J/99 Short-handed Offshore Speedster Hatched!
(Newport, RI)- Fresh out of the box! The first J/99 offshore speedster is well on its way for future offshore stardom and is getting ready to fly across oceans and Great Lakes!
As the newest addition to the J/Sport range, the J/99 features powerful righting moment and the proven streamlined reaching shape that will enable her to surf and plane offshore in reaching/ broad reaching conditions like her offshore speedster sisterships- the J/88, J/111, and J/121. And, when the winds go forward of the beam, the J/99 has the power and pointing ability to decimate the competition.
Now more than ever, sailors are attracted to adventure-filled, signature events (Fastnet, Middle Sea, Chicago-Mac, etc.) where straight-line speed, sail handling, strategy and weather routing are all equally put to the test. The J/99 is designed to excel in these events (both fully crewed and short-handed) while delivering the exhilarating, family-friendly experience the J/Sport range is known for. For more J/99 Shorthanded Offshore Speedster sailing information
J/88 North American Championship Preview(Chicago, IL)- The Chicago YC’s fabulous Race Committee is hosting the four-day J/88 North American Championship, in conjunction with the Verve Cup Offshore Regatta, starting on Thursday, August 9th. A fleet of seventeen J/88s from across the eastern half of North America will be vying for the N.A. Championship crown against the best fleet ever assembled for the class. Twelve or more races will ensure the competitors from New York, Ontario (Canada), Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, North Carolina, and Rhode Island will have plenty of opportunity to determine who is the fairest of them all after thrashing around the cans off the spectacular Chicago waterfront, racing on the pristine waters of Lake Michigan.
The top teams from the Northeast include Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION, Doug Newhouse’s YONDER (with World Match Racing Champion Taylor Canfield as tactician) and Mike Bruno’s WINGS. There is a strong contingent from Lake Ontario, including Tim Finkle’s SEAWEED, and Laura Weyler’s HIJINKS (2018 Great Lakes Champion). Then, the hosts from the Chicago region have several hot teams, like Al Minella’s ALBONDIGAS, Tod Patton’s BLONDIE 2, Andy Graff’s EXILE, Richie Stearns’ HOKEY SMOKES, Ben Wilson’s RAMBLER, and Boyd Jarrell’s SLOT MACHINE.Given the incredibly close competition at the J/88 Midwinters in St Petersburg, FL and at Charleston Race Week, the 2018 edition of the J/88 NA’s should see very competitive sailing throughout the event at the top of the leaderboard. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images and Chris Howell/ J88 Class. For more J/88 North American Championship sailing information
Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race Preview(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 2018 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race is set to start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at noon on Sunday 12th August, directly after Lendy Cowes Week. The 1,805 nautical mile race around Britain and Ireland is organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club every four years and is considered to be one of the toughest challenges in the sport of yacht racing.
For the 2018 race, 31 teams with close to 200 professional and corinthian sailors will be competing. For the past two editions, the weather has been so rough that the RORC has reversed the route to protect the fleet from a potential battering.
After a momentous start at the Royal Yacht Squadron line, the fleet will race through the Solent then past the famous headlands of the South West of England. The epic adventure continues into the Celtic Sea, past the Fastnet Rock and Mizzen Head onto the wild west coast of Ireland. The Atlantic racing continues past St Kilda, up to the most northerly point of the course, Muckle Flugga on the 61st parallel. Then, turning south through the infamous North Sea, the fleet will have turned their bows for home. The English Channel and Solent form the final stages of the marathon race.Solent to Land's End- Approx. 180 nm
Getting a good start will depend upon using the best of the wind and tides to exit the Solent. The race starts to the east leaving the Isle of Wight to starboard. There are four major headlands which form tidal gates along the South Coast of England; Portland Bill, Start Point, The Lizard and Land's End. Deciding whether to go inshore or offshore at each of these headlands will depend on the wind speed, the direction and the tidal flow.
