J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
Starting off in New Zealand, we heard from our friends from way, way Down Under regards how their new J/88 was doing in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Club Marine Wednesday Night summer series. Racing takes place off the picturesque city of Auckland (current home of the America’s Cup) and sailing is held on the capricious Waitemata Harbour. Apparently, the J/88 took it to the locals and had a successful season!Heading east across the Pacific, we find the San Diego YC in San Diego, CA held their annual Yachting Cup for one-design fleets of J/70s, J/105s, and J/120s, as well as hosted PHRF handicap racing. Straight north in the northwest corner of America, the infamous Sloop Tavern YC of Seattle, WA held their wildly popular single/ doublehanded Race to the Straits event. There were one-design classes for J/80s and J/105s, with a range of other J’s participating in about a dozen other PHRF handicap classes. Zipping across the continent to the east, the Annapolis YC held their annual Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD Regatta for one-design classes of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, and J/111s- nearly 75% of the whole fleet! Moving on up to the northeast, American YC held their second and final weekend of their annual AYC Spring Series for over 70 boats in nine separate classes– IRC/ PHRF handicap and one-design classes for J/44s, J/109s, J/88s, J/105s, J/70s, and J/80s- over 60% of the fleet on western Long Island Sound.
As we do a fly-by of the Caribbean, we find the Caribbean Winter Circuit of insanely beautiful and wonderful sailing regattas has now come to a close with the completion of Antigua Sailing Week (yes, tears are welling up in everyone’s eyes for sure!) . Several J/teams participated and earned more silverware- two J/122s, a J/120, a J/11S, and J/30.
Hopping across the Atlantic, we would have seen an RORC Cervantes Race fleet starting off Cowes, England and then criss-crossing the English Channel (La Manche) in ferocious weather conditions; a number of J/crews took a beating but savored their medals in the end- sailing were J/105s, J/109s, J/111s, and a J/133. Across the northern part of the English Channel and into the Baltic, the Kiel Sailing Club was hosting their first major offshore sailing event of the 2019 season- the MAIOR CUP Regatta sailed off Kiel, Germany for J/70s and J/80s and other handicap boats. While still in Germany, but at the southern border in Starnberg, the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga (the German J/70 Sailing League) held their first event of the season for THIRTY-SIX teams sailing in the 1st and 2nd Leagues. To say sailing conditions were a bit fraught, ferocious, and fresh to frightening would be an understatement; try sailing in 36 deg F, blowing 20-30 kts, with extreme amounts of hail. Not!! But, they did! What were they thinking, one might ask? Down south in Spain, the Spanish J/80 fleet in Santander held their Cantabrian Championship, hosted by the Real Club Nautico Santander.
Finally, in a much more sybaritic atmosphere, like Greece, in the Mediterranean, sunny, warm waters, warm winds, the J/24 class was hosting their 2019 European Championship in Patras, Greece on their southwestern shore— pretty place! Thirty-one J/24s enjoyed what was, essentially, a nice one-week vacation in paradise.
Open House! See the NEW J/99 Offshore Speedster
Newport - Houston - San Francisco!
(Newport, RI)- Treat yourself to a visit to take a tour of the new boat that is taking over Europe by storm (50+ boats) and is turning heads everywhere it goes around the world! The new J/99 shorthanded offshore
speedster will have an Open House on Saturday, June 1st at three different locations nationwide- Newport, RI / Houston (Seabrook), TX / San Francisco (Alameda), CA.If you wish to see the J/99 firsthand, please fill out the online webform here to get an invitation and more details.
For more J/99 Shorthanded Offshore Speedster information
PalmaVela Regatta Preview
(Palma Mallorca, Spain)- The countdown begins for the first major offshore sailing event on the Mediterranean calendar. The 16th edition of Sail Racing PalmaVela begins on Thursday, with 124 teams from 23 countries. Organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, the regatta will be held from the 8th to 12th of May. Four days of pure racing action on the simply spectacular Bay of Palma will decide the winners; the forecast for sun, wind, clear skies looks no less amazing.
A number of enthusiastic J/sailors will be participating from across Europe and the Mediterranean. Perhaps, the most competitive class in the event will be the J/80s and it looks to be a latter day remake of the Spanish armada against the British main. The Spanish teams include Dmitry Bishayev’s ROSHAMBO, Csaba Szentpetery’s ALOJA, Kristyn Gills’ NAUTIPAINTS, and Miquel Pujadas-Corro’s ATILA. Showing up to this battle from Great Britain are COOPER RIGGING/ JOTAJUERGA and Andrew Cheetham’s CONFERMA/ NOW4.
In the world of ORC handicap racing are at least four fleets. In ORC 2 Class will be Olivier Parchet & Andrey Kochnev’s French team on the J/122 NOISY OYSTER. In ORC 4 Class will be Scott Beattie’s British crew on the J/97E JUST THE JOB. For more PalmaVela Regatta sailing information
Palma SAILING Champions League- Qualifier I
(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- This weekend, the SAILING Champions League will kick off in Palma de Mallorca. It's the premiere for Club Nautic Arenal Mallorca as the host club with a fleet of a dozen J/70 one-design sailboats. The racing promises to be simply spectacular, as they will be racing on the same Bay of Palma as the “big boat” PalmaVela Regatta.
There will be twenty-seven teams from across Europe that will be racing in the unique “sailing league” format that was pioneered by the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga five years ago. Teams that are sailing in the event include Austria (YC Hard), Denmark (Kongelig Dansk YC, Kalovig Badelaug, Frederikshavn Sejlklub), Finland (Nylandska Jaktklubben, Brando Seglare), France (Club de Voile Saint-Aubin Elbeuf, Club de Voile de Saint Quentin), Germany (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, Wurttembergischer YC), Italy (Aeronautica Militare, Societa Canottieri Garda Salo), Lithuania (RS280 Club, Gergo Vejo Klubas, Sailing Club Greitis), Netherlands (WV Almere Centraal, Jachtclub Scheveningen), Norway (Moss Seilforening), Portugal (Clube de Vela de Lagos), Russia (Leviathan Sailing Team), Slovenia (JK MIPC, PD Morska Vidra), Spain (Club Nautic de Arenal), Sweden (Goteborg Kungliga Segelsallskap), Switzerland (Societe Nautique Geneve, Club Nautique de Versoix), and the United Kingdom (Royal Thames YC).
