J/Cup UK Preview(Southampton, England)- The scene is set for a stunning 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics, scheduled to take place on the Solent this week. The event comes back to its spiritual ‘home’ at the Royal Southern Yacht Club this year and comprises The Lombard J/97 UK National Championship and the J/109 UK National Championship supported by Sebago. The J/111 Class will also be racing at the J-Cup for the first time this year and the International J/111 Class Rules will apply in full. The remainder of the 63 boat fleet will be made up three more classes, the J/80s who will also race in a one-design class and two mixed IRC J Boat classes. Even the brand new J/70 is set to make her first regatta appearance!
Racing starts tomorrow, Thursday 26th July and nowhere will the competition be hotter than at the J/109 National Championship supported by Sebago. Studying the form at recent J/109 one design regattas will not help the pundits at all as several boats have been starring. Paul Griffiths, J/109 Class Chair who sails with his family and friends on Jagerbomb is blisteringly quick in the light stuff but was not giving much away on interview. When pressed, Paul explained ‘The issue is that the racing in this fleet really is wide open. On any given day there are easily ten boats in the running. What I can say for sure is that everyone sailing in the 24 boat J/109 National Championship fleet is delighted at the prospect of racing in some sunshine and thrilled to share in the generous support of our sponsor, Sebago’.
The current Lombard J/97 UK National Champion is Grant Gordon and his team on Fever, having won the regatta last year in Guernsey . Fever is back to defend the one design title this year, along with eight other J/97s, a fleet which includes three newcomers to the Championship. It’s tough at the top of the J/97 fleet and even the smallest of errors can be costly. Gill Ross has a predominantly young squad on board Rock n Roll 2 but having competed together at the recent J/80 Worlds she will be hoping that the strength of her close-knit team will pay dividends. From Cornwall, having recently won the South West IRC Championship, Stuart Sawyer and his crew on Black Dog were looking fast last weekend at a training regatta here on the Solent albeit they were just pipped to the top slot by local boys Mike and Jamie Holmes in Jika Jika. Mike and Jamie also have the 2012 Lombard J/97 National Championship title firmly in their sights.The J/111 Class has eight boats racing on a level rating basis at the J-Cup this year and the fleet is chock full of winners: Didier Le Moal’s J-Lance comes to compete from France having beaten David and Kirsty’s J-Dream (Round the Island Race Class winner) by the very narrowest of margins at Spi Ouest regatta at Easter. Jamie Arnell’s Jeez Louise won the J/111 Class at the Vice Admiral’s Cup earlier in the summer and Duncan MacDonald and Phil Thomas ’ crew on Shmokin Joe have been slotting in some very impressive results in their home port of Brighton .
So, in usual J-Cup style we’re set for a massive event: six classes, two race areas, eight races, two National Championships, 63 boats (so far!) 400 people, two bands, SLAM clothing, SLAMbucca shots, the B&G Dark and Stormy Party, North Sails daily prizes, a live blog from the race-track at www.keyyachting.com, the Wight Vodka Online Results Service, fantastic sponsor support, prizes galore and of course the infamous J-Cup Prize-giving Party on the final Saturday, this year to be held at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton and (according to current forecasts) sun, sun, sun all the way!
To sum up, James Clark, Global Services Director at MIQ Logistics, the principal sponsor of the 2012 J-Cup said ‘We are thrilled to continue our sponsorship relationship with Key Yachting and the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics is set to be a fabulous regatta. We understand the huge responsibility that comes with our investment but the opportunity to be involved with the J-Cup was one that we could not ignore and it demonstrates and cements our commitment to the marine sector. This will be my first J-Cup and I have to say that I am really looking forward to the event.’ Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright- Photoaction.com For more J/Cup sailing information
Penobscot Bay Rendezvous(Penobscot Bay, Maine)- Yachting Magazine hailed the Penobscot Bay Rendezvous as one of the top 10 sailing/cruising events of 2011. This year, the event will be taking place from August 16 -19 and already 42% of the entrants are J sailors competing in racing, cruising canvas crewed and double-handed cruising canvas. The entries range from a J/80 to FOUR J/160s, as well as a nice sampling of J46, 42, 122, 124, 109 with more signing up every day.
What makes this event so special is not just the incredibly beautiful waters of Penobscot Bay, but also professional event and race management, over-the-top parties and fabulously yummy dinners, mind-blowing fireworks, an aerobatic airshow, awesome live music and plenty of silverware to sink a ship!
If you have any interest in joining this fiesta of sailing on the water, please be sure to contact Tom Babbitt in Camden at ph# 207-236-8656 or check out the website.
