Wednesday, June 25, 2014

J/Newsletter- June 25th, 2014

J/70 sailing fast downwindJ/70 & J/111 @ Sydney Boat Show
(Sydney, Australia)- For those of you looking for some fun “Down Under” winter-time activity, be sure to swing by the Sydney International Boat Show from 31st July to 4th August to see the latest J/70 and J/111 on display.

The Sydney Show is located at an exciting new location at the Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island on Johnstone’s Bay, a fully functioning exhibition facility designed to accommodate world class exhibitions.  In addition, the spectacular Cockle Bay Marina at the base of Darling Harbour, always a show highlight, remains on its traditional site.  There is a free ferry that connects the two sites, both situated on picturesque Sydney Harbour.

For more J/Boats show and stand information, please contact Ray Entwistle at YachtSpot- Ph +61-2-9449-4976/ email- info@yachtspot.com.au/ website- http://www.yachtspot.com.au
For more Sydney Boat Show information

J/70 China- McConaghy BoatsJ/70 Asia- McConaghy Boats
(Xiamen, China)- Jim Johnstone of JMJ Marine in China provides us the following reports on recent J/70 activity in China:

“The J/70's are looking beautiful out of McConaghy Boats in Zhuhai, China.  J/70 Hull 477 Shipped from McConaghy today on its way to Qingdao.  Current production and oJ/70 sailor off Chinarders has the next boat finishing on September 5th.  I look forward to sailing next week with the two Qingdao owners.

The first J/70 was sailing this past weekend with the new owner, John Chapple, with the sailmaker and guests on-board (including J/China dealer Jeppe Mortensen).  For our first sail, we did not have the greatest of weather, but everyone loved the boat!  We’ll be looking for that first 15-25 kt breeze day so we can send along GoPro video and photos of some of the beautiful places we are sailing J/70s in China!
For more J/70 sailboat information

J/80 sailboat- sailing off SpainJ/80 Europeans Preview
(Barcelona, Spain)- This year’s J/80 European Championship is being sailed off the beautiful coastline of Barcelona, site of the 1992 Olympic sailing events.  The regatta is organized by CN El Balís, the Spanish and Catalan Federations and the Spanish and International J/80 Associations. The event is supported by the General Secretary’s Office of Sports of the Catalan Government, the City Hall of Sant Andreu de Llavaneres and Spain’s National Sports Council.

Starting this Saturday, June 28th, the fifty-three teams entered will sail for one week, with 2-3 races per day planned.  Many of the best teams from across Europe are sailing, with teams coming from far and wide to test themselves against the powerful Spanish fleet.  There are 20 Spanish team, 22 French teams, 5 British teams, 2 German, 2 Swedish and 1 each from Italy, The Netherlands, Oman, Poland and Russia- a total of ten nations represented.

J/80 sailboat rounding markThe Swedes have two of their best teams in the mix, Mikael Lindquist’s ROCAD RACING and Lars Gellerhard’s MK-PRODUKTER.  From Russia is Andrey Samoylov from the Pirogovo Sailing Club; from Poland is Pawel Boksa on MOONRAKER; from OMAN Sail is Rajaa Al Uwaisi on AL THURAYA; from the Netherlands is Laura Vroon’s JOIE DE VIVRE; from Italy is Massimo Rama’s JENIALE!; from Germany are Sven Vagt’s CAMPAIGN and Bjoern Beilken’s PROCEDES DIVA; and from Great Britain are Patrick Liardet’s AQUA-J, Jon Powell’s BETTY, Mike Lewis’s JESTER and Dr Gillian Ross’s TEAM ROCK & ROLL.

What is very apparent for this event is that Team France have brought along all their “big guns” and then some.  Virtually all the top boats that are leading the Coupe de France J/80 are in attendance, including Matthieu Solomon’s EV CATASCHOOL, Alexis Henri’s VOILE AMBITION DUNKERQUE, Eric Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR, Maxime Rousseaux’s J’RAFON (a top woman skipper), Simon Moriceau’s INTERFACE CONCEPT, Luc Nadal’s GAN’JA, and Simon Fabrice’s MARINE CHERBOURG DCNS.

The powerful J/80 Spanish fleet has clear possibilities to reach the top three places in the regatta.  A clear favorite is FACTOR ENERGIA skippered by Barcelona 1992 gold medalist José María van der Ploeg.  Other top Spanish teams include Hugo Rocha on NEW TERRITORIES (the 2013 J/80 World Champion in Marseilles, France), Marc de Antonio’s BRIBON-MOVISTAR, Javier Shercks’s GUNTER and Carlos Martinez’s DELTASTONE (another J/80 World Champion).

J/80 sailor Jose Maria van der Ploeg from SpainThe highly regarded Catalan skipper, Mr van der Ploeg, is hopeful his chances for success in local waters are better than even, as he explains in the following interview:

- What is your preparation for the J/80 European Championship? JMVDP- “For us it is the top race of the season, so we have been practicing very hard during the last weeks to be ready for it.”

- Is sailing at home, at CN El Balís, an advantage for you and your crew? JMVDP- “Sailing at home has many advantages. For example, you do not have to travel, you do not have to launch and retrieve the boat, you sleep at home, and you are with your family.  The sailing course is very complicated, so I do not think knowing it will give us an edge over other boats.”

- How has the season been so far? JMVDP- “We have participated in many national races like the Spanish Championship, where we finished in third place only a point behind the boat that finished second. We won the MedSailing race at CN El Balís. We came fourth at Trofeo Conde de Godó-Merchbanc. In this one, I feel we raced below our possibilities. A couple days ago, we joined the Catalonia Championship, finishing fifth but tied with the fourth place and only a point behind the second boat. We have always been at the top of the races, but first places are always very tight.”

- Are you planning to make any changes for the European Championship?  JMVDP- “We had a brand new boat last December and we have made the typical adjustments to it. We are working on our sails and yes, we will do some changes for the European Championship.”

- Spain has a very powerful J/80 fleet, having ruled the world championships for the past seven years. What are the main reasons for this?
  JMVDP- “I think there are many reasons. Amongst them, we can conclude that Spain has excellent sailors, so when they finish competing at Olympic classes they move to those classes where there are top competitors, like J/80. Besides, we are talking about a very affordable boat with excellent performance.”

- You have won an Olympic gold medal, an IMS 670 world championship, a prestigious race like Copa del Rey Mapfre, and the Audi MedCup TP52 circuit.  You have been racing since 2011 in the J/80 class, where you have finished in first and second place worldwide. Why do you like this class?
Aren’t you planning to go back to the big boats races? JMVDP- “The J/80 has given me the possibility of competing at a world-class level and to be able to do it with my son.  After having to leave the professional yacht racing world due to the economic crisis since 2008-2009, we are all experiencing a new world that makes it very hard to get private funds for big offshore professional yachting campaigns.  The J/80 provides excellent, affordable racing for many of Spain’s top sailors.”    For more J/80 Europeans sailing information

J/120 class starting at Long BeachLong Beach Race Week Preview
(Long Beach, CA)- One of the long-standing classic sailing weeks on the California racing calendar has been Long Beach Race Week, taking place this week from June 27th to 29th.  With many one-design classes and a number of offshore classes, the event provides a mix of sailing that is unique in the SoCal region.  While one-designs may be doing the standard windward-leewards, the offshore boats have a choice of “random-leg” courses or the basic buoy-racing like the one-design boats.

The mix of classes and types of racing continues to attract many sailors to the event, with 139 boats participating this year.  Long Beach YC does a fantastic job of rolling out the red carpet (particularly around their famous pool right on the harbor) and host a lot of fun, entertaining events every evening.  In addition, LBYC’s volunteer crew of Race Committee’s and PRO’s do an admirable job of getting races off in just about any weather condition.

For the J/70s, it’s their first West Coast Championship and sixteen teams will by vying for some of the last qualifying slots in the 2014 J/70 Worlds in Newport, RI.  With three boats each from San Francisco Bay and from San Diego and the rest from the Los Angles basin (Santa Barbara YC, Cal YC, Kings Harbor YC, Balboa YC and Newport Harbor YC), the fleet will enjoy some close racing amongst some very experienced J/70 teams.  In fact, there are two year veterans already from the first Key West Race Week participating- David Ullman on USA 32 as well as Bennet Greenwald sailing PERSEVERANCE.  While they will be tough contenders, there’s no question several other J/70 teams have climbed the learning-curve quite quickly in this easy-to-sail one-design speedster.  Amongst those teams are SOGGY DOLLAR (Dave Vieregg), ZUNI BEAR (Rich Bergmann), JENNIFER (Chris Kostanecki), SLOOP JOHN B (Tom Garrett), ZERO TO 60 (Karl Pomeroy), PERFECT WIFE (Chris Andersen), GO-RILLA (Dan Gribble), CAKE (Scott Deardorff) and JAYA (Craig Tallman).

With seven boats, the J/120s are well-represented with teams from all over Southern California.  Virtually all of them have been winners or on the podium in the last year or so, including CAPER (John Laun), J-ALMIGHTY (Mike Hatch), SHENANIGANS (Gary Winton), JIM (John Snook), CC RIDER (Chuck Nichols), POLE DANCER (Tom & Terri Mock) and ADIOS (Peter Bretschger).

The eight boat J/24 class has seen a significant resurgence in participation with several top teams in the mix, past West Coast Champions as well as North American Champions.  Topping the list may be Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS Team from Santa Barbara YC.  Nevertheless, top local team, Susie Taylor on TAKE FIVE from California YC, will surely challenge them.  The long-distance travelers must be Mike Johnson’s PEARL team from Seattle YC.

The J/80s will see returning champion Curt Johnson from Cal YC guiding the might AVET towards a defense of their title.  Look for Steve Wyman’s Dana Point YC team on NUHUNU giving them a run-for-the-money as well as Mark Hunter’s IN-APPROPRIATE.

The J/105s will see the return of two of SoCal’s top teams, including local talents Gary Mozer on CURRENT OBSESSION 2 and Rick Goebel’s SANITY crew from San Diego, the recent San Diego NOOD overall winners.  While last year the SANITY crew seemed to have the upper hand in breezes over 10-12 kts, the tables may have shifted since the San Diego NOOD where SANITY won with over 7 bullets on their scorecard in light winds.

The half-dozen J/109s have past winners Tom Brott on ELECTRA from Seal Beach YC as well as John Schulze from Balboa YC on LINSTAR.

In the PHRF Handicap world, the two biggest fleets in the regatta are PHRF Racing (27 boats) and PHRF Random Leg (26 boats).  In the PHRF Racing fleet, we find two J/111s matched up perfectly on handicap rating (at 42 PHRF each) against two J/124s.  Who comes out on top on that one is anyone’s guess, most likely a “horses-for-courses” result depending on breeze.  The 111s are presented by Bill Webster & Mike Moorhead’s JATO and also Glenn Griley’s STAMPEDE, both from King Harbor YC.  The 124s have Seth Hall’s famous blue MARISOL and Tim Harmon’s CIRRUS representing them.  In addition to this duel, another 35 footer duel is forming between the J/35 RIVAL (Bill Boatner) and the J/105 KESTREL (Bill Moore).  Finally, in the Random Leg class, the J/80 SLOOP DOGG will be sailed by Chris Smith from Arizona YC.  For more Long Beach Race Week sailing information

J/109 offshore cruising racing sailboat off IrelandRound Ireland Race Preview
(Wicklow, Ireland)- To date, 35 yachts from France, England, Wales, the Isle of Man and of course the host country are set to compete in the 18th Round Ireland Yacht Race. Approximately half the boats are from Ireland and the remainder from further afield. This reflects the trend in recent races. The Round Ireland is scheduled to start at 2.00 pm on Saturday 28th June.

The Round Ireland Yacht Race is one of the classic middle distance offshore yacht races of the world and over the years, the challenging, interesting and beautiful race course has attracted world-class sailors and their boats.  The event is Ireland’s premier offshore sailing race and is held every two years by Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The 704nm race was first held in 1980 and still retains the original course; “leave Ireland and all its islands, excluding Rockall, to starboard.”  With a long range forecast for relatively light winds, one hopes it doesn’t become another “Bermuda 2014 (the new longest version ever)!”

All J’s entered are likely in IRC Class 3.  The last time around in 2012, the J/109s and J/105 swept class honors, taking four of the top five!  Hoping to repeat that remarkable feat are three 35 footers.  The two J/109s competing include MOJITO, sailed by the team of Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox from Pwllheli Sailing Club.  The other is RUTH, led by offshore veteran Liam Shanahan from National YC.  Depending on weather conditions, particularly reaching and surfing, the J/105 JET DREAM skippered by Philip Bourke from Yacht Club de Roscoff could well be a factor for a class win.   For more Round Ireland sailing information

J/111 sailing off Block IslandBlock Island Race Week Preview
(Block Island, RI)- The even year Block Island Race Week, running from June 23rd to 27th, is an exciting event for racers who love competing in a week long series in Block Island Sound in the years between the Storm Trysail Club’s biennial event. Beginning in 2008 the Duck Island Yacht Club of Westbrook, CT has ably providing race committee and logistic support. Even better yet, Sue Miller, a highly respected PRO (and former top Tufts University Jumbos sailing team member), will be ensuring the sailors get more than their fair share of excellent sailing in Block Island Sound.

