Europe’s Best Sailing Club?(Porto Cervo, Italy)- The SAILING Champions League with 32 clubs from 14 nations are battling in Porto Cervo from the 18th to 20th September, hosted by YC Costa Smeralda on the gorgeous island of Sardinia. The most successful clubs in all the national sailing leagues in Europe are battling for this honor in a brand new fleet of J/70’s.
The first European “SAILING Champions League” event was sailed in October 2015 in Copenhagen, and won by Royal Danish Yacht Club, less than one point ahead of the Italian Club, Circolo Canottieri Aniene, followed by Oman Sail, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club and Norddeutscher Regatta Verein.
Qualifiers for this year’s event in Porto Cervo were the top two yacht clubs from the established national leagues in Europe. Sailors, clubs and sailing enthusiasts from all over Europe are looking forward to this second edition of the SAILING Champions League, which is a new and trend-setting club competition from 18th to 20th September 2015 at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo.
As technology partners of the SAILING Champions League, SAP and Vodafone provide the necessary equipment for professional live broadcasting. The German software company SAP has been supporting international sailing for over four years and makes the complex sport "visible, understandable and a real experience" for sailors and spectators. The telecommunications company Vodafone is also increasingly involved in yachting, offering the community the chance to experience events that can be difficult to access.Alongside the 'Race Management App' for the race committee, the 'SAP Sailing Analytics' including a live overall ranking, GPS tracking with 2D and 3D analysis as well as different statistics (for example boat speed, number of maneuvers, position in relation to the perfect course) will also be used in Sardinia.
Therefore, everyone who cannot attend the event in Porto Cervo can still follow the exciting races online. The live broadcasting will be complemented by cameras on the water, on land and on the boats on Saturday and Sunday. For the onboard perspective, SAP and Vodafone are testing smartphones sending live pictures via 4G LTE technologies from the water into the studio ashore. With the extremely fast Vodafone data processing network with 4G LTE technologies, large data volumes can be transferred to the studio ashore despite the huge distance. Thanks to the cooperation with Vodafone, broadcasting of live streams will be easier than ever in the future.
A team of seven people from SailTracks will be taking over the live broadcasting in Porto Cervo for SAP. Marcus Baur, two-time Olympic participant in the 49er class for Germany, and the Olympic trainer Richard Parslow from Great Britain will comment on the event.The innovative format of national sailing leagues and the SAILING Champions League are offering SAP an ideal platform to transmit club regattas for the clubs, fans and spectators. Currently, SAP is the technology partner of six national leagues – Denmark, Germany, Finland, Austria, Norway and Sweden – providing their software solutions and is an integral part of the “sailing league” format. The premiere of the SAILING Champions League last year in Copenhagen showed what modern live coverage of league events can look like, making the events more attractive for the organizers of the international sailing leagues. For a J/70 SAILING Champions League preview, check out this sailing video For more SAILING Champions League sailing information
J/105 North Americans Preview(San Francisco, CA)- The St Francis YC is hosting this year’s J/105 North American Championships on the famous sailing venue of San Francisco Bay. Renowned for their blustery sailing conditions and strong currents, the twenty-seven teams that have assembled from across the USA also includes a Chilean 105 team.
The event takes place from September 17th to 20th and is taking place concurrently with StFYC’s other very famous fall regatta, the Rolex Big Boat Series. Top teams that are participating in the event include former J/105 NA’s winner Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE, the recent San Francisco YC regatta winner Steve Kent on PERSEVERANCE, and several top Rolex Big Boat Series podium finishers like Shannon Ryan & Rolf Kaiser’s DONKEY JACK, Phil Laby’s GODOT, Ryan Simmon’s BLACKHAWK, Adam Spiegel’s JAM SESSION, Jeff Litfin’s MOJO and Jason Woodley & Scott Whitney’s RISK.
Spoilers in this fleet could be the Chilean visitors, Martin Baeza on YUNONA by UTOPIA SAILING TEAM from Santiago, Chile; Shawn Bennet’s JOSE CUERVO; Team New York sailing MELILANI; and Mark & Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS from Ft Worth Boat Club in Texas. For more J/105 North American Championship sailing information
Rolex Big Boat Series Preview(San Francisco, CA)- Back in 1964, the Big Boat Series began as the St. Francis Perpetual Trophy Regatta hosting just nine boats, and now, 51 years later, the RBBS is one of the most prestigious regattas on the West Coast. Over the next four days, 90 world-class teams will sail a mix of buoy and stadium-style races on the ever-challenging waters of San Francisco Bay.