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
There's never a dull moment in July sailing in the northern hemisphere. While some of our friends Down Under in South America, NZ and Australia are playing around in some winter series, their colleagues up north have many of their major regattas taking place in July and August. This past week saw plenty of activity taking place over in Europe. The J/80s had a fabulous regatta sailing the MAPFRE Copa del Rey in Palma Mallorca, Spain. The renown RORC Commodore's Cup was taking place with several J's playing a major upsetting factor in the standings. On the America's side of things the highly competitive Rolex New York YC Race Week for one-designs took place including J/105s, J/109s (including their North Americans) and the J/11s. Just west of them was the Lake Ontario 300 offshore race, a tour of Lake Ontario for big offshore boats with J/109s, J/105s and others leading the charge. A short offshore fun race was being held on the Chesapeake Bay with a number of J's sailing one-design in the Solomon's Island Race. Then, over in the Great Lakes, the huge fleet of 300+ boats sailed the famous Chicago-Mackinac Island Race, a 289nm dash north up Lake Michigan with fleets of J/105s, J/109s, J/111s and J/120s leading the charge for most of the fleet. Way way out West, the Whidbey Island Race Week was concluding also having excellent fleet sailing for J/105s, J/109s, J/80s, J/24s and others in the J/Fleet. Finally, the Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco, California to Hawaii saw the J/125s, J/120s, J/42 and others leading their fleet so far-- be sure to follow and cheer for them!!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:
Jul 26-28- J/Cup- Southampton, England- Royal Southampton YCJul 26-29- J80 Deauville Open- Deauville, France
Jul 26-29- Little Traverse Regatta- Harbor Springs, MI
Jul 26-29- Marblehead NOOD Regatta- Marblehead, MA
Jul 28-29- Youngstown Level Regatta- Youngstown, NY
Aug 3-5- Buzzards Bay Regatta- S Dartmouth, MA
Aug 3-5- Monhegan Race- Falmouth, ME
Aug 11-12- J/27 Lake Ontarios- Oakville, Ontario
Aug 17-19- Verve Cup Regatta- Chicago, IL
Aug 17-19- Nantucket Race Week- Nantucket, MA
Aug 24-26- J/80 Pornic Cup- Pornic, France
Sep 6-9- Rolex Big Boat Series- San Francisco, CA
Sep 7-9- J/80 German Open- Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Sep 11-14- J/22 North Americans- East Tawas, MI
Sep 13-21- J/24 Worlds- Rochester, NY
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
J/Teams Sweep Chicago-Mackinac RaceJ/111 One-Designs Smoke the Fleet!
(Mackinac Island, Michigan)- For the enormous fleet of boats sailing in this year's Chicago-Mackinac Race, the forecasts weren't the most promising in the world for a fast passage north on the 289nm course to Mackinac Island. As the morning dawned with a light southwesterly gradient breeze, it was becoming clear to the "locals" that a sea-breeze would likely develop and by early afternoon power the fleet down the course in an 8-13 knot southeasterly breeze. The Double-handed fleet took off in near drifting conditions which include a J/29 and J/105. About an hour later, the big divisions of J/105s, J/109s, J/111s and J/120s all took off in a building sea-breeze reinforced by the gradient.
Because of the stronger than forecast sea breeze, the race became an enormous chess match on the water, with all teams focused on when the breeze would shift from the southeast to southwest and then play gybing angles all the way down the Michigan shoreline, passing the famous Point Betsie turning point to head further NE towards the Greys Reef 3nm passage before turning to 97 degree for the final sprint to 30nm to the finish line off the famously picturesque Round Island Lighthouse off Mackinac Island. The tale of the tape for various classes came down to two major decision points, when was the first gybe made in the middle of the lake late Saturday evening when the winds went from about 170-185 degrees to 200-220 degrees and when teams made the decision to gybe and go inshore along the Pt Betsie/Michigan shoreline to stay in breeze with more velocity.