Answering the call to arms for this year’s event are J/109s in IRC Class, J/111s and two new J/88s in PHRF 1 and three J/29s and J/35 in PHRF 2.  In fact, of the 24 boats sailing, 11 are J/Teams from across the Northeast.

We find Bill Sweetser’s J/109 RUSH and Hugh McLean’s J/109 SHEARWATER up against tough customers like Ken Colburn’s championship winning Swan 42 team- APPARITION (many former top J/105 sailors from Marblehead, MA).  Another Swan 42 will be a factor in the running for the silver- Paul Zabetakis’s IMPETUOUS.

The PHRF 1 class is just about over-run with good J/crews.  Doug Curtiss’s J/111 WICKED 2.0, a past winner of Block Island Race Week, will be hoping to return to the top of their class.  Sedgwick Ward’s J/111 BRAVO is also aiming for the podium again.  Certain to give these two boats headaches may be the twin new J/88s, Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION and David Betts’s INSTANT KARMA.  Finally, John Forster’s J/92 SALTIRE will be working hard to keeping them all honest.

We see another trio of J/29s doing battle again for class bragging rights in PHRF 2 class.  To be sure, it will be hard to knock-off perennial class champ- HUSTLER (sailed by John & Tony Esposito and Neil Caruso from Long Island Sound).  Aleksandr Tichter’s J/29 AKULA and Dan Bullard’s J/29 MADCAP XI plan to sweep the podium with their HUSTLER friends.  Meanwhile, Tom Sutton’s J/35 LEADING EDGE is, of course, planning to ambush the J/29s at the start, steal all their wind, and sail off over the horizon!
For more Block Island Race Week sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

It was a busy week for J/Sailors around the globe, many participating in the world’s “largest of something” regatta.  For J/111 aficionados, way Down Under in the “City of Sails”, a crack double-handed J/111 crew sailed the 1,400nm Auckland to Fiji Race and finished in a near tie (one of the Pacific Ocean’s longest double-handed races)! Amazing story it is to say the least. Then halfway around the world north, a J/111 sailed the “world’s largest overnight race”, the Faerder Race, off Oslo, Norway.

On the European one-design front, the J/70s sailed the next circuit stop for their Danish Sailing League off Sonderborg, Denmark with 18 top teams participating with a few upsets in the making.  Nearby, the J/70s and J/80s were also participating in the famous Kieler Woche, quite literally one of the world’s largest sailing events anywhere with thousands of sailors participating.

Over in the UK is what is reputed to be the “world’s largest round island race”, the JP Morgan Asset Management Round Island Race, a 50nm circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight counter-clockwise with over 1,700 boats of various ilks.

If that weren’t enough “world’s largest or best” situations, how about being demolished by Mother Nature as a crew sailing in the “world’s longest ever Bermuda Race” and actually live to tell the story!

In other interesting offshore news in the realm of the Americas, two J/88s had some fun playing “hide & seek” in the annual Chicago to Waukegan Race 33nm classic going north from the Chicago waterfront.  Then, out West the J/125 TIMESHAVER has enjoyed a magnificent run in their Dana Point Offshore series.  Finally, both Cleveland Race Week and Dallas Race Week came to successful conclusions, both innovating with novel ideas for ways to encourage greater participation in sailing.

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:

Jun 28- Jul 4- J/80 European Championship- Barcelona, Spain
Jun 28- J/Boats Rendezvous- Brownswville, WA
Jun 28- Round Ireland Race- Wicklow, Ireland
Jul 5-11- CORK Week- Cork, Ireland
Jul 6- Pacific Cup Race- San Francisco, CA
Jul 11-13- Bacardi Newport Regatta- Newport, RI
Jul 12- Bayview Mackinac Race- Port Huron, MI
Jul 14-20- J/70 North Americans- Rochester, NY
Jul 15-19- J/109 North Americans- Newport, RI
Jul 18-20- Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge- Solomons Island, MD
Jul 19-22- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago, IL
Jul 23-26- J-Cup Regatta- Hamble, England
Jul 24-27- J/111 North Americans- Harbor Springs, MI
Jul 24-27- Marblehead NOOD Regatta- Marblehead, MA

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

J/111 BLUR sailing off NorwayJ/111 BLUR Crushes Faerder Race
(Oslo, Norway)- What is billed as “the world’s largest overnight race”, the Faerder Race saw an amazing performance from one of the top J/111s in Scandinavia.  With a total of over 700 boats participating, the two J/111s sailed in the R40 Class, a hyper-competitive 40 ft racing class with four Xp-38s, three Arcona 410s, a couple of First 40s and a number of other fast boats. In total, 41 of Norway’s and Sweden’s most competitive 40-footers were on the line.  Here’s the report from Peter Gustafsson, sailing on the J/111 BLUR:

“Some races are more special than others and attract sailors from far away. It may be for historic reasons, for great parties or the number of boats on the starting line.  The Færder Race has all of those components, and that’s why we keep coming back each year, despite having to endure a 400nm delivery back and fourth from Sweden.

All 700+ boats in many different classes, racing a number of different courses, start in the middle of Oslo and finish in Horten in the middle of the Oslo Fjord.  The bigger boats races 85nm to Tristein, just outside of the iconic Færder Lighthouse, and the race usually provide everything from calm in the narrow Drøbak straits to offshore conditions out by the lighthouse. And everything in between.

The two J/111s, BLUR and DACAPO, were excited about the weather forecast.  It pointed to a northerly 10-12 kts, possibly 14-16 kts in the evening, so it would be a fast race. Our routing indicated a finish around midnight and 0100 hrs Saturday morning.

Friday morning greeted us with a grey sky and a few drops of rain. The winds were pretty much as forecasted, but as usual, very puffy inside Oslo’s bay.

J/111 sailing Faerder Race off Oslo, NorwayThe tricky part was to choose between A5 or the big A2 Whomper, as the wind went back and forth 30 degrees. We made a late call for the A5 and got a nice hole 20% down from the northern mark where there were a lot of boats including the J/111 Dacapo. To leeward we had both Bavaria 42 Match Ille Moro (winner of many regattas in Norway) as well as Arcona 410 DAD Sportsware with UK sailmaker Anders Nordström. The race was on.

After the first few puffs, we were slightly ahead of the fleet, peeled to the A2 Whomper, and went for TWA 150, which tends to be the fastest angle in a blow. I was a bit worried at the start that we would be under-powered, but I didn’t have to worry. There was plenty of power. We struggled as the wind shifted 20 degrees back and we had to go back and forth between soaking and planing modes. Every time there was a big puff we extended on the fleet.

The wind increased all the way down the fjord as we passed through the shorthanded fleet that started 10 minutes ahead. Most of them had blown out their spinnakers and where sailing with white sails. We picked a lighter spot for the gybe, and hit the mark at the perfect angle. The last stretch was amazing with 15 kts average boat speed and a 19 kts peak when we passed a capsized F18 catamaran. WOW! The first leg took just under an hour and we were way, way ahead already.

We choose to go to J2 and then re-set the A5 for a fast reach down to Drøbak where we peeled back to the A2. We had some troubles since two of our spinnaker sheets were chafed during the first leg, so there was some quick maintenance needed. Dacapo choose a more westerly routed and caught up a little before we got in to the groove again.

Towards Filtvet it was straight forward. The current was with us, so we tried to stay middle or west where there was more pressure. A decent leg where we managed to keep the distance.

J/111 BLUR crewWe changed helmsman & trimmers to get some rest after an intense first part. Pelle and Magnus worked hard to stay in the current and also work the shifts. We had TWD ranging from 000 to 030, and managed to get the most of it while staying to the west of the fleet. We had some luck with the shifts getting around Fulehuk at the east end of Bolærne.

Then it got very light, but we sailed conservatively on rhumbline working the puffs that came along. We caught up with three of the X-41s, the King 40 Magic and a ILC-40. All of them started 20 minutes ahead. And now we couldn’t see the boats in our class, except for Dacapo with the red gennaker.

Rounding Tristein the forecast was for 14-20 kts of wind. However, it was already evening and very light, so we didn’t trust the forecast.  We started out with J1 but soon we had 12 kts of wind and had to go to #2. Initially, we managed to match the King 40 and the X-41s, but as the wind picked up we lost them.

We stayed west and went through Bolærerna, pretty much the same way as everyone else. We tried to stay out of the current and the choppy sea.

Suddenly we had 20 knots and went to J3.5 just before it got dark (as dark as it gets in Scandinavia this time of year- you can still wear sunglasses!). Pretty tough sailing, but we managed to sail to the polars. But, we knew that the bigger boats were catching up fast in those conditions.

At the buoy in Åsgårdsstrand we met the boats from the shorter courses. Lot’s of Express and similar boats who got into a lot of trouble after rounding for the last upwind.  We had an Express dropping the rig just to leeward, several boats had torn sails, some went head-to-wind with engine and sails just flogging. It was chaos and carnage. But under a full moon it was kind of spectacular.

We worked hard all the way to finish and crossed the line just after 00:30. We knew we had sailed a great race, but not really sure how much the bigger boats had gained during the lass hours of upwind slog.  In the end, our J/111 BLUR won with a corrected time of 12:13:52.  Our J/111 colleagues on DACAPO, skippered by Jorgen Heje, took 8th in class 15:33 back on handicap.  A great showing overall for the J/111s!”

For some fun viewing, watch this YouTube sailing video of the J/111 BLUR experience- great footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvHYjasRTGY

For more Scandinavian sailing information on the Faerder Race and others, contact Peter Gustafsson at ph# +46 733 304000 or at email- peter@blur.se.  Check out the website- http://www.blur.se

Danish youth J/70 sailorsAarhus SC Wins J/70 Danish Sailing League- Sonderborg
(Sonderborg, Denmark)- The Danish J/70 Sailing League’s second event took place in Sonderborg.  The stage was set for good weather conditions for all three days of sailing.  The big question on many teams minds was whether the Hellerup Sailing Club would continue its winning ways with its new skipper Mads Christensen or would another club rise to the occasion and knock them off their pedestal?  In fact, the HSC further strengthened their team by adding Christina Otzen, the Olympic Bronze Medallist in the Yngling at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 with Dorte Jensen and Helle Jespersen.

Speaking of female skippers and crew, the League’s number two team, KDY, sailed with an all women crew in Rungsted, led by skipper Lotte Meldgaard. However, for the event in Sønderborg, only two women would be aboard, the 18-year-old skipper Felix Jacobsen and Louise Christensen sailing with the two men- Rune Larsen and Mathis Groenemann.

Danish J/70 sailorsIt was hardly a surprise too many that Hellerup Sailing Club and KDY would prevail at the top of Rungsted event. Therefore, it was perhaps more unexpected that Silkeborg Sailing Club took the third place on the podium.  The Club is from the Mid-Jutland Lake District.  However, they were very well prepared by having rented two J/70 's in Germany and trained diligently in the days leading up to league debut.  "The goal was to get in the top ten. We reviewed the way we sailed and now we are going for a podium position again,” said skipper Lars Wegener to sejlsport.dk.  Lars Wegener has previously won the H-Boat World Championship

And so the stage was set for the eighteen clubs and seventy-one sailors that participated in Sonderborg.  The fleet was blessed with better than expected conditions, in fact testing the crew’s abilities to sail the J/70 in 15-25 kt winds.  Boat speed off the line and boat-handling were critical, some sailed near flawlessly while others struggled.  Perhaps the greatest differences were teams still learning how to exploit the transitions back and forth from “soak” mode to “planing” mode (a scenario that plays out in winds that vary in the 12-15 kts range).

After the first day of racing, it was self-evident the “south Jutlanders” were excelling on home waters.  The two local clubs, Sailing Club Aabenraa and Sønderborg Yacht Club, had sailed themselves to the head of the pack while the mighty Hellerup SC team fell back. Both of the locals showed plenty of speed upwind and, especially downwind. In the three flights on Friday, each picked up two wins and a second place. The Hellerup SC team were still suffering from crew and boat-handling issues, a consequence of assembling new members of the team- falling into 14th place after two 4th’s and a 6th.  On the whole, the entire fleet positions were thoroughly shaken up compared to what happened in Rungsted.

A new innovation was implemented for the League leaders for this event— after the first day, the entire crew of the winning team would wear “yellow pullovers” so they could easily be identified by their competitors.  The yellow jersey was made famous and is synonymous with the Tour de France bike race leader. As a result, it was Hellerup SC that wore the yellow jerseys on Friday.  But after their dismal performance, the new leader was Sonderborg YC after their terrific day of sailing on Friday.

Danish J/70 woman skipper winningAfter Saturday’s racing, the Aabenraa Sailing Club was the new leader with three victories out of four possible races.  It appeared to be a good bet that they could become the winner of the League’s Sonderborg event.  Also of importance, because of their comeback performance on Saturday with two 1sts and two 2nds, the Hellerup SC was back atop the leaderboard for the overall standings (now having to wear the yellow jersey again for Sunday’s final day of racing).

