J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The past week of sailing featured a World Championship for what has proven to be the world’s largest one-design offshore keelboat class, ever. Yes, ever in a million years. The 41st J/24 World Championship took place on the storied waters of Biscayne Bay. A remarkable seventy-nine teams from 19 nations (Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Great Britain, Grenada, Hungary, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Trinidad- Tobago, and United States) sailed in the 41st edition of the J/24 World Championship. The amazing combination of USA J/24 Fleet 12 and the Shake-A-Leg organization in Coconut Grove, FL hosted the 400+ sailors and their friends and families from October 23rd to 26th.Down south, the Annapolis YC fall weekend was host for the J/105 Chesapeake Bay Champs and J/35 Mid-Atlantic Champs on Chesapeake Bay. Further south, it was the Charleston Offshore Racing Association (CORA) that hosted their extremely popular Witches Brew Regatta- an event punctuated by amazing Halloween costumes and ONLY women skippers on each boat! J/24s, J/105s, J/120s, etc all had a wonderful time on Charleston Harbor in beautiful sailing conditions.
Traveling ever deeper south, the Lakewood Yacht Club was the happy host for the 10th annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta on Galveston Bay, sailing off Houston, Texas for one-design fleets of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, and J/105s and a J/PHRF fleet. Out west, the San Diego Yacht Club hosted their annual J/105 Lipton Cup for a dozen yacht club teams from across the West Coast.
In Europe, it was yet another fascinating week. We get the amazing J/111 BLUR.SE Rolex Middle Sea Race report from Peter Gustafsson in Sweden… they won ORC 5 Class, were ORC Overall 4th, and IRC 5 Class 3rd. An amazing performance for a bunch of Vikings that never saw, nor sailed, the vast and treacherous Mediterranean Sea! Over in the region of “La Manche” were two events. One was the fourth weekend of the famous Hamble Winter Series, hosted by the Hamble River Sailing Club, for IRC-handicap fleets and J/88 one-designs. Then, across the Channel, the J/22s had their Cooling Down Regatta at Brassermermeer, The Netherlands.
Winging our way, way, way Down Under, south of the equator, we find ourselves in Sydney, Australia, a famous venue for some of the world’s better dinghy and offshore one-design keelboat sailors- not surprising, considering they can sail about 12 months a year in rather sybaritic, windy, sailing conditions. The occasion this past week was the Australian J/70 National Championship in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Host was the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), home of the famous ROLEX Sydney Hobart Offshore Race that soon starts on Boxing Day.
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Whittemore Crowned J/24 World Champion!
(Coconut Grove, FL)- Seventy-nine teams from 19 nations (Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Great Britain, Grenada, Hungary, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States) sailed in the 41st edition of the J/24 World Championship. The amazing combination of USA J/24 Fleet 12 and the Shake-A-Leg organization in Coconut Grove, FL hosted the 400+ sailors and their friends and families. Ten races were sailed over four days from October 23rd to 26th on the aquamarine waters of the beautiful Biscayne Bay. Winning the regatta was the Seattle-based team on FURIO, Keith Whittemore with crew of Shelby Milne, Willem Van Waay, Mark Rodgerd and Brian Thomas. Here are the final two-day’s reports.
Day 3- Friday
Whittemore’s FURIO extended their lead on a wild and exciting day of sailing. Winds were regularly recorded at 18 knots with gusts in the 20s, testing competitors and equipment, and causing some boats to retire early.
Whittemore’s FURIO, who excelled in the Championship’s lighter days, also shone in the bigger breeze Friday, posting a bullet and a 12 for 32 net points in eight races. Two more races were planned Saturday to conclude the event. Chris Stone’s VELOCIDAD held on to the runner-up position with 41 points, following a 26-5 on the day (discarding the 26). Rossi Milev’s CLEAR AIR maintained the third spot with 42 points.
FURIO’s Whittemore explained that Van Waay has some regatta experience with Furio, but joked, “the rest of us has sailed together for 4,000 years.” Whittemore also keeps a boat in Europe, and is regular on that circuit, creating friends and supporters worldwide.
In race seven, Whittemore won with John Mollicone’s HELLY HANSEN and Tokuma Takesue’s GEKKO taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Three J/24 World Champions comprised the top three in race eight: Mauricio Santa Cruz’s BRUSCHETTA from Brazil, Will Welles BUCKAROO from the USA, and Daniel Frost’s JJ-ONE from Germany.
Day 4- Saturday Finale
Whittemore’s FURIO entered the final two races with a nine-point advantage, and quickly slammed the door on the competition by dominating race nine of 10. Following their bullet to start Saturday, long-time J/24 sailor Whittemore placed eighth in the final contest, five notches better than his closest challenger Milev’s CLEAR AIR. Although 2017 J/24 World Champion Milev placed second behind Whittemore in Saturday’s first match, FURIO was able to cover Milev in the final race to clinch victory with 41 points to Milev’s 57. Chris Stone’s VELOCIDAD assembled an impressive Championship for third place (66 points).