All the J/Teams had some great racing, as demonstrated by their extraordinary performances overall in the Mackinac CUp Trophy fleet standings. The first NINE of the Top 10 Teams were J/Boats owners. 12 of Top 15 were J/Teams and 16 of the Top 25! J/111s were 8 of Top 15 and 11 of Top 20!! An unprecedented sweep of the top 25 positions-- the best ever by any brand in the history of the Mackinac Race (or for that matter any major offshore race around the world). Here is how the top 25 teams faired
1st- J/109 REALT NA MARA- Tom & Joe Londrigan
2nd- J/109 NORTHSTAR- David Gustman
3rd- J/111 KASHMIR- Brummel/ Henderson/ Mayer
4th- J/111 VELOCITY- Marty Roesch
5th- J/111 NO SURPRISE- Dave Irish
6th- J/111 NIGHTHAWK- Tom Edman & Steve Dabrowski
7th- J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON- Mitch Padnos
8th- J/111 IMPULSE- George Miz, Peter Dreher, Mark Hatfield
9th- J/111 WIND CZAR- Richard Lehman
13th- J/111 MENTAL- Paul Stahlberg
14th- J/120 NIGHT MOVES- Henry Mistele
15th- J/111 ROWDY- Rich Witzel
20th- J/111 MISTY- Tom McIntosh
21st- J/111 LUCKY DUBIE- Len Siegal
22nd- J/120 PERSEVERANCE- Matt Songer
23rd- J/109 KIII- Irv Kerbel
In addition to doing well overall, the four J/One-Design divisions had extremely close racing amongst their colleagues. According to Mike Mayer, a partner in the J-111 KASHMIR, the 10-boat J/111 one-design fleet battled all the way up the lake. "What a fun race," said Mayer. "We had multiple lead changes throughout. Going through the Manitous we had eight boats within a mile of each other. What great racing." Winning the 111 one-designs was the team on KASHMIR- Brummel/ Henderson/ Mayer and it was their 2nd Mac race win after 2011!! Putting on an amazing performance for being "newbies" to the Mac were the strong Annapolis team led by Marty Roesch on VELOCITY, finishing second after a duel with their classmates going into the final five miles of the race. Third was Dave Irish's NO SURPRISE, fourth was NIGHTHAWK sailed by the dynamic duo of Tom Edman & Steve Dabrowski and fifth was IMPULSE led by the trio of Dr George Miz, Peter Dreher and Mark Hatfield. Incredibly the entire J/111 one-design class all finished less than 50 minutes apart after the long race, perhaps one of the smallest "spreads" ever in a one-design class-- great racing for all!
The J/109s again proved they're one of the toughest fleets to beat on Lake Michigan, liking the light to moderate off-the-wind breezes. Top boat in the Mac and J/109 Class winner was the J/109 REALT NA MARA sailed by Tom and Joe Londrigan. Second was NORTHSTAR (David Gustman), third was KIII (Irv Kerbel), fourth the trio on MOMENTUS (Kevin Saedi/ George and Robin Simkins) and fifth was CERTAINLY (Don Meyer).
Amongst the J/105s, it was also a tough race amongst these evenly matched teams. Leading the pack home was Mark Gurney's BUZZ, followed by Mark Symond's PTERODACTYL in second, Clark Pellet's SEALARK in third, GOOD LOOKIN (Dean & Lana Walsh) in fourth and fifth was Nancy Glover's TEMPEST.
Top gun in the J/120s was Henry Mistele's NIGHT MOVES, finishing 14th overall and winning the 120 class. 22nd overall and 2nd in class was Matt Songer's PERSEVERANCE, third was Bob Kirkman's HOT TICKET, fourth Frank Kern's CARINTHIA and fifth Bob Klairmont's SCIROCCO 2.
In the handicap world, Section 2 saw the two J/145s finish next to one another. Grabbing 4th and 5th, respectively, were Chris Saxton's VORTICES and Bill Schanen's MAIN STREET.
Section 3 saw another repeat winner! The original J/122 SKYE was bought by Mitch Padnos and Tracy Brand and is now the current SUFFICIENT REASON! Mitch and crew were incredibly happy with their performance, repeating the J/122s win in this division for the second time in four years! Eighth in class was the J/133 RENEGADE sailed by Tom and Beth-Ann Papoutsis, ninth was the J/130 EDGE (Bob McManus) and tenth was the J/130 WILLIE J (Doug Petter).
Section 5 also saw another repeat winner, perhaps a three-peat winner? First was the J/109 VANDA III sailed by Jack & Jim Tolliver and Jim Mitchell with a great crew consisting of Simon Minoprio and Rodney Keenan from Auckland, New Zealand and Dallas Kilponen from Sydney, Australia along with Jimmie's dad "James". Congratulations to them as they were 4th overall in the Mackinac Trophy division.
The Section 6 sailors must've felt a bit overwhelmed by the presence of 35 foot J/Teams sailing amongst them-- which, ultimately, took 7 of the top 10 in section! The winner was a classic cruiser/racer, the J/110 LADY K sailed by Mike Stewart. Third was the J/35 AFTERSHOCK (Bill Newman), 5th the J/92 SPLIT DECISION (Bruce Santerre), 6th the J/35 BOZO'S CIRCUS (Bruce Metcalf), 7th the J/35 TOUCH OF GREY (Larry Schell), 8th the J/33 RETRIEVER (Matt Beer) and 10th the J/35 SHEARWATER (Tom Anthony).