After two days of sailing the Aabenraa SC were clearly leading the regatta with 38 points ahead of Aarhus SC with 34 points and Middelfart Sailing Club with 31 points. It was clear Hellerup SC reveled in the heavy weather conditions.  When the races began a clear, strong northwesterly was blowing 10-20 kts and by the mid-afternoon it was gusting well into the high 20’s.  After one team blew out a spinnaker, the RC PRO cancelled racing for the rest of the day.

The last day produced perhaps the biggest surprise of the League so far.  Aarhus SC with Peter Warrer as skipper moved past Aabenraa SC on the last race of the day and was crowned the champion for the Sonderborg event.  In the meantime, Hellerup continued to extend their overall league lead with another excellent performance.

J/70 sailing Danish sailing leagueThe last day of racing also saw at least 10-20 kt winds, weather conditions that Aarhus SC found to its liking.  In the meantime, despite having a nice lead going into the final day, the Aabenraa SC had a very costly last place in the penultimate race to drop into second overall with 53 pts.  And, despite starting off slowly, the Hellerup SC team climbed the ladder quickly to take third place and maintain their lead in the overall standings.

For Aarhus SC the victory was a marked improvement over their 10th place in Rungsted.  "In Rungsted we started well in the beginning but had a disastrous Saturday with several penalties for false starts and more. We sailed simply bad, and it cost us dearly. We turned ourselves around down here in Sønderborg,” explained skipper Peter Warrer.  He added, “I have a great crew that knows how to drive the boat forward. We're probably the field's fastest boat sailing with the spinnaker, it has been crucial to our success."  Sailing with Peter were Michael Risor, Kasper Sohn and Jakob Friis.

For the overall Danish J/70 Sailing League standings, Hellerup SC is first with 34 pts followed by Sonderborg YC in second with 28 pts and in third is Aarhus SC with 27 pts.  Lying 4th also with 27 pts is KDY and fifth is Faaborg SC with 26 pts.  The League is based on “high point” scoring- 1st = 18 pts, 2nd = 17 pts, etc.

The Danish Sailing League now takes a short break in July and returns to competition in Hellerup on August 22nd to 24th.

For Danish Sailing League videos:   On-Sport.dk overview     Day 1 Summary    Day 2 Summary
For more Facebook Sejlsportsligaen sailing information
For more Sejlsportsligaen sailing information

J/111 sailing Auckland, New Zealand offshore regattaJ/111 Flying in Auckland-Fiji Race
Doublehanded 1,400nm to Paradise!
(Auckland, NZ)-  The sailing adventures of the J/111 DJANGO continue “down under” in Auckland, NZ.  Sailed by her owner Andrew Reid and with Doyle Sails NZ sailmaker Andrew Pilcher aboard, they continue to push the envelope of success in the New Zealand offshore world against top custom boats purpose-built for certain types of racing.

Andy Pilcher recently provided yet another riveting report from the front-lines about their experience, a great story from an excellent sailing duo.

“Who remembers the 1995 Rugby World Cup Semi-Final between the All Blacks and England?  The one where Jonah Lomu ran rampant right through the whole team and scored four tries, including that most memorable one where he bowled right over the top of Mike Catt?

Keith Quinn, the veteran broadcaster with decades of experience, was so lost for words that all he could say – live on air – was “Jonah. JONAH. Oh!!! Oh!!!!!”

J/111 sailing Auckland to Fiji race finishWell, try saying this in your best Keith Quinn voice: “Django. Squealer. Oh!!!! Oh!!!!!!”

That’s what we were looking at during the Auckland Fiji Race after almost 1,400nm and nearly a week of racing.  Two middleweights standing toe to toe, slugging it out, neither giving an inch.   In the White corner we have Django Racing, the younger, better looking of the two, dancing and jabbing, sticking and moving, trying to wear their opponent down.  In the (toxic) Lime Green corner, the clever old veteran, gnarled by age and years of fighting, and looking, searching for the knockout blow.

The bout started off in a typically brutal manner, with both fighters taking a beating during the first four rounds (days). Eventually things calmed down a bit, and a searching, tactical battle was underway.  Django scored the first major points with a swift left hook, right across Squealer’s nose, early in the fifth.  They thought this could give them a decent advantage, but you don’t get to be older and wiser without learning a few dirty tricks, and sure enough, the pugilists from Tauranga Bridge Marina eventually wore them down and scored a few back themselves.

Deep into the sixth round, the fighters got up close and personal after fighting blind for most of the bout; after that, it was all on!

The teams stood right in each others faces, neither one wanting to let the other slip away and gain an advantage.  No one let up, with stamina and endurance being pushed to the absolute limit. Both teams pushing harder than they ever thought possible, somehow finding reserves of energy they didn’t realize they had.

Squealer used all their collective years of cunning to gain an advantage late in the seventh, and it looked like this would carry them to a famous victory.  But Django wasn’t giving up that easily, and with barely a minute to the final bell pulled their last move of the fight, launching a straight right across the face of Squealer, seemingly dropping them on their arse for the final time.  Surely there was nothing left to give, but Squealer had other ideas.

They picked themselves up off the canvas and launched one final assault on the young pretenders. Django tried holding them off with a series of jabs, but Squealer countered with a brutal right hook just on the final bell.

So who won? Well, it took a while for the ref’s decision to come in and it was eventually announced over the public address system (also known as the VHF Radio) that Squealer had taken out the narrowest of points victories – beating Django by 10 seconds!! (note- after 1,400nm of sailing over 6.5 days!)

Both fighters fell to the floor, exhausted, before picking themselves up one final time for an embrace that lasted well into the night.

After a race that lasted just a few hours shy of a full weak and some 1370 NM, Squealer really did beat us over the line by 10 seconds. This photo was taken from the finish boat, showing their nose crossing the line, with us barely a boat-length behind.

It was hard to comprehend at the time what we were involved in, but for all of us, this was the race of a lifetime, and it was only more poignant because of the battle raging between two boats full of good friends.  I have known some of these guys for the best part of 20 years, and can genuinely say that we could not have hoped to be beaten by a better team.

For those that don’t know, the DDF Syndicate that owns Squealer is a team of seven mates, most of whom are old school friends from Tauranga. This is the third boat they’ve owned, over a period of around 15 years, with their ultimate goal of competing in an offshore race.

That dream was cruelly cut down just 120 miles from the finish of last years race to Fiji, when the mast fell down as they were pushing hard for an overall win.

So to see the joy on their faces at the finish line really did make everything worthwhile, and (almost) made us forget our awful first half of the race!

Well done guys, it was an absolute pleasure trying to knock the crap out of you, and we cannot wait to do it again.  Django Racing out.”  Thanks for the contribution from SailingAnarchy.com.
Sailing photo credits- Brad Davies/ LiveSailDie Media.

J/160 True sailing Bermuda Race“Less Than Zero”- a.k.a. the 2014 Bermuda Race
J/160 TRUE Wins Cruisers, J/120 ALIBI Tops Double-Handers!
(Newport, RI) – The start of this year’s 49th Bermuda Race was a harbinger of things to come, all not good.  With a forecasted moderate northerly slowly dying and a seabreeze developing between the first and last boats to start, the crews on most boats must’ve had a foreshadowing of what it was going to be like to sail the new “longest Bermuda Race ever”- nearly five days for most of the fleet!

Organized by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the fleet of 165 boats from twenty-one states (Maine to California) must’ve pondered how could they cross 635nm of Atlantic Ocean, suffering the inevitable “bouncy ride” called the Gulf Stream, and live through several offshore “parking lots” (no wind zones) before crossing the line 5 days later for most boats!  The fleet certainly earned well-deserved celebratory “dark & stormies” to aid in the salubrious story-telling after the race.  As the largest brand in the fleet, the 33 J/Teams (20% of the fleet) had more than their fair share of war-stories to tell at the RBYC outdoor bar & patio.

The St David’s Lighthouse Division, the biggest division in the event, saw many determined (and patient) J/Teams post strong finishes across the board.

In Class 2, Fred Allardyce’s J/40 MISTY took sixth in class and John Gorski & Andy Schell’s J/37c SLEIJRIDE took ninth.  Both boats took over 118 hours to finish, that’s 4.9 days at 4.9 kts to complete the 635nm course! In Class 3, the J/42 FINESSE sailed by Newton Merrill took 5th also in 118 hours of drifting swiftly towards “the onion patch”.

J/120 sailing offshore to BermudaClass 4 could be seen as the “J/120 division”.  Top J/120 was Dmitry Kondratyev’s RORC team aboard the chartered SUNSET CHILD, taking 3rd in class; they spent 112 hours completing the course and that was because they wisely took a more easterly route than most of the fleet and at times were forecasted to be in the top five in IRC/ORR overall!  Second J/120 and 5th in class was Rick Oricchio’s ROCKET SCIENCE.  Third J/120 was Ken Comerford & Sons MONEYPENNY, taking 6th in class and, notably, after the first 36 hours of the race was forecasted in the top three overall for IRC/ ORR.  Fourth J/120 was Richard Born’s WINDBORN and fifth was Jim Praley’s SHINNECOCK.

Class 5 was the one-design J/44 division.  While Jim Bishop’s GOLD DIGGER led the 44s for about half the race, the last “park-up” saw them lose out to fellow 44 owner Harry DeVore on HONAHLEE.  In the last third of the race, HONAHLEE also took a more easterly routing and snuck by their fleet, finishing in about 110 hrs, beating all other 44s by 4 hours.  Second was GOLD DIGGER followed by Len Sitar’s VAMP in third, Chris Lewis’s KENAI in fourth and Norm Schulman’s CHARLIE V in fifth.

J/122 sailing at start of Newport to Bermuda raceIn the super-competitive “fast 40s” division, Class 6, the J/122s and the J/133 had a huge battle against a number of extremely experienced Bermuda/ offshore veterans.  Throughout the race, the lead amongst the J/122s ORION, AUGUST WEST and RED SKY shifted back and forth constantly.  After the third day, it appeared that AUGUST WEST had established a safe easterly position on their competitors and established a lead not only for the J/122s, but also their class.  However, a scenario that also played out in man other classes, those boats that went even further east did even better, in this cased is was the Bermuda boat NASTY MEDICINE.  At the finish, Paul Milo’s ORION took over the lead amongst J/122s right at the end of the race, taking 2nd in class.  Third in class and 2nd amongst the 122s was Jamey Shachoy’s AUGUST WEST, a largely Buzzards Bay/ Marion, MA-based team.  Fifth in class was Dale & Mike McIvor’s J/133 MATADOR.

Perhaps the “wild child” in the J/fleet was Jonathan Bamberger’s J/145 SPITFIRE from Toronto, Ontario.  After leading Class 7 for over 48 hours, and for at least 24 hours forecasted to be in the top three overall in IRC/ ORR, the SPITFIRE team may have downloaded a GRIB file with a “bug” and suddenly took a southwesterly course about 45-55 degrees off rhumbline and away from the breeze that kept re-filling in from the east.  Nevertheless, after dropping to the bottom of their class, they persevered and worked there way back into contention and took a 5th in class.

In the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, the Bermuda J/125 CROSSFIRE, sailed by Brian Hiller from the St George’s Dinghy Club, took 5th in class behind all the mini-maxi’s and TP52 and beating out a Carkeek 47, a R/P 55 and an Andrews 70.

The Cruiser Division saw some amazing performances by J/Teams.  Taking third in Class 11 was Brad Willauer’s J/46 BREEZING UP and in Class 12, Howie Hodgson’s J/160 TRUE (with beautiful new paint job) took the class win by over three hours on handicap time!

J/122 sailing from Newport to BermudaFinally, the Double-Handed Division always seems to produce some remarkable achievements for just two persons on a boat with the aid of automatic self-steering systems.  Often sailing boat-for-boat or faster than equivalent fully-crewed yachts, the double-handed J/Teams placed well in both divisions.  In Class 13, Jason Richter’s J/35 PALADIN made an incredible comeback after trailing their class and fleet for most of the first 48 hours.  As the fleet went into its third “park-up”, the PALADIN team took a more easterly routing and made enormous gains on everyone, ultimately taking 2nd in their class.

In Double-handed Class 14, it was a clean sweep for the J/teams, taking the podium and 4 of the top 5 spots!  Leading all double-handers for most of the race was Scott Miller’s J/122 RESOLUTE from Maine (the 2013 winner overall of the Bermuda One-Two Race).  Only in the last “parking-up” going into Bermuda at the 60nm point did they lose that position to the two J/120s that had been chasing them the entire race.  In the end, Gardner Grant’s J/120 ALIBI from Cedar Point YC took 1st in class followed by Hewitt Gaynor’s J/120 MIREILLE.  Third was Miller’s J/122 RESOLUTE and taking 5th was Mike Piper’s J/111 EAGLES DARE.  For more Newport Bermuda Race sailing information

J/105 sailing Round Island Race- UKJ/Teams Conquer Devilish Round Island Race
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- While their Bermuda Race colleagues were thrashing across the Atlantic Ocean in “less than zero” wind conditions and innumerable “park-ups”, the British version of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round Island Race was no less epic in its resounding lack of pace around the 50nm race track counter-clockwise of the Isle of Wight.