Whittemore’s highest finish in prior World Championships was third, and he has been a bridesmaid at more than one major Championship. Five J/24 World Champion helmsmen were among this fleet, and Whittemore smiled, saying, “Being able to beat those guys feels really, really, really good!” He added, “Today was scary. When we drove down, we said we really need to win the first race, so the second race isn’t a complete mess.” The plan worked perfectly when FURIO started at the pin, and got a header. “We could cross everybody. We were frankly gone at that point, and extended our lead. We struggled up every first beat of every race. That was the first time where something happened, and we said this is going to be really good!”
The IJCA also awarded its perpetual trophies:
• Jaeger Women’s Trophy- to Erica Beck-Spencer and her SEA BAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM as top Women’s team
• Under-25 Turner Trophy- to Matthew Miranda’s TEAM OUTRAGEOUS as the top Youth crew on the Kelly Holmes-Moon Grant Boat.
Rounding out the top five were Mike Ingham’s NAUTALYTICS in fourth place and Travis Odenbach’s HONEYBADGER in fifth. Complete J/24 World Championship results may be found here. For more J/24 World Championship sailing information
JUNO Blitzes Australian J/70 Nationals
(Sydney, Australia)- The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), home of the famous Sydney to Hobart offshore race, hosted the J/70 Australian Championship on Sydney Harbour on the weekend of October 19 and 20.
A strong shifty westerly wind blowing from the land provided tough conditions on day one, with gusts over 30 knots and a particularly challenging top mark set in a leeward bay with very fluky winds. Day two saw a steadier 10 to 12 knot southeast wind with some very close racing throughout the fleet.
Helped by off-season racing at the J/70 Worlds in Torquay, the JUNO team (Reg Lord, Ben Lamb, Murray Jones, Tom Grimes) won each race to claim the title for the third consecutive year. Second overall and first Corinthian was JAMES helmed by Tim Ryan, also from the CYCA. Third was JABBERWOCKY (Middle Harbour YC) helmed by Australian J/70 Class President Andrew Thompson, with expert trimmer Noel Drennan on main.
Behind the Corinthian’s winner JAMES was Peter Nash’s MAYBE-J in second and Andy McIntyre’s JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH in third place.
The fleet is also scored using the SailSys PHS (performance handicap scoring) system, where teams carry “golf-handicap” style ratings and scores are computed on that basis. Winning the PHS Division was Thompson’s JABBERWOCKY, with second going to Lord’s JUNO, and third to Tony Landgren’s SPIKE.
A newcomer to the fleet was Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Captain and three time Olympian Karyn Gojnich. She said after the regatta concluded, “Sara Ladd and I took ownership of JACKAL during the week just prior to the regatta, so we were extremely pleased and excited just to get out to the race course and finish each race. Big thanks to Pete Lowndes and Ewa Lindelöf who joined us for the weekend.”
Another newcomer, and fourth overall, was Michael Nash from RSYS who traded his Etchells-22 for his new J/70 MAYBE-J. Nash commented that, “the J/70 is a great boat for mixed sailing, as the main is manageable for anyone. Olga (Skatkova) said just yesterday that she was surprised she had no problems playing the spinnaker on Saturday when winds were gusting over 30 knots.”
Ray Carless of JUNIOR commented, “the winds and harbour conditions were at times challenging, but overall it was an excellent event with great sportsmanship, camaraderie and most of all, fun J/70 sailing! Love it!”
Also, a special mention to the teams JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH and SPIKE that travelled 1,000 kms from Victoria to compete. Good on ya mates!
The 2020 Australian J/70 National Championship is scheduled to take place over Easter, hosted by Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron on Port Philip Bay in Melbourne, Victoria. Sailing Photo credits by Beth Morley
J/111 BLUR.SE’s Rolex Middle Sea Race Report
(Gzira, Malta)- The 40th Edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race, hosted by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, was a tale of two races. After the calm conditions for the first half of the course, increasingly rough weather in the second half of the course posed enormous challenges for the fleet, with winds gusting to over 30 kts with steep, mountainous seas that looked more like walls to most sailors. As described by one sailor, “the last 24 hours were hell. We were soaking wet, with water coming in everywhere. No matter how good a sailor you are, in those conditions you were miserable and cold.”
Those extreme sailing conditions were not much of an issue for a bunch of Vikings! The J/111 BLUR.SE from Sweden sailed the race for the first time, to win ORC 5 Class, take 4th Overall ORC, and 3rd in IRC 5 Class. Here is the amazing report from owner/ skipper- Peter Gustafsson. Enjoy...