Land's End to Mizzen Head- Approx. 210 nmThe Celtic Sea forms part of the North Atlantic Ocean and the seabed is part of the Continental Shelf of Europe, which is relatively shallow at 100 metres. The fleet will get a real taste of Atlantic weather that can produce a significant and confused sea state as the ocean waves rear up in the shallows. The boats will pass the famous Fastnet Lighthouse along the way, but the significant waypoint is nine miles further west at Mizzen Head when the fleet will turn north to race along the wild West Coast of Ireland.
Mizzen Head to Black Rock- Approx. 170 nm
Bull Rock, Great Skelling and Tearaght Island must be rounded to starboard, but it is highly likely that the fleet will give them a good offing, as there are outlying rocks that should be avoided. The coastline features bold mountainous peninsulas with deeply indented bays. Taking the full violence of the North Atlantic's prevailing gales it is subject to heavy seas and swell.
Black Rock to Muckle Flugga- Approx. 530 nm
Having rounded Black Rock, it is unlikely that the fleet will see land again for over 200 miles of Atlantic Ocean Racing. As the fleet head further north, the air and sea temperature will begin to fall. The fleet will round St Kilda, which is an archipelago of islands in the Outer Hebrides. Hirta is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago with cliffs rising 430 metres sheer out of deep water. On to Sula Sgeir, that is a small, uninhabited island 40 miles into the North Atlantic from mainland Scotland. Muckle Flugga, Shetland Islands is the most northerly part of the course on the 61st parallel. The
fleet will be as far north as Alaska, which will deliver cold conditions, even in August. The teams will have now travelled over 1,000 nautical miles and over the halfway point in the race as they turn their bows south towards the finish.Muckle Flugga to Ramsgate- Approx. 580 nm
The fleet may be heading south and away from the effects of the Atlantic Ocean, but the North Sea can be just as difficult to navigate and to avoid hazards. The North Sea is one of the world's most important shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, and in recent years has seen the developments of wind and wave farms. The approach to Felixstowe is also complicated by a myriad of sandbanks and tidal rips are notorious.
Ramsgate to Finish- Approx. 130 nm
The English Channel with its busy shipping routes and tidal streams forms the last open water leg of the marathon before the teams enter the Solent to finish the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. For many teams they will have been at sea for up to 14 days, catching a few hours of sleep and dining on snacks and freeze-dried fare. The Royal Ocean Racing Club will welcome each team after they cross the finish line with a warm handshake and cold beer.
Two J/Teams are taking on the challenge. Racing in the IRC 2 Class are two J/122s. Sailing with a full crew is Andy Theobald’s R&W from the United Kingdom. Then, the Dutch duo on JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM (Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker) will be scored in both IRC 2 as well as IRC Doublehanded Class! For more Round Britain & Ireland Race sailing information
Verve Cup Offshore Regatta Preview
J/111 Great Lakes Championship Preview
(Chicago, IL)- From Friday, August 10, through Sunday, August 12, 2018, the Chicago Yacht Club will host the 27th annual Verve Cup Offshore Regatta. This event will feature three days of offshore buoy racing and a separate one-day distance race. Annually, this event hosts over 100 yachts ranging in size from 25 to 70 feet, and carry crews from 4 to 20 racers. During this regatta, the Chicago Yacht Club looks forward to welcoming more than 2,000 racers, family members and friends to its award-winning lakefront Monroe Station Clubhouse.
For this three-day regatta, boats will sail either in a handicap section or in a one-design section. Brag flags and prizes will be awarded to the top finishers in each section. The overall winner in what is determined to be the most competitive section by formula will be awarded the perpetual Verve Cup Trophy. The Verve Cup trophy dates back to 1893 and is the Chicago Yacht Club’s oldest trophy.
Likewise, for the Saturday, August 11, 2018, Distance Race, brag flags and prizes will be awarded to the top finishers in each of the four handicap sections, and the first place winner in the fleet determined by handicap will be awarded the 8 Mile Buoy Trophy.
The nine-boat J/105 class includes most leading local teams, like Clark Pellett’s SEALARK (winner of combined J/105 NAs & J/105 Chicago-Mac Race trophy), Vanessa Gates’ STRIKING, Jon Weglarz’s THE ASYLUM and Gyt Petkus’ VYTIS.
