J/70 Southern-style Sailing (Charleston, SC)- J/70 has completed its extensive sailing trials north of the "Mason-Dixon" line in the cool, windy, sunny climate of northern New England. Time to blaze some smokin hot contrails down south. This week, the J/70 travels south to the warm and comfortable confines of South Carolina for Charleston Race Week. After a charming week on Lake Norman, the J/70 will be shaking off its recent fresh-water bath for the salty mid-Atlantic Ocean and running tides in Charleston Harbor. Be sure to swing by and see the J/70 speedster at the Charleston Harbor & Marina (next to registration & walkway onto the docks). For sailing demo's be sure to contact Don Trask at cell# 510-385-4094 or email- djtboats@aol.com.
(Newport Beach, CA)- J/111 will be on display at the April 19-22- Newport Beach Boatshow. Learn more from Jeff Brown and crew at JK3 Yachting why this remarkable 36 footer has taken the world by storm over the past year. With one-design activity growing in Europe and America, now's the time to jump aboard and have some fun in 2012 and look forward to Key West in 2013! Recently, the J/111 One-Design Class in SPI Ouest France saw fantastic racing from teams across Europe, expect more in the Solent and Cowes Race Week. Next up in America are class racing events in Charleston, Annapolis, Newport, Chicago, Harbor Springs and San Francisco. Contact Jeff Brown and crew at jeff@jk3yachts.com or cell#619-709-0697. The boatshow information for the Newport Show.
French J/22 Worlds Practice(Nantes, France)- The French J/22 class invite all J/22 aficionados to participate in the French Open J/22 which takes place June 16-17, one week before the J/22 Worlds. The sailing site is beautiful, an area famous for its gorgeous, seaside beauty (manors, pastures) and hosted by S.N.O Sailing Club http://www.snonantes.com.
This region of France is renown for its spas and resorts. So, take a moment to enjoy yourself in Nantes and rejuvenate the body, spirit, soul for some good sailing in the following week! Check out the Nantes Tourism site at- http://en.nantes-tourisme.com/discover-3113.html or go a step ahead and join the place where the J/22 Worlds will take place and enjoy the wonderful seaside- http://www.crouesty.co.uk.
And, speaking of J/22 Worlds, the Netherlands J/22 fleet is getting busy! Benelux sailors are working hard with less than two months to go to the worlds to get into full training to bring the J/22 World Cup back to Benelux. Their regattas and training also include- April 28-29- Almere Regatta; May 12-13 Spring Cup; and May 25-28 Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta. For more Netherlands/ Benelux J/22 sailing information. For more France J/22 Worlds related sailing information.
J/Teams Sailing PalmaVela(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- 116 boats, 1,000 sailors, 16 represented countries and 15 divisions make up the impressive line-up of the 2012 Mapfre PalmaVela regatta, the principal opening event for the 2012 sailing season on the Mediterranean. During the four next days, 15 divisions will be competing on four race areas distributed throughout the bay of Palma, probably one of the world's most famous sailing areas.
