Wednesday, May 27, 2015

J/Newsletter- May 27th, 2015

J/109 sailing off Southern CaliforniaCal Race Week Preview
(Marina del Rey, California)- Participation at Cal Race Week continues to be a highlight for many boats as more and more racers discover the pleasure of late spring sailing in Marina del Rey, with afternoon breezes in the low to mid-teens and perfect temperatures for racing around the buoys.

CYC expects many one-design classes to return in 2015 including the J/70, J/80 and J/109 classes.  In fact, of the fifty-four boats registered to date, 23 of them are J/Teams from the SoCal region (nearly 50% of the fleet).  In addition, several J’s are sailing in the SoCal PHRF handicap fleet.

California Yacht Club has won US SAILING’s St. Petersburg trophy for excellence in race management three times in recent years! Multiple venues with separate start/finish lines will minimize interference between boats in different classes and insure that most of the time on the water will be spent racing.

The weekend’s hospitality will be a fitting complement to the on-the-water competition. There will be entertainment both days, with “hosted” beverages on the docks delivered by friendly, beautiful hostesses and a no-host BBQ on Saturday.  Then, on Sunday at trophy presentation there are more complimentary beverages with the most amazing spread of hors d’oeuvres seen anywhere in the world.  If you have never experienced this type of “red carpet” treatment before (similar to San Diego YC's largesse), you owe it to yourself to enjoy CYC’s gracious hospitality at least once in your life! 

Many of SoCal’s leading J/109s will be participating over the weekend, including Alice Leahey’s GRACE O’MALLEY, Bryce Benjamin’s PERSISTENCE, John Shulze’s LINSTAR and Tom Brott’s famous yellow-bottomed boat- ELECTRA.

The J/70 class continues to expand in SoCal, in particular because the J/70 North Americans will be held in San Diego at San Diego YC later in September.  It seems that every major event is attracting a field of strong J/70 teams as that event date gets closer and closer.  New teams like Chris Raab & Dale Williams’ SUGOI will be contending with class veterans like Karl Pomeroy & Patrick Powell’s ZERO TO 60, David Schumann’s BOTTLE ROCKET, Justin Kromelow’s LOOSE LUCY and Craig Tallman’s JAYA.  Woman skipper Beverly Burr’s crew on VIVACE are moving up the learning curve quickly and hope to give “the boys” a run for the roses, too.

The top SoCal J/80 team will be in attendance hoping to defend their crown, Curt Johnson’s AVET from the hometown Cal YC.  They will be joined by Peter Boland & Erik Pavelka’s ACQUE VELOCE and David Angers’ MISS DEMEANOR.

Making a go of it in the PHRF handicap world offshore will be Glenn Griley’s J/111 STAMPEDE from King’s Harbor YC and Rich Festa & David Navon’s J/120 PRIVATE RESIDENCE from PCCA.  For more Cal Race Week sailing information

J/80 sailing off ItalyJ/80 Blue Project Club Opens in Italy
(Chiavari (Genoa), Italy)- As they continue to grow their sailing club and sailing course offerings, the BLUE PROJECT team will begin their programs in Marina di Chiavari (GE) on board of their J/80s in June of this year.

The program offers sailors an opportunity to improve their sailing capabilities with excellent instructors in one of the most beautiful places to sail in all of Italy.  Situated along the famous coastline that runs along Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino, it offers a great chance to have a wonderful vacation and learn the nuances of sailing in the sensitive, fun-to-sail J/80 class sailboats.

J/80 sailing coach at Blue ProjectPerhaps the most notable benefit of participating in this program is that a famous woman skipper- Anne-Soizic Bertin- is their Technical Director (pictured here). She is a Match Race Champion and has been 5th in the ISAF World Rankings.  She is a French woman that lives in Chiavari and has been a habitué of the J/80 class.  Her regular crew are, in fact, (from the bow in the above photo) Fausto Surini, Mattia Capurso, Andrea Trani and Martino Tortarolo- her team for sailing J/80 events.

The BLUE PROJECT Team can organize full packages that include hotel, meals, excursions, car rental, etc to discover Liguria and its beautiful and enchanting sea, towns and excellent food & wine.

Classes are held on weekends as well as there are 5-day courses from Monday to Friday. For more information and booking, please contact Anne-Soizic Bertin: mobile +39 329 854 9199/ email- anne@blueprojectsailing.com or Ivana Quattrini: mobile +39 335 809 3904/ email- ufficiostampa@blueprojectsailing.com

J/109 sailing Lake OntarioSusan Hood Trophy Race Preview
(Port Credit, Ontario, Canada)- A long time ago (back in the 1950’s), the vast majority of what we now call racer/cruiser yachts were custom built, usually of wood, and at the west end of Lake Ontario the only measurement handicap system was the Cruising Club of America (CCA) Rule. There were two major drawbacks to this rule: (1) you had to have your yacht weighed, and (2) in almost all cases you had to have a set of plans. Tough nutters those old handicap guys were, eh??

In the spring of 1955, Doug Hood, a member of Port Credit Yacht Club, approached George Cuthbertson (of C&C Yachts design fame) and offered to put up a trophy if someone would produce a simple measurement system for handicapping yachts. They decided to try it out with Doug donating the trophy named after his brand new bouncing baby daughter Susan (e.g. the namesake of the Susan Hood Trophy Race). Approximately 25 boats were measured and the first race was held in early June. The course was Port Credit to Oakville to Port Dalhousie and back to Port Credit. In spite of a fire on one yacht, very little wind, and Doug winning his own trophy (in a Cruising 6 Metre “Junge”), the race was a great success.

Today, the race continues in that grand tradition of breaking new ground and welcoming all forms of offshore sailing to the event in the first great race of the Lake Ontario sailing season. This year’s race runs on Friday, May 29th from Port Credit YC. Boats typically are back at PCYC mid-day or during the afternoon of the following day.

Over the course of time, the race has continued to attract passionate followers that count on getting their boats ready for their inaugural race of the offshore season.  The race can be anything but a “cakewalk” across the lake course.  It can as benign as a cruise around the track in gorgeous spring conditions- 70 deg days, sun and 12 kts of breeze and an evening on the lake watching the Northern Lights dancing in the evening skies while your sails are lit-up with a spring monster moon.  Or, it can all be in fog, like the year one famous Canadian sailor, Terry McLaughlin, spent with his partner figuring out how to make a J/105 go fast.  Or, it can be a hair-raising, beyond fresh-to-frightening ordeal fighting a massively fast-moving frontal system whipping off the Midwestern prairies with God’s light-show blitzing your retinas every few seconds while you try to rationalize why you even bothered to start the race in the first place with the prospect of 1” hail and 45 knot gales blowing down the companionway hatch and exploding your $500 Kaenon sun-glasses!  "Aahhh," say those hardy Midwestern and Canadian folk, “that’s just the way it is, eh??”  Such is the mentality of ice hockey players used to playing pond—hockey in sub-zero gales and frozen-lake iceboat sailors once it’s time to sail the soft-water stuff.  It is a different world for those northern types.

Loving every minute of it are a certain breed of fun-loving, living-it-on-the-edge J sailors who relish the chance to hop in their boats just after Lake Ontario has melted (meaning un-frozen) and begin to carve new trails of adventure across their beloved lake.  The IRC Class of fourteen boats has three veterans taking on some of Lake Ontario’s best offshore teams.  Nevertheless, Murray Gainer’s J/109 LIVELY from Toronto can more than hold their own against them.  In addition, Leszek Siek’s J/35 JAEGER has proven that “classic” can also mean fast; the same can be said for Andrew Sharp’s J/92 SWITCH from Olcott YC in New York.

Sailing the Solo PHRF Fleet will be Geoff Cornish’s J/124 ROULEUR from Royal Canadian YC in Toronto. In the PHRF FS-FC1 Class is past race winner, Bob Eckersley’s J/109 BLUE STREAK from Toronto as well as Graham Tom’s J/120 THE CAT CAME BACK.  In FS-FC2 class is a quartet of fearless J/105 teams such as Peter Wolniak’s ANOTHER HAZARD, Geoff Clarke’s CASUAL ELEGANCE, Tom Accardo’s SOTTOVENTO and Ed Berkhout’s ALI-KAT.  Finally, in the NFS-FC1 class is Wendy Northcotte’s J/30 NORTH CAUGHT from St Catherines, Ontario.  For more Susan Hood Trophy Race sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The end of April always seems to bring surprises in the world of sailing.  No one could have predicted, for example, that sailing conditions for most events in Europe, USA and Mexico would produce not just good sailing conditions, but in most places fabulous weather that would go down in the record books in one way or another for sailors as either memorable or, for those offshore, unbelievably fast.

Starting off with our J teams in Europe, it must be said there were several notable performances by top teams both offshore and in the one-design world.  Taking advantage of the excellent conditions off The Hague in The Netherlands were J teams sailing the huge Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta.  The event also marked the first ever Dutch Two-Handed Nationals that saw J/105, J/111, J/120, J/122 and J/133 teams sail lights out in the 2H divisions.  Simultaneously, J/22s and J/80s were enjoying the bright spring conditions.   Just across the border in France, the Grand Prix du Crouesty hosted the first French J/70 Nationals, the annual French J/24 Nationals and the fourth act of the Coupe de France J/80; thanks to the efforts of the YC Crouesty de Arzon.  Further south in Europe, the famous J/80 class in Spain also hosted its J/80 Copa de Espana in Murcia, Spain.

In the North and Central American sphere of sailing, a number of extraordinary sailing events took place from way up north in Canada all the way down to Mexico in equatorial waters. Starting in the east, the Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race took place in near idyllic offshore conditions (for raw boat speed, that is!) for fleets of one-design J/44s as well as IRC and PHRF handicap classes, including a well-attended Double-handed class that saw J/105s, a J/88, J/109s, J/120s, J/122s do well.  Simultaneously, loving the same conditions were a huge fleet of boats sailing from Hyannis, Cape Cod to Nantucket in the infamous FIGAWI Race- an event that saw everything from J/29s up to J/46s participate.  In the south, the J/24s held their Heritage & Corinthian Cup at Dallas Corinthian YC in Dallas, Texas.  Out west, the Pacific Coast was quite busy.  In the Pacific Northwest, the renowned Swiftsure Race that starts in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada took place that incorporates five events in one- the Swiftsure Lightship Classic, the new Hanz Bauer Ledge Race, the Cape Flattery Race, the Juan de Fuca Race and the Inshore Classic.  South of them on San Francisco Bay, two events took place simultaneously, the J/24 USA Nationals at Berkeley YC on the Berkeley Circle and the U.S. Sailing J/22 Match Race West Coast series off St Francis YC.

Finally, down in Central America, the J/70 class in Mexico hosted their Copa Aaron Saenz in Acapulco, Mexico- an amazing event that supports youth sailing on an international level, but now also includes the rapidly growing J/70 class in Mexico.

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:

May 29-30- Susan Hood Trophy Race- Mississauga, Ontario
May 29-31- Southern Bay Race Week- Hampton, VA
May 30-31- Cal Race Week- Marina del Rey, CA
May 30- Jun 2- Italian J/24 Nationals- Cala Galera, Italy
Jun 3-6- J/80 Campeonato de Espana- Sotogrande, Spain
Jun 5- RORC de Guingand Bowl- Cowes, IOW, England
Jun 6-8- Cronulla J/24 Short Course Regatta- Sydney, Australia
Jun 6-13- J/24 Europeans- Arzon, France
Jun 11-13- J/Cup Regatta- Cowes, IOW, England
Jun 12-14- NYYC Annual Regatta- Newport, RI
Jun 12-14- Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH
Jun 12-14- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL
Jun 12-14- Italian J/70 Alcatel OneTouch #3- Cervia, Italy
Jun 15-19- J/111 World Championship- Newport, RI
Jun 21-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Island, RI
Jun 21-26- J/109 North Americans- Block Island, RI
Jun 25-28- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany
Jun 26-Jul 5- Delta Week 2015- Grevelingen, The Netherlands
Jun 26-28- Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach, CA
Jun 27- JP Morgan Round Island Race- Cowes, IOW- England

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

J/80 sailing Copa de EspanaBRIBON-MOVISTAR- J/80 Copa de Espana Star
(Murcia, Spain)- Marc de Antonio and Sofia Bertrand’s J/80 BRIBON-MOVISTAR, sailing under the flag of the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona and Real Club Nautico de Sanxenxo, again won their title with a good margin of points over the second place finishers.  It was the locals from Murcia that completed the podium, Carlos Martinez at the helm of AKEWUELE and Jose Maria Van der Ploeg skippering NAUTICA WATCHES.

The fleet was blessed with perfect sailing conditions during the three days of racing off the Marina Juan Montiel (Aguilas, Murcia) to compete for the Copa de Espana J/80.  Seventeen teams sailed nine races from the 21st to 24th of May in perfect breezes.

The final victory went to the crew of Marc Antony and Sophie Bertrand, their team on “BRIBON—MOVISTAR" sailed an impeccable championship, taking podium positions in eight of the nine races.  Despite being the leader after the first day of racing, Carlos Martinez’s AKEQUELE finished in second place.

Olympic medalist Jose Maria Van der Ploeg, skippering NAUTICA WATCHES, took third largely because they had to discard a 16 pt Black Flag and count the other eight races instead.

The superiority of the Catalan J/80 fleet was the dominant theme in the Copa de Espana J/80 in Aguilas.  The fact that the podium had all three places occupied by members of the Catalan fleet is quite remarkable and is evidence of the high quality of racing in the local fleet.

In the overall standings, one has to drop to fourth place to find a team that does not belong to the Catalan fleet; that was HM HOTELS skippered by Javier Chacartegui, representing the Yacht Club of Arenal (Baleares).  They were six points off the podium.

The next regatta for the Spanish J/80 class will be the Campeonato de Espana IX to be held in Sotogrande waters- Cádiz- from 3rd to 6th of June.  Already thirty boats have registered for the event with more promising they will be there!  That should be a fantastic warm-up for the J/80 World Championships in Germany in the first week of July!  For more Copa de Espana sailing information

J/111 Xcentric Ripper- North Sea winners- Robin Verhoef & John van der StarreJ/111 Wins Dutch 2H Nationals
J/109 Crushes ORC 2 Class @ North Sea Regatta
(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- Participants in the 70th North Sea Regatta, powered by Delta Lloyd, were treated to beautiful weather all weekend long.  The participants in the Two-Handed Nationals had a stronger, more demanding three days than they had sailing for 24 hours at sea last week.  As most will admit, it was great training for the Fastnet Race.