“A race that surpassed my expectations in every way….
I’ve heard sailors claiming that this is the most beautiful offshore race in the world, and now I understand why. I also understand why people love Malta and the hospitality of people on the island.
And to top this, our team didn’t disappoint on the race course. We showed that we can challenge the best offshore teams with many pros on board, “do our thing” under pressure and deliver results in races that are new to us.We tried to use the week before the start as effective as possible. The crew was complete on Tuesday evening, and we went directly into the coastal race on Wednesday. It felt really good and we managed a class win. Thursday was set aside for MOB practice, hoisting the orange sails and some other small stuff that needed fixing. Friday was free to recharge for the start.
As in Fastnet, we used Aksel Magdahl, the Norwegian navigator as a sounding board pre-race. Back home, we worked through the course together, and Friday evening we looked at the big picture for the race as well as possible scenarios for the first 24-36 hours.
Race day
In our class, we had some serious competition. The big thing was the duel between the two JPK 11.80's. Courrier Recommandé won the race over-all last year (as well as Fastnet with 10.80 when we raced in 2015) and were clear favorites. Sunrise has a string of great results and the two boats top the RORC Season Championship in IRC2.
In general, many big boats that would have an advantage in the heavier breeze, so we knew we must race the boat as hard as possible for the first few days to get ahead.
The start in Great Harbour, Valetta
Amazing scenery inside the harbor. We even had crowds cheering “Heja Sverige” from ashore, which was a first for us.
A local, very light, “sea breeze” filled the harbor, and we figured a start at the starboard end was favored. Less wind, but shorter distance to the harbor entrance. So either 25% down in free wind, or in the bunch at the mark.
We ended up coming out right at the mark just a few seconds after the gun, and found a decent lane to pass the boats coming up on port. We had 2-3 boats ahead, but we could do our own thing.
We played the small puffs, first on the Valetta side and then over on the east side.
We exited the harbor in good shape. Only the First 44.7 Courier du Coeur was ahead by 50-60 meters.
Along the coast
At the 1st Rolex Mark, we set the A3 gennaker and started moving. Such a relief to get out to sea…
The wind seemed to fill in from behind, so we tried to stay high between Courrier Recommandé and the mark. The luffing duel was us passing Courier du Coeur :-)
After some final gybes, we rounded first in our class at the coastal Rolex Mark 2. Wow!!!
Courrier Recommandé was well behind us. This was supposed to be Gery Trentesaux last race with this crew, and they have been the offshore boat to beat for many years. Gery has done the Route du Rhum, Admirals’ Cup, and won the Commodores’ Cup 2006. With his different Courrier-boats, he has won the Fastnet Race (in 2015 in his 13th attempt, when we also led him halfway), Middle Sea Race (last year) and placed second overall in the famous Sydney-Hobart Race in 2015. Read the rest of the epic Blur.se report and photos here
Beautiful 4th Weekend @ Hamble Winter Series
(Hamble, England)- The famous Hamble Winter Series continued on the Solent and Southampton Water, hosted by the Hamble Sailing Club. The classes include IRC handicap as well as one-design fleets of J/70s in southern United Kingdom. This past weekend marked the fourth weekend of sailing in beautiful fall weather conditions.
After a week of very changeable weather, things settled down on race day Sunday, to provide a light northerly airstream similar to the Sunday before. The main difference was the big spring tide. PRO Kathy Smalley took up station once again near Goodall Roofing. Solent sailors know that they are in for a challenging time when the wind comes from the North as it tends to move about a bit. As David Greenhalgh, J/92 J’RONIMO owner, reported back in the clubhouse, “the big tide and the light North wind made it a brainstorming session."
For Race 1, a down tide start near the SE end of the Bramble plateau, with just enough bias to ease congestion on the line, got the fleet away. The question was, as one sailor observed, “did you take a long starboard tack to stay in the tide, or hitch northwards quickly to what looked like more wind on the mainland shore?"
In the end, staying in the tide with a late hitch paid off. On the second run a black inflatable started to drift towards Cowes, clearly dragging. Having read the Sailing Instructions, most boats headed for where the mark had been, as the position was clearly defined. Before they got there, a new black mark had been laid.
The strong tide meant that the downwind legs were going to be heavily port biased. A gybe set at the windward mark paid of really well for those that pulled if off quickly enough.
David Richards’ J/109 JUMPING JELLYFISH pushed Dirk van Beek’s J/88 SABRIEL JR into second in IRC 2 Class, with Simon Perry’s J/109 JIRAFFE having to settle for third.
The battle in IRC 1 Class was particularly scary, as they were fighting for the Hamble Big Boat Championship in the day’s two races. Chaz Ivill’s J/112E DAVANTI TYRES took the first race.