The J/80 fleet will have nineteen teams and will feature the participation of Olympic champion and winner of the last edition of the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre, José María van der Ploeg at the helm of GREAT SAILING as well as past winner of the PalmaVela, Carlos Martínez sailing MAPFRE. Sure to give them a good-ole fashioned run-for-the-money will be Gary Kamins and crew (Jay Lutz) from California YC and Houston, TX.In the ORC fleet will be the J/145 ACE sailed by Fred Stelle that has on-board a great crew, including J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone. Since they're the "small boat" in a big-boat class, life could be interesting chasing down the big-boys when the sea-breeze builds on a choppy, wavy bay off Palma. For more PalmaVela sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
April continues to be a busy month for sailors in the northern hemisphere. As their Down Under buddies are winding things down a bit and/or migrating "north" to join their friends as the weather warms up for a bit of sailing, a principal focus for many is to re-assemble their sailing friends to get the boat ready for the season, get it in the water to "float-test" it, and determine whether or not the team has a bit of rust to work out before they encounter top teams in their sailing areas. Across continental Europe, the pace of "spring cleaning" has proceeded at a frenetic pace with varying degrees of success for some sailing teams. Evidence of this activity is fraught with anxiety in spots, with teams still getting out for the first time on J/80s in Italy's Winter Championships, J/80 teams in Spain's numerous winter/spring series and even in the United Kingdom with teams sailing the Warsash Spring Series on the Solent in J/80s, J/111s, J/122s, J/133s, J/105s and J/109s, to mention just a few. Remarkably, the J/22 sailors in South Africa continue to attract a strong contingent of passionate sailors themselves, seems hard not to when you traverse southern Africa from spectacular lakes to Cape Town-- can't be more mind-blowing than that in terms of sailing experiences! Shark Island offshore to "monster carp" inshore, plus some massive elephants, lions and wildebeest for simple travel entertainment in between going to regattas! The wonders of sailing "J's around-the-world" will never cease. Then, on the "California Dreamin" side of things, some "opening day" yacht club events can be truly epic or just ordinary-- between San Diego YC's celebration with "a bit of breeze" or Santa Barbara YC's "classic" party provide us that broad range of sailing fun and entertainment everyone seems to enjoy with family and friends.Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! 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:
Mar 18-Apr 29- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England- http://www.warsashspringseries.org.ukApr 19-22- Newport Beach Boatshow (J/111)- Newport Beach, CA- http://newportinwaterboatshow.com
Apr 19-22- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC- http://www.charlestonraceweek.com/
Apr 22-27- Bermuda Race Week- Bermuda- http://www.biirw.bm/
Apr 22-May 1- J/24 Trofeo Accademia Navale- http://www.trofeoaccademianavale.eu/
Apr 26-29- Oslo Sailboat Show (J108)- Oslo, Norway- http://www.osloboatshow.no/
May 4-6- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 4-6- J/22 East Coasts- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 15-28- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands- http://www.nsr.nl/
May 18-20- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 25-Jun 3- J/24 Italian/European Championships- Sardinia, Italy
May 26-28- Swiftsure Offshore Race- Victoria, BC, Canada- http://2012.swiftsure.org/
Jun 1-3- J/22 Canadians- Vancouver, BC- http://www.j24can.com/
Jun 1-4- J/24 UK Nationals- Poole, England- http://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/
Jun 8-10- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL- http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp
Jun 9-15- J/80 Worlds- Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com/
Jun 15- Newport-Bermuda Race- Newport, RI- http://www.bermudarace.com/
Jun 16-23- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany- http://www.kielerwoche.de/
Jun 24-30- J/24 US Nationals- Dillon, CO- http://www.dillonyachtclub.com/
Jun 26-29- J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- http://www.j22-france.com/world%202012/index.htm
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
J's Lovin' Fresh to Frightening Warsash Sailing(Warsash, So'ton, England)- The second half of the Warsash Spring Series arrived with a "bang" on 15th April after a break for Easter. Following three Sundays of light and fickle breezes, competitors were greeted with a brisk if chilly northerly of 12-14 knots, which unexpectedly rose to over 20 knots by late morning-- indeed, fresh to frightening with a bit of nip in the air!
The Black Group fleet raced from a start line on Ryde Middle bank on courses designed to include the occasional reach, interspersed with beats and runs. The start sequence stayed on schedule until an over eager IRC3 class forced a general recall. All classes shared common marks for the start and end of each race with the middle section of each course suitably adjusted to suit the different classes. In IRC 1 class, the J/111 JEEZ LOUISE skippered by James Arnell sailed for the first time in the series and finished 3rd, just beating out Ivan Trotman's J/122 JOLOU in 4th.