Like America’s recent very famous horse race, the Kentucky Derby with a $3.0 million dollar purse for the winner, “room at the mark" (or, fence) will be critical in such tight, hot racing action on 15-20 minutes double windward-leeward racing! The handicappers at Ladbrokes UK will likely be trying to figure out which “horses” in this battle are going to qualify for the finale in September. Based on past performance, there is no question these teams should be a factor at the top of the leaderboard:
- Societe Nautique Geneve- Guillaume Girod, Nicolas Anklin, Benoit Lagneux
- Moss Seilforening- Karl-Einar Jensen, Joern Erik Rudd, Paal Einar Berntsen, Roger Larsen
- WV Almere Centraal- John den Engelsman, Rob van Burik, Rinse Ubbink, Willem Jan van Dort
- Norddeutscher Regatta Verein- Florian Haufe, David Heitzig, Miklas Meyer, Dorian Heitzing
- Club de Voile Saint-Aubin Elbeuf- Sylvian Escurat, Juliete Dubreuil, Clement Margueray, Emilien Polaert
- KDY Royal Danish YC- Henrik Jensen, Henning Lambertsen, Niels Gramkow, Thomas Hartrig
For more SAILING CHAMPIONS League sailing information
RORC Vice Admirals Cup Preview(Cowes, England)- The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s annual Vice Admiral’s Cup Regatta is an event held in the Solent and is designed for class racing and closely-banded IRC Rating classes with a mixture of windward/leeward and random-leg round-the-cans races. The format is quite popular with J/sailors since there is a mix of different kinds of racing, enabling teams to test themselves in the different formats.
In the Performance 40 Class of ten boats will be Chris Daniel’s J/122E JUNO, up against a cast of First 40s and King 40s.
The six-boat J/111 Class has teams from Great Britain, Netherlands, and Switzerland. Notable teams include Louise Makin & Chris Jones JOURNEYMAKER II, Simon Bamford’s KESTREL, Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB, Tony Mack’s McFLY, Jan Van Berne’s RED HERRING and Joerg Sigg’s LALLEKONIG.
The half-dozen J/109s include most of the top dogs in the U.K. class. Those teams include Chris Preston’s JUBILEE, Simon Perry’s JIRAFFE, Phil Warwick’s JOLLY JACK TAR, David Richards’ JUMPING JELLYFISH, Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN, and Mike Yates’ JAGO.
The nine-boat J/70 class promises tight, close racing as the teams prepare for the J/70 World Championship that will be sailed in U.K. home waters off Torquay in the southwest country. Some of those leading crews include Andrew Barraclough’s JENGA 8, Patrick Liardet’s COSMIC, Doug Struth’s DSP, and Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT. For more RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup sailing information
Oregon Offshore Race Preview
(Astoria, OR)- The 43rd Annual Oregon Offshore International Yacht Race, sponsored by Schooner Creek Boatworks, is scheduled to start on Thursday, May 9th, 2019. This 193-mile race starts at Buoy 2 off the Columbia River entrance off Astoria, Oregon and finishes at the entrance to Victoria, British Columbia harbor in Canada.
There are twenty participants participating in the event hosted by Corinthian YC Portland. The entrants so far are the usual who’s who of the Portland sailing community, with some very welcome participants coming from out of the area.
A top local boat includes Scott Campbell’s beautiful new RIVA, a state of the art J/121, crewed by the usual group of local rock stars.
In addition to other local regulars, there is Phillip Wampold’s J/92 ZAFF RACING, the J/40 VELOCITY skippered by Thomas Keffer, and the Portland J/105 Fleet has a one-design start with three entrants (ABSTRACT, Dennis Sibilla’s ESCAPE ARTIST, and of course FREE BOWL OF SOUP (their 6th time!)!
This year, in conjunction with the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, the event is featuring the First Annual Cascadia Cup, which will award a trophy to the competitor with the lowest combined time in the Oregon Offshore and qualifying races of the Swiftsure event. For more Oregon Offshore Race sailing information
Edlu Distance Race Preview(Larchmont, NY)- This coming weekend marks the start of the summer offshore racing program for Larchmont Yacht Club. The Edlu Race, first sailed in 1956, has long been a classic tune-up race for the around Block Island Race and Block Island Race Week. Followed by a classic party, it is one the “must-do” events on western Long Island Sound.
The Spinnaker course is 32.0nm from the Larchmont Breakwater to Gong 11B off Eaton's Neck and back. The Non-Spinnaker course is approximately 20.0nm.
The start times are set for slower boats to start first and enable everyone to get back to Larchmont YC in time for the “Sailors Welcome” with lots of camaraderie, hot dogs, chili, beer, dark‘n’stormies and live music!
In the nine-boat IRC Class is Steven Levy’s J/121 EAGLE from Indian Harbor YC and Len Sitar’s J/44 VAMP from Storm Trysail Club.
The eight-boat PHRF Doublehanded Division includes Jon Yoder & Bill Gassman’s J/100 BLACKCOMB from Larchmont YC, Josh Burack’s J/105 PEREGRINA from Huguenot YC, Abhijeet Lee’s J/111 VARUNA from New York YC, and Mike Greene’s J/35 LOBLOLLY from Cedar Point YC.
At thirty-two boats, the PHRF Spinnaker Division is shaping up to be a battle by fourteen J/crews! Participants include William Komaroff’s J/100 TEXAS ROSE, two J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN teams, Carl Olsson’s J/109 MORNING GLORY, Bill & Julie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL, Bill Ingraham’s J/124 TENEBRAE, Paul Zinger’s J/30 ZINGER, and Iris Vogel’s J/88 DEVIATION.
The eleven-boat PHRF Plus-One Spinnaker Division includes Eric Bicknese’s J/105 BIG EZ, Arthur Hanlon’s J/112E DAUNTLESS, Sara & Josh Reisberg’s J/120 ABILYN, Todd Aven’s J/92 THIN MAN, and Tim Mount’s J/97E VESPER.
Finally, in the Edlu Short Course PHRF Non-Spinnaker Class will be Kurt Locher’s J/42 ATALANTA from host Larchmont YC. For more Larchmont YC Edlu Distance Race sailing information
Regatta & Show Schedules:
May 9-12- SAILING Champions League- Palma Mallorca, SpainMay 10-12- Grand Prix de St Cast- St Cast, France
May 10-12- RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup- Cowes, England
May 17-18- J/121 Spring Tune-Up- Newport, RI
May 25- Spinnaker Cup Race- San Francisco, CA
May 27- Coastal Cup Race- Monterey, CA
May 30- Jun 2- Gran Prix Ecole de Navale- Brest, France
May 30- SoCal 300 Race- San Diego, CA
May 31- RORC North Sea Race- Cowes, England
May 31- Jun 2- Southern Bay Race Week- Hampton, VA
Jun 1- Delta Ditch Run- Richmond, CA
Jun 1-2- Cal Race Week- Marina del Rey, CA
Jun 1-2- Cedar Point One-Design Regatta- Cedar Point, CT
Jun 1-2- Skyway Colors Regatta- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-9- Helly Hansen Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-15- Rolex Giraglia Cup Regatta- St. Tropez, France
Jun 8- Bermuda One-Two Race- Newport, RI
Jun 8- Farallones Race- San Francisco, CA
Jun 8-9- Lady Liberty Cup J/24 Regatta- New York Harbor, NY
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Shifty, Very Grey Annapolis NOOD Regatta
(Annapolis, MD)- After three days of racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Annapolis, 190 teams endured light to moderate and shifty cool winds on the Chesapeake Bay and some grey skies and even drizzle for most of the regatta. It was not exactly what the recipe called for in this generally warm weather, sunny most times, regatta on the pretty Chesapeake Bay. J/Crews were out in abundance for this popular springtime event with one-design classes of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, and J/111s enjoying well-run races on the Bay. Here is how it all went down off Naptown.
