Wednesday, December 12, 2012

J/Newsletter- December 12th, 2012

J/Sailing Calendar 2013- J/70 coverNEW 2013 J/Calendar!
The Perfect Gift For People Who Love Sailing!
(Newport, RI)- For 2013 we've created another beautiful calendar for J sailors who love the joys of sailing a J in some of the most spectacular harbors and waters of the world.  Whether you are a cruising, racing or armchair sailor, these stunning sailboat photographs will transport you to wonderful sailing experiences in far away places. The 2013 sailing calendar features photos (pictured here) of a dramatic J/111 powering upwind off Newport; a fleet of J/24s off sunny Tampa; surrealistic scenes of J/80s off Santander, Spain and flying downwind off Marseilles, France; a fleet of J/120s rocking downwind under spinnakers on San Francisco Bay; J/70s flying along under spinnakers; J/22s starting in the Rocky Mountains; and a J/97, J/109 and J/122 sailing in sunny Solent conditions.  A great gift for loved ones, family, friends and crew!    Order your 2013 J/Calendar today, click here

J/70 SAIL Magazine- Best Boats- PerformanceJ/70 SAIL Best Boat
(Boston, MA)- Recently, SAIL Magazine's panel of sailing experts reviewed a large cross-section of "performance" sailboats in the 30 foot and under size range.  After a thorough evaluation of all the boats, the SAIL Best Boat  expert panel chose the J/70 as the "Best Boat" in the "Performance Category" (30 ft & under).

Here are some comments from them, "..the trailerable J/70 is a simple, nimble sport boat that's rapidly growing into one of the most impressive one-design classes afloat."  And furthermore, "expect big things from this 22 footer as fleets take root and blossom-- the same as with its 24-foot cousin (the J/24) back in the 1970s."  Click on the photo to read more about it.

To that end, there are over a dozen J/70 fleets that have formed already with nearly twice that amount in the formative process.  The J/70 Regatta schedule has expanded considerably, here's a short-list of what's happening in the 70 world for 2013.

J/70 Regatta Schedule
January-     Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
February-   SW NOOD Regatta- St Petersburg, FL
March-       Bacardi Race Week- Miami, FL
April-         Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC
                  Warsash Spring Series- Solent, England
                  SPI Ouest France- La Trinite sur Mer, France
May-         SW NOOD Regatta- Annapolis, MD
June-         Bacardi Regatta- Newport, RI
                  Sail Newport Regatta- Newport, RI
                  Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH
July-          Leukemia Cup Cleveland- Cleveland, OH
                  Youngstown Level Regatta- Youngstown, NY
                  New Englands/ Marblehead NOOD- Marblehead, MA
August-      Cowes Week- Cowes, England
September- Europeans- Lake Garda, Italy
                  North Americans- Annapolis, MD
October-    Fall Brawl Regatta- Annapolis, MD
                  SoCal Championships- San Diego, CA

J/70 one-design sailboat- Paris Boatshow- Paris, France- More regattas are coming on-line all the time. Teams out West are working out the PCC's and SoCal Championships.  J/70 owners in Texas/Gulf Coast are forming a Texas Circuit rolling between Forth Worth, Austin, Houston.  In the Midwest (Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio) teams are forming their circuit plans, too. The European 70 teams were discussing at the Paris Show and soon the London Boat show plans for the J/70 European Circuit. In Europe, fleets are developing in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.  South America also has boats and fleets are in development in Chile, Argentina, and Peru.  Also in the Southern Hemisphere, it looks like J/70s may become popular in Sydney, Australia and even in Perth-- can you imagine a J/70 flying home downwind in the "Freemantle Doctor"!?  That would be insanely fun.

Read more about J/70 class development on the newly formed J/70 Class Association- J70class.com or learn more from owners on the J/70 Class on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/J70Class.

sunset sailing offshoreJ/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Remarkably enough, J sailing continues to heat up in the middle of December, particularly for those intrepid J sailors in the Southern Hemispheres.  Starting off with our friends in South America, the J/105s just had a huge fleet sailing their J/105 Chilean Nationals off the beautiful Pacific coastline in Algarrobo, Chile.  There was also a J/70 sighting amongst the 105s!  Around to the west of Chile, a J/35 was having a blast, literally, in near gale conditions sailing the Derwent Sailing Squadron's Harbour Series off Hobart, Tasmania in the River Derwent.  Up along the Equator, the Caribbean sailing circuit are about to start and the big "feeder races" in the form of the ARC Rallies were finishing their trans-Atlantic voyages this past week.  The J/145 ACE just finished their ARC Rally sailing 2,800 nm from Las Palmas, Canary Islands to St Lucia on the trade-wind sailing route to the Caribbean.  And, the J/42 KEEP IT SIMPLE also completed sailing the Caribbean 1500 ARC Rally from Hampton, Virginia to Tortola, BVI, having to skirt past the monstrous "tail-feathers" of Hurricane Sandy that produced rather epic sailing conditions for their crossing.  Speaking of the Caribbean, there were a half-dozen excellent J/22 and J/24 sailors that laid waste to the Carlos Aguilar Match Race event in St Thomas, USVI.  East across the Atlantic, the J/80s sailed their Trofeo AVIA off Santander, Spain in a somewhat stormy regatta.  Finally, with the proliferation of J/70s blossoming all-around the world, J/70 sailing videos are getting posted with greater regularity on YouTube, see the recent J/70 sailing videos links from Seattle, Washington and Toronto, Ontario below.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who 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:

Jan 6-10- J/24 Australian Nationals- Sandringham, NSW, Australia
Jan 12-20- London Boatshow (70, 111)- London, England
Jan 19-27- Boot Dusseldorf Boatshow (70)- Dusseldorf, Germany
Jan 21-26- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/70 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 24-27- Strictly Sail Boatshow (70, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jan 24-27- San Diego SunRoad Boatshow (70)- San Diego, CA
Jan 25-Feb 3- Seattle Boatshow (70)- Seattle, WA
Feb 11-15- J/24 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Feb 16-24- New England Boatshow (70)- Boston, MA
Feb 28-Mar 13- J/22 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Mar 6-10- HISWA Amsterdam Boatshow (70)- Amsterdam, Holland
Mar 8-10- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Apr 11-14- Strictly Sail Pacific (70, 111)- Alameda, CA

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

J/105 sailboats- sailing Chilean NationalsTRICALMA Wins J/105 Chilean Nationals
(Algarrobo, Chile)- One-design sailing continues to grow quite dramatically in the Southern Hemisphere.  It's a result of the efforts of numerous sailors and sailing clubs in the region that see sailing as a family activity. In general, the local sailing community continues to grow and foster development both at the beginner levels in Optimist sailing as well as in more advanced levels of offshore keelboats.

A testimonial to that development evolution is the growth of the J/105 fleet in Chile over the last two years.  There is no question the Chileans have some magnificent sailing areas both on the Pacific Ocean as well as in the many bays and island archipelagos in the southern parts of their gorgeous country.

J/105 one-design sailboats- sailing off Algarrobo, ChileWith nineteen boats on the starting line, the 2012 Chilean J/105 Nationals were sailed this weekend in a wide variety of conditions that challenged the sailors during the six races sailed. On the first day, the J/105 teams experienced nice steady 10-12 kts Southwest winds, enabling the PRO to run three races.  On Sunday, the wind shifted into the Northwest and got lighter during the day with winds ranging from 5-10 kts, the fleet again enjoyed three good races.

Most of the boats sailing had family crew onboard, including lots of women and kids as crew.  In fact, several boats had husband/wife combinations and a few even "engaged couples"!  The camaraderie amongst the sailors was evident as all had a lot of fun both on and off the water.

The racing was very very close for the fleet with both 1st and 2nd and 3rd and 4th determined by tie-breakers!  Finishing first was TRICALMA sailed by Daniel Gonzalez, the J/105 Chile Class President.  Second was RECLUTA III sailed by Miguel Perez, also with 15 pts.  Third on the podium was BIG BOOTY sJ/70 one-design speedster- sailing off Chile's Pacific Coastailed by Miguel Salas and losing the tie-breaker at 17 pts was Patricio Seguel's GRAND SLAM, taking 4th overall.  Rounding out the top five was Sergio Baesa's family team with 21 pts-- in fact they had perhaps the most family on one boat, Sergio Baesa father & son, Sergio Jr's wife, daughter and two friends!  Their hull #173 was the first J/105 brought into Chile fifteen years ago!  Today, there are now 24 J/105s in Chile, most in the Algarrobo/Valparaiso sailing harbors.

The next event for the J/105 Chile fleet is the "Bio Bio Circuit" at the end of January 2013. For those of you familiar with the disastrous earthquake/tsunami that hit almost 3 years ago on Feb 27 2010, they will be sailing  at "Zone Zero", the waters over the epicenter of that massive earthquake!  Oh, and here's the photo of the the sneak attack by the J/70 on the 105 fleet loaded with pirates!

J/80 sailing off Santander Bay, SpainNEXTEL Wins Trofeo AVIA
(Santander, Spain)- Ignacio Camino's NEXTEL ENGINEERING was the winner of this year's Trofeo AVIA sailed in J/80s on the waters of Santander Bay.  The wind was a the real "star" of the event as for two days the wind saw gusts over 30 kts at the start of the races.  Going to windward after the starts was a test of seamanship, steering and basic sail-trim.  Going downwind was even a greater test as some crews experienced some pretty remarkable broaches.

On both days, the Race Committee PRO had to change race course area after the first race, taking the fleet inside the "sand spit" into the area of ​​Quebrantas and could fit a smaller, protected course in the vicinity of the island of Horadada.