For the second start, the line was again appropriately biased. "This time" reported Chris Brown," it was critical to hitch north quickly, to hook into the stronger shoreline gradient wind." It became increasingly important the read the shifts upwind, as the breeze faded. "A short gybe to the shortened course finish at the leeward mark, and a rapid kite/jib change saw us take another first place by 5 minutes from the nearest boat."
In IRC 2 Class, Perry’s J/109 JIRAFFE returned to top spot with the Richard Cooper’s J/88 LONGLEUR in second and Gavin Howe’s J/88 TIGRIS in third.
The Class 1 battle showed no sign of abating; Ivill’s J/112E DAVANTI TYRES slipped to third. This left the final three positions for the Hamble Big Boat Championship separated by only 1 point! In the end, Ivill’s J/112E DAVANTI TYRES ended up tied for first and lost the Big Boat Championship on a tie-breaker/ countback scenario (NOTE- they did not sail the 3rd race on October 13th and, likely, would have won easily).
The HYS Hamble Winter Series day sponsor was the Bugle Inn, Hamble. There cannot be many relationships in sailing that have continued for a hundred years. When HRSC was founded in 1919, the club ran the racing from the garden of The Bugle. Their manager Matt presented the very welcome vouchers and bottles of wine to the day's winners.
Next week is the mid-season break. Racing will resume on Sunday 10th November. Shaun Roster's pictures can be found here. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth/ PWPictures.com For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
Awesome J/Fest Southwest Regatta!
(Lakewood, TX)- The 10th annual J/Fest Southwest started out windy, rainy, and cold on Saturday morning. The “Famous Farley Fontenot” 7:30 AM weather briefing predicted a Westerly wind with gusts up to 20 kts, but petering out by mid afternoon as the low continued to move northeast. The bundled up sailors hit the course with the J/105's and ORC boats on the Blue circle and the J/22's, J/24's, and J/70's on the Red circle up next to the West shore.
The J/22's had the biggest fleet in the event with 19 boats and the headliner boat had to be Farley's OLD TIMES entry with none other then John Kolius and James Berry as crew! The OLD TIMES crew completed the 7 races with scores ranging from a 2nd to a 7th, placing them in 4th. Local Speed Shop owner Tom Meeh captured 3rd on MEEHAM and Doug Weakly on "HNL" ended up in 2nd. First place went to Danny Pletsch on SKETCHY. Danny and his wife joined Lakewood Yacht Club, as they recently moved here and were formerly members at Larchmont YC. Congrats! Great racing in the J/22's!
The J/70's had 14 boats signed up, but a couple of them decided they weren't up for the Saturday AM winter sailing, even though the “foulies” came off around 1pm when the sun came out, and the mercury climbed up into the 60's! This was a 2020 J/70 Worlds Long Beach qualifying event with one Open team slot and one Corinthian team slot up for grabs! The crews came loaded for bear with many of the top Pro’s seen at previous J/70 events! Glenn Darden on HOSS took home first spot and is off to the Worlds! Mallory (Farley's daughter) and Andrew Loe came down from Seattle and ran away with the Corinthian spot! But, both teams had to work for it! Third was Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS Racing Team. Tough, tough fleet with loads of competition, many lead changes and only one team scored more then two first places!! Really, Really, fun times.
The J/24's put 13 boats on the line with the "Gale Force Team” putting three J/24's on the line! Thank you Anita Gale for all of the support that you put into the J/24 fleet. The top 3 boats were separated by 4 points! Kirk Reynolds’s New York team on TYRUS was the winner, followed by YIKES! (a Gale Force Team boat) in second with Gerald Rademaker at the helm. Then, “99” was third, skippered by Barry Bailey.!
The ORC fleet had all the big J's in it! Two J/46's, J/122, J/109, J/92, J/35, J/80 and a brand new J/99. Al Goethe on the J/46 HAMBURG II won the biggest pickle dish, followed by JD Hill on their J/122 SECOND STAR. Third was David Christensen’s J/109 AIRBORNE. The J/99 missed the first 3 races but came out and took 2nd place in race 4 and 5. Great racing in this fleet!
The J/105 fleet remains active with 10 boats and Ken Horne with FINAL FINAL continued his 2019 winning ways! Ken's back and he's "all in" traveling the country with his J/105 and taking 6 bullets out of 7 races. John Barnett on PESTO took 2nd and Matt Arno’s BLUE FLASH gang from Ft. Worth took 3rd!
It was a great J/Fest with great shoreside activities, our famous "Frog More stew" with boiled shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes! Great music, too! Great sponsors make this one of the best events anywhere! Thank you to all the volunteers and sponsors! Check out J/Fest SW video highlights from White Pelican Productions! For J/Fest Southwest results For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information
Newport Harbor YC Victorious @ J/105 Lipton Cup
(San Diego, CA)– The team from Newport Harbor Yacht Club won the 2019 Sir Thomas Lipton Cup Regatta today. Eleven participating yacht club teams returned from last year, many of them being skippered by the same men and women at the helm. Shane Young and his Long Beach Yacht Club team were one team that really came back ready for a rematch.