Day One
In the 18-boat J/105 fleet, one-design veteran Peter McChesney (Annapolis, MD) was leading the regatta before the fourth and final race of the day, but a sixth-place finish pushed him into second overall, 2 points behind Cedric Lewis and Fredrik Salvesen (Annapolis, MD). “I’ve sailed with most of my crew for 30 years,” said McChesney. “Some of us know each other from our time at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.”
A professional sailmaker and longtime one-design sailor, McChesney has won J/105 titles at past Annapolis NOOD regattas, as well as a J/105 Chesapeake Bay Championship, J/22 North American Championship and J/70 Corinthian National Championship. McChesney looks to draw on his vast racing experience to get him to the top of the leaderboard.
“We definitely left some points out there,” said McChesney. “But tomorrow, our goal will be to stay in the hunt, and if it’s close going into the last day, we’ll think about getting a little more aggressive with the boats close to us to make sure we come out on top.”
In keeping with NOOD tradition, title sponsor Helly Hansen was sponsoring two youth teams for the event. One team was comprised of local high school sailors racing in the J/80 fleet and the other is in the 30-boat J/70 fleet. Emma Snead (Annapolis, MD) skippered her team to a solid 12th-place standing after four races in the J/70s.
Doug and Amy Stryker’s J/30 TOTALED MAYHEM, of Annapolis, led their fleet after the first day of racing. “We were really happy with our first race,” said Snead. “We hadn’t practiced in the boat much because the conditions were either too light or too heavy when we tried. But I got a lot better at steering throughout the day, especially on the upwinds, which was a great feeling.”
The team’s coach, Geoff Becker, was onboard to offer advice when needed. “It was great having him out there,” said Snead. “He’s a really good coach and knows a lot about the boats, so having him was really helpful.”
Snead normally sails dinghy classes like the Club 420 and FJ for high school sailing and the larger national youth dinghy circuits. “I love one-design racing, no matter what class I’m sailing. If it wasn’t one-design, it would be a lot harder to get into sailing. Because the NOOD comes to Annapolis each year, I had the opportunity to hop on a new kind of boat with my friends and go do this amazing regatta right here in our home waters.”
Peter Wagner, owner and helmsman of the J/111 SKELETON KEY, trailered his boat from San Francisco for his third Annapolis NOOD. “We’re starting to become regulars,” said Wagner, “but we love racing in Annapolis. It’s a lot different than the conditions we get back home on San Francisco Bay, so it keeps us sharp.”
Like many of the J/111’s at the Annapolis NOOD, Wagner is using the regatta to prepare for the J/111 World Championship in Chicago in August (a light to medium air venue in the summer). “Our crew has been sailing together for a while, so everyone knows each other really well. It’s good to get the boat to different venues, especially because San Francisco is so windy.”
Wagner used a conservative race strategy to accumulate a solid first day of results. “The key was getting off the starting line clean. We were able to get out to the left side of the course, which was the place to be most of the day, except that last race, when we managed to go from first to fifth on one windshift!”
Day Two
The competition was especially tight in the 23-boat J/22 fleet. After six races, J.R. Maxwell (Annapolis, MD) and Matt and Laurie Schubert (Annapolis, MD) were tied for first with 23 points apiece.
“I’ve known Matt since our college sailing days,” said Maxwell. “He went to the Merchant Marine Academy and I went to Tufts, so it’s great mixing it up with him years later at the NOOD. Most of our college sailing buddies have kids now, so it's a little different than the old days, but the competition is just as fierce.”
“J.R. is a phenomenal sailor,” said Schubert. “It’s really fun to be tied with him heading into the last day. There’s nine or ten boats that could win most races, so we’re really happy to be where we’re at.”
With Sunday’s forecast calling for stronger winds, there’s still plenty of racing left and Todd Hiller (Youngstown, NY) currently lurking in third place, 2 points from the top spot. “It could get sporty tomorrow,” said Schubert. “I think most of the competitors will sail their own race, but if J.R. decides to come after me, I’ll be ready for the challenge.”
On the J/80 course, tactician John Bartlett (Annapolis, MD) was racing with longtime friend, John White, who led the 23-boat fleet after six races. “The Chesapeake Bay is really localized with breeze like this,” Bartlett said. “Sometimes you’re lucky when you’re in the right spot, and sometimes things get really tough.”
Bartlett has been calling tactics for White since the 1980s, and their friendship reaches far beyond the race course. “John is a great sailor,” Bartlett said. “His preparation is top-shelf, and he’s really good at making the boat go fast, so we always have a chance.”
Though White led his class heading into the final day, he’ll have to keep tabs on Trudy Murphy (Toronto, Ont) who catapulted herself into second place with three race wins today. “They’ve been sailing really well,” said Bartlett. “Trudy is getting off the starting line and staying clean up the course. They’ve beaten us in four out of six races, so we’ll have our hands full with them tomorrow.”
The Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta’s North Sails Rally, a one-day, one-race affair for the area’s cruiser/racers, started near the entrance of Annapolis Harbor. Sailors enjoyed a multi-leg course out to the middle of the bay and back. With light winds and strong currents, the race course, although short, required acute attention to the bay’s subtle and changeable conditions.
Dan Leonard’s J/100 FLASHPOINT won the spinnaker division easily, and in the non-spinnaker fleet, Nicholas Iliff’s J/105 MUSKRAT made quick work of the race course. Iliff’s J/105, which he’s owned since 1994, is a modified version of the popular 34-foot one-design. MUSKRAT has a deeper keel and a carbon-fiber mast than the standard J/105, and the crew prefers lighter winds.
“If it’s not too breezy, we are good,” says Iliff, who credits his crew with turning in a perfect performance, particularly his brother Tony, who trims the mainsail. “Today, we saw 10 knots, which is about the maximum breeze we like before the boat gets tender. It was a perfect day for us.”
