J/Newsletter- February 26th, 2014

J/70 Worlds Announcement
(Newport, RI)- The inaugural J/70 World Championship will be held in Newport, R.I. from September 8th to 13th and hosted by New York Yacht Club.  Races will be sailed on either Narragansett Bay or offshore on Rhode Island Sound, depending on weather conditions.  Principal hosting partner for the event is Sail Newport, where boats will be docked for the event.

Stu Saffer, the Event Chairman, comments: “New York YC is honored to host the inaugural J/70 World Championships in Newport, RI, this September. We look forward to welcoming sailors from around the world to Harbour Court, our on-the-water clubhouse, and hope they enjoy all the services and amenities our club has to offer. The initial growth of the J/70 class is remarkable, and we are anticipating an extremely competitive regatta on Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound.”  Harbour Court will be the site for the skipper’s meeting and kick-off party, the Wednesday dinner and the Final Awards.

There is a fleet limit of 120 boats. Due to the high level of interest, qualifying events around the world will determine which teams get to sail in the World Championship. U.S. teams should visit the U.S. J/70 Class Association website (http://www.j70class.com) for detailed information on qualifying regattas. Foreign teams should refer to the International J/70 Class Association website (http://www.j70ica.org) for qualification and registration requirements.

Charter boats will be available for international teams, please contact Kendra at J/Boats (ph# 401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com) for further information. Rooms are being held at area hotels for Worlds competitors.  For more information on housing, qualifying or the regatta in general, please visit the J/70 World Championship website.

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J/70 @ Moscow Boat Show!
(Moscow, Russia)- With a successful launch of their J/70 program last year in Russia, the J/Russia dealer team of Grigory Aksenov and Dmitry Zaritckii have covered thousands of miles promoting the J/70 across Europe and Russia.  First sailing in the Y.C. Monaco’s Primo Cup in 2013, they returned again  in 2014 with two Russian teams for a weekend of great sailing and camaraderie with fellow J/70 sailors from across Europe.

This dynamic duo will again be presenting the J/70 at the Moscow Boat Show from March 11th to 16th and will likely take another “victory tour” around Moscow’s famous Kremlin Square, hopefully not in a blizzard like last year!  For an appointment or more information, please contact Grigory Aksenov at Kitira Ltd (http://www.kitira.ru), phone- +7-495-540-4529 or via email- aksenov.grigory@gmail.com  Sailing photo credits- YC Monaco/ Carlo Borlenghi.   For more Moscow Boat Show information

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J/70 West Coast Circuit Update
(San Francisco, CA)- The West Coast is getting busy, particularly since the hottest ticket in town is becoming the next boat and crew to qualify for the 2014 J/70 Worlds in Newport.  Fleet growth in San Diego/ Los Angeles in SoCal; in the greater San Francisco Bay area; and in the Pacific Northwest around Seattle, WA has increased dramatically in recent months.

San Francisco Report- from Sail California
“The J/70 class has grown rapidly on San Francisco Bay, with 11 boats already sailing and with more arriving all the time.  Most importantly, the J/70 Fleet 19 has outlined a great series of races that include the World’s qualifiers.”  Here are the events:

• Mar 8-9- Big Daddy Regatta- Richmond YC
• Apr 5-6- J/Fest San Francisco Bay- St Francis YC
• May 17-18- Elite Keelboat Regatta- San Francisco YC (Worlds Qualifier)
• May 31- Delta Ditch Run- Richmond, CA- Single-handed Sailing Club
• Jun 27-29- Long Beach Race Week- Alamitos Bay YC (Worlds Qualifier)
• Jul 19-20- High Sierra Regatta- Fresno YC
• Aug 16-17- Summer Keelboat Regatta- San Francisco YC
• Aug 30- Jazz Cup-  SBYC
• Sep 11-14 Rolex BBS StFYC
• Oct 25-26 Great Pumpkin RYC

Seattle Report- from Sail Northwest
“The Pacific Northwest has 3 qualifying spots! J/70 Fleet 17 has 2 qualifying berths at the Seattle NOOD's Regatta and one berth for the Northwest Championship (TBD).

And, if that isn't enough to entice you into competing in the exciting new sportboat fleet that is taking the country by storm you will also have your very own official Pacific N.W. J/70 Worlds photographer following you around the course in Newport, Rhode Island!

Jan Anderson (a renown Seattle yachting photographer) and her boat-boy “Skip” will be on site and making an effort to capture your boat in the excitement of sailing the first ever J/70 Worlds!

The J/70 is exploding in growth worldwide with 86 (nope, this is NOT a typo) boats racing Charleston Race Week. This is nothing short of amazing given that two years ago there were none in existence. J/70’s are reserved through hull #630 as of today! I can only imagine what will happen when McConaghy Boats gets up to speed with their production in China!”  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal/ Jan Edney

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J/111 West Coast Circuit Update
(San Francisco, CA)- This year the J/111 class has burst onto San Francisco Bay with a one-design schedule for the new Fleet 5 racing season.  It looks like 7-8 boats will be on the line. Three new boats are in various stages of development and “Mental” (now renamed BIG BLAST) is just landing from her long ride out from Chicago. Here’s the J/111 schedule for 2014:

• Mar 15-16- Spring One Design Regatta- St Francis YC
• Apr 5-6- J/Fest Regatta- St Francis YC
• Apr 26-27- Vallejo Race-  Vallejo YC
• Jun 7-8- June Invitational- St Francis YC
• Aug 2-3- Second Half Opener- Encinal YC
• Aug 22-24- Aldo Alessio Regatta- St Francis YC
• Sep 11-14- Rolex Big Boat Series- St Francis YC
• Oct 25- Great Pumpkin Regatta- Richmond YC

One of the newer boats in the fleet, MADMEN Racing, was out on the Bay putting their J/111 through the paces last year.  Check out some of their YouTube sailing video action from Frisco right here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKqYQie6NE

For more information regarding the J/111 Fleet 5 one-design program, please contact Norm Davant at Sail California- ph# 510-523-8500 or email- norman@sailcal.com

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RCR Yachts J/Boat Open House!
(Youngstown, NY)- Tim Finkle at RCR Yachts in Youngstown, NY wants all New Yorkers and others nearby that sail on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to hop onto their planes, trains, automobiles, tractors, snow-blowers and snow-plows and head for the upcoming J/Boats Open House at their Youngstown location.

The date is March 16th, from 11am to 4pm, with plenty of food & refreshments and a warm place to “hang” and talk shop.  They will have both the J/70 and J/88 on display in their indoor showroom.  You will get a chance to chat with long-time J/Sailors like Don Finkle and his son Tim, both incredibly experienced sailors and, in particular, have done a LOT of sailing on the J/70 in the past year (having traveled a few thousand miles and had snacks at far too many Macs & BK’s along the way!).

For more information on the RCR Yachts J/Boats Open House, please contact Tim Finkle- ph# 860-917-5416 or email- timfinkle@rcryachts.com or at website- http://www.rcryachts.com

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Join Us For the Pacific NW J/Rendezvous!
Featuring a "Poker Rally", “Best In Show” and Massive BBQ Hosted by "BBQ Bob"
(Seattle, WA)- Sail Northwest is excited to announce the first ever J/Boats Rendezvous for the Pacific Northwest, scheduled for June 28th, 2014 at the Brownsville Marina.  Bring your cruising boat, bring your day sailor, bring your race boat – bring any J you have sailing in the area (we hope it floats!), we promise that you will have a lot of FUN and get to know much more of the J/Clan— an amazingly diverse, talented and fun-loving group of passionate sailors!  We want to YOU in Brownsville! Remember, there are no regatta conflicts! And, because it's summer-time, there are no business or school issues, either!