Amusingly enough, the weather gurus were predicting light northerlies dying off to form a seabreeze of a variety most suitable for “Tinker Bell” to fly around in her “Peter Pan” escapades than for sailors to get around the famous island.  Yes, it was warm.  Yes, it was light, perhaps too light for most people’s liking.  Nevertheless, the seabreeze did kick-in a wee-bit late and most teams got around the island in 10 to 12 hours elapsed time.  Despite the trying conditions, the enormous armada of J/Teams lived up to the challenge and managed to “win, place & show” in virtually every division they were participants.

The massive fleet started Saturday, June 21st at 0630 hrs on the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes; the boats then raced “westabout” (counter-clockwise), to The Needles, round St Catherine's Point and Bembridge Ledge buoy, and back into the Solent to the finish line at Cowes.  The race is organized by the Island Sailing Club; with 16,000 sailors and 1,600+ yachts, it ranks amongst the world’s largest yacht races and the fourth largest participation sporting event in the United Kingdom.

J/109 sailing off Isle of Wight- Round Island RaceThe event seems to be a favorite amongst many J/UK Teams, this year counting an enormous armada of 112 J/Teams.  In fact, in the primary offshore IRC keelboat classes, ranging from IRC 0 to IRC 3 divisions, J/Boats represented by far the biggest brand in the 367 boat grouping, with 88 teams representing 24.0% of the total!  A rather fantastic turnout.  In fact, the single largest class of boats in the entire fleet were the 31 J/109s participating in IRC 2 divisions and their strong overall performance was reflected in their standings.

For starters, the huge 52 boat IRC 0 Division saw the J/111 JOURNEYMAKER led by Chris Jones & Louise Makin take 5th while the J/133 JUMP (Ian Dewhirst) took 7th.

In IRC 1A Division, J/Teams took 9 of top 20 positions.  The J/133 L’EAU DE LA (Nils Boyer) took 5th along with another J/133 APOLLO 7 (Nigel Passmore) taking 7th, the J/111 J-LANCE 9 (Didier Le Moal) taking 8th and the J/122 MINT JULEP (David Cule) taking 10th.  The J/122 JELLYFISH (Ben Few Brown) took 12th with another J/122 JOLOU (Sergey Senchenko) taking 13th.  In 16th was the J/111 JITTERBUG (Cornel Riklin), followed by the J/122 JACOBS LADDER (William Avery) in 17th, then the J/111 MUNKENBECK (Alfred Munkenbeck) took 20th.

The newly launched J/88 EAT, SLEEP, J, REPEAT took 2nd in class, a simply fantastic performance considering they were still tuning the rig going to the start at 0630hrs and just launching less than 24 hours earlier.  In fact, they missed winning the division by less than 3 1/2 minutes. The other J/88 JONGLEUR took 10th in class.

J/109 sailing off The Needles, Cowes, EnglandThe next two divisions could be defined as “the J/109 class” as the majority in each were either class-configured boats or IRC configured setups.  In IRC 2A Division the J/crews took 11 of the top 20 spots.  The J/109 JOUSTER (Adam Wright) was 2nd and BLUE JAY (Alan Bennett) was 3rd, DESIGNSTAR 2 (Roger Phillips) took 5th, TIGH SOLIUS II (Iain Mackinnon) 8th and WHITE KNIGHT 7 (Colonel John Ogden) 9th, JYNNAN TONNYX (Owain Franks and Jean Lockett) 11th, JUMUNU (Julian Sutherland) 12th, JINKS (Chris Brooks) 13th, BONFIRE 4 (Chris Brooks) 14th, the J/39 XTREME (sailed by Stephen Best, Colin Foxley & Spencer Paul) 18th and the J/109 JIGSAW (Chris Andrews of Zig Zag Sailing) 20th.

The IRC 2B Division saw J/Teams sweep the top five positions!  Topping them all was the “classic” J/35 BENGAL MAGIC skippered by James Chalmers, followed sequentially by four J/109s- OFFBEAT (David Mcleman), HIGH TENSION (Chris Brooks), J’TAIME (Christopher Palmer), JYBE TALKIN (Chris & Helen Burleigh).  The balance of the top 20 was just about a clean sweep with J’s taking 17 of the top 20 positions!

The IRC 2C Division saw the J/105s do well despite the light stuff.  KING LOUIE (Fiona & Malcolm Thorpe) took 8th and FLAWLESS J (James Heald) took 9th.

J/70 sailing Round Island Race off Cowes, EnglandThe J/97s and colleagues faired well in IRC Division 2D.  ETB TYRES JUST LIKE (Chaz Ivill) took 5th and JASLAN (Brett Lewis & H Hofmann) took 7th.  The J/110 SHADES OF BLUE (Ed Holton) took 8th.  Then three J/97s finished in sequence, TYREFIX JL (Dave Cobden) 11th, BLACKJACK II (Andy Howe & Annie Kelly) 12th, INDULJENCE (Nick & Adam Munday) 13th.  Then J/92 WIZARD (John Greenaway) 14th.

In the ISCRS Division 4B, the J/109 SARDONYX IX (William Edwards) won her class. In ISCRS Division 4D, the J/92s HULLABALOO (Felix Marks) took 2nd in class.  In ISCRS Division 5B, the J/100 ALAMARA B II (Ole Bettum) took 1st in class and her sistership J/100 THUNDERSQUALL (Julia James) took 5th in class.  In ISCRS Division 6C, the J/24 JUJU (sailed by Quinton Hall, a new boat and first time around island with friends and family in a J/24!) took 2nd in class and her sistership J-RIDER (Roger Ayres) took 8th.

J/80 sailing Round Island Race off EnglandIn the J/80 class, it was EXETER-SOLAR.COM (Nigel Skudder with a crack team of 470 class sailors with National, European and World Champion credentials!) 1st, AQUA-J (Patrick Liardet) 2nd and JUMBLESAIL (Robert Hunt) 3rd, J-WIFE (Simon Watson) 4th and WILD WALLY (the trio of Robert Walters, David Walters & James O’Neill) 5th.

In the Sportsboat Class, 8 of top 10 were J/Teams and swept the top five. On a boat-for-boat basis, the J/70s finished 1-2 on elapsed time in 10 hrs 52 minutes for the top boat.  On handicap, the J/80 ROYAL 2 (Christopher Hill) took 1st, followed by last year’s winner the J/70 TEAM RAFBF SPITFIRE (Wing Commander Simon Ling), then the J/70 JENGA 8 (Andrew Barraclough) in 3rd, the J/80s ROYAL 1 (Richard Acland) in 4th and ROYAL 4 (James Baxter sailing with two crew members, Gareth Edwards and Douglas Peniston, that are ex-Fireball National Champion crews) in 5th, then the J/70 PURE STUDENT LIVING (Jack & Freddie Davies) in 6th, the J/70 BABY-J (Charlie Esse) next in 7th, and the J/70 WILSON COVERS (Ian Wilson) in 8th.   For more Round Island Race sailing information

J/88 sailing upwindHokey Smokes! Crazy 88s Win Chicago-Waukegan!
(Chicago, IL)- “For the first time this year, both Chicago J/88's made it to the starting line together,” commented Rich Stearns, the J/Boats dealer in Chicago. He goes on to say, “With their 87 PHRF rating that put them in Section 4. 72 boats entered the 26.2 mile sprint up the lake. Unfortunately, dense fog would cover the fleet for nearly the entire race.

The start was downwind and light from the Southeast. The course was 345 degrees. The two 88's and a Farr 38 started at the pin, the inshore end. While the rest of the section fought for the boat end and then battled each other sailing out into the lake. It seemed the lighter the wind got the faster the 88 was compared to the fleet. When the wind was 8 to 10 kts we just sailed even with the Farr 38 but when the wind went to 4 kts WOW the 2 88's just took off.

Thirty minutes into the race a big shift to the Southwest came through with more fog. The two 88's jibe to the favored jibe.  The last we saw of the fleet they were sailing offshore some sailing 90 degrees from the finish. Fog will disorient people.

For the next 4 hours we sailed all alone in dense fog. The J/88 just flying under its big Asymmetric spinnaker. We don't have instruments but it looked like about 4 to 8 kts of wind and the boat just sailed the run at 6 kts no problem. It was easy to get her going 6.5 kts but that was too hot. We sighted land off Wilmette, Illinois and as fate would have it we got a nice shift to jibe in.

We were within two miles of the finish when a crew member reported seeing another boat! "Boy it looks kind of big!”  "No, really it looks kind of big".  No one could really make it out in the fog but it was coming pretty fast, that was for sure.  "I think it is the TP52". But, we figured they had passed us hours ago. "No, it is the TP52!”  Sure enough, they started 30 minutes after us and rating -81 PHRF no one thought we would see them.  "Wait"! there is another boat!"  "It looks really, really big!”   “Holy smokes, it’s the Andrews 77, she rates -138 PHRF!”

Well, the bad news is both the big boats beat us across the line.  The good news is "Hokey Smoke" J/88 #21 won overall. Then, out of the fog came another little boat. Amazing!  It was the other J/88, Ben Wilson's "Rambler”, that came across the line to finish second overall. Ben is having a great year; placing high in the two other events he entered his boat and assistant coaching the Loyola Ramblers to the NCAA National Championship in NCAA Men's Volleyball!

The fog wouldn't let up so we tied up at the dock.  Soon, in came Scott Simms' J/109 "Slap Shot" followed by Pete Prieda's J/109 "Full Tilt" to place third and fourth overall. Sorry no pictures- fog will do that! A sweep for J/Boats!!”  Thanks for the story and colorful commentary from Rich Stearns.

J/70 sailing at Kiel, Germany505 World Champ Wins J/70s At Kieler Woche
(Kiel, Germany)- The “Greatest Sailing Event in the World” and the largest summer festival in Northern Europe is Kieler Woche, so says the Kieler Chamber of Commerce— the self-proclaimed “Kiel.Sailing.City” of Germany. It’s awfully hard to argue with that point if you look at the numbers and the magnitude of the event.  In a nine-day program, over 2,000 events are hosted to entertain over three million visitors from all over the world.  All these people come to celebrate the 132nd Kieler Woche, temporary home for 5,000 sailors aboard 2,000 yachts from 50 countries sailing 40 individual fleets on 11 race courses with 400 starts planned! It’s not surprising the "Who's who" of sailing in many competitive one-design classes line up at the start for this eponymous event.

Three J/classes compete over the course of the nine days in Kiel.  In the first part are the J/70s and J/80s and the second are the J/24s.

The J/70s had an excellent turnout of a dozen boats with several notable German sailors participating.  At the top would surely be Claas Lehmann, a recent International 505 World Champion as well as skipper Michael Illgenstein sailing for the Flensburg Sailing Club- one of the leaders in the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing in J/70s.  Apparently, FSC’s Illgenstein was hoping that racing in Kieler Woche would be helpful for their next event in the Bundesliga that takes place at Travemunde Sailing Week in three weeks.  To add more fuel to the fire, also sailing as skipper was Christian Soyka, a five-times X-99 World Champion from Germany and from The Netherlands, Woulter Kollman sailing HENRI LLOYD, a multiple J/22 Netherlands/ Benelux and J/22 European Champion.

J/70s sailing at mark in Kiel, GermanyWith so much firepower aiming for the coveted three slots on the podium, it was anyone’s guess how it would all go down after three days of racing.  Only seven of ten races were completed but it was enough to see enormous fluctuations in the standings amongst the top five.  In the end, after what could be seen as an uncharacteristically slow start, Claas Lemann’s team sailing MITTELMANN (Marc-Pawel Mohlmann, Valentin Zeller & Bjorn Athmen) overcame their initial shock of an 8-6 in the first two races to score a 1-2-3-1-1 for 14 pts net to win by a remarkable 6 pts.

For the balance of the top five in the J/70s it all ended up in a virtual tie at 20 to 22 pts each, the last race becoming the determining factor for everyone.  Starting fast but struggling to maintain pace with Lehmann was The Netherland’s Wouter Kollman and crew (Wick Hillege, Kim Platteeuw & Gilbert Figaroa) sailing HENRI LLOYD.  While winning the first race and taking a DNF (14) in the second race, their uphill struggle was worth it, taking a 3-4-6-2-4 for 20 pts net to secure the silver position.  Taking third on the tie-breaker at 21 pts each was Michael Illgenstein with his Flensburg SC crew (Terje Klockermann, Jan-Ole Burzinski & Finn Mrugalla).  There’s was a true “roller-coaster” ride, scoring a 6-1-5-1-8-5-3 for 21 pts net.  Behind them in fourth, losing the tie-break, was Christian Soyka on VOICE OF ITZEHOE; his team of Ole Stucker, Leon Stolp & Arne Petersen managed a scoreline of 5-2-4-6-2-10-2 for the same 21 pts.   Fifth was Dennis Mehlig sailing with his crew of Marvin Frisch, Kevin Mehlig and Anian Schreiber.

