J/Sailing NewsAs the new world-order of pandemic life continues to unfold, there are some events around the globe that are cautiously dipping their toes in the water and testing the feasibility of hosting regattas again- safely, of course. Coming up this weekend are two famous regattas that are well-known within their regions. In Germany, the German J/70 Segel-Bundesliga will be taking place off Kiel, site of the famous Kieler Woche, with sailing on the Baltic Sea. Then, out west in what has become "re-lockdown" California, the Santa Barbara YC is hosting their enormously popular Fiesta Cup for J/111s and J/70s.
Meanwhile, last weekend, the hugely popular Bayview Mackinac Race took place on Lake Huron. Conditions were gorgeous at the start, but changed into a challenging windward beat in steep, cliff-faced, waves to the notorious finish line off Mackinac Island...J/Crews loved the race for sure! Then, out west in California, the Doublehanded PSSA Dave Wall series race took place off Marina del Rey, using Malibu sea buoy off the Malibu Pier as a turning mark. Finally, in the J/Community section you will see an amusing report on the newly-hatched Newport radio-control sailboat fleet; an amazingly competitive cast of characters that includes multiple World Champions, Offshore Champions, and Narragansett Bay Champions.
German J/70 Segel-Bundesliga Starts in Kiel
(Kiel, Germany)- The first day of the 2020 Germany J/70 Segel-Bundesliga is taking place this weekend in Kiel, from July 17 to 19. Three Kiel clubs are organizing the season opener in Kiel-Schilksee: The Baltic Sailing Club, the Kiel Sailing Association and TSV Schilksee.
The original start for the sailing league was supposed to be on the Chiemsee. The move to Kiel and sailing on the Baltic Sea was a popular choice and welcomed by virtually all the sailing clubs.
“After a long wait, everyone is happy that sailing events in Kiel can start again. The athletes are already in the starting blocks to duel again on the water,” said Mr. Lukosch, the Segel-Bundesliga Manager of Operations.
On the first day of sailing, the northern German clubs dominated the eighteen teams in attendance. Under bright sunshine, the light winds and coronavirus regulations could not spoil the joy of everyone involved.
The boats were on the water from 11:00 AM until early evening. After 18 high-energy races, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein was ahead with 10 points, followed by the Hemelingen Water Sports Club and the ONE Kiel Team.
Thirty-six more races are scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. Racing starts at 10:00 AM. The races will be broadcast live between 12 noon and 4:00 PM (European time). Sailing Photo credits: DSBL / Lars Wehrmann For more German J/70 Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
Fiesta Cup Regatta Preview(Santa Barbara, CA)- The Santa Barbara Yacht Club is pleased to host the 14th annual Fiesta Cup in gorgeous Santa Barbara, California from July 18th to 19th, 2020. One-designs invited to participate include the J/111 and J/70 classes. Due to Covid-19 restrictions in California, this year's event will only be open to Santa Barbara YC and Santa Barbara Sailing Club boats.
The sailing will take place in the Santa Barbara Channel. The scenery is unparalleled, since the 50-mile channel is bordered by the Channel Islands National Park to the southwest and the "American Riviera" and San Pablo Mountain range to the northeast. In July, the venue typically provides a sea breeze of 12-18 knots from the WNW, but has a variety of wind conditions and average temperatures of 77 degrees.
Looking forward to a weekend on the water is a large contingent of J/Sailors. As the largest class in the regatta, the eight-boat J/70 fleet will enjoy great sailing and competition. The usual suspects will be present, including Scott Deardorff's CAKE, Tom Tunberg's NAMASTE, Pat Toole's 3 BIG DOGS, and Paul Castleberg's MONKEY HOUSE.
The J/111 Class will be a three-way duel between very experienced offshore teams, such as Bernie Girod's ROCK & ROLL, Kenny Kieding's ARGO 3, and Mike Drammer & Shaun Hughes' TITANIUM. For more Fiesta Cup Regatta sailing information
2020 J/105 North Americans to be Sailed in 2021
(Annapolis, MD)- The J/105 Class Association, Annapolis Yacht Club and J/105 Fleet #3 have determined, because of the varying levels of infection and disruption across the world, that this year’s J/105 North American Championship scheduled for October 29-November 1 will be raced October 28-31, 2021. The Organizing Authority has been closely monitoring the worldwide developments in the COVID-19 pandemic. They understand the commitment of time and money required to participate in a Continental Championship, as well as the enormous resources that our hosts dedicate to such events.