Boats can begin arriving in Brownsville at 11am Saturday to start the stern-tie line-up inside the breakwater.  The day’s festivities will include a “Poker Rally and “Happy Hour” tours of the attending boats incorporating a “Best In Show” competition done by popular vote.  This will be followed with a talk by industry professionals, then a massive BBQ and potluck side-dish dinner pier side, followed by awards and an evening around the camp fire on the bluff.  Refreshments and the main course for dinner will be provided; you only need to bring a side dish and whatever emergency rations you’ll need (e.g. more refreshments).  For anyone that needs a “racing fix”, the West Sound Sailing Association runs their series finale Brownsville race that day and you are more than welcome to enter if you have that urge.

Please RSVP and get your first two cards for the Poker Rally and/or learn more about the event from the friendly people at Sail Northwest.  Contact Ben (ben@sailnorthwest.com) or Bob (bob@sailnorthwest.com) or just call them at ph# 206-286-1004 and ask what’s on the menu for the BBQ!

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J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The end of February generally marks the end of winter and in many places the beginning of spring in March, especially for those who look forward to that wonderful Irish celebration known as St Patricks’s Day on March 17 this year.  However, Old Man Winter seems to have other designs on that raucous and fun celebration.  To date, “the North” is still gripped in a never-ending slew of storms ripping across from the Arctic Tundra to, yet again, delay the onslaught of “spring”.

Nevertheless, some places have managed to offer up some great sailing despite what 95% of the world’s population are having to suffer through for some period of time.  On the American side of things, the J/24s recently hosted their Midwinters at the Coral Reef Yacht Club on Biscayne Bay.  They enjoyed great conditions and one of the members of the winning team, Geoff Becker from Sail1Design, offered some valuable insights from his Becker’s blogs at Sail1Design.com.

Elsewhere in J/24 world, the Argentineans were ramping up the second part of their “summer” season with the Sailor’s Cup that recently took place on the spectacular lake in the Andean Mountains known as Lago San Rogue.  The Club Nautico Cordoba was host for this amazingly fun event!

Just across the Andes Mountain range, literally, were the J/70s hosting their Chilean J/70 Nationals on the equally amazing Lago Panguipulli!

Up north in the Americas, the J offshore sailing teams had less than typical conditions but, nevertheless they made the most of it and managed to finish “in the silver” across the board.  The Border Run Race from Newport Beach, CA to San Diego or Dana Point goes down in the history books as one of the slowest on record, but J/Teams prevailed, again!

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north.  Check them out!  More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

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Regatta & Show Schedules:

Mar 7-9- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Mar 6-9- Bacardi Miami Sailing Week (70,80)- Coconut Grove, FL
Mar 14-16- San Diego NOOD Regatta- San Diego YC- San Diego, CA
Mar 16-21- J/24 North Americans- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Mar 16- Apr 27- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England
Mar 28-30- Quantum J/70 Winter Series- Davis Island YC- Tampa, FL
Apr 10-13- Charleston Race Week (22, 24, 70, 80, PHRF)- Charleston, SC
Apr 17-21- SPI OUEST Regatta- La Trinite-sur-Mer, France
Apr 26-May 3- J/22 World Championship- Deneysville, South Africa
May 2-4- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
May 16-18- J/22 North Americans- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
May 16-18- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

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PILGRIM Takes Chilean J/70 Nationals
(Lake Panguipulli, Chile)- The inaugural Chilean J/70 Nationals took place this past weekend on one of the world’s most picturesque lakes.  Situated on the Puyumén Peninsula, Lake Panguipulli is surrounded by the majestic peaks of the famous Andes Mountain range.  While sailing in shirts, shorts, & shades, skiing on snow-capped mountains is happening in some of Chile’s famous ski resorts!

On the first day, the fleet of J/70 sailors were met by high temperatures, clear skies and moderate winds ranging between 7-11 knots from 250 degrees with minimal shifts of 10 degrees, conditions that were near perfect for sailing on the lake. In fact, the weather was so nice, a small navy of motorboats gathered around the fleet to watch racing for most of the day!


The R.C.’s P.R.O. managed to deliver three races and, when the results were tabulated, there were few differences between the teams.  The first race of the day began with a dominating performance by Nadja Horwitz, followed by Juan Eduardo Reid’s BLACK JACK and PILGRIM skippered by Benjamin Grez. In the last two races it was clear the PILGRIM/ MBI VOLVO team led by “los hermanos Grez” had figured out the formula for success and managed to score two bullets to take over the regatta lead with just 5 pts.  Eduardo-Reid’s team on BLACK JACK also sailed consistently well enough to hang onto second with a 2-3-3.  Another boat that also figured out the “formula” was Jorge Gonzalez and his team on ALLEGRO, posting a 5-2-2 to jump up to third place for the day.

The second day of sailing dawned with a gorgeous sunrise, but light winds that never exceeded 5-6 kts; it was clear the forecast was somewhat accurate and that meant it was going to be difficult to get in more than 2-3 races.  Despite a number of valiant attempts at getting more races going, the P.R.O. could only manage to get one fair race in for the day.  And, it was one unbelievably close race, clearly upsetting the standings for nearly everyone in the top three!

The team of Benjamin Grez, Christopher Grez, Miguel Perez and Jorge Lama, aboard PILGRIM/ MBI VOLVO just managed to stay out of trouble by finishing 4th in the last race to be crowned the first J/70 National Champions in Chile!  Just behind them by only one point was a tie-breaker, the result of a titanic battle for the silver between Gonzalez’s ALLEGRO and Eduardo-Reid’s BLACK JACK.  Getting the upper hand at the finish was the very happy ALLEGRO team, winning the race and, as a result, winning the tie-break on 10 pts to snag second overall.  Third place then went to the BLACKJACK gang.

The regatta was organized by the J/70 Class Chile and WindMade, with support from the Municipality of Panguipulli and LAND ROVER Chile as a sponsor.  Interestingly, this was also the first J/70 National Championship to be held outside American soil anywhere in the world!   Sailing photo credits- Berni Grez
For more J/70 Chilean Nationals sailing results.

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HELLY HANSEN J/24 Midwinters Champs!
(Coconut Grove, FL)- This year’s J/24 Midwinters were highlighted by somewhat fabulous, near postcard-perfect sailing conditions and with some extraordinary entertainment both on and off the water.  For one of the “side-shows”, there were hundreds of noisy offshore powerboats criss-crossing the course area with bikini-clad girls hanging out as they tried to score big in the Miami Boat Show “Poker Run” down to Islamorada.  Nevertheless, focusing like laser-beams on the job at hand (and, never a stray eye wavering to acres of scantily-clad “flesh” flying by), the formidable duo of John Mollicone on the helm and Tim Healy calling tactics (along with crew Geoff Becker, Leon Collin & Gordon Borges) on Team HELLY HANSEN managed to repeat their prior year’s performance— taking a ten point lead to the house and crowned the 2014 J/24 Midwinter Champions, again!

The regatta started off on a high note, with Regatta Chairman Marc Pincus describing it as “a chamber of commerce day”.  The weather was beautiful with a light chop and sunny skies.  Plus, there were No “black flags” during the four races, despite the reputation of the regatta being the “inventor” of the notorious “Black Flag” back in 1984 (remember Mario Bustamante, P.R.O. from Coral Reef YC??). The 27 teams got off to an early start in Miami’s 80 degree weather. However, paradise is never perfect. The wind died during the second race causing the RC to shorten the course, but the breeze came back enough to have two more races.

For the Newport-based HELLY HANSEN team, it was self-evident after the first day they were determined to do no wrong and may have had, in fact, a “crystal ball” on board (apparently they were sailing with almost “clairvoyant” capabilities).  Brown University Sailing Coach John Mollicone stayed out of trouble, kept his lanes clear, and managed to post three bullets on the first day for 8 pts total.  No one could match them.  Miami’s Robby Brown on USA 799 and his team Ron Hyatt, Mark Liebell, Jeff Rubin and Arthur Blodget finished in second with 10 pts and Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER sailing with Patrick Wilson, Rossi Milev, Chris Morgan and Emery Williams were in third with 16 points.

