J/105 North Americans Preview(Annapolis, MD)- Hosting this year’s J/105 North American Championships from October 31st to November 3rd is Annapolis YC, renown for providing a wonderful combination of excellent race course management as well as laying out the red carpet for regatta participants. With twenty-eight boats participating there will be no question the racing will be fast, furious, closely fought and will see the top ten boats riding roller-coaster scorelines all the way to the final gun of the last race. With a weather forecast that includes strong southerly breezes through Friday (with potential for gale-force winds) and shifty WNW winds behind the large frontal system, the large fleet of talented sailors will be challenged harder than they’ve been in recent years.
The top talent in the fleet will surely have to include Bruce Stone (and tactician Nicole Breault) from San Francisco, CA on LOULOU to be near the top of the pack, especially having won the J/105 NA’s in the past. Most likely giving them a "run for the money" will be top Canadian team HEY JUDE sailed by Royal Canadian YC member Jim Rathbun from Toronto, Ontario. Chasing these two hard will be perennial top contender Damian Emery sailing his famous flag-blue boat- ECLIPSE- from Long Island Sound. Local Annapolis favorites include Cedric Lewis on MIRAGE, Carl & Scott Gitchell on TENACIOUS and Jack Biddle on RUM PUPPY. Finally, Ken Colburn (with Bob Slattery as tactician) will be sailing his famous GHOST from Marblehead, MA— Colburn has always been a top J/105 sailor and was also the first New York YC Invitational Cup Champion (with J/24 World Champion Ken Read as tactician) aboard his Swan 42 APPARITION. For more J/105 North Americans sailing information
J/80 French Nationals Preview(Cherbourg, France)- As the sixty-two J/80s arrived in Cherbourg to get craned into the water and receive their registration packets, they were greeted by a coffee, tea and croissants and report to the weight scales for proper weight verification-- a classy way to get a regatta rolling!
By the afternoon,for those who were ready to sail, a practice/ training course was offered in the Bay as a dress rehearsal for both the sailors and the race committee. For the 20+ boats that participated, it was great practice in the WSW 10-15 kt breezes to work out a few kinks in their boat speed and work on their team-work.
Top French contenders will be sailing for National Class honors in a regatta that also determines the J/80 French Cup winner, the season long series that is comprised of multiple regattas and begins with the famous Easter Holiday soiree called SPI Ouest France. Familiar French teams include Luc Nadal’s GANJA, Herve Delaroux’s JACUZZI, Herve Leduc’s JIBE SET, Eric Brezellec’s INTERFACE CONCEPT I and Pierre Follenfant’s TBS. Foreign teams that will be sailing include Alexandre Toulorgue from Italy sailing RESTAURANT L’ECURIE, Germany’s Sven Vagt from Bremen sailing CAMPAIN-CAMFILL POWER SYSTEMS and, finally, Ingemar Sundstedt’s team from Sweden sailing SWE 243. For more J/80 French Nationals Cherbourg sailing information
J/24 East Coasts Preview(Annapolis, MD)- For their second consecutive weekend, the Eastport YC is hosting yet another East Coast Championships on the choppy, muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. This time is the J/24’s turn to experience the superior race management and awesome hospitality of EYC. The thirty-one teams registered will have their hands full with not just with top teams sailing the regatta, but the rough winds forecast for the three-day long event. With Friday offering near gale storm conditions with 15-25 kts southerly breezes, Saturday providing benign, sunny, lightish WNW winds and Sunday bringing strong 15-20 kt northerlies, the local tacticians will be matching wits with top national talent to bring “home the bacon” (e.g. podium silverware).