After the first day of racing, it was clear amongst the fifteen duos on the Two-Handed Class starting line that Robin Verhoef & John van der Starre’s J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was going to be a force to contend with.  Easily starting fast and handling their boat as well or better than all their competitors, the super slick J/111 simply outsailed their colleagues to lead after the first day.

Yvonne Buesker and Two-handed crews at North Sea regattaYvonne Beusker, who is responsible for the racing and the competition within Shorthanded group, was positively surprised about the level of competition. "They are all real die-hards, everyone sailing with the knife between the teeth. The level is really high amongst all the teams! Everyone is going to continue until they are exhausted; the two of you have to be very versatile. You saw yesterday, especially with the heavy weather, the teams all sailed very well. We left at 8:45 am from the harbor and were the last ones were back at 17:45 hrs! That is a full day of sailing for two people after three races!  On Saturday, the conditions were calmer and the duos could be little more relaxed about pushing their boats.”

Beusker is thrilled with the number of participants in this first national championship (seen in the photo above). "The atmosphere is very good and most of the participants will also take part in the Fastnet race. As we celebrate, this feast continues forward to the Fastnet Race.  The major competitors there are the French and the English for us.  However, we know the level of Dutch sailing high, particularly with this current group of two-handed teams, so we hope the Dutch are really going to do well during the Fastnet."

Beusker’s words may be prophetic.  As it was in the last edition of the Fastnet Race that the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER, after passing Fastnet Rock, was one of the leaders overall in the IRC Class of 250+ boats- including fully-crewed teams!  So, it remains to be seen if this year’s preparations bring everyone in the Netherlands to a much higher level.

J crew sailing past markAt the end of the regatta, the first Netherlands Two-Handed National Championship crown went to John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef’s XCENTRIC RIPPER.  No one could touch them on speed, strategy and boat-handling.  Understandably, Van der Starre was walking on air after winning the first Two-handed Nationals! "I walk on roses," says van der Starre. "It's always ups and downs, now with the Vuurschepenrace and North Sea Race experience, we believe we have a good chance in the Fastnet Race. When we were in England, I said that I simply wanted to go sailing and see what happens.  We’re happy with our performance so far!”

“The crossing of the Channel and the races up and down the coast of Scheveningen are not comparable to this weekend,” said van der Starre. "The Channel crossing is really tough, we were awake nearly 25 hours, so it’s mentally and physically challenging. Last weekend saw really how high the level in the Netherlands, it was very physically challenging since you sail so many races!  The North Sea Regatta was one that stood high on the list that we hoped to do well in, we now move on to the Fastnet. And, in between we also still do some competitions in the Netherlands."

J/109 sailing North Sea regattaIn addition to the winners, taking second in the Two-Handed Nationals was the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM sailed by Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker, winning the last two races in convincing fashion over their friends on the RIPPER!  In fifth was the J/133 BATFISH sailed by Bart Desaunois and Gerard de Boer; seventh was the J/109 FIRESTORM (Wim van Slooten/ Jochem Hamstra); taking 8th was the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram); and tenth was the women’s duo on the J/105 PANTHER (Yvonne Beusker/ Edith Voskamp).  That is quite a showing for J/Teams in the top ten of the first Two-Handed Nationals- 60% of the top ten!!

Besides the 2H Nationals, XCENTRIC RIPPER duo also won the 2H Yeoman Cup with a 1-2-1-3-2 record for just 9 pts.  Taking second were their friends on the J/133 BATFISH, 3rd place was the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM, 8th was the J/120 MAVERICK, 10th was the J/109 FIRESTORM, and 11th was the J/105 PANTHER.

J/109 Jai Lai crew winning North Sea regattaOver in the world of ORC 2 Class racing, there was another excellent performance by a J/crew-  JC Bornet’s J/109 JAI LAI.  Wouter Kollman, who was sailing aboard as tactics, said, “I can’t believe we won the Dutch ORC Championship, the Yeoman Cup and the North Sea Regatta Overall in ORC 2 Class!  Great sailing with Team ZDH Stevedoring!!”  Their J/109 classmate MAJIC, sailed by Arnout Joorritsma took fourth in class.

The J/22 Benelux Open Championship went to Jean-Michel Lautier’s FRAPORITA, posting five 1sts in the twelve races the J/22 class sailed over the four days.  The FRAPORITA gang sailed a remarkably steady series, posting only top five finishes to win with just 19 pts.  Despite leading after the first half of the series (6 races), having to take second overall was Dirk Jan Verdoorn’s JUT EN JUL.  Dirk’s crew may have “lost their minds” after celebrating their good fortune at the start of the regatta, for their disastrous performances in the next four races, an epic 8-11-10-11 tally, saw them tumble hard down the standings.  J/22s sailing North Sea regattaOnly three points back in 3rd place was Ivo Jeukens’ DA KANTOORBUTLER.  Rounding out the top five was Erik Verboom’s JAM SESSION in 4th and in 5th place was the famous BIG ROLL/ TU DELFT/ BROACH/ BERING crew led by skipper Lisanne Nijdam.

This year there was four J/80's registered in the North Sea Regatta for their Open Benelux Championship.  It turned into a match race struggle between Peter Paul de Vries and Bram Adema.  "We were a bit wild at the start,” said Peter Paul, “but then we were happy to have a match race for the regatta with Bram!  Fun sailing all weekend!”  In the end, Peter Paul’s team on DE SJAAK won with eight bullets in the scoreline with Bram’s NJORD taking the second seat on the podium.  Sailing photo credits- Sander van der Borch.  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta sailing information

J/24 sailing at GP CrouestyJ’s J’Taime GP du Crouesty
Pellissier Tops J/80s, Sambron Eclipses J/70s, MAJIC Dusts J/24s
(Crouesty de Arzon, France)- Blessed with better than average sailing conditions over all three days of the regatta, the Yacht Club du Crouesty Arzon did a fantastic job of hosting their famous annual regatta- the Grand Prix du Crouesty.

With such great conditions, the sailing off Port Navalo on the Baie de Morbihan saw the YCCA able to get in as many as a dozen races for some fleets!  Both the J/70s and J/24s were hosting their French National Championships and the J/80s were sailing the next act in the season long Coupe de France J/80 series.

Perhaps the big surprise was the outstanding performance of Laurent Sempron’s HEMON CAMUS in the eleven boats J/70 class. It is evident that his long-term success in the J/80 class was a great background for sailing the 70s.  Starting out by winning the first race, Sambron’s crew won all but one race to close out the series with just 8 pts.  As a result, Sambron’s crew are declared the first French J/70 National Champions!  Behind them, it was a close contest for the top five.  Taking 2nd overall was Gwenael Thomas’ OUEST GREEMENT with 21 pts net and the only other boat to win a race.  Third place was Francois Dore’s CELE’J from EV Rochelaises with 25 pts net- they are from the homeport for the upcoming J/70 World Championships.  Fourth was Pierre Ducom’s ENER-J with 27 pts net and fifth place was taken by Thomas Mellano’s PAPREC RECYCLAGE LE HAVRE NAUTIC.

J/70 and J/80 round mark at  GP CrouestyThere was a good turnout for the J/80s, with twenty-two boats vying for good positions in their overall season series.  Sailing at a very high level all season long has been Sylvain Pellissier’s VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE team.  After winning the first two races with ease, Pellissier’s team put their boat on “cruise control” and posted the rest of their scores in the top five to win with just 12 pts net.  Not giving a millimeter, but just never able to close the gap on Pellissier’s fast & smart team was past French J/80 National Champion, Eric Brezellec on COURRIER JUNIOR.  After posting two seconds in as many races, they could do nothing to close the gap with Pellissier, having to settle for second overall with 17 pts net.  Sailing one of their better regattas in recent memory was Luc Nadal’s crew on GAN’JA, collecting a 2-1-2 in his scoreline to secure third overall with 26 pts.  The balance of the top five include Adrien Mouillon’s APCC TJM in 4th place and Marc Noesmoen’s TEAM VENDEE in fifth.

Compared to their J one-design colleagues in the 70s and 80s classes, the French J/24 Nationals saw a very closely fought contest for the top three.  The three contenders- Francois De Herce’s MAJIC, Aorelian Garcia’s INSULARIS and Phillippe Boudgourd’s FIL D’O- were essentially tied after six races.  With two more races to go, it would be a horse race to see which team would top the winner’s circle.  At this stage, it was apparent that MAJIC was ready to get the job done, posting a closing score of double bullets to win with 12 pts net.  Sailing nearly as well was INSULARIS, but their 2-3 was only good enough for 2nd place with 15 pts net.  Finally, just about falling off their race horse must have been FIL D’O’s crew, their 5-2 dropped them out of contention into 3rd place overall with 18 pts net.  It was fun, close racing for this trio.  Taking 4th was Charles Gury’s JINETTE and in 5th was Pierre Antoine’s MARTA.  For more Grand Prix du Crouesty France sailing information

J/120 sailing around markJ/105 YOUNG AMERICAN Kids Two-Peat!
1st PHRF 3 and 1st PHRF Overall In Block Island Race
(Larchmont, NY)– The 70th edition of the Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race yielded winners in ten classes – four IRC (including one for Double-hand), four PHRF, J/44 and Multihull – and a place in the record books for Jim and Kristy Hinze Clark’s new 100-foot Maxi Comanche with past J/24 World Champion Ken Read at the helm. Fifty eight boats started the 185 nautical mile race (from Stamford Yacht Club in Connecticut, down Long Island Sound, around Block Island, R.I. and back to Stamford) on Friday afternoon (May 22) of Memorial Day Weekend, with Comanche finishing exactly one second after 2:50 a.m. the next morning, giving her an elapsed time of 11 hours 25 minutes and 01 second. Speed-wise, Comanche averaged 16.2 knots, crushing the old Rambler 100 record that averaged 14 knots.

“If I could have drawn the weather map, I think it is what I would have drawn,” said Comanche’s Navigator Stan Honey. The favorable conditions included winds of 15-27 knots and outgoing/incoming tides at all the right times, especially at “The Race” and “Plum Gut,” two notoriously difficult passage choices for exiting and re-entering Long Island Sound.

Repeating its PHRF 3 Class victory from last year was American Yacht Club’s J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN, another entry with junior sailors, but in this case, the kids were the majority onboard with Peter Becker serving as the team’s single adult safety officer and coach. “Last year, we won our class and finished third overall, which was a huge moment,” said Becker. “This year, we were first in PHRF division and first overall in PHRF, so we bested our performance by a big margin. The kids are on fire; they love it!”

The YOUNG AMERICAN team was pressured up at the start for their spinnaker run in 25 knots. When the tack of their chute blew out, they switched to a spare and were surfing down Long Island Sound at 15 knots.  “We were all hiking off the stern and hanging with the big boats and double-handed boats.  They started the double-hands, then small to large classes in order, so Comanche was the last start. It was really cool when it went whizzing by us doing 18-20 knots.”  For their offshore feats, the YOUNG AMERICAN crew was awarded the TERRAPIN TROPHY for “Best corrected time in PHRF”!

Behind the YOUNG AMERICAN team was Rick Oricchio’s J/120 ROCKET SCIENCE with a 4th in class and sitting in 7th was Dan Nash’s J/105 MISTRAL.

In the IRC Divisions, several J crews had excellent performances.  Most notably, about on par with the kids triumph was Hewitt Gaynor’s J/120 MIREILLE taking 1st in the IRC Double-handed Division.  A fellow J/120 duo on ALIBI skippered by Gardner Grant took 2nd!  Fifth in class was Rod Johnstone’ J/88 JAZZ (see Rod J’s report below in the Community section) and taking 7th place was Andrew Berdon’s J/109 STRIDER.  For their epic win in the Double-handed Division, MIREILLE took home the GEROLD ABELS Trophy for “Best Performance Double-Handed”.

For IRC 2 Class, the J/122 RED SKY helmed by John Pearson placed third overall of eight boats.

The J/44s once again sailed as a one-design class with long-time J/105 champion Joerg Esdorn demonstrating both strong tactics and long-term offshore strategies to pull off their first big J/44 class win since they traded up to the 44s over four years ago.  Tough class!  Second was veteran 44 class winner Len Sitar’s VAMP and rounding out the podium was Chris Lewis’ Houston, Texas team sailing KENAI (bet they were happy to be avoiding the massive flooding in their hometown!). As a result of their performance in the 44 class, Esdorn’s KINCSEM was awarded the GEORGE LAUDER TROPHY for the “Best performance by a Vintage boat (25 years old +)!

Chairman Redniss said this was a tough year for getting boats prepared for the Block Island Race, which was a week earlier than usual. “It was quite cold and harbors were frozen; yards were simply weeks behind.  Overall, we had 68 entries; however, eight notified us before race day that they were not going to make it, and another two did not make the start. Conditions for the race were near perfect, but of course, another 10 or 12 degrees warmer would have been nice!  We were cold on the Committee Boat overnight; I can imagine there was a lot of shivering on the rail!”  For more Storm Trysail Block Island Race sailing information

J/24s sailing San Francisco's Berkeley CircleJ/24 US Nationals Snow’d Under!
(Berkeley, California) – It took all nine races to determine the victor at the J/24 US National Championship, hosted by Berkeley Yacht Club on May 22-24. Chris Snow’s BOGUS and David Klatt’s JADED came into the final day with just one point separating them, and in the end, it was still one single point that secured victory for Snow and his crew, which included current J/24 World Champion Will Welles (tactics), Chris Nesbitt (trim), Garth Reynolds (mast) and Doug Weitz (bow, a J/24 World Champion crew in 1995).

Snow’s BOGUS team gained the early advantage on day 1 on the highly competitive fleet of twenty-five boats; they posted a 1,2,3 on Friday. Just two notches behind them was Klatt’s JADED of Ventura, CA with 8 points. Tokuma Takesue’s GEKKO from Japan stood in third with 12 points.