When the RC Signal Boat “GOLDILOCKS” went out for the morning of the second day of racing on to Miami’s Biscayne Bay waving a huge “Jolly Roger” flag, you could tell it was going to be a great day. The Coral Reef YC R.C. was relaxed and looking forward to another glorious day of sailing. The wind was 6-9 knots and steady with no shifts. The race course was set west of the infamous “Stiltsville” (houses built on stilts on the shoals south of Key Biscayne Island). The day’s final tally saw Team HELLY HANSEN extend their lead to 7 points. The big move of the day was Peru’s Luis Olcese sailing SCARAMOUSH, climbing into second with two first places for the day. His crew Christian Sas, Joel Raffo, Joaquin Razetto and Alek Stewart passed Davis Island’s Robby Brown’s team and Travis Odenbach. Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER (with crew Patrick Wilson, Rossi Milev, Chris Morgan and Emery Williams onboard) held on to third place only one point behind SCARAMOUSH. Needless to say, the evenings CRYC regatta dinner was abuzz with stories about the day’s events.

For the hosts, they couldn’t have scripted a nicer ending to the regatta, albeit with a few entertaining “twists” thrown in for good measure.  The last day dawned with yet another clear, sunny day with a mild 6-9 kts breeze and light chop.  Perhaps the most memorable part of the day for most was the hundreds of “visitors” that kept criss-crossing the race course area; including the Miami Boat Show “Poker Run” participants (40 very fast and extremely loud offshore “Cigarette-type” boats with bikini-clad gals on the bow on their way to and from Islamorada); a massive pod of incredibly happy and frolic-some dolphins; and a slew of Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Association racers getting yelled at about every imaginable sailing rules infraction possible!

It was like old times in the 10th race. After a failed attempt at a start, PRO Jaime Ramon called for the Black Flag. In order to make it more authentic and bring back memories of the 1984 J/24 Midwinters where the Black Flag and bow numbers were first used to “discipline the fleet,” 1984 CRYC RC Chair Mario Bustamante was called down from the bridge to perform the black flag duties. As Mario raised the flag, he complained that “it was a puny little black flag with no character and that the big Jolly Roger would have been a better choice.”  Regardless, the Black Flag worked, the sailors were very well-behaved and it was an all clear start for the last race of the regatta.

Despite all the distractions, Team HELLY HANSEN won yet another race on the last day and sealed the deal to be crowned Midwinter Champions with five 1sts in their 9 race score card.  Mollicone is a busy man this year.  The plan is for John to skipper HELLY HANSEN in the upcoming regattas in Newport, RI in July, do the Pan American Trials, the Nationals in Marion, MA and the J/24 Worlds in Newport, RI in September.  On top of all that, John says that his Brown University Sailing Team will start practice first weekend of March, weather permitting, commenting that “the team is anxious and wants to sail!”

The race for second place was very exciting and close. Unfortunately, for the well-sailed (and outfitted) SCARAMOUSH team from Peru, they “punted” their last race, scoring a 10th and dropping into a tie-breaker with Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER, losing that to drop to third overall!  “Oh my goodness”, or words to that effect, must’ve come to Luis’s mind as they were crossing the finish line in the last race. Not! Nevertheless, Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER crew stepped up to the challenge and managed to win the last race to hop onto the podium and snatch second place!

Two Davis Island, Florida teams took 4th and 5th. The 4th place team was Robby Brown’s USA 799 sailing with Ron Hyatt, Mark Liebel, Jeff Rubin and Arthur Blodgett. In 5th place was John Poulson’s LONG SHOT with Nate Viladabro, Doug Fisher, Rob Brills and Stephen Kaidos.

The MidFleet Award was won by Coral Reef YC sailor Jim Bill skippering SCOUTS HONOR with Eamonn deLisser, Tim Banks, Isabel Galvin, Jillian Aydelotte.

The very proud Corinthian teams were:

1. ZIA’s Patrick Frisch, Lori Dillard Rech, Stephen Marshall, David Rech and John Humphreys from Miami, FL.
2. VELOCIDAD’s Christopher Stone, Tim Fitzgerald, Patrick Murphy, Brad Russell and Doug Tooney from Middletown, NJ
3. LIFTED’s Ben Maloney, Erwin Naidoo, Evan Oulahen, Katrina Leighton and Hugh Layton from Halifax, Nova Scotia
4. MUYMUY’s Patricio Sly, Claudio Mintzias, Ernesto Mendoza, Lorie Sein-Messer and Atilio Renam from Miami, FL
5. JOE COOL’s Lionel Baugh, Pilar Sanchez, Mauricio Ferres, Christina Urquiola, Andres Villar from Miami, FL.

Regatta Chair Mark Pincus reports, “the CRYC Race Committee team for the regatta was made up of PRO Jaime Ramon who is also CRYC RC Chair, Timer Jane Anne Pincus, Scorers Penny Tannenbaum and Sue Nichols, Landside Sharon Bourke and a cast of thousands with Mario Bustamante’s GOLDILOCKS as the Signal Boat.” The last word from the Signal Boat was that if you were not out boating today on Biscayne Bay, you did not deserve to own a boat.  Sailing Photo Credits- Chris Howell.  For more J/24 Midwinters sailing information.

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J/Teams Smoke Border Run!
J/111 Tops San Diego, J/124s Leaders in Dana Point
(San Diego, CA)- On Saturday, February 22, hundreds of sailors set sail to race to Dana Point and San Diego in the 2014 annual Border Run International Sailing Event. Everything was set in place— the boats, beautiful warm weather, a half moon for night-time sailing, plenty of dolphins and whales and a spectacular sunset - everything except the wind. But that did not stop sailors that came from far away as Arizona, Texas, New York and Maine, from having a great time. In the end, a total of 11 diehard crews out of 94 crossed the finish line before the race deadline.  And, it was three well-sailed J/Teams, in the most demanding sailing conditions, that led most everyone home at the top of their divisions!

It all started off on Friday night at the Balboa Inn in Newport Beach at the Pre-Race Send-Off party with live music, good food and guest speaker, Gino Morrelli, from Morrelli & Melvin yacht designers of America’s Cup fame. Gino gave Border Run sailors a first glimpse into the new AC boat and the possible venues of the next America’s Cup. It was a great way to start the event.

“Gino was awesome! He explained the differences between Team New Zealand and Team ORACLE USA from the technical side and the future of the next America’s Cup with a great visual presentation. During the ‘question and answer’ part of the presentation I could see the reaction of the sailors - they were really into the discussion,” said Randy Reynolds .

The next day was race day. At 11:00 AM off the Balboa pier in Newport Beach, the 6th annual Border Run fleet started off in a southwest wind heading toward Dana Point and San Diego. The race committee from South Shore Yacht Club started all classes in flawless form. In keeping with the Border Run’s theme “Where Everyone’s Invited”, boats of all kinds and sizes, ranging from 14 ft to 70 ft, crossed the starting line to take on the challenging course.

There were boats of every size and shape competing on the race course. The fleet included some of the highest profile yachts on the West Coast. Boats ranging from sleds, cruisers, dinghies, sportboats and multihulls - all were represented.

High profile sailors were also lining up at the start – spectators were craning their necks to see Dennis Conner (of America's Cup fame) sailing his beloved wooden boat classic SPLENDOR and Cam Lewis sailing the fastest boat on the course, Enloe’s MIGHTY MERLOE (Editor’s note— both veterans of J/24 sailing wars in the past!).