To begin the regatta, racing began around 1225 after the race committee waited for the breeze to fill in. This gave the teams time to get accustomed to the J/105s and the South San Diego Bay venue. In four races, competitors saw shifty breezes averaging 8 knots through the day.
After day 1, in first place was Shane Young (Long Beach Yacht Club) with 15 points, tied with Tyler Sinks (San Diego Yacht Club) in second, also with 15 points. In third place stands Will Holz (Chicago Yacht Club) with 20 points.
Young (LBYC) ended the 2018 Lipton Cup in second place behind Sinks (SDYC) and came back this year ready to battle. The team dominated the first day, finishing the first two races with a bullet, and finished the fourth race in second.
Sinks talked about how he was feeling after the first day of races. “We ended the day on a high note and we feel good about it. We had a couple of tough races. We’re going to be disciplined tomorrow. If we can continue what we started today than we’ll be in good shape,” he said.
The breeze on day two was stronger than typical San Diego conditions, seeing southerly winds with speeds in the range of 16-18 knots for the majority of the races. Holz (Chicago YC) was able to use the breeze to his advantage and make his way from third place to first place overall after eight races.
Holz commented, “The key for us was having clean starts and being able to make our own decisions off the line during all of the races. We always felt fast and the team is doing really well around the course. We do get this kind of breeze [in Chicago] and we’re pretty comfortable in it.”
Law, skippering for NHYC, was the winner of day two, taking bullets in races five, seven and eight. Their scores brought them into their second place position and only one point behind Chicago Yacht Club overall. Learning from the first day of the regatta, Law switched up some of the teams assignments on the boat to be a little more fitting and lead to their success.
“We had some of the bigger guys on the boat stay on the rail and had the smaller guys move around a little more. We might have even got a fourth bullet today, but our kite got wrapped up on the second race [race six]. The most notable part of today, it was that we ended smiling at the end of the day,” explained Law.
After day 2, standings had Holz (Chicago Yacht Club) in first place with 30 points, followed by Justin Law (Newport Harbor Yacht Club) in second with 31 points, and Shane Young (Long Beach Yacht Club) in third with 39 points.
After three days of intense, close racing, skipper Justin Law and his seasoned crew earned their bragging rights by winning four of eleven races and staying in the top half of the fleet for almost every other race this weekend.
“It was super stressful. We just really played ball that last race. We had to stay five boats within Chicago and the team just did enough. Winning the first race made the tension go away and it was a great way to start the day. It set us up for a successful final two races,” commented Law.
Newport Harbor went into the third and final day of the regatta only one point behind Chicago Yacht Club and made sure to battle their way past them to the top. Chicago, however, still held their own in the top of the fleet today, seeing good competition from teams like San Diego Yacht Club, Coronado Yacht Club (5th) and San Francisco Yacht Club (8th).
Law has been sailing with this crew for quite some time, a factor that he credits toward their success. Recently, the team has been competing in yacht club keelboat circuit team racing and sailed in the Morgan Cup and the Baldwin Cup. “Whether it’s team racing, club circuit, or offshore big boat, we’ve been doing this with the same team for a couple of years.
“This is the first time I’m driving, but it’s kind of the OG squad,” he said. Law has crewed at the Lipton Cup the past two years for their usual skipper Jon Pinckney, who came in fifth in 2018. Bill Menninger, a frequenter to SDYC’s Lipton Cup and International Masters Regatta, was also on NHYC’s crew.
“I know it’s a big trophy and it’s a huge deal for us to win the Lipton Cup. The biggest thing is how many people are reaching out and saying congratulations. It’s really cool,” finished Law.
The Newport Harbor Yacht Club team was skippered by Justin Law, and crewed by Bill Menninger, Alex Curtiss, Daniel Geissmann, John Peschelt, and Peter Kinney.
Thank you to our local J/105 owners who are lending the boats and sponsors who are allowing this event to happen. For more SDYC Lipton Cup sailing information
Windy J/22 Cooling Down Regatta
(Brassermermeer, The Netherlands)- The weather Gods threw a spanner into the works last weekend for the J/22 Cooling Down Regatta, the last event of the season for the J/22 class in The Netherlands. On Saturday, a strong wind, with peaks to 35 knots, forced the sailors to stay ashore in order to prevent damage to their boats. However, as the sailors woke up on Sunday, it was still windy, but the weather was fantastic for sailing. After four races, it was fun to chat and drink in the clubhouse after four very tight races amongst the leaderboard.