MUSKRAT had a clean start and maintained a comfortable lead for most of the race, but when the wind went light near the finish, Iliff says there was a touch of concern onboard as trailing boats closed distance.
“It was a straight-forward race, with a close reach each way, but today, we had a bit more current than we normally do. On the way back, we had to take a tack downwind, which forced us into a bit of a hole.”
With patience, Iliff and his teammates persevered for the win in what he says is a casual start to their racing season, “It was nice, easy and straightforward, so it was just a matter of good sail trim and going fast.”
Day Three
Top J/80 class skipper John White (Annapolis, MD) won three of eight races over three days, finishing the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta weekend series 21-points ahead of runner-up Daniel Wittig’s TURBO SLOTH.
It was in impressive performance given the team hadn’t sailed together since October 2018 and White’s USA 1162 never finished worse than fourth place in the 23-boat fleet. White attributed his win to the collective skill of his crew, which included his son Kevin on the bow, trimmer and team boss Debbie Gosselin in the middle, and Jonathan Bartlett as tactician.
“Jonathan was on fire this weekend and had us going the right way all the time,” White said. “We had the best boathandling of any boat out there. I would get us in trouble early on and they’d get me out of trouble. The boats are shockingly close in speed, and this weekend it was current and windshifts that made a difference, as well as going fast in a straight line.”
As winner of his class, White was chosen as the Annapolis Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta’s Caribbean Challenger. He sailed in the British Virgin Islands 10 years ago, and says he won’t need much convincing to go and represent the Annapolis Yacht Club in October. Rounding out the podium in third place was the Canadians, Trudy Murphy on her aptly named FEISTY; she was tough and, unfortunately, did not have her “mojo” going on the last day, dropping down a spot after a 4-8 tally.
For Bruce Golison (Long Beach, CA), winning the J/70 fleet was a small step on the road to a larger goal. “I’m 62-years-old and still looking to win my first world championship,” said Golison. In a class defined by boatspeed, Golison and crew have spent the past three years honing their skills in the hottest one-design fleet in the country.
“We really had to keep our heads out of the boat this weekend,” said Golison. “It was shifty out there, and on our course, we couldn’t get much current relief by going to a side. We stuck to the middle most of the time and used our speed to get us out of tough situations.”
As an experienced sailor from Southern California, Golison keeps his J/70 on the East Coast to take advantage of larger fleet sizes, but he plans to take it back to California for the summer to prepare for the world championships in Los Angeles next year. “I hope I have it in me,” said Golison. “There’s not many sports that you can still be competitive at 62, but we have great focus on our team and we’re all putting in the work. We really want this.”
Behind Golison’s MIDLIFE CRISIS on the podium, it was Travis Odenbach’s HONEYBADGER taking the silver, while Ryan McKillen’s SURGE grabbed the bronze.
For Matt Schubert’s BAYHEAD (Annapolis, MD) in the 23-boat J/22 fleet, 4 points separated him and former college rival J.R. Maxwell’s SCOOBY (Annapolis, MD) heading into the final race. In the end, Schubert came out on top. “A bunch of people were in the mix,” said Schubert. “It seemed like a lot of them were so fixated on getting out of the current that they missed a few windshifts, so we did a good job of staying in phase and keeping in the pressure.”
Maxwell had been putting pressure on Schubert the entire series, and continued to do so to the end. “When we rounded the last mark heading up to the finish we knew we had it locked up,” said Schubert. “There was a big gap between us and the third-place boat, so we took a breath and pushed on to the finish. J.R tried to tack on top of us and steal our wind a few times, but we it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.”
Rounding out the podium seven points behind was Todd Hiller’s ESCAPE from Annapolis, MD.
James Sagerholm (Annapolis, MD) sailed his boat, AUNT JEAN, to five race wins in the four-boat J/35 fleet. “It was a lot closer than it looks on paper,” said Sagerholm. “We won a few of those races by less than a foot.”
A veteran of the J/35 class, Sagerholm has been racing his boat since 1985. His accomplishments include wins at many past Annapolis NOOD regattas and the J/35 North American Championships. “It’s great having this event come into town every year. There’s a bunch of J/35s in the area, so this is a good chance for us to get out and race.”
Behind the five-time winner in second was Roger Lant’s ABIENTOT, the only other boat to win a race off AUNT JEAN! Third place with nearly all podium finishes was Bruce Artman’s T-BONE.
In the J/105 fleet, Peter McChesney (Annapolis, MD) closed out the regatta with a first and a second to take the championship. “We sailed clean, played the shifts, and had an overall conservative last day,” said McChesney. “We didn’t do anything fancy. Our goal was to get two solid scores to finish it.”
The victory marks a reunion for McChesney’s crewmates, who sailed with each other for more years than they would like to admit.
“It means a lot to us to be able to come here and perform at the NOOD,” he said. “We had a lot of fun both on and off the water, and the conditions offered plenty of challenges. Our strategy was to stay out of trouble and start in the middle of the line. We have good boatspeed so we never had to do anything crazy to be in the mix. Once we started the last race clean, we knew we were going to win.”
Behind McChesney’s DOG HOUSE crew was Cedric Lewis & Fredrik Salvesen’s MIRAGE in second and Hugh Bethell’s JESTER in third position.
Winning the J/24 class of nine-boats for the “umpteenth” time was Tony Parker’s BANGOR PACKET. A regular on the J/24 circuit since 1978 (40+ years!), no one is going to teach ever popular “wiseman of the sea” Parker any new tricks! In fact, he’s often dispensing wisdom to the younger members of the class. Behind BANGOR PACKET, it was a hard fought battle for the silver that was, ultimately, determined on a tie-breaker at 27 pts each. In the end, it was Pete Kassal’s SPACEMAN SPIFF winning the countback over James Bonham’s SISU.
Continuing to extend their lead in the 13-boat J/30 class after the first two days was Doug and Amy Stryker’s TOTALED MAYHEM, closing the regatta with an emphatic scoreline of 1-1 to win by 6 pts. Taking the silver was Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello’s BEPOP, a past winner of the regatta. And, collecting the bronze was Bruce Irvin’s SHAMROCK another six points back.