After the start, just four hours into the race, most the fleet were carrying their spins or code-zeros when the wind switched to a south/southeast wind direction. That meant sailing to weather in very light winds in only 2-4 kts of breeze. Eventually, this took a toll on the fleet and crews started to drop out like flies on a hot summer day, one by one they radioed and headed back to homeport. Out of the 94-boat fleet, only six boats finished the Dana Point course and only five finished the 70-mile San Diego course.

At the Trophy parties in Dana Point and San Diego, the event ended with sailors trading sea stories about the great competition before the wind shut off.  They spoke of the clear night skies with a bright half moon, the abundance of dolphin and whales swimming through glowing phosphorescence and an incredible sunset complete with the elusive "green flash". Even without wind, sailors on both courses expressed that the event was a great time and the adventure of sailing in light conditions was worth the trip – saying that they will be back next year.

And for the eleven boats and their hearty and tenacious crews that finished the challenging course, they can take pride that they finished the 2014 Border Run, going into the record books as sailors that won’t give up. John Marshall of South Shore Yacht Club, Race Chairman, said this about the event, “anyone can sail with good wind – only the best sailors can race and win with light winds.”

Of those eleven boats, three were J/Teams- 28% of the finishers!  Imagine that.  In fact, these teams reveled in the light-going despite the challenges faced by others.

Taking 1st in PHRF Light B in the San Diego race was the J/111 STAMPEDE, sailed by Glenn Griley and friends from King Harbor YC.  This was the first test of the STAMPEDE team in SoCal offshore racing and may prove to be an auspicious beginning for this new West Coast J/111 team.

In the Dana Point race, the two J/124s dueled one another all day and all night long.  In the end, Seth Hall’s veterans on MARISOL took second and beat their stablemate CIRRUS, sailed by Tim Harmon, home by just a half-hour.  Remarkably, MARISOL just missed finishing first overall by a little over one minute corrected!  Good grief.  Next time Seth may toss a few more heavy items onto the dock before leaving for the next race!  For fun, check out the YouTube sailing video posted by Tim Harmon’s J/124 CIRRUS from another regatta.   Sailing photo credits-  Bronny Daniels/ JOYsailing.com   For more Border Run International Race sailing information

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J/24 Midwinter Insights- Becker’s Blog
(Biscayne Bay, Florida)- Geoff Becker has been sailing for awhile with the talented duo of John Mollicone and Tim Healy on their J/24 program (one of these nice guys in the photo).  As part of his contribution to the team and to sailors everywhere, Geoff keeps an on-going blog of his sailing activities at his “SAIL-1-Design” website.

Here are Geoff’s reports and insights for competitive sailors who wish to learn more about the “stream of consciousness” that must continually play-out with skipper and crew in order to achieve peak performance (or better yet, get Geoff on board for an event!).

Day 1- 4 races (all races course 4, 4 legs w/downwind finish). Wind 6-12 knots from the SE.

“The forecast for Day 1 was 15 knots, or more, from the southeast, however, the breeze that arrived was somewhat less. A 10-12 knot SE breeze for Race 1 slowly died to 5-8 knots during Race 2 and then picked up again to 8-10 knots for Races 3 and 4. During the day, while the breeze strength varied, the direction remained relatively consistent from the southeast. Team Helly Hansen sailed well today, with 1st in Races 1, 3 and 4, and a 5th in Race 2 to take the overall lead after Day 1.

Keys to our success today included keeping the boat powered up, sailing at full speed whenever possible and sailing in our own water. As the wind decreased today, we would try and keep the boat more powered up on the windward legs. To do this, we paid close attention as to not over trim the genoa and keep from pinching, especially in any chop or waves.  By sailing a little lower at times and keeping the trim on the loose side, we were able to keep the forward speed up and carry better momentum trough the lighter spots and occasional choppy waves.

Another key for us today was to keep space from other boats and sail in our own water. Today, this meant picking lanes upwind that allowed us the freedom to sail the boat at the angle we felt was best for us. When other boats are near us in a race, we often need to adjust our trim or sailing angle to avoid feeling the effects of the other boat. For example, when a boat is off our leeward bow, it might be necessary to sail a higher course to avoid falling into that boat’s backwind. Today, and in many instances, when we caught ourselves changing our sailing mode based on the position of another boat, we noticed we were not sailing our best speed or course. In those cases, we would look for a way to free ourselves from other boats and find our own water where we could sail our own race.

Putting your boat in a position to sail your own mode and then keeping the boat rolling through the lulls in the breeze, can make a big difference when sailing in lighter or dying winds. Since the winds today were not all that shifty, the focus on the upwind legs definitely shifted to boat speed over wind shifts. It is often possible to pass, or beat boats that might have a speed advantage if you can sail free in your own water. Even a fast boat will slow down when forced to adjust to another boat with better position, and if you are able to do your own thing, you can find yourself working your way toward the front of the fleet, by slowing down less.

Our takeaways from Day 1 are:
1. Keep the boat powered up and full speed in light wind and lulls
2. Sail in your own water whenever possible.
3. Use good position to sail your boat in your best mode.”

Day 2- 4 races (all races course 4, 4 legs w/downwind finish). Wind 6-12 knots from the SE.

“With 8 races completed, 2 remaining, Team Helly Hansen still holds the overall lead. The conditions today were very similar to Day 1 in wind speed, direction and the amount of wind shifts. That is to say that while the wind velocity did oscillate up and down some, the direction remained relatively consistent with a total range of only 10-15 degrees during the day. With the somewhat consistent breezes, the most important race factors became boat speed and positioning to make gains on the racecourse.

Because boat speed was so important today, we made sure to check our setup before each race to make sure we could get the most from our boat for the conditions. Rig tension, genoa halyard tension and genoa lead position are always important speed factors and with such consistent winds like today, and those and other settings were crucial to make sure we had speed on the first upwind leg.

As for our strategies during the race, we also considered the fact that most of our gains would come from boat speed and not from wind shifts. Because of that, we looked for the areas of the course that seemed to have the most pressure and stay out of the bigger holes on the course if at all possible. In some ways that can be easier, because looking for wind is one thing, guessing if the new wind is a lift or a header can be much more difficult. Since we were mostly concerned about more wind vs. less wind, identifying those areas with stronger puffs was our primary goal.

After looking for the areas on the course we thought had the most wind, our final big picture strategy was to make sure we were able to sail our boat at our best speed. That meant, like on Day 1, we preferred to get in our own water without being affected by nearby boats preventing us from sailing our best course. As a result, we were quick to tack away from packs of boats, especially shortly after a start or mark rounding, in order to get clear and have freedom to make our boat sail at full speed. Sometimes we were even willing to sail away from what could be more wind if we had a nearby boat affecting our overall speed.

Having the freedom to sail your boat at its best by avoiding the negative effects of nearby boats, is a strategy that will work in a large percentage of sailboat races. Of course in most races, there are many other factors to consider, but having the ability to set your boat up the way you want and sail your own fastest course is a great starting point.

Our takeaways from Day 2 are:
1. Make sure your boat is set up for the race conditions.
2. Look for larger puffs when the wind isn’t shifting much.
3. Sail in your own water and use the freedom to sail your fastest”

Day 3 - Final Day- 2 races (all races course 4, 4 legs w/downwind finish). Wind 6-12 knots from the SE.

“For the final day, it was more of the same in both conditions and results for Team Helly Hansen. Remarkably, the conditions were exactly the same as Day 1 and 2, with a light to moderate SE breeze with very little change in direction during the day. Going into the final Day, only 2 races remained of the scheduled 10 for the regatta. Our team had a 7 point lead over second place and 8 points over third. The regatta was being scored with one throw out race and our worst finish beginning the final day was a fifth place in race 2. This meant a good score in the first race of the day could lock up the regatta for us.

After considering our scoring options, we decided to sail our own race in Race 9, using the same strategies as Days 1 and 2 and stay clear of other boats as much as possible. We were able to get a great start in the middle of the starting line and jump out in the front pack right away. From there we worked our way to the front and were able to hold the lead to win Race 9 winning the Midwinters for the second consecutive year.