Unlike the J/70s, the twenty-two boat J/80 fleet saw a runaway winner in the form of Martin Menzner and crew (Frank Lichte, Carsten Hopp & Mike Rolfs) sailing PIKE.  By tossing a 2nd place, they scored six 1sts for a total of 6 pts net and a margin of victory of 11 pts in seven races.  Behind them was a strong contest for the balance of the top five with the results not becoming apparent until the final tally in the last race.  The three players were Soren Hadeler’s GER 578, Hauke Kruss’s GER 853 and Martin Christiansen’s GER 885.  Kruss started out strong with a 2-2-4 but struggled later with a 10-3-3-6.  Hadeler struggled at first with a 6-3-6 but closed like a race-horse with a 1-2-2-3.  Christiansen sailed solidly enough to win in the beginning with a 3-4-2-3-4 but a hiccup in the end with a 7-5 cost him the silver.  As a result, Hadeler took 2nd with 17 pts, Kruss 3rd with 20 pts, and Christiansen 4th with 21 pts. Fifth was Olav Jansen with 31 pts.  Kieler food and ambience Youtube video (pretty amazing!).     For Kieler Woche sailing results.  For more Kiel Week sailing information

J/125 Timeshaver sailing off CaliforniaJ/125 Dominates SoCal Offshore
(Dana Point, CA)- Over the past few years we have been tracking how a number of our J/125 owners have been doing with this “classic” offshore sportsboat, if you could call a 40 ft boat a “sportsboat”.  Created in a time when the Farr 40s were all the rage, the J/125 was meant to be a fun, lightweight, all-around fast offshore boat that could be sailed by anyone with a broad cross-section of crew- be that fully-manned, double-handed, or simply day-sailing with friends.  The design largely succeeded in its goals for an all-carbon, foam-cored, dagger-keeled, all carbon-rig “racer-cruiser”.

On the West Coast, a die-hard core of J/125 owners continue to have fun with their boats because they fit the “karma” of fast, downwind, reaching boats that are the stuff of legends out West (e.g. think Bill Lee/ Santa Cruz, Moore 24s, Express 27s and the like).  Unlike other legendary West Coast “sleds”, the J/125 could also go upwind at a frenetic pace— witness the remarkable success of J/125s in the Rolex Big Boat Series sailed on San Francisco Bay.

We recently got another great report from Keith Magnussen at Ullman Sails Newport Beach, CA regards one of those J/125s.  Here’s Keith’s report:

“Viggo Torbensen's J/125 "Timeshaver" has had a great run this year (2nd overall Newport to Ensenada & 1st in Class Yachting Cup) and we are still trying to come up with ways to make the boat faster (mostly more sails!).

J/125 Timeshaver winnersTimeshaver's home is Dana Point YC in Dana Point, CA.  This city of Dana Point has a lot of history (“Two Years Before The Mast”) and is also my home harbor so any chance I get to sail there is always a bonus.  One of the most popular events for racing is the Dana Point Series that is comprised of 8 random leg and buoy courses.  The random leg races take us around the coastline close to Dana.  We get the chance to sail up to picturesque Laguna Beach and also south to San Onofre and the (in)famous Nuclear Power Plant.  In addition to the random, we also get the chance to test ourselves in a few W/L races, making this a diverse series with a more diverse boat selection.  You will find almost every style of boat represented from Newport 28's, J-24, FT-10s and a plethora of other boats.

Consistency wins this series and we started out strong.  The wind seems to get lighter and lighter throughout the series so it is important for us to start in the front.  It is never fun when the wind fills in later in the day and the "slower" boats get to catch up.  But, hey this IS sailing!

In the end we were triumphant but it was very close with the uber-fast Carrera.  I cannot say enough about Viggo and his program.  J/Boats made one of the best boats and Viggo runs one of the most fun boats.  We are looking forward to Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race and then pulling the boat out in preparation for the 2015 Transpac Race.... so stay tuned!”  Thanks to K-Mag for the report.  For more Dana Point YC sailing information

J/109 sailing offshoreCleveland Race Week Report
(Cleveland, OH)- Cleveland Race Week concluded its 10-day event with 69 boats competing in the PHRF Offshore Series, hosted by Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, OH. The Race Week is the largest sailing regatta on Lake Erie and one of the most prominent on the Great Lakes. The annual event, now in its 34th year provided 10 days of racing, live music, parties and special events for over 1,500 national and international men, women and junior sailors.

The “Big Boat” portion of the regatta (June 19-22) began Thursday night with beautiful breeze on Lake Erie, and continued Friday night with lighter air. Friday featured a finish line at the William G. Mather steamship in the heart of downtown Cleveland’s harbor. Both Saturday and Sunday’s races took place under sunny skies and winds that started on the low end each day but built in the afternoon.

In the PHRF A Division, the two J/111’s (Ryan Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF and Don Hudak’s new CAPERS), finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.  In PHRF B Division, Seth Young’s J/39 BLACK SEAL took top honors with Tim Yanda’s J/120 VIVA LA VIDA in 5th.

In the PHRF C Level 72 Division, Paul Matthews’s J/35 WHITEHAWK took 3rd.  And, in PHRF D Jay Hawkins new J/88 TY-LEE took class honors with Mark Saffell’s J/36 PAINKILLER in 3rd, and Peter Kuhn’s J/33 WINDLASSIE in 4th.

In the J/105 one-design class it was Jim Sminchak’s IT in first, followed by Bob Mock’s UNBRIDLED in second and Jim Uhlir’s TRIO in third.

In the PHRF G class, the J/29s sailed well with Cindy Einhouse’s OVATION taking third and Aarne Lillo’s AQUARIUS in fourth.
Then, in PHRF H class, it was the two J/30s (Rich Galaska’s BREEZIN and Dale & Maggie Gormley’s SAND DOLLAR) taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

The JAM Women’s “double-handed” offshore sailing divisions saw tremendous growth in participation.  The rules are simply that at least one crew member is a woman.  The fact that 12 of the 29 teams are J/Teams (41.0% of the women’s fleet) is not surprising.  Fun, easy to sail boats are essential to women having fun sailing boats whether it’s cruising, day-sailing or racing.  There are three divisions based on level of experience. The JAM-A fleet saw the J/34 BONAFIDE (Dave Krotseng) win class.  For more Cleveland Race Week Offshore sailing information

J/24s sailing on Galveston Bay, Houston, TXFREIGHT DOG Tumbles to Dallas Honky Tonk Win!
(Dallas, TX)- Yet another Dallas Race Week goes down in the history books the 34th edition again considered an unqualified success amongst the many happy evening racers on Lake Ray Hubbard just southeast of downtown Dallas.  Hosted by the only three yachts clubs on the lake (Chandlers Landing YC, Bayview YC & Rush Creek YC), the one race per night “pursuit race” style format over a 5nm random-leg course proved popular for the local members of the Fortune 500 (ya’know, all those wild-catters and stuff that own J/22s and J/24s).  As usual, the evening “after-party” was always popular and a great way to relax after a stressful day at the office rounding up yet another massive herd at the OK Corral (yes, they do things differently in Texas).

While the sailors always seem to have fun, perhaps the biggest beneficiary are the sailors helping support the corporate-sponsored community service projects of the Rockwall Breakfast Rotary Club. The mission is to provide funding for programs that address issues of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and health care affecting the community. The motto is “Sail Into Service” and it is a belief that represents the value placed on teamwork by sailors and community servants throughout history. The main sponsors this year are Gus Sails, The Matteson Realty Group and SailWithScott.com.

Despite the low lake levels (there is a drought of epic proportions in mid-America that eclipse John Steinbeck’s famous novel- “The Dust Bowl”), the sailors still managed by throwing boats on their shoulders or on beach dollies and heaving them into the muddy waters along with frantic catfish leaping for their lives.

While the conditions obviously change radically week to week, witness the fact that Dallas has see tornado’s, baseball-sized hail, freakish sheet lightning and hurricane-force winds just in the last two weeks, it’s “all good” for the sailors on the lake— they always manage to make it work.

In the PHRF B Class, it was pretty apparent that J/sailors almost always seem to “make it work”!  Taking class honors was the J/24 FREIGHT DOG, sailed by that dynamic duo of Bob Williams & Pete Pitzer from Chandler’s Landing YC.  Their three bullets contributed to a runaway win for their class.  Taking third was the J/22 RIJJIJOFRIJIK, skippered by Kathy Kulpers from Chandlers Landing YC.  Then, in 6th was the J/24 AUDACITY sailed by George Conklin and in 7th was the J/22 MAUDE skippered by Jim Oursler.For more Dallas Race Week sailing information
 

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.

J/42 cruiser- sailing across Atlantic Ocean* 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 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over ocean* 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- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* 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

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

J/Newsletter- June 18th, 2014

J/122 sailing bermuda raceBermuda Race Preview
(Newport, RI) – The June 20th start of the Newport Bermuda Race takes place this Friday, the 49th edition of this 635nm sprint across the Gulf Stream to the fable island of Bermuda- famous for its “Bermuda shorts” and the extensive celebrations with “dark & stormies” at the Royal Bermuda YC.  The start takes place at the opening of Narragansett Bay off Castle Hill Lighthouse and finishes off the eastern end of Bermuda at St David’s Head (the entry into the treacherous reefs that ring the northern part of this ancient volcanic island).

Organized by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the race is sailed almost entirely out of sight of land and across the Gulf Stream. Amongst the fleet of 165 boats, twenty-one states from Maine to California are represented in the fleet, with especially strong turnouts from New England (67 boats) and the Chesapeake Bay area (20). The 16 entries from outside the United States include one boat each from Austria, Germany, Russia, and Spain; three from Bermuda; four boats from the UK; and five boats from Canada.  Again, by far the largest brand participating in the event are the 33 J/Boats (20% of the fleet), followed by 24 Nautor-Swan’s and seven Hinckley’s.

The fleet is assigned by type and crew to five divisions. The largest is the St. David’s Lighthouse Division (100 boats), for multi-purpose cruising/racing boats. This is one of the race’s three divisions that have seen an increase in entries this year, with four more boats than in 2012. Twenty-three of them (nearly 25% of the division) are J/Boats owners.

J/44s sailing to BermudaLeading the charge as the largest single one-design fleet in the history of the race are the eight (8!) J/44s, including Dr Phil Gutin’s BEAGLE, Dr Norm Schulman’s CHARLIE V, the US Coast Guard Academy’s GLORY, Jim Bishop’s GOLD DIGGER, Harry DeVore’s HONAHLEE, Chris Lewis’s KENAI, Len Sitar’s VAMP and Bermuda “newbies” Joerg Esdorn & Duncan Hennes on KINCSEM.

The next biggest class going happens to be the J/120’s, now almost seen as a “cult Bermuda classic boat” for its amazing reaching abilities— having won more than it’s fair share of silver in this race.  Amongst those seeking that SDL Trophy are Rick Oricchio’s ROCKET SCIENCE, Robert Kits van Heyningen’s SECONDHAND LIONS, Jim Praley’s SHINNECOCK, Richard Born’s WINDBORN. Ken Comerford’s (and sons) MONEYPENNY and Dmitry Kondratyev’s SUNSET CHILD.

Next up is the trio of J/122’s racing, all having excellent pedigree and, most recently, one having won last year’s Marion-Bermuda Race by a country furlong and another having succeeded admirably in the Annapolis-Newport Race.  Those teams include Jamey Shachoy’s black-hulled beauty AUGUST WEST sailing with several very experienced Bermuda veterans aboard and Paul Milo’s ORION.  Joining them for their first Bermuda adventure on a J/122 is John Pearson on RED SKY.

J/42 sailing to BermudaIn the cruiser-racer J category that has seen amazing success offshore are a range of J/37 to J/42s.  John Gorski & Andy Schell will be sailing their J/37 SLEIJRIDE, Fred Allardyce is skippering his J/40 MISTY and two J/42s are entered- Newton Merrill’s FINESSE and Bob Fox’s SCHEMATIC.

Finally, two of the larger offshore racer-cruisers are participating, including Dale & Michael McIvor’s    J/133 MATADOR and Jonathan Bamberger’s J/145 SPITFIRE from Canada.

The Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Division (only eight boats), for all-out racing boats, is smaller than usual, but is sure to be watched carefully for the expected duel between two 72-foot “mini-maxis”.  In a classic “David & Goliath” scenario, watch for Brian Hillier’s J/125 CROSSFIRE to upset that storied match-up given a broad range of conditions— it could easily be a “little boat” race and the Mini-maxi’s wouldn’t stand a chance against the J/125 on a handicap basis.

The Cruiser Division (36 boats) is 20-percent larger than it was in 2012, when 30 boats that competed for the Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy. Five of that race’s top eight boats are back including Howie Hodgson’s J/160 TRUE and Brad Willauer’s J/46    BREEZING UP.

J/35 sailing to BermudaFinally, the fleet that always seems to produce rather remarkable performances is the Doublehanded Division.  This time back again bigger and better than ever with 20 boats, it will be more than intriguing to see how the “domino’s fall” in this year’s light to medium air race.  Coming back are the 2012 race’s top four boats: that includes Hewitt Gaynor’s J/120 MIRIELLE, Gardner Grant’s J/120 ALIBI, and Jason Richter’s J/35 PALADIN.  Two spoilers to that party, based on ORR performances seen on the Chicago-Mackinac Race (also a mostly reaching race) may be Mike Piper’s J/111 EAGLES DARE and Scott Miller’s J/122 RESOLUTE (last year’s Bermuda One-Two overall winner).  Not to be outdone by their thoroughbred sisterships will be the twin J/42’s, Steve Berlack’s ARROWHEAD and Joe Murli’s SIRENA BELLA- as mentioned above, with the weather favoring the lower-rated boats, these two could be in the hunt before anyone can do anything about it!  For more Newport Bermuda Race sailing information

Round island raceRound Island Race Preview
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Starting at dawn, there may be few spectacles more breathtaking than to see the hundreds of boats take off in the morning twilight on the Round Island Race towards the candy-cane striped tower that stands atop the infamous Needles at the western end of the Isle of Wight.  The massive fleet starts Saturday, June 21st at 0630 hrs on the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes; the boats then race “westabout” (counter-clockwise), to The Needles, round St Catherine's Point and Bembridge Ledge buoy, and back into the Solent to the finish line at Cowes.