“In 2005, Rolex became the regatta’s title sponsor, launching the series to a new level,” said Event Co-Chair Susan Ruhne. “It has gone through many evolutions, but the Rolex Big Boat Series is an important part of our maritime heritage, helping St. Francis Yacht Club to secure its position as one of the world’s greatest yacht clubs.”
In the sense that the Rolex Big Boat Series is one of the few remaining four-day events in the region, it is something special and of great significance for its loyal following, which plans long and prepares intensely for the competition. Ruhne pointed to the many one-design classes that have strong showings every year, including the J/105s (the largest class in the event).
Specially engraved Rolex timepieces will go to winners of the regatta’s coveted perpetual trophies: the St. Francis (awarded in ORR A class), the City of San Francisco (ORR B), the Keefe-Kilborn (HPR), the Richard Rheem (J/111), the Atlantic (J/120) and the Commodore’s Cup (J/105).
In the HPR Class, the two J/125s sailing will be going head-to-head for class honors. Both are extremely experienced teams. Both have won numerous regattas over the course of several years. No question, the platinum-level traveler has to be Greg Slyngstad’s HAMACHI from Seattle, Washington, having sailed in the Caribbean as well as West Coast races over the past year or so. The local hotshots of San Francisco Bay are most certainly on board Peter Krueger’s DOUBLE TROUBLE, hoping to defend their title of class winner from RBBS’s in the past.
The up and coming fleet in SF Bay happens to be the J/111s. A strong half-dozen of them are assembled to do battle again and, as usual, it is just about impossible to predict the outcome of this cast of characters. Seemingly, from one regatta to the next during their season-long battles on the Bay, one boat does better than others. But, clearly that’s a result of crews, tacticians and how relaxed their owner/drivers are feeling for that weekend. However, for the grand kahuna event of the year, it seems the RBBS brings out the most finely tuned of all the team’s crews. So, the jury’s out on how Rob Theis’ AEOLUS, Dick Swanson’s BAD DOG, Gorkem Ozcelebi’s DOUBLE DIGIT, Dorian McKelvy’s MADMEN, Peter Wagner’s SKELETON KEY and Nessrin Basoz’s SWIFT NESS will fair after four very hard days of racing on the Bay.Likewise for the J/120s. Many sailors on the Bay have passed through the half-dozen boats in this resilient, fun-loving fleet of boats. J/120s have certainly seen their fair share of offshore success and, like their “SoCal brothers” in San Diego, this fleet has held together with many friends and family participating on the boats. Perhaps that is the secret of their success. The chess players may move around, but you can bet the veterans will still be there in the end on the podium. This group is not an easy one to crack for class honors. So, do not be surprised that one boat either cleans everyone’s clocks (because they decided to really put on their “A” game), or it’s “rope-a-dope” between all six boats for the silverware between Barry Lewis’ CHANCE, Tom Grennan’s KOOKABURRA, Steve Madeira’s MR MAGOO, Dave Halliwill’s PEREGRINE, Ludovic Milin’s SAETTA or Timo Bruck’s TWIST.
The new PHRF Sportboat division promises to be full of surprises. Not the least of which that two new J/88s are thrown into the ring with the legendary J/90 and a host of other 28 to 35 foot so-called “sportboats”. Gary Panariello’s J/88 COURAGEOUS will be up against their sistership WHITE SHADOW sailed by Jim Hopp. Together they will test their mettle against Trig Liljestrand’s J/90 RAGTIME (yes, designer Rod Johnstone’s old personal boat from Stonington, CT). For more Rolex Big Boat Series sailing information
J/105 For Nantucket Community Sailing
(Nantucket, MA)- While Nantucket is a wonderful vacation resort, the families who live on the remote island struggle to make ends meet. According to Diana Brown, President of Nantucket Community Sailing, “our organization was founded to help island children have access to the water that they would otherwise not be able to afford. We are honored to serve that mission. Nantucket Community Sailing has dozens of enrollments in our youth programs each summer, 30% of whom are local island children and we give them scholarships to make it affordable to sail. A third J/105 would be a huge improvement to our youth sailing programs, and also give more Nantucket kids access to the waters surrounding our beautiful island.”
One of the NCS members, Susan Farm, comments that, “NCS currently has two donated J/105s in our keelboat program. Both boats are used for youth sailing programs and this past summer we experienced demand higher than we could support for the program. We also race the boats in a local PHRF series and travel to local regattas. The kids race one boat, and I have leased the second boat with an all female crew (Diane is on the crew). This summer, the kids program took precedence over our use, and we were out of a boat! But what a nice problem to have. (The boats are also used to take seniors out for leisurely cruises).”