Knowing our throw out race was a keeper race, it was tempting for us to aim our focus on the boats behind us in the standings and cause them to have a bad race and use our throw out that way. We instead decided that what had been working for us the first 2 days was a much better plan and we had the confidence that even if the first race didn't work out, we could make our that plan work for the second race.

As I have talked about in my other race blogs, our team has a very ritualistic and effective routine each day before getting to the racecourse. Because of that, we are normally well prepared for the first race of the day and quite often we are able to sail at a high level in the first race of a day. This regatta illustrated that as we won the first race each of the three days. That confidence added to our decision to come out and sail our best race in Race 9.

Our takeaways from Day 3 are:
1. Keep to your routine every day.
2. Sailing your own race is often the best way to score well.
3. The five members of Team Helly Hansen are the reason we sail as well as we do!

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OJOTA Leading Sailor’s Cup
(Cordoba, Argentina)- The second half of the sailing season down in South America has commenced and, like their J/70 friends in Chile, the J/24 class in Argentina have also started the Sailor’s Cup Regatta on Lago San Roque.  It’s a spectacular time of year to be sailing in the Andes Mountains and the setting could not be more idyllic than the one for Club Nautico Cordoba along the lake.

For this year’s regatta, a two weekend affair, it’s noteworthy that thirteen boats are participating from across Argentina, including crews from Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Mendoza and Salta!  The regatta is also considered part of the overall points series for the “Campeonato Centro del Republica” (the Central Championship for the middle of Argentina)— and at least 25 teams are participating in the overall series, a much higher participation rate than achieved in 2013.

For last weekend, the first round of the championship, the winner was the Mendoza fleet J/24 team on OJOTA, led by skipper Sebastián Halpern.  Second was Team INDIGO led by Despontin Ezekiel, last year’s winner.  The regatta has become a classic on the J/24 Argentine regatta circuit, the third time at the Club Nautico de Córdoba!  It is an event notable for it’s warm, wonderful atmosphere sailing on the lake,  a moment of relaxation for all crews where they enjoyed something to eat and drink delicious malbec red wines from the Mendoza district!

With moderate winds and moderate windshifts (for Lago San Roque!), it was good, solid tactics that were the key elements to keeping the top spots.  The final results were OJOTA in 1st, INDIGO 2nd, ON-LINE 3rd, KANZA 4th and MATANGA 5th.

This marks the start of the annual ranking that’s part of the Campeonato Centro Del Republica”.  For the next event we expect up to two dozens boats along with a crew from the USA. The J/24 Fleet Córdoba thanks the sponsors that support and enable the realization of this championship again in 2014 .  For more J/24 Argentina sailing information.

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J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* Don Finkle at J/Dealer RCR Yachts has been sailing his J/70 JUNIOR for over a year with his family and friends, starting with the 2013 J/70 Midwinters at Key West.  Amongst other things, Don is always looking for ways to improve the overall experience of going to regattas, seeing friends and sailing fast, but comfortably.

Some of the upgrades they’ve employed are helpful for those first getting engaged in the whole program.  Here are Don’s commentary on the upgrades to share with all J/70 friends:

“The first is the J/70 mast stepper that was made by RCR’s Brian Buczak (initially designed & engineered by the J/Boats Team in Newport). We’ve now used it several times and it has made stepping and dropping the rig much easier to accomplish, especially if you don’t always have three people around to help.  As you can see from the picture, there is a wooden piece that sits on the stern rails and is fastened down to hold in place.  There is also a tall post approximately six feet high, with a trailer roller at the top (the key piece!), that fits through the cross beam that we clamped down on the motor bracket by using a c-clamp.  While down in Florida, friends of ours from the J/70 fleet stopped by as we were stepping the mast and commented on how easy it looked when using this contraption.  When the rig is down, we could very simply slide out the stepper and secure it to the trailer while the cross beam held the mast in place when towing.  We highly recommend using something like this and we’d be happy to show you the one we are using.

The other new upgrade that we are using is the soft deck installed on the floor of our cockpit.  We absolutely LOVED this addition.  The deck not only looks good but has great grip, wet or dry, and provided good cushion on the knees when in light air and kneeling on the cockpit becomes a necessity.  We’ve been told that the weight of the deck is about 3 to 5 pounds, but the benefits greatly make up for any added weight.  This past weekend in St Pete brought some bigger breeze on Saturday and we found ourselves on our side a few times.  At the angle of heel we would normally slip on the deck but we had no such issue with the soft deck.  There are several suppliers of these soft decks and we have not tested them all out, but the “Raptor” deck we are using has really worked out great.

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J/Cruising Community

J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* Jim & Heather Wilson just completed a circumnavigation of our "blue planet Earth" in June 2013 on their J/42 CEOL MOR.  Said Jim, "The odyssey of CEOL MOR is over, for now.  We completed our circumnavigation on our J/42 when we crossed our outbound track in Britannia Bay, Mustique. We were, however, still 2,000 nautical miles from home. So we continued on through the Windwards, the Leewards, and then through the British Virgin Islands. After a farewell 'Painkiller' at the Soggy Dollar, and a last meal at Foxy’s, we made the 1,275 nautical mile passage to the Chesapeake and completed our port-to-port circumnavigation when we arrived in Annapolis on June 28, 2013. We had been away 1,334 days, completed 259 days of ocean passages, and sailed 30,349 nautical miles (34,925 statute miles). Read more about their adventures in their  well-documented blog here:  http://www.svceolmor.com/SVCeolMor/Welcome.html

* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again!  We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.   Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above)  from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA.  A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day!  Amazing passage it was!  Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda.  Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large.  Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea".  The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers.  We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.

WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"

Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.

Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.

People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."

READ MORE ABOUT BILL'S INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY AND THOUGHTS ON WSJ ONLINE HERE

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand.  Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

J/Newsletter- April 24th, 2013

J/111 SEGLING Test
(Marstrand, Sweden)- Recently, the largest Swedish sailing magazine, SEGLING, completed a full-on test/ review of the J/111 with a team of experienced sailors led by Curt Gelin.

As reported by Peter Gustafsson, owner of J/11 BLUR.SE, "We had the test team out on a windy day last August and managed to put some smiles on their faces! Curt wrote the book "700 Tested Sailboats" - and I've never read such a passionate review!! They loved the boat."

Some quotable quotes:
- "Do you love speed and have 2 million kronor left over. Then, the J/111 might be the boat for you."
- "The lines are swanky, the speed amazing, and control direct and distinct."
- "The long sprit was introduced by J/Boats on the J/105 in 1991 (the world's first modern sprit production boat) and it offers fabulous control. We managed to broach anyway, because we laughed too much and trimmed to little, when the boat thundered away at 15-16 knots of boat speed!"

Please read more about the J/111 SEGLING Test here.   And, you may have fun checking out the SEGLING J/111 YouTube sailing video here.

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J Media Around The Globe!
(Newport, RI)- While many sailors in the USA and Europe have seen the J/70 sail or saw one in local boat shows or sailing magazines, there are still parts of the world that have not- like Belgium and Chile.

Recently, Belgian sailors had their taste of the J/70 sailing experience. Their premiere sailing magazine- VAREN- did a test of the J/70 on the Braassemermeer and it was recently featured in latest issue- please see http://www.varen.be 

Furthermore, VAREN did a cameo video on the J/70 sailing on YouTube, please watch here.

In the meantime, Manuel Eguiguren was recently out sailing J/70s on a spectacular Chilean lake high in the Andes Mountains of South America-- enjoy this "J/70 sailing music video" here.

Cover Girl- J/70! Did anyone see the April issue of Sailing World magazine?  The J/70 was on the cover and SW Editor Dave Reed's article was about the J/70 sailing experience in Key West Race Week. In addition, the "From the Expert's" article was about sportboat tips that are directly applicable to the 70.

