J/Teams San Diego NOOD PreviewOne-Design J/70s, J/80s, J/105s and J/120s
(San Diego, CA)- The western stop for the Sperry Topsider NOOD Regattas will be the San Diego event that will be held at San Diego YC from March 15th to 17th. The event is breaking new ground as it will be the debut of the J/70s first West Coast one-design regatta, the world's fastest developing sportboat class. Perhaps most importantly, J sailors overall will be well represented with a strong fleet of J/80s, a renowned fleet of remarkably competitive J/105s and, of course, one of the best 40 ft offshore one-designs rolling along the Pacific coast, the J/120s. With 101 boats registered to sail, the thirty-six J/Teams represent 36% of the overall fleet!
It looks like the J/70’s have a great fleet, a very deeply talented group no less, and may have up to a dozen boats sailing. For such a fleet, it's remarkable to see some of California's offshore and one-design racing luminaries participating, testimony to the fact the J/70 is perhaps one of the most fun and easy-to-sail performance sportboats ever created. Leading the charge is past 470 and M24 World Champion Dave Ullman from Ullman Sails sailing is own boat USA 32. Then you have one of talk radio's more famous hosts, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, sailing her new VENDETTA USA 201 with Chris Snow on board and you also have Bennett Greenwald on PERSEVERANCE USA 206 with Vince Brun aboard! Then, you have Sean O'Keefe on DECOLORES 3; Craig Leweck of Scuttlebutt newsletter fame sailing with Jeff Brown; Scott Grealish on SPLASH from Portland, OR; and several other characters giving them all a "run-for-the-money".
The J/80s have a half-dozen boats participating with returning champion Curt Johnson sailing his renown AVET from California YC. He'll be challenged with Matts Brown FIREBOLT, Dan Gribble's MONEKY SHOULDER and Steve Wyman's NUHUNU, amongst others.
With thirteen J/105s sailing, and after spending nearly a month sailing against some of America's best sailors in the fall of 2012 (J/105 NA's, Lipton Cup, Masters Regatta), the SoCal 105 contingent are ensuring their boats are fine-tuned for the first major regatta of the season. No less than Jon Dekker on AIRBOSS, Steve & Lucy Howell's BLINK, Tom Hurlburt and Chuck Driscoll's BLOW BOAT, Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2, Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis & Sharon Case's WINGS will be participating in this regatta. If you recall any of these names, you'll recognize a number of J/105 champions amongst them.
While their friends on the East Coast have always enjoyed their J/120s in major offshore events like the Bermuda Race and Halifax Race, and their Great Lakes friends have enjoyed both offshore and one-design racing, the West Coast J/120s have not only enjoyed racing offshore on handicap quite successfully, they've also had excellent one-design racing in both the San Diego and San Francisco area. The fleet of eight boats collected for this year's San Diego NOOD is a tribute to their fun and focus on J/120 one-design sailing. CAPER's John Laun, Charles Nichols' CC RIDER, Mike Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY, John Snook's JIM, Peter Zarcades MELTEMI and Tom & Terri Manok's POLE DANCER will all be a factor in the overall results-- for many who know this fleet, it would be hard to "lay odds" at the local betting parlor as to who's the top three! For more San Diego NOOD sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