J/24 Fleet 8 in Annapolis is proud to have the Hillman Focused Advantage Fund (HCMAX) as the title sponsor for the 2013 J/24 East Coast Championship; this year’s partnership will expand on the success of the recently revamped J/24 East Coast Championship making it better than ever. Plus, they will be offering lots of great “swag”. Who will be top dogs at the end of this shoot-out across the water? That will be a tough call since so many championship level teams are sailing that have all grabbed their fair share of silverware over time. Surely one of the top boats will be Mike Ingham’s Rochester, NY gang on USA 5443; but not far off their pace will be Tony Parker’s BANGOR PACKET from Annapolis; Al Constants’s BLITZ from Locust Valley, NY; John Poulson’s St Petersburg, FL team sailing MURDER INC.; Paul van Ravensway’s local Washington, DC team aboard MILLENNIUM FALCON; Pete Kassal’s local Annapolis crew sailing SPACEMAN SPIFF; Robbie Brown’s USA 799 team from St Petersburg, FL; Travis Odenbach’s gang from Rochester, NY sailing the famously infamous HONEY BADGER; and finally an even more incredibly famously infamous team from Newport, RI led by Will Welles and Tim Healy onboard COUGAR. Finally, the long distance traveler award surely goes to Trevor Boyce from Hamilton, Bermuda, sailing NO SKIRT REQUIRED with a cast of characters that includes well-known photographer Tim Wilkes from Rochester, NY. For more J/24 East Coast Championship sailing information
J/Sailing NewsThe Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
As the final weekend of sailing in October comes to pass, and millions prepare for their “Halloween Party” celebrations, J sailors around the world are still busy on the water having a wonderful, howling good time with friends and family. While it may have been howling on the Solent this past weekend, with a full gale/ near hurricane canceling all races in southern England’s Hamble Winter Series, their former colonial compatriots in Hong Kong, China were enjoying another fabulous China Cup International Regatta sailing J/80s and a J/109.Over in the Americas, the San Diego YC hosted their second edition of the SoCal version of the J/105 International Masters Regatta on beautiful, sunny, San Diego Harbor with eleven highly competitive teams participating. Also along the Pacific coastline, the Seattle YC held their famous fall event, the Seattle Grand Prix for a collection of J/Boats large and small, ranging from J/80s to J/105s and J/109s to the big boys sailing a J/145 and J/160. In the eastern parts of America, US Sailing held their Championship of Champions in Lightning class sailboats and a raft of J/Boats’ one-design sailors dominated the fleet. Fittingly, the J/80 class also held their East Coast Championships on the Chesapeake Bay, hosted by Eastport YC in Annapolis, MD.
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:
Oct 31- Nov 3- J/105 North Americans- Annapolis, MDOct 31-Nov 1- J/Fest J/World Clinic- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Nov 2-3- J/Fest Southwest Regatta- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Nov 1-3- J/80 French Nationals- Cherbourg, France
Nov 1-3- J/24 East Coast Championships- Annapolis, MD
Nov 21-25- J/24 South American Championships- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 6-7- Jamaica Jammin' J/22 Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Jan 19-24- 2014 Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Crumps Trump J/80 ECC’s(Annapolis, MD)- The local J/80 fleet in Annapolis hosted their 2013 J/80 East Coast Championship in conjunction with Eastport YC, seventeen boats participated with several top J/80 teams in attendance. The regatta took place for three days over the 25th to 27th of October weekend.
On the J/World J/80, Dave Manheimer’s FLYING HORSES crew Logan Ashcroft described the conditions as “insanely fun and somewhat crazy. We had top wind speeds of steady 20-25 kts, topping at 28 kts. On one of our downwind legs, the top speed was 15.6 kts!!” According to Ken Bartlett, crew on the same team, “it was some of the best J/80 racing in a long time due to the excellent breezes on the Chesapeake Bay!”
Reveling in the rough, gorgeous conditions on the Bay was Will & Marie Crump’s team on "R80". With two 2nds as their worst races in eight total sailed, the balance of six 1sts was good enough for a mere 10 pts total! Their near perfect domination was only marred by losing two races to second place finishers John White on USA 1162, who counted four 3rds in their total score of 23 pts. The third place team was Chris Chadwick’s CHURCH KEY, finishing with 34 pts total. Rounding out the top five was Clarke McKinney’s COLD BEER FRIDAY NIGHT with 39 pts in fourth and Ken Mangano’s MANGO in fifth with 51 pts.