Cedric Lewis, owner of MIRAGE and Event Co-Chair, said, “We were hopeful when we sent out the Notice of Race that COVID-19 would be a distant memory by the time the event took place at the end of October, but unfortunately, that may not be the case. We have complete confidence in AYC's ability to conduct Championship-caliber racing in a safe manner, but the other aspects of the event, including social events and post-race gathering on the dock, would not be possible. The Organizing Committee recommended postponing the event until we can hold a true Championship and offer sponsors the visibility that is expected when supporting an event. On behalf of my Co-Chair, Andrew Kennedy (owner of BAT IV) and Fleet Captain Bill Carruth (owner of PEREGRINE), we look forward to hosting our fellow competitors in 2021.”
Previously scheduled North American Championships will shift back one year as follows: San Francisco Yacht Club (San Francisco, CA) in 2022, American Yacht Club (Rye, NY) in 2023 and Edgewater Yacht Club (Cleveland, OH) in 2024.
In the meantime, the Class wishes all J/105 sailors and their families the best in these difficult times. We look forward to resuming sailing as soon as we can.
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Sailing Calendar
Jul 17-19- J/70 Segel Bundesliga- Chiemsee, Germany
Jul 18-19- Fiesta Cup (J/70 & J/111)- Santa Barbara, CA
Jul 23-26- Sailing World Marblehead NOOD Regatta- Marblehead, MA
Jul 24-26- Ugotta Regatta- Harbor Springs, MI
Aug 13-16- SAILING Champions League- St Petersburg, Russia
Aug 14-16- Swedish J/70 Sailing League- Ornskoldsvik, Sweden
Aug 15-16- Danish J/70 Sailing League- Aarhus, Denmark
Aug 15-16- J/Fest Newport- Newport, RI
Aug 28-30- J/70 Segel Bundesliga- Wannsee, Germany
Aug 28-30- Under 21 Italian J/70 Sailing League Championship- Rimini, Italy
Sep 5-6- Danish J/70 Sailing League- Skovshoved, Denmark
J/Crews Dominate Bayview Mackinac Race
(Port Huron, MI)- The 2020 edition of the Bayview Mackinac Race will go down in the history books as one of the tougher races on record. It was no "walk-in-the-park" as the fleet endured many hours of beating upwind to get to Mackinac Island, despite the incredibly beautiful sailing conditions at the start on Saturday, June 11th.
Due to Canadian maritime restrictions over the covid-19 pandemic, this year's course was simple- "go north and finish!" The only obstacles were having to leave Thunder Bay Island and Bois Blanc Island to port before crossing the virtual GPS finish line between the famous lighthouse and Mackinac Island.
Despite the challenging weather conditions Saturday night and Sunday, most of the twenty J/Teams completed the entire race track. In the only two divisions that had J/Teams entered, it was a clean sweep for them in both.
In eleven-boat Class D Racing division, Bob Cristoph's J/121 LOKI took both line honors and the corrected time win by nearly 20 minutes over Scott Sellers' J/111 NO SURPRISE. Third was John Harvey's J/120 SLEEPING TIGER, fourth Tim & John McGuire's J/112E ELEVATION, and fifth Don Hudak's J/111 CAPERS.
In the twelve-boat Class E Racing division, it was yet another J/sweep. Two J/35's took the top of the podium. Winning was Bill Vogan's MAJOR DETAIL, followed by Ed & John Bayer's FALCON. Third was Chris Mallet's J/109 SYNCHRONICITY, and fourth place went to Sam Powers' J/105 GRYPHON.
This year, the race featured a "Shore Course- Sport Boat" division. The sole J/team was Scott Sorbie's J/88 LEGACY, garnering some silverware in their first outing of the year to take the bronze in Class L Racing division..
The report from the Polk Wager on the J/111 NO SURPRISE team gives you some good "color commentary" on how it all went down getting beaten-up going to Mackinac:
"Another Mackinac Race in the books aboard the NO SURPRISE, and another spectacular adventure with friends and family. It was a difficult and physically uncomfortable race this year, with strong upwind breeze and challenging sea states leading to a very wet boat, long hours on the rail, and essentially no sleep for anyone. After we spent much of the race from the outside looking in, Scott found the shift we were waiting for at 9:00 PM on Sunday night to allow us to take second place in our class (and very nearly first).