Isle of Wight round island race mapThe annual J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, organized by the Island Sailing Club, is a one-day yacht race around the Isle of Wight, an island situated off the south coast of England. The race regularly attracts around 16,000 sailors, making it one of the largest yacht races in the world and the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK after the London Marathon and the Great North and South Runs.

The Race, enjoying its 10th year of title sponsorship from JP Morgan Asset Management, started in 1931 with 25 boats. The Race continues to retain a special place in sailors’ hearts and its popularity continues to increase as organizers point to a 7% growth in the number of ‘first timers’ signing up to experience one of the most iconic yacht races in the world.

Some weather gurus predict good sailing conditions.  On Friday and Saturday, it will be mainly sunny with warm temperatures. With the high pressure and clear nights there will be some early morning mist patches drifting over the Solent from the mainland, but the sunshine will soon burn this off giving good visibility through the rest of the day.  For the Saturday morning start, experts predict a light NNW-NNE at first, 5-10 knots, becoming a light sea breeze in the afternoon; tending to be SW 8-13 in the western and central Solent, and SE 5-10 in the eastern.

J/109 sailing Round Island race in EnglandAn enormous armada of 112 J/Teams is launching their collective efforts on the 65+ trophies that are given out at the awards ceremony.  There are 88 J’s sailing in IRC & Sportsboat classes, 8 in Island Sailing Club rating system and 16 J/80s racing as a class.  In the primary offshore IRC keelboat classes, ranging from IRC 0 to IRC 3 divisions, J/Boats represents by far the biggest brand in the 367 boat grouping, with 88 teams representing 24.0% of the total!  A rather fantastic turnout.  In fact, the single largest class of boats in the entire fleet are the 31 J/109s participating in IRC 2 division.

Starting with IRC 0 Division, the 52 entries will be the first to start their adventure around the island at 0630 hrs on Saturday.  Included in that fleet are two J/133’s- JINGS (David Ballantyne) and JUMP (Ian Dewhirst).  Joining them are two J/111’s- JOURNEYMAKER (Chris Jones & Louise Makin) and ICARUS (Chris Body).

Following them in IRC 1A class with 27 entries are three more J/111’s- J-LANCE 9 from France (Didier Le Moal), JITTERBURG (Cornel Riklin) and MUNKENBECK (Alfred Munkenbeck).  A formidable quartet of J/122’s will be sparring with this trio, including JACOBS LADDER (William Avery), JOLLY JELLYFISH (Ben Few Brown), JOLOU (Sergey Senchenko) and MINT JULEP (David Cule).  If that weren’t enough competition, two J/133s could lead the class around, including APOLLO 7 (Nigel Passmore) and L’EAU DE LA (Nils Boyer).

The lone J in IRC 1C class is the J/120 ASSARAIN III sailed by experienced offshore veteran Chris Masterson.

J/109 in Round Island RaceThe IRC 2 Division and sub-classes are going to have a very challenging time contending with the 31 J/109s and 10 J/105s engulfing the race track!  Starting with the IRC 2A with 35 entries, 12 of them are J/109’s including BLUE JAY (Alan Bennett), BONFIRE 4 (Chris Brooks), DESIGNSTAR 2 (Roger Phillips), JAZZY JELLYFISH (Michelle Butler), JIGSAW (Chris Andrews of Zig Zag Sailing), JINKS (Chris Brooks), JOUSTER (Adam Wright), JUMUNU (Julian Sutherland), JYNNAN TONNYX (Owain Franks and Jean Lockett), RED ARROW (sailed by Marcus Wilson and the Royal Air Force Sailing Team), TIGH SOLIUS II (Iain Mackinnon) and WHITE KNIGHT 7 (Colonel John Ogden).  Hoping that it will be a light-air race will be the powerful J/39 XTREME (sailed by Stephen Best, Colin Foxley & Spencer Paul).

Joining them at the same starting time are the other nineteen J/109s sailing in the IRC 2B class with 37 entries.  Those teams include ALICE OF HAMBLE (Alastair Speare-Cole), BOTEZ COAST IV (Yves Dervieux from France), JAMBO (Andy Barnes), HIGH TENSION (Chris Brooks), INSPARA (Stuart Wood), J’TAIME (Christopher Palmer), JAGERBOMB (Paul Griffiths), JARHEAD (Greg Nasmyth), JELENKO (Simon Forbes & Trevor Sainty), JIBE (Robin Taunt), JOLENE II (Freddie Cardew-Smith), JOLLY JACK TAR (Adrian Wheal and the Royal Navy Sailing Team), JUKE BOX (Chris Copeland), JUMBUCK (John & Sue Allison), JUMPING JELLYFISH (David Richards), JYBE TALKIN (Chris & Helen Burleigh), ME JULIE (Michelle Butler), OFFBEAT (David Mcleman) and OH SIR JASPER (Simon Proctor).  Doing their level best to overcome this group are seven J/105’s, including JACANA (Paul Wood & Jeremy Waitt), JACKPOT (Vernon Bradley), JAK (Martyn Kemp), JELLY BABY (William Newton), JIN & TONIC (Andrew Roberts), JOS OF HAMBLE (Roger Williams) and MOSTLY HARMLESS (Tom Hayhoe & Natalie Jobling).  If that weren’t enough 35 foot J’s in one class, toss in a very tough championship winning team from Ireland sailing their J/35 BENGAL MAGIC with James Chalmers steering!

In the IRC 2C fleet of 36 entries are three J/105s including FLAWLESS J (James Heald), KING LOUIE (Fiona & Malcolm Thorpe) and NEILSON REDEYE (led by Pip & Pete Tyler, owners of Neilson Active Holidays agency).  Joining them will be the J/100 NORA sailed by team of Desmarest & Ratzel from France.

J/92 sailing Round Island Race off EnglandThe IRC 2D Class of 47 entries has a rogue’s gallery of hot J/97 teams, many with championship winning crews aboard.  The eight J/97s include BLACKJACK II (Andy Howe & Annie Kelly), ETB TYRES JUST LIKE THAT (Chaz Ivill), INDULJENCE (Nick & Adam Munday), JACKAROO (Matthew & Rob Orr), JASLAN (Brett Lewis & H Hofmann), JEOPARDY 2 (Nick Barlow- who’s sailing with a group of ladies that won the charity auction to sail the boat in the race— they claim they will race in “fancy dress”!), JET (James & John Owen), and TYREFIX JL (Dave Cobden).  Balancing the J/97s and keeping a sharp reign on them will be the J/110 SHADES OF BLUE (Ed Holton), the J/92 WIZARD (John Greenaway) and the J/95 JUST IS (Graham Chase).

The lone J’s in IRC 3 Division are the J/32 DOMAINE skippered by Chris Burbidge and the J/30 COLLEEN helmed by Allan Hill (in fact, a New England boat shipped over to England).

In addition to the IRC class, the Island Sailing Club Rating System offers an alternative for those pre-disposed to a simpler rule.  As a result, the ISCRS classes are some of the largest in the race.  Taking part in ISCRS 4B class is the J/124 ECLIPSE sailed by Robert Bishop and family and the J/109 SARDONYX IX led by William Edwards.  In ISCRS 4D class, we find the J/92s HULLABALOO sailed by Felix Marks and in ISCRS 5A class is Dick Young’s J/100 CHARLOTTE.  In fact, there are two more J/100’s sailing in the race in ISCRS 5B- Ole Bettum’s ALAMARA B II and Julia James’s THUNDER SQUALL.  Finally, in ISCRS 6C class are two of the “classic” J/24s, including Roger Ayres’s J-RIDER and JUJU (sailed by Quinton Hall, a new boat and first time around island with friends and family in a J/24!).

J/80 sailing Round Island race past Needles lighthouseJ/80S have sixteen entries in a one-design class start, including many of the top teams like AQUA-J (Patrick Liardet), BOYSTEROUS (Dillon Plantinga), DSP (Douglas Struth), EXETER-SOLAR.COM (Nigel Skudder with a crack team of 470 class sailors with National, European and World Champion credentials!), J-WIFE (Simon Watson), JAMMY (Charlie Bonfield), JASMINE (Douglas Neville-Jones), JUMBLESAIL (Robert Hunt), MOJO (Jim White), ROCK & ROLL (Dr Gillian Ross), SEAFIRE (Jeffrey Orford), SURF & TURF (Geoffrey Payne), UKSA 1 (Ash Holmes), UKSA 2 (Jonny Michael), UKSA 3 (Nick Spence & Jack Mitchell), WILD WALLY (the trio of Robert Walters, David Walters & James O’Neill).

J/70 Spitfire sailing Round Island race off cowes, englandFinally, the Sportsboat Class has enlarged considerably with 24 entries.  The smallest J in the crowd is the J/22 MARETA skippered by Armel Desbois.  They will have to contend with a flock of 7 J/70’s that includes last year’s class winner and overall winner of the Sir Edward Heath Trophy- TEAM RAF SPITFIRE POWERED BY SLAM skippered by Wing Commander Simon Ling.  Other J/70’s aim to be contenders as well, including BABY J (Charlie Esse), J’NICKIT (Tim Howard), JENGA 8 (Andrew Barraclough), PURE STUDENT LIVING (Jack & Freddie Davies), TJIG IV (Johnny Dryburgh & Robert Pilcher) and WILSON COVERS (Ian Wilson).  While sailing very standard boats, the six Royal Yacht Squadron J/80s could easily have a go at this crowd, one can never count out some smart sailing this group, that includes ROYAL 1 (Richard Acland), ROYAL 2 (Christopher Hill), ROYAL 3 (Red Johnson), ROYAL 4 (James Baxter sailing with two crew members, Gareth Edwards and Douglas Peniston, that are ex-Fireball National Champion crews), ROYAL 5 (Malcolm Glaister) and ROYAL 6 (Duncan Byatt).  Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright- Photoaction.com
For more Round Island Race sailing information

J/80 WorldsJ/80 World Championship Update
(Annapolis, MD)- “Uniquely situated on the Severn River at the mouth of the Chesapeake, Eastport Yacht Club is eagerly anticipating the J/80 world championship this fall.  Top notch Race Committee led by Principal Race Officer Sharon Hadsell, NRO (USA), a representative International Jury with Charlotte Greppe, IJ/IU (SWE) as Chief Judge, professional staff and volunteers experienced with running large scale world class events are all ready to welcome you to a guaranteed excellent regatta,” commented regatta Co-Chairs Sharon & Jeff Borland.

The Worlds committee has released the cool-looking logo (seen here), and is working on creating great merchandise with it. Preparations are under way for some great parties to celebrate a great class. Music, food and the famous Eastport hospitality will be sure to impress! Both on and off the water, this will be a World-class event!

J/80 world championshipThe first measurement weekend has been announced as July 12 & 13, in Annapolis, MD.  The Worlds committee measurement team, overseen by a certified J/80 class measurer, will be weighing boats and doing hull and keel checks.  The weights will be certified and the boat will not have to be weighed for the North American championship or the World championship.

Only boats that are registered for the North Americans and/or Worlds will be measured during this weekend.  Boats that are made available for charter on the official website may also be measured during this time.

The J/80 Worlds Committee has pledged to become a “Clean Regatta” through the Sailors for the Sea’s Ocean Conservation program. The class is excited to step up to help conserve the waterways that the sport is dependent upon.  Minimizing printed materials, stocking “green” supplies and non-toxic cleaning products, using refillable water bottles & separating recyclables from trash while racing, are just a few of the steps everyone can all take to run an environmentally friendly regatta.  To read more, check out the press release here and the Sailors for the Sea website.

There are several good J/80 charter boats available- please contact charters@j80worlds2014.org for more information.

For more information, please check out the website- http://www.J80worlds2014.org, also see the Facebook page-  https://www.facebook.com/pages/J80-World-Championships-2014 and you can also follow the J/80s on Twitter @regattaj80

Chicago J-Day RegattaChicago J/Day Regatta Announcement
(Chicago, IL)- The 2014 edition of J/Day, sponsored by Skyway Yacht Works, Columbia Yacht Club and Stearns Boating is scheduled for June 28th 2014. The 2013 day was a great success, fighting crazy weather that included fog (in Chicago??) so thick you couldn't see 500 yards.  The day turned into some of the most fun sailing of the summer. Once again, the sailing will be in the outer harbor right off the Aquarium and Planetarium. It will once again be crazy fun racing for all.

While some fleets will opt to sail normal windward-leeward courses, the day features a pursuit race and a race with water balloons and Frisbee tosses adding or subtracting from your finish times.  It is all about having fun with the family and a break from the hard core racing of the summer. Ken Ganch and his wife Stephanie (J/105 and J/70 owners) are once again
barbecuing for the day!