Finally, the Double-Handed Trophy was again won for the third year in a row, the proverbial "three-peat" for J/Teams by the J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS sailed George and Scott Petritz. They were following up the previous year's double-winner, the former J/122 SKYE sailed by Bill Zeiler and Richie Stearns. Fifth overall in DH was the J/105 OCH! sailed by Brendan Docherty and Jim Hilliard. For more Chicago Mackinac sailing information
STORM Wins J/109 NAs @ NYYC Race WeekFLEETWING Wins 111s, KESTREL Wins 105s
(Newport, RI)- It was an unseasonably wet, dreary day in Newport for the start of the Rolex New York YC One-Design Race Week, but at least somewhere, someone was having fun. That somewhere was Rhode Island Sound where nearly 100 teams are competing in the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex on the second day of the split-format event's final four days of buoy racing.
The J/109s had individual recalls in their first race that saw yesterday's leader STORM, skippered by Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.), return to the start line to successfully clear. The team fought back to eighth and finished first in the second race, but the performance was only good enough for a third in overall scoring. It left the proverbial door open for Ted Herlihy's (S. Dartmouth, Mass.) GUT FEELING to take the top spot after that team finished 4-2 today. With nine points, GUT FEELING's overall score is shared with SKOOT, skippered by Jim Vos (New Canaan, Conn.), which sits in second overall, so both teams are a slim one point ahead of STORM.
The J/111 Class's first day of competition went well for Henry Brauer's (Marblehead, Mass.) FLEETWING, which took bullets in each of two races. "The first race was great, because it was good breeze; the second race was a bit more challenging because of the lighter wind and the lumpy seas," said Brauer, who is new to the J/111 Class this year after having sold the J/105 Scimitar that he co-owned with Stewart Neff (serving as his tactician here) and with which he won the 2011 J/105 North American Championship. "We got good starts, Stewart put us in the right place, and the team did a great job trimming the sails and keeping us going the whole time. The important thing to racing well is having a good team, so there are a lot of the same people onboard that I've sailed with in the past. Having that nucleus is very important."Saturday saw three new classes join the racing action, switching on to sunshine and light breezes that made yesterday’s rain but a memory. Sean Doyle's (Cos Cob, Conn.) J/105 KESTREL finished the day in the lead after posting two bullets for today’s two races. "The conditions were challenging with fairly light wind and patches," said Doyle, who is only in his second year competing with this boat. "We really enjoy the one-design aspect. Everyone in this class has a great attitude and is very welcoming to us as newcomers."
In IRC Class 4, Andrew Shea’s (Annapolis, Md.) J/122 DOLPHIN seemingly came out of nowhere to challenge for the lead with finish positions of 5-1-1, moving the team up to second from sixth yesterday and leaving Dolphin only one point out of first.
In IRC 3 Class, Jim Bishop's J/44 modified IRC boat from Jamestown, RI is lying in second only 3 points out of the lead by virtue of having won two races in a row, surrounded by the latest in IRC hardware, a Ker 50 in first place and an HPR Carkeek 40 Decision in third place.
The J/109 STORM, skippered by Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.), took advantage of the building southeasterly on its course to finish the day with a nine-point lead in the J/109 Class ahead of Ted Herlihy's GUT FEELING. Just one point back from Ted is Bill Sweetser's RUSH from Annapolis, MD.
In J/111 Class, Henry Brauer’s (Marblehead, Mass.) FLEETWING continued to lead with Rod Johnstone's JAZZ in 2nd and Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 in 3rd.
The final day of sailing saw weather conditions that couldn’t have been more perfect for the sailing teams racing off Newport. In the end, the Rolex timepiece was awarded to Rick Lyall (Wilton, Conn.), skipper of STORM, which simultaneously won the J/109 class here and the 2012 North American Championships. It wasn’t easy with 17 boats and an assault by Bill Sweetser’s (Annapolis, Md.) RUSH, which finished second, and three-time and defending North American Champion Ted Herlihy’s (South Darmouth, Mass.) GUT FEELING, which finished third.“It’s beyond words how happy we are,” said Lyall, who won the North American title once before in 2009. He explained that STORM went into today with a nine-point lead, but there was reason for concern when the Race Committee announced that three races would be conducted instead of the expected two and the team had started the day with a sixth-place finish.
“We knew we had to sail today to defend our title, and there was certainly an opportunity that we could give away our lead,” said Lyall. “We had a bad start in the first race, which put us much closer to our two closest competitors, but after that, we went back and won the next two. We sailed well and consistently, and the boat is fast.”