Jaime Piris on FONESTAR opted for the pin end start and stretched to the left side where the influence of the current tide was lower, in addition to benefiting from the greater wind pressure that came from the west.  On the other side of the course going up the right hand side were ECC VIVIENDAS sailed by Pichu Torcida, GO FIT skippered by David Madrazo and Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL.  Although they finished behind FONESTAR, they did not fare well on the right due to less wind pressure and were sailing against stronger current.

After several more races, it became quite obvious to the sailors that the left hand side of the course was paying off upwind while the right hand side (left going downwind) was much faster going downwind under spinnaker.

It was a good afternoon of sailing for the favorites NEXTEL, ECC and GO FIT, which never finished below the top five.  In the end, Camino won on NEXTEL with just 9 pts followed by Madrazo on GO FIT in second place with 13 pts, narrowly beating out Luis Prieto sailing MAQUECHE who had 14 pts for third place.  The balance of the top five were comprised of Pichu's team on ECC VIVIENDAS in fourth with 15 pts and in fifth was YATES & COSAS.  The Class B champion was A&G Private Banking sailed by Tono Ribalaygua.  For more J/80 Santander Trofeo Avia sailing information

For those of you who are students of sailing tactics & strategies, you may want to take a look at a very interesting video representation of the tracking system used for the J/80 French Nationals in Douarnenez, France.  Take a look at this sailboat tracking system overview on YouTube here.

J/35 MEM sailing River Derwent, Hobart, TasmaniaJ/35 Smokin' Down Derwent
(Hobart, Tasmania)- A powerful, hot and smokey northerly wind, bringing heatwave conditions to Hobart, sent the fleet 'smokin' down the Derwent in today's final pre-Christmas Combined Clubs harbour racing series.

The temperature in Hobart peaked at 33 degrees, the north to north-westerly wind averaged 25 knots, gusting to more than 30 knots and more as it funnelled down the river below the Tasman Bridge.

The wooden mast of the 77 year old Derwent class yacht Gnome broke under the pressure and the gusty wind saw some spectacular broaches under spinnaker, including the Farr 40 and a large sportboat that was forced to retire after a mid-river broach as she planed downwind.  The strong breeze contributed to some last day changes in the final point scores for the Combined Clubs pre-Christmas harbour series.

Sailboats sailing the River Derwent, Hobart, TasmaniaGroup 1 ended with three different winners of each of the three handicap categories after two final windward/leeward races today.  Nevertheless, the solid, fast J/35 MEM, skippered by Paul Boutchard, finished with a 2nd and a 4th to win the PHS category with a record of 1-8-1-1-3-3-2-2-4-2 for a net 15 points, ahead of Don Calvert's Castro 40, Intrigue, on 22 points and Darren Clark's Farr 1104, Invincible, on 28 points.  The wins by Paul Bouthard’s J/35 under PHS handicaps was the stand-out performance in the handicap divisions.

The J/35 MEM will always be remembered as the yacht owned by then Sydney-based yachtsman, John Quinn, from which he was tossed overboard when huge waves engulfed the boat in the Tasman Sea during the 1993 Sydney Hobart Race.

Quinn courageously dog-paddled for just short of six hours before being unbelievably heard by a crew member aboard the tanker, Ampol Sorel, before being picked up by fellow competitor, Atara, owned by John Storey. Atara’s crew did all the right things as they headed to Eden and Quinn was able to walk off the yacht unaided.

Quinn sold MEM and she now lives a more sedate life racing on the River Derwent. Quinn returned to ocean racing and the Sydney Hobart, despite his ordeal, but has now retired from the sport and lives of Hobart.

The Combined Clubs post-Christmas harbour series will start on Saturday, 12 January 2013.  Thanks for contribution from Peter Campbell.  For more Derwent Sailing Squadron sailing information

J/145 ACE - cruiser racer sailing ARC Rally in AtlanticJ/145 ACE Flew the ARC Rally!
(Las Palmas, Canary Islands)-  Just over 14 days to sail the ARC Rally across 2,800 nm of open Atlantic Ocean from Las Palmas, Canary Islands to St Lucia's gorgeous harbor in the Caribbean!  For a J/145 that's loaded down with lots of cruising goodies, sailing with just white sails (a jib and main), no monster asymmetric spinnaker used at all, that's an awfully fast passage!  That's about 336 hours of sailing, or an average of over 8.3 knots!

Here are some updates on their progress, how they did it and the joy of arriving "home" in St Lucia!  If you recall, while the crew on the J/145 ACE may appear to be sailing in the lap of luxury, by all accounts even a yacht this large can become quite small in the vast expanse of ocean.  Here are some of their latest, entertaining, insightful and thought-provoking reports below.

12/6- Good Afternoon, Sorry for the late transmission today.

Yesterday and today are the days we knew we would be sailing through a trough of light air and it presented lots of challenges. In addition to losing our air any going 4 knots or less at times, we had to sail a course that was slightly away from St Lucia in order to get to a more favorable wind. As a consequence you may have noticed that we sailed far less distance yesterday than in previous days. Last night we actually sailed away from our destination by about 35 miles. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience and faith in the navigation team! Late this afternoon we finally set a course directly to St.Lucia and put up our first spinnaker. As the sun set a few minutes ago we dropped the kite and put up a working jib for the night sail.

We all love the night sailing because it is a time of sailing in the dark looking at stars, weather, enduring squalls and time to talk with one other crew member. Because it is dark and the rest of the crew is asleep, there is nothing to do but sail. We had other challenges as well. We said goodbye to our roller furling jib as it finally gave up last evening to be replaced by the shiny , relatively new racing #3. We did clear up a problem of a plugged aft head so not the whole day was given to problems, there were some successes and that was one.

We all continue to be healthy and happy enjoying the pleasures of life at sea such as whale sightings as well as dealing with the inevitable challenges. As I write, the crew is enjoying risotto prepared by William and Richard. So I will join them and leave you with this crude verse:

Wind roars, westerly Ace soars, shuddering to plane Breaking free. on course.

Finally thanks for all of the emails, we love getting them and they are the highlight of our midday.

Lots of love from us all, Fred, William, Adrian, Chris, Spider, Rob and Rocky (aka Sticky Ricky). You will have to ask him about that yourself

12/7- Ahoy Landlubbers!
Greetings from the good ship ACE. All is well onboard, with 800miles to go. Better sleeping, cleaner clothes (it's all relative), and less swamp like conditions generally, making for some pretty pleasurable sailing.  Spinnaker has been up the past two days and you'll hopefully have noted that speed is looking a little better again. We are even heading in roughly the right direction now!

A few engine issues (...it doesn't work) have kept me pretty busy with my head in the hole that passes for an engine room for the past couple of days, with the occasional ' helpful' comment from passers by. it is not a great problem, as we elected not to motor through the light stuff anyway, and can still run the freezer without it. Hopeful that i can get it sorted today. Funny - the only call I have made this trip has been to my mechanic, not my wife! (Sorry honey).

'Culturally' I have been learning more American by the day, and may even be able to understand some of what these guys are talking about soon. Adrian seems to cope better than I, but i think he is a faster learner!  I find it quite difficult though as they insist on spelling things wrongly, and can't even say words like aluminum properly! I am really not sure how they could have forgotten so much English in such a short time!!

Sartorial elegance is slipping too, William has taken to wearing a Rambo headband in the galley, Peter has given up completely, and the rest sport a variety of clothes which have the interesting feature of no longer needing to be hung up when removed as they hold their shape perfectly wherever they are placed. Some have been more successful than others in growing beards, all containing some 'shades of grey'.

Everyone is still enjoying the ride, and trying to make the most of the last few days, we are all aware that all too soon we will be back to desks, computers and everyday life, with just the memories of 'the journey' remaining. Love to my family, and best wishes to all- Rob

12/9- Water World
Our world is composed of pretty basic elements: the shallow bowl of the sea, it's radius determined by the height of the waves and the inverted globe of the sky, it's blue void animated by clouds.  Endless combinations, permutations, and variations, modulated by the sun and the moon and wind create unique scenes of fascination and beauty.

The last 48 hours has seen prototypical trade wind sailing, puffy white clouds, or no clouds at all. chute up all day into the evening as this new sailing experience with the big sail requires a bit more focus on the compass and apparent wind indicator if a bit less of a physical workout. like i said, a beautiful day, too bad Rob spent most of it in the engine room patiently and expertly fixing the diesel, with barely an audible expletive all day. chris extracted the broken key out of the starter, obviating the need for his hot wire kit to start the now fixed motor. this lad would make an excellent car thief. and the trifecta; William didn't have to go over the side with a stick to clear the poop hole since it inexplicably cleared. both heads now operable.  All these accomplishments led Fred to make yet another important executive decision and break out the rum to toast everything that needed toasting, including all of you. cocktails followed by a brilliant dinner by Adrian.

Whoops, i think i conflated two days here. No matter, some things consistent, some constantly changing. We added 2 hours to the clock today to be on Antigua time and it was the perfect day to do it. Sunny breezy and tropically warm. Hard to think it's winter in the northern hemisphere.

A gannet (i think) made a few dives near the boat and came up with a fish each time. We've seen petrels, tern like gulls, and one or two other unidentifiables. Need the bird book!

Chris got active after dinner, spreading around balloons, noisemakers (all prepared by Andrea), and a lot of felicidades for Peter's b'day, accompanied by a truly wretched rendition of 'happy birthday' and a great apple crumble prepared by William. The candles barely made it to the companionway hatch before Peter and the 25 knot breeze blew them out. Our wishes have been granted.

This morning brought crepes to the galley, an excellent vehicle for jam and peanut butter. And, Rob just fixed the gas supply to the stove. A day without a minor glitch wouldn't be the same. This group of men has built a dynamic environment out of patience, humor, cooperation and trust. A great adventure.