For more J/80 East Coast Championships sailing information
“The Commodores” Crowned Masters of the Universe!(San Diego, CA)- This year’s J/105 International Masters Championship was sailed on San Diego Harbor and hosted by the San Diego YC. The eleven teams that participated were again treated to near perfect “Chamber of Commerce” weather conditions, with each morning starting out with the proverbial “marine layer” (e.g. fog) and clearing by the noon starting time for yet another WNW 8-12 kts sea breeze with plenty of sunshine. As many of the teams had learned from previous years sailing in the harbor race course off the spectacular San Diego city waterfront, going left seemed to pay off about 85% of the time!
Taking advantage of that “local knowledge” were none other than “The Commodores” (not the famous singing group!) sailing on Chuck Nichols’s team from San Diego YC. With a trio of SDYC Staff Commodores aboard, it was hard to imagine how they ever made decisions going around the race track; nevertheless Nichols’s team surely knew the local formula for the harbor as they amassed a nearly un-assailable lead after the first day of racing, winning three races, taking three 
seconds and finishing with a total of 40 pts in eleven races to take the overall 2013 crown as the "master of masters"! Second was past Masters Champion John Jennings from St Petersburg, FL. Jennings had StPYC fellow member Mark Ploch sailing with him and after a slow start on the first day, gave chase to “the commodores” and finished just eight points back with 48 total for the event. After an even slower start than Jennings, J/105 designer Rod Johnstone (sailing with son Jeff J) from Stonington, CT’s Wadawanuck YC sailed the best last day of any team, tallying a 1-3-1-9 to finish with 53 pts to leap into third place overall.Rounding out the top five for the regatta were St Francis YC Staff Commodore Bruce Munro’s team taking fourth overall and yet another StFYC member, Jon Andron and crew, taking fifth by virtue of winning a tie-breaker over last year’s Masters Champion— Dennis Case of San Diego YC.
Of note was the commendable first year’s performance by Sally Honey, the past two-time 505 World Champion, sailing with her husband Stan Honey and fellow Yale Sailing Team alumni Peter Isler. Had it not been for one unfortunate altercation at the windward mark in race two, the Honey’s were contenders for the top three after five races. As many master sailors have learned sailing in such a talented fleet, the Honey’s realized it’s quite difficult to maintain a high-average finish in the tricky, shifty weather patterns of San Diego harbor.
While the sailing saw plenty of action and blistering hot competition, the on-shore social festivities are perhaps the highlight of the regatta and why many Masters enjoy coming back every year to catch up with one another and, hopefully, meet some news ones that have joined the “almost over-the-hill gang”. Again, local San Diego YC host and Chairman for the event, Jeff Brown and his lovely wife, did a fabulous job organizing and managing the logistics and volunteers for all participants. Jan Dekker (owner of the J/105 AIRBOSS) did a fantastic job looking after all twelve J/105’s, thankfully donated by their proud owners for the event. As past regatta founder and chairman for years, St Francis YC’s Don Trask, noted that he was quite proud to have the event in the capable hands of San Diego YC’s team of sailors and volunteers and was hoping that he might again be “invited” back next year! SDYC J/105 Masters sailing photo credits- Bronny Daniels (www.joysailing.com) and Bob Betancourt For more J/105 Masters International Regatta sailing information
J/80 Sailor Brian Keane Wins Championship of Champions(Columbia, SC)– The 2013 edition of the Championship of Champions, hosted by Columbia Sailing Club, came down to a dramatic conclusion Sunday. It took all 16 races to determine this year's winner of the Jack Brown Trophy. Three teams were in legitimate contention going into today's final two races; remarkably, virtually every leading team was comprised of top J/Boats sailors.
Brian Keane (Weston, Mass.) and crew Steve Hunt (San Diego, Calif.) and Victor Diaz De Leon had a three point lead over Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) and crew mates Will and Laura Jeffers (Tarpon Springs, Fla.). Skip Dieball (Toledo, Ohio) and crew Tom Starck (Avon Lake, Ohio) and Abby Freeman (Vermilion, Ohio) were seven points back in third place.