In the 14-boat IRC 4 class, Andrew Shea’s (Annapolis, Md.) J/122 DOLPHIN finished second overall in a very tough fleet. In IRC 3 Class of 8 boats, the J/44 WHITE GOLD sailed by Jim Bishop gave his more modern IRC hardware a tough time, finishing just 3.5 points out of first place, placing second for the regatta.
After winning today’s first race, Avalanche widened its point spread to four over DownTime, which had finished third, and five over Dolphin, which had finished fifth. Then in race two, Dolphin switched the tables, finishing first and leaving fifth place for Avalanche while DownTime split a corrected-time tie for third with Mike Bruno’s (Armonk, N.Y.) J/122 Wings. Dolphin, once again, had put itself within one point of winning, with DownTime only .5 of a point behind. Needless to say, the two teams were ecstatic that the Race Committee would run a third and final race. With one last shot to win, DownTime finished second to win the nine-race series by a mere .5 points over Dolphin, which finished third in that race, while Avalanche finished eighth, leaving it to collect third overall.
On his second day of racing here in IRC 3, Art Santry (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), skipper of the Ker 50 Temptation-Oakcliff, had said that if his crew – comprised partially of Oakcliff Sailing Center students – kept up its stellar work, his team was going to be tough to beat. The self-fulfilling prophesy played out today, when the team finished 4-2-1 to post 16.5 points over the 20 posted by Jim Bishop’s (Jamestown, R.I.) J/44 White Gold on merit of a 2-1-2 today. Tempation-Oakcliff, also with Oakcliff’s Executive Director and veteran America’s Cup/offshore sailor Dawn Riley aboard, established its dominance early in the nine-race series and had four victories plus a tie for first in their score line.Henry Brauer’s FLEETWING won the J/111 Class by 8 pts, followed by an incredibly toughly fought series that led to a tie-breaker between Rod Johnstone's family crew on-board JAZZ and Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0, each finishing with 20 pts with JAZZ getting the nod on the tie-break.
Remarkably, the scenario for the top three in the 111s played out the same for the 105s. In this case, Sean Doyle's crew also won by 8 pts, but it was Damian Emery's ECLIPSE winning a tie-breaker on 22 pts each over Fred Darlington's TONTO! For more Rolex New York YC Race Week sailing information
J/80 MAPFRE Wins Copa del Rey(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- The J/80s gathered together in Palma Mallorca for what has to be one of the world's better sailing venues for offshore one-design racing. The Bay of Palma provides classic sea-breeze conditions most of the time and this year was not a disappointment for most of the sailors. It all started on the first day for the J/80s.
The Bay of Palma delivered another day of fantastic conditions in spite of a not so optimistic wind forecast. The latter announced light Southerly winds of around 10 knots for most part of the day, but the locally known as "Garbi" picked up progressively reaching 18 to 20 knots. This allowed the fleet to display a fantastic show on the water, which saw several spinnakers blow under such unexpected wind pressure.
The J-80s enjoyed lighter winds in the race area Charly which hosted the day`s two races. Ignacio Camino`s Nextel and Jose María van der Ploeg`s Nilfisk won race one and two respectively, thus cutting down distances with Carlos Martinez`s Mapfre which remains leader in spite of her third and fourth places today.
For the second day of racing, the wind pattern of around 15 knots from the Southwest-West that prevailed the three past days switched to a Southerly-Southwesterly light breeze of around six knots at the beginning of races today, gradually picking up and reaching 12 to 14 knots in the early afternoon. Demanding conditions and very tactical racing in a very decisive day in which discards came into effect in J-80 divisions.The J-80 division saw Carlos Martinez`s Mapfre increase her lead thanks to her rival`s Nextel`s over the line in the first race and a fourth place in the second, whereas Martinez was second and first. The victory in the first race went to Nilfisk of José María van der Ploeg, but the boat skippered by the Olympic sailor could only finished seventh in the second. Nextel lies second in the overall classification, followed by Nilfisk, which is twenty points clear of fourth classified.
For the third day of sailing, the J-80 Mapfre stood out as clear favorite with just one day of races left. Conditions proved tricky for the J/80s, with 14 knots of wind gusting up to 18 knots and lumpy seas in the first race. Carlos Martínez discarded his result on today`s first race, which was won by Jose María van der Ploeg skippering Nilfisk, and was third in the second, a good result given that his closest competitors, Nilfisk and Nextel where eighth and sixth respectively. Mapfre held to the hot spot with six points advantage over second place Nextel.