A special shout-out to our three rookies: Trip Wagner, Hannah Sellers, and Hadley Camp (seen above). These three spent countless hours on the rail being pelted by waves, eagerly made sandwiches for the team as the boat pounded upwind in the Straits, pumped the boat out with buckets as needed, and even completed a classic midnight water-crashing-spray-everywhere jib change pretty much unassisted. And they did it all with enthusiasm and energy; it was great to be there at the start of what I am sure will be many future Mac race adventures for them."
Here's another report from J/35 DEAN's LIST owner- Dean Fitzpatrick- the J/35 class President and cheerleader:
"Congratulations to Ed Bayer and his crew in winning their division in the Bayview Mac Race! They had a very tight race with Bill Vogan's MAJOR DETAIL. These two boats were never more than two miles apart for the whole race.
That is proof positive of the strength and speed of one of the finest sailboats ever designed by Rod Johnstone- it goes like a train upwind! First and second place by J/35s, triumphing over a J/109, J/105, and a gaggle of Beneteau 36.7s!
Anyone looking to get the biggest bang for their buck only needs to see the results of this race. J/35's walk the walk. Great job by all, you guys once again are putting the sunshine on the J/35, and showcasing the J/35 renaissance to the whole sailing world!" For more Bayview Mackinac Race sailing information
J/Sweep of Doublehanded PSSA Race
(Marina del Rey, CA)- The Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association held their annual 27.0nm "David Wall Race" from Marina del Rey to Malibu sea buoy and return this past weekend. The PSSA was sympathetic to the numerous requests for "doublehanders" to participate in their offshore season. The response was nothing short of dramatic, with the Doublehanded class garnering 13 entries versus the 11-boat Singlehanded class.
Here is the report from Dan Murphy on the J/105 CUCHULAINN:
"On Saturday, Rob Dekker and I did the 27-mile PSSA race to Malibu and back. The wind was predicted to be 6 kts, peaking at 10 kts, by mid-afternoon. So, I tuned the rig for that wind expecting we would not do very well at the outset and might be in OK shape for a longer race.
Indeed, the wind from the start until we had Malibu in sight was the predicted 6-8 knots. And, we had a hard time keeping up with the smaller J/Boats with their big genoas. But, then the wind started building, and once we turned around at Malibu Pier, it built rapidly until we had a 16-18 knot winds that powered up the spinnaker and had us surfing at 8-10 knots for the short 10-mile trip back to Marina Del Rey. We made up a lot of ground on those smaller boats and ended up fifth in our doublehanded class and third out of the boats competing for the series. The entire race took us just 4 hours 45 minutes. We love sailing the J/105, particularly in moderate to big breeze!"
Winning the Doublehanded Class was Curt Johnson & Paul Burnett's J/80 AVET. Taking the silver was Brian Kerr & Grant Bartee's J/92 DOUBLE DOWN and rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was Caesar Berger & Ron Agustsson's J/29 ZULU. The balance of the top five was Lenny Gordon & John Thomas' J/92 SUNSHINE and fifth was the J/105 CHUCHULAINN. Also participating were two bigger J's; Jack Rose & Ken Robinson sailed the J/120 PRIVATEER to 8th place and Bruce Keller & Neil Fletcher sailed their J/130 BEAUTY to 9th place! A great show of force by all doublehanded J/Sailors, taking 7 of the top 10 is real proof of the ease-of-handling and boat speed of J/Designs in a wide variety of conditions.
J/Community
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* DF-95 sailing comes to Newport!
Here's what past J/24 World Champion and current Sail Newport Managing Director- Brad Read- had to say about his first evening of sailing/ racing his DF-95 model sailboat #88 (in Boston Bruins livery/ colors) off the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court pier:
"Very fun tonight! Thanks to Jim Boyd, Lynn Lynch and Beth Duggan of NYYC for allowing this to happen and setting the course at Harbour Court! We are trying to get clearance from Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management for Tuesday next week at Sail Newport. I look forward to more sailing at NYYC Harbour Court, Newport Shipyard, and Sail Newport. Great fleet, truly a cast of characters."
In response, fellow DF-95 sailor Amory Ross (the famous photographer in Newport) had this tongue-in-cheek perspective:
"For those not in attendance... Brad went 1-1-1-1. Glad he took a break from wet sanding his hull to appropriately thank the enablers! Lots of fun indeed, echo the appreciation! Can see the potential. We may need some bigger 'bumpas', but then again, rubbin’ is racin! Looking forward to the next somebody-please-sink-88-now gathering, soon!" Editor's note- #88 is Brad's boat, LOL!