The five-boat J/109 class has Jim Murray’s CALLISTO (Mac Race winner), Peter Priede’s FULL TILT, Bob Evans’ GOAT RODEO (2017 Mac Race winner), and Jack & Jim Tolliver’s VANDA III (also a Mac Race winner); this will be a very tough fleet considering the number of boats racing.
Sailing the 2018 J/111 Great Lakes Championship are eleven boats from across the country. Current J/111 World Champion- Peter Wagner’s SKELETON KEY- will be vying for class honors against the top local boats. The winner of the Ugotta Regatta- KASHMIR- hopes to maintain their winning streak in around-the-cans racing. However, both boats know there are several spoilers in this fast fleet; such as John Kalanik’s PURA VIDA, Rich Witzel’s ROWDY, Dan Kitchens’ SKULL CRACKER, Brad Faber’s UTAH, and Tom Dickson’s WARLOCK.
In the ORR Distance Race division in Saturday, there are two J/crews participating- Frank Giampoli’s J/120 JAHAZI and Rick Stage’s J/35 ALPHA PUPPY. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images. For more Verve Cup Offshore sailing information
40th J/24 Canadian Nationals Preview(Kingston, ONT, Canada)- The 2018 Canadian J/24 Nationals are being held in conjunction with CORK/ Sail Kingston Regatta in that famously windy (mostly) location at the far eastern end of Lake Ontario. Since 1979, the J/24s have been sailing on Lake Ontario and across all parts of Canada for over 40 years, this year marking the 40th time Canadians have sailed their National Championship in J/24s! The lake is a perfect venue for the event, as the classic seabreezes start out light in the mornings from the SSW, then slowly build from 6-10 kts into the 12-18 kts range by late afternoon.
The thirteen boats sailing in this year’s event has a dozen Canadian teams and one American (a woman skipper- Kira Munger from Fair Haven, New York sailing USA 423). The Montreal crews include Stephan Blais CAN 3366, Fred Deom CAN 4019, & Brian Morris CAN 3782. The Ottawa fleet (the Canadian capitol) sailors include Jean Levac CAN 5254 and Richard Tanguay CAN 2594. The Toronto crews include Dave Ogden’s CAN 5235 and Ed Rees’ CAN 3729. For more Canadian J/24 Nationals sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The first week of August always seems to be the time to celebrate the start of the famous Lendy Cowes Week; that renowned regatta hosted by the Cowes Combines Club, starting off the iconic Royal Yacht Squadron line in front of Cowes, Isle of Wight, England. Hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors enjoy the frenetic pace of racing around the Solent each day, deciphering what to do tactically and strategically for each leg of the random-leg courses set out each day for each individual fleet. The navigational challenge is one of the most difficult in sailing, as there can be up to 7 or even 9 mark roundings on a given day over an 18-30nm course! There is an update below on how things went in the J/70 class and the rest of the one-design and IRC fleets.Just off to the northeast on the European continent, the SAILING Champions League Semi-Final was sailed in St Petersburg, Russia, hosted by the Royal St Petersburg YC and sailed on the Neva River for 28 teams from across Europe. The event served as the last qualifier for Europe’s best sailing club teams to participate in the SAILING Champions League Finale in St. Moritz, Switzerland, to be sailed on the Silvaplana Lakes.
Then, across the “big pond” to the Americas, we find the New England PHRF Championships and Buzzards Bay Race Week were held in conjunction by New Bedford YC, sailed on the windy, choppy waters of Buzzards Bay. Heading farther west, the first August weekend also marks the date to celebrate the Dillon Open Regatta for J/22s and J/24s; the event was sailed on the capricious waters of Lake Dillon over the weekend, with a few exciting moments and shredded sails for some! That’s what happens when you sail on the highest sailing lake in the world- at 9,022 feet of altitude! Heading still further west, it was San Francisco YC’s weekend to host their annual Summer Keelboat Regatta; the event attracted a large fleet of two-dozen J/105s and, as usual, the fleet endured typical windy, foggy, sunny, summer conditions on San Francisco Bay- there were a number of new faces/teams near the top of the leaderboard!