Snow took control of the opening bout, when winds were between 10-12 knots on San Francisco Bay. Mark Laura’s BABA LOUIE trailed in second, and Klatt in third. In the next race, it was Takesue’s GEKKO in the top spot, as Snow dropped to second and Scott Milne’s Tremendous Slouch completed the top trio. Klatt claimed the victory in Friday’s final contest, followed by Carl Sheath’s Suspence (who subsequently incurred a 20% scoring penalty) and Snow. The breeze increased to 14-16 knots by the start of race 3.

Three more races were completed on the second day with only one point now dividing the top two in the standings: BOGUS and JADED. Snow dropped a six in Saturday’s middle race to keep scores of 1,2,3,3,1 for 10 points. Klatt had to drop his last tally (a fifth), leaving a line of 3,4,1,2,1 for 11 points. Laura’s BABA LOUIE moved up to third in the standings.

J/24s sailing at USA Nationals in San FranciscoLight winds between 4-6 knots greeted the teams on Saturday morning when Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS of Santa Barbara, CA won the opening contest. Klatt and Snow then settled in the familiar top three. Klatt inched out Laura’s Baba Louie to claim the top spot in the next race in breeze between 6-8 knots (Toole got the bronze position). The wind stepped up to 10-12 in Saturday’s final battle, and it was Snow who secured the victory, trailed by Scott Milne’s TREMENDOUS SLOUCH and Laura.

BOGUS started off Sunday with a 2,1, leaving them with a five-point advantage. Klatt did all he could in the final bout and took line honors, but Snow placed fifth which was exactly enough to win with 18 net points, to Klatt’s 19. Takesue’s GEKKO of Japan, with Mike Ingham as a crew member, took third with 32 points.

Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS was finally getting their “mojo” going and opened the day with a victory, ahead of Snow and Michael Whitfield’s TMC RACING, while winds hovered around 10 knots on the Bay. Snow snagged the bullet in the next contest, as Klatt and Takesue rounded out the top three. Closing out the regatta in 12-14 knots of wind, Klatt claimed the final race win, trailed by Scott Milne’s TREMENDOUS SLOUCH and Takesue.

Behind the top two boats overall, taking a well-deserved third place was Takesue’s GEKKO with 32 pts net.  Fourth was Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS with 36 pts net and fifth was Laura’s Seattle crew on BABA LOUIE with 43 pts net.

One of the more notable performances in the regatta was woman skipper Natalie Penner on GIGGLES.  Hailing from Austin YC in Texas, this was her first major regatta on the notorious Berkeley Circle on San Francisco Bay.  While her team still had their “training wheels” on in the first few races, she closed with a 4-6 in the last two races to jump into 8th spot overall— not bad for here crew to snare a top ten finish!  For more J/24 US Nationals sailing information

J/120 sailing Swiftsure RaceJ’s Sweep Swiftsure Classes
(Victoria, BC, Canada)- This year’s Swiftsure Race had nearly all the best elements of a near-perfect race!  Good winds, smooth waters, incredible competitors from far and wide, the largest complement of racers in years.  The Swiftsure is now actually five different races over three separate courses, plus an inshore regatta.  The principal races include the following:
  • Swiftsure Lightship Classic- 138nm
  • Hein Bank Race- 118.1nm
  • Cape Flattery Race- 101.9nm
  • Juan de Fuca Race- 78.7nm
  • Inshore Classic Race- 24.0nm
Starting off with the granddaddy of them all, the Lightship Classic, we find Ron Holbrook’s crew on the J/133 CONSTELLATION sailed a great race to complete the 138.2nm course in 22:52:20 to take second overall in the division of eleven boats.

J/145 sailing Swiftsure RaceIn the Cape Flattery Race, perennially the largest race fleet with 65 boats in six PHRF divisions.  The J’s had fantastic performances in some of the divisions. “Bringing home the bacon”, so to speak, were a duo of J/120s at the top of L2 Division.  First on corrected time was Kirk Palmer’s LIGHTSCOUT and second was Bob Brunius’ famous veteran offshore crew on TIME BANDIT.  Together they also took 2nd and 4th overall in the entire Cape Flattery Race!  In fact, J crews swept the L2 Division, with the J/46 DIVA sailed by Jim Prentice taking 3rd in class and 8th overall. Fifth in class went to the J/35 TAHLEQUAH skippered by Don Leighton followed by Chris Johnson’s J/120 WITH GRACE in 7th and Mark Hansen’s J/109 MOJO in 8th.  In short, J’s took 60% of the top ten spots in L2 Division.

Repeating their J colleague’s performances in L2, the J/105s simply swept top honors in L3 Division.  At the top of the trio was Matt Davis’ FREE BOWL OF SOUP from Arizona YC, if you recall they won their class in the Oregon Offshore Race last year and went on to repeat that same performance in the Pacific Cup Race. Second was a well-known fast local boat, Jerry Diercks’ DELIRIUM and third place went to Ed Wilder’s AVALANCHE.

Swiftsure Race starting lineIn the H1 Division, it was Scott Campbell’s pretty J/46 DIVA from Portland, Oregon that simply trounced their competitors to win their class by 22 minutes on corrected time.  Not too far off the pace was fellow Portland YC member Tom Keffer on his J/42 VELOCITY posting a 9th in class.

There were 46 boats in four PHRF divisions sailing the 78.7nm Juan de Fuca Race.  Top J was the J/35 MOONLIGHT MILE sailed by Duncan Stamper, taking a 7th in L1 Division.  The J/30s in L2 Division sailed well, with Joe Geck’s BOB taking 3rd and Theo Singelis’ TAKU placing 8th.

The Inshore Race was fast and furious with most competitors finished by 3 PM.  This 24nm race saw nearly the entire top twenty boats overall finish within 10 minutes of each other on corrected time!  Needless to say, the conditions seriously favored the smaller, slower handicapped boats.  Top J was Kevin Reath’s J/80 SW-II from host Royal Vancouver YC, taking 6th in the Flying Sails Division.  Next was Ben Braden sailing the J/88 in 14th place, then in 16th was Tom Kerr’s J/33 CORVO.  In FS-Division I, Braden’s J/88 placed 5th and Kerr’s J/33 CORVO was 6th.  In FS-Division 2, Reath’s J/80 SW-II won class.

The big changes for Swiftsure 2015 seem to have been well received– a brand new race course (the Hein Bank Race) and a brand new venue for Swiftsure Centre in the Steamship Terminal, many thanks to sponsors Steamship Grill & Bar and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.   Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson   Swiftsure Facebook page   For more Swiftsure Race sailing information

J/105 sailing Figawi RaceJ/105s Sweep FIGAWI
(Falmouth, MA)- It would be safe to say the FIGAWI Race organizers must pray every year for relatively benign, easy-going conditions for their classic 36nm pursuit race from Hyannis Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod to Nantucket Harbor.  Their prayers were answered this year, as it will go down in memory as one of the prettiest ever.  Dawning with a gorgeous sunrise and a fresh breeze from the WNW, the day simply got better and better.  It was a spectacular race.  Sunny day, with plenty of wind all day to fill brightly colored spinnakers that stretched across the horizon.

For those standing on the beach next to Brant Point Lighthouse that marks the entrance to the Nantucket Boat Basin, it was glorious sight as the parade of boats effortlessly glided by on sunlit seas.

In PHRF A class, Richard Egan’s J/46 WINGS enjoyed the race but conditions were a bit too reachy for them to haul in the lighter weight boats in front of them surfing down the waves, taking 7th in their class.  In PHRF B, Kirk Brown’s J/40 JAZZ managed to take home some silverware with a 2nd in their class.

In the sprit divisions, the Daniel Heun’s J/122 MOXIE pulled off a 3rd in class in PHRF S1 division.  The other J/122, Jimmy Masiero’s URSUS MARITIMUS took 6th and Dave Follett’s J/120 GLORY ended up 9th.  In PHRF S2 division, the J/105s swept the top four spots, led by the Joyce/ Reservitz/ Wagner trio on DARK’N’STORMY.  Their classmates that followed were Matt & Lisa Schmidt’s HARDTACK in 2nd, Steve Widdis’ PRIMA in 3rd and Ed Lobo’s WATERWOLF in 4th.  Taking 5th in class was Alex Kraus’ J/80 COOL J.

In Division 2 Racing, the PHRF C class saw Ira Perry’s J/29 SEEFEST yet again take silverware in this race, taking a 3rd overall.  In PHRF F class, Bill Jones’ J/40 SMITTEN surfed home to a 3rd in their class, too.

The Division 5 racing fleet saw Brad Butman’s pretty little J/28 SHADOWFAX take 3rd in PHRF N class.
For more Figawi Race sailing information

J/70 sailing AcapulcoFernandez Wins Copa Aaron Saenz Regatta
(Acapulco, Mexico)- The basis for this event was the result of a passionate sailor who wished to bring together youth sailors from across Mexico to join other international Optimist sailors in Acapulco, a venue famous for its sailing conditions and extraordinary hospitality.  That person, Aaron “El Chato” Saenz, believed in bringing together the hottest, best sailors so that everyone could learn together and improve the “state of Mexican sailing” to a much higher level.  The regatta has succeeded beyond “El Chat’s” wildest imaginations.  This year, in addition to the huge Optimist class, they invited other fleets to participate, including the Mexican J/70 class.

The Club de Yates Acapulco rolled out the red carpet for the huge fleet of twenty-two J/70s that showed up in Acapulco to participate in the event.  All of the top boats in Mexico were present to have fun and take a page from their Optimist friends and treat the event as a way to train those who wished to learn how to sail faster and handle their boats better.

J/70 sailing team in AcapulcoIn the end, it was Mexico’s top J/70 team that took class honors after a nine race series.  In what one might call FLOCO II (e.g. FLOJITO Y COOPERANDO), it was clear the team of Julian Fernandez from Club Nautico Valle de Bravo and his crew of Erick Brockman, Willem van Waay (an American from San Diego, CA) and Diego Cervantes were benefitting from their sailing at the top level in the American J/70 regattas.  After posting five bullets and three 2nds, The FLOCO II gang won with 11 pts net.

Behind Fernandez’s crew, it was a very close battle not just to be on the podium, but also to be in the top five.  A top all Mexican J/24 team took second overall for the regatta, Jorge Murrieta and his crew of Javier Navarro, Javier Patron, and Ander Belauteguigoitia.  Third was another top J/24 team, Eduardo Saenz from the host CY Acapulco with crew of Jimena Saenz, Jay Lutz (an American from Houston, TX), and Eduardo Saenz Jr.  Rounding out the top five was Giovanni Aloi Timeus Salvato from CY Acapulco taking fourth with crew of Matt Ciesicki (an American from San Francisco, CA), Fernando Bulajch and Alejandro Sole (an Argentinean Olympic class 470 sailor living in Houston, TX).  Fifth was another all Mexican crew, Ricardo Brockman Ohea from YC Acapulco and crew of Daniel Inde, Jeronimo Mariscal and Diego Velazco.   For more Copa Aaron Saenz sailing information

J/24 sailing Texas CircuitBAD MOON RISING Over Heritage Cup
(Dallas, Texas)- The 3rd Circuit Stop of the Texas Circuit took place May 2-3rd and was hosted by Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club and J/24 Fleet 163. This regatta is not only the annual fundraising regatta for DCYC, but it is also the J/24 Fleet 163 Corinthian Cup Regatta.

The perpetual Corinthian Cup trophy began in 2005 by Fleet 163 founders Kelly Holmes-Moon, Pete Pitzer and Brian Carter to recognize the growing fleet in North Texas.

Because of the low water in North Texas and the 2nd Circuit Stop being held at DCYC on behalf of Fort Worth Boat Club, J/24 competitors arrived with their 17 boats already set up and ready to go in the water. In the two weeks between regattas, North Texas got several inches of rain and competitors had to wade in some ankle deep water to get their boats to the crane.

On Saturday, after a one hour postponement to the first gun due to roads being shut down for an event near the yacht club that prevented several competitors from arriving on time, boats began their jaunt out to the racecourse in temperatures of about 75 degrees and winds around 7.5 knots out of the SSE. The weather prediction for the day was supposed to be light to medium.

As boats sailed around the predicted racecourse, the race committee began to set the marks and start line. Races were a go and the boats started racing to the first weather leg of the day. The winds fluctuated throughout the day from SSE to South and back and varied from 8 to 11 knots. There was a fair amount of land effect to consider so many of the top boats played the corners of both courses. It appeared that regardless of the side that was played, boats made out. The key was how much of a commitment to make on that side. It was a very competitive day of racing on Saturday and several newcomers took some top wins. The top 4 finishers of races on Saturday were:

Race 1: 1st James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 2nd Amanda Casey/Team Momentus; 3rd Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES; 4th Tonja Holmes-Moon/Team Siren

Race 2: 1st Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 2nd Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I; 3rd Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 4th Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES

Race 3: 1st Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES; 2nd Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I; 3rd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 4th Tonja Holmes-Moon/Team Siren

Race 4: 1st Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 2nd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 3rd James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 4th David Broadway/Team Superman

The weather on Sunday was predicted to be much windier and teams were eager to hit the racecourse early. While still somewhat out of the South, the 8-knot winds were shifty and puffy once again. Winds ranged again from 8 knots to 12 knots with a few bigger puffs later in the morning, and shifted from South to SSW and back, but not quite long enough for a course change. The top 8 boats were very tight in their numbers and there was no clear winner going into Race 5. Top 4 finishers for Race 5 were: 1st James Freedman/Team Misconduct; 2nd Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 3rd Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy; 4th Tim Johnson/Team Gray Wolf.

Sitting in first place by one point after racing on Saturday and still holding onto it in Race 5, there was still some strategizing to do for Team BadMoon in order to win the regatta. They sailed a good clean race on Race 6 and took home the win. Top 4 finishers of Race 6 were: 1st Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon; 2nd James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct; 3rd David Broadway/Team Superman; 4th Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy.

Congratulations to Team Bad Moon’s Kelly Holmes-Moon, David Haslip, Chris Pittman, Drake Ditmer, and Chris Lombardo for winning the Corinthian Cup and 3rd Circuit Stop of the Texas Circuit, and the additional top 5 winners! It was a tight and competitive weekend of racing!