“This year,” says Steve Kindra (from Skyway Yacht Works), “we want to make one of the races where kids drive and really start to include the family into the mix!”

J/70 sailing at J-Day Regatta off ChicagoAccording to Rich Stearns (of Stearns Boating), “Last year, we had 3 J/111’s, 5 105's, 2 J/70's, 5 109's, 1 J/120 and 1 J/133.  The courses were 1 mile in length and because of the weather, we were able to race inside the outer break-wall, just outside the harbor mouth. That was the first time anyone had raced inside the wall - other than the Junior Sailors!”

Steve added, “This year we will have 3 sponsors - HARKEN, KANBERRA GEL, and PETTIT PAINT. Rich and I are providing the food and refreshments and the sponsors are providing very generous prizes, including Nautica watches, Pettit Paint, HARKEN hardware and hats and rum-drinks kinda stuff. Kanberra Gel is providing promotional items including a 2 oz gel for signing up at the skippers meeting.”

For more information, please contact Rich Stearns (rich@stearnsboating.com) or Steve Kindra (ph# 847-638-0010 or info@skywayyachtworks.com).

sailing offshore of Cleveland, OhioCleveland Race Week- Offshore Preview
(Cleveland, OH)- After fabulous sailing the week before, the second part of Cleveland Race Week this coming weekend will have a hard act to follow.  After enjoying sunny skies and good breeze, the sailors this weekend hope they escape the Midwest heat and lack of wind to enjoy the festivities on-shore as well as good sailing on Lake Erie. This Saturday and Sunday, Edgewater YC will be hosting their “offshore” version for PHRF handicap racing boats as well as the “Women’s” division.

The PHRF divisions have 69 boats sailing, including 23 J/Teams (33.0% of the fleet!).  PHRF Spinnaker Division has a large fleet of J’s participating, including two J/111’s (Don Hudak’s new CAPERS and Ryan Ruhlman’s championship team on SPACEMAN SPIFF), Tim Yanda’s J/120 VIVA LA VIDA, Seth Young’s J/39 BLACK SEAL, Mark Saffell’s J/36 PAINKILLER, Paul Matthews’s J/35 WHITEHAWK, Jay Hawkins new J/88 TY-LEE, Peter Kuhn’s J/33 WINDLASSIE, six J/105s (Rick Drucker’s KNOT GUILTY, Eric Sutherland’s ROLLICK, Bob Mock’s UNBRIDLED, Jim Uhlir’s TRIO, Jim Sminchak’s IT, and Chris Mallet’s SYNCHRONICITY), three J/29s (Cindy Einhouse’s OVATION, Kevin Holland’s BADFISH & Aarne Lillo’s AQUARIUS), John Sukis’s J/34 IOR SNEAK ATTACK, and two J/30s (Rich Galaska’s BREEZIN & Dale & Maggie Gormley’s SAND DOLLAR).

woman sailing J109 offshorePerhaps the most novel and certainly ground-breaking division that Cleveland Race Week has pioneered is the Women’s “double-handed” offshore sailing divisions.  The rules are simply that at least one crew member is a woman.  The fact that 12 of the 29 teams are J/Teams (41.0% of the women’s fleet) is not surprising.  Fun, easy to sail boats are essential to women having fun sailing boats whether it’s cruising, day-sailing or racing.  There are three divisions based on level of experience. In the JAM-Double fleet is Chris Howell sailing with his wife on the J/22 LONDON FOG.  In the PHRF-Double Division is John Zelli sailing his J/22 FREE ENERGY with his significant other.  Then, in the “all women” PHRF Women’s Division are Abigail Ruhlman and sister sailing the J/111 SPACEMAN SPIFF, Mindy Sminchak sailing the J/105 IT, then two J/70s being sailed by Elizabeth Wilder on REHAB and CC Skoch on USELESS, Cindy Einhouse sailing the J/20 OVATION, Linda Cutler sailing the J/24 CARRY-ON and Cheri Morabito skippering the J/22 WYSIWYG!

Sailing in the PHRF Non-Spinnaker Division are two J/34s (Dave Krotseng’s BONAFIDE & Jack Hull’s AVATII) and a J/30 (Doug Wahl’s RUBBER SOUL).  For more Cleveland Race Week Offshore sailing information

J/22s sailing upwindNeither Tornado’s Nor Tumbleweed Stop Dallas Race Week!
The World’s Best Honky Tonk “Pursuit Sailing” Regatta!
(Dallas, TX)- With an event history going back to 1982, Dallas Race Week always bridges the week of Summer Solstice in June and is held on Lake Ray Hubbard. The founder of the event, Scott Self, wanted a week long regatta to always be in the evening so no one needed to miss work during the day. Scott’s son, Billy, has helped him organize the event for the past 10 years. The two have kept this event going for 33 years.

Dallas Race Week is a coordinated event between three yacht clubs located on Lake Ray Hubbard. Chandlers Landing YC, Bayview YC and Rush Creek YC. The schedule is one race per night at 7pm with a party each night at each yacht club. The race is a 5 mile point to point or around the lake format directed toward the 40+ PHRF boats actively sailing on Lake Ray Hubbard. It is the single event all year that the entire lake gets together to race and party together. The key to racing in Dallas Race Week is the pursuit start, which allows the slower boats to start first according to their PHRF rating, and for line honors to win the race.

Dallas Race Week is a corporate sponsored sailing event benefiting community service projects of the Rockwall Breakfast Rotary Club. The mission is to provide funding for programs that address issues of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and health care affecting the community. The motto is “Sail Into Service” and it is a belief that represents the value placed on teamwork by sailors and community servants throughout history. The main sponsors this year are Gus Sails, The Matteson Realty Group and SailWithScott.com.

For 2014, the event is challenged with extremely low lake levels causing the start/finish location to be equidistant from the three yacht clubs. The lake is 7’6″ below normal levels due to drought conditions in the southwest. The sailors have really embraced the situation to make the most of Dallas Race Week, with a modified format so the show goes on. Races are scheduled June 15 through 20.

The J sailors participating in the event come from the spectrum of classic J’s on the lake.  In the “big boat” division of PHRF A is Anthony Broadfoot’s J/29 ACADIA.  In the pursuit-style race, they will be hoping to chase down some J/22s and J/24s in PHRF B.  The three J/24s include George Conklin’s AUDACITY, Bob Williams & Pete Pitzer’s FREIGHT DOG and Jack Marsh’s USA 3411.  The two J/22s sailing are Kathy Kulpers’s RIJJIJOFRIJIK and Jim Oursler’s MAUDE.  Of note is that a fleet of five IC-24s (modified J/24s) has been converted to race on the lake as an indigenous class rating at 174 PHRF.  For more Dallas Race Week sailing information

Summer SailsticeJoin Summer Sailstice! Celebrate Sailing!
Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville To Showcase Sailing
(Newport, RI)- Sailstice is a worldwide celebration of sailing on the weekend closest to the summer solstice – this year the solstice falls on a Saturday, June 21, 2014!

All sailors, all sailing, everywhere will change the perception of sailing and what better help than Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville now offering new rewards to sailors ‘strutting their sailing stuff’ while challenging traditional sailing stereotypes. Margaritaville is adding prizes and outreach for the wide range of individuals and organizations posting their events on “www.summersailstice.com” in celebration of the 14th annual event happening on June 21st.

Jimmy Buffet- sailor manJohn Arndt founded Summer Sailstice in February 2001, as the global, annual celebration of sailing held on the summer solstice.  The annual Summer Sailstice sailing event is free to all participants and has grown from 200 boats signed up in 2001 to almost 5,000 boats today. Since many sailors join in the fun on many different boats, the actual number of Summer Sailstice sailors participating is estimated at almost 19,000 annually.

In joining with Sailors for the Sea, Summer Sailstice strives to inform and mobilize sailors, their families and communities to enjoy and conserve the beauty of the oceans and while raising awareness of human impacts on the fragile marine environment and wildlife.

Why Celebrate Sailing?
Sailing has expanded the horizons of the human race, connected continents and cultures, enriched the lives of mankind and, to this day, continues to bring millions under its spell. Summer Sailstice is dedicated to celebrating the full mosaic of the sailing culture.  By celebrating sailing Summer Sailstice will help the non-sailing world discover sailing, help connect sailors and connect more people to caring for the oceans and waters upon which they sail.   For more Summer Sailstice sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The northern parts are rapidly approaching mid-summer celebrations that are associated with the summer solstice on June 21st, particularly those in Scandinavia that have a number of regattas and races that take place all night long— a night that is punctuated by the fact that the sun never does set on J’s sailing in them!  Leading up to that time were several notable regattas on both sides of the Atlantic.

On the American East Coast, the 160th Rolex New York YC Annual Regatta took place off Newport, Rhode Island with a record number of boats attending- 189 to be exact.  With three race courses, two in Rhode Island Sound and one in Narragansett Bay, there was plenty of activity taking place for J Sailors.  J/109s, J/122s and J/44s were sailing IRC offshore while J/111s, J/24s, J/29, J/92s and J/105s sailed PHRF inshore. Often the highlight of the regatta, the traditional Around Conanicut Island Race on Friday took on a rather dismal mood.  Over in the Great Lakes, the Cleveland Race Week One-Design regatta saw one-design fleets of J/70s, J/22s, J/24s and J/105s having a blast sailing the three-day event. The J/70s were hosting their Great Lakes Championship as well. On the West Coast, St Francis YC hosted the J/22 California Match Race Championship for their regional qualifiers that sends the top teams to the U.S. Sailing Match Race Championship later in the summer.

Up north in Canada, the National Yacht Club on the Toronto, Ontario waterfront held their Redpath Toronto Area Hospice Regatta for J/22 Ontario Provincial Championship and the local J/70 & J/80 fleet.

Across the proverbial pond, hundreds of Benelux and Dutch sailors had completed their famous summer extravaganza, the Delta Lloyd North Sea Sailing Week, hosting hundreds of boats and also having an entire village dedicated to amazing food and refreshments.  A big J/22 fleet participated as well as larger J’s like J/109s, J/105s, J/111s and a J/122 all sailing in ORC and IRC handicap divisions.  The French also hosted their Normandy Sailing Week in Le Havre, France.  An enormous fleet of J/80s was competing in their fifth event in the season-long J/80 Coupe de France series.

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:

Jun 21-24- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany
Jun 21- Summer Sailstice Celebration- San Anselmo, CA
Jun 23-27- Block Island Race Week- Block Island, RI
Jun 27-29- Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach, CA
Jun 28- Jul 4- J/80 European Championship- Barcelona, Spain
Jun 28- J/Boats Rendezvous- Brownswville, WA
Jun 28- Round Ireland Race- Wicklow, Ireland
Jul 5-11- CORK Week- Cork, Ireland
Jul 6- Pacific Cup Race- San Francisco, CA
Jul 11-13- Bacardi Newport Regatta- Newport, RI
Jul 12- Bayview Mackinac Race- Port Huron, MI
Jul 14-20- J/70 North Americans- Rochester, NY
Jul 15-19- J/109 North Americans- Newport, RI
Jul 18-20- Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge- Solomons Island, MD
Jul 19-22- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago, IL
Jul 23-26- J-Cup Regatta- Hamble, England
Jul 24-27- J/111 North Americans- Harbor Springs, MI
Jul 24-27- Marblehead NOOD Regatta- Marblehead, MA

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

J/111s sailing New York YC Annual RegattaJ/Teams Sweep Classes @ NYYC Regatta
J/122 & J/109 Top IRC, J/111 & J/24 Crush PHRF
(Newport, RI)- Light, shifty winds had an unusual stronghold on this year’s 160th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, but most of the 189 teams competing knew how to take it all in stride. For many it was a test of patience.  The tricky, occasionally windless, conditions for the Around the Island Race insisted on sticking around for the first day of the regatta, in fact, causing a postponement ashore before the fleet took off into a light SSW breeze for Saturday.  Sunday dawned with a crystal-clear blue sky and lots of promise, a solid 10-15 kt cool breeze was flowing from the NW but that, too, ultimately died and switched into a light SSW breeze.  To say that it was challenging for the NYYC PRO’s on all three courses (two outside on Rhode Island Sound and one in Narragansett Bay) would be an understatement.  Nevertheless, most fleets managed to squeeze in one race per day to make it a series.

J/111 sailing New York YC Annual Regatta- OdysseyThe regatta traditionally starts out with the Around Conanicut Island Race, a 21nm circumnavigation that often makes good use of the steady southwest seabreeze that develops by midday.  The course is usually clockwise, starting off Rose Island in the East Passage of the Bay, rounding Beavertail Lighthouse Bell “NR” to starboard, the Green can “5” and Red Bell “2” at the north end of the island, then a straight leg home to the finish just off Fort Adams.  Perhaps for the first time in a half-century, the race course had to be shortened at the Jamestown Bridge center span, less than halfway through the race after starting south of the Newport Bridge!  The fleet was caught sailing in a slow-moving front that was “spritzing” a nice cool, rainy mist with winds spinning around the compass from 0 to 5 kts max.  Amongst the J/Teams that performed admirably in the simply maddening conditions were Chris Jones and Louise Makin from Hamble, England sailing the J/111 WILD CHILD, winning PHRF 1 class and followed by classmate Fred Van Liew and David Brodsky on their J/111 ODYSSEY in fourth.  Other notable performances were in PHRF 2 with EC Helme’s J/92s SPIRIT taking third in class and Brian Kiley’s J/29 MEDDLER X taking fifth. In the IRC classes, Mike Bruno’s J/122 WINGS grabbed a fourth overall in IRC 4 while Bill Sweetser’s J/109 RUSH took second in IRC 5 class followed by Joerg Esdorn & Duncan Hennes’s J/44 KINCSEM in fourth.