It has been a busy first week of sailing in March. The J/22 Midwinters were sailed on Tampa Bay and hosted by the Davis Island YC, one of the "sailingmost" yacht clubs in the south. Out West, the Seattle/ Vancouver sailors had an opportunity to test their crews, boats and sails in Seattle's Blakely Rocks Race classic, one of the first major offshore races of the season for Pacific Northwest sailors. Across the Atlantic, the J/80s in Europe are beginning to increase their level of training and racing activity in anticipation of one of the world's largest one-design keelboat regattas in history, the 2013 J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France-- over 150 boats are expected. As expected, the top Spanish teams are getting back into the groove again and sitting atop their J/80 Spanish Circuit are several world champions. In France, the J/80 teams are hoping to dethrone the Spanish and make their mark at the J/80 Worlds, with training starting already with the J/80 La Trinitains (in La Trinite sur Mer, France). The Italians have just completed their J/80 Tigullio Winter Championship series and the Germans are hoping they can include Travemunde Race Week in their plans to sail faster and smarter prior to the Marseilles Worlds in July.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:
Mar 6-9- Bacardi Miami Sailing Week (70, 80)- Miami, FLMar 6-10- HISWA Amsterdam Boatshow (70)- Amsterdam, Holland
Mar 8-10- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Mar 12-17- Moscow Boat Show (70)- Moscow, Russia
Mar 13-17- Oslo Sailboat Show (70)- Oslo, Norway
Mar 15-17- San Diego NOOD Regatta- San Diego, CA
Mar 17-Apr 28- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England
Mar 28-Apr 1- SPI Ouest France- La Trinite sur Mer, France
Apr 11-14- Strictly Sail Pacific (70, 111)- Alameda, CA
Apr 18-21- Charleston Race Week (22, 24, 70, 80)- Charleston, SC
May 3-5- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- Annapolis, MD
May 8-12- Semaine de Porquerolles (111)- Ile de Porquerolles, France
May 17-19- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA
May 31-Jun 2- Southern Bay Race Week (24, 70)- Hampton YC, VA
Jun 7-9- Chicago NOOD Regatta (105, 109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-9- New York YC Annual Regatta (111, 122)- Newport, RI
Jun 15-16- Cleveland Race Week (70)- Cleveland, OH
Jun 19-22- J/24 US Nationals- Wayzata, MN
Jun 23-28- Block Island Race Week- (80, 35, 105, 109, 111, 44)- Block Island, RI
Jul 4-7- J/24 UK Nationals- Plymouth, England
Jul 6-13- J/80 World Championships- Marseilles, France
Jul 13-15- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Jul 18-22- New York YC Race Week (105, 111)- Newport, RI
Aug 9-11- Verve Cup Offshore (109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Aug 14-18- J/111 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Terhune Dazzles J/22 Midwinters(Tampa, FL)- Allan Terhune of Arnold, MD helmed DAZZLER to the lead on the first day of the J/22 Midwinter Championship in Tampa, Florida and never looked back. Ideal conditions greeted competitors from fifteen teams at Davis Island Yacht Club on the first day, with breezes in the 5-15 kts range under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s. From their the weather hung in there, despite one cloudy day.
Terhune's DAZZLER dominated the competition to win by fourteen points. Racing with Allan were Katie Terhune, Jeff Linton and Louise Neuberger. Terhune dropped his lowest score of only four and kept a line of 3,1,1,1,1,1,2 for just ten points in the eight race series. He was quick to praise the host Davis Island Yacht Club, saying "We couldn’t have had a better three days of sailing—warm, good breeze, challenging and fun!"
Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY finished in second place with 24 points, and Casey Lambert of Seabrook, TX came in third with 28 points. The Maryland-based DAZZLER led from day one in the 15-boat fleet, and Terhune voiced that it was "unfortunate for anyone who missed this fun regatta. The Race Committee was great, and the social events were all fun." The J/22 Class is gearing up for its 30th anniversary with their J/22 World Championship this October in Newport, RI.Terhune was happy to start off his year in such an exciting manner. "We were able to work on our team work and tuning, and start off the season right,' Terhune said. 'We’ve started our road to Worlds!"