Race 15 Sunday morning featured winds out of the west at 5 to 8 knots. The Race Committee shortened the course for the upwind finish. The race was won by Lee Sackett (Cleveland, Ohio), followed by Greiner Hobbs (Tampa, Fla.) in second, Alison in third, and Keane in fourth. Dieball placed 13th. Heading into the final race of the regatta, Keane had a four point lead over Alison, and Dieball was 11 points behind. Dieball went on to win Race 16, followed by Keane and Starck.
Keane won the regatta by 10 points over Dieball and Alison. Dieball won the tie-breaker to take second place. Keane was representing the J/80 class, as the 2012 J/80 North American Champion. Despite not winning any races this week, Keane finished in the top three on seven occasions through 16 races. He placed outside the top six just twice.
"We had never raced Lightnings before, so it took us a while to get comfortable," said Keane. "We had to learn how to accelerate, make tactical maneuvers, and the cadence of the wind. It's a testament to this great event that allowed us to compete at a high level. The boats were similar, which took away some of the advantage that the Lightning sailors here had. Also, with the event being held on a lake, it put the emphasis on reading the wind and tactical positioning. It's not all about sailing fast."
US Sailing’s Championship of Champions is recognized as one of the more unique adult racing events in the country. All helmsmen qualified for this event by winning a 2012 or 2013 one-design class National, North American, or World Championship. Helmsmen and their crew were tested in Lightnings over three days of racing on Lake Murray. For more US Sailing Championship of Champions sailing info
J/109 WHISKEY JACK Takes China Cup By A Whisker!J/80 Teams Enjoy Handicap Racing, Too!
(Hong Kong, China)- An eight to twelve knot Southerly presented a new challenge on the final day showdown in this year’s 7th China Cup International Regatta. Some yachts held a commanding lead while others still had a fight on their hands. One island race for the offshore handicap boats sealed the deal and celebrations were on order at the final presentation at the Sheraton Hotel Dameisha.
The closest head-to-head battle came in the IRC B class between Tonny Chun’s Talkinghead who were one point in front of Nick Southward's J/109 WHISKEY JACK going into the last race. In turn, Southward’s team held a six point lead over Korolev Nikolai's Elena Team of Russian sailors who had their work cut out if they were to topple the leaders. By winning the only race on the last day, Southward's WHISKEY JACK tied on points with Chun’s Talkinghead and, on a tie-breaker countback, WHISKEY JACK became the overall winner by nature of winning the final race!
In the HKPN Division 1, after their slow start from Hong Kong to Daya Bay, Ben Chong's J/80 JENA PABE scored second place around the cans to secure second overall. At the start of the day, Wong Chi Hin Henry’s J/80 Team FOOTLOOSE held a two point lead in the HKPN Division 2 but fell of the pace and, after finishing 4th on the last day, handed the lead over to Szeto Yiu Kwai's Cutting Edge that won the race. Nevertheless, Team FOOTLOOSE were quite happy to take home the silver as runner-up.
How did it all come down to the final day for these teams to factor into their division leading performances? Here’s a daily summary of how they managed to rise like “phoenix from the ashes” to take silverware in one of China’s most important offshore regattas.
The first day of racing got off to a flying start for the famous “Simpson Passage Race”. Up to 20 knots from the NNE greeted the sailors at the Clearwater Bay start line and PRO Simon James sent the fleet briskly away on a 20nm close hauled beat up to Daya Bay. Southward's WHISKEY JACK pulled off the daily double in the IRC B Class and wasted no time in celebrating during the immigration check in with the free flow of beer! In HKPN 1 & 2 divisions, the J/80 teams didn’t place in the top three.The second day of racing was really challenging, with light and patchy breezes making it extremely difficult to be consistent across three windward-leeward races. In IRC B, Talkinghead won two heats, while yesterday’s winner of the Simpson Passage Race, WHISKEY JACK finished 2nd, albeit by just three seconds on corrected time in one race. As punishment for failing to start with sufficient daring and courage, WHISKEY JACK’s skipper Nick Southward was presented with a set of heavy marble balls! The idea was that Southward had now “been equipped with the balls” to shoot off the start line with more gusto for their next day of racing! Yes, a bit of “locker-room” humour on that team, eh?!