The J/109 class has a dozen entries this year and so far each race has produced a different winner. This week it was newcomer Jonnie Goodwin’s HARLEQUIN that was top boat. This was his first race in the series and the team put in a very strong performance to beat David & Mary McGough’s JUST SO by over four minutes. If HARLEQUIN competes similarly in the next two weeks, there could well be a shake up in the results. At this stage, Mike & Sarah Wallis' JAHMALI are leading with a 2-2-1-3 scoreline for 8 pts, followed in 2nd by David Mcleman's OFFBEAT with a 4-1-3-4 tally for 12 pts. Lying third id Owain Franks & Jean Lockett's JYNNAN TONNYX with a 5-6-2-6 with 19 pts. Less than four points behind in 4th and 5th, respectively, are David & Mary McGough's JUST SO and Paul Griffith's JAGERBOMB.In the mixed J/Sprit class, another newcomer had a good day. The J/105 JOURNEYMAKER V (Chris Jones), as the biggest boat in the class, reveled in the conditions to take line honours but three minutes behind him and less than a boat’s length apart Tony Mack’s MCFLY just beat the J/97 INDULJENCE (Nick & Adam Munday) to the line to take the class win on his first outing. Class leader J'RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) could only manage fourth in their slightly smaller J/92 for a 1-1-1-4 record for 7 pts. Second is Nick and Adam Munday's INDULJENCE with a 5-2-2-2 scoreline for 11 pts. Third is Andy Howe's J/92 BLACKJACK with a 3-3-3-6 score for 15 pts. Fourth is John Cooper & Ian Townend's J/92 JAMMIN and fifth is Chris Jones' seasoned offshore campaigners on JOURNEYMAKER 5.
On the White Group sportsboat course, the J/80s were given a gate at the bottom of the course. In the first strong breeze of the year, for many of them the retrieval of gennakers proved to be a significant factor and some ended up having to sail longer windward legs than expected. In the first race it became apparent that boats sailing to the shifts made the most gains. Under the lee of the Meon shore the northerly wind was much more susceptible to shifting and the boats that chose to go for the laylines tended to lose out. Two boats dominated the J/80 class. Rob Larke (J2x) won all three races and he was followed home each time by Ian Atkins in boats.com. After a series total of twelve races, J2X is leading by over 20 pts. Lying second is Nick and Annie Haigh's SLIGHTLY STEAMY with 43 pts, followed in third by Stew Hawthorn's J'AI DEUX AMOURS with 62 pts. Fourth is Patrick Liardet in AQUA-J with 64 pts and fifth is Ian's boats.com with 75 pts.Next weekend the pace hots up with racing on both days for the Warsash Spring Championship, including a section with trialists for the Dolphin Brewer’s Commodore’s Cup. The fifth week of the Warsash Spring Series continues on Sunday 22nd April. Sailing photo credits- Eddie Mays For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information
Vela 2012 Show Report(Trieste, Italy)- Sailing on the Mediterranean and off the gorgeous coastline of Italy's Adriatic Sea has its benefits. Spectacular natural scenery. Famous coastal villages dating back to the days of Odysseus's famous sailing epic "The Odyssey" traversing the Aegean, Ionian and Adriatic Seas. The region is steeped in both history and the evolution of civilization, especially as it relates to seafarers. In that great tradition, local sailors continue to ply their waters in the hope of winning some silverware as well as enjoying the voyage to their events.
In Trieste, the tradition lives on, one of the great sailing areas in Italy. The weather conditions for sailing are great most of the time, with strong southerly sea-breezes flowing. The typical Northern wind called "Bora" (a.k.a. "mistral", "meltemi" in other parts of the world) can build up to incredible power, flowing down fast out of the Italian Alps at ferocious speeds in excess of 40-60 knots! Here is a report from Paolo Boido regards the local sailboat show and the local sailing scene:
"Trieste has produced some of the best Italian sailors in recent years, all great friends of the "J/Family" and most of them successful sailors with various J/Boats models. Two J/24 Worlds Champions, Vasco Vascotto (as well America’s Cup driver) and Rufo Bressani (internationally famous in many different Classes), hail from Trieste. Gabriele & Furio Benussi are also top drivers in J’s One-Design Classes. Roberto Vencato managing the Ullman Loft in Italy is also based in Trieste.