In the final day of racing on Saturday, winds averaged around 14 knots in race eight, and then increased to a sustained 28 so race nine was abandoned. Terry Flynn’s TEJAS won the day’s only contest, trailed by Terhune and Doyle.The top five were 1st Allan Terhune (10 points), 2nd Chris Doyle (24), 3rd Casey Lambert (28), 4th Terry Flynn (30) and 5th Chris Wientjes (36). The J/22 Class extends its appreciation to Davis Island Yacht Club and its volunteers, including PRO Mike Dawson and Regatta Chair Trista Snook. Complete results are available at J22 Midwinters. For more J/22 Midwinters sailing information
GREAT SAILING Leads Spanish J/80 Circuit(Santander, Spain)- The J/80 "Great Sailing" skippered by Jose Maria van der Ploeg, current world champion and class gold medal at Barcelona 1992, leads the ranking of the Spanish J/80 Class thanks to stringing together excellent results in events counting towards the ranking, such as: Palmavela, Cup of Spain, the Spain Championship and the World Championship.
Great Sailing skipper Jose said, "It is a great pleasure to be in front of this ranking during the start of the 2013 J80 Spanish sailing circuit" and adds that "since coming to the class, in March 2011, my team has done a great job, keeping an exceptional level for over two seasons. The J/80 is very competitive class where there is a large group of great sailors, that when sailing one-designs becomes very important. Obviously, my years of sailing numerous Olympic sailing classes such as the Finn and Star have contributed largely to my success because I feel very comfortable in the J/80 class."
Furthermore, Jose had some words of thanks, "to my crew for their excellent work where it matters most in tough situations on the race course. My sincere thanks to: Javier Goizueta, Iñaki Olariaga, Fernando Velarde, Maria Bover, Jesus Quirze, Juan Ignacio Merayo, Lluis Mas Hugo Ramon, Chapon Pol and son Jose Maria.As for the future, Van der Ploeg explains that "we will soon start our 2013 season, which means we must work harder to have a good season. More importantly, we're also looking forward to hosting the 2014 J/80 European Championship to be held at my club."
It's not surprising the Spanish continue to succeed in the world of J/80 sailing; considering there are four other Spanish sailors before him that have won J/80 Worlds. Van der Ploeg's record is quite remarkable when one considers his competitors including six previous J/80 World Champions. In April 2012 he finished third in the Palmavela, after winning the Princess Sophia. In May, Van der Ploeg was proclaimed Champion of Catalonia during the celebration of the MedSailing in The Balís and winner Trofeo Conde de Godo in Barcelona. In June he won the Silver Cup in Spain. And, then a few weeks later Jose was crowned J/80 World Champion in Dartmouth, England. In September he took the bronze medal in the Championship of Spain. Thus, only two years after embarking on the adventure of sailing the International J/80 class, Van der Ploeg is at the "top of the class" in both Spanish national events and at the world level. For more J/80 Spain sailing information
J/80 Challenge "Casino Partouche" France(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- As hosts of the 2013 J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France, it's pretty clear the French J/80 Class is determined to put on a good showing not just as hosts, but as competitors to dethrone the Spanish from winning yet another J/80 Worlds since 2007! While a formidable challenge, many French teams are capable of winning a world's at this level and at the last two Worlds in Dartmouth, England and Copenhagen, Denmark some of the French teams were on the cusp of taking the podium.
Looking forward to the Marseille Worlds, several fleets in France have already embarked on training programs to improve their overall performance. In La Trinite, they held the fifth edition of the "Casino Partouche" to focus on training all the teams in the fine-art of sailing a J/80 fast across a broad range of weather conditions. With eighteen teams participating, the crews enjoyed ENE winds from 8-12 kts on Saturday and more ENE winds ranging from 5-20 kts on Sunday with a bit of chill in the air.
After training and boat-handling, boat-speed drills on Saturday, all the crews sailed four races on Sunday. In the end the top five teams included, AXELLE J (Damien Zucconi), GREEN SAILS (Julien Bourgeois), CHARLY (Pierre Metais), IMAJINATION (Erwan Gourdon) and JIBI (Yannick Tabarly).