For the final day, the Bay of Palma provided perfect sailing which started in Northeasterly winds of 18 knots at the beginning of races, dropping to 12 knots along the day. The wind shifts of around ten degrees and almost flat seas made for the perfect challenge for aspirants to the crown of each class.
In J-80s, Ignacio Camino`s Nextel lost his options when his boat dismasted right before the start of race 1, forcing him to abandon. This benefited Mapfre who got rid of his main contender, so he sailed conservatively the two last races of the event, and got his first Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre crown. Nextel was third. For more J/80 MAPFRE Regata Copa del Rey sailing information
DELIRIUM Reigns @ Whidbey(Oak Harbor, Washington)- After a Thursday afternoon of sunshine and breeze and an evening of music and food in the rum tent on the lawn of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club, the racers aboard the 115 race boats competing in Whidbey Island Race Week 2012 stumbled from their nearby tents and returned to the waters of Penn Cove the morning of Friday, July 20 for one final day of fun.
The J/105s always put on a Corinthian show of good sportsmanship and solid competition and WIRW 2012 was no exception, with bullets sprinkled among the fleet, and daily awards going to almost each of the eight entries. But it was Jerry Diercks and his Pacific Northwest posse aboard DELIRIUM who walked away with the big win at the end. The three amigos campaigning Corinthian Yacht Club-Portland’s FREE BOWL OF SOUP (Doug Schenk, Eric Hopper & Matt Davis) took second overall with 24 points. And just one point behind stood Bellevue, Washington, based Erik Kristen and his JUBILEE.
In PHRF Class P2, representing Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Jack Prentice and his crack crew of kids and adults aboard the J/109 DIVA took an early lead and never looked back (though they threw a rare fifth place in at the end of the week’s racing just to sandbag a bit). Third place was anybody’s guess, and in a suspenseful finish to the week’s racing—finally earning a bullet—it was S. Adam Korbin’s J/109, ASTRAL PLANE and his crazy Canadian crew from Royal Vancouver YC who celebrated their bronze win like partiers of an Olympic caliber. Joe James J/109 TANTIVY was fourth and the J/35 GRACE E sailed by Brian White was 6th.
Yet another tie-breaker was needed to decide the overall finisher in PHRF Class P3 with Bob Mayfield and Pat Nelson’s J/29 Slick taking second, with just ten points. Fourth was the J/33 CORVO sailed by Tom Kerr and 5th was Pat Denney's J/29 HERE & NOW.
In PHRF 8 class, the J/70 DA SPENCER sailed by Mike Pitt managed to hang tough, doing better race-by-race to earn a well-deserved 4th. Just behind in 5th was the J/80 TAJ MAHAL sailed by David Schutte with yet another J/80 SKYE ROCKET sailed by Bill McKinnon on 7th. For more Whidbey Island Race Week sailing information
J/Teams Pacific Cup UpdateJ/125, J/120 & J/145 Dominant Competitors
(San Francisco, CA)- The forty-six boats racing in the 17th edition of the Pacific Cup left from the San Francisco city front (off the St Francis Yacht Club) at noon on Monday July 16, sailing under the famed Golden Gate Bridge to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The 2070 nautical mile race runs every even (non-TransPac) year is always full of surprises. This year the first boats to start had to fight light airs to get offshore from San Francisco to get into the first breezes of the Pacific High, the last starting boats had a much easier time of it.
Andy Costello, skipper of J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE, so far is having a great race, second only boat for boat to a 60 footer. Meanwhile, the J/120 sailing in the double-handed division, JAMANI sailed by Sean & Jeff Mulvihill from Park City, Utah are also sailing at the top of their division. In Division B the J/42 TIKI J skippered by Kim Worsham of Portland, Oregon (http://www.sailblogs.com/member/tikij/ or http://www.tikij.com/) and the J/35c BRAINWAVES skippered by Jim Brainard from Golden, Colorado are also having good races so far.
From Double Trouble, navigator Skip McCormack reported on Saturday that this is the first (Hawaii) race he’s sailed where he’s never worn his thermals. “It's been incredibly warm and pleasant.”
When I last spoke to McCormack he was removing any item possible from the boat to lighten it up - clearly their priorities were inline by opting to keep the small luxuries, “The olive oil has been broken out for the Indian food on tonight's menu, but we had to use a few teaspoons to drop in the top rudder bearing for lubricant to stop the incessant squeaking,” he said.
Back to racing, McCormack says they were anxious about sailing the longer distance and having the high consolidate early and release the boats to their North quicker than anticipated. “However, it appears that did not occur and as of this morning's 11am report, we had nosed out on the fleet (except Icon) and rumbling towards the next shift.