First Place with 17 points – Kelly Holmes-Moon/Team BadMoon
Second Place with 23 points – Juan Mauri/Team sr. happy
Third Place with 24 points – James Freedman/Team Miss Conduct
Fourth Place with 26 points – Natalie Penner/Team GIGGLES
Fifth Place with 43 points (and beating the tie-breaker) – Brandon Furey/Team Jolly Bevo I
For more Texas J/24 Circuit sailing information

J/22 Match Racing in San Francisco BaySilvestri Dominates J/22 Match Race Qualifier
(San Francisco, CA)- Last weekend, the St. Francis YC hosted the first of two U.S. Match Racing Championship Qualifiers being held at the Club this year, with the second event on Sept 5-6, 2015.  Conditions were challenging with an ebb tide shifting to a flood, and winds from 13 to 23 kts from the westerly quadrants beneath Golden Gate Bridge.

J/22s sailing San Francisco waterfrontThe winner, Russ Silvestri, dominated the event with 13 wins and only one loss, earning a berth at this year's U.S. Match Racing Championship on October 10-12, 2015 at Oakcliff Sailing Center, Oyster Bay, NY.  In second place was Nicole Breault with 11 wins and three losses.  Both had been favored to be on top of the leaderboard, as they had earlier qualified to represent North America in the upcoming Nation’s Cup match-racing event in Vladivostok, Russia.  Up-and-coming college sailors Jack Thompson and Jack Barton tied for third, with Thompson winning on the tie-breaker.

This Qualifier was held using the Club’s fleet of identical J/22s and was the second of seven U.S. Sailing Match Race Qualifiers taking place across the country this summer. According to Regatta Chair Bruce Stone, who also heads the U.S. Match Racing Championships Committee for U.S. SAILING: “In a major change from the past, Qualifiers are now open to competitors from around the country regardless of their home area, and skippers can apply to race in more than one Qualifier – Oakcliff Sailing Center, St. Francis YC, San Diego YC, Bayshore YC (Detroit), Chicago Match Race Center, and Annapolis YC - in a variety of keelboats, April through September.  In previous years, qualifiers around the country were limited to people from that region. We have opened it up so people can venue shop, traveling to places that are interesting to them or play to their skills, i.e. windy or light conditions, or different types of boats used by the host club.”  There are still slots open for some of the remaining Qualifiers. Sailing photo credits- Chris Ray.  For more U.S. Match Racing Series sailing information.

J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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J/88 sailing downwind under spinnaker* Rod Johnstone’s report on sailing the J/88 JAZZ with Clay Burkhalter in the Storm Trysail Club’s recent Block Island Race is a particularly helpful primer on opportunities gained and lost while sailing offshore:

“The Storm Trysail BI Race on the J/88 in the doublehanded IRC division was exciting, fun, and exhausting. We (literally) had a blast all the way to Block Island from Stamford -- and got blasted all the way back on Saturday. We started off Stamford on a puffy port tack spinnaker reach at 1405 on Friday. We won the leeward start with the main and jib only in about 20 knots of breeze and decided to go with our heavy (80 square meter) spinnaker a few minutes into the race. I was worried about blowing up the big (95sm) chute in the occasional puffs over 25 knots. Control was no issue. We held even with the two J/120s for the first three hours and blew away everyone else in our class. When the wind dropped down to about 15 knots we switched to the big kite. We made it to Valiant Rock in the Race by 2130 hours and just got through before the flood began - 6.5 hours to cover the first 69 miles. Not bad for the smallest boat in the fleet. Wind dropped off and went ahead between the Race and “1-BI”. We rounded “1-BI" shortly after midnight and cleared around the south side of Block Island before 0200 on Saturday. Most of the big boats did not catch us until just before we jibed round “1-BI”. I think we rounded inside a couple of J/44s. Hard to tell in the dark. We were definitely winning our class big time at that point, because the two J/120s were not too far ahead.

The fan was turned up to about 25 knots with higher gusts as we thrashed our way upwind against the current from Block Island to Plum Gut. We did not have the right sail combo available for these conditions. First, we reefed the main then rolled up the jib as it blew harder. Waves were crashing over the boat.

From about 0300 to 0600, we sailed the boat like a Laser with a reefed main and no headsail. We were doing almost seven knots, but VMG was about 10 degrees lower than normal. Not good against a foul current. For doublehanded racing with no weight on the rail the J/88 needs a real "Yankee" jib with a short hoist and high clew.  In over 20 knots, I highly recommend a second mainsail reef that we do not have, but would have used. STC required this for this race or you had to carry a storm trysail aboard (which we flew "demo' before the start but would likely never use in a race!). Another option would be to have a longer jib sheet track which extends further forward so you can roll the jib to storm jib size and just pull the jib lead forward. We did this on our J/95 (whose jib track extends way forward) a few years ago and the boat sailed great (even upwind) with the jib half rolled up in 30-40 knots of breeze with no mainsail, or a full mainsail in 20 knot winds, or reefed main in between.

It was a beautiful beat with reefed main and jib from Plum Gut to Stratford Shoal in 18 knots wind when we shook out the reef. The wind dropped way off from there to the finish. Despite our relative upwind "slows " against the 35 to 46 foot boats in our class, we finished fourth boat-for-boat. The Morris 46 was the only boat to pass us on the 90 mile beat to the finish. IRC is definitely not recommended for the J/88, which gives time to the J/109 under that rule (huh?). Under PHRF, our corrected time would have put us in third place behind the two J/120s instead of fifth. This probably would have also been the case under any other handicap-rating rule other than IRC.

Clay and I were really beat as we approached the finish line at Stamford in light air and glass calm sea wondering whether the wind would completely die and leave us stranded just short of the finish line against a foul current. Clay leaned out of the hatch to adjust the jib sheet lead when his life vest suddenly decided to inflate on its own - appearing almost to choke him to death - a punch-drunk moment when you can't stop laughing - a great way to end an exhausting race. Clay could not let the air out quick enough. Even though our combined age (134 yrs old) probably topped all the double-handers in both classes in this race it was double-fun sailing with Clay and sailing on the J/88. I would do it again!”

Terry McLaughlin- J/105 NA Champion* Canadian Sailing Team nominated for Pan Am Games 2015 with ex-470 ace and Canadian J/24 ace Terry McLaughlin leading the charge (Terry is also the J/105 North American Champion and the only two-time winner of the New York YC Invitational Cup)!  The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Sail Canada announced the athletes nominated to represent Team Canada at the TORONTO 2015 Pan American Games from July 10 to 26.

Eighteen athletes have been selected to compete in the sailing competition based on their performances at the designated class qualifiers, including the most recent trials held this past weekend at the Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club.

Among the qualified sailors are 1984 Olympic silver Medallist Terry McLaughlin, who will sail the four-person keelboat, the J/24 with Donald (Sandi) Andrews, David Ogden and David Jarvis. These sailors represent the strongest Pan Am sailing team fielded since the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, MB.

The sailing competition will be hosted by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club July 12-19 with a rare glimpse of sailing taking place on the downtown Toronto waterfront. As a non-ticketed sporting event, spectators will soak in the finals from one of Toronto’s most popular urban beaches – Sugar Beach.

“Sail Canada and our sailing athletes have been working hard together to develop our team and ensure they are at their best heading into TORONTO 2015. Congratulations to all the athletes who made it onto the Team, your hard work and dedication has paid off – you deserve this great honour.” -Marcel Aubut, President, Canadian Olympic Committee

“TORONTO 2015 is a fantastic opportunity to showcase sailing front and center. We are fielding our strongest squad to date and look forward to home ice advantage!” -Ken Dool, High Performance Director, Sail Canada
 

J/Cruisers
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/40 HERON REACH sailed by Virginia and Jerry is participating in the Blue Planet Odyssey project and have recently joined them in the Marquesas Islands in the Eastern Pacific.  Learn more about their adventures and experiences here- http://heronreachodyssey.blogspot.com/
Giant whale breaching in front of J/160 SALACIA off  Australia's Whitsunday Islands* J/160 SALACIA has been sailing in Australia in the Whitsunday Islands.  Guess who decided to throw themselves across their bow as they cruised comfortably to their next destination?  A giant whale!  Look at this amazing photo!

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, May 20, 2015

J/Newsletter- May 20th, 2015

J/70s sailing in GermanyKiel Week J/70 Announcement
(Kiel, Germany)- The first J/70 German Open Championship will be held in conjunction with the famous Kieler Woche event, one of the world’s largest one-design regattas.  Running from the 20th to 28th of June, it’s a tremendous opportunity to enjoy not only great sailing but also fantastic shoreside festivities that include rock concerts, symphonies, a zillion different “craft beers” and a smorgasbord of delicious foods.

So far, over eighteen entries have registered with many teams representing the J/70 fleets in Berlin and also Lake Constance.  In addition, there are boats from The Netherlands and from Russia.  Top names in the European class include Claas Lehmann, Jurgen Waldheim, Thomas Studer, Christian Soyka, and Wouter Kollmann.

Mark you calendars now and join the fun in Kiel!  It’s a memorable regatta and an opportunity to make new friends from across Europe sailing J/70s!  For any questions, please be sure to contact Sven Jürgensen at email- sven@mittelmannswerft.de or mobile-  +49(0)171/683 5555.   For more Kieler Woche sailing information

J/80 Copa de EspanaJ/80 Copa de Espana Preview
(Murcia, Spain)- The waters off Murcia will play host to the Copa de Espana from May 21st to 24th.  Eighteen boats from the regions of Andalusia, the Balearics, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and Valencia have registered in what promises to be a real battle for Spanish sailing supremacy.

With three races scheduled per day, in three days of competition, the teams will be busy and hope to have the fitness and mental sharpness to play the game against the very best from across Spain.

Among the big favorites are BRIBON-MOVISTAR sailed by Marc de Antonio and Sofia Bertrand (RCN Barcelona RCN and RCN Sanxenxo), who just two weeks ago won the trophy at Palmavela sailed in Palma de Mallorca.  In addition, the Gold Medallist in Barcelona 1992 and J/80 World Champion in 2012, Jose Maria Van der Ploeg will be skippering NAUTICA WATCHES. The trio of favorites closes with a local Murcia team and 2014 European Champion, Carlos Martinez aboard AKEWUELE.

Besides those three teams, one cannot cast aside Mallorcan sailor Javier Chacártegui sailing HM HOTELS, they also managed to get on the podium at PalmaVela.  Nor can anyone discount two other teams that have podium potential, Javier Aguado’s PEUGEOT from the powerful Santander fleet (home of two J/80 World Champions) and CN BEVELLE helmed by Pablo Villar, another Murcian local team that knows the waters quite well.   For more Copa de Espana sailing information

J70, J24, J80 sailing Grand Prix CrouestyGP du Crouesty Preview
J/70 & J/24 French Nationals!
(Crouesty de Arzon, France)- For the upcoming holiday weekend in France, the Yacht Club du Crouesty Arzon will be hosting their famous annual regatta- the Grand Prix du Crouesty.  The event is held for three days out of Port Navalo with racing taking place on Bay de Morbihan.  From May 22nd to 24th, YCCA expects over 250 boats to participate in a multitude of one-design classes.  What makes it a fun event is that it is also very family oriented- this year’s theme is “Destination Cuba” and will feature Caribbean Pirates and other entertaining programs.

The French J/24 Class is hosting their French Nationals as part of GP Crouesty.  It’s an especially J24 and J80 sailing GP Crouesty, Franceimportant event for this class since it will serve as precursor to J/24 European Championship being hosted from the 6th to 12th of June.  In addition, the J/70s in France are hosting their first Nationals as well.  The turnout expects to see some of the best teams in France participating since the J/70 Worlds in La Rochelle are just over a month away.  Finally, the GP Crouesty also serves as the fourth act of the French J/80 Coupe de France series.   Watch their entertaining promo sailing video here.   For more Grand Prix du Crouesty France sailing information

J/24s sailing Berkeley CircleJ/24 US Nationals Preview
(San Francisco, CA)- While last weekends regatta at San Francisco YC’s Open Keelboat Regatta served as a good warm-up and training event for some crews, the real deal is scheduled for Friday, May 22nd through Sunday, May 24th, 2015.  The USA J/24 Nationals has over two-dozen boats registered ready to roll on the infamous Berkeley Circle.

The venerable Berkeley Yacht Club is hosting the event and they promise big breeze!  Not just a little bit, but a whole’lotta breeze-on baby!! BYC’s support of J/24 One-Design racing started in 2008 as the “TMC J/24 Invitational Regatta” and they’re looking forward to another year, for 2015 will be the eighth (8) consecutive year, of “off the charts” San Francisco Bay competitive sailing, “paella gorging” (see photos here), adult beverage consumption and hilarious fun and silliness!

J/24 sailors eating paella dishes at Berkeley YCBased on prior reputations (some good, some questionable), the battle for the pickle dishes is going to be a true “mano a mano” battle between some seriously experienced J/24 teams.  The locals that hope to hold their own against the “foreigners” includes boats like Mike Whitfield’s TMC RACING, Val Lulevich’s SHUT UP & DRIVE, Jasper Van Vliet’s EVIL OCTOPUS, Darren Cumming’s DOWNTOWN UPROAR and Paul Ravenswaay’s FERAL ROOSTER.

Coming from beyond the fog enshrouded Alcatraz is a bevy of talent that may appear mind-boggling to some J/24 sailors.  Leading that crowd must be last weekend’s winner, former J/24 North American Champion Pat Toole from Santa Barbara, CA guiding the mighty 3 BIG DOGS.  Another NA Champ in the hunt will be Chris Snow’s BOGUS from San Diego, CA.  The winner of the last J/24 Southwest Championship event in Dallas, Natalie Penner’s GIGGLES from Austin, TX will be in the hunt.  Japanese J/24 National Champion Tokuma Takesue will be sailing GEKKO.  Then, there’s the J/24 mafia from Seattle’s Pacific Northwest J/24 fleet.  Oh dear, the locals may be in for some trouble with these gangsters, SIX boats X 5 people X 3 hangers-on each means nearly 50 people from the Seattle area!  It’s an invasion of the salmon-people!  Mark Laura’s BABA LOUIE and Scott Milne’s TREMENDOUS SLOUCH might be considered fleet leaders anywhere, plus they’re quite familiar with the insanities of the Berkeley Circle.  Should be fun sailing for all with even better social festivities ashore.   For more J/24 US Nationals sailing information

J/105 sailing Figawi RaceFIGAWI Race Preview
(Falmouth, MA)- For 44 years now, Nantucket’s summer season has been kicked off with a racing event for sailors of all levels of skill. They even have high school competitors that will be awarded for their participation in the event. The Figawi Race originated back in 1972 with a group of four friends competing to see who could make it from Baxter’s Boathouse in Hyannis to Nantucket Island before everyone else. It was just a friendly competition that saw crews comprised of friends and wives crossing the Nantucket Sound for fun. Over the years it has since grown into an iconic Cape Cod event that brings in more than 200 sailboats and powerboats with thousands of people that are either competing or just there to watch.