The J/111 class has near-parity on boat speed for most of the eight-boat fleet, and that dynamic showed in the results. Even though they were leading for the first two days, Peter Wagner’s San Francisco team on SKELETON KEY had to continuously recover from being down in the fleet, aggressively tacking and gybing on shifts to claw their way back to the top of the standings. Finishes in this class often had two or more boats overlapped crossing the finish line. In the end, SKELETON KEY reveled in the breezier conditions on the last day and posted a 1-1 to win the class with 14 pts total. Consistently chasing them hard was Rob Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF, a family crew from Cleveland, OH. They, too, loved the breezier finale, posting a 2-2 to take the silver. The podium was rounded out by a local Annapolis team that is often at the top of the leaderboard- Jim Connelly’s SLUSH FUND. Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outside Images. For more Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD Regatta sailing information
Stormy German J/70 Sailing League- Act I
(Starnberg, Germany)- The 2019 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga started off its season in Starnberg, Germany, on a beautiful Alpine mountain lake in the southern part of the country- the Starnberger See. Thirty-six sailing clubs from across the country participated in somewhat hellish sailing conditions from May 3rd to May 5th. The fleet showed their fighting spirit, having to stave off cold, wet weather (2.0 deg C/ 35 F!) and extreme hailstorms.
Winning the 1st Bundesliga Division was the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee (VSaW) from Berlin and winning the 2nd League was the Blankeneser Segel-Club (BSC) from Hamburg.
"It was hard! The cold, the hail, and the storm- these were three really exhausting days, because staying power was needed! We are all the more proud, of course, to be able to win the first match of the season! That's what we hope to do again at the next event in Konstanz,” says Jasper Wagner, helmsman of VSaW. Sailing with him as his crew were Felix Bergmann, Elias Rothe and Max Salzwedel.
After a very close fight to the last race of the event, the Chiemsee Yacht Club and the Bavarian Yacht Club took 2nd and 3rd on the podium, respectively.
"It was an exciting battle! We trained relatively little, but we improved a lot over the four days and gave it everything we could!,” said the helmsman from Lake Chiemsee, Leopold Fricke. His team included Moritz Fricke, Lorenz Huber and Simon Tripp.
In the 2nd Bundesliga Division, the team from Blankeneser Segel-Club prevailed against tough competition. Their winning crew consisted of Claas Lehmann, Florian Dzsiesiaty, Justus Kellner and Valentin Zeller. Second place went to the Hamburg Segel-Club with the only all-women’s crew in event, and then taking third place was the Potsdam Yacht Club.
In two weeks (May 17 to 19, 2018), the next event of the 1st and 2nd sailing Bundesliga will take place on Lake Constance, hosted by the Konstanzer Yacht Club. Watch exciting sailing highlights of the Starnberg J/70 event here For more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
Cold, Windy MAIOR Cup Regatta
(Kiel, Germany)- Hosted by Kieler YC in Kiel-Schilksee, Germany, the MAIOR CUP Regatta took place from May 3rd to 5th in similar cold, wet, windy sailing conditions as did the Bundesliga down in southern Germany. The one-design fleets of J/70s and J/80s were participating in their first major regatta of the season and they were certainly put to the test, straining both boats and humans to the brink of exhaustion.
Day One- Cold, Wet & Wild
On the first day, it was cold in the Kiel Fjord and it blew hard- 20 to 25 kts all day with big seas. As the offshore crews struggled on the long haul outside course, the J/70 and J/80 classes fought close to land.
"Turning right in front of the harbor entrance was quite unusual," said J/80 skipper Martin Menzner. “As a result, we were so far inside, we had smoother water than the guys outside.”
After three races, Menzner’s PIKE crew had a 1-2-1 to be one point ahead of Arne Wilcken’s DIVA. Menzner joked, “Arne is the reason why I've exchanged half of my crew for this year! Thank goodness for my new crew members- Lars Keilwitz and Hannes Renzsch- they worked well with me and our other crew- Nils Berltermann!”
In the J/70 class, Charlotte Braun-Dullaeus’ crew on JINTO (Tobias Strenge, Florian Herrmann, Terje Klockemann) sailed fast and furious, winning the first race and ending the day with a 3-2 to lead the regatta by a point. Just behind her was Gerd Knospe’s SANNA R in second and Hauke Thilow’s GER 1079 in third.
Day Two- More Demanding Conditions
Although the wind had slowed slightly compared to the start on Friday, the wind was shiftier and puffier, more extreme in fact. Again, the J/70s and J/80s had their course tucked in close to land in flatter water, but the puffs were more extreme!
“Of course, it was important to be in the right place at the right time," said Nils Beltermann, a crewman on Menzner’s PIKE. "We have done well today and are leading, but only by three points! Our friend DIVA is fast and does not give up!”
In the J/70 class, Charlotte Braun-Dullaeus drove JINTO fast and on to the top of the leaderboard with a strong series of races for the day- a 1-4-2-1-2. She displaced the Berlin crew on SANNA R, dropping them into second. The big move of the day was Tania Tammling’s all-women crew from Hamburg that sailed ALBIS into third place by the end of the day with a blazing hot 4-2-3-2! Her crew consisted of Kristin Mertner, Carlotta Meewes, Ragna Thonnessen, and Franziska Wilckens.
Day 3- Blessed Sun Shines
Sunday provided the perfect atmosphere for the final day of the regatta; sun, moderate breeze, clear skies, and much warmer temperatures. Smiles all around the docks as people hopped aboard their boats for just two more races to complete the regatta.
"It was very tricky on Sunday," said J/80 class winning skipper Martin Menzner. “We are thankful that we had three very good days of sailing, we sailed well, no dramas, and finished well. My new team was good all-around!“ Taking second in the J/80s was Arne Wilcken’s DIVA and third was Hauke Kruss’ TAK FOR TUREN.
There was a lot of drama in the J/70 class. Having scored four 1sts in the first eight races, it was anyone’s guess that Knospe’s SANNA R crew could repeat those performances on the final day. In the first race, SANNA R did just that, winning it while JINTO took third, closing to within one point of Charlotte’s team. However, in the last race, Charlotte sailed fast, stayed out of trouble, and scored a deuce, while SANNA R finished right behind them. As a result, Charlotte and her crew on JINTO jumped for joy, breathing a sigh of relief as they won the regatta with 17 pts net. Knospe’s SANNA R took second with 19 pts net and Tammling’s all-women team on ALBIS took the bronze (also winning the Helga Cup Special Award for best women’s team).
"That was very exciting and close. We actually had a plan to decide what we would do in the penultimate race, but that did not work," said JINTO’s skipper Charlotte Braun-Dullaeus. "Our advantage was that we sailed very consistently, even on Sunday, which was probably the most demanding sailing day. It was really hard to judge some things, especially crossing situations upwind. We’re happy to win and thank my amazing crew!” Watch a nice sailing highlights video of the MAIOR CUP Regatta here For more MAIOR CUP Regatta sailing information
Pretty, Challenging Race to the Straits
(Seattle, WA)- “This past weekend’s Sloop Tavern YC “Race to the Straits” was yet another not-to-be missed event- it is all singlehanded or doublehanded teams. Saturday’s leg to Port Townsend was a light wind, current-plagued challenge, with a lot of did not finishes. Sunday’s leg back was with plenty of breeze from the north, spinnakers flying and smiles all around,” said Kurt Hoehne from Sailish.com.