Susan continues to say that, “we had 128 kids enrolled in the one-week J/105 programs on the two NCS J/105s, ranging in age from 9–18. The programs are at capacity, so the addition of a third boat would allow more children to experience the thrill of big boat sailing. The older children were able to participate in Wednesday night PHRF racing and in three days of PHRF racing during Nantucket Race Week. The J/105s also compete in the famous FIGAWI Race in the beginning of the summer; they are crewed by members of the Nantucket High School sailing team. Finally, NCS also uses the J/105s for community outreach, specifically with the “Old Salts” program (seniors from the Salt Marsh Center) and the patients and caregivers from PASCON (Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket).
Please contact Diana Brown for further information about the Nantucket Community Sailing program- work ph. 508-228-6600 or email- diana@nantucketsailing.org. Learn more here on their NCS website
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
It has been an “electric” start to the fall boat show and sailing season. The worldwide introduction of the 100% fully autonomous electric J/88 has opened the eyes of many sailors worldwide to the fact that it is possible to “solar sail” from sunrise to sunset when you are cruising point-to-point when the weather Gods are not cooperating. And, better yet, when you have plenty of “breeze” (e.g. for a J that’s only 4-5 kts TWS), the ability to use hydro-regeneration is an enormous benefit. Consequently, sailing with friends, enjoying an afternoon outing on the boat, is “saving Planet Earth” one boat at a time! Visit the Newport Boat Show and learn more.The equally amazing J/70 EuroCup took place last weekend on Lago di Garda, hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva on Riva del Garda. The cross-section of teams from Russia, Monaco, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden were emblematic of how the J/70 has continued to grow quite dramatically across the European sailing world.
As part of that on-going evolution, the Flensburger Förde Woche for J/70s and J/80s was held last weekend. Many top teams participated on the Baltic Sea event. Then, on the eastern side of the EU, the Austrian Sailing League completed their season-long series in J/70s on the Neusiedler See. Austria’s two teams are hoping to have a good showing in the upcoming SAILING Champions League at YC Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.
On the America’s side of the great pond, the J/24 North American Championship was hosted at Portland YC with 50 boats. The competition was fierce over the four-day event. It was close. And, the outcome was nowhere near what anyone would have expected at the beginning of the series.
Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Sep 17-20- Newport Boat Show (88, 97E, 122E)- Newport, RISep 17-20- J/105 North Americans- San Francisco, CA
Sep 17-20- Rolex Big Boat Series- San Francisco, CA
Sep 18-20- J/22 Dutch Open Nationals- Medemblik, The Netherlands
Sep 18-20- J/70 SAILING Champions League- Porto Cervo, Italy
Sep 19-20- The HOOD- Houston Open One-Design Regatta- Houston, TX
Sep 21-27- J/70 North Americans- San Diego, CA
Sep 24-27- J/30 North Americans- Marion, MA
Sep 25-27- J/105 Canadian Championships- Toronto, ONT, Canada
Sep 25-27- J/80 Atlantique Telegrame- Lorient, France
Sep 25-27- J/FEST San Diego- San Diego, CA
Sep 30- Oct 4- J/22 North Americans- Houston, TX
Oct 8-12- Annapolis Boat Show (88, 97E, 122E, 95)- Annapolis, MD
Oct 9-11- J/80 North Americans- Seabrook, TX
Oct 9-11- J/88 New England Championship- Greenwich, CT
Oct 10-11- J/FEST Southwest- Seabrook, TX
Oct 12-17- J/70 European Championships- Monte Carlo, Monaco
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
L’ELAGAIN Crowned J/70 EuroCup Champion(Riva del Garda, Italy)- As expected, the final day of the J/70 Eurocup at Fraglia Vela Riva was a duel to the finish for the top two leaders in the standings of the J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Italian Nationals- CALVI NETWORK (with Carlo Alberini at the helm) and L’ELAGAIN with Franco Solerio skippering. Their duel was one of the highlights of the three-day series held from September 10th to 13th on the fabulous Lago di Garda, a famous lake in the northeastern part of Italy that is known for very reliable mountain winds and the spectacular scenery. Against that beautiful backdrop, Solerio’s crew on L’ELAGAIN built upon their experiences in the J/70 Worlds in La Rochelle, France earlier in July and demonstrated they had the speed and “smarts” to win and be considered one of the top teams in the J/70 class. In fact, they not only won the final regatta on Lago di Garda, they also won the entire J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Championship series! Here is how it all played out over the three days of racing.