There are two more stops on the training/ racing tour named after their primary sponsors, including:
- March 16-17- "Armor-Lux"
- March 23-24- "The ZING Cafe"
For more information, please contact Arnaud Walter / Arno Skipper on ph# +33-0669-582121 or email- arnoskipper@yahoo.fr For more J/80 French Class training/ racing programs
J/80s Sailing Travemunde Week(Travemunde, Germany)- Beginning last year in 2012, J/80s have participated in Travemunde Race Week in both handicap and the middle-distance race- perhaps one day as a one-design class, too! Maximilian Gebhard relates their experience of sailing their J/80 in the event that includes a 42nm offshore race. Here's his account:
"We're thankful for the organizers and race committee that enabled us to have the first experiences with J/80s in Travemunde, especially the distance race of 42 nm that makes for about an eight hour race. This year we will be racing on a shorter course, about 25% shorter. The middle-distance race from Travemünde to Grömitz is sailed around fixed navigation marks criss-crossing the Bay of Lübeck. Our race in 2012 was the 42 nm (Track), going from the buoy Offentief (towards Wismar), navigational aids before Niendorf / Timmendorfer beach, Neustadt iH and the Lübeck-Gedser route to the pier in front of Grömitz. We had 12-23 kts winds providing challenge on upwind, downwind and reaching legs, including how to best navigate the current, wave and wind induced coastal changes along the racer track. Amusingly, it was the lightest and youngest crew on board that did the navigation for the first time! Plus, he helped maintain the motivation of the crew for about eight hours! Upon arriving in the port of Grömitz, we managed to get to the restaurant tent for the sailors and enjoyed the harbor festival with live music from the stage.
So, how did we handle accommodations for sailing after the racing? We were not planning on staying on our damp boat without luggage, shore power, and onboard toilet. No problem. Since Grömitz is only 30 minutes drive from Travemünde and Lübeck, both J/80 teams had positioned the previous evening a car with dry luggage, mattresses, heater, including food/drink at the port. For the sailors, breakfast was catered in the restaurant tent, so the lack of cabin interior the J/80 not even bother here. The facilities in Grömitz were excellent.
Besides the pre-eminent J/80 one-design regattas like the World Championship, Flensburg and Kiel Week, I can definitely recommend the middle distance race of the Travemünde Week to complement the sailing calendar only. For questions about logistics, accommodation, cranes, and sailing Travemünde Week, the two local crews are at your disposal. Please feel free to contact us- Maximilian Gebhard (mail@GER1406.de) or Meinhard Braedel (m.braedel@gmx.de). For more J/80 Germany sailing information
JENIALE Takes Tigullio Winter Championship(Tigullio, Italy)- This past weekend, the 37th Winter Championship Tigullio took place that saw the JENIALE team take the overall regatta series title. In a battle for J/80 Italian supremacy that took place from November 2012 to February 2013, it was clear the Massimo Rama's JENIALE team worked hard to maintain their edge and stay near the front of the fleet to prevail in the end as Champion
The last series of racing was difficult for the crews, with cold weather and a 15+ kts wind, perfect sailing with a bit of chill in the air. And this time, after a series of nine first places, JENIALE had to settle for second place, beaten by Sanchez and crew. After them followed JBES of Garibotto with Enrica Capizzi driving and JBLU2 skippered by Maria Cristina Rapisardi. The final standings saw Massimo Rama's JENIALE! finish in the lead, followed by TWT, JBES, JBlu2, and Montpres.
The J/80 Italian sailing season continues with the Championship of Santa Margherita, then next Sunday in May with Marina Yachting Trophy and the J/80 Italian National Championship in Sestri Levante.
For the March 9-10 weekend the BLUPROJECT will provide its 9 J/80's for the European Cup, an event organized to allow a one-design challenge amongst the teams/crews that are winners in the IRC, ORC, J/80 classes in the Championship of Tigullio. This promises to be a fabulous event to be sailed amongst champions in the J/80 class! For more J/80 Italy sailing information
J/160 JAM & J/29 SLICK Win Blakely Rock Race(Seattle, WA)- Generally described as the most unique of all the light-air Blakely Rock Center Sound Series races, the Northwest offshore sailing season is off to a great start. Over the course of the day, the wind waxed and waned and flopped and held, but just as the fleet began to wonder whether the race would be shortened, the sailors could see the forecasted northerly coming down the Sound.