PHRF 1 winners- WILD CHILD- Louise Makin & Chris JonesFor the Annual Regatta that took place Saturday and Sunday, both the White Course and Green Course fleets were quite happy, in retrospect, to have at least counted two races as crazy as anyone may describe them.  On the Green Course up Narragansett Bay were the PHRF Navigators classes.  In PHRF 1, the J/111’s faired quite well with the Jones/ Makin team on WILD CHILD taking the class win with a 1-3 for 4 pts over the Van Liew/ Brodsky team on ODYSSEY with a 3-4 for 7 pts.  In fourth was Doug Curtiss’s WICKED 2.0 with a 2-6 for 8 pts, losing a tie-breaker with another boat.  Significantly, all three J/111s were 1-2-3 on Saturday’s race.

In the PHRF 2 Class, it was a J/Team clean sweep.  In fact, it was a bit of a “back to the future” experience to see the classic J/24 winning class.  By virtue of their most excellent performance on Saturday, the J/24 NIGHTHAWK sailed by the trio of Barker, McVicker & Ryan took the class win.  Second was EC Helme’s J/92s SPIRIT and third was Brian Kiley’s J/29 MEDDLER X.

J/122 sailing New York YC Annual RegattaOutside in Rhode Island Sound, the White Course IRC classes saw for the third year in a row the J/122 WINGS sailed by Mike Bruno from American YC in Long Island Sound take IRC 5 Class with an impossibly low score of 1-1 for just 2 pts.  Third was another classmate, the J/122 AUGUST WEST sailed by Jamey Shachoy from Buzzards Bay, MA.  Rounding out the top five were Len Sitar’s J/44 VAMP in fourth and Paul Milo’s J/122 ORION in fifth.

Another repeat winner in IRC 6 was Bill Sweetser’s J/109 RUSH from Annapolis YC in Annapolis, MD.  RUSH scored a 2-2 for 4 pts to walk off with class honors against such notably famous boats like NYYC Vice Commodore Rives Potts’s CARINA.

For an amazing 3D perspective on what happened on the race courses, be sure to check out the RaceQs.com replays for all three days!  It’s a very useful training tool and great way to learn more from yours (and other’s) mistakes on the race course- tactically and strategically.  Sailing photo credits- Rolex/ Daniel Forster  For more Around the Island Race sailing information  For more NYYC Annual Regatta sailing information

RaceQs.com 3D Tracker Replay
http://raceqs.com/regattas/nyyc-annual-regatta

J/70 sailing off ClevelandJ/One-Designs Love Cleveland Race Week!
(Cleveland, OH)- Dozens of one-design boats invaded Cleveland Race Week at Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, Ohio from June 13-15. Eight fleets competed, including 25 J/70s duking it out for the Great Lakes Championship.  Fortunately, the J/70s began their series on Friday, which featured northwest breezes in the teens and typical Lake Erie waves. Winds started strong again on Saturday morning when all fleets got in on the action, but died off throughout the day. Sunday dawned with light breeze but increased, making for a beautiful day of racing in Cleveland. The Race Committee ran three separate circles and was able to complete up to 11 races on certain courses.

J/70s sailing off start in ClevelandFor the twenty-five J/70s, it was Paul Hulsey's TEAM BAYVIEW that handily won the 10-race series with 49 points to be crowned the 2014 Great Lakes J/70 Champion. The Corinthian team beat out Henry Filter's WILD CHILD and Paul Cannon in second and third, respectively--both with 62 points.

The fifteen boat J/22 class saw the New Yorkers take the top two spots. The MO’MONEY team of Vic Snyder/Kevin Doyle from Youngstown Yacht Club had just 17 pts in six races to win their class.  Second was RJ Moon’s crew on AXE WOUND from Rochester YC snatching defeat from near certain victory, posting a 2-10-6-1-1-3 tally for 23 pts (bet they would pay anything to get back the 10th!).  Third was Dave McBrier’s VAMANOS/ HARDWARECHIMP.COM team from Erie YC with 26 pts.

The J/24s were taken by the BLACK & TAN crew led by Erie YC’s Steve Hronek with 9 points in 6 races.  In fact, they won on a tie-breaker over Chris Glynn’s crew on THE MYSTERY MACHINE by virtue of winning the last race.  Third was Terence Bowdish’s CARRY ON.

For the J/105s, it was clear the class act of the regatta was Team IT led by Jim Sminchak & Doug Moose, starting out with four straight firsts!  In the end, they accumulated a 1-1-1-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.  Second was Jim Uhlir’s TRIO with a 2-2-3-2-1-3 for 13 pts, just narrowly nipping the crew of Bob Mock’s UNBRIDLED with a 3-3-2-3-2-1 for 14 pts.   For Cleveland Race Week sailing information

J/22 sailing match race in San DiegoBalboa YC Sweeps J/22 California Match Race
(San Diego, CA)- Racing at San Diego YC this past weekend in J/22s, 20 year-old Ryan Davidson, sailing for Balboa Yacht Club, swept the field representing seven other yacht clubs to take the US Match Racing Area GHJL Qualifier #2.  Ryan now advances to the finals, also being held in J/22s, at St. Francis YC in early October.  Ryan and crew Brandon Folkman and Gregg Kent turned in a flawless two days of match-racing, finishing 14-0.  In addition to outperforming his opponents in tactical match-racing maneuvers, Ryan avoided mistakes in the pre-start and accurately called pressure up the course to lead almost every match wire-to-wire.

J/22s sailing in San DiegoRelatively consistent winds of 8-10 kt and flat water rewarded straight line boat speed and two Bay Area teams, John Horsch from Treasure Island Sailing Center and Nicole Breault from St. Francis Yacht Club, were just plain fast, out-sailing the rest of the field (except for Davidson) and tied for second, at 10-4, with Horsch winning the tie-breaker.  His team consisted of crew Amy Daniel and Karina Vogen, while Molly Carapiet, Jen Glass and Hannah Burroughs sailed with Breault.

The diverse field of competition revealed the upsurge in interest for match-racing on the West Coast, including Hawaii, whose Waikiki YC sent a team, alongside Balboa YC, Treasure Island, St. Francis YC, Newport Harbor YC, Del Rey YC, California YC, San Francisco YC, and San Diego YC.  US Match Racing Area GHJL representative Bruce Stone reported that both qualifier #1 and #2 had the required number of international umpires and competitors from over 500 km away so they could qualify as a Grade 3 event, rewarding the top skippers with additional ISAF ranking points.  San Diego’s regatta chair Summer Greene, together with the St. Francis, received around 24 formal applications or serious inquiries for the available 16 slots, leading to the possibility of staging a third West Coast qualifier in 2015 at another venue.

For more J/22 Match Racing sailing information in California, please contact: Bruce Stone- US Match Racing Area GHJL Representative- at email- bruce@brucestone.com or ph# 917-822-4060

J/80 sailing Normandy Sailing Week off Le Havre, FranceINTERFACE CONCEPT Wins Normandy Sailing Week
(Le Havre, France)- The French J/80 J/Cup Series continues their next installment with an extraordinary turnout of 35 boats at the famous Normandy Sailing Week.  As they have demonstrated in earlier regattas, the team of Simon Moriceau on INTERFACE CONCEPT have established a strong lead in their season long offshore series by securing a profound performance in the Normandy Regatta.

After starting with three 2nds, Moriceau’s team struck lightning with a string of six 1sts in their nine races to easily secure the win.  Climbing the ladder very fast, not surprisingly, was Eric Brezellec’s crew on COURRIER JUNIOR to finish 12 pts back in second.  In third was yet another very experienced J/80 French team led by Luc Nadal on GAN’JA with 27 pts net.  In fourth was TEAM VENDEE with Benjamin Dutreaux and in fifth was Alexis Henri in VOILE AMBITION DUNKERQUE.   For more Normandy Week Sailing information

J/22 women sailing off The Hauge, The NetherlandsJ/122 JUNIQUE Wins North Sea Week
Edens Crowned J/22 Champion
(The Hague, The Netherlands)- On the last day of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta, only one race was sailed in all the fleets due to the light conditions, so all teamed headed back to shore to celebrate a week of good sailing amongst friends.  Perhaps the two teams that were most excited of all were the J/122 JUNIQUE sailed by Chris & Dirk-jan Revelman and the J/22 sailed by the trio of Edens, Bart and Ewout- both teams winning their fleets by substantial margins.

The Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta starts with the two offshore races that the J/122 participated in, the Vuurschepen Harwich Race and the RORC North Sea Race.  In both of those events, the fast-sailing Revelman’s guided their J/122 JUNIQUE to overall victory in the Double-handed fleet for the combined races.  Their winning formula and remarkable performance continued during the week-long regatta, taking four straight firsts in as many races and not having to sail the last race to win by a substantial margin.

J/22 sailing off NetherlandsA somewhat similar scenario played out in the thirteen boat J/22 one-design class for the North Sea Week one-design regatta.  Starting out the regatta in the lead after the first day, the trio of Edens, Bart & Ewout simply sailed a much more consistent regatta than anyone else, only finishing out of the top three once in 10 races!  In the end, the after two drop races, they counted only 14 pts total to win by 8 pts.  Taking second place was the trio of Stephan la Grouw, Rosemarign, Tom and Gideon sailing TEAM COJONES with a total of 22 pts, just nipping out the FRAPORITA team (Jean-Michel Lautier, Guiseppe d’Aquino & Denis Neves) with 23 pts.  Taking fourth place was Team BIG ROLL- TU DELFT BERING sailed by Nova Huppes, Sanne Crum & Joost Schot with 29 pts. Fifth place was the trio of Frans Bianchi, Marcel Hanenberg and Divera Pronk with 35 pts.

The winners said, “In turn, we would also like to thank all the sailors as an organization. Despite the difficult conditions on the water where the sailors had to muster a lot of patience, the sense of togetherness and sportsmanship was great.”  Sailing photo credits- Richard de Jonge & Sander van der Bosch  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea Week sailing information

J/80 sailing off Toronto, CanadaToronto Hospice Regatta A Symphony of Sails
STAMPEDE Wins J/22 Provincials
(Toronto, ONT)- This year’s Redpath Toronto Area Hospice Regatta was again hosted by the National Yacht Club along the beautiful Toronto waterfront.  An excellent turnout of 46 boats not only assured the Toronto Area Hospice excellent fund-raising but also fun competition and camaraderie amongst the sailors in the six fleets in attendance.  The event also marked the J/22 Ontario Provincial Championship.

J/80 sailboats- sailing off Toronto, CanadaThe sailors were blessed with three straight days of good weather and light to moderate winds.  Taking advantage of their light-air speed was Jeff Love’s crew aboard the J/22 STAMPEDE.  Starting off with three bullets, the “Stampeders” never looked back, amassing three more bullets and a third on their way to a convincing win in the J/22 Provincials, counting just nine pts in seven races!  Behind them in second place was Stephen Jones, counting a 2-2-6-1-3-3-2 for 19 pts and in third was Geoff Bayne’s crew on THREE’S COMPANY scoring a 9-3-3-2-2-4-3 for 26 pts total.  The balance of the top five was taken by Oleg Koubrak’s BESS in 4th and David Doyle’s INNOCENT BYSTANDER in 5th.

The J/70s and J/80s sailed in a combined fleet with Bart Smit’s J/80 NAUTICAL SYMPHONY taking the honors with a total of 12 pts after eight races.  Second was Scott Weakley’s J/70 REX with 20 pts and third was Lawrence Alexander’s J/80 JIGGERS.  Fourth was Ali Bilgen’s J/70 ICE-3 and fifth was Eric Jacob’s J/80 UQILAJUQ.   For more Toronto Hospice Regatta sailing information
 

J/Community

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

J/133 sailing off Norway* J/133 Racing in Norway! We recently got a note from Fredrik Lundh, a crew member of the J/133 J-WALK 2, that has been sailing for the past few years in the Baltic, the North Sea and parts even farther north.  This year, Fredrik’s J-WALK 2 sailed in the annual Halten Ocean Race from the city of Brekstad to a course north around the Halten Lighthouse - approximately 150nm in length— this race is sailed on the open North Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Norway, just a few dozen miles south of the Arctic Circle!  Her owner Arne Rathe skippered J-WALK 2.  The race was hosted by the Yacht club in Trondheim (TSF)- yes, the famous fjord near the southern tip of Norway.

Please see their fun sailing video of their adventure
https://vimeo.com/98228704

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.

J/42 cruiser- sailing across Atlantic Ocean* 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 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over ocean* 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- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* 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

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.