Winning was the visiting German GER 1390 team comprised of skipper Holger Schmitt and crew of Sabine Schoenfeldt and Thomas Hanf with a record of 3-5-1-2 for 11 pts. Taking second just one point shy was the NED 1595 Dutch team of Ivo Jeukens and Steyn Schiltkamp with a 2-2-5-3 record for 12 pts. Third on the podium was another Dutch crew, NED 1295 sailed by Liselotte Verdoorn and crew of Anneloes Krikhaar and Dirk Jan Verkampf. For more J/22 Cooling Down Regatta sailing information
MIRAGE Wins J/105 Chesapeake Champs
AUNT JEAN Repeart J/35 Mid-Atlantic Champion
(Annapolis, MD)- The Annapolis Yacht Club Race Committee wrapped up their weekend regatta schedule after serving on nine out of the last 10 weekends, including two weekends where the Club put two Committees on the water for two separate events.
The fall championships for two long-standing one-design fleets took place over the weekend with the J/105s competing in the Chesapeake Bay Championship and the J/35s for their Mid-Atlantic Championship. PRO Steve Kling and his signal boat crew headed out to a location just off R2 Buoy and kicked racing off on time with the J/35s at 11:05am. With the breeze steady out of the NE ranging in strength from 5-10kts, the RC knocked out three races for both fleets, with only the J/105s starting under the Z flag for the final race of the day, and sent them ashore to put their boats away and head to the Sailing Center for the competitors party.
Sunday morning’s forecast was bleak with a strong system moving in from the south and predictions of gusts over 30kts, but the signal boat posted their intended location in hopes of getting at least one more race on the board. After anchor down at 0950, the Committee kept up with constant updates from the Leeward and Windward mark boat teams who reported sustained high 20s and gusts in the mid 30’s. The radar showed a large patch of yellow and red heading from west to east with stronger sustained breeze, so the RC made the decision to hoist N over A at 1024 and head back to the harbor.
For the J/105s, the event served as a warm-up for the 2020 J/105 North Americans being held there at the same end-of-October weekend, drawing a strong turnout of 20 locals plus one out-of-town team, GOOD TRADE from San Francisco. In light and shifty conditions, Fredrik Salvesen and Cedric Lewis on MIRAGE won the first day with a 1-2-1 record for 4 points. Bruce Stone and Nicole Breault followed them on GOOD TRADE with a 2-1-5 for 8 points. Rounding out the podium was AJ Libby’s DOGHOURSE, matching Ben DuPont’s CONTROL ALT DELETE at 17 points each, with DOGHOUSE winning the countback in the tie-breaker. Andrew Kennedy’s BAT IV and Carl Gitchell’s TENACIOUS were close behind with 18 and 20 points, respectively, to complete the top five.
Lilla Salvesen from MIRAGE was awarded the “Steve Gale Memorial Trophy”. This is a perpetual trophy awarded to the bow person of the winning J/105 in the J/105 Regatta held in the fall at AYC. Gale was a long time bowman in the J/105 fleet and passed away in 2010.
In the J/35s, it was yet again Jim Sagerholm & Jerry Christofel’s AUNT JEAN taking class honors for the gazillionth time. However, an up and coming team that took two 2nds and won the last race to take the silver was prepared to topple them off their pedestal- Bruce Artman’s T-BONE. Securing the bronze was local J/35 Fleet Captain Roger Lant on ABIENTOT. For more J/105 & J/35 Chesapeake Regatta sailing information
Smoky Great Pumpkin Regatta(Point Richmond, CA)- Due to the extraordinary wildfires taking place off the northeast of San Francisco Bay, the windy northeast winds of the “Santa Ana’s” were blowing warm, dry, smoke-filled air into the Bay area. While there was great buoy racing on Saturday, the 40 to 60 kts of NE winds on Sunday forced cancellation of all racing at the various yacht clubs/ sailing clubs in the Bay area.
Richmond Yacht Clubs’ Great Pumpkin Regatta entered its 34th year with a new theme- "Zombie Luau". The plan was to have three races on Saturday and a fun Pursuit race on Sunday. And, the traditional massively fun Saturday party was on everyone’s “dance list”- Great food, Great band, and Outrageous costumes. Due to the insane weather conditions and wild fires, only the Saturday racing and huge, fun party was completed, with the famous Pursuit Race around San Francisco Bay being cancelled due to insane winds and smoke.
The event had one-design classes for J/105s, J/24s, and PHRF handicap classes for everyone else.
The J/24s saw Darren Cumming’s DOWNTOWN UPROAR take class honors with straight bullets for just 3 pts total. Second was narrowly taken by Val Lulevich’s SHUT UP & DRIVE with a 2-4-3 tally for 9 pts. Just one point back in third place was Paul van Ravenswaay’s FERAL ROOSTER with a 3-5-2 record for 10 pts.