Down in South America, the J/70s enjoyed their first winter series event the prior weekend in Algarrobo, Chile (90nm west of the capital city of Santiago on the Pacific Ocean). This past weekend, it marked the occasion for the first Argentina J/24 Winter Series regatta, sailed in the gorgeous Andean foothills of the Cordoba region- north-northwest of the capital city of Buenos Aires. Aside from the fun, picturesque sailing, it is also one of the best wine-growing regions in the world! Notably, it was the Jesuits of Córdoba, the resourceful monks that planted South America's first vineyards in Córdoba in the 16th century, as they required wine to celebrate the Eucharist!! No wonder those famous “malbecs” are so good- learn more here- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina_Wine_Route
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 pag Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Aug 9-12- J/88 North American Championship- Chicago, ILAug 9-11- Nordic J/70 Championship- Sandhamn, Sweden
Aug 9-12- Verve Cup Offshore Regatta- Chicago, IL
Aug 16-18- J/24 Westerns- Oranmore, Galway, Ireland
Aug 17- Ida Lewis Distance Race- Newport, RI
Aug 17-20- J/24 Canadian Championship- Kingston, Ontario
Aug 18-19- Phyllis Kleinmann Swiftsure Regatta- San Francisco, CA
Aug 19-26- J/111 World Championship- Breskens, The Netherlands
Aug 24-31- J/24 World Championship- Riva del Garda, Italy
Aug 24-26- J/80 East Coast Championship- Boothbay Harbor, ME
Aug 24-26- Storm Trysail Club Ted Hood Regatta- Marblehead, MA
Aug 24-25- US Women’s J/22 Match Racing Championship- San Francisco, CA
Aug 24-26- Verve Cup Inshore Regatta- Chicago, IL
Aug 25-26- Vela J/24 Festival- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Aug 30- Sep 2- SAILING Champions League Finale- St Moritz, Switzerland
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
LENDY Cowes Week UpdateJ-DOG Wins J/70 Short Series!
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Cowes Week is one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events and is a key highlight of the British sporting summer. It has been held in early August every year since 1826, except during the two world wars.
The event offers a great mix of competitive sailing and social activities. The 8,500 competitors range from Olympic and World-Class professionals to weekend sailors. In excess of 100,000 spectators come to watch the sailing, enjoy the parties and live entertainment, and to experience the unique atmosphere. It is genuinely a one-of-a-kind event.
The 2018 edition of the annual LENDY Cowes Week Regatta started August 4th and ends August 11th. It has been extremely popular for J/Teams across not only from the United Kingdom and Ireland, but from across Europe as well.
So far, the sailors have enjoyed five good days of sailing. Here’s the latest on what is happening out on the waters of the ever-challenging Solent.
Day 1- SaturdayThe opening day of Lendy Cowes Week delivered a gloriously sunny and tactically challenging day of racing for the 35 classes taking part.
The first start, for the 36-strong J/70 fleet, was on the Royal Yacht Squadron line in a northerly breeze of 10 knots. The fleet bunched towards the favored northerly end of the line for a reaching start heading towards the east.
Simon Childs’ F’IN MAJIC and Tarra Gill-Taylor of the Royal Thames YC Academy led away from the line. However, John and Kate Greenland’s J-DOG and Peter Harrison’s SORCHA-J were first to hoist spinnakers on the short first leg and soon pulled ahead. Once the fleet settled onto their first beat, J-DOG held the advantage over Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT. Greenland was ahead at the finish, with a 48 second advantage on Harrison, while Ali Hall’s SCEPTRE took third place.
The J/70 class is using Lendy Cowes Week as an event in its 2018 Grand Slam series and has three races per day scheduled over the first four days of the regatta. Greenland won the second, held on a windward-leeward course from a committee boat, with Hall second and Harrison third. J-DOG took another win in the third race and now leads the series the Grand Slam series by a commanding margin.
“We were absolutely delighted to win all three races in a boat kindly loaned to us by the Royal Thames YC,” says Kate Greenland. “It was really close racing, which made it even more enjoyable. Today was all about good starts and staying in the pressure. To be honest the boys on board made my life as tactician pretty easy today because they all worked really hard in the shifty conditions.”Black Group
Among the Black Group yachts, IRC Class 4 promises to be very hotly contested. Entries include David Franks’ J/112E LEON, fresh from winning the IRC/ORC Offshore Sailing World Championship in Holland a couple of weeks ago with her previous owner. Another J/112E, Chaz Ivill and Paul Heys’ DAVANTI TYRES also has an enviable record.