Figawi Race refreshmentsAs with any friendly competition, the Figawi Race needs a proper party to welcome everyone to the festivities: The Kickoff Party at Hyannis Yacht Club. Luckily, this shindig isn’t just for the competing sailors; rather, everyone is invited to experience the building excitement for the race the following day. Starting at 3pm, the party will go until 8pm with the early ending time ensuring that the competitors will be in tip top shape for the race. There will be a cash bar and live musical entertainment will be provided by Hennessey

This year’s 44th Annual Figawi Race Weekend runs from May 23rd to 25th.  211 boats are registered with 14 J’s participating in what is by far the largest “pursuit-style” race on the American East Coast.

Saturday 1000 hrs is first boat off the line; the smallest and slowest rated PHRF boats.  Then, the Memorial Day Weekend celebrations start with massive tent parties Saturday and Sunday nights and the prize-giving on Sunday afternoon for ninety-seven trophies!

Figawi Race finish line off NantucketEarly Saturday morning, crews begin gathering. Skippers and boat owners prepare their boats, gather their crews, and head out to the start line. The first boat officially begins at 10 am off the Hyannis Port Jetty. But beginning around 8 am, the parade of sailboats head out of Lewis Bay, pass by Kalmus Beach, and gather off Hyannis Port. The boats start from 10 am until approximately noon, depending on their handicapped start time. Everyone hopes to be the first one to reach Nantucket.

Depending on the various conditions, the theory of the Pursuit Race format is all competitors should reach the Nantucket MO(A) at around the same time. They finish at the entrance of Nantucket Harbor and parade into Nantucket Boat Basin. Standing on the beach at Brant Point Light is a great spot to watch all the action.

Saturday night Figawi hosts a Competitor Party under the Event Tent on New Whale Street.  Sponsors that provide product for festivities include Mt. Gay Rum, Budweiser, Cisco Brewer of Nantucket, Coca Cola, Boisset Family Estates (wine), Samuel Adams, and Jim Beam. After the day of racing, it is a great place to come and see old friends and make new ones.

Sailing in the PHRF Non-spinnaker division is Brad Butman’s J/28 SHADOWFAX, Hayley Reifeiss’s J/24 BIIG SANDWICH and Bill Jones’ J/40 SMITTEN.  Taking up the pursuit in PHRF Spinnaker division are five J/105s (Steve Widdis’ PRIMA team from Nantucket Community Sailing, the DARK’N’STORMY trio of Joyce/ Reservitz/ Wagner from Buzzards YC, Matt & Lisa Schmidt’s HARDTACK, Pete Lebish’s LYRIC and Ed Lobo’s WATERWOLF).  Two J/122s will be chasing them hard, Jimmy Maseiro’s URSUS MARITIMUS and Dan Heun’s MOXIE.  Several veterans of the race include the J/29 SEEFEST (Ira Perry), the J/46 WINGS (Richard Egan), the J/80 COOL J (Alex Krauss), the J/120 GLORY (David Follett) and the J/40 JAZZ (Kirk Brown).  A newcomer to the race will be the new J/97 ADRENALINE sailed by Andrew Meincke from Stage Harbor, MA.   For more Figawi Race sailing information

Summer Sailstice 2015Calling all J/Boat sailors!
Come sailing with us!
(Newport, RI)- We are inviting all J/Boat sailors worldwide to come sailing 'with us' as part of the Summer Sailstice global celebration of sailing.  We want to show off the best of J/Boat sailing and you can help us do it by entering your sailing plans for this once-a-year event held annually on the weekend nearest the summer solstice.  This year the June 20th weekend.

Everyone signed up and sailing is eligible to win a $100 gift certificate to the J/Boat store plus a one-week BVI charter from Sunsail and numerous other prizes.  You can participate if you're racing Block Island Race Week, the Marion Bermuda Race, Cleveland Race week or cruising the Med or just out for an afternoon sail.  Sign up, hoist your sails and celebrate J/Boat sailing.

Sign up at http://www.summersailstice.com.  This allows you to post your sailing plans, publicize a fleet event, invite others or see what other sailors are doing in the area.  Participants can host a cruising rendezvous, hold a race or sail however you like for the Sailstice holiday. There’s no better way to start the summer and the ideal way to connect with all J/Boat sailors around the world.  Ideally, we'd love to have all 14,000 J/Boats in all four corners of the globe all sailing 'together' in this worldwide celebration of sailing!

All events can be posted on this map.  Individuals can enter their sailing plans to show up here.

We're looking forward to sailing and celebrating 'with you' on Summer Sailstice 2015!  Where will you be sailing your J/Boat for Summer Sailstice?   Fair Winds,  The Newport J/Team

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Mid-April proved to be a very busy week for J sailors in Europe and North America.  Newport was extremely busy hosting the stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race. The team at Sail Newport (with director Brad Read at the helm) did an amazing job hosting and running the onshore festivities and their army of volunteers made it fun and safe for all on the water watching the Inshore Race on Saturday and the glorious Sunday start/ send-off party.  As part of the VOR experience, American war veterans were treated to special VIP races aboard the fleet of Sail Newport J/22s.  Elsewhere around America, there was plenty of sailing taking place.  Out East, the Cedar Point YC hosted their annual One-Design Regatta that included J/70s in the first weekend (next weekend is the “big boats”).  Out West, there were events up and down the Pacific Coast.  In the Pacific Northwest, Corinthian YC of Seattle hosted their first “POD Regatta”, a one-design event that included J/80s and J/105s on Puget Sound.  Simultaneously on San Francisco Bay, the St Francis YC hosted the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta for J/105s, J/111s and J/120s.  Across the Bay to the east on the Berkeley Circle, the San Francisco YC hosted the J/24 Western Regionals and the J/70s in their Elite Keelboat Regatta.

Over on the far side of the big pond, there was activity taking place from the British Isles to the Mediterranean and north into Germany and Scandinavia.  In the Med, the J/70s were sailing their fourth act of the Alcatel OneTouch J/70 Italian National Championship in San Remo, Italy.  Not far away in France, the J/80s and J/22s were sailing the Grand Prix Ecole Navale (GPEN) in Cameret, also the fourth event for the J/80 Coupe de France season series.  Further north, the first two races in the Dutch Two-Handed Nationals took place as part of the Vuurschepen Race and the RORC North Sea Race- both events starting/ finishing from the two ports of Scheveningen (The Hague), The Netherlands and Harwich Port, England.  The event is also part of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta that takes place all next week- with plenty of J’s sailing like J/105s, J/109s, J/111s, J/122s, J/133 and J/97s.  In Great Britain, two events took place, one was the J/24 Spring Cup hosted by Parkstone YC off Poole and the other was the Vice Admiral’s Cup hosted by Cowes Corinthian YC for J/109s and J/111s on the Solent.  Moving north, we find the first major German J/70 regatta of the season taking place in Berlin.  The host was Potsdamer YC and the fleet sailed in the Wannsee Woche regatta- sailing conditions were simply spectacular.  Finally, we find a J/111 and J/109 sailed the famous 120nm Skagen Race from Oslo, Norway across the Baltic Sea to Skagen, Denmark.

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:

May 12-25- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- Scheveningen, The Netherlands
May 20-24- J/24 USA Nationals- Berkeley, CA
May 22-25- Grand Prix du Crouesty- Crouesty, France
May 22-24- J/80 Copa de Espana- Aguilas, Murcia, Spain
May 29-30- Susan Hood Trophy Race- Mississauga, Ontario
May 29-31- Southern Bay Race Week- Hampton, VA
May 30-31- Cal Race Week- Marina del Rey, CA
May 30- Jun 2- Italian J/24 Nationals- Cala Galera, Italy
Jun 3-6- J/80 Campeonato de Espana- Sotogrande, Spain
Jun 5- RORC de Guingand Bowl- Cowes, IOW, England
Jun 6-8- Cronulla J/24 Short Course Regatta- Sydney, Australia
Jun 6-13- J/24 Europeans- Arzon, France
Jun 11-13- J/Cup Regatta- Cowes, IOW, England
Jun 12-14- NYYC Annual Regatta- Newport, RI
Jun 12-14- Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH
Jun 12-14- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL
Jun 12-14- Italian J/70 Alcatel OneTouch #3- Cervia, Italy
Jun 15-19- J/111 World Championship- Newport, RI
Jun 21-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Island, RI
Jun 21-26- J/109 North Americans- Block Island, RI
Jun 25-28- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany
Jun 26-Jul 5- Delta Week 2015- Grevelingen, The Netherlands
Jun 26-28- Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach, CA
Jun 27- JP Morgan Round Island Race- Cowes, IOW- England

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

J/111 Blur sailing SkagenRaceJ/111 BLUR Crushes Skagen Offshore Race
(Skagen, Denmark)- The Skagen Race is the offshore season premiere in Scandinavia. A quick 120nm overnight dash from Norway to Denmark over a cold, and sometimes rough, Skagerrak sea. But it’s usually worth it and the reward is the famous weekend party in the little Danish town of Skagen. Sun, cold Danish beer and late night boat parties attract crowds from far away!

Peter Gustafsson and his crew on board J/111 Blur³ are preparing for the Fastnet Race in August and decided to get the most out of the race. They started with a 140nm delivery to Norway in full-on “race mode”; 26-30 knots of wind and massive seas were a decent shake-out for both the boat and the crew.

Skagen Race course”It was unbelievably wet. Just before dark we hit some monster waves that just flushed the crew along the deck and down in the cockpit. Starting a boat delivery with a headcount felt a little strange. But the boat stayed dry, and we managed to get into our routines,” explained Peter.

As they got to Norway the wind dropped, and Oslo Fjord was picture perfect. Race registration, some lunch and the team was ready to go again.

In a light northerly breeze, the J/111 really showed some good pace; easily leading it’s start and overtaking earlier starts. Later that night, it was all about timing a big wind shift from NW to NNE and working hard to keep the speed up.

”We worked through the inventory, rotating A2, A3 and a Code 0. We timed the shift ok and had a comfortable lead at the mark at Väderöarna,” commented Peter.

J/111 BLUR winning teamIn the morning the fleet left the Swedish coast for the final sprint to Denmark, BLUR kept a loose cover on the competition (so much easier when everyone has AIS). Working the shift they extended the lead to a huge, mind-numbing, ego-crushing 33 minutes margin for an epic class win.

”We won the class big with the J/109 in 2010. To be able to come back for a repeat performance in a faster class with the J/111 is just fantastic. It was also very valuable to get a 48-hour shake down and to get into offshore mode with rotation, food and sleep,” concluded Peter.  His crew consisted of Andreas Turesson, Mats Björk, Magnus Hansson, Mattias Bodlund, Simon Kindt, Pelle Pedersen, Patrik Månesskiöld and David Johansson.

In addition to BLUR’s amazing win, the J/109 JUBLE sailed by skipper Jon Holm (Oslo Seilforening) took 3rd in NOR 2 Class.   Sailing Photos here courtesy of BLUR Sailing Team.   For more Skagen Race sailing information (in Swedish).

J/111 Xcentric Ripper sailing North Sea RaceJ/111 RIPS North Sea Race!
(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- John van der Starre & Robin Verhoef's Dutch J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was the winner of the 18-strong IRC Two-Handed Class, winner of the ORC Two-Handed Class, second ORC Overall, third in IRC 2 Class and fourth IRC Overall! Talk about filling up your trophy shelves in just one race!  FOUR trophies in ONE race for ONE boat!  This was the tenth North Sea Race for John van der Starre and by far their closest finish. After time correction, Xcentric Ripper won the class by four seconds.

"It was a tough but very nice race for us. There was lots of reaching, which was perfect for a J/111. Winning the Two-Handed Class against very good opposition was very satisfying,” commented John van der Starre. "These days with AIS it is possible to see how well you are doing but you don't know how the weather will change for the boats J/111 Xcentric Ripper winners- Robin Verhoef and John van der Starrebehind you. In the delivery race to Harwich, Vuurschepen Race, the wind held up for the boats behind us but for the North Sea Race, that didn't happen. Myself and Robin have been racing together on the boat for four years, so we know our strengths and weaknesses. From the weather forecast we knew that we would have a point where there would be totally no wind on that first night but we know that would give us a good opportunity to gain on the opponents, we decided to stay more to the west, while our opposition went more to the east. The tactic really worked well for us with some good shifts. The wind was picking up, we were planing with about 12 knots of boat speed, it was fantastic but we did have one scary moment, as there were some large navigation marks which were not lit and we passed one by just 30 metres. When we got to Smith's Knoll Buoy, we knew we were in a strong position but to win by just 4 seconds! One little mistake and we would have been second, the Two-Handed Class at the Rolex Fastnet Race is going to be incredible but, having won the class for the North Sea Race, 2015 is already a success for us!”

On the way over to Harwich port, the Vuurschepen Race was good practice for all the crews.  In ORC 2 division, a duo of J/109s were racing, with JAI LAI (JC Bornet) taking 2nd in class and MAJIC (Arnout Joorritsma) in 8th place.  In ORC Two-Handed Class, there were seven very well-sailed and prepared J/Teams. Top J team in this race was the J/109 FIRESTORM (Wim van Slooten/ Jochem Hamstra) in third place and their sistership ARETHUSA (Kees Mijs) was 11th.  The J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER (John van der Starre/ Robin Verhoef) was 7th, followed by the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM (Chris Revelman/ Pascal Bakker) in 8th place.  Just behind was the J/105 PANTHER sailed by the women’s team of Yvonne Beusker/ Edith Voskamp finished 9th.  After leading the race for a while, the J/133 BATFISH (Bart Desaunois/ Gerard de Boer) took 12th place and in 14th was the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram).