Day 1The first day of the final round of the J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Italian Trophy got off to a perfect start. Three races were completed with the usual fantastic “ora” wind that blew from 14-16 knots. A great start for this event which this year has seen an increase in the big names in international sailing on board in a tactical role. Italy looks to be in a good position this year in the J/70 class worldwide. Professionals of the caliber such as Francesco De Angelis, Celon, Cassinari and Fonda, who we are used to being seen in other sportboat and offshore classes are sailing this year on board the J/70s. It is a similar evolution seen in other parts of Europe and the USA, where World Champions and Olympic medalists in other classes are finding that J/70 class sailing is so simple to sail, the fleet is all going at the same speed. As a result, it makes for exciting sailing when fleets are so tightly packed that small mistakes magnify into big gains or losses, depending on the situation. In fact, it is quite often that one finds a double Olympic Medallist or 3x World Champion somewhere in the middle of the pack struggling to get back into the top ten!
As for the regatta organization, kudos for Fraglia Vela Riva who three years ago believed in the J/70 class from the very start by offering its experience and management team in promoting the first J/70 Eurocup. The fleet is now starting to get very skilled and numerous (with over thirty boats in competition), and has a decidedly international feel with 8 nations taking part including Sweden, Russia, Monaco, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Malta.
Thanks to the good wind of the first day the event got off to a flying start with a head-to-head between Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN (with Cassinari as tactician) and Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK. Solerio came out better with two wins and a second that gave him a 7-point lead over Alberini (8-2-1). Sebastian Ripard of Malta, sailing BETSAFE was in third place after sailing to three 4ths! Luca Domenici followed on NOTARO TEAM just one point behind. He finished 3rd in the first two races and 7th in the third. Michele Galli (with Francesco De Angelis as tactician) sailed on B2 and was sitting in 12th position with 10-14-17 record.
Day 2Three more races were sailed on the second day under the usual beautiful afternoon conditions on Lake Garda with winds of 12-14 knots from the south. With the discard introduced, Alberini’s crew on CALVI NETWORK went into overdrive and claimed three straight bullets to take the lead in the standings, with a two point lead over Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN. The racing again saw a heated battle between Alberini and Solerio, with L’ELAGAIN sailing to a 3-2-2 score- not quite enough to hold off CALVI NETWORK from taking the lead. A heart-stopping finale was clearly on the cards as only two points separated the two protagonists and with the forecast for the wind to be from the north, gusty and unstable in morning, the situation could very well change.
The bronze medal position was also being hard-fought as Ripard’s TEAM BETSAFE leap-frogged over Domenici NOTARO Team into third place. NOTARO Team was disqualified (which was then discarded), but has no margin of error and is in fourth position three points behind the Maltese boat. Jacopo Carrain’s CARPE DIEM (with Enrico Fonda as tactician) put in a good effort coming within 4 points of a place on the podium and was sitting in 5th overall.
Michele Galli on B2 with a well-known crew of Francesco De Angelis, Paolino Bassani and Flavio Grassi struggled to come through with a better performance and remained in 14th place (as noted earlier, De Angelis was a J/24 World Champion and America’s Cup Champion helmsman).
Day 3As was predicted, the final day was a duel to the finish. The fairly light winds in the morning gave different conditions from the previous days where the afternoon winds from the south blew in at 14 knots. The introduction of the lighter winds was an important element for Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN team. The first two races the morning were balanced with CALVI NETWORK winning the first and L’ELAGAIN the second. It was all down to the third race as tactician Cassinari (L'Elegain), well aware of the hypothetical advantage he had over his opponent, skillfully played it safe to gain position on Alberini and drive them down into the middle of the fleet. As a result, Solerio tossed their last race and counted only races in the top three, including three 1sts and four 2nds! Alberini settled for second place in the regatta and second overall in the J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Italian Championship series (Monaco, San Remo, San Remo, Cervia, Riva del Garda).
Team BETSAFE, with Sebastian Ripard of Malta skippering, held on to take third place while NOTARO Team suffered another OCS false start after a 3rd and 16th, which dropped them into seventh place overall, far from the podium which seemed to be within their grasp during the first days. To make matters worse, the last race OCS also cost NOTARO 2nd overall in the J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Championship series, losing the tie-breaker to Alberini at 95 pts each to settle for third overall.