12/10- Approaching our last Day
Our Chart plotter is telling us that we are going to finish sometime tomorrow.  If the winds hold and it's correct, that would mean that I wouldn't get a chance to send the final email that's been bouncing around my head for the past few days, thus I am secretly penning this while our morning routine is underway.  An email to make a brief, but important, 7 acknowledgments.

The first is to Adrian and his incredible bravery and determination. For someone who has never spent a night at sea to sign on for an Atlantic crossing in an "Athletic" boat, and then to overcome his trepidation by proving himself a skillful helmsmen during tough conditions, and then when off watch, to whip up an absolutely incredible Nicoise….need I say more?

William had similar hurdles, proved himself equally as well, but most Importantly he took control of the galley, and thus the boat's "real" fuel supply.  Irregardless of the weather conditions, he cooked amazingly delicious hot meals…not an easy feat when the boat is crashing through waves at 20 knots.  In addition his enthusiasm to help in all made him the perfect shipmate.

Rocky Gluckman in many books would be the MVP.  He was an animal!  Tireless at the wheel, omnipresent in the galley as William's right hand…he was like a weeble….impossible to keep down. And this makes no mention of his sense of humor….and his vast vault of stories….

Captain Rob not only prepared the canvas for our masterpiece, but repaired it competently along the way as all the usual hiccups emerged.  His calm demeanor and unflappable character and smile were bedrocks throughout.  Whether we were crash jibing the boat, tearing sails, or blocking the heads, he never flinched!  Perhaps he didn't smile at these times…..but he never flinched.

We all know Chris is funny, but his smile and laugh contributed more than I can possibly put into words throughout our journey.  Never were we faced with a situation where Chris didn't have an appropriate joke, and his ability to organize a birthday party is unparalleled.  I must personally thank him for that.  In addition to his getting us to St Lucia, his command of the Nav Station kept us all in touch with weather, the other boats, and all of you.  I would never hesitate to accepting an offer to sail offshore with him again.  Its a complete joy.

And perhaps the biggest nod to Fred.  Rob may have been the Captain.  Chris may have been in charge of the Nav, but Fred was our leader.  Fred has an amazing ability to bring out the best in everyone, and I truly believe that it was because of him that we all enjoyed our journey as much as we did. He organized and hand picked the crew, and in doing so put together our Atlantic experience, for while the trip was certainly about the physical act of sailing, it was perhaps more about the camaraderie and the experience we shared as a team.  I always say that the attitude on a boat stems from the top down, and on Ace, Fred was directly responsible for the positive environment that pervaded.

And the final nod must go to the Good Ship herself, the Mighty ACE.  Any boat that can put up with the 7 of us, while delivering thirteen 200+ mile days, with top speeds of over 23 knots, is a damn fine ship. Long Live ACE!!

I feel honored to be included in the above group, wish to publicly voice my thanks to all of them, and look forward to continuing our relationships and furthering our sailing adventures together.

12/10- Midnight- Greetings to our extended Ace family from the crew:

Today begins as yesterday ended, with ACE running on a starboard tack towards Saint Lucia, now about 260 miles distant.  The morning rose with the sun on a blue sky, steady winds, relatively modest rolling seas and a decent heading towards the Caribbean.  It was the air, however, which dominated the setting.  Warm, sweet, velvety, seductively gentle -- it offered an enticing welcome to those of us awakening for another watch shift.

The Ace of the last couple of days differs from the Ace of last week.  Gone for now is the relentless muscular, ever demanding  locomotive of last week,  substituted by a steadier, albeit slower course towards home on an ocean that herself has tamed considerably.  The ever changing scenery on this stage they call the North Atlantic is nothing if not temporary.  And today's slightly hypnotic rhythms belie that darker capabilities that lurk just off-set, and which help fuel the quiet edginess that is a constant, rain or shine, flat or gusty.

Two weeks have enabled us all to shape our roles and activities into functioning routines that work.  Preparing and consuming food -- three squares a day -- lie at the heart of our social world, while sailing Ace 24/7 is the hub of our work world.  Tending to Ace and her systems is also a constant, a frequent function arising unannounced on a daily basis with one little thing after another  --  surprising insofar as Ace's pristine quality and readiness might suggest otherwise.

From a people perspective, the surprise of the adventure is the subtle but very evident effort of all of us participants to shape ourselves into a functioning whole.  Largely stripped of all the many layers of stuff with which we layer our personalities and identities in our "normal" worlds, we orient our selves -- each of us -- to the demands and responsibilities of our present   --- simple and inescapable -- and simply get on with it.  It is a curious blend of the serious and the light-hearted.  We try to ready ourselves and Ace for whatever risks may be at hand whilst simultaneously marvel at the great good fortune that has ended each of us here, aboard Ace in late 2012, doing a crossing of the North Atlantic which has, thus far, proven both rich and forgiving.   Tomorrow Saint Lucia awaits, and with it, our return.

Fondly, and with great appreciation from us all for your attentiveness and affections.  William (a.k.a. Uncle Boo Boo).

12/11- Last Sea Report
After 14 days and over 2,700 nautical sea miles we are finally in sight of St. Lucia!  The last 24 hours were pretty fun with a few nice squalls passing with tons of rain and a bit of wind!  Richard has now made it into the "Over 20 Club" with a top speed of 23 knots!!!  It is a small club but we are happy to have him as our newest member!  Well earned!

This will probably be the last email you will receive from the boat and this address.  Soon our cell phones and iPads will have service and we will be in contact with you all individually.  Back to reality…  We still have a few more miles to go to the northern tip of St. Lucia and then a nice beat into the finish line.  We have 22-25 knots of wind so we will have good ride right up to the end.

I could go on and on about our experiences during the trip but instead I thought I would cull through the many responses we have received during our passage and let you read a few tidbits that we have received along the way.  We had quite a few so I cannot include all of them but I thought I would include some of the daily poems sent to us as well as light hearted comments on our general condition!  And just so you know, we have gotten the smell under control!  Mostly!

12/11- ACE has Finished!!!!
Greetings all!  We have FINISHED!  Let the clean-up and festivities begin!
Time:  12:26:30
Position:   Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, West Indies
Wind:  Apparently Zero
Weather:  Rum Squalls
Speed:  Declining, Not Meaningful
Heading:  To the party!

So, while the J/145 ACE were living it up on St Lucia, their J sailing "comrade-in-arms", Sophie Olivaud from France also finished racing her J/109 ALBACOR IV in Racing Division II!  Congratulations to all on a fast, safe offshore passage to the gorgeous Caribbean-- a "dark'n'stormy" is certainly well-deserved!
For more ARC Rally sailing information- You can follow all the sailing teams on the ARC Tracker

sailboats sailing Carlos Aguilar match race- St thomas, Virgin IslandsBarkow Wins Carlos Aguilar Match Race
(St Thomas, USVI)- The St. Thomas Yacht Club and the Virgin Islands Sailing Association again hosted yet another fabulous regatta on the Charlotte Amalie harbor waterfront using their unique J/24s (modified and call IC-24s).  With the courses set less than 50 yards from the shore, spectators had fantastic views of the action and the sailors. The event offers both an open division and a woman’s division that provides for great sailing and even better prospects for after race entertainment. The rum and tequila drinks are all “free” as are many meals. The “reggae” music starts right after the de–briefs as does the dancing.

Sailing fast, furious and smart was long-time J/22 and J/24 sailor Sally Barkow from Wisconsin, playing the "comeback kid" role and taking the regatta from her mentor/coach, David Perry 3-0 (yes, three-zip!) in the finals! Barkow, who has raced this regatta four times, took second last year after a narrow defeat by Finland’s Staphan Lindberg. That defeat made this year’s win for Barkow and her crew – Annie Lush, Alana O’Reilly, Erik Champaign and Maggie Shea – all the sweeter.

“We worked hard as a team in these last few days and it paid off,” says Barkow, who is ranked 6th in the Women’s and 31st in the Open match race ranking’s divisions as of December 5, 2012. Barkow was awarded a distinctive Ulysse Nardin precision timepiece for her win.

sailboats sailing Carlos Aguilar match race- st thomas, usviA rain squall blowing across the Charlotte Amalie harbor just minutes before the start of the Finals left light and shifty conditions in its wake. This didn’t deter Barkow who handily won the first two matches against Perry.  In what proved the final match of the Finals, Barkow lead at the start and stretched her advantage to 8 boat lengths by the windward mark. She lengthened her frontrunner position into a commanding 10 to 12 boat lengths by the finish even though her team battled through a kink in the spinnaker that cost them a few seconds in boat speed in the last downwind run.

“It was so shifty,” says Barkow. “It was easy to get it either so right or so wrong.”  This match-up of teams in the Finals was an interesting one as Perry, who is the author of Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012, has served as Barkow’s match racing coach.  And, Perry has also sailed J/22s and J/24s, amongst many other J's for well over 30 years himself.

“For me it was a win-win,” says Perry of his team’s second place finish and his student’s first. “Sally’s team is really good and they have evolved their game well. I was impatient. I had some advantages and gave them away. This either put me behind or put me further behind and Sally took advantage of that.”

Two past America’s Cup skippers and also long-time J/22 and J/24 sailors went head-to-head in the Petite Finals. Ultimately, the USVI’s Peter Holmberg won 2-1 over the USA’s Dave Dellenbaugh. Thus, Holmberg finished third and Dellenbaugh fourth in the final standings. Holmberg won this event in 2009.  Another Wisconsin girl and now coach at the Chicago Match Race Center was Sally's close friend Stephanie Roble, sailing a strong series herself to finish just out of the running in seventh overall.  Sailing photo credits- Dean Barnes    For more Carlos Aguilar sailing information and results.