For the return trip in the RORC North Sea Race, the reaching conditions found favor with many of the J teams.  In the IRC Double-Handed division, behind the winning duo on the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was the J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM in 4th place, followed by the J/109 FIRESTORM in 5th, then the J/120 MAVERICK in 7th, the J/133 BATFISH in 10th and the women on the J/105 PANTHER in 12th.

Incredibly, the J/111 as a double-handed team took 3rd place in IRC 2 Class with fully crewed boats!  Angus Bates’ J/133 ASSARAIN IV took 5th place while Richard Fawcett’s J/120 JAMEERAH took 6th. The J/122 JUNIQUE took 7th and the J/111 BRITISH SOLDIER sailed by Donall Ryan from the British Army Sailing Association placed 8th.  10th was the J/120 MAVERICK.  Not a bad showing for J’s in this class, just 6 of the top 10!

Yvonne Busker sailing J/105 PantherYvonne Beusker on the double-handed women’s team on the J/105 PANTHER provided this report on their collective experience:

“Home sweet home! Preparation is everything.  Or, as they say, diminishes the worry of unexpected fixes. Edith and I have prepared in wintertime during North Sea IJspegel Trophy winter competition in Scheveningen after our thorough refit/upgrade.

What a feast!  So, there we are, participating in the first Two-Handed Nationals ever held in the world. Not an easy one, I must say as these duo's have committed to 3 consecutive races, starting with:
  1. 130nm offshore Vuurschepen Race from Scheveningen to Harwich/Woolverstone, with 1 day recovery; then
  2. starting the next 200nm offshore North Sea Race from Harwich back to Scheveningen; and then
  3. four days of inshore racing during North Sea Regatta!
Basically, you must be mad to do all the work that full crew teams undertake with only two!  And, well, if we're mad anyway, let's have these duo's really push it to the max with way much more races then any other nationals before so they can actually call themselves the national champ!

Ready to start the Vuurschepen Race on Tuesday evening 12 May. Always a bit more excited as you start the race going directly into the night while crossing one of the busiest seas with commercial vessels in the world! If you want to know how a rabbit feels crossing the highway... well here's a good one. We knew to start with a lot of wind, which would completely vanish at dawn. It would cover such a large area that it was impossible to escape. Not a good combination for sailing yachts especially if you add the strong tides to it. In short: the ladies managed to not perform well at the start and when it should have been relatively easy, but kind of outperformed when it tactically became outrageously difficult. These light winds made the race take up about 25.5 hours, much more time then we'd ever sailed it before. Smaller boats obviously arrive later, and the combination small boat plus long period of no wind allows for less time recuperating for the start of the North Sea Race.

So, traditionally Thursday after the Vuurschepen Race and before the North Sea Race, there's the Pinn Mill lunch, followed by the prize giving at Royal Harwich Yacht Club/ Woolverstone. This leaves for only a few morning hours of repairing and preparation for the race starting the day after. Noordzee Club's lunch at Pinn Mill is famous. Always good to be among those 'chosen ones' and peers with the same experience; and well, what happens in Pinn Mill Stays in Pin mill?!  ;)  If you've never been there, well it's hard to explain. So why not try to attend next year?

Then, the North Sea Race. Traditionally always good to have extra competition from our UK, Belgian and French sailing friends. To our British friends... why are you sailing straight back to the U.K.?? Don't you know the 3rd largest inshore sailing event of West Europe, the North Sea Regatta, is about to start in a few days? Need to work? Well, leave the boat in Scheveningen and book a return on the Harwich ferry?

J/105 Panther sailing Dutch Two-handed NationalsAgain, we prepared for a medium wind start, preparing for a no wind treat in a few hours time. We noticed that we had less time to recuperate and prepare then we'd wish for. It's always difficult when sailing with only two, to schedule for rests and the duration for them. We're human, so we need it.  However, with two you can't schedule by the clock, as no wind ever sticks to regular working hours. That's one that needs emphasis in our further practice. After the start, we sailed up to black deep buoy, always a difficult one with the tides around the sand bank. We sure miscalculated the current around buoy!  Those were very, very expensive extra minutes we lost and made us in a lesser position entering the no wind zone. We were quite keen on changing headsails, spi's in a timely matter, which was a good heads-up.

With all the action, you basically burn calories like crazy. As for the food? To sail on you need high-energy food and munchies like nuts and high fiber dried apricot and so on. There's so much good freeze-dried food available. We had great flavors with us, and a few test versions... let's say, not all the test versions have passed the test for further use.

So back to the race: it was a long one, by dawn welcoming us with cloud covers and rain. With Scheveningen in sight, we had the sun welcoming us back home.

Something that wasn't the case for Luctor3, CoinCoin and Jazz. During the night all 3 hit a buoy, unlit and not located where it was supposed to. We hope that the actions undertaken by the Dutch and English authorities against the owner of these buoys to avoid any further accidents in the future.  We feel sorry for you guys. Thank you for your sanity after the accident and warning the fleet behind you of these unlit buoys adrift.

So, now waiting for the price giving for the North Sea Race in a few hours. We congratulate our Two-Handed class winners, with a well-deserved spot.

So, let's talk about those Two-Handed nutheads, which cover one-third of the fleet. It's not just about testosterone. Let's not forget the female die-hards of the Vuurschepen Race: Astrid de Vin– skipper 'Il Corvo', Jessica Wegener– co-skipper 'RoaringX', Els Besse– co-skipper 'Windsprint' and, of course, the Panther team with co-skipper Edith Voskamp and skipper Yvonne Beusker. We challenge other women sailors for more girl-power and girl-competition!

Preliminary scores mention 9th place overall. I guess, we can say we've won 1st prize in the all-women skipper class and also became winner of all female duo's class!! Too bad there's no prize for that!! :)

Suggestion to the Volvo Ocean Race Team SCA- can you support more women’s offshore sailing and set a prize for that?? So, Team SCA, just send me a PM/text and we'll arrange it! :)

Sore muscles.  Very tired.  A long list full of improvements.  But, also satisfied we've also got more good news. With the completion of these races and races last September, we've more than qualified ourselves as a duo for the Fastnet (Rolex Fastnet Race) starting August 2015!!  Yipee!!  Watch out boys, you may be in trouble yet!”   For more North Sea Regatta sailing information.

J/70s sailing Alcatel OneTouch Italian Nationals off San Remo, ItalyNOTARO Team Leads J/70 ALCATEL OneTouch Trophy
(San Remo, Italy)- Twenty-five teams from three countries contested the second leg of the J/70 ALCATEL ONETOUCH Italian Trophy this past weekend, May 16 and 17. Classic San Remo gentle breezes, varying in direction from 230 to 235 degrees and generally averaging between 7 to 12 knots graced the two-day, five-race event hosted by Yacht Club San Remo.

J/70 Alcatel OneTouch San Remo winnersAt the halfway mark into the Alcatel OneTouch J/70 Italian National Open Championship, top honors went to NOTARO Team helmed by Luca Domenici. After taking the lead on day one, thanks to the positive scoreline of 3-2-1, the Domenici’s NOTARO Team stayed on the top to claim the final victory of the act. Landing second, five points back, was Alessio Marinelli's UJI UJI while the third place on equal points went to CALVI NETWORK helmed by the reigning Italian and European J/70 champion Carlo Alberini. Local San Remo sailor Franco Solerio on L’ELAGAIN, with tactician Gaetano Figlia di Granara, finished fourth followed by the Swedish Ingemar Sunstedt's ROCAD RACING in fifth and the Monegasque team on CARPE DIEM skippered by Jacopo Carrain in sixth.

Despite the fact the second leg of the J/70 ALCATEL ONETOUCH Italian Trophy ended up with an all-Italian podium, the Swedish ROCAD RACING continues to keep the chase for taking the top spots on the overall leaderboard. Top team overall is NOTARO Team with 35 pts, followed by L’ELAGAIN in 2nd with 39 pts and 3rd is UJI UJI with 53 pts.  ROCAD RACING is 4th with 60 pts and CARPE DIEM is 5th with 75 pts.

Finally, with two events and 15 races sailed in the circuit, the teams are now looking forward to the next appointment to be held in Cervia, Ravenna (June 12-14) before moving towards La Rochelle for the J/70 World Championship in July!   Sailing Photo credits- Fabio Taccola   For more Italian J/70 sailing information

J/80s sailing GPEN in Camaret, FranceCHARLY Loves J/80 GPEN!
(Camaret, France)- At Camaret, the J/80 Class has always been very loyal to the Grand Prix Ecole Navale France Championship Monotype habitable. Camaret even organized the J/80 2006 European Championship. It is this year, again, the largest class at GPEN are the J/80s; with 58 boats it also marked a participation record for the event. While starting off very slowly on the first day of racing, it was Martin Bertrand’s CHARLY Team (Xavier Lara, Thomas Haddouche, Julien Lebru, and Amelie Grassi) that closed with a flourish of top five finishes to win by 9 pts.

For the first day of racing on the harbor waters of Brest, it was anything but easy for many of the top teams. The sailing conditions were ideal (8-9 knots in the morning, 12 kts in the afternoon from the WNW with a strong current and sun!).  It allowed the Race Committee, chaired by Alexandre BOUCHARD, to launch three races, including two starts under the terrible black rule.  Overall, no crew really dominated for the day, the differences were small and the standings changed dramatically virtually every race.

The overall standings after 3 races were PIERRE OCEANE (Herve Leduc) in first, followed by GAN’JA (Luc Nadal) and COURIER JUNIOR (Eric Brezellec) in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

J/80 GPEN winnersLike the day before, the J/80 teams started their first race a little before 11:00 am. The Race Committee was able to launch four races in ideal conditions: 8-16 kts of WNW breezes oscillating somewhat evenly and, again, with lots of sun! The general recalls resulted in black flags, including the last race that was fatal for many teams. Because of the adverse current on the line, about fifteen boats were BFD.

The overall standings changed dramatically after the first day.  At this point, CHARLY leapt into first overall, followed by PIERRE OCEANE in 2nd and Brezellec’s team hanging onto 3rd.  Crashing hard and fast down the standings after two BFD’s was Nadal’s GAN’JA.  The most startling advancement up the standings in this game of “snakes & ladders” was ECOLE NAVALE sailed by Frederic Hauville, posting two bullets in the last two races to climb into 4th overall!

For the final day, the RC got the fleet out early for a 0930 hrs start.  However, light winds were the enemy of all good planning and efforts.  Unfortunately, the Race Committee was unable to launch races because the weather conditions were too light: 2-4 knots of wind oscillating between 300 and 350 with lots of current, bright sun, and perfectly smooth water!  As a result, the RC sent the fleet home just before noontime.

The title of “Champion of France Monotype habitable” was awarded to the young Rochelais crew of CHARLY sailed by Martin Bertrand. "This is our first victory in J/80 and only our second competition on this level after the Spi Ouest France Intermarché. We are a young crew (average 23 years) from the 470 class. Our goal this year is the World Championship in Kiel early July. This is a bay that we know well as we often sailed 470s there. We look forward in any case to the Championship of France organized here in GPEN; it was good preparation for the Worlds,“ commented Bertrand.

The runner-up was PIERRE OCEAN skippered by Herve Leduc and his team of Loic Avram, Etienne Luenau, Alexandre Goyer and Nathalie Giloy. The crew of COURIER JUNIOR (Herve Corlay, Morgan Riou, Julie Richeux, Nicolas Richard) steered by Eric Brezellec completed the podium.  Fourth went to ECOLE NAVALE, notable for Hauville’s incredible comeback feat on Saturday.  Fifth was APCC EQUIPE JEUNNE helmed by Hugo Abeguile.

A big thank you for the excellent organization of this event, especially Alain DAOULAS (and teams), Nautical Commissioner of the race, Alexandre BOUCHARD (and his team), Chairman of the Race Committee, for its professionalism, and the city of Camaret (and volunteers) for the fantastic welcome.

Of the nine women skippers in the event (nearly 10% of the boats), the top two women’s teams finished in the top ten!  They were Maxime Rousseaux on CN ST CAST/ GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTES in 7th place (notably posting a 5-2-1 scoreline in the middle of the series!) and Maxime Mesnil’s CO-PILOTES in 10th place.   Sailing photo credits- Pierrick Contin   For more Grand Prix de l'Ecole Navale sailing information

J/111 sailing on Solent seriesJoyous J’s Sail Vice Admiral's Cup
J/111 McFLY & J/109 JELLY BABY Victorious
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK)- This year’s Vice Admiral’s Cup Regatta could not have been more fortunate with the sailing conditions all weekend long.  With the extraordinary PRO and RC work from the host Royal Corinthian Yacht Club’s team, the sailors managed to enjoy nine races over the weekend’s racing from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th May. Since its introduction, the event has gone from strength to strength with its simple close-racing format and the fun social program made it exceedingly enjoyable for the competitors. Reveling in the on-water and onshore repartee’ was Tony Mack’s McFLY winning the J/111 class and Ian Nagle’s Irish team aboard the J/109 JELLY BABY.  Here is how it all went down on the usually tricky Solent weather conditions.

Day 1:
The opening day saw a 35 strong fleet enjoy three exciting light to moderate airs races. Initially, a lack of wind forced Race Officer Rob Lamb to call for a two-hour postponement ashore. His timing and assessment of the conditions proved to be spot on and by the revised start time of 13.30 the fleet was in the race area and a light west-south-westerly breeze was building.

Although the conditions were cooperating and the teams were ready to go, circumstances beyond the race committee’s control saw one of the mark laying boats briefly out of action with technical issues and another called away to assist with a May Day rescue.  To allow time to get the mark boats back on station a further 15-minute postponement was made and the race committee set up a compromise windward leeward course using Solent marks to reduce waiting time for the competitors.

For the first two races the J/111 and J/109 fleets were combined and made a spectacular sight as they crossed the line. Although spectacular, the combining of the fleets made life quite challenging for the J/109s who not only had to battle each other, but also find clear lanes behind the slightly faster J/111s.  For race three, all four fleets raced independently, which made life much simpler for the tacticians aboard the now, separate J/111s and J/109s.

All three races were run on windward leeward courses.  After his opening Solent marks based course, Rob Lamb was able to run races two and three on laid mark windward/leeward courses with varying leg lengths, start line lengths and finish line configurations giving great racing and keeping everyone on their toes.  The wind continued to build, eventually topping out in the mid teens by the end of the third race.