Saturday morning there were clouds all around but for a hole above Shilshole, so the sixty-nine racing yachts gathered for the start enjoyed some spring sunshine. It was a classic convergence zone day, but as usual, the details vary, and it is in the details that the race is won.
The fleet started with a 5-7 knot southerly, and in the vicinity of West Point, the wind got as high as 8-10 knots but from there on south, it decreased. As the fleet neared and rounded Blakely Rock, it had fallen to 1-2 knots, and soon after rounding, at about noon, the tide switched to a flood. Continuing north, the wind swung around to the east and many but not all boats were flying a chute—or trying to. The wind increased and decreased a few knots several times, and various boats went west or east, looking for more wind and maybe less of a flood or a kick out of the locks.But by about 2 pm, holding out in the middle paid off as the approaching northerly arrived, working its way down the center of the Sound first and putting smiles on our faces with 8-9 knots. This breeze took us to Point Wells, where the committee boat finished us on a shortened course of 16.8 nm.
Said one sailor, “Today was anyone’s race. All the races we’ve done here, and all the times we’ve done this race, we’ve never seen the middle pay off. The boats that stayed in the middle did much better than the boats that went to the beach.”
PO1 Division saw the two "big J's" sweep the top two spots, with the J/160 JAM sailed by John Mcphail of Gig Harbor YC taking 1st in class and 8th overall and Tom Huseby's J/145 DOUBLE TAKE from Seattle YC taking 2nd in class!
PO3 Division had three J's in top ten including the J/35 TALEQUAH sailed by Don Leighton of CYC Seattle in 7th, the J/109 TANTIVY skippered by Stu Brunell of CYC Seattle in 8th and the J/109 SHADA sailed by Jerry Woodfield of CYC Seattle in 10th.
In the PO4 Division was the one-design J/105 fleet. The top three included Jerry Diercks sailing DELIRIUM to first in class. Not far behind was Jim Geros' LAST TANGO in second and taking the last spot on the podium was Erik Kristen sailing JUBILEE; all three teams from CYC Seattle.Tom Kerr's J/33 CORVO from CYC Seattle sailed fast in the PO5 Division to take not only 2nd in class, but 10th overall in fleet. Not far behind was Tom Mitchell's J/35c WILDFLOWER sailing for CYC Seattle taking 4th in class.
The PO6 Division that included one of the top J's in the fleet saw two J/29s sweep the top two positions in class. Fourth overall and 1st in class was the J/29 SLICK sailed by the Mayfield/ Nelson team from CYCT. Giving them a run for the money and taking 2nd in class was Pat Denneys' J/29 HERE & NOW. Thanks for the contribution from Peggy Johnson. Sailing photo credits- Jan Pix For more Corinthian YC of Seattle Blakely Rocks race sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* J/111 San Diego Lookin Good! The latest J/111 delivered to San Diego had a gorgeous day to go sailing and some of their friends hopped aboard a RIB to take some beautiful photos. In addition to this photo of J/111 #74, please check them out on this Picasa link.J/Cruising Community
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.
* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/
* 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/.
* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea". The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety
The
article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years
spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted
many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who
wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"
Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.
Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.
People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."
READ MORE ABOUT BILL'S INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY AND THOUGHTS ON WSJ ONLINE HERE
* 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".
- The J/160 AVATAR is headed for the Caribbean, again! We love these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.
Alan
sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter,
"In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter
Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above) from her
home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA. A crew of three, Captain Alan
(e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm
trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts,
that's about 208 nm per day! Amazing passage it was! Rainbow at right
far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this
fast offshore passage.AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda. Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large. Enjoy!" Best, Ala
- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA)
, then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending. As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/
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