Three minutes after their start, heading east from the Bramble line, the J/112E LEON was amongst the leaders with her sistership DAVANTI TYRES a few lengths behind.
By the time they passed south of Lepe Spit, against the tide en route to their first mark off Newtown Creek, the J/112E LEON, sailing lower but faster, had pulled out a lead on their fleet. The J/112E DAVANTI TYRES went on to take line honors in the three-hour race, and retained the lead on corrected time, just 34 seconds ahead of their sistership LEON.
Day 2- SundayFamily Day at Lendy Cowes Week delivered stunning conditions with unbroken sun and a solid east south-easterly breeze of 9-12 knots. The best winds of the day were predicted to be in the eastern Solent, so all classes started towards the east.
Rob’s Cotterill’s MOJO RISING and Ed Bolton-King’s RED ARROW led the J/109 fleet away from the southern end of the line, with the former accelerating faster and pulling clear ahead and to windward in the first few lengths. Best placed at the northern end were Jamie Sheldon’s BROWN TEAL and the Royal Naval Association’s JOLLY JACK TAR, while Caroline van Beelen and Rutger Krijger’s Dutch JACK RABBIT and Nick Southward, John Scott and Andy Christie’s Team WHISKEY JACK were in the front row more towards the middle of the line. JACK RABBIT finished 29 seconds ahead of Robert Stiles’ DIAMOND JEM, giving the Dutch boat two consecutive race wins. BROWN TEAL took third place, just 10 seconds later.
"It was quite light airs but we made some good tactical calls, which was key today,” says Krijger. “Good crew work and maintaining boat speed was also important; it was very close, and we crossed the finish line just 30 seconds ahead of the next boat."
IRC Class 5 had an even tighter finish – the first three boats crossed the line in just 10 seconds. The fleet started cleanly, but only because a number of premature starters had already turned around before the gun. In the end, Jack Banks’ J/92 NIGHTJAR took second and Andy and Annie Howe’s J/97 BLACKJACK II placed third.
Day 3- MondayCompetitors enjoyed a fabulous classic sea breeze day, after a long postponement, while race officials waited for the wind to arrive. They were rewarded with a stable 10-15 knot southwesterly breeze on another warm and almost cloudless day.
The bulk of the larger Black Group yachts started on the inshore Royal Yacht Squadron line, short tacking along the shore to the west. The start of IRC Class 1 was a spectacular sight, with the front row yachts perfectly in line when the cannon fired. There was soon much shouting for room to tack before boats grounded, as well as close port/starboard tack incidents.
IRC Class 2 was subject to an individual recall at the start and Chris Jones and Louise Makin’s J/111 JOURNEYMAKER II duly went back to restart correctly. Tony Mack’s J/111 MCFLY started towards the outer end of the line and was also well placed, sailing at the top of the fleet. However, in the end, it was Christopher Daniel’s J/122E JUNO that won on corrected time.
Day 4- TuesdayAfter a relaxed morning waiting for a breeze to build, the teams were thoroughly tested by a series of wild fluctuations in the wind that accompanied short showers that passed over the race area in the afternoon. Lulls saw to wind drop to as low as three knots while some gusts topped 20 knots, while the direction at times swung through 90 degrees.
In IRC Class 5, Andy and Anne Howe’s J/97 BLACKJACK II got third. Said one sailor, “it was a great race– a good length and very enjoyable– even though the wind was very shifty and up and down from 5 to 21 knots”.
White Group
A small band of rain moved across the start area, then the breeze rapidly built back to 10-12 knots, temporarily shifting right to a more westerly direction. The two cannons for an individual recall were sounded at the start of the J/80 one-design class, but no boats turned back.