Fifth in the regatta was Pietro Saccomanni’s SPIN ONE team from Venice (they were also 5th overall in the series). The top Monaco team in 6th place was Carrain’s CARPE DIEM, top German team in 8th position was Moritz Bohnenberger skippering TOURING JUNIOR, top Austrian team in 13th place was Klaus Diem’s PFAENDER, top Swiss team in 15th was Julian Flessati’s BODENSEE, top Swedish crew was Mikael Lindqvist’s ROCAD RACING from the Royal Swedish YC and top Russian crew was Sergei Ezhikov’s OST-WEST JUNO.There was a great comeback for UJI UJI with Alessio Marinelli and Federica Salvà (who are on course for Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil on the Nacra 17 catamaran for Italy), they finished fourth overall with a good, satisfying win in the last race (as a result they also took 4th overall for the championship series of five regattas). Then, the other team that showed great improvement was Galli’s B2 (with De Angelis calling the shots), sailing to a 10–7-2 on the last day to jump into 11th overall. For more J/70 Alcatel OneTouch Italian Championship sailing information
COUGAR Dominant @ J/24 North Americans(Portland, Maine)- Home-boy Will Welles’ COUGAR survived a black flag penalty in Sunday’s opening race to become the 2015 J/24 Pape Chevrolet North American Champion. After a slow start to their regatta, it was a courageous, anxiety-laden, roller-coaster performance by the hometown Downeast hero in J/24 racing circles. Welles has been on somewhat of a roll in recent J/24 events, having won the J/24 Worlds in Newport, RI last year (yet another home-boy winning performance), placed 2nd as tactician in the 2015 J/24 Worlds in Boltenhagen, Germany sailing with Mike Ingham, now winning the NA’s in the home waters of his youth.
J/24 Fleet 43, Portland YC and the organizing committee of the annual J/24 Downeast Regatta (which was being held simultaneously), conducted a most excellent social experience and regatta for the 50 J/24 teams that came from far and wide to compete in the NA’s from Thursday September 10th to Sunday September 13th. The daily drama for Welle’s come-from-behind victory started out with a dud in the first race, here is how it all happened over the four days.
Day 1No question, the first day of racing was less than epic. In fact, for many teams, it was quite frightening. The day dawned light and very shifty and simply stayed that way all day. The teams ventured forth into the ozone layer offshore and came back either wide-eyed or drowning their sorrows in the nearest Schlitz beer they could find. Nevertheless, it was Christopher Stone’s VELOCIDAD that grabbed the lead on day one by winning the day’s only race. The New Jersey-based team topped competitors from Argentina, Canada, Mexico and the USA by simply not falling into any tactical traps and getting tangled up in the corners of the racetrack.
Dan Busch’s BUSCHWACKER, also from New Jersey, placed second, while local J/24 rock-star, Carter White’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM, rounded out the top three.
Day 2The second day was “legendary”, in more ways than one. The partly cloudy day and good steady 13-15 kts breeze provided good, close, top-of-the-line racing for the very closely packed fleet. Top end of the genoa on the J/24 has always separated the “men from the boys” and on this day, that was the case.
The original “legend from Downeast”, and certainly the Portland area, for the J/24 class has to be Tony Parker and his various BANGOR PACKETS. Tony lived in Maine forever, then moved south to sail out of Annapolis YC in the last few decades. However, as the saying often goes- “you can’t take the city out of that new country girl”, in Tony’s case it’s the reverse. For him, it’s all about going back to his roots, despite the efforts of his Washington DC political cronies to “city-fy” him, and revisit fond memories of eviscerating his local fleet as BANGOR PACKET won yet another regatta (maybe that’s why they kicked’em out of Maine and sent him “packing” to DC?).
In any event, after four more races were sailed on Friday, lo’n’behold, the new leader of the NA’s was none other than the old home-boy from memories past- Parker’s BANGOR PACKET! Tallying consistent scores of 5-2-7-7-2, Parker held a two point lead over yet another excommunicated local, Welle’s COUGAR! Then, another two points back was Argentina’s top J/24 sailor from Buenos Aires, Nicolas Cubria skippering WORKNET.
In the opening contest, Welles took line honors. Parker and Tim Corbett’s Eskimo Sisters followed. John Mollicone’s Helly Hansen, Evan Petley-Jones’ Lifted and Travis Odenbach’s Honey Badger comprised the top trio in Friday’s second race. As the sun began to poke through, the breeze built to 15-20 knots at times with temperatures around 70 degrees. Welles again snagged a bullet in the next contest, with day one leader Christopher Stone’s Velocidad in second and Petley-Jones in third. Closing out the day with a victory was Mollicone, trailed by Parker and Odenbach.
Day 3On the third day sailing, the fleet ventured to the outside course on Casco Bay in winds between 6-10 knots. Odenbach got the day off to a solid start with a victory, while Martin Gallagher’s Shifty and Welles followed. Welles claimed the next win, ahead of John Mollicone’s Helly Hansen and Cubria.
The end of the day brought yet another leader to the top of the scoreboard. Will Welles’ COUGAR secured a 3-1 on Saturday to move into first place with an 11-point advantage over second-place Nicolas Cubria’s WORKNET of Argentina. Now able to drop a 10 from the first race of the Championship, Welles kept a scoring line of 1-9-1-4-3-1 for 19 points heading into the finale. With 31 points, third-place Travis Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER was hot on the heels of Cubria, who had 30 points.