At the recent VELA Boat Show in Trieste, J/Boats Italy was displaying the gorgeous J/122 #78, an impressive site for many local sailors with its high-modulus black carbon fibre Hall Spars mast & boom-- the J/122 truly dominated the local sailing scene.
Piero Santi, the happy owner of this great yacht, is a kind of veteran among J/Boats Owners. He has owned a J/92, then a J/105, next a J/109, and now sailing this lovely J/122 Grand Prix Edition form JB Composites France. Mr Santi and crew won several races in the Trieste Gulf and North Adriatic Sea. Obviously now there is a great expectation waiting for impressive speed and results of this new J/122 on the local Trieste sailing scene. The crew will begin practicing and discovering how to sail faster their new “racing machine”, getting ready for the next IRC/ RORC European Championship that will take place in July 2012.
The Vela Boat Show is in it's fourth edition this year. This show is open just to sail yachts and takes place in the private and modern marina of Porto San Rocco located in a very nice eastern part of the coast of the Trieste gulf. The manager of the show, Roberto Sponza, is a great sailor in past 470 Olympic campaigns. We look forward with Roberto's help to have many more J-sailors in Trieste and the Adriatic Sea!" Best regards, Paolo Boido.
MANDOVI Leads El Trofeo PrimaveraGO FIT Leads Trofeo El Mundo Cantabria
(Algorta, Spain)- The J/80s in Spain continue their spring series in their various sailing regions. Held over several weekends, these regatta serve to warm-up their teams to world-championship calibre in a very short period of time-- all possible due to the high level of talent in their fleets, giving many sailors the chance to practice and train hard against Olympic and World Champions!
In the Trofeo Primavera being sailed off Punta Galea near Algorta, Spain, the MANDOVI team is setting the pace, having won two races last weekends. MANDOVI now sits in first place with only six points followed by JET SET and FREUS that are tied on ten points each.
Over in Santander, the J/80s are racing for the title of Champion of El Trofeo El Mundo Cantabria- in short, "Champion of the Cantabrian World". A bit tongue-in-cheek, of course, but no less fun and serious for the top teams practicing for the upcoming worlds just under two months away in Dartmouth, England.After last weekend's racing, it is David Madrazo's team on GO FIT that is leading with a strong, consistent performance of a 7-2-2-1-2-2 for only 9 total points. Immediately behind him are two J/80 World Champions, with Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING with a 5-3-1-3-8-3 for 15 pts, good enough for second place, and Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS in third with a 1-20-5-7-4-1 for 18 pts. Rounding out the top five are Jesus Gonzalez on RAITAN with a 6-17-7-2-6-5 for 26 pts in fourth and in fifth is Tonio Piris on the familiar YATES Y COSAS, starting out strong with a 3-1-4-5 but DNC'd the last two races for a total of 43 pts. For sailing photo credits in Algorta- Patricia Merino Fotografía For J/80 Spain sailing results
(Mpumalanga, South Africa)- The start of the season long J/22 South African Championship series begins in Mpumalanga. Hosted by Witbank Yachting and Aquatics Club, the twenty sailing teams were in for yet another treat by this fine South African sailing club. The sailors were happy to get in a total of six races with one discard over the weekend regatta.
San Diego & Santa Barbara Epic Opening DaysJ/105's Smoke the Fleets
(California, USA)- The tradition has been a long-standing one for yacht clubs around the world to have an "opening day", symbolic of the start of a new year, a new sailing season, re-affirmation of belonging to the "local tribe", participating in various "tribal rites of passage" with lots of pomp, circumstance, dressy stuff and good-natured bantering fueled for the most part by good food, drink and friends.