Fiona and Malcolm Thorpe’s J/80 KING LOUIE, and Jon Powell’s J/80 BETTY, were closest to the inshore end of the line. However, Chris Body’s J/80 MOCKINGJAY took an early lead ahead of Ray Mitchell’s CHECKMATE after KING LOUIE grounded on Grantham Rocks, as the fleet short tacked past the Green. BETTY crossed the line first, but had to take a penalty for a rule infringement, which lifted MOCKINGJAY to first place, while CHECKMATE took third.“Having led the race and maintained the lead when the wind from the north dropped out and the then came in from the south, when we were on a tight spinnaker reach, I managed to hit the mark,” says Powell. “It was quite impressive because the tide was pulling us off– I’m not sure how that happened. I did some turns, but then realized we had to take a penalty so, even though we crossed the line in first place, we ended up second.”
J/70 Short Series results
Tuesday was also the final day of a short series for a number of classes that two or three races per day over the first four days of Lendy Cowes Week. Kate and John Greenland’s J-DOG won the J/70 short series by a nine-point margin ahead of Clive Bush’s DARCEY, with Ali Hall’s SCEPTRE taking third place.
Day 5- Wednesday- Youth DayA change in the weather today gave a cooler and windier, sunny day, with gusts nearing 25 knots in the early afternoon. Thousands of sailors came ashore sporting big grins after an energetic day that saw many thrills and spills on the downwind legs. Wednesday was “Youth Day” at Lendy Cowes week, with the spotlight shining on the numerous young sailors, teams and skippers at the event.
Today 14-year-old Callum Robbins raced on Chris Jones & Louise Makin’s J/111 JOURNEYMAKER II. “It was fantastic, I have never done something like this before,” he says. “It was great fun and something I am going to remember for a long time. I would love to get out racing again!”
The new Double-Handed IRC class, saw Natalie Jobling’s J/105 MOSTLY HARMLESS vying for the lead. The lead pair split gybes in the early stages of their first leg. At this stage, MOSTLY HARMLESS opted for more downwind angles that reduced the distance to sail at the expense of boat speed, ultimately taking 2nd in the race. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth- http://www.pwpictures.com For more Lendy Cowes Week sailing information
German Crews Blitzkrieg SAILING Champions League Semi-Finals!(St Petersburg, Russia)– Norddeutscher Regatta Verein has won the second Semifinal of the SAILING Champions League 2018 in St Petersburg, Russia after four days of challenging racing. Norddeutscher Regatta Verein only just beat fellow Germans Deutscher Touring Yacht Club by 2.8 points, with Russia’s Navigator Sailing Team in third overall. Now, 32 clubs from 12 nations are qualified for the big Final of SAILING Champions League in St. Moritz from 30 August to 2 September.
The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) team (Florian Haufe, David & Dorian Heitzig, & Miklas Meyer) mastered the most challenging of river-racing conditions in St Petersburg to win the 24-team Semifinal #2 of the SAILING Champions League 2018. It’s a repeat victory for the German club that won in Russia a year ago. The Deutscher Touring YC team (Julian Stuckl, Patrick Follmann, Jonas Vogt, & Tobias Bolduan) never let them get too far into the lead, in fact, coming very close to pulling off an upset at the very end. Across the four days of competition, the Russian Navigator Sailing Team (Igor Rytov, Igor Lisovenko, Viacheslav Martynov, & Alexander Bozhko) won six of their 16 races, an impressive number of bullets. However, no one could match the consistency of NRV that scored five bullets, but also never scored worse than 5th in any of the races, each of which was an eight-boat short-course windward-leeward contest.
Florian Haufe, helmsman of NRV, commented: "We are very happy to have qualified for the final in St. Moritz and even more with the overall win here in St Petersburg. Today, every single maneuver counted. We made a few mistakes less than the other teams. With the 3-knot current, we tried to sail a bit more conservative than normally. It worked, we played our cards well.”While last year’s wind came from every quarter and every day brought a very different race course, 2018 was blessed with four days of westerly winds. Two days with lighter winds, two days with stronger winds, but always sun and the summer conditions drew big crowds of spectators to the banks of the river where they enjoyed world-class racing right in front of the historic Peter and Paul Fortress.