Day 4
Heading into the final day, Welles held an 11-point advantage, but a BFD in race 8 made for an exciting end to the nine-race series. COUGAR nabbed a fourth in the final contest to end with 33 points, five ahead of Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER. Odenbach kept moving up throughout the four-day event, but settled for second place with 38 points. John Mollicone’s HELLY HANSEN took the bronze position with 47 points.
Welles has spent some time sailing in and around Maine (a mild understatement, to say the least), but noted that the conditions this week were not typical. “It was pretty tricky, but having a solid team is the key,” said Welles, whose crew was Chris Morgan, Jeff Linton, Erik Rexford and Monica Morgan. He thanked the local J/24 Fleet 43 and their volunteer base for taking good care of the competitors.
The balance of the top five was rounded out by “the man, the myth, the legend”- Tony Parker’s BANGOR PACKET in 4th only four points back from World Champion Mollicone. Then, early regatta leader Chris Stone’s VELOCIDAD was yet only one point back from Parker to take fifth.
In Sunday’s two races, Ed Rowe’s FLYING CHICKEN and Evan Petley-Jones’ LIFTED were the race winners in winds of 8-10 knots.
Winning the Women’s J/24 NA Championship was Natalie Penner’s GIGGLES, followed in 2nd by Gretchen Sullivan’s DRACO, and Erica Spencer & Jess Harris’ SEA BAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM in 3rd. For more J/24 North American Championship sailing information
Flensburger Förde Woche Fun Sailing for 70s & 80s(Glucksburg, Germany)- The Flensburger Forde Week in Germany has always been a popular end of summer finale on the Baltic Sea. This year it featured for the first time the J/70 class along with all the others, like the J/80s, ORC and several other one-design classes. The regatta was sailed from September 12th to 13th. The J/70s and J/80s each sailed five races; Saturday four races with winds between 12 to 20 kts. Then, on Sunday only one race because of so very little winds.
For the J/70s, their inaugural participation had eight boats sailing, all very good teams. The field included Bjorn Beilken, a 4th place finisher in the J/80 Worlds. The racing was very, very close amongst the top five teams.
After five races over the weekend of sailing, it was Christian Soyka’s team (Ole Stucker, Tim Kramer, Moritz Burmester) from SV Itzehoe that won with a steady 2-2-5-1-4 record for a total of 9 pts net to win the cliff-hanging tie-breaker. Losing that exchange was Gorden Nickel’s crew (Nils-Mathes Fiege, Nils Merten Farber, Nick Sclomka) from Segler-Vereeniging Wister who, unfortunately, took a DNF in the last race. Taking third place was Erik Schlaaff and crew (Tom Piesker, Steffen Naumann, Robert Kolsch) from YC Berlin Grunau, coming on strong in the end with a 5-3-1-6-1 record for 10 pts net to win the third place tiebreaker! Losing that match was Bjorn Beilken’s team on GER 862. Sitting by themselves in 5th position was Marwin Outzen with just 13 pts net from Flensburger SC. Top women’s skipper was Theresa Blumroth also from FSC in 7th place with her crew of Km Hedffedl, Antonia Hoch-Bauer, Theresa Blumroth and Rebecca Dehler.
Simultaneous, the J/80s were sailing their German Open Nationals with a fleet of seventeen boats. Again, another highly competitive fleet like their J/70 brothers. Nevertheless, after sailing the J/22, J/24 and J/80 Worlds, Martin Menzner was quite ready to finally win a regatta. This time, he succeeded, taking the German Nationals with nearly a race to spare- piling up an impressive scoreline of 1-1-2-1-2-6-1 for 8 pts net. His crew of Frank Lichte, Mika Rolfs from Sweden’s KSSS and Nils Beltermann were an enormous factor in their dominating performance.
Never able to overcome that hail of bullets was Hauke Kruss (with crew of Ole Sartori, Jens Tschentscher and Mattias Wallentin), having to work hard to remain in the silver on the podium with an erratic, roller-coaster tally of 2-7-3-8-1-1-2 for 16 pts net. Third position was Martin Christiansen’s team (Henrike Rolf, Andreas Hengstmann, Ullrich Tesch) with 23 pts net. Fritz Wassner’s crew (Paula Schaelke, Max Kleinsorg, Thore Petersen) took 4th place over the top Danish team of skippered by Johnny Jensen from Sonderborg YC. Sailing photo credits- Sven Jurgensen For more Flensburger Forde Woche sailing information
YC Bregenz Wins Austrian Sailing League(Neusiedler See, Austria)- At the finals of the Austrian Sailing League sponsored by SAP at Neusiedler See (21st to 23rd August 2015), the Yacht Club Bregenz won overall and was awarded the Champion’s trophy for the first time. For Burgenland Yacht Club that took second place, it also meant a ticket for the SAILING Champions League in September in Porto Cervo.