J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

J/42 Keep It Simple - crew on Tortola, BVI - Carib 1500 Rally* J/42 Caribbean 1500 report- Joe Reed sailed his J/42 KEEP IT SIMPLE from Hampton, Virginia to Roadtown, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands in this year's Caribbean 1500 Rally.  Here's his report on their experience with Hurricane Sandy and the Atlantic crossing below:

"I left Annapolis aboard Keep It Simple, my J-42 sailboat, 5 weeks ago today on this great Adventure. Don, Lee and I departed Annapolis around 5:30am headed for Hampton, VA with Hurricane Sandy headed for the East Coast. We had heavy rain with the wind from the north and following seas. We did not install the companion-way board and both the crew and the boat got really wet.

We arrived in Hampton around 1:00 pm and there was no one staffing the marina and the floating dock were disconnected from the seawall in preparation for very high tides. We tied up at the fuel dock and weathered Hurricane Sandy out there. Then on Wednesday we moved over to our assigned slip.

Joel arrived on Thursday and we started final preparations for the Caribbean 1500. Friday we heard that a big Low was forecast to start forming on Monday as we were crossing the Gulf Stream that could make things a bit dicey. At the Saturday, 1:00 pm skipper’s briefing, we were told of the forecast and the Tortola group was told they could leave as soon as they were ready and the rally would use a rolling start or we could wait until Thursday. The Bahamas group was told to take the ICW (intra-coastal waterway) down to Buford, NC and depart from there.

We got back to the boat finished our preparations and were away from the Dock by 5:30 pm Saturday Nov. 3. We crossed the starting line at 7:05 pm. Wind was out of the Northeast at around 18 kts. Sometime Saturday evening we put in the 1st reef and it was never removed the entire trip.

Almost the entire rally the wind was coming over the port quarter from the NE from 18 to 26 kts. We were able to maintain around 7.5 kts with either, main with 1st reef only, main with 1st reef plus Jib with 2nd reef, main with 1st reef plus full jib, or motoring. We lost the middle batten so we could not set the second reef in main since it would risk damage to the main.

Don was surprised that we were on the same point of sail for almost the entire trip. We only had a need for one "all hands on deck" call which was around 1:00 am when the wind started climbing and there were gales in the area. Everyone was up, life-vest & harnesses on, on deck, sails down and secure in less that 10 minutes with it blowing over 40 kts. I went forward to get the sail down and Joel assisted in getting the sail ties on, in heavy seas with the boat bouncing around.

The day before we were to cross the finish line, I installed the Caribbean navigations chart card in the navigation display and got nothing. We broke out the paper charts and the iPad to review our approach to Tortola. I set a center channel waypoint into the display and had Don become familiar with the chart since he would have the midnight watch when we should cross the finish.

At midnight Nov. 12 I took the helm and the entire crew was up. The wind started to get light as we approached Tortola. After one boat passed us motoring I decide that we would motor the last few miles. We crossed the finish line at 1:24 AST, 8 day 5 hours and 44 min.  During this entire time we only used the engine for propulsion for 22.2 hours.

When we arrived at Nanny Cay, Tortola around 3:30 am, the rally staff was on the dock and handed us a drink after the boat was tied up.  We spent a few days in Nanny Cay, cleaning the boat up, making repairs and resting. For the 2012 Caribbean 1500 Rally, our great little yacht, the J/42 KEEP IT SIMPLE came in 1st in Class B and 1st overall!  For more Carib 1500 sailing information.

* J/70 Sailing Videos- as more and more J/70s start sailing around the world, we're seeing more J/70 sailing videos get posted all the time on YouTube.

J/70 sailing fall brawl regatta- annapolis, mdHere are some new videos of sailing a J/70 in the Annapolis Fall Brawl Regatta- courtesy of North Sails One-Design (Will Welles, Chuck Allen, Vince Brun, Chris Snow);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_8626jEqaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPJFvprARm4


J/70 sailboat test with Voiles Magazine- FranceHere's a nice video put together by VOILES Magazine while they were doing their sail test for the J/70.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfeFgKO5MAE




J/70 Ullman Sails Newport Beach testing- CaliforniaUllman Sails one-design team (Dave Ullman, Eric Shampain, Keith Magnussen) in Newport Beach, California put together a nice intro on sail testing the J/70 out West.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grfqq8e19ZI



J/70 Doyle Sailmakers testing- sailing in FloridaDoyle Sailmakers one-design team from Clearwater/ Marblehead (Robbie Doyle, Mark Ploch, Juddie Smith, Greg Marie) had their sailors doing two boat sail testing on Western Long Island  Sound in preparation for Key West Race Week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbY17KB1z2Y

The Seattle gang are having fun, too, and have posted a few videos worth watching. Here's their description of their J/70 sailing experiences:  "These were taken (with a GoPro) from this past weekend’s PSSC up in Seattle, where surprisingly enough we actually had some fairly serious winds; at least we did on Saturday.  This is our downwind leg, we set a new personal speed record of 16.1 on this leg!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW0vnVxJOCk

* "Eight Bells" for a long-time J/24 sailor in Santa Barbara, California- Barry Berkus. He was a Santa Barbara icon and award-winning architect whose work has been recognized both locally and abroad, died Nov. 30 in Santa Barbara, CA at the age of 77.

The founder and president of B3 Architects and Berkus Design Studio, Berkus and his firms have been involved in a diversity of projects over several decades, ranging from residential designs to commercial and institutional buildings and master-planned communities.

"I sold him many boats to Barry while becoming his sailing friend," said marine industry icon Roy Cundiff. "First a Cal 20 for him to learn sailing, and the same day he ordered a Cal 36 as he wanted to do the Transpac Race. The 1967 race was a really light year and we managed to win Class D and 3rd overall with mostly a crew of his novice friends on the Cal 36 'Intrepid'. Other boats that Barry owned and raced were the Cal 20 'Manta Rey', the Cal 37 'Intrepid II', the Ericson 46 'Warlock', the Eva Hollman 50 'Sunset Blvd', the Choate ULDB 68-foot 'Saga', and the J/24 'Watermelon'."

Berkus was a man of immense generosity, and was exceedingly active in the community of Santa Barbara. His parting advice: "Go where life takes you and run hard. Passion is what's going to take you to the other end."  A Memorial is scheduled for Jan 26, 2013 in Santa Barbara. Contact Pat Moser at B3 Berkus Design Studio- for details call 805-966-1547

The J Cruising CommunityJ cruising directions- roll the dice and go!  Sailing to anywhere, anytime! 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"

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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)J/109 racer-cruiser sailboat GAIA- sailing off Java Sea cruising offshore, 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/


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

J/Newsletter- December 5th, 2012

J/Sailing Calendar 2013- J/70 coverNEW 2013 J/Calendar!
The Perfect Gift For People Who Love Sailing!
(Newport, RI)- For 2013 we've created another beautiful calendar for J sailors who love the joys of sailing a J in some of the most spectacular harbors and waters of the world.  Whether you are a cruising, racing or armchair sailor, these stunning sailboat photographs will transport you to wonderful sailing experiences in far away places. The 2013 sailing calendar features photos (pictured here) of a dramatic J/111 powering upwind off Newport; a fleet of J/24s off sunny Tampa; surrealistic scenes of J/80s off Santander, Spain and flying downwind off Marseilles, France; a fleet of J/120s rocking downwind under spinnakers on San Francisco Bay; J/70s flying along under spinnakers; J/22s starting in the Rocky Mountains; and a J/97, J/109 and J/122 sailing in sunny Solent conditions.  A great gift for loved ones, family, friends and crew!    Order your 2013 J/Calendar today, click here

SALON NAUTIQUE PARIS- Dec 8-16
J/70, J/97 and J/111 on Display
(Paris, France)- One of the world's more spectacular sailboat shows starts this weekend.  J/Europe will be displaying the J/70, the J/97 and the "International J/111" at Stand J-62 Hall-1. Furthermore, J/Europe is hosting cocktails & hors'd'oeurves for J/111 owners and potential customers to review the 2013 European J/111 Circuit- please contact "Fred" at "info@jeurope.com".  Paris Show information.

J/80 sailing World Championship- Newport, RIEpic J/80 Worlds Photos
Outside Images Offers 45% Off Coupon
(Valencia, Spain)- From one of the more renowned yachting photographers in the world, Paul Todd and crew at Outside Images are offering a great deal to J/80 sailors worldwide, as well as any sailor that loves gorgeous photography!

The J/80 Worlds in Newport was an extraordinary event in 2010. The weather was unexpectedly epic with nearly seven straight days of "fresh to frightening" sailing conditions both off Brenton Reef and inside Narragansett Bay.  From wild planing shots, to boats leaping off ginormous waves in the Atlantic Ocean, the images are timeless and enjoyable for all.

At check-out, just enter the coupon code- J80-WorldsXmas - to get a 45% discount coupon for digital downloads- you can print them for personal use.  Please visit Outside Images J/80 photo gallery.

J/70 one-design speedster- half modelJ/70 & J/111 Half-Model Gifts
(Newport, RI)- If you are looking for creative ideas for gifts over the holidays, nothing can bring a bigger smile to anyone than to see their favorite J represented in living color as a beautiful half-hull model.  There are numerous sources to find them.  Here are two that you might consider for putting that pretty boat into a large stocking hanging from the fireplace.

A long-time sailor and J/80 owner that sails in the Newport J/80 Fleet is Andrew Burton.  Andy founded Trident Studios and has been building models for decades in between his yacht delivery business (over 350,000 nm of sailing to date!).  Andrew has many molds of J/Boat half-models, including the J/111.  His half-models were the ones given out to all the Top 5 crew at the recent J/24 Worlds in Rochester, New York.  You can reach Andrew at email- andrew@tridentstudio.com) or see his Trident Studio website.