J/111 sailing Solent regattaTony Mack and his crew aboard “McFly” dominated the J/111s.  This experienced and well-practiced team took two race wins and were only narrowly beaten in race two by Stuart Sawyer’s “Black Dog”.  Racing throughout the rest of the fleet was tight with plenty of place changing and close action.  “McFly’s” consistency gives her the overnight lead by three points from “Black Dog” who added a fourth and second to their race win to end the day a single point ahead of third placed “Jitterbug”, owned by Cornel Riklin.

Ian Nagle’s J/109 “Jelly Baby” emulated “McFly’s” success by also posting a 2, 1, 1 scoreline.  Their nearest rival, the Royal Naval Sailing Association’s “Jolly Jack Tar” started off the day with flying colours and a first and second place, but struggled in the third race finishing sixth, so that overall “Jelly Baby” now leads “Jolly Jack Tar” by five points.  Third place overnight is filled by Paul Griffiths and his team aboard “Jagerbomb”, who took sixth in the opening race but then picked up to add a pair of third places, leaving them on twelve points overall and three points adrift of “Jolly Jack Tar”.

Day 2:
After the opening day’s cold and grey conditions, the sun made a welcome appearance on the second day. It was joined by a lovely northwesterly breeze that kicked off the day in the high teens with guests up towards 25 knots, and gradually dropped to around 10 to 12 knots for the later races.  The sparkling conditions enabled the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Race Committee to run four more windward leeward races making the total number sailed so far seven and bringing the discard into play.

The first race of the day, race four in the series, was the windiest and there were plenty of thrills and spills to entertain the spectators, particularly amongst the notoriously tippy Quarter Tonners.  Although several boats did spin out there were no serious incidents and everyone made the most of the stunning conditions. For the most part the fleets were very well behaved on the start line with just a few individual recalls, although the J/109s did blot their copybook in race five by forcing a general recall. Fortunately, the race committee had them turned round again within minutes and they were all clear at the second time of asking.

J/111s sailing under spinnaker on SolentThe J/111s continued to be dominated by Tony Mack’s “McFly” who faltered only briefly in race four with a second, but then went on to win three straight races giving them a six point margin over their nearest rival. Stuart Sawyer’s “Black Dog” was the boat that got the better of “McFly” in race four and they went on to add a neatly sequential second, third and fourth to their card giving them 13 points overall.  “Black Dog” now lies second overall and has a comfortable twelve point cushion, but the battle for third place is going to be a close one with “Mustigo”, owned by Scholefield/McDonald/Thomas just a single point ahead of both “Icarus”, owned by Andrew Christie & Chris Body, and “JElvis”, owned by Martin Dent, who both count 26 points going into the final day.

The J/109 class saw the fiercest battles of the day with three different winners of the four races.  By far the most consistent performer with a 1, 3, 1, 2 score was Ian Nagle’s “Jelly Baby” who continues to lead the class and has extended their margin to 13 points.  Yesterday’s second place “Jolly Jack Tar”, owned by the Royal Naval Sailing Association, did not find the winder conditions to her liking and dropped down from second to fourth place.  Leapfrogging over her was Robert Stiles “Diamond Jem”, who won race five and is now on equal points with Paul Griffith’s “Jagerbomb”, which continues to hold third place on count back. Both boats are counting 21 points and discarding a seventh place.  In fact just four points separate second to sixth place in the J/109s with Tony Dickin’s “Jubilee” fifth with 23 points and David Rolfe’s “Shadowfax”, winner of race seven, sixth overall on 25 points.  Tomorrow’s final day is going to be an exciting one for the J/109s.

After racing a delighted Robert Stiles of second placed J/109 “Diamond Jem” commented, “It was fantastic sailing today.  Good wind and the race officer did terribly well in keeping the races rolling.  We’re very glad we got four races in.  We’re an all amateur crew of weekend sailors from Brighton Yacht Club and we’ve come up to the Solent for this event that gives great class racing for us.  Neil Angel is our tactician and his experience as a past winner of Cowes Week in the 1720s is invaluable. It’s all to play for and as always seconds count and it will no doubt be like that tomorrow.  It is the most challenging racing and the whole crew enjoys the sheer excitement that the J/109 class always generates.”

Day 3:
Perfect Solent Conditions For The Finale!  When the Solent is on form it truly is one of the world’s great sailing venues and today’s conclusion demonstrated this perfectly.

As forecast, the day opened with light airs and overcast skies so Race Officer Rob Lamb initially held the crews ashore giving them time to enjoy a relaxed Sunday morning coffee. By noon the sun was out, a classic Solent sea breeze was building from the south west and racing was underway for the first of two windward leewards for all classes, races eight and nine of the series.

Tony Mack and his crew aboard J/111 “McFly” were once again on flying form and took a very confident win in race eight to secure the series.  They were enjoying the racing so much that they stayed out for race nine and cruised to third place which they promptly discarded as their worst result.  Stuart Sawyer’s “Black Dog” secured second place overall by taking third in race eight and second in race nine to finish the series eight points behind “McFly”.  The battle for third was a close one with “Mustigo”, owned by the Scholefield/McDonald/Thomas partnership, Andrew Christie and Chris Body’s “Icarus” and Martin Dent’s “JElvis” separated by just a single point going into the final day. “Mustigo” declared her intentions from the off and finished race eight in second place, with “Icarus” fourth and “JElvis” sixth.  As they lined up for the final race “Mustigo” now counted 27 points, “Icarus” 30 and “JElvis” 32.  “Mustigo” had the bit between her teeth though and stormed to race victory to secure her place on the third step of the J/111 podium.

Asked after racing for the secret of their success Tony Mack, owner of J/111 “McFly” wryly said; “Firstly it was lovely weather, it didn’t rain! Also, I think we just got lots of things right, which in the past we haven’t always.  We seemed to get the rig settings right for each race for the sails.  Playing the right wind shifts helped and we just got further and further ahead.  Jeremy Smart is our tactician and he got us simply brilliant starts in all but one race.  I think in fairness to the other competitors we’ve done it where we’ve got everything wrong. I think that’s why everybody goes sailing to hope that they get a weekend like this, one where everything just comes together.  Our class rules allow us one professional, who is Jeremy, but everyone else is an amateur.  We’re quite a small crew physically, so we can sail with nine people within the weight limit and the crew range from a student, an IBM Executive and a windsurfing instructor to my wife and various friends. We’ve sailed together a lot which I think is half of it and we make sure the boat is one that everyone likes to sail on so they want to come back.”

J/109 sailing on solentIn the J/109s Ian Nagle’s “Jelly Baby” put the final stamp on their already impressive lead by adding a third followed by a win to secure first place overall.  Whilst the victor was a foregone conclusion the same could not be said of the remaining podium positions with just four points separating Robert Stiles’ “Diamond Jem”, Paul Griffiths’ “Jagerbomb”, the RNSA’s “Jolly Jack Tar”, Tony Dickin’s “Jubilee” and David Rolfe’s “Shadowfax” overnight. The tension was palpable as the boats came to the line and it was nip and tuck from start to finish of race eight.  “Shadowfax” took her second race victory of the series and was followed across the line by “Jagerbomb”, “Jelly Baby”, “Jubilee”, “Diamond Jem” and then “Jolly Jack Tar”.  A quick recalculation of the points revealed that “Jagerbomb” now lay second on 23 points, “Shadowfax” and “Jolly Jack Tar” were both on 26 points and “Jubliee” and “Diamond Jem” both had 27 points. Right from the final warning flag, the boats were jockeying for position and there were plenty of places changing on every leg of the course.  At the line, “Shadowfax” crossed second behind “Jelly Baby”, “Jubilee” was third and “Jagerbomb” fourth. “Jolly Jack Tar” could only manage an eighth, their worst result of the series, and “Diamond Jem” was ninth.  Overall that meant that “Jagerbomb” took second place overall by a single point from “Shadowfax” with “Jubilee” fourth, “Jolly Jack Tar” fifth and “Diamond Jem” sixth.

Having travelled all the way from Cork to compete in this year’s Vice Admiral’s Cup regatta was “Jelly Baby’s” owner Ian Nagle.  He was “pleasantly surprised” with their success. “We’ve done pretty well in Ireland, we’ve won a couple of ICRA Nationals in 2012 and 2014 and we won the Irish J/109 Nationals last year, but this is our first time out of Ireland.  We’ve come from Cork and are staying to do the J-Cup as well. We genuinely didn’t know how we would fare against the English boats. There are no J/109s in Cork so we weren’t sure how we were going to do, but I think after race 3 we felt might be on the pace. We were very happy with the race management.  That kind of fast turn around was great, its lovely to race and start again quickly, that’s what its all about really.  He [Rob] did a great job as there was so little wind on Friday so to get the three races in that day was magic. We were full of praise for him. After that we’re mad for more!”

After racing the crews gathered at the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s delightful Cowes clubhouse for the prize giving where RORC Admiral Andrew McIrvine presented the prizes to the luck crews and thanked all the competitors for attending and once again making the Vice Admiral’s Cup a resounding success.  He also paid tribute to Rob Lamb and his Race Committee for their sterling work and thanked the club's volunteers and staff for their excellent support.   For more Vice Admiral’s Cup sailing information

J/70s sailing Wannsee Woche in Berlin, GermanyJUST IN TIME Winners @ Wannsee Woche
(Berlin, Germany)- As the first major J/70 regatta of the season hosted by Potsdamer YC on the Wannsee in Berlin, it was the team of JUST IN TIME skippered by Gordon Nickel (including Sebastian Rocke, Fiege Nils-Mathes, Nils Merten Farber) that took the thirteen boat fleet overall honors.  As they say in America, they were first to “punch out” on the time-clock after a weekend of long hard work!

The event had two days of racing with six total races- three each on Saturday and Sunday.  Both days were just about spectacularly perfect— 8 to 18 kts of breeze, some of the best sailing conditions anyone could imagine for the middle of Berlin’s beautiful lake (one of the coolest cities in the middle of Europe!)

J/70s sailing Wannsee in Berlin, GermanyFor the first day of sailing, the crew of DUFTe skippered by Frank-Uwe Fuchs was the runaway leader with a 1-7-1 tally.  Tied for second were Nickel’s JUST IN TIME team with a 6-6-2 and Maxmilian Nickel’s team on JUKEBOX with a 4-3-5.

The second day of sailing brought more good breezes, more sun and even shiftier, puffier breezes!  In the end, it was Nickel’s JUST IN TIME crew that closed out the regatta with a strong series of races and won with a scorecard of 6-6-2-2-2-1 for 13 pts net.

In what seems to be a rather normal scenario for incredibly close J/70 one-design racing, the next two boats on the podium ended up tied on points for second overall.  Winning the tie-breaker with a record of 1-7-1-5-6-4 for 17 pts net was Fuchs’ DUFTe from Yacht J/70 Berlin- Germany- Wansee Woche winnersClub Berlin Grünau.  Third was Max Nickel’s Berliner Yacht Club team sitting on a 4-3-5-1-4-5 record on the same 17 pts net (note- they were the only team in the top three to score all top five finishes).

Also of note was the family team aboard QUICKLY BEE- GER 728; Jürgen Freiheit sailed with his wife Birgit Freiheit and their son Oliver Freiheit and his girl-friend Martje Uecker.  After just taking delivery of their boat, this was their first major J/70 regatta and they managed a 3rd in their first race and a first in their 5th race of the regatta!  Perhaps more good news from this family effort in the near future!  For more Germany J/70 sailing information

J/70s sailing Cedar Point One Design regattaCATAPULT Launched @ Cedar Point   
(Cedar Point, CT)- The light and fickle winds over the weekend made it difficult to run sailing races on Long Island Sound. But, Principal Race Officer Dick Thackaberry of Stratford found a way to conduct three good races, completing the first Long Island Sound Championships for the hugely popular J/70 class sailboats.

The winner was Joel Running’s CATAPULT team from Minneapolis, Minnesota, managing to post a 2-1-7 in the tough sailing for a total of 10 pts.  Taking second was current J/70 World Champion Tim Healy on USA 2- Team HELLY HANSEN with a 1-8-4 for 13 pts.  Tim was tied with Scot & Alex Furnary’s ANY COLOUR from American YC in Rye, New York who had a 5-7-1 for 13 pts, losing the tie-breaker.  Fourth was Tom Bowen’s REACH AROUND from Charleston, South Carolina with 15 pts.  Among local sailors competing, Kerry Klinger of Norwalk was fifth, Richard and Stephanie Swann of Westport were 10th, Bill Walker of Easton and Allan Stern of Westport were 12th, the all-family team of Charlie and Sarah Neagoy and their daughters Grace and Evelyn of Simsbury finished 18th.

In the Corinthians Class, it as Noel Clinard again collecting more silverware, winning with LOONATICTU with 28 pts.  Second was Carrie & Ed Austin sailing CHINOOK with 36 pts and third was Bill Walker & Allan Stern’s FAST 4WD.

For many teams it was a very difficult regatta to stay consistent.  Reflecting the depth and the competitiveness of the fleet in general was the fact that four World Champions didn’t even crack the top five in a 22 boat fleet!   Next up for the J/70s is the Bacardi Newport Sailing Week in July in Newport, Rhode Island.   For more Cedar Point One-Design regatta sailing information

J/24s sailing with spinnakers3 BIG DOGS Chomp J/24 Western Regionals
J/70 PRIME NUMBER Sweeps Elite Keel Class
(Belvedere, CA)- The beautiful San Francisco Yacht Club, situated on Belvedere Cove facing the famous Raccoon Straits inside of Angel Island, hosted their annual Elite Keelboat Regatta and the J/24 Western Regional Championship from May 16 to 17. The J/70 class had eight boats racing on the Berkeley Circle along with the fleet of twelve J/24s.

As a Worlds Qualifier regatta, the J/24s were the headliner class for the weekend.  Sailing like a rabid dog going after the last bone on Earth (e.g. like the MadMax movie), Pat Toole’s Santa Barbara YC team on 3 BIG DOGS (past J/24 North American Champions) proved they still had all the skills necessary to be top dog for the weekend, posting four bullets and a 5th to win with 9 pts.

Not surprisingly, another J/24 class leader, the ultra-suave team on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH from Corinthian YC in Seattle, WA, were whipped into a frenzy of energy and uber tactics-calling by their chief cook, bottle washer and skipper- Scott Milne; they posted four deuces and a trey to easily grab second overall for the event.