Max Trippolti, team manager of YC Bregenz said of the outcome for his winning team, “That’s awesome”!! He said this even after his competitors had tossed him into the water. It’s an old tradition, which came into effect for the first Austrian Champion of the Sailing League sponsored by SAP. “We are extremely satisfied. That’s the outcome of our hard and long-time work. We are a comparatively young team, the cooperation worked extremely well. The team is also excited about the format of the Sailing League and has set its goal to defend the title next year.”
The Burgenland Yacht Club finished the regatta again – just like at Traunsee – in third place. The local team from Neusiedler See was fighting for victory for quite a long time. In the sixth race, when rounding the mark, the gennaker of the Burgenland team was twisted. Their distance to the competitors increased and they finished last. Even in the last race, they were not any better than fourth place. But, thanks to the good results of the two previous days, they managed to finish on third at Neusiedler See – with the same score as the Union Yacht Club Traunsee – and second in the overall ranking.
Clemens Kruse of Burgenland Yacht Club said, “Fortunately we did start into the weekend successfully with three victories. Our big goal was the participation at the Champions League. And thanks to our second place finish, we made it! In the upcoming year, we want to compete again in the four events and fight for the title.“
Following the sailors from Bregenz, the SCTWV Achensee finished the last event in 2nd place. On the last racing day, the sailors from Tirol even had the chance for victory. But with a 3rd place, they were pushed back in the standings behind YC Bregenz. Michael Meister from SCTWV Achensee said, “It’s a shame, we could not bring home the victory. The J/70 was completely new to us. Nevertheless, our performance was very, very good. We are absolutely satisfied with rank three overall.“
Both teams are now sailing in the SAILING Champions League in Porto Cervo, Italy. Max Trippolti and his team had training sessions with their colleagues from Bregenz Sailing Club (BSC). The BSC has its own J/70 boats and is supporting the Austrian Champion during the preparation. Max Trippolti said, “It is a benefit for both of us. Our goal for Porto Cervo is a rank in the top ten.“ Sailing photo credits- SBL/David Pichler. For more J/70 Austrian Sailing League sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* J/111 BLUR.Se video summary of the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race. As many J sailors know, Peter Gustafsson and his Viking friends in the “friendly confines” of the cool northern Scandinavian summer always look forward to heading “south” (e.g. below the Arctic Circle, so to speak) and invading (a.k.a. joining) their warm-blooded friends in the southern parts of the North Sea and the even warmer English Channel and Irish Sea (someone once told the Vikings the beer is way better down in Ireland!). Perhaps one of the most difficult and mind-numbing races ever in Fastnet Race history was this year’s edition; with some teams quitting and most staying the course to finish after nearly five days of racing the 600+nm course. Enjoy Peter’s compendium of photos and video they compiled during the race here (we are sure you will find it quite amusing, entertaining at the very least and, in many respects, eye-opening!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4TytT_kmCQ
* Australian J/24 sailors are on their game. According to Simon Grain (cheerleader in chief of all things J/24 in the land of wallabee’s, dodo-birds, lizard-eating koala’s, highway-leaping roo’s, Ayer’s Rock aliens, Great Barrier Reef giant bug-eyed squids and more), “Australia is alive and well and coming into summer - looking forward to that! We have produced a new J/24 sailing/ promo video that is online on YouTube. If you haven't seen it go here:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hitkZSxdUFo
* Todd Aven’s J/92 THIN MAN has raced in Long Island Sound regattas and offshore races for quite some time now. Todd’s team has either been double-handed racing or fully-crewed in major events, winning some, enjoying some, and along the way collecting some silverware or pickle-dishes for friends and family.Recently, in the Vineyard Race, Todd's friends discovered there was a discrepancy in the rating of the boat that was scored as beating them. Naturally, this led to some “interesting discussions”.
According to Todd, “after my friend alerted us to the issue, the Stamford YC Race Committee promptly investigated the issue and adjusted the scores based on the correct ratings.
Looking at both PHRF 4 and 5 combined, we had the 5th fastest corrected time to Seaflower Reef, 2nd fastest time on the return leg, ending up 1st in class and 3rd overall.
It was a particularly hard upwind as we had a very seasick crew member laid out at the stern and frequent visits by others to provide attention and fluids. Needless to say, not optimal crew position for the 3-6 foot seas brought up by the easterly 15-25kt breeze.
I slept for about 1.5 hours out of the total 25 hours, on the helm most of the 15 hours upwind.