Also a J/80 owner, Denis Cartier is founder of Abordage Models and builds very detailed full models (rigging, lifelines, wheels, deck gear, etc) or classic half-hull models. They build many "J" class models, including the latest J/70 and the J/111.  Contact Denis at email- abordage@abordage.com or visit his website- http://www.abordage.com.

J/24 sailcloth image giftJ/24 Sailboat Screen Prints
(Charleston, SC)- This Holiday season, surprise that sailing fanatic who already has everything with a gift they're sure to love, a custom handmade J/24 sail print. Each 18"x24" J/24 print is screen-printed on recycled sail cloth and is hand-signed and numbered by the artist (and avid sailor)- Chad Covert. Made locally in Charleston, SC, this print makes a wonderful gift—but hurry, as these are limited-run prints. Customize the print with your very own sail numbers for a small charge. Each print retails for $80.00. Please order at- http://www.etsy.com/shop/BattenCreative
 

sunset sailing offshoreJ/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The first week of December has been a busy one around the J World.  Starting in Europe, a number of one-design, season-long sailing circuits were concluding for J/22s and J/24s.  The J/22s completed their EuroCup circuit with participants from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.  J/24s in Italy have been particularly active and their National J/24 Circuit stated in the famous Principality of Monaco at the Primo Cup in the spring and just concluded with their Nationals in Lecco, Italy.  Also concluding their fall "winter series" were the offshore sailors in the UK, Ireland and France that participate in the popular Garmin Hamble Winter Series on the Solent-- one-design fleets of J/111s and J/109s all had excellent sailing in demanding conditions over several months.  Speaking of J/111s, the Benelux region sailors (including France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium) participated in a J/111 Training program off Zeelande, Netherlands using the famous XCENTRIC RIPPER! This past week also saw a fleet of 200+ cruisers and racers in the ARC Rally making their way across the Atlantic transiting across from Las Palmas, Canary Islands to St Lucia in the Caribbean- the famous tradewind-fueled "trading route" across from Europe to the Caribbean basin and the Americas. Read the amusing updates from the J/145 ACE that is sailing the "white sail" cruising division below. In the Americas there was amazing sailing taking place at the extremes of the western coast of the USA:  in the Pacific NW there was the infamous Winter Vashon Island Race that had a J/160, some J/109s and J/105s all participating in the chilly Puget Sound NW of Seattle, WA.  Quite the opposite end of the spectrum were a naval armada of J/70s, J/105s, J/120s, J/124s, J/125s, J/22, J/24 and J/27 concluding their three race Hot Rum Series hosted by San Diego YC in San Diego, CA.  South of them the J/24s had a fun time sailing their Mexican Nationals.  And, way further south, the Argentinean J/24 sailors are enjoying a glorious spring-time in the Andes Mountains having just finished their first major event of the season- the Spring Cup held on Lago San Roque just west of Cordoba.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who 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:

Dec 8-16- Paris Boatshow (70, 97, 111)- Paris, France
Jan 12-20- London Boatshow (70, 111)- London, England
Jan 19-27- Boot Dusseldorf Boatshow (70)- Dusseldorf, Germany
Jan 21-26- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/70 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 24-27- Strictly Sail Boatshow (70, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jan 24-27- San Diego SunRoad Boatshow (70)- San Diego, CA
Jan 25-Feb 3- Seattle Boatshow (70)- Seattle, WA
Feb 11-15- J/24 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Feb 16-24- New England Boatshow (70)- Boston, MA
Feb 28-Mar 13- J/22 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Mar 6-10- HISWA Amsterdam Boatshow (70)- Amsterdam, Holland
Mar 8-10- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Apr 11-14- Strictly Sail Pacific (70, 111)- Alameda, CA

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

Hamble Winter Series- courtesy Paul Wyeth- pwpictures.comJ/122 Wins Hamble Series!
J/111 J-DREAM & J/109 JAGERBOMB Take OD's
(Hamble, England)- Despite the combined efforts of a pessimistic forecast and ABP, who helpfully removed nearly all the racing marks in the Solent last week, boats racing in the final day of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series managed to squeeze in a race before the wind shut off completely.

Early morning saw 7-9 knots at the Bramble Bank and thick ice on decks. A short postponement accompanied a temporary lull in the breeze, but the race team was able to get all classes away in a 5-7 knot North-Westerly breeze and spring tide.  The flood tide meant that many classes were line shy in the light airs. After the start crews needed to keep their eyes out of the boat to locate areas of breeze - and to identify the large shifts, especially up the right hand side of the course.

Using inflatable marks instead of the missing racing marks, the race team set a series of windward-leeward courses, but were forced to shorten at the first leeward mark as the wind threatened to disappear completely. Nonetheless, some extremely close racing could be witnessed, even if it was in nerve-jangling slow motion. All in all, it was a beautiful day on the water, even if there was a lack of wind.

IRC 0 saw a closely fought series throughout the Winter Series and Dr Ivan Trotman's crew aboard their J/122 JOULOU hung on to their lead despite tallying a 5-4 in the last two races.  Their wonderful performance was attributed to good, solid sailing and avoiding enormous mistakes, something that plagued many of their competitors.  In the end, the JOLOU gang finished with just 13 pts total for the series, sufficient to win by four points!

Nick & Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE started out the series very strong, leading the event until the last three races.  At that point, the INDULJENCE team was having a tough go of it, collecting a 4-6-4 at the end to finish second overall in the competitive IRC 3 Class by just five points.  Their J class peers were two J/92s, neither of whom managed to sail the entire series.  However, when the J/92s were sailing, it was clear that David & John Taylor's J-RONIMO and Andy Howe's BLACKJACK were able to fire off top five finishes and give the leaders a run for the money.

Tony Mack's McFLY won the last race in the J/111 class, but it was David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM that took the top spot overall with just 13 pts.  Cornel Riklin's JITTERBUG from France sailed an excellent series to finish second overall with 15 pts-- they will be a tough team to beat come spring-time when the French host their famous SPI OUEST France Regatta in April!  In the end, Tony's McFLY sailed incredibly well whenever they showed up on the race track and took third in class.  For having sailed just 6 of 10 races, Tony and the gang averaged just 1.5 pts per race- three 1sts and three 2nds.

In the J/109s, Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX beat Paul Griffith's JAGERBOMB to take the day prize, but JAGERBOMB ended up taking the overall series by three points. Their nemesis all series long was Owain's team on JYNANN TONNYX, ultimately finishing second with 17 pts.  Finishing comfortably in third was David McLeman's OFFBEAT with 22 pts.  

Event Sailing Photographer Paul Wyeth took some brilliant photos of the entire Garmin Hamble Winter Series and many evocative images can be found on his website.   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

J/70 one-design speedsters- sailing Hot Rum San DiegoJ/70 Crushes Hot Rum Class 4
J/105 Flies To Class 3 Win
(San Diego, CA)- The last major San Diego YC racing event came to a close on the first day of December with the final of three races in the Hot Rum Series. The fleet of 130 boats in 6 classes enjoyed gorgeous sunny, warm "winter" sailing conditions on the 11.9 nm  pursuit race course located off the majestic Point Loma.

Race 1 was simple enough with nice sun and a great wind, and the usual inquisitions and opinions over ratings.  The conditions favored the smaller sport boats and the early finish line looked a little like a J/105 regatta. But you know what they say about the Hot Rum, one "nice day", one "light day".

J/125s sailing Hot Rum San DiegoAnd so, the fleet experienced "the light day" for Race 2.  Sunny, yes, but very light winds.  There was enough breeze (6+ knots) to whisk everyone out to the half-way mark in the Roads, but the wind evaporated from there. The larger boats, that have 50+ feet of mast and sail up in the air, managed to make enough breeze to ghost to the finish.  A last little puff of wind just before the 1600 deadline brought the front of the other five fleets to the finish, but in total, only 57 of the registered 130 boats finished.  Several boats received ratings adjustments that reduced their handicaps (estimated their speed faster) at the start of Race 2, and after a protest hearing, those boats were given redress (RDG) of a time credit for that race and their ratings were returned to those posted for Race 1. The redress did not change any of the results.

J/120 CC Riders- sailing by Chuck Nichols with Commodore of San Diego YCAnd the last part of the saying about the weather for the Hot Rum says "one stormy day".  But despite the low clouds and rain through the night, a really nice day popped out of the clouds around 10 am.  At noon, fluffy white clouds with 10+ knots of wind got the race going in perfect Hot Rum conditions.

In the "big boat" Class 1, the J/125s were having a tough time against the 60-70 footers with their sky-scraping masts.  On the second race, the big rigs had their day, all finishing at the lead of the class and overall.  Amongst the J/125s, the top boat was essentially determined on a three-way tie-breaker!  Jim Madden's STARK RAVING MAD had a 25-11-5 for 41 pts to be top dog amongst the 125s.  Second was Viggo Torbenson's TIMESHAVER with a 12-15-14 also for 41 pts!  Third was Tim Fuller's RESOLUTE with a 15-13-13 for 42 pts.

J/124 daysailer sailing Hot Rum San DiegoClass 2 was made up of J/109s, J/120s and J/124s.  Leading the J's home was John Laun's J/120 CAPER, getting 2nd in class with a 1-9-2 for 12 pts, nearly taking the entire event had they sailed a slightly better second race!  Second J/120 was Mike Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY with a 12-7-4 for 23 pts and third J/120 was Chuck Nichols' famous CC RIDER with a 5-11-11 for 27 pts.  Amongst the J/124s, Seth Hall's MARISOL was the leader with a 21-15-9 for 45 pts, beating classmate Tom Barker sailing his boat, GOOD CALL.  Top J/109 was Rex Butler's JD followed by the Pikin/ Carter/ Bush trio on GERONIMO and third 109 home was Daylen Teren's GREAT BALLS OF FIRE.