Rounding out the podium was Paul van Ravenswaay’s FERAL ROOSTER with just 23 pts.  Behind them in fourth was another CYC Seattle boat, Carl Sheath’s SUSPENCE with 25 pts.  Fifth place was decided by a tie-breaker with James Baurley’s CRITTER taking it over Darren Cumming’s DOWNTOWN UPROAR.

The all SF Bay J/70 class was pretty well dominated by Peter Cameron’s PRIME NUMBER; their 2-3-1-1-1 scored them just 8 pts.  Starting quickly but fading into the fog and haze was Geoff McDonald’s 1FA with a 1-1-3-2-2 for 9 pts.  Then, the consistent Chris Kostanecki on JENNIFER posted all 2nds & 3rds to grab third place with 13 pts.

Just behind the top three, it was a complete free-for-all with nothing getting settled for the next five boats until the last race or two.  Winning this heart-stopping, anxiety-ridden roller coaster was Tom Thayer’s RAMPAGE, taking fourth place by a whisker with 25 pts.  Only one point back in fifth place was John Brigden’s COOL STORY BRO.   For more Elite Keel/ J/24 Western Regionals sailing information

J/24s sailing Spring Cup off Poole, EnglandMADELEINE Enjoys Lovely J/24 Spring Cup
(Poole, England)- The J/24 Spring Cup, hosted by Parkstone Yacht Club, is the first regatta of the season and a great opportunity to catch up with other J/24 sailors, both on and off the water, since the last regatta in October. With two major European Regattas over the coming year, the scene was set for two days of competitive sailing as we re-acquainted ourselves with windward-leeward courses. Poole gave us near perfect conditions, with a fair breeze and sunshine for our first day.

The first race saw conditions of 20 knots plus and the whole fleet on jib; the race committee gave us a great first course despite shifty conditions. Whilst we raced closely, there were some familiar names in the leader board, taking the right lifts and spotting the right side of the course. By the end of Race 2 the inconsistent breeze had most of us thinking that we could change up to Genoa but it wasn't until the start of Race 3, when the wind dropped that teams knew a mid race, downwind sail change could be the difference between a top placing and a mid fleet finish. MADELEINE’s start in Race 3 was hampered by the tide, however, skipper Duncan McCarthy not only performed a flawless sail change but also sailed through the fleet to finish first.

Dominica Lindsey, new to J/24 helming on her boat PHOENIX, sailed a great regatta with an impressive 3rd in the 3rd race. William Lack is admired for his tireless enthusiasm encouraging the youth sailors on VINYL SOLUTIONS. Simon Lack sailed an impressive Race 5 and came a close 3rd to two of the fleet’s top helms. Whilst it was clear that both Roger Morris’ JOLLY ROGER and Andy Taylor’s HITCH HIKER are still in a 'developmental phase', they gave a flash of their potential, each with 1st place finish by the end of the regatta.

Everyone agreed the conditions were incredibly changeable, which led to some tough calls on which side of the course was favored. However, the leader board showed that our top crews consistently made the right calls over the 6 races. Congratulations to McCarthy’s crew on MADELEINE (Steve Phelps, Spencer Whitworth, Hannah McCarthy & Charlie Fisher) for their simply brilliant performance with a 1-2-1-1-2-4 scorecard and just 7 pts net.  They fought a closely-matched series of races against Matt Hardy’s CHAOTIC crew (Hugh Styles, Tom Montgomery, Joanna Bainbridge, & Ian Henry) that collected a 2-1-2-3-6-2 tally for 10 pts net.  Lying third on the podium was Roger Morris’ team on JOLLY ROGER (Paul William, John Sparrow, David Sparrow & Nina Squire), improving every race (literally) to post 9-6-4-2-1-6 scores for 19 pts.

A hearty “Thanks” to the Race Committee for a great weekend racing and Parkstone YC for hosting the hungry sailors and providing delicious food and cold beer! A special mention too, to local Mark Bennett’s “Patisserie” for consistently brilliant, yummy sandwiches!   For more UK J/24 Spring Cup sailing information

http://www.jboats.com/j111Spectacular, Sunny Swiftsure Regatta
Hot Racing for J/105s, J/111s and J/120s
(San Francisco, CA)- The St Francis YC played host to the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta last weekend for fleets of J/105s, J/111s and J/120s.  Not surprisingly, the San Francisco Bay conditions delivered in spades with the StFYC PRO able to run five races on the western end of the Bay between Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge- a.k.a. “the city front course.”

Perhaps the most surprising element of this year’s event was the fact that despite tremendous parity between the top teams in all three J classes, it was a set of new (or re-invented) players that simply dominated their fleets.  Almost as if on cue, the top boats all managed to avoid bad races in the no-throw-out series.

J/105 MOJO sailing San Francisco BayWhile many of the usual suspects in San Francisco’s famous J/105 fleet populated the top five, it was Jeff Litfin’s MOJO team that experienced a resurgence of speed and smarts for the weekend.  Yes, they truly got their “mojo” going with an amazing record of 4-1-6-1-1 for 13 pts, winning by the enormous margin (for the J/105 class, that is) of 12 pts!  In a distant second place and fighting hard to stay there was one of the class leaders, Bruce Stone’s ARBITRAGE.  In a four-boat fight for the top five, ARBITRAGE hung on by a whisker to post a 2-2-5-11-5 for 25 pts.  Just two points behind them was the trio of Steve, Paul and Gregg Kent on PERSEVERANCE with 27 pts.  The rest of the top five included Ryan Simmons’ every-present BLACKHAWK in 4th and Doug Bailey’s AKULA in 5th.

J/111s sailing on San Francisco city front courseThe J/111 class on SF Bay was in for a bit of a shocker.  Winning their first major regatta in a thoroughly convincing fashion was Peter Wagner’s SKELETON KEY.  Sure is hard to beat five straight bullets for a mere 5 pts!  Equally convincing in their consistency was a newcomer to the J/111 class, the San Diegan team on PERSEVERANCE skippered by Bennet Greenwald; their 5-2-2-2-3 was good enough for 14 pts and second overall.  Dick Swanson’s BAD DOG sailed fast and consistent to snare a 2-5-4-4-4 scorecard for 19 pts and third place.  Lying 4th was Nessrin Basoz’s SWIFT NESS and 5th was Dorian McKelvy’s MADMEN.

Like the 105s and 111s, the J/120s had a relatively “new” team at the top of the podium after the fog of war cleared on Sunday.  With an amazing 1-2-1-1-3 for just 8 pts, David Halliwill’s PEREGRINE team was ecstatic with their win, one of the more dominating performances in the J/120 class in quite some time.  Second was Steve Madeira’s MR MAGOO with a more “normal” class score of 4-1-2-4-1 for 12 pts, such is the closeness of the fleet.  Third was Barry Lewis’ CHANCE with 14 pts. Sailing photo credits- Chris Ray.   For more St FYC Swiftsure Regatta sailing information

J/105s sailing off Seattle, WA on Puget Sound 
PNW One Design A Success!
(Seattle, WA)- Yes, the first time the Pacific Northwest One-Design (POD) Regatta was run, and hosted by Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle, it can safely be called a success! Just three months after the spark of an idea, over 60 boats came out for this inaugural event. None of this would be possible without the exceptional leadership of our Fleet Captain, Noj Henderson, a capable cadre of volunteers, and our great staff. A huge "shout out" goes to the co-chairs, Steve Sponar & Michele Henderson for taking care of the myriad of details necessary to pull off a regatta on short notice. Special thanks to Phil Nieman, who designed the brilliant POD logo from a couple of scraps of paper hastily drawn at the Boat Show.

Jenn Whitsett from the Seattle Aquarium and Carl Buchan started the weekend off with talks about orca whales and improving sailing success. Both talks were fantastic!

Massive thanks goes to Geoff Peas (this man deserved a medal and GOT ONE), who jumped in at 5 minutes before committee boat launch to serve as PRO on the south course. Our talented and fabulous race committee volunteers, Deb Prince, Joan Chandler, Jeanne McNeil, Joel Highet, Christine Bounds-Poulin, Bob Combie, Paul Carter, Stan & Joyce Buchart, Lorraine Carter, Frost Keaton, and Chuck Stevens were outstanding. Tim Adamson proved to be an exceptional addition to the volunteer staff, and served as a whaler driver. Our staff PRO, Charlie Rathkopf, and scorer Catherine Picha were great, as always.

Our volunteer bartenders included three Commodores! Thanks to Brian Watkins, Jerry Diercks, and Denny Vaughan, along with members Jeff Pullig, Howard Ferguson, and Sarah & Daniel Diaz. A thirsty crowd kept them very busy!  Office staff Beth & Celeste handled last minute drama smoothly and efficiently, per usual, and Chef Jeromi rocked it with the tasty snacks.

We were fortunate to have the lovely and talented Jan Anderson and her Boat Boy Skip out to document the event – they are truly wonderful people – go support them with your event photo purchases!

Without this stellar cast of characters, this event would not have been possible! THANK YOU, ALL!

On the sailing side of things, there was a nice turnout of J/105s and J/80s.  Taking the J/105 class was Jim Geros’ LAST TANGO with a 1-2-2-1 score for 6 pts.  Second was Jerry Diercks’ DELIRIUM with a 3-1-1-3 record for 8 pts.  Then, in 3rd overall was David Cohen’s INCONCEIVABLE with a 2-3-3-2 for 10 pts.

The J/80s saw a runaway as their class leader, with Lek Dimarucot’s UNDERDOG (appropriately named, eh) scoring only four 1sts to win by a country mile.  The race for the balance of the podium was not so easy; in fact, it was a bit of a dog fight the whole way with both boats earning virtually identical scores and points.  By beating them the last race, Steve Moe’s CRAZY IVAN scored a 2-3-3-2 for 10 pts to grab 2nd.  Losing that tie-break was Mike Poole’s JOLLY GREEN with the inverse scoreline of 3-2-2-3 for 10 pts, too!  For more CYC PNW One-Design sailing information
 

J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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J/22s sailing with American war veterans* “22 Too Many” is volunteer organization that helps American war veterans adapt & re-integrate into society.  In Newport, these veterans had a great time at the Volvo Ocean Race Village and, more importantly, they had a chance to socialize with real ocean-racing sailors and sail with them on the fleet of Sail Newport’s J/22s off Fort Adams.  Their experience was highlighted here in this sweet sailing video.   Watch the “22 Too Many” YouTube sailing video here:

Ken Read- North Sails- at Volvo Ocean Race Newport, RI* Is Ken Read worth his salt??  Maybe.  More importantly, he took a graceful dive worthy of an Olympic Gold Medalist diver!  How did that happen, one might ask??  The President of North Sails taking a dive into the freezing cold salt water of Narragansett Bay?

Well, some clever people at Sailors for the Sea dreamt up the crazy idea to get sailors to donate cash to their organization to support the Sailors for the Sea's “No Trash No Trail No Trace” Ken Read diving off Team Brunel- Volvo Ocean Race- Newport, RIcampaign and get North Sails President Ken Read to jump off Volvo Ocean Race boat Team Brunel at Leg 7 start!  In the end, the donation goal was matched and sure enough, Ken hopped into a comfy drysuit and just after passing Castle Hill Light, he jumped off the transom of Team BRUNEL- not a bad dive for a card-carrying member of the A.A.R.P.!

Charlie Enright- skipper of Volvo 65 ocean racer- Alvimedica* J/24 ace Charlie Enright and crew aboard Team ALVIMEDICA had yet another good Inshore Race as part of the Volvo Ocean Race festivities in last week’s stopover in Newport, Rhode Island.  In what became a parade after their awesome start, Charlie’s crew made the most of his local knowledge of current and wind patterns to earn an easy 2nd place.

On Sunday, May 17th, the fleet started at 1400 hrs and took off over the horizon to Lisbon, Portugal after doing a windward-leeward course in Narragansett Bay.  ALVIMEDICA's On-Board Reporter, local Newport sailor and photographer Amory Ross, had this to say about their Newport stop-over:

“We were legitimately speechless, looking at the hundreds of boats lining the racecourse and the thousands of fans along the Newport shore, and when we rounded Castle Hill and the spectator fleet converged to lead us back into the Atlantic I saw nothing but smiles in every direction!

Never did we expect that kind of a turnout during a chilly May weekend in Rhode Island, but instead we were treated to a Narragansett Bay mob maybe bigger than it ever!? Alby thinks he finally knows what it feels like to be a “footballer.” Housty says it was the most impressive sight he’s seen in three Volvo Ocean Races. Nick imagines it as busy or busier than Newport in the 80’s, during the America’s Cup glory days his father always reminisces about. It was almost overwhelming--the energy and enthusiasm that everyone showed for this little event of ours--and even if just for a few hours you made us feel like rock stars. Thank you!!

We are so proud of Newport, of sailing in America, and for the unrivaled passion and excitement that we all experienced during our short stay there. Sailing is alive and well in the Ocean State and while we of course relish the return to racing, it was very, very, hard to say goodbye.

Youth Inspiration at Volvo sailing off Fort AdamsOn a personal note, I was blown away by the amount of kids walking through the village, and by how much they knew. Even a surprised Will, dressed in plainclothes and very much hoping to fly under the radar, was stopped to the tune of Mr. Oxley and a cheering class of 4th graders. I am out here because I love sailing and because I love sharing our adventures, and to meet so many young kids who are following along, who say they want to someday grow up to sail in this race, and who ask the guys only one question: how do I get to where you are? It makes everything that we do worthwhile. To inspire others is as worthy a task as there ever was.”   Follow Team ALVIMEDICA's sailing experiences here.   Watch this sailing video clip- “Inspiring the Next Generation of Sailors”.
 

J/Cruisers
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/40 HERON REACH sailed by Virginia and Jerry is participating in the Blue Planet Odyssey project and have recently joined them in the Marquesas Islands in the Eastern Pacific.  Learn more about their adventures and experiences here- http://heronreachodyssey.blogspot.com/
Giant whale breaching in front of J/160 SALACIA off  Australia's Whitsunday Islands* J/160 SALACIA has been sailing in Australia in the Whitsunday Islands.  Guess who decided to throw themselves across their bow as they cruised comfortably to their next destination?  A giant whale!  Look at this amazing photo!

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.