Cover Girl- J/24! The March Sailing World cover was about how the International J/24 continues to maintain passionate, devoted followers of the world's largest one-design keelboat class.  With used J/24s available at affordable prices, the J/24 class continues to attract many of the world's best sailors worldwide due to its affordability, quality of competition and depth of talent. What was true 35 years ago is true today, one-design keelboat sailing in a strictly controlled ISAF one-design class affords many people the opportunity to learn quickly and progress forward according to their ability-- at any level of sailing-- locally, regionally, nationally or globally. Even America's Cup and Volvo Race sailors owe their experience as sailors to J/24s.  Never forget it!  Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com and Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing.com.

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J/80s Hong Kong Nation's Cup
(Hong Kong, China)-  The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Nations' Cup has already attracted 73 entries from 23 nations - many of whom will spend the days leading up to the event deciding what costumes to wear and what national delicacy to bring to the 'after-party'.  The race starts on Saturday, April 27th and the intent is to go "around the island" (Hong Kong, of course) as members of "national teams".

Crews are formed along the lines of nation of origin or allegiance. While the Nationality Criteria states that "100% of crew members must be nationals of the country which is represented by the boat they are racing on", the same criteria then go on to offer a multitude of different ways that a 'wannabe' can qualify - all the way down to representing a Nation in the Miss Universe Pageant.

Racing will feature a pursuit race following a simple course, starting in Victoria Harbour at Kellett Island and taking the fleet eastwards, out through Lei Yue Mun Gap, to a turning mark which will be selected to suit the prevailing weather conditions. Once around, the boats will re-enter the Harbour and, with a bit of cooperation from the wind gods, race back to the finish line at Kellett Island.

Coveted prizes include the right of the winning nation to place their flag on conspicuous display behind the Club's Main Bar until the 2014 race and, of course, the bragging rights that go with proving themselves to be "Champion Sailing Nation of The Year".

The first boat home in the inaugural event in 2011 was England, followed by Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Scotland and Japan. The 2012 edition had to be abandoned due to lack of wind and miserable weather conditions, however the 'after party' more than made up for any disappointment.

In addition to the fleet of one-design J/80s will be a raft of handicap-racing boats, including a J/111, J/105, J/109, J/92 and even J/24s!  More fun and games racing around Hong Kong Island!
For more Royal Hong Kong YC Nation's Cup sailing information

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New US Sailing Adult Championship In J/24s!
Men & Women to Compete in Open Format First Time!
(Portsmouth, RI) – US Sailing has adapted one of its most historic championships (the Mallory Trophy) into a new and exciting event for competitive adult women and men sailors in America. The first edition of the US Adult Sailing Championship for the Clifford D. Mallory Trophy will take place August 22-25, 2013 at the Rochester Yacht Club in Rochester, NY in matched, one-design international J/24 class sailboats!

The US Adult Sailing Championship features an open format allowing women and men to compete as skipper or crew. While women have been sailing for the US Men’s Championship since its inception, they were only permitted to race as crew. With more and more mixed gender teams now racing, there was demand for a championship to meet this ever-growing segment of the sport.

“Through hard work and dedication of the committee and Rochester Yacht Club, this championship has been restyled and rejuvenated for a broader field of participants, while allowing its rich, historical significance to continue within the sailing community,” said Shannon Bush, Chairperson of US Sailing’s Championship Committee.

Sponsored by Gill North America, the US Adult Sailing Championships will have no gender restrictions on skipper or crews. Teams will be limited by weight. The traditional format of qualifying events remains has been expanded.  Local sailing organizations will field teams to Area Qualifiers or designated qualifying events with two teams rather than one from Areas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K and J and one team from Areas L and H proceeding onto the finals. Teams will compete in the finals in a round robin format on provided one-design International J/24s- THE world's largest one-design sailboat class.  In fact, many local J/24 fleets are helping to sponsor/ support this year's inaugural event with local/ regional qualifying regattas-- please be sure to contact them!  Girl's rule?  Maybe this year is that opportunity!!

"For many years, competitive sailors have been putting together teams of great male and female sailors to compete at local, national,and international events," said Linda Epstein, Chairperson of the US Adult Sailing Championships. "Now, they will have the chance to put together their best team from their local sailing area to compete for a US Sailing championship and the opportunity to win the Clifford D. Mallory Trophy."  Learn more about eligibility requirements, qualification process, boat and equipment, scoring, prizes, and more.  Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com

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J/Navy Sailing Rolex Fastnet
J/Boats Dominant Brand in Record Fleet
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The RORC's Rolex Fastnet Race is certainly not for the faint of heart.  A legendary offshore classic, it's a race that has challenged the world's best offshore sailors for decades.  For many, memorialized in the infamous 1979 event and seared into one's consciousness-- yes, it can be one of the world's most capricious races literally within sight of land.  Ask any member of George David's RAMBLER 100 team in the 2011 edition shortly after they passed Fastnet Rock how quickly conditions and one's life can change for the worst in a split-second.

The 2013 edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race promises a challenge again to navigators and crews.  Remarkably, this will be the first time that "J" is the dominant brand with 44 boats sailing or nearly 13% of the fleet in IRC Class of 340 boats.  Comparably speaking, the big billion dollar French company Beneteau (supported/ subsidized by the French Government) only has 42 First's sailing in the fleet; the famous mega-yacht company Nautor-Swan company from Finland has just 17 Swan's-a-sailing; the dominant Danish X-Yachts has 15 teams participating; Italy's premiere Grand Soleil sees 11 "spaghetti-swans" cruising and the reputable French Archambault yard sees 10 teams engaged.  A rather remarkable turn of events to see an American company leading the fleet in Europe in one of its legendary offshore races!?

If you recall, in 2011 the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER from Benelux was winning IRC Overall and Double-handed Class at the famous rounding mark, Fastnet Rock Lighthouse.  Sailed by the extremely experienced offshore team, John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef, the RIPPER simply sailed an incredibly smart, fast race, even rounding Fastnet Rock ahead of another experienced offshore team on a J/111. Their performance is simply an illustration of how easy it is for any sailor to have fun and be successful offshore with their J.

Three J/111s will be participating this year, two in IRC Racing and one in IRC Double classes.  Leading the charge again for double-handers will surely be the offshore duo of John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef sailing "the RIPPER"-- 3rd in 2011 and was fleet leader at Fastnet Rock! The JUST 4 SAILING syndicate from Belgium will be racing DJINN and Andrew Hill from England will be sailing OJE in IRC Racing class.

Twenty-two J/109s sailing means they're the biggest one-design fleet period (and the largest J fleet participating) with three nations represented with the majority from England and the others from Ireland- Andrew Sarratt's JEDI- and the Netherlands- Kees Mijs' ARETHUSA and Paul van der Pol's YETI.  While far too numerous to list the range of possibilities for the British teams, there are both new faces and familiar ones that have campaigned J/109s for years and participated in past Fastnets.  Amongst those boats will be the top five J/109s from the 2011 Fastnet, including Tor McLaren's INSPARA, Robin Taunt's JIBE, Kees Mijs's ARETHUSA, Phil Nelson's JOLENE and Greg Nasmyth's JARHEAD.

Seven J/122s are represented by no less than five countries, proving yet again the popularity of this IRC cruiser-racer worldwide and its ability to perform and garner its fair share of silverware in the major offshore races around the world.  For starters, one of the more famous J/122s will be sailing in IRC Double Class, Rob Craigie's J-BELLINO from England, famous for winning not only its class, but nearly overall, in the last OSTAR trans-Atlantic Race single-handed!  Other J/122 contenders include 2011 Fastnet IRC 2 winner NUTMEG IV (Francois Lognone) from  France. Plus, other top teams include Ireland's AQUELINA (Jim Tyrrell), England's JOOPSTER (Neil Kipling), The Netherlands' JUNIQUE (Chris Revelman), the other French team of LORELEI (Alain Catherineau) and the first Russian J/122 owner, Artem Brum sailing KNYAZ.