Winning the J/105 class on a tie-break/ countback was Larry Levit’s ARCHIMEDES over Kim Chris’ VUJA STAR, both with 1-2 records. Third was Greg Arkus’ STREAKER.
PHRF A Class saw Zach Anderson & Will Paxton’s J/125 VELVET HAMMER post a 3-3-2 for 8 pts and good enough for the bronze. In PHRF 2 Class, Nesrin Basoz’s J/111 SWIFT NESS secured a bronze medal as well with a 2-3-3 for third, losing a tie-breaker on 8 pts each. Fourth was Mike Clarke’s J/120 SHENANIGANS. In PHRF D Class, Tom Thayer’s J/70 RAMPAGE took second with a 3-3-2 for 8 pts, followed in third by another J/70- Peter Cameron’s KANGAROO JOCKEY with a 4-4-3 tally for 11 pts. Taking fifth was yet another J/70, David Fried’s SON OF A SON with a 6-5-4 record. For more Great Pumpkin Regatta sailing information
Witches Brew Race- “Dress to Beat the Rest!”
(Charleston, SC)- The CORA (Charleston Offshore Racing Association) held their annual 2019 Witches Brew Race on October 26 in Charleston, SC. Women skippers are required for this fun race around Charleston Harbor. Plus, Halloween costumes are required!
The weather could not have cooperated any better for this fun-loving affair on Charleston Harbor- sunny skies, moderate breeze, and amazing costumes! There are some sailors in Charleston who put a lot of thought into their costumes for the Witches Brew Race; this year was one of the best.
Hurricane Dorian visited Charleston earlier this year and folks in Charleston are always on the lookout for the dreadful visit of “The Weather Channel”. The skipper and crew of the J/120 EMOCEAN (see photo above) played on this spoof and their entry this year was “The Weather Channel”, they won first place!! LOL!
The College of Charleston has been in the news recently about an outbreak of the Mumps. The CoC Sailing Team dressed as the “Mumps Response Unit” in Hazmat suits.
A local traditional drink is the “Fireball Vodka”, which was developed in Charleston. Suitably, the J/105 RUM FRONT (above), decided to change their team’s theme to the “FIREBALL FRONT”. Wow, those guys and gals sure had a fun time…lucky they managed to stay on the boat! Nevertheless, they managed to win PHRF A Class!
Charleston is known as the “Holy City”, as it has so many churches… to offset all the sinful bars and taverns, of course!! So, Team ALLIANCE came as “The Holy Ghosts”.
There was an all-women’s J/24 team (above) that played “Dancing Queen” and all those ladies danced as they passed by the judging dock!
Plenty of Pirates and Mermaids rounded out the group; RUCKUS appeared to have a shark that entered the boat from the stern with the head coming out of the front hatch! Many clever ideas from these various crews! Thanks for the photos by Priscilla Parker.
Congrats to Bill Hanckel and crew on the J/120 EMOCEAN for winning the costume contest! For Witches Brew Race results, click here
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Oct 5- Dec 1- Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, England
Nov 1-4- French J/80 Championship- La Rochelle, France
Nov 9- Hot Rum Series I- San Diego, CA
Nov 9-10- J/22 Vaterchen Frost Regatta- Hamburg, Germany
Nov 16- Around Hong Kong Island Race- Hong Kong, China
Nov 23- Hot Rum Series II- San Diego, CA
Nov 30- Dec 1- J/80 Mundialito Regatta- Santander, Spain
Dec 6-8- J/22 Jammin’ Jamaica Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Dec 7- Hot Rum Series III- San Diego, CA
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Hot Rum Series Preview(San Diego, CA)- The San Diego Yacht Club kicks off its annual Hot Rum Series this coming weekend. The event marks the end of their yearly offshore season for aficionados of sailing across the greater Southern California region. Boats participate from afar as Mexico and San Francisco as the “last hurrah” for the year. Typically, the weather is quite remarkable, with the WNW “sea breezes” kicking in around noontime when the racing starts. The PHRF Pursuit style race means the smallest, slowest boats start first in the lighter winds and head out of the harbor start, past Point Loma, offshore to a triangle buoy race, finishing back in the harbor. Starting later in stronger winds, it is not entirely surprising that the larger boats with their towering rigs often win as the winds filter down over the high peninsula of Point Loma. Nevertheless, it is a fun-loving format, always a picturesque sail sometimes punctuated with giant U.S. Navy nuclear carriers (1,200 feet long) or U.S. Navy 688 Fast Attack Class submarines entering or exiting the harbor with the sailboats keeping clear and maneuvering around them… such fun and frolic on San Diego Harbor!