Our goal is to keep the boat moving faster through the water and cross in front of the fleet to gain leverage to the NW as the breeze shifts right Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The DT is a different beast than many of our competitors. Being lighter and shorter, we will be sailing hotter angles and more distance. The tracker shows us doing just that, about 1.5kts faster through the water, but on an angle upwards of 5-15 degrees higher than our competitors.”
After a weird first few days of this edition of the Pac Cup, the weather appears to be trending more traditionally, according to weather guru Lee Chesneau, "It's an absolutely ideal scenario for this race now. The High is in the right position, the winds will begin to veer - for all the boats that are west of 135, the winds will veer from northerly to north easterly. Once they get past 140-145 west, then the winds begin to become a little more easterly. It’ll be an interesting strategy for those who opted a higher latitude, they’ll probably have a better angle into Hawaii than those who opted to go south and then try to cut over. But, wind speed will remain in the 15-20 range, with waves to 8 feet - very traditional." Sailing photo credits- Erik Simonson / h2oshots.com For more Pacific Cup sailing information
35s & 109s Dominate LO 300J/35 JAEGER Wins Overall
(Oakville, Ontario, Canada)- The 23rd running of the Lake Ontario 300 Challenge was an exciting 300nm race with plenty of good winds challenging the teams around the track. Said one competitor, "rounding Main Duck Island was great fun in the six foot waves which was followed by an uphill beat in 18-20 knots of wind and big waves to the turning mark at Ford Shoals. Heading westward in the light wind going it was all about maximum VMG/ VMC down track.
In the IRC Divisions, it was a remarkable competition amongst the fast 35 foot J's, just like their compatriots in the Chicago-Mackinac Race. In this case, in IRC FC2, it was the J/109 PHOENIX sailed by Sheila Smith that not only won class but was 4th in fleet. 3rd in class was the J/109 BLUE STREAK sailed by Bob Eckersley, gaining 5th in fleet. Fourth was the J/109 LIVELY sailed by Murray Gainer. A great performance by the 109 crews!
Their 35 foot colleagues in IRC FC3 sailed equally as well, not only taking the top two spots but also taking top spot in fleet. After a tough race, it was the J/35 JAEGER sailed by Leszek Siek that took first in class and first in fleet. Second in class was the J/35 CRIME SCENE skippered by Stephen Trevitt, achieving 8th in fleet overall!
PHRF FC1 also saw more 35 foot J's sail well. In this case it was yet another J/35, SHORTHANDED sailed by Michael Pietz, that took second place followed in 4th by the J/111 LAKE EFFECT raced by Bob Hesse's crew from Youngstown YC in New York. For more Lake Ontario 300 sailing information
RORC Commodore's Cup updateJ/109 & J/122 Top Three Overall
(Cowes, IOW, England)- The Commodores' Cup fleet received an inadvertent visit from HM Queen Elizabeth II this morning, her Diamond Jubilee Tour taking in Cowes Yacht Haven where the 21 boats are based in this premier three boat team event for international amateur crews.
This afternoon only one race was held, again along the Lee-on-Solent shoreline as it was on the first day with the 6 - 9 knot southeasterly, enough for the boats to race. The boats then had to head out into the tide to round the first mark and spreader mark before heading back downwind. The course was shortened, when a southwesterly sea breeze filled in after a brief transition just short of the finish line.
Winner of the day was the young British Keelboat Academy crew on former RORC Commodore David Aisher's J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT competing in RYA Team GBR Black, whose time corrected out to more than two minutes ahead of John van der Starre's J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER in the Benelux team.
Meanwhile, the French team with the J/122 NUTMEG IV are hanging on to the top three overall along with the GBR Black team that has the J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT.
In addition to winning today, after four races Yeoman of Wight and her young crew is the leading boat across all seven teams at the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, having taken over from RYA Team GBR Red's small boat, CNBC, that had her worse day of the regatta today. For more Brewin Dolphins RORC Commodore's Cup sailing information
J/One-Designs Enjoy Solomon's Island (Annapolis, MD)- The 132 entries at this year's Solomon's Island Regatta had a nice weekend of sailing with some great racing for J/30s, J/35s and J/105s. Familiar faces were at the top of the podium for all three classes with INSATIABLE, RUM PUPPY and MAGGIE, respectively, leading their classes to the gold.
In the J/30s, it was Ron Anderson's INSATIABLE that lead the fleet home by over two minutes. Second was Tom Watson's AVITA and third was Bob Putnam's BETTER MOUSETRAP.