Here is the humorous, full-on, report from the self-appointed Newport DF-95 Fleet Scribe- "Mahky Mahconi" (in theory, a famous Boston-based descendent of Radio Pioneer Guglielmo Marconi- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi).
"The Newport Radio Control DF-95 Fleet’s first eva evening race series was held at the friendly confines of Harbour Court on Thursday July 17th and it looked wicked fun!
This reporter was quite impressed with the impressive handiwork in boatbuilding by our intrepid sailors. For those who still are either in process of rigging or paralyzed with fear even looking at the unopened box with their yacht inside, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that is the dyslexia-inducing fun of ripping around Newport Harbor with some really fun folks!
Mahky’s Musings- Night 1:
Body English works! Clay looks like he is ballroom dancing in all his maneuvers. Seems fast! Wait till you see those hips in action. He did say T-boning the orange balls was slow...something about "I can't see" or missing his bi-focals.
Art has commissioned an artist to paint “Temptation” on the side of his beloved craft. Fleet Scribe thinks that is a great idea because maybe then he will have the “temptation” to actually start with all the other yachts.
Paul had a full-on cheering / coaching section! Alisa, Justin and Mitchell provided ample advice and council. They brought in Super Coach 'Lior' in for tuning and strategic advice. Some of the quotable coaching: “Turn Left!! No Dad, your other left!”
Dan Hughes got his thousand steps in for the day on his health app by feverishly pacing up and down the pier.
Brad started the evening off by pouring a bit of beer on the bow as a sort of christening of his boat. Then he complained that his jib wasn’t easing out properly. Should have used a better beer maybe?
Maxi’s #93 and Amo’s #11 were out early training and definitely had the best tuning early which many people copied over the course of the night. Amo was overheard saying he was going to bring his yacht to Nantucket to race Amo Sr. in his Cat boat. Standby for more details and the Vegas line on that match race.
Nick Bailey, the only pre-existing DF-95 owner brought his boat down from Marble Dead. They survived the Lynn Way and the Revere Pahkway and also showed great speed through the evening.
Mike Toppa and Tom Kirk are still rigging up their boats, but came down to heckle (observe). TK brings a Cape Cawd in the summah perspective to the fleet and maybe could host an away event in Wild Hahba.
Stu J came down early, helped set up the course, sailed around for a bit, but had to leave prior to the racing..."bidnez reasons" he claims. The question remains is why… What is he hiding? Could it be that he is adding a “J/Sprit” and furling Code Zero? Your intrepid reporter will be inquiring.
The only casualty of the afternoon was Henry’s boat that had a servo malfunction. After much investigation, sabotage was ruled out. (Seriously, if anyone can help Henry determine his cause of his servo issue, please call him).
Oh, and there was racing! After an extended warm up, the fleet got together for 4 races. Conditions mirrored the famed Chahles Rivah in Boston and that seemed to help Paul (Harvard) and Brad (Boston U.) who subscribe to the Hunter S. Thompson theory that "when the going gets weird, the weird “turn pro”.
Windy, Dead Calm, Shifty and Fun according to all sailors (and a significant number of spectators). Everyone had their ups and downs in the results and crawled up the steep learning curve of RC Racing.
When asked about his good results for the night, #88 skipper Brad was quoted: “This RC Sailing seems to play well to my specific combination of OCD, ADD and Dyslexia. Plus, it's kinda like sailing in the Charles, it is far better to be lucky than good."
Fleet trash-talking continued after racing with the “Sink 88” mantra that was started by Amo. That has led Brad to go to the hobby shop and integrate a BB gun with a special servo trigger to fire salt pellets at Amo. This may just be that war of attrition that we were all hoping for as spectators….
Thanks to Janet Garnier - she was our attentive score keeper and is compiling the results for the fleet.
Thanks to Lynn/Beth and Jim Boyd at NYYC for allowing this rabble to be on the pier at Harbour Court for the first night of racing!
Thanks to Bob J, Stu J and Kendra for organizing the purchase of the boats and the first night of Racing!
Thanks to Clay for teaching the sailors the DF-95 Jitterbug. It is a sight to behold!
Sincerely, Mahky Mahconi… Fleet Scribe."
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