J/105 one-design sailboats- sailing Hot Rum San DiegoAs usual, the J/105 fleet gave everyone enormous headaches in Class 3.  Taking both the Class and J/105 honors was Sharon and Dennis Case sailing WINGS to a 4-3-1 scoreline for just 8 pts.  Second 105 home was Dave Vieregg's TRIPLE PLAY with a 2-5-4 tally for 11 pts.  Third was the Dagostino/ Fisher duo on VIGGEN with a 3-9-3 for 15 pts.

Making their mark in Class 4 were four J/70s-- three of which were sailed by sailmaker teams on boats provided by Jeff Brown's JK3 Yachts.  After the dust had cleared, the top dog amongst the 70s was Bruce Cooper sailing J/70 ULLMAN to a record of 1-2-3 for 6 pts, winning the 70s, winning Class 4 and getting 20th overall!  Pretty good show for their first time out in the Hot Rum.  Second 70 was J/70 QUANTUM with a 3-10-12 for 25 pts and third was Hugh Bennett sailing J/70 #31 to a 14-10-7 for 31 pts.

J/22 sailing Hot Rum San DiegoClass 5 had several of the J/Classics sailing.  Getting third overall was Mark Clements' J/24 BRIGADOON with a 4-3-6 record for 13 pts.  Finishing behind them was the J/22 GOOD ONE! sailed by Shala Lawrence and the J/24 IRIE sailed by Jeremy Miller.

Many thanks to Mount Gay Rum and San Diego Yacht Club and the Race Committee for their support of this hallmark event.  Mark you calendars now for next year's Hot Rum (Nov. 9, 23, Dec. 7)!  Sailing photo credits- Bob Betancourt and Bronny Daniels/ JOY Sailing.   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information

J/111 sailing and training in BeneluxJ/111 Training & Tuning
(The Hague, The Netherlands)- If the J/111s are getting faster and smarter in the UK sailing on the Solent as one-designs, the teams in the Benelux region and France were also getting into the act by hosting a training and tuning session themselves.  Called "How to Tune Up Your J/111", many J/111 sailors attended the  Grevelingencup event in Port Zeelande.  Principal hosts were the crew of the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER.

The "Ripper" team have donor a lot of ocean miles in their J/111 over the last two years!  This year they sailed the Covenant Majeure Broom and the Dutch Open in IRC2 and won both! They also sailed such international events as the Rolex RORC Fastnet Race, SPI OUEST France and the RORC Commodores' Cup.

All the experiences the "Ripper" team had accumulated over the past 1.5 years regarding their boat  preparation, modifications of hardware, mast and rig tuning settings were discussed and explained during a morning "theory" session.

Then, with the help of the "Ripper" team they went down to the boat and they explained their J/111's mast base settings together with their trim tables for the sails and their polar VPP targets-- a nice guide for improving everyone's performance in their boats.

After lunch was on-the-water training.  The "Ripper" crew distributed themselves over the four J/111s, their own boat as well as the three other J/111s attending.  They explained how they sailed their boat, including sail trim and boat-handling knowledge.

Afterwards, all the 111 teams could look back on a beautiful day where a large amount of information became available and everyone was looking forward with great enthusiasm to the next Grevelingencup on 16 December where the 4 boats will compete against each other as one-designs within the ORC field!

Ultimately, the common goal next season is for everyone to sail at a much higher level in the competitions they participate in. A number of boats, including "Xcentric Ripper" will definitely participate in the new one-design "J/111 European circuit".  Thanks for the contribution from John van der Starre, owner/ skipper of XCENTRIC RIPPER.

J/160 JAM sailing Vashon Island Race- Seattle, WAJAM Wins Vashon Island Race
(Seattle, WA)- The Vashon Island Race is full of legends, some of them good and some not so good.  For example, one year sailors got banned from the clubhouse; another year the entire fleet sailed the wrong way around the island; and yet another time you couldn’t see your competitors through the snow (and nor could the Race Committee!).

Winter Vashon, the annual 30.7nm race that kicks off the South Sound Series, more often than not greets sailors with classic wet, windy, drizzly conditions that border on freezing.  However, this year nothing eventful happened, instead the gorgeous weekend of sailing saw a near record turnout of 100 boats.

J/29 sailboat- sailing Vashon Island Race SeattleLeading all the J's home was the J/160 JAM sailed by John McPhail, sailing the race in a reasonably fast elapsed time of 4:14:05.  The result of their herculean efforts was first prize for Class 2 amongst all the big boats!

In Class 4, the J/120 HINZITE sailed by James and Charles Hinz managed to snag second in class with an elapsed time of 4:41:24, about a half hour behind the speeding J/160.

J/35 sailing Vashon Island Race in SeattleThe J/35s and J/109s comprised most of Class 6 and managed to take 6 of the top 7 spots!  Leading the J's home was the J/35 GREAT WHITE sailed by Dan Wierman with a 2nd in class.  Third was the J/109 TANTIVY sailed by Stuart Brunell.  Fourth and fifth, respectively, were two J/35s, GRACE E skippered by Brian White and MELANGE sailed by Jerry McKay and V Beyehe.

The J/105 DULCINEA helmed by Matthew Gardner-Brown won her Class 7 by the narrowest of margins, 8 seconds!

Class 8 saw J's take 3 of the top 5.  The J/35c WILDFLOWER sailed by Tom Mitchell took second overall, followed by the J/29 SLICK skippered by Pat Nelson and Bob Mayfield in third and the J/29 HERE & NOW skippered by Pat Denney in fourth.   Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson  For Tacoma Yacht Club’s Winter Vashon Island Race sailing information

J/24 sailing in Italy lakesKONG EASYNET GRIFONE J/24 Italian EuroCup Winners
(Lecco, Italy)- The Italian J/24 National Circuit concluded recently with the final stage in their series determining the winner at the Trophy Credito Valtellinese hosted the by Societa Canottieri Lecco.  The great yacht "KONG EASYNET GRIFONE" sailed by Marco Stefanoni, Fabio Mazzoni, Massimo Consonni, Roberto Santomanco and Giusi Riva won the XXXVIII edition of the Winter Championship.

J/24s sailing Lecco, ItalyThey took the lead on the second day of racing and never looked back, accumulating a scoreline of 2-2-1-4-5-1-4-6-5-1 for 20 pts net.  Joining them on the podium was JAMAICA sailed by Gianluca Caridi, Ginesi Fabrizio, Giuseppe Garofalo and Paul Governato who sailed a very strong series but after losing the lead on the second day could never gain it back.  Their record of 4-3-4-1-1-14-1-5-5-8 for 24 pts was good enough for second place.  Lying third was JJ EXTRALARGE sailed by Roberto Spata, Robert Martignoni, Michele Malandra, Andrea and Stefano Zamboni Carnelli.  They had a great comeback on Saturday and Sunday but not enough to overcome the other leaders with their record of 8-7-2-5-4-3-3-1-3-7 for 28 pts net.

The opening day of racing saw the "breva" wind (local wind from the south) around 6-7 kts, providing the fleet with two good races that didn't complete until sunset!  After all, this is what you must do when sailing high in the Italian Alps!

On the following day, the crews started in the early morning to take advantage of the "tivano" wind (typical wind from the north of the lake).  However, despite starting twice in these conditions, the sudden drop in the wind forced the race PRO's to postpone racing until the afternoon "breva" wind would show up to complete two races very late in the day.

For Saturday's racing, the decision was made to start even earlier in the impetuous "tivano" winds, sailing from 0800 hrs to 1300 hrs!  It resulted in getting in four races in 5-8 kts of wind and was a good test for the sailors.

Sunday's racing started under a light rain and the schedule was for two more races in the "tivano" breeze of about 6-9 kts, much to the satisfaction of all the participating sailors!  This was the seventh and last stage of the Italian J/24 Circuit that began in February in Monaco with the Primo Cup!  Many thanks for this contribution from Paola Zanoni.  More Italian J/24 Sailing photos and results.   For more J/24 Italian National Circuit sailing information

J/24s one-designs sailing MexicoGOOD VIBES Rocks J/24 Mexico Nationals
(Coporito, Mexico)- The Mexican J/24 Class continues to build on it strength and momentum with fleets continuing to improve and get strong in both Valle de Bravo as well as in Puerto Vallarta. Other fleets continue to develop nicely.  Coporito recently did a fabulous job of hosting the 2012 Mexican J/24 Nationals.

The weather was less than cooperative with only six races of at least eight that were scheduled for the vent.  But, sailors are sailors-- the fleet still managed to have great fun!

Weather conditions were changing all the time.  The first day of competition started with 5-8 knots, then the wind died completely and then re-started again with little velocity.  As a result a second race was held but, unfortunately for most fleet, the wind died again before most boats could make to the finish line before the time limit.

The second day the wind began to blow a little early and the first race was held again with light winds of 5-7 knots. Then like what happened on Friday, the wind died for about an hour before returning with gusts of 8 at 11 knots with rain.

On Sunday the racing began an hour earlier and the first race was again run in light winds of 4-7 knots and the last race was run in rain!  In summary, it was fun sailing despite the challenging conditions.  A great turnout for the Mexican J/24 fleet and a special "Congratulations" to the "Good Vibes" team for showing great consistency in widely varying conditions-- winning 4 of 6 races!

