wind, the Race Committee did a fantastic job and were able to get seven races off. Newcomers to the fleet, Gord Mcilquham, his wife Maryann Turcke, and their 2 daughters, Emily and JJ, showed us all how it’s done, walking off with the trophy sailing PRUDENCE to a solid 6-3-1-1-2-3-2 record for eighteen points. It was pretty clear they were learning the ropes as they went along, starting out slowly but finishing with a flourish! Second just five points back was Travis Odenbach sailing INSTIGATOR sailing to a 7-2-2-2-8-1-1 record, nearly pulling off the Championship themselves excepting a "hairball" fifth race where they got in trouble and dropped off their regatta winning pace. Third was American Kevin Doyle sailing MO'MONEY.
The Canadian J/22 fleet continues to grow on Lake Ontario. Join them and have some fun! A few new boats showed up this year: the winning boat PRUDENCE from Royal Canadian YC, Jerry Wendt from Niagara YC, SPACEBALL from Nepean (Marg Hurley) and ECLIPSE from BHYC (Brian Young). Thanks to EVERYONE for coming out! For more J/22 Canadian Championship sailing info.
J/29 RUSH STREET Dominates SB-King Harbor Race
(King Harbor, CA)- In the 81-mile Santa Barbara to King Harbor (Redondo Beach) Race raced last weekend the J/29 RUSH STREET not only won the biggest class in the race- PHRF C, for the fourth straight time, but they finished before a whole bunch of bigger boats that started up to half an hour earlier; this included a Farr 40, a Farr 49, a Santa Cruz 52 and a ULDB 60! Yet another incredible performance by the extraordinary Larry Leveille from Santa Barbara YC.Only forty-six boats sailed this year's race...it was forecast for light and variable. And, sailing around the first "mark", the chain of Channel Islands 25 miles offshore, it was sure to be light and shifty with huge streaks along the backside. However, the fleet experienced intermittent but reasonably good breeze for most of the race, playing gybing angles all the way southeast to Redondo Beach. A large, competitive fleet of thirteen J's participated (27% of the total sailing!) in this summer offshore classic race off the California coast, including Larry's J/29, Dr. Laura Schlessinger's J/100 PERFECT, two J/33s (Fred Kottrell's TIGGER and Messenger/Colgan's NITRO), Charlie Underwood's J/92s STING, two J/109s (Tom Brott's ELECTRA and Bryce Benjamin's PERSISTENCE, Eric McClure's J/35 MACS, Bill Webster's J/37 SIDEKICK, two J/120s (Gary Winton's SHENANIGANS and Tom Cullen's BLUEBIRD, Charlie Browning's J/130 BEBE and Gil Maguire's J/133 TENACITY.
In PHRF B, Bill Webster's J/37 SIDEKICK sailed a terrific race to beat some other very-well sailed so-called "racing boats", getting second in class and beating Dr. Laura Schlessinger's J/100 PERFECT by just nine minutes. Sixth in class was Fred Cottrell's J/33 TIGGER.
Most of the J's were sailing in the PHRF Sprit Division. The two J/109s out-sailed their sprit stablemates with Brott's ELECTRA winning by 25 minutes over Benjamin's PERSISTENCE in second. Third was Winton's J/120 SHENANIGANS, just eight minutes behind PERSISTENCE on corrected time. For more Santa Barbara- King Harbor Race sailing information.
J/105 BLACKHAWK Wins Aldo Alessio
CHANCE Wins J/120 Class
(August 1, 2010) - The Aldo Alessio Perpetual Trophy Regatta was held at the St Francis Yacht Club over this past weekend, one of the premiere trophy races hosted by StFYC every summer. While the usual summer "nuclear conditions" did not prevail, as usual San Francisco Bay can be relied upon to provide challenging sailing conditions and plenty of breeze so long as it's partly cloudy and the valleys to the east of the Bay heat up at least 20 F. degrees warmer than the Bay.Enjoying the nice sailing conditions were the J/120 and J/105 classes, the two largest classes sailing in the regatta. For the highly competitive eight boat J/120 class, Barry Lewis sailing CHANCE won with very consistent 2-2-3-1 record to win by two points. John Wimer's DESDEMONA sailed to a 3-3-1-3 record to snatch second from class-leader Steve Madeira sailing the famous MR. MAGOO, which had an uncharacteristically slow start, getting a 5-4-2-2 score.