The third day dawned with light winds on a very lumpy and bumpy sea. A number of head-to-head battles were developing among the top boats in the handicap divisions, with just a point here or there between them. In IRC B there was some good friendly banter between the two front-runners, Chun’s Talkinghead sitting a point in front of the J/109 WHISKEY JACK. In fact, Southward’s crew member, Guy Nowell (of Sail-World.com fame), said that, “each of us got a 1 and a 2 today. Tomorrow we’ll take it seriously when we have to, but whatever happens we always have to have a couple of Whiskey Jacks when we hit the dock!” Notably, the J/80 Team FOOTLOOSE amassed a 1-1 for the day to leap into the leading position for the final day of the regatta, as did the J/80 JENA PABE. In summary, it seems many regattas in China are renown for taking on a side-show element onshore and treated like mini-Olympics on the water. After seven events the China Cup regatta has come of age. To increase the numbers, a change of dates to early October is under consideration to fall in line with other events run out of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, hopefully such a change may improve the quality of the IRC classes. Sailing photo credits- AsianYachting/China Cup/Studio Borlenghi. For more China Cup International Regatta sailing information
J/105s Delirious @ Seattle Grand Prix RegattaJ/109 TANTIVY Tops PHRF IV Class
(Seattle, WA)- One of the regattas many sailors look forward to in the Seattle area is the season-ending Seattle Grand Prix hosted by Seattle YC on Puget Sound. A great turnout was anticipated for this year’s event and, sure enough, with a strong one-design fleet of J/105s combined with a good J/Team turnout in the PHRF Time-on-time handicap fleet.
The fall event has often been characterized by nuclear wind conditions with massive Lows blowing onshore from the chilly Gulf of Alaska combined with massive sheets of rain blowing horizontally through every gap in one’s foul-weather gear and practically drowning the boat in water. However, this year’s event was characterized by epic conditions for at least one of the days, blowing 20-25 kts and sunny with puffy white clouds scudding across the horizon.
Relishing the conditions was John Tenneson’s J/145 JEDI, scoring a 1-2-2-5-6-2 for 12 pts net to secure second place in PHRF Class I. In PHRF Class IV, Stu Brunell’s J/109 TANTIVY took class honors with a 1-3-2-1-1-4 for 8 pts net to win their class comfortably. Sixth in class was the J/33 CORVO sailed by Tom Kerr. In PHRF Class VI the J/70 DA SPENCER sailed by Mike Pitt managed to sail better every race to grab 4th in their class. Sixth was Bill McKinno’s J/80 SKYE ROCKET.In the J/105 one-design class, Jerry Diercks DELIRIUM sailed a most excellent series to post a 2-1-1-3-1-4 for 8 pts net to nearly sweep their class. Taking second was Erik Kirsten’s JUBILEE with a 3-2-2-2-3-4 for 12 pts net for a safe runner-up position. Third was Lorenzo Migliorini’s ALLEGRO VIVACE with a 5-3-3-5-2-1 for 14 pts net. Rounding out the top five were Jim Geros’s LAST TANGO in 4th and Stephen Summers’s LIFE IS GOOD in 5th. For more Seattle Grand Prix regatta sailing information
Hamble Winter Series Update- Week IV(Hamble, England)- The storm that has caused travel chaos on roads and railways also kept competitors ashore in the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and Doyle Sails Hamble One Design Championships at the weekend.
Saturday saw a steady 25 knots with gusts into the mid-thirties, which forced the race committee to hoist N over A on the club flagstaff and abandon racing for the day. Competitors were kept abreast of news on the event website, Facebook and Twitter. Fittingly, day Sponsor was The Bugle – which was where many of the competitors spent their new-found freedom, while a few boats braved the conditions and had a lively sail to Cowes and back for lunch.