Congratulations to Team GOOD VIBES- Jorge Murrieta, Julian Fernandez, Diego Fernandez, Jorge Ogarrio Ander Belausteguigoitia- for being crowned the 2012 Mexican J/24 Champions! Second place went to VENDETTA sailed by Mario Velasquez, with Margarita Pazos, Mario Velasquez Jr, and Walter Porter.  Third overall went to a family team on BESANGA sailed by Jerome, Diego, Paul, Philip and Gloria Cervantes. Fourth spot went to a familiar name often at the top of the leader-board- Ken Porter on COMEX.  And, finally in fifth was Javier Velasquez and crew.  For more Mexican J/24 Nationals sailing information

J/24s sailing Lago San Roque, Cordoba, ArgentinaONLINE Blitzes J/24 Spring Cup
(Lago San Roque, Cordoba, Argentina)-- High in the Argentinean side of the Andes along its western borders their lies a simply spectacular lake set into the foothills of the Andes Mountain range.  In winter (the northern hemisphere summer) many Olympic ski teams from around the world head south to the famous town of Bariloche and places nearby to continue their year-round downhill ski-training programs.  While Argentinean sailors can often be found on the slopes themselves, they look forward to their spring-time sailing on simply spectacular lakes at the base of the Andes Mountains in quaint mountain village towns like Cordoba's Lago San Roque (http://goo.gl/maps/nnJGy) or San Carlos de Bariloche's Lago Nahuel Huapi (http://goo.gl/maps/vxM58).  It's a bit like the South American version of Italy's famous Lago di Garda in Italy's northern region bordering the southern reaches of the Austrian/ Swiss/ Italian Alps.

Recently, the J/24 fleet in Cordoba held their Spring Cup and had a solid turnout of sixteen boats to experience the rather chilly waters, amazing winds and spectacular vistas of Lago San Roque-- at least that's what the local Chamber of Commerce usually predicts for this time of year.

J/24s sailing Argentina's Andes mountain lakesOn the first weekend of racing the fleet was confronted with not too much wind.  In fact, it was uncharacteristically light for this time of year when the fronts are still raging around the South Pole and often the northern fingers hit the Andes and produce some monstrous winds.  Nevertheless, the RC managed to run three races with much effort, despite the wind at times blowing in from the Northeast, dying and then returning back again from the East.
The first race went to the ONLINE Team sailed by Adrian Bongioanni at the helm with his brother Saul on the sheets.  Second went to CALEUCHE sailed by Matías Arrambide, Gringo Betendorf and Pedrito Lozada.  Third went to Team CAMBURY skippered by Alvaro Abate.

In the second race, SAMA skippered by Frank Pesci, Mariana Buteler in the bow, Ezekiel Despontin in sheets and Carlos took the lead from the start to cross the line first!  They were followed closely by J-MAC sailed by Spoceti Gabriel, his son Paul, Adrian Berelejis on the sheets and Marcelo Romero at the helm.

The third and final race of the regatta went to ONLINE in first, with SAMA in second.  At the end, ONLINE's 1-3-1 for 5 pts total meant the Bongioanni brothers were crowned Spring Cup Champions in Cordoba!  Second was Team SAMA with a 5-1-2 for 8 pts for Frank Pesci and crew.  Rounding out the podium ws J-MAC's team led by Spoceti Gabriel with a 7-2-6 for 15 pts.  The balance of the top five was CALEUCHE winning a tie-breaker with a 2-5-10 for 17 pts over CLICK with a 6-3-8 for 17 pts.  If you're ever in Buenos Aires, be sure to take a trip out West to Cordoba and volunteer to  crew on a J/24 in this spectacular setting!

J/24 sailboat- sailing Bariloche, ArgentinaJ/24 sailboats are also racing on Lago "Nahuel Huapi" in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, quite a bit further south of Cordoba and next to the famous Andes ski areas WSW of San Carlos de Bariloche. Take a look at this YouTube video of a regatta from Cumelen Bay on the NE shore of the lake to Piedras Blancas near San Carlos de Bariloche.

For a backgrounder on the 7 Lakes District around Bariloche take a peek at this GEO TV video.   For more J/24 Spring Cup Argentina sailing results

J/145 ACE - cruiser racer sailing ARC Rally in AtlanticJ/145 ACE Flying Across the Atlantic
(Las Palmas, Canary Islands)-  The 200+ boats that are sailing this year's ARC Rally across 2,800 nm of open Atlantic Ocean are experiencing a handful of weather conditions. Normally, crews can expect a gentle start from Gran Canaria once they've passed the wind acceleration zones at the south of the island. Then it is a case of “sailing south until the butter melts” and then gybing to the west and pointing the bows at Saint Lucia with the trade winds of 25+ knots pushing boats along at a fine pace.

However, at the start of this year's edition, the weather forecast was a bit more exciting than it had been in previous races. The low pressure centered about 50NM south east of Gran Canaria developed a strong northeast flow of 15-25 kts for several days.  Plus, the frontal system was tossing in some clouds and squally showers containing some strong gusts of wind.  Now after seven plus days at sea, there's not an isobar to be seen!

As a result, the winds are abating and calmer seas are now the norm, especially for those boats leading the fleet. On one boat, the Navigator "Mirand" wrote, “Not an isobar printed on screen for hundreds of miles on the synoptic chart. Light and fluky breeze on the menu for the next day or so. There are a few large clouds around, but we have been left in peace so far today. It's quiet in the midday heat, the crew keeping movement to a minimum, and occupying patches of shade.“  While the racing boats are becoming frustrated, for the cruising boat the lighter conditions mean an easier and more relaxing life at sea.

To that end, the crew on the J/145 ACE may appear to be sailing in the lap of luxury, but by all accounts even a yacht this large can become quite small in the vast expanse of ocean.  Here are some of their latest, entertaining, insightful and thought-provoking reports below.

"Dec 1st- Good Morning, my turn! Forgive me if I am redundant but we all agreed that we would not read each others updates until the crossing was over. Another glorious day in the North Atlantic with strong winds and a mix of squalls and sunny clear skies. Ace continues to slide along comfortably and very day it seems we exceed the previous day's fastest speed. This morning Rob was driving during a squall associated blast of air and exceeded 23 knots. That is about 26mph. Have someone drive along in your car at that speed and stick you head out the window, you will get tyne idea. Everyone continues to be healthy and covering each otter in terms of safety. I could not asked for a better group with whom to do this crossing. Everyone pitches in, gets along and we have an abundance of sailing skills knowledge and experience at many levels. There are many things that we did right on this trip and I cannot think of much we have down wrong. We debated bringing a steward along to cook, clean up and provision the boat leaving the sailing to the crew. Fortunately we did not do that and instead my brother William came with us and he has been outstanding and an inspiration to us all leading the cooking team of Adrian, Richard, Spider and himself. Adrian remarked to me last night that he did not think the food would have been better if we had brought a cook. We all agree. We have had many delicious meals of salads, home made soups, stews, fish, pasta and rice. Some days the cooking team, today it is Richard and William, is making a vegetable soup of the vegetables that need to be used. No doubt it ail be delicious.

We continue to make good progress reaching along (gentlemen do not go to weather) in excess of 10 knots. We have moved into second place in our class. Since more than 50 boat left two days ahead of us, including 2 in our class we may actually be leading there fleet. Time will tell. But that is not our objective. Our objective is to have fun which we have been doing. Last night on my watches spent time looking at the stars and identifying constellations and got drawn into reveries of the mythology of Orion, Pegasus, Sagittarius, Canis Minor and Major, et al. It is addicting to start to understand the stars identified by ancient mariners who sailed these seas navigation by these stars, including Columbus who left from the Canaries as we did more than 500 years ago.

For me this adventure is about the camaraderie and the voyage, but one learns as much about oneself as the sailing, the boat, the seas and the wind. Minor problems such as we had two nights ago, when we had some minor gear problems, take me into myself, my relationships, my motivations and my place in this world. When morning broke, we fixed the gear problems, we are back to full speed with full sails and I felt a profound sense of great privilege to be doing this with these men. Special thanks to my wonderful family to whom I am grateful for allowing and encouraging to do this. I love you all. Pax

Dec 2nd- 3rd Cruising A, 43rd overall in DTF!  Sailing around 60+ footers!  Happy Sunday dear family and friends, my time to chime in.  As the novice in offshore sailing plus being from a landlocked country it took me as expected a few days to find my sailors  legs, hence no way I cold have sat at a computer and typed anything remotely sensible (maybe I still ) Best only to go below deck for sleeping only for all I know. When thinking yesterday evening of "dark and stormies" it wasn't exactly of a never ending series of swells during the  night I had in mind but  there we were; reefed main sail only up  and still we averaged nine knots and peaked and at twice that. Anyway as Strauss' song says "and tomorrow the sun will shine again" which concludes my deep nautical insights.

What's best: seven guys sharing an incredible experience and having all the consideration for each other that the sparse quarters seem still small but a little bit larger than when we stepped aboard. To boot: Sharing the exhilaration of surfing down one more perfectly caught long atlantic wave at 20+ knots.  The low points - forget about it.  But it has to do with equipment failure (fixed since). And last: to be able to share this unbelievable experience with this group of friends aboard the ever trustworthy SY ACE.

For all of us greetings and cheers to you. You are all on our mind and present conversations and to my family: I love you very much- Adrian

Dec 3rd- Greetings from one of the Ace crew on day six of our sail.  We are now just passing the midpoint of the journey distance-wise while we continue to make very solid progress, racking over 200 miles per day on average.  As the least experienced member of the team, I'll offer a few observations to help color the rich details of the experience thus far from one unaccustomed to such stuff.

My day began- like each of us- with a nudge in the middle of the night, the probe of the red light of a headlamp shining unobtrusively inches from my face, and a whisper that it's my time. It is my time, at 01:30 hours, to rise and rotate the two person watch on deck -- 4 hours on, eight off, 24/7, driving ACE westward.