Boathandling was critical on the final day, with the winds gusting close to 30 knots and many crews unable to control the boats through maneuvers, often resulting in some spectacular wipeouts and broaches. The shoreside spectators loved the show, as did those who tuned in from around the world to enjoy the live broadcast by SAP.
In total, 16 of the 24 teams in St Petersburg have qualified for the SAILING Champions League Final in St Moritz a few weeks from now. The 16 clubs from Russia will join the final’s host club Segel-Club St. Moritz, the SCL champion from 2017 Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and the 14 clubs who qualified from Semifinal #1 in Porto Cervo back in June, making it32 international clubs from 12 nations who will be competing high up in the Swiss Alps for the title of “Best Sailing Club of the Year” from 30 August to 2 September.
The sailors were full of praise for the host organization, St Petersburg Yacht Club, who was supported by its main partner Gazprom. Elena Solovyeva, project manager of SPBYC, explains: “One of the goals of St. Petersburg Yacht Club is the organization of sailing events in our city, our country and it’s impossible to do it better than hosting an event right in the heart of our amazing city. Citizens and visitors of our city are able to see this level of sailing. We had three days of perfect weather, wind, sun and almost no rain. We are very happy and I think it’s the best solution for events like SAILING Champions League having venues like this sailing stadium.“
Live broadcasting by SAPDid you miss the races of SAILING Champions League? Just visit sapsailing.com and click through the SAP Sailing Analytics for replays of all races and different and interesting statistics about the action on water. You find the overall results on sapsailing.com!
SAILING Champions League sailing video highlights:
Day 1- https://youtu.be/dtKn590dXoY
Day 2- https://youtu.be/vs6tA17zvE0
Day 3- https://youtu.be/m7BoEEIJ_P0
Day 4 Finale- https://youtu.be/kJ-OTJnXoi4
Sailing photo credits- Anya Semenyk and Andrei Sheremetov SAILING Champions League- St Petersburg, Russia Introduction video For more SAILING Champions League- St Petersburg- sailing information
J/111 New England PHRF Champion @ Buzzards Bay(South Dartmouth, MA)- The Beverly Yacht Club and New Bedford Yacht Club hosted their annual Buzzards Bay Regatta this past weekend with 13 fleets of boats on 7 circles, over 200 boats and 1,000+ sailors!
Winning the seven-boat J/80 Class was Dan Cooney’s AMERICAN PRAYER with six bullets in their seven-race scoreline. However, behind them it was a real battle all weekend-long between Peter d’Anjou’s LE TIGRE and Jim Shachoy’s PEARLY BAKER. That fight for the silver came down to the final race, with LE TIGRE holding on to a 3rd place, while Shachoy’s crew finished 4th; LE TIGRE taking the silver by 1.5 pts.
Winning the PHRF New England Racing A division was Doug Curtiss’ J/111 WICKED 2.0, counting an impressive record of five 1sts for a total of 5 pts net. Two J/109s finished 4th and 5th, respectively, Cory Eaves’ FREEDOM and Dan Boyd’s WILD THING.
J/Crews led a near sweep of the PHRF NE Racing B Division. Winning was Mark Lindquist’s J/105 STERLING with 6 pts in five races. Second was Ira Perry’s J/29 SEEFEST with 8 pts, fourth was Mary Schmitt’s J/105 HARDTACK with 14.5 pts, and fifth position went to Massachusetts Maritimes J/105 BOUNTY with 18 pts.
In the PHRF New England Championship- Cruising Division- Steve Dahill’s J/35C RIVA took the silver with a consistent scoreline of 2-4-2-3-3 for 10 pts net. For more Buzzards Bay Regatta sailing information
BABY DOE J/22 Leaps Ahead @ Dillon OpenTHE DUMPSTER Trashes J/24 Fleet
(Lake Dillon, CO)- At 9,022 feet (2,750 meters or over a mile-and-a-half straight up into the stratosphere), there is no question that Dillon YC’s annual “Dillon Open” that is sailed on the Dillon Reservoir high up in Rocky Mountains is the longest-running, highest altitude regatta in the world. It’s a gorgeous area to sail; just SSE is the fabulous Keystone Resort & Spa- the top of Keystone Mountain is 12,408 ft (3,782m, or over 2 miles up into the sky- the air does get a bit thin up there!)- https://www.keystoneresort.com/
Yet again, a great fleet sailors on J/22s and J/24s had to contend with incredibly challenging sailing conditions. On Sunday, there was an amazing photo taken of Greg & Susan Johnson’s J/24 PINOTAGE rounding the windward mark, spinnaker up, then gets flattened by a 50mph hail-infested vertical micro-burst from the sky; shredding their spinnaker and jib all at once! That is what happens when it blows over 100 mph just a few thousand feet above the tall 10-14,000 foot snow-capped peaks that surround Lake Dillon. The winds are often capricious and unpredictable, making for tough, tactical windward-leeward races.