Four J/133s will be racing that include local/ regional champions in their respective sailing areas, such as England's Nigel Passmore on APOLLO 3 and Angus Bates' ASSARAIN IV; Yves Grosjean's JIVARO from France that nearly won IRC 1 in the 2011 race; and the Irish family team of Alan, Bruce and James Douglas on SPIRIT OF JACANA.

Four J/105s will have the fleet divided evenly between IRC Racing and IRC Double.  Leading the charge in the double-handers will be Nick Martin's DIABLO-J (a past class winner) and Jim Heald's FLAWLESS J.  In IRC Racing class are Tom Hayoe's MOSTLY HARMLESS and Richard Cashmore's SLINGSHOT.

Finally, no matter how you slice IRC classes, sure to be a factor in their respective groups will be a cross-section of veteran ocean-racers like the J/120 RHAPSODIE V (Jean Jacques Godet from France), the two J/35s forming a pan-European contingent (Germany's CHOSI 6 sailed by Mike Wunderlich and Belgium's RAGAZZA lead by the team of Gabriel, De Bie & Malchair) and the equally famous J/39 SLEEPER VIII sailed by Jonty Layfield.  Sailing photo credits- Rolex/ Kurt Arrigo. For more 2013 Rolex Fastnet Race sailing information

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J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Spring finally sprung in most places in the northern hemisphere, even more so than last weekend.  It sprung big time on the Solent this past weekend. Just in time, in fact, for Solent sailors to enjoy a full weekend of racing on Saturday and Sunday participating in the Warsash Spring Championships as well as their Spring Series. With the season opener for the J/111s, the fleet had terrific sailing conditions to shake out the winter cobwebs and get rolling for the season.  Fleets of J/70s, J/80s and J/109s all had fun sailing and close competition.  For the Benelux sailors across "La Manche", the spring conditions for the Van Uden Reco Stellendam Regatta were almost too nice as it also wreaked havoc on the wind conditions.  Down in the Mediterranean, a J/111 sailed Italy's most prestigious offshore event, the RomaXuttti Race- a 530nm mile off Italy that saw near summer-like conditions.  In America, the enormous Charleston Race Week saw absolutely epic sailing conditions on Friday followed by good conditions on Saturday.  But nuking, dogs getting blown off chains conditions on Sunday cut it all short for the fleet. Nevertheless, the massive debut of the J/70 class at CRW (largest class by a country mile with 55 boats sailing, 50% greater than ANY other one-design fleet in attendance) made for excellent sailing.  Other J/classes with nice turn-outs included the J/22s, J/24s and J/80, plus there was excellent PHRF handicap sailing with J/111s, J/122, J/120, J/109, J/105, J/35, J92 and J/29s! Looking upside down on the world, the good folks Down Under in Australia had a rollicking good times sailing their J/24 Victoria State Championships.  And, just next door across the bottom of the Pacific, the Chileans had their first J/105 Nationals off Algarrobo, Chile!

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north.  Check them out!  More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

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Regatta & Show Schedules:

Mar 17-Apr 28- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England
May 3-5- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- Annapolis, MD
May 8-12- Semaine de Porquerolles (111)- Ile de Porquerolles, France
May 17-19- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA
May 18-20- J/24 German Nationals- Flensburger, Germany
May 31-Jun 2- Southern Bay Race Week (24, 70)- Hampton YC, VA
Jun 7-9- Chicago NOOD Regatta (105, 109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-9- New York YC Annual Regatta (111, 122)- Newport, RI
Jun 14-15- Off Soundings Regatta (105, 109, 120)- Watch Hill/ Block Is
Jun 15-16- Cleveland Race Week (70)- Cleveland, OH
Jun 19-22- J/24 US Nationals- Wayzata, MN
Jun 23-28- Block Island Race Week- (80, 35, 105, 109, 111, 44)- Block Island, RI
Jun 27-30- Kieler Woche (70, 80, 24)- Kieler Segeln Club- Kiel, Germany
Jul 4-7- J/24 UK Nationals- Plymouth, England
Jul 6-13- J/80 World Championships- Marseilles, France
Jul 13-15- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Jul 27-28- Youngstown Level Regatta (70, 24)- Youngstown, NY
Aug 9-11- J/109 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-11- Verve Cup Offshore (109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-13- J/27 North American Championship- Oakville, Ontario
Aug 14-18- J/111 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

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J/111 J-STORM Crushes RomaXtutti Offshore Race
(Rome, Italy)- This past weekend, Massimo Colosimo's J/111 J-STORM simply flew across the Mediterranean, winning the 530nm RomaXtutti Offshore race, the longest and most prestigious offshore race in Italy.

After their finish in Riva di Traiano, the huge, well-deserved victory by Massimo Colosimo and his crew (including Marzio Dotti, Stefano Pellizza and Antonello Perina) was cause for grand celebration.  The J-STORM team made the award-winning tactical choice-- contrary to the route taking by most of the fleet along the coast, Colosimo instead opted for a route further offshore which proved to be very advantageous, especially going outside of the islands.

Said Stefano Pelliza, "We won the race in IRC by arriving 4th real-time in a fleet of 60 boats and we finished very close (4 minutes behind) to a 50 ft canting keel racer!  We had good fun racing in light wind and sunny conditions. We had beautiful spring sailing conditions and the boat was pretty fast sailing offshore, especially reaching under the spinnaker and staysail combination!"  For more RomaXtutti Offshore race sailing information

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GRAND SLAM Wins CHILE J/105 Nationals
(Algarrobo, Chile)- For two consecutive weekends of April (6-7th and 13-14th) the fleet of eighteen J/105s sailed on the beautiful waters in the Bay of Algarrobo, competing for top honors in the Chilean J/105 fleet's first National Championship.

Both weekends had a great wind conditions for sailing, between 10 an 15 knots from the southwest - the best local wind - and gently rolling offshore swell in excess of 6.5 feet!  Teams that could master good upwind speed and turn the top mark and make use of the great surfing conditions often made significant gains on their competitors.

From the beginning, it was clear that three teams were battling for the podium and dominated the regatta.  However, notably five boats won races in the nine race event and thirteen of the eighteen boats (nearly 75% of the fleet) posted top five scores in their overall records!  That's a wonderful indicator of good, close, competitive racing to have the kind of scoring distribution across the fleet.

In the end, Patricio Seguel's team on GRAND SLAM were declared Chile's first J/105 National Champions!  They managed to hold off their two closest competitors and after two discard races, scored all top three finishes for a total of 13 net pts.  Scoring two 1sts and two 2nds was not enough to chase down the leader for Miguel Salas' team on BIG BOOTY, ending up with 19 net pts to secure a well-deserved second overall.  Chasing both teams was Vernon Robert's ARCHIMIDES, themselves also counting two 1sts and a 2nd in their scoreline, but not enough to catch the others with a 22 pts net for the regatta.

Rounding out the top five were Pedro Perez's RECLUTA with 28 pts net in fourth place and in fifth was Daniel Gonzalez's crew on TRICALMA with 31 pts.  Of special note is that Jose Manuel Ugarte's SCIMITAR #526 was the 2011 J/105 North American Champion in Marblehead, MA, now living a wonderful new life sailing on the Pacific and doing well, getting a 6th overall in its first regatta in Chile!

The J/105 was introduced in Algarrobo, Chile 17 years ago with a few units and at the end of 2010 the class was launched by Algarrobo Yacht Club members. Nowadays there are more than 25 boats in the central part of Chilean Coast (Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Algarrobo).  As a result of that effort and passionate enthusiasm by Chilean sailors, the J/105 class has become the principal family-fun, one-design yacht in Chile!