“Of all the great aspects of this race,” continued Hoehne, ”my favorite is that it draws a whole lot of boats that “don’t” race out to race. There are couples, dogs, kids, cruisers and sails of every imaginable and unimaginable condition. Win or lose, it always appears to be a good time. And, with the staggered start (figuring handicaps into the start time) it seems to make the whole thing about results more palatable. It is what racing should be. On Saturday, it was a day for concentration and a lot of tacks. One skipper estimated he did 60 tacks! On Sunday, the boats with big spinnakers and long waterlines reveled.”
A number of J/Teams love doing this event since it is so, sooo laid back. Winning the PHRF Class 4 Singlehanded Flying Sails Division was the J/35 GREAT WHITE sailed by Dan Wierman. Meanwhile, Kevin Callahan’s J/80 NAMASTE took third despite having to take a DNF in Saturday’s race. In PHRF Class 6 Doublehanded division, Scott Galbraith’s J/24 FLYER took fourth. Ulg Georg Gwildis’ J/30 IMPULSIVE also took a fourth in PHRF 8 Class. The two J/27s in PHRF 9 Class both podiumed, Dennis Clark’s LXIII getting silver while Leo Morales’ WIZARD took the bronze.
In the J/80 one-design class, seven doublehanded teams started but not many finished due to the light airs on Saturday. Ultimately, David Schutte’s TAJ MAHAL won, followed by Morris Lowitz’s UPROAR in second and Lek Dimarucot’s UNDERDOG in third.
Christine Nelson’s J/29 SLICK sailed fast, narrowly missing the PHRF 11 Doublehanded Class win by just six minutes after 12 hours of sailing time! She took the silver quite comfortably.
The six-boat J/105 doublehanded class always has pretty close racing, even on the point-to-point events. This time, it was John Aitchison’s MOOSE UNKNOWN that took class honors, followed by Matthew Gardner-Brown’s DULCINEA in second and Sara Billey’s PEER GYNET in third.
J/crews smoked the PHRF 15 Doublehanded class. Winning was Kirk Fraser’s J/109 ECLIPSE, with Tad Fairbank’s J/100 SELAH in second, Tyson Varosyan’s J/35 SOLUTION in third, Stu Burnell’s J/109 TANTIVY in fourth, and Tolga Cezik’s J/109 LODOS in seventh.
Finally, in PHRF 16 Doublehanded class it was Chris & Justin Wolfe’s J/120 SHEARWATER that placed 2nd while the Hinze/ Butler duo on the J/120 HINZITE took fourth position. Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson/ Janpix Follow the Sloop Tavern YC’s sailing events on Facebook here For more Sloop Tavern YC sailing information
Grueling RORC Cervantes Trophy Race
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Cervantes Trophy Race provided a challenging start to the European season for the RORC Season's Points Championship. A bitter northerly wind, with squalls gusting over 30 knots, produced a challenging race for the impressive fleet of 108 boats. Starting from the Squadron Line, the fleet headed east out of the Solent passing No Man's Land Fort and into the open waters of the English Channel. After passing south of the Nab Channel, the fleet headed east, blast reaching to Owers, followed by an upwind leg to Littlehampton Outfall. Cracking sheets and hoisting downwind sails, the fleet headed south for a 77 mile dead-run across the English Channel. An energy sapping upwind leg of over 20 miles, from Cussy Buoy to the A5 Buoy, further tested the fleet, before a downwind section to the finish.
The eighteen-boat IRC 2 Class features saw the famous J/133 PINTIA sail yet another strong race. The duo of Gilles Fournier and Corinne Migraine has won the Cervantes Race several times in the past, both in class as well as fleet overall. This time, they settled for the silver, missing the class win by just 20 minutes. Then, Patrice Vidon’s French team on J4F finished just 30 minutes on corrected behind PINTIA to take the bronze!
In the very large thirty-six boats IRC 4 Class, Robert Nelson’s J/105 BIGFOOT held on to take eighth place, not bad for their doublehanded efforts. In fact, in the IRC Doublehanded Class of 35 boats, BIGFOOT placed sixth. Sailing photo credits- Rick Tomlinson / Paul Wyeth. For more RORC Cervantes Trophy sailing information
Spirited Yachting Cup Regatta
(San Diego, CA)- There were plenty of high-fives, handshakes and celebratory cheers back on the docks after the final day of the San Diego Yacht Club’s Yachting Cup. Congratulations were exchanged and camaraderie was shared by all.
The Yachting Cup perpetual trophy for the J/120 class is covered with winning plaques over the years for Chuck Nichol’s CC RIDER and John Laun’s CAPER. So, it was no surprise to see SDYC Staff Commodore’s John Laun and Chuck Nichols back at the top of the standings battling for another tally on the trophy. This year it was CAPER’s turn, as they won the first three races on their way to the win. Taking third was Ernie Pennell’s MAD MEN.
“It was a lot of fun. We were able to get good breeze both days up to 11 and 12 knots. We were in the Far Ocean course. It was very shifty and challenging at times, but it worked out well. We’re lucky to come out first in our class,” said Bill Campbell, tactician on CAPER.
“The first race yesterday [Saturday] stood out to us the most. We got on the water, hit our stride early on, and Bill and John nailed the start. We extended our lead the whole race, and it was really fun,” added Alli Bell, trimmer on CAPER.
SDYC relies heavily on the local J/105 class to support its signature fall regattas, the International Masters and Lipton Cup regattas. Many of the J/105s used to run those events competed in this year’s Yachting Cup with fleet captain Stewart Cannon’s J-OK finishing on top while winning the final three races of the weekend. Second was the duo of Driscoll & Hurlburt on the bright orange JUICED and third was Steve & Lucy Howell’s BLINK.
Jeff Janov’s J/70 MINOR TRHEAT used wins in the last two races to take the class win over Tony Collins’ FLY in a competitive seven race series for the J/70s. Third was Steve Wyman’s NUNUHUNU, fourth Bruce Cooper’s USA 32 and fifth Kim Kundrak’s USA 206 (she was also the Corinthian division winner).
David Boatner’s J/35 RIVAL, who was an overall winner at the 2016 Yachting Cup, narrowly won the PHRF C Class with four bullets and two deuces for 8 pts net. Sailing Photo credits- Mark Albertazzi For more Yachting Cup San Diego sailing information
LA SUPERBA Crowned J/24 European Champion!