Rising stiffly from the narrow bunk, dropping to the floor whilst grabbing hold of the center console to stem the lurching, I make my way to the head to don my now heavy rain gear -- bib overalls, jacket, and life vest -- all soggy from the salt sprays of the surf and the freshwater dousing of the short powerful squalls of the preceding evening.

Making my way onto deck, a mumble of greeting to the two figures, I sit to windward, hook in my life line, look around, and take the measure of the morning. The speed and power of Ace barreling through the swells at 10 knots quickly strips away the fog of sleep as the night sky emerges, the instruments come into focus, and the unchanged rolling of the seascape and boat wake take shape.

In a few minutes, I take the wheel with my fresh assignment to steer our course of 260 degrees -- more or less -- as Ace continues to surge forward. Winds are ranging from the low to high 20's, a passing squall douses Fred and I, and a surging wave sends me sprawling briefly.

I am at the wheel, flying in the night, with Ace surfing and ploughing her way forward at unbelievable speed. I have a huge, unseen grin on my face. This, I think to myself, is sailing.

A couple of observations to help complete the picture. First, unquestionably, is the scale, power and rapid variability of the ocean around us. We are but a little pig pong ball blowing along her surface. Second is the depth and professionalism of the crew, most evident during sail changes and adjustments on a rolling deck of a lurching locomotive, and in calmly deliberating approaches to emerging issues as they arise. Thirdly, Ace herself is an incredible performer thus far, with muscular power, speed and performance that it itself deeply impressive and relentless.

There is also the human dimension that lies at the rich core of the adventure, both in personal terms as we each explore our own spaces and as we contribute to a working human chemistry amongst the seven of us, all crammed into this surging locomotive.  In short, things are good- William

Dec 4th- What do you get when you put a lawyer, two architects, an artist, yacht broker, businessman and yacht captain in a 48 foot boat for seven days?  Surprisingly enough, a very cohesive crew.  Hailing from Switzerland, Scotland and the United States, our 7 member crew has an average age of 54 years with 23 years spanning the largest gap. Three of our crew have crossed the Atlantic multiple times while two of our crew have never been to sea before.  When not at sea each crew member is a captain of their own sort when at their respective jobs.  We constrain these 7 unique individuals in a 48' x 13' vessel and set them loose on a 2700+ mile journey across the ocean.  While there is one "Captain" of the vessel, all crew share duties and do their part to make the trip safe, fast and enjoyable without ego.  We cook.  We clean.  We sail.  We talk.  We debate.  We learn.  We have lost family (one a mother another a father).  We read about Columbus, Caravans, History, 50 Shades of Grey and House of Holes (don't ask).  We have seen ships, competitors, dolphin, flying fish, squid and a whale.  We deal with leaks above bunks, stuffed toilets, sail changes, food management and house keeping with out complaint.  We do not argue.  We are a team.  We are a good team.  We are a happy team.  We are half way there.

One thousand thirteen hundred miles separate us from our families, friends and responsibilities.  We still have many challenges ahead.  We will have light winds to deal with before the trade winds return.  We have boats to catch and boats to hold off.  We have jokes and stories to tell.  There is still so much time for each of us to learn more from one another and together.  There is always something to learn when at sea.  It is a university all of it's own.  But today is a special day.  Today is our half way point.  Today we remember absent friends.  Rest in peace Charlyn Fisher. Rest in peace John Dowling.  Best to all-  Chris

Dec 5th- Start of Day 9.  Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic.  I'm sure you're all bored of hearing about how happy we all are, how well we are getting along, how we are finding both peace and inspiration in the smallest of details…..well I thought it might be an apropos time to tell you some of the real details.  Some of the true facts about our day to day life at sea, 9 days out on a small 48 foot boat.

To begin, the boat stinks.  Not in sailing ability but I mean it has a foul odor that seems to have saturated everything and everyone.  The forward cabin, or the place that Chris and I call home, has earned several  nicknames, the most popular being "Fetid Swamp", "Crepuscular cave", or just plain, "ghetto."  A deck pad-eye above Chris' port side bunk has been leaking since we left and thus his bed is virtually floating in a sea of rust colored salt water weeping from the headliner.  My starboard bunk is in much better shape with only the spinnaker pole constantly dripping sea water into my berth.  And oh yeah, the overhead hatch has a leak and leaks on to my bunk as well.  We tried to air the boat out yesterday by opening the hatches during a period of relative calm.  Bad decision. While Chris was dancing on the foredeck with his headphones on, he failed to notice the wave that was washing across the foredeck and rolling onto our bunks. I believe Bruno Mars, "Runaway" was playing on his iPod.  What I also failed to mention was the forward sail locker open to our cabin has been housing the slowly rotting fruit and vegetables which William was steadfastly been trying to get us to consume, despite our fierce reluctance to eat rotten and spoiled food.  Perhaps a depression baby?  And the last straw thrown on the forward cabin Camels back was that the aft head was "broken" a few days back by a dynamic duo to remain unnamed, and thus all 7 un-showered bodies have been doing their dailies between the leaks and the decaying vegetables beside our bunks in the Ghetto.  Please don't think that the other bunks and areas of the boat are immune to this sort of tragedy. Little Ricky's bunk had a flood from an overhead port light left open, as did Prince William's, and the port light above Adrian's bunk has had a steady drip, though he hardly looks up from reading "50 Shades of Grey" to notice.  Chris lack of sleep seems to have developed into an allergy to the galley.  Fred is constantly looking for Uranus and thus driving us in circles at night.  And Rob-- actually Rob's mild manner seems to avoid any attempt at sarcasm. Can that be true? I'll get back to you on that.

Now on the serious, we are still sailing pretty damn fast though we are supposed to run out of wind tomorrow afternoon.  And even more impressive than our consistent 20+knot surf rides, is the fact that we are en route to making our 9th consecutive 200+ mile day-- an incredible achievement for anyone familiar with sailing.  Its been too fast to fish but we have managed to catch a few flying fish on the decks each night, and even a little squid!  Poor bugger was dried up and clinging to a turning block when we found him.  A pilot whale surfed by us this AM after a beautiful sunrise, and I was fortunate to see the Southern Cross low in the sky just as night was departing.

As you can tell from this email, we are all having an amazing time.  Think "Big Chill" without college.  Without land.  And with a really bad smell.  Keep the emails coming.  We all look forward to them.  Its my time to drive, bye- Spider (AKA Bingo, Peter)"

So, while the J/145 ACE guys are living with all manners of the human condition aboard a large yacht sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, a veteran offshore sailor and racer in the form of Sophie Olivaud from France is racing her J/109 ALBACOR IV in Racing Division II and doing very well- she's currently 5th boat-for-boat and 5th on IRC handicap.  More power to her and her crew!! You Go Girl!  The uncharacteristic doldrums and light airs will determine the outcome of this race as out in front of this group are a giant lollipop to taste and savor for days-- in the form of trade winds pumping out 10-20 knot ENE winds all the way into the finish at St Lucia.

For more ARC Rally sailing information
You can follow all the sailing teams on the ARC Tracker

J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

Chris Corlett- passionate JBoat sailor* Rest in peace, dear friend Chris Corlett. Chris was a long-time J/Sailor and J/Dealer with Don Trask in J/Boats West for 15+ years and, recently, was working with Jeff Brown at JK3 Yachts in their Alameda, California location. Chris died in his sleep on November 23, 2012 in Alameda, CA.

The San Francisco sailing community has lost one of the best all-around sailors that have ever sailed the Bay. Chris was a kind and giving individual who loved his kids, sailing, and having fun on sailboats. His laugh was contagious and he was one of the most honest and forthright professional in the yachting industry.

Chris had an incredible sailing career that included multiple Big Boat Series wins in addition to great achievements on "Scarlett O'Hara" at SORC, Clipper Cup, and Admirals Cup amongst many others.

From the J/Community perspective, Chris was instrumental in developing several fleets in Northern California including the J/35 and J/105, the latter continuing to be one of the strongest one-design fleets ever in the history of San Francisco Bay sailing.

We at J/Boats and the larger J/Sailing community are sad to see him go.  Best wishes and condolences from all of us to the Corlett family and friends.

J/24 sailing in Casco Bay Maine* We received a rather amusing note from John Denman recently, he's a J/24 sailor on Casco Bay, Maine. John had this to say about a recent J/24 sailing experience in a Maine regatta this fall:

"In the 'Photos of the Week' section in Scuttlebutt last Friday, we'd like to say thanks for including the J/24 photo sequence from the Downeast Regatta on Casco Bay, ME. We were the beneficiary of that late gybe broach; I was driving #2109 and we were just yards from the finish line when "Mr. Hankey" was kind enough to take a detour and let us past. They are very generous up there in Maine--- with a great Clambake dinner, free beer and drinks, and letting the visitors pass right before the finish line!!

By the way, the gusts to 30+ knots on Hussey Sound in Falmouth, Maine led to this unplanned jibe (and swim)."  Thanks John!  Sailing Photos by Ann Blanchard.

J/70 sailing Santa Barbara YC Holiday Regatta* J70s growing on the West Coast- a recent report regards a new J/70 owner's experiences in the Santa Barbara YC Holiday Regatta:

"It was a slow, wet two days for the Santa Barbara YC Holiday Regatta. Nonetheless, it was fun watching Mike Drammer and Eli Parker's new J-70 ROXIE'S ROCKET compete. They won their first regatta in the PHRF B fleet! Saturday's crew included Mike, Eric Stokke and Ken Kieding. We're looking forward to seeing more in 2013 from a new and growing J-70 fleet locally!"  They're pictured here looking focused, going fast and having fun!

The J Cruising CommunityJ cruising directions- roll the dice and go!  Sailing to anywhere, anytime! 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"

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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)J/109 racer-cruiser sailboat GAIA- sailing off Java Sea cruising offshore, 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/