Greg Schertz, the PRO for the Dillon Yacht Club running the races took this shot- he was blown away! “Yes, we have challenging sailing sometimes at the nation’s highest sailing club,” remarked Schertz.Despite the crazy weather, Mateo & Tito Vargas talent-laden crew on BABY DOE took J/22 class honors with a remarkably steady 2-1-1-2-1-1 for 8 pts total. Reed Baldridge’s crew from the College of Charleston YC in Charleston, SC sailed fast to post a 4-3-3-1-3-4 for 18 pts to take the silver. Rounding out the podium was Mike Kline’s NAUTI-MOOSE with a 1-5-4-5-2-3 for 20 pts.
Sailing with past J/24 World and Etchells-22 World Champion Vince Brun on board, Frank & Vivian Keesling’s THE DUMPSTER won their class only after the Johnson’s PINOTAGE got trashed by the hail-infused microburst. THE DUMPSTER’s posted a 1-1-3-3-2-2-3 for 15 pts total. The Johnson’s PINOTAGE had an equally impressive scoreline of 3-2-1-2-3-1-5 for 17 pts total. Closing out the podium was Josh Bowens-Rubin’s ZERO GRAVITY with a 4-5-2-1-1-4-4 tally for 21 pts total. For more Dillon Open sailing information
SEAWOLF Leads Argentina J/24 Winter Series(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- The Central Republic J/24 fleet in Argentina completed the first of their Winter Series on their beautiful Cordovan lake- Lago Salinas Grandes- for a very competitive sixteen-boat fleet.
Winning the first regatta was one of the newest boats in the fleet- Pablo Senestrari’s SEAWOLF. After six races, their 3-1-1-3-3-15 tally was good for 11 pts net. However, they only won the tiebreaker based on most 1sts over Adrian Bongianni’s team sailing ON LINE, which had a 2-3-6-1-2-3 tally. The final spot on the podium was also determined by a tiebreaker on 26 pts each! Winning that countback was Javier “Caraca” Moyano’s GRAN CARAJO over Carlos Trigo’s PURA VIDA. Finally, rounding out the top five was Julian Dadone’s SIROCCO with 30 pts net. For more Argentinean J/24 Winter Series sailing information
NE*NE Tops J/105s @ Summer Keelboat Regatta(San Francisco, CA)- In the summertime, San Francisco Bay is famous for its thumping seabreezes that often start out light in the morning with streaks of fog filtering through the grand twin towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. However, my midday the breezes from the west are well into the mid-teens and in the more extreme scenarios, gusts can hit the high 20s/ low 30s.
The local J/105 fleet revels in the big Bay breezes. A fleet of twenty-three boats was engaged in battle over the weekend for San Francisco YC’s annual Summer Keelboat Regatta. After five races in two days, it was Tim Russell’s NE*NE winning by a whisker over Ian Charles’ MAVERICK. J/105 #3 NE*NE (Lowell North’s original “superboat”) posted a 9-1-1-7-1 tally for 19 pts, while MAVERICK had a 4-9-3-1-3 record for 20 pts. Rounding out the podium was Ryan Simmons’ BLACKHAWK with a 3-11-2-2-4 scoreline fro 22 pts. The balance of the top five includes Doug Bailey’s AKULA in 4th place just one more point back and Phil Laby’s GODOT in 5th with 27 pts. For more SFYC Summer Keelboat Regatta sailing results Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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