The J/105s saw some class veterans dueling it out with one another for the top three spots in the eighteen boat class. This time it was Scooter Simmons racing BLACKHAWK that took home the big jug of silverware, taking first by virtue of a tie-breaker over Bruce Stone's ARBITRAGE! Third was Phil Labin and Richard Pipkin's RACER X. The other regatta leader, Rolf Kaiser's DONKEY JACK sailed a regatta-winning record of 1-2-2 in the last three races but had to count a DSQ (17 points) to still finish fifth. For more St. Francis YC Aldo Alessio sailing information. Sailing photo credit- Erik Simonson
J/105 Wins New England Solo/Twin
(Newport, RI)- Nelson Weiderman and Jim Heagney won Class 1 of the New England Solo Twin aboard their J/105 KIMA, defeating 11 other boats in their class including two other J/105s, DARK & STORMY (winner in 2009) sailed by owner Michael LaChance and Eric Irwin and JADED, sailed by Joe Cooper and Emmet Todd.The double-handed race took the entrants 94.1 miles around Block Island's R4, to Nomans Island's R2, to the Racon off Newport and finished at Castle Hill Light.
The predictions were for light wind, but the wind kicked up and held throughout the night. The second place boat finished just 37 seconds behind on corrected time and boats were still overlapped at the second mark after sailing 62 miles. The race started at noon on Friday July 30 and finished in the early hours of Saturday morning off Castle Hill....too bad the Newport Jazz Festival and the James Montgomery Band weren't the welcoming reception!
For more New England Solo/Twin Sailing information and results.
J/105 Youngstown Level Regatta
(Youngstown, NY)- The Youngstown (NY) Level Regatta fielded a fleet of 177 boats including six J/105s. After seven races, Peter Hall racing JAMAICA ME CRAZY won with 11 points, followed by Stuart Kilpatrick on PLANET B (14 points), and Terry Michaelson on THE USUAL SUSPECTS (21 points). Hall finished all races in the top three, including four bullets.J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Frank Kern's J/120 CARINTHIA keeps an on-going blog of their sailing experiences and regattas. After seeing them win the Chicago-Mackinac Race the week before, it's clear why they have enjoyed a lot of fun sailing with one another over the years-- they have fun and make sure those around them are also having fun. Kudo's to Frank and the gang for making "sailing fun" and always reaching out to the kids in their Bayview YC youth program, family and friends to bring them along. Enjoy reading some of CARINTHIA's blogs over the years since 2000!The J Cruising community continue the adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.
* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years. Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker. The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com. Search for "SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing" by Bill Stellin or William Stellin." Fun reading when rocking back in a chair watching your storm-lashed windows take a beating in the gale roaring outside and listening to the crackle of a roaring fire. It is winter "down under" you know. The Argentineans are freezing.
* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary will have just finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.
* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between. Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins?? Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above). SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com). Susan Grun and her husband on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).
Featured Boat
Gorgeous J/109 In Houston
One of the best examples of a J/109 sits in Houston, TX ready to roll for the summer season and Key West in 2010. She's a 2006 J/109 Hull #261. Every factory option along with heat and A/C are installed. She's priced well below J//109's comparably equipped. It has an excellent sail inventory of Quantum sails: Spinnakers(5)- 06 07 08 108sqm class; 06 08 121sqm PHRF; Headsails(5)-06 07 08 class jibs, 06 08 PHRF (155); Mains(2)- 06 08-- All sails are kept in climate controlled storage. For more information, please contact Scott Spurlin at J/Boats Southwest- cell +1-512-423-2179 or e-mail- Scott@JBoatsSouthwest.com or go to http://www.JBoatsSouthwest.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