Despite the best of intentions, Sunday’s forecast looked ominous – and the race officer made the call to cancel racing at 2000 on Saturday evening. This was a popular decision with competitors, many of whom travel a long way to take part in the racing. Start time on Sunday saw a base wind of 35 kts with gusts of 42 kts, and very few boats were to be seen on the Hamble – with the exception of a large orange inflatable buoy, which freed itself overnight and was recovered from a Warsash garden on Monday morning.
Next weekend sees a mid-series break, to give competitors time off for some Christmas shopping, also allowing enough time for the short Solent clam-dredging season to pass and the Solent to be clear again. Racing resumes, with one race a day, on 10 November. For more Hamble Winter Series sailing updates
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* We had an interesting update regards the performance of Massimo Colossimo’s J/111 J/STORM in the recent Rolex Middle Sea Race- the 606nm race that starts/finishes in Malta and goes around a series of islands in the Mediterranean that includes several active volcanoes like Sicily, Italy! Said Colossimo about their race, “we had some bad luck on J/STORM during the Middle Sea Race. After the fast run from Malta to the first mark in the Straits of Messina (between Sicily and mainland Italy), J/STORM was amongst the leaders of the race. By playing the left of the course, we were able to hold nice speed before rounding Stromboli and were leading the ALL of the J/Teams in the fleet. However, during the first night of the race, we caught a huge fishing net in the rudder and propeller. I ended up jumping overboard at night to clean the bottom after we realized we had a speed problem! You cannot believe what I found (see picture here of the offending nylon net and buoys)!!
The sad part for us was that the whole situation took place in light air and was much more complicated than we expected. As a result, it took place long enough for us to lose contact with the leaders and, unfortunately, delayed us from catching the next good breeze. Short delays, in a distance race, as you know, add more delays and more frustration!
The rest of the race became an uphill battle for our crew, but we never lost concentration and to catch back up with the leaders in the light air windward beat at the Lampedusa Island rounding. In fact, we were ahead of the J/122 ARTIE RTFX and near the J/122 OTRA VEZ. Then, we had one unfortunate tack that took us back out of the lead! In any case, it was a Herculean effort and we hope next time to have a little bit better luck!”
* Cleaner. Faster. Better. Former J/24 sailors in the United Kingdom, professional sailors Hannah Jenner (GBR) and Rob Windsor are campaigning a Class 40, now training for one of the world's most prestigious offshore races, the Transat Jacques Vabre from Le Havre, France to Itajai, Brazil (5395 nm), which starts on November 3. Their program, Team 11th Hour Racing, aims to set the example for a more responsible relationship with energy and water resources in the sport of sailing. Their race preparations will adopt 11 bold solutions to sail “Cleaner, Faster, Better”. To start with, their entire race campaign’s carbon footprint is to be offset by Green Mountain Energy.A pre-race estimate for Team 11th Hour Racing’s carbon footprint was conducted based on emissions associated with team travel (flights to and from Europe), commuting daily to the boat and office and electricity usage (for office and land based computer usage).
The time frame for which Team 11th Hour will offset their footprint is August through December and the calculations take into account all personnel associated with team operations. Based on these data points, Green Mountain Energy estimates Team 11th Hour will emit 6 metric tons of CO2e and will need 10 renewable energy certificates (RECs). The RECs will be used to match electricity consumption in their Newport, RI offices and ensure emissions-free renewable energy. The carbon offsets will zero out the remaining carbon footprint from business travel, commuting, office heating, and waste sent to the landfill.
Listed below are seven additional solutions the pair have adopted:
1. Hydro-generator- Their use of hydro-generator will reduce their fuel needs during the race by 25 gallons, which is equal to about 200 pounds.
2. Water Maker & single-use plastic water bottle elimination- They estimate that between the training and race days, their use of reusable containers will have eliminated the usage of 888 plastic water bottles.
3 & 4. Optimized Nutrition and Ocean Going Farming- By growing micro-greens Team 11th Hour Racing will save energy and enjoy fresh produce during the month-long trip. Using the Carbon Fiber Hydroponic Micro-greens Box is a major improvement in both nutrition and technological innovation.