(Patras, Greece)- This coming week the Sailing Club of Patras will be hosting 175+ sailors and thirty-five crews from all around Europe for the 2019 J/24 European Championship. Participating teams come from Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, and Italy.
Day 1- Spectacular Windy Day
Thirty J/24s vied in three races in winds of 15-25 knots to open to 2019 J/24 European Championship, hosted by the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece. Four different nations comprise the top four: Stefan Karsunke’s SCHWERE JUNGS of Germany (5 points), Ignazio Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA of Italy (8 points), Miklos Rauschenberger’s EL NINO of Hungary and Anthimos Nikolaidis’ EVNIKI of Greece (17 points).
Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA opened the Championship successfully as the breeze started in the mid-teens. Karsunke’s SCHWERE JUNGS and Rauschenberger’s El Nino followed. Nikolaidis’ EVNIKI won race two when the winds began piping up, and both Karsunke and Bonanno kept their claim at the front end of the fleet. Karsunke capped a nearly perfect day with a bullet, ahead of Panagiotis Kampouridis’ JMania and Alexandros Tagaropoulos’ HELLENIC POLICE in Tuesday’s last race.
Day 2- A Pretty Day on The Med
Six races have been accomplished at the J/24 European Championship, hosted by the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece. Ignazio Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA of Italy has jumped into first place. With scores of 3,2,3 on Wednesday, and factoring in the discard race (a fourth for them), LA SUPERBA tallies just 12 net points. Anthimos Nikolaidis’ EVNIKI of Greece moved up a spot to second overall (17 points), and fellow countryman Alexandros Tagaropoulos’ HELLENIC POLICE can now be found in third (25 points).
Winds began at 5-8 knots under blue skies and increased to 10-12 by day’s end for the 30 J/24s.
Nikolaidis rattled off two bullets in the first two races on Wednesday, shadowed initially by Tagaropoulos and Bonanno, and then again by Bonanno and Dave Hale’s CACOON of Great Britain. Two German teams rocked the day’s final and windiest battle: Lynn Wolgast’s DERBE KERLE and Thomas Cramer’s Jux and Dollerei. Bonanno placed third.
Day 3- More Breeze, More Sun!
In nine of 10 scheduled races at the J/24 European Championship, Ignazio Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA consistently placed in the top four. Factoring in one discard for the Series, that leaves the Italian team as European Champions for the second time (they also won in 2012 in their home country), with one race to spare. Retaining scores of only firsts, seconds and thirds, LA SUPERBA scored just 18 pts net!
Teams battling for the balance of the podium are over 18 points in arrears. Those teams include Anthimos Nikolaidis’ EVNIKI, Alexandros Tagaropoulos’ HELLENIC POLICE, Panagiotis Kampouridis’ J-MANIA and Stefan Karsunke’s SCHWERE JUNGS. The other thirty J/24s conclude racing Friday, with just one race scheduled.
The top Women’s European Champion contender is Lynn Wolgast’s German all-women crew from the Muhlenberger Segel-Club sailing on DERBE KERLE; she sits in 9th place with 70 pts net.
Conditions were perfect again on Thursday, with breeze at 10-15 knots, sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA notched their second bullet of the series to start the day, tailed by two German teams— Stephan Mais’ RUNNINGMEN and Karsunke’s SCHWERE JUNGS. Kampouridis’ J-MANIA of Greece snagged the win in the day’s middle battle, while Bonanno settled for second and Nikolaidis’ EVNIKI third. Then Kampouridis’ J-MANIA went back-to-back with another victory, ahead of Karsunke and Bonanno. Sailing photo credits: Batistatos Spyros/ Chris Howell Follow the J/24 European Championship on Facebook here For more J/24 European Championship sailing information
MERCURY Wins J/80 Cantabrian Championship(Santander, Spain)- The Real Club Nautico Santander hosted the 2019 Cantabrian J/80 Championship off their beautiful northern shores of Spain. There was two great days of sailing in the fabulously beautiful Sardinero Bay. On Saturday it blew from the northwest (300 deg) about 10 knots with a very flat sea. Sunday dawned with a fresh easterly wind with even flatter waters (since it was blowing offshore) and the wind never dropped below 18 kts!
Many of the famous Spanish J/80 champion sailors were in attendance, such as multiple World Champion- Pichu Torcida.
After a closely fought six-race series where the top five boats were only separated by six points in the end, it was Jaime Piris’ MERCURY that was declared the Cantabrian J/80 Champion with a total of 12 pts net. Taking second was none other than Ignacio Camino, himself a J/80 World Champion. Then, third was CASTELAR BUILDING, owned by Daniel de la Pedraia, and skippered by Diego Botin (yes, a member of that famous sailing family that is Botin Naval Architects). Rounding out the top five was Angel Herrerias in fourth and yet another J/80 World Chammpion in 5th place- Jose Maria “Pichu” Torcida.
Julia Casanueva’s CENTRAL OPTICA, with Eva Gonzalez at the helm, were the Women Champions (they finished 10th overall in the Open Division). For more J/80 Cantabrian Championship sailing information
Blustery American YC Spring Series Finale
(Rye, NY)- The second and final weekend of the 40th Annual American Yacht Club Spring Series Regatta concluded this past weekend in the same way it started on April 27-28; with challenging weather that included little wind on Saturday and heavy rain and 30 kt gusts on Sunday.
However, this didn’t prevent excellent performances, as determined sailors on over 70 boats in nine separate boat classes – IRC, PHRF, J/44, J/109, J/88, J/105, J/70, and J/80- toughed it out and got in good racing on western Long Island Sound.
With two races on Sunday, Mike Bruno’s WINGS placed first in the J/88 division and continued building on a hot streak that dates back to January with a win at the J/88 Midwinter Championship in St. Petersburg, FL. Elizabeth Barry’s team on ESCAPE had sailed strongly the previous weekend, but had a rough time in the rough weather and her 4th place finish in her last race dropped her into a tie with WINGS with 6 pts each, but lost the tie-breaker on most 1sts. Taking third was Kevin Marks’ VELOCITY.
WINGS skipper Mike Bruno commented, “it was pretty brutal, rain, low 50s air temp, 44 degree water temp, gusting to 25 kts plus or more in the last race was tough on everyone. One of our competitors pulled their jib cars off the deck, and the Canadians just called it a day, not surprised. We were happy, grateful, to get around the track in the last race to win and also get the series win.”
In the J/109 Class, Rosow’s LOKI continued their dominating performance, posting a 2nd on the last day to win with just 4 pts net! By winning the last race, John Greifzu’s GROWTH SPURT leapt into the silver spot, while Robert Schwartz’s NORDLYS placed 4th in the finale to drop into third place. .