Nowhere is the tradition more laid-back than it is on the West Coast of America. After all, watching sunsets on the beach is a right of passage, as is surfing to Hawaii on massively fast "sleds", and blasting down the Cal/Mex coastline to some destination called La Paz, Ensenada, Cabo or PV. This year, two of those opening days were in for a treat, atypical conditions that challenged the best of the best in San Diego and Santa Barbara.
San Diego YC's opening day was an eye-opener. "Fresh to frightening" or "epic" may have been adjectives assigned to massive chop, 18-30 knot winds and a bit thrill ride of for some. Of course, the J/105 teams were simply licking their chops, knowing their erstwhile competitors might be doing the wrong kind of "pole dance" as they spun around in broaches all day long! The SDYC opening day event is an incredibly fun "pursuit race", where slowest start first and fastest last. In fact, J/22s started first and TP 52s were last! After the fleet crashed and bashed, surfed and broached their way home, it was the J/105s that swept the fleet- WINGS (Dennis & Sharon Case) that finished first, followed by AIRBOSS and TRIPLE PLAY in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. As was commented by one of their crew- " Surfing and planing on the downwind leg and having control in the beats were the keys to success and how much fun was THAT!" Awesome stuff.
On the Santa Barbara YC opening day side of things, their classic "WNW" breeze blew in fresh and fast making for a spectacular afternoon of sailing. With J/105s, J/29, J/92, J/100, J/145, J/22 and J/24s all making a go of it, it was the J/105s that had a spectacular showing. Leading the fleet home were SHORT SKIRT followed by Ken Kieding's new ADVANCE (the old ROCK'N'ROLL) and ESCAPADE.
For more SDYC (http://www.sdyc.org) and SBYC (http://www.sbyc.org) sailing information.
(Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy)- Over the course of the four weekend winter series held on the beautiful waters and bay off Santa Margherita and Portofino, Italy, it was pretty clear that JOCONDA was sailing strongly and was determined to finish well in their series.
The regional J/80 fleet saw testing conditions over the course of the series, with relatively light breezes from the southern sea-breeze quadrants most of the time. In the end, with eleven races sailed, JOCONDA won the Winter Championship Trophy Miramare!
In second place in both rankings was JENIALE, which was lacking in consistency and good performance. MONTPRES was sailing well and managed to sail to third place while J-BES managed a fourth.
For more J/80 Italian Sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* In keeping with the influence of Italy on the sailing world, it's somewhat coincidental that SAILING WORLD's recent "50th Celebration" article from past J/24 World Champion and College Sailor of the Year Terry Hutchinson- "Recover from a bad start"- was published recently. As Terry said, "Patience is a virtue when it comes to recovering from a bad start." In it, Terry Hutchinson explains how to get in the clear after a bad start: "You know you've had a bad start when you can't execute the game plan determined before the race. 
Two critical things must happen if you wish to recover: the helmsman has to sail the boat as fast as possible while in dirty air, and you need to decide where to go to get clean air." Here's the article- http://www.sailingworld.com/experts/recover-from-a-bad-startBut, what to do after a "bad spill"? Don't have that answer yet! Take a look at this problem
Terry recently encountered while racing an AC45 in the America's Cup World Series off Naples, Italy--http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Gallery/2012/4/AC-World-Series---Race-Day-One---News/
What's the coincidence here?? Terry's up against LUNA ROSSA that has Francesco De'Angelis as a principal part of their racing/management program. LUNA ROSSA recently won the fleet racing, appropriately enough, in Naples, Italy in the same waters that Francesco won his 1987 J/24 World Championship off the famous island of Capri! Small world, eh?
The J Cruising Community
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.* 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." UPDATE- Just a short note to update from Bill- "Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, "Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III," can be found at www.blurb.com. Thanks, Bill and Judy"
* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. 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).
- Bill and Susan Grun 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). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".
- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA)
, then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending. As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/
Featured Boats
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