5. Waste Reduction- When offshore most sailors toss anything that is biodegradable overboard, this may include aluminum, food scraps, paper, books, glass food containers (i.e. olive jars, pickles, jelly), paper plates, paper towels, baby wipes, magazines & cigarette butts. Hannah and Rob are pledging to not toss anything overboard, fitting what trash they do generate into one 13 gallon bag.
6. Solar Panels- While the primary energy source will be the hydro-generator, solar panels provide redundancy if the hydro-generator can’t be used (because the boat may not be moving quickly enough) or breaks.
7. Education Outreach- Team 11th Hour Racing is collaborating with the Rozalia Project to produce six “Mission Atlantic- Team 11th Hour Racing Reports”. Rozalia Project’s Mission Atlantic program, which focuses on ocean pollution, will engage their 25,000 virtual crew members (students) with online reports that include photos, videos, data, and activities based on the work and experiences of Rozalia Project's crew and partners.
The J Cruising Community
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.
* Jim & Heather Wilson just completed a circumnavigation of our "blue planet Earth" in June 2013 on their J/42 CEOL MOR. Said Jim, "The odyssey of CEOL MOR is over, for now. We completed our circumnavigation on our J/42 when we crossed our outbound track in Britannia Bay, Mustique. We were, however, still 2,000 nautical miles from home. So we continued on through the Windwards, the Leewards, and then through the British Virgin Islands. After a farewell 'Painkiller' at the Soggy Dollar, and a last meal at Foxy’s, we made the 1,275 nautical mile passage to the Chesapeake and completed our port-to-port circumnavigation when we arrived in Annapolis on June 28, 2013. We had been away 1,334 days, completed 259 days of ocean passages, and sailed 30,349 nautical miles (34,925 statute miles). Read more about their adventures in their well-documented blog here: http://www.svceolmor.com/SVCeolMor/Welcome.html
* J/160 AVATAR 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, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR
* 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
* 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/.
* 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).- Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".
- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.
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J/24 World Champion Francesco De Angelis also had some war-stories to tell about his experience sailing the TP52 B2. After losing all their electronics on the first night out, B2's navigator Nacho Postigo said, “We tried everything to reboot the system, but it simply didn't work. In the end, we used the GPS on a smartphone taped to the pedestal, it worked quite well!” The impromptu solution forced the crew to rely more on their instinct, as Postigo closes: “We raced B2 like a J/24 and Francesco had to call the strategy almost completely blind - I don't think he had more than two hours sleep!” Not surprising they could sail fast with limited input, as De Angelis had sailed dinghies and J/24s for years on the Italian circuit with no more than a compass! Said De Angelis, “It was a difficult race, the first time this team has done a race this long together. To arrive ahead of almost 100 boats is a great achievement. We are very tired! Comfort is not really associated with a TP52 and we experienced everything: light, medium and some strong wind. Technically and physically it was a very challenging race. The key was not losing ground in the difficult moments or getting blocked during periods of light air.” Sailing photo credits: Rolex/ Kurt Arrigo For
Sailing is a lifestyle, many come for different reasons, it could be the competition to see who is better or it could be the fun of meeting people from other cities and countries that love the same sport. It was very obvious that this group liked to have fun and have fun together. With the fleet split into A fleet and B fleet with A sailing in the mornings and B sailing in the afternoons it was fun seeing both A and B out having fun in the evenings. A little harder to get up in the morning for the A group but not one complaint since the nights activities brought lots of laughs and new friends together. 
Race 2 was very different. Rather then being all upwind the race started with a short upwind leg and then mostly sailing with the spinnaker. There were several sections of the river where the wind was moving across the river. This was very challenging for the sailors. With wind shifts up to 90 degrees and large areas where there might be no wind at all do to a wind shadow from land the lead changed positions many times. Chine Team looked very strong in the beginning but soon the entire fleet sailed right around them on either side when the seem to have found an area with no wind. Then the Japanese team looked very strong and again they got sucked up by the entire fleet. I can best compare this to long distance bicycle racing. When the pack catches the lead riders. This happened 5 or six times until a group of 5 did manage to break away from the rest of the fleet. 