In the fleet of eighty boats are nineteen J/Teams that range from the J/70s (22 feet) up to the J/145 (47 feet). As has been the case for years, the largest contingent is the J/105s, with leading teams like Dennis Case’s J-OK, Rick Goebel’s SANITY, and Jeff Brown’s SWEET KAREN joining the fun. In addition, three J/120s are in the mix, such as Janet Mostafa’s BARAKA, John Laun’s CAPER, and Ernie Pennell’s MAD MEN. The balance of the J/Teams include Gene Pitkin’s J/109 GERONIMO, Chuck Bowers’ J/29 RHUMB RUNNER, Tim Lynch’s J/30 RUFFIAN, Fred Hawes’ J/46 ANONA, Tom Garrett’s J/70 SLOOP JOHN B, Rudy Hasl’s J/145 PALAEMON, and Don Fulton’s J/35 BLUE LUNATIC. Sailing photo credits- JOY Sailing. For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni, and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* GO VOTE for J/Boats in Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image contest!
Here are the four images, the four photographers, and the four links!
Tim Wilkes
This is an amazing photo of J/70s off Cleveland, OH for J/70 North Americans. “As a yacht racing photographer, there are certain days that you live for,” commented Tim. “They are the most difficult days to create photos in, given the extreme wind and sea state. This was one of those days on Lake Erie… of all places! Purely magical. Pure excitement. Surfing a breaking wave down the course with the entire fleet behind you is a great feeling. I'm happy I was able to be there in the right spot and stable enough to capture it.” View image and vote here.
Andy Green
“This was a cool shot of the J/125 JACK KNIFE from the IRC Regatta held at Pwllheli in August,” said Andy. “It had been champagne sailing with blue skies and 20 knots of breeze. I could see a squall moving to us and within minutes we where in 40+ knots of wind, heavy rain, and near zero visibility. The fleet where being battered by the conditions. But, as soon as it came the squall lifted, we returned to blue skies and 20 knot winds!” View image and vote here.
Daniel Ljungsvik
“This was very amusing and picturesque perspective of a J/70 at this year’s Swedish J/70 Nationals taking a shortcut back to harbor! Through the weeds!!,” said Dan. View image and vote here.
Pierrick Jeannoutot
It was an amazing regatta for the French J/70 class on the Mediterranean this summer. The J/70s were sailing off Marseille, France for their French J/70 Nationals.. fabulous conditions and love the backdrop, too! Said Pierrick, “I like this photo because, just before the finish line on the last leg of the regatta, the two J/70’s were symmetrically aligned on the two different gybe angles downwind.. So cool!” View image and vote here.
* Maureen Koeppel Photography was out on the water for the J/88 North American Championship and took some epic photos of J/88s flying around the race course, off the starting line, rounding marks, and rounding down broaching, too! Watch this very entertaining musical and photo montage! Enjoy! In addition, Melissa Pike also had some amazing photos of the J/88 NA’s as well..
* Hudson River Community Sailing- Sailing for Scholars Regatta
Saturday was the perfect day for our 10th Annual Sailing for Scholars Regatta! What was forecast to be a no-wind day ended up being a perfect 10-15 kts. We got in 4 races each for the J/24 and J/80 classes, and wrapped up the day with an awards ceremony with Oysters donated by Grey Lady and dinner from Peter Callahan Catering!
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who attended the gala, raced in the regatta, cheered from the pier, or donated to a team bid at the auction-- you rock! It was all hands on deck, and your generosity and spirit makes the HRCS community unique.
HRCS serves 200+ middle and high school students in our year-round program Sail Academy, which uses sailing and boatbuilding as a foundation for STEM and leadership education, along with college access and job readiness training.
On Thursday, we had our “Gala” event at the New York Yacht Club. HRCS honored Jay Cross, President of Related Hudson Yards. Cross touched on the transformative nature of sailing in his remarks, likening the challenges and joys of sailing to life. Sail Academy students MC'd the event, which included a Silent Auction and tour of the Model Room.
Friday- Practice Race Day
Teams met at Pier 66 on Friday morning for professional coaching with Kristen Berry of Gale Force Sailing and National Hall of Fame Member Betsy Allison.
Saturday- Regatta at Pier 66
A record 10 J/80s and 8 J/24s raced this year! Together, the sailing teams crowd-funded over $175K to support Sail Academy.
The rookies on Team YOLO! won the J/24 class, and George Comfort & Sons took first in the J/80 class. Gorgeous conditions HRCS to run four races off Pier 66, where spectators cheered their teams on!
Finally, a special thanks to our event sponsors: Con Edison, Hudson Yards, Robins Kaplan, and Polar Seltzer.
Thank you to Bottino for donating lunch, The Right to Shower for tote bags and gifts, Dean's Beans for coffee, Peter Callahan Catering for an amazing awards dinner, and the Grey Lady for a fabulous oyster bar and libations. Learn more about Hudson River Community Sailing on Facebook here
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