It was wet and nasty and rough upwind all the way to Seaflower Reef Light (15 hours), and correspondingly, it was a blissful downwind sleigh ride home with the spinnaker (10 hours). The breeze was generally easterly and moderate to strong, with a brief light spot for the last hour upwind to Seaflower. All the boats we were racing against were bigger and heavier and had less trouble punching through the seas upwind. We made up lots of time on the downwind return, just enough, as it turns out, for that 1st place spot!”* Improved Performance Through Team Function! Geoff Becker has been riding the J/70 wave since the class was launched, teaming with Tim Healy as they won the 2014 Worlds and finishing third in 2015. Here Geoff comments on how team function impacts performance.
“While I am a skipper at heart, the more I sail as a tactician or trimmer, the more I appreciate the functions of the crew when I do skipper. Each person on the boat is contributing to the performance of the team, and when everyone has that outlook, the function of the team improves.
While sailing with Tim and our core team, I have learned how important the interaction between crew members can be to a boat’s overall performance. The amount of information that needs to be filtered on the racecourse in order to make educated decisions, is immense and has made me fully appreciate the trust required on a boat and among the crew members.
We have all been in a situation where the other guy isn’t pulling his weight and you or someone else needs to pick up the slack. Less apparent at the time is what is being missed when crew members compensate and have their attention divided. With so much going on during any given race, having each sailor on board pulling their weight allows everyone the opportunity to really excel.
Our team, having sailed together for such a long time, has developed a strong sense of trust in each member to do his job on the boat. For example, I don’t tune the rig on the J/70 when sailing with Tim. It’s not that I can’t do that job; the reality is that on our J/70 team, the rig isn’t one of my responsibilities and I have complete trust that those responsible for the rig tune will do the job properly.
That level of trust has other pretty cool effects, too.
First, each of us has a smaller amount of stresses because we know all the jobs are covered. Less stress then enables each of us to do our jobs at a much higher level. Also, when someone has a problem and the performance suffers, we are able to fall back on our trust in each other to know that even though a mistake has been made, it will be quickly fixed and unlikely to happen the next time.
All aspects of the competition are made less stressful since no one is worried about making a mistake knowing our teammates are there for support. As a result, we win as a team and when we don’t, there is no blame, only a discussion of how to improve for next time.” Thanks for the contribution for Geoff B @ North Sails and Scuttlebutt News
* Over the course of the year, we often get some amusing anecdotes and photos from friends of the J sailing world. Recently, the President/ CEO of Treasure Chest- The World’s Greatest Vacations- Richard Shane, was out on the water off downtown New York City on the Hudson River. The weather was gorgeous. The city looked spectacular. And, a fleet of J/105s was sailing on the Hudson River in a fresh, invigorating, smog-free southeast breeze with lower Manhattan as the canvas in the background. Enjoy the photos and meanwhile learn more about Richard’s endeavors here.
* Norm Curnow’s J/36 JAZZ is at it again! Norm has to be bordering on the most sea miles ever sailed on a J/Boat?? Does anyone know anyone else who has sailed more than 50,000nm on their J/Boat?? His J/36 was first sailed by Rodney Johnstone, designer, in the early 1980s!!According to Norm, in these past few months, JAZZ has managed to accomplish the following (just 2015):
- 3rd overall in British Royal Navy Single-handers Plymouth series- 30+ plus boats taking part in 6 races throughout the summer.
- The record was: first race 3rd/ 2nd DNC/ 3rd race 7th/ 4th race 7th/ 5th race 5th/ 6th race 2nd!
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/
* 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!
* Jim & Heather Wilson just completed a circumnavigation of our "blue planet Earth" in June 2013 on their J/42 CEOL MOR. Said Jim, "The odyssey of CEOL MOR is over, for now. We completed our circumnavigation on our J/42 when we crossed our outbound track in Britannia Bay, Mustique. We were, however, still 2,000 nautical miles from home. So we continued on through the Windwards, the Leewards, and then through the British Virgin Islands. After a farewell 'Painkiller' at the Soggy Dollar, and a last meal at Foxy’s, we made the 1,275 nautical mile passage to the Chesapeake and completed our port-to-port circumnavigation when we arrived in Annapolis on June 28, 2013. We had been away 1,334 days, completed 259 days of ocean passages, and sailed 30,349 nautical miles (34,925 statute miles). Read more about their adventures in their well-documented blog here: http://www.svceolmor.com/SVCeolMor/Welcome.html
* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again! We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR. Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above) from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA. A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day! Amazing passage it was! Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda. Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large. Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR
* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea". The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety
The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"
Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.
Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.
People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."
READ MORE ABOUT BILL'S INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY AND THOUGHTS ON WSJ ONLINE HERE
* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/
* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.
* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between. Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins?? Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).- Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".
- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.
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