In the J/35s, Peter Schedit's MAGGIE won by over 6 minutes over fellow 35 sailor Bruce Artman on T-BONE. Third was BAD COMPANY sailed by the Bad Boys syndicate.
Finally, amongst the largest one-design fleet in the event, it was the J/105 RUM PUPPY skippered by Jack Biddle finding his form again with a rock-star crew to win by nearly 1:30 over Hugh Betchell's JESTER. Third was Chuck Shortz's SINGULARITY, fourth was Andrew Kennedy's BAT IV and fifth was Walter Nuschke's ZEPHYR.
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Kenny Read and some Volvo Ocean Race mates sailed his first pony-ride around the planet, the Volvo 70 Puma il mostro, in the maiden voyage of its new life on the Great Lakes in the Chicago- Mackinac Race. Chicago sailor Peter Thornton (former owner of the Santa Cruz 70 HOLUA) decided that winning the Chicago-Mackinac Race as the First Boat to Finish, taking home one of the more prestigious trophies in the race was the next item on his "sailing bucket list"-- he succeeded by spanking the best the Great Lakes had to offer for "maxi boats"!! Kenny had on-board with him 
Richard Mason and Beech from Team SANYA, Brad Van Liew of Open 50/60 Velux 5 Ocean Race fame and fellow J/24 World Champion crew member Stu Johnstone (Kenny's tactician) as part of the team. Fun, challenging race to beat the "Queen of the Lakes" for years, the Dick and Doug Devos (AMWAY family) Maxi z86 WINDQUEST for line honors. Dick and Doug themselves are former J/Boat owners, having successfully campaigned their J/44 WINDQUEST for years on the Great Lakes. In short, members of the extended J/Family of boat owners and sailors went 1-2 in this year's Mac on elapsed honors while their stablemates swept handicap honors as enumerated above!!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 Boat
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The forty-six boats racing in the 17th edition of the Pacific Cup leave from the San Francisco city front (off the St Francis Yacht Club) at noon on Monday July 16, sailing under the famed Golden Gate Bridge to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The 2070 nautical mile race runs every even (non-TransPac) year. A staggered start from July 16 through July 20 sees the slower boats take the line first, followed by the rest of the fleet throughout the week. Even so, an early start may not be enough of an advantage for the slower boats.
Here is a synopsis of the J/Teams that are sailing. In Division E starting on July 19th at 1430 hrs are the two J/125s. They are the J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE sailed by Andy Costello from Point Richmond, California and sailing for Corinthian YC (
17 boats have registered in the Double Handed Division, which in the early days of this competition was the only division possible. Sailing PHRF Double-Handed is a J/27 sailed by Andre Beese from Oakville Yacht Squadron.
The weak winds at the start held the prospect of weak winds offshore and a slow race. But, nothing could have been further from the truth. The winds have been strong (sometimes over 25 and 35 knots) and more northerly, letting the fleet get spinnakers up early and sailing very fast. The flee generally sailed south-southwest along the Oregon and California coast to take advantage of strong following winds and to avoid the somewhat unstable weak winds of the Pacific High. This resulted in fast boat speed, but slow VMG (which is the velocity made good towards the Finish in Hawaii). Ultimately, the fleet "turned right" to go around the Pacific High, those who turned later ran into less wind with less favorable angles, those who turned a bit early just about ran out of wind. 
* Brian Thompson, a J/24 sailor from England, has been setting sailing records for a long time. Recently, he set a sailing world record as crew on the 130 foot French trimaran BANQUE POPULAIRE of under 45 days. Just this past week, Brian sailed the MOD 70 one-design trimaran class in a record for under 100 foot sailing craft across the North Atlantic, going from New York to a mark gate off Land's End, near Plymouth, England (about 2,900nm) in under 5 days! Then, proceeded to take a right turn, literally, to head south to Brest and still beat the record in 5 days 6 hours!! Brian Thompson on his fastest Transatlantic yet- "It was a very nice finish, everyone is very happy. This is my best ever-Atlantic crossing, just over 5 days from NY to Brest. I was probably waiting for five months of my life on PlayStation hoping for good weather and we never really got it, certainly not this good. The weather was almost ideal, we did not take the rhumb line past Newfoundland but went further south from the first day and then it was pretty much a straight course from there. We sailed a few more miles but we were always going fast, pretty much 25 knots or more the whole time.
I think I have done about 30 Trans-Atlantics and I think this is up there with winning the Quebec St. Malo on Sergio Tacchini and the other one was winning the OSTAR in 1992 on my own, my first Transat. This was a great race. if it hadn't been the for the foil breaking up, I am sure we would have been pretty close to the other boats.