Continuing their amazing string of 2nds was Paul Beaudin’s J/105 LOU LOU. With yet another two 2nds, LOU LOU won with just 7 pts net. John Koten’s GRAY MATTER posted a 6-1 to jump up the leaderboard to grab the silver medal. Meanwhile, “the kids” on YOUNG AMERICAN dropped off the pace, posting an 11-3 to fall to fifth in the challenging conditions. Then, David Greenhouse’s SKIPPERDEE had an outstanding day with a 3-4 to grab the bronze position. Rounding out the top five was David Willis’ SOLUTION in 4th and YOUNG AMERICAN 5th.
In the J/70s, Dan Goldberg’s BAZINGA barely held on to their lead to win by a point. It was the hard-charging duo of Carrie & Ed Austin’s CHINOOK that posted double bullets to nearly pull off a surprise win on Sunday. Third was J-RHINO.
The East Course saw Commodore Ketcham maintain their lead in the J/44 fleet to take the class win with 8 pts net. Reveling in the rough conditions was Don & Dick Rave’s RESOLUTE, firing on all cylinders to post a 1-2-1 scoreline Sunday and grab the silver. Just behind them was Len Sitar’s VAMP in third position.
In the PHRF Racing division, Scott Devine’s brand new J/112E REVIVER closed with a smoking hot 2-2 as they prepared for their summer season of racing. Meanwhile, Ron Richman’s J/133 ANTIDOTE closed the regatta in fourth place. Finally, in the PHRF Plus One division, Steven Levy’s J/121 EAGLE took second place. For more American YC Spring Series sailing information
Gorgeous Antigua Sailing Week
J/122 Wins Winter Circuit, J/11S Crushes Class
(English Harbour, Antigua)- The 52nd edition of Antigua Sailing Week will be remembered for a cocktail of superb sailing, thrilling racing and a great party atmosphere ashore. Teams from 21 different countries from all over the world chose Antigua Sailing Week as their destination. The trade winds blew for all six days of racing; mixed in with tropical heat and a rollercoaster ride of Caribbean swell, Antigua delivered world class sailing. Racing was incredibly close with the majority of the classes enjoying thrilling competition. New marks introduced provided the opportunity for longer coastal courses, allowing the boats to stretch their legs and take in the beautiful west and rugged east coasts of Antigua. The introduction of new top and bottom marks on the Windward Course allowed for better windward-leeward race tracks, testing the technical abilities of the international fleet.
In CSA Racing 4 Class, Pamala Baldwin’s Antiguan J/122 LIQUID continued their epic performance through the course of the winter season, closing their 2019 Caribbean Winter Series in 1st place and taking second place in Antigua; she also won the CSA Travellers’ Trophy! The Peruvian crew on the J/122 INKA TEAM, skippered by Diego Aguirre, closed the regatta strongly, posting a 2-4-3 in the last three races to finish in 4th place.
CSA Racing 5 Class featured close racing with races won or lost by seconds. But, it was Jonty and Vicki Layfield’s Antiguan J/11s SLEEPER that battled to a class win with six 1sts and two 2nds to win by a large margin. SLEEP not only won the Governor General’s Cup, but also awarded Best Caribbean and Best Antiguan Yacht!
“It’s been brilliant, with so much wind!” commented SLEEPER’s Vicki Layfield. “The team has sailed together for years and this week we have performed well. Young Shannoy Malone has been sailing with us for five years and he is only 11, but really contributes to how the boat sails.”
Jonty said; "We are very pleased as we had stiff competition from Sir Richard Mathew’s boat Holding Pattern that included some very good professional sailors, including Saskia Clark and Andy Green. The wind conditions all week were in the high teens and with the single rudder she really performs well. We also won ‘best Caribbean boat’ and the ‘Royal Southern Challenge Cup’, beating Scarlet Oyster, which is no mean feat. We were the best J/Boat beating two J/122s, a J/120, a J/145, and J/30. Also, we just missed out on winning the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy by a fraction of a point to Sojana, so this means that we were second overall out of 50 odd boats in Sailing Week."
Ben Jelic’s J/120 JAGUAR also closed nicely, posting a 3-3-2 in the final three races to snag the fourth spot, just two points shy of the podium!
Finally, in CSA Racing 6 Class, Tanner Jones on the J/30 BLUE PETER/ CARIBBEAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE also sailed well in the closing races to place 5th. For more Antigua Sailing Week sailing information
J/88 JUNIPER Wins New Zealand Offshore Series
(Auckland, New Zealand)- From New Zealand's stunning Auckland Waitemata Harbour comes some great news, the new J/88 JUNIPER takes the 1st prize in the Club Marine Wednesday night offshore series in the C Light Division on General Handicap. The series is organized by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS), home of the America’s Cup. The series starts in October and runs every two weeks on Wednesday night until end of March. This was the first racing season for the new J/88 JUNIPER that was launched in July of 2018.
“The news is more impressive than first meets the eye,” said Ray Entwistle of Yachtspot (J/Boats Australia and NZ). “The owner- Lode Missiaen- is new to the area only having moved to New Zealand just 18 months ago. For him, it’s a new area to learn, a new boat to master, putting a new crew together, and compete against some very well established competitive crews and boats that are well-versed in the harbour’s local conditions.”
The sailing conditions in the Hauraki gulf are challenging; with winds going from light to very strong (up to 30 knots), sometimes in a single race, tidal streams with local currents (local knowledge!), large and frequent wind shifts during the race, and mostly flat water, but choppy at times.
The J/88 took the varied conditions in her stride. JUNIPER is equipped with the five standard J/88 class sails: one main and two jibs (3Di Raw North Sails), an A2 Runner and A3 Reacher. The courses of the races are random-leg harbour courses, not windward-leeward courses, which is a challenge on close reaching legs where they cannot use the gennaker. Nevertheless, with good trim, JUNIPER performed exceptionally well; often sailing as fast as some of the larger and lighter boats in the fleet with bigger sail wardrobes. They tuned the rig over the season to meet local conditions, especially on the windier days.
“We are having a great time here sailing in the beautiful Hauraki gulf,” says skipper Lode Missiaen. “I wish to thank the RNZYS for organizing the club series, our competitors for pushing us, and, of course, my crew for the great dedication and teamwork. Newcomer JUNIPER has certainly gotten some attention in Auckland, and we can only hope that more J/88 boats will join us soon in this beautiful part of the world.” For more J/88 offshore speedster sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni, and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* “Here is some onboard footage at the wet and wild 2019 edition of the Sloop Tavern's Blakely Rock Benefit Race. The J/125 HAMACHI loved the heavy weather both upwind and downwind, hitting 16’s all the time on the knotmeter! Got first in class and first overall boat to finish!,” said Jason Andrews.
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