The fleet will meet again on May  11 & 12th in Viña del Mar for the Chilean Navy Day Celebration, locally known as "Glorias Navales", where many classes join together to celebrate the event.  For more Chilean J/105 Nationals sailing information and photos

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Great Sailing Van uden Reco Regatta
J/111 2nd IRC, BIG LIFT Takes J/22s
(Stellendam, Netherlands)- With more than 120 boats on the start line, the Van Uden Reco Stellendam Regatta promised to have lots of action and fun for the offshore sailing season opener in the Netherlands.  Traditionally, the event is marked by an enormous fish fry and beer party where the local fisherman host the event, cooking up all kinds of local delicacies, including even lobster!  Plus, the sponsor Pantaenius ensure there's plenty of beer on hand for the sailors to wash down all the yummy seafood!

The predictions regarding the weather promised a weekend full of sun and plenty of breeze. Whether there would still be enough wind Sunday was the real question on everyone's minds as the weekend unfolded.

On Friday afternoon the Stellendam Marina slowly filled with all kinds of one-design class boats ready for a race weekend at the Haringvliet. For most sailors the regatta was a short drive, but the Van Uden Reco is worth it! For the J/22 fleet, two German teams looked forward to joining the party on and off the water and traveled to Stellendam. On Friday, it was cold and windy, so many teams launched, went for a quick practice sail then came back in to refuel, stay warm and prepare for up to eight races on the schedule.

Despite the crazy weather this year Saturday dawned quite warm, so woolly hats were substituted with long shirts and caps to shield everyone from the warm sun. It soon became apparent that the wind forecasts were wrong. The prediction was a Force 5 11-15 kts wind. There was enough wind to get off four races and the sun made it a perfect sailing day! After a long, exhausting, but fun day on the water, the sailors all looked forward to the massive outdoor cookout on shore with ham, hamburgers, fish fry and plenty of beer. A good time was had by all as the sun sank further behind the shed and the temperature dropped (it was freezing at night!).

Unfortunately, predictions regards wind on Sunday came truer than anyone hoped.  With plenty of sun in the sky, the wind was hard to find!  However, it began to blow a little more in the course of the morning and the sailing teams were sent onto the water. It was a good decision, because not much later there was a breeze at Force 3-4! At noon was the first start for most classes and courses.  For the J/22s, the fleet managed to get in three short races.  However, the offshore boats had less luck, barely getting in two to three good races (depending on the course), leading to many boats simply dropping out due to lack of wind.

In the IRC Class, the three J/111s made the best of the conditions, particularly on Saturday's windier day.  As a result, finishing 2nd in IRC was XCENTRIC RIPPER- John van der Starre- sailing to a 2-1-1-2-5-5 record for 11 net pts.  Also sailing but having a hard time on the super-light Sunday were SWEENY (Hans Zwinjnenburg) and LALLEKONING (M Sigg).

In the ORC classes, the J/105 JIPPA was sailed by Andre Zijderveld in ORC2.  And in ORC3, the J/80s were having fun with a "sub-fleet" one-design competition amongst each other.  Leading the J/80s in 4th was JOT (M Menck), second J/80 lying 6th in fleet was nJOY (Coen van Even) and third J/80 was DJ (OJ Golverdingen).

The J/22s had some spirited racing, especially on the windier Saturday.  The nearly windless Sunday jumbled the standings as different teams excelled in one condition versus the other.  Taking the top spot after finishing Saturday in third overall was BIG LIFT/ Happy Future (Nico van der Kolk), sailing to a 3-6-4-4-1-2-2 for 22 net pts.  Just two points back after a slow start on Sunday was BIG LIFT/ Happy Star (Jeremy Moens), recording a scoreline of 5-4-5-1-5-3-1 for 24 pts.  Third was BATAVAIA STAD (Christian Rieckborn) with a 2-1-6-7-7-5-4 record for 32 pts.  Rounding out the top five were JOLLY JUMPER (Ivo Jeukens) in 4th with 34 pts and in 5th was DE KANTOORBUTLER (Stan Heltzel) with 37 pts.  Note, after the first day, Heltzel was the regatta leader with a 1-5-1-5 but got DSQ'd in race 5 on Sunday to hurt their chances at a podium finish.  For more Van Uden Reco Stellendam Regatta sailing information

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Big Fleets, Big Winds @ Charleston Race Week
J/Teams Sweep Perpetual Trophies!
(Charleston, SC)- Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week has a reputation for consistent, solid breeze. In fact, Charleston’s great wind is one of the big reasons this event has grown so spectacularly over the past decade.  It was on the eve of the regatta when most weather models predicted big breeze for the start of racing on Friday, with Sunday promising similarly apocalyptic conditions. And that is exactly what the 2013 edition received.

With the 287 teams scattered about on harbor and offshore courses, race organizers were eager to seize the day, completing 3 to 4 races in Friday’s 15-30 knot winds.  Saturday’s moderate breezes and calm seas allowed for some recovery, but it was another 3 to 4 race day to insure each fleet was given the chance to sort out the pecking order in the standings. With the podium positions far from certain, Sunday looked to be the determining factor if not for one thing: the forecast. If Friday’s winds were “monster”, there really wasn’t an appropriate superlative to describe what happened Sunday morning. Rapidly increasing winds and huge seas offshore (8 feet at the mouth of Charleston Harbor) prompted the principal race officers to cancel all competition offshore. Inshore, the race committees set up courses and attempted to get races going on all three courses, but the action was quickly cancelled for everyone.

Marking its debut in dramatic fashion, the 55 boat J/70 fleet was the largest at the regatta by nearly 50%!  The level of competition was incredibly close and positions could change dramatically leg to leg as entire packs of boats would gain and lose on each shift, such was the tightness of the fleet.  While upwind speed for most boats was quite close, it was off-the-wind, particularly in the planing conditions, where boat-handling and pure speed were permitting some teams to make dramatic gains even on the short 0.7 to 0.9 nm downwind legs.  In the end, Key West Race Week winner, Tim Healy skippering HELLY HANSEN, sailed an excellent regatta, staying out of trouble and out of the corners to compile a consistent series to take the J/70s with all top five finishes as counters.  Just behind them  was Jud Smith sailing RELATIVE OBSCURITY, themselves also counting top five finishes in their scoreline to finish second with 21 pts net, just two back from Healy.  Sailing in their first big J/70 regatta, Henry Filter dragged "Moose" Mclintock aboard as tactician to put together a great series to finish third overall with 36 pts.  The balance of the top five saw St Pete NOOD Regatta winner, Joel Ronning on CATAPULT, take fourth overall and the team on STAMPEDE led by Bruno Pasquinelli (2nd at Key West Race Week) took fifth.

In the J/70s Corinthian Division (amateur teams), it was Heather Gregg-Earl and Joe Bardenheier aboard the beautifully color-coordinated MUSE/ TEAM ATLANTIS that took the honors over sixteen other teams.  Second was Brian Elliott sailing B-SQUARED and third was Mike Glover and Robbie Wilkins sailing LUCY, the top local Charleston team in the regatta.

In the J/22 fleet, Chris Doyle’s consistent performance earned his team the victory. Racing "THE JUG 4 1", Doyle’s lowest score of the seven-race series was only a 3, leaving a tally of 1-2-1-1-2-2 for just 9 points. Arthur Libby on TORQEEDO trailed in second with 14 points, and Greg Fisher and Todd Hiller on LEADING EDGE placed third with 19 points. Fisher narrowly beat out the top Canadian team, Ryan Flack sailing BLIND PIG, that finished with 20 pts.  Fifth was Keith Zars on USA 1646.

J/24's had the second largest J fleet sailing in the regatta with twenty-six teams showing up on the starting line.  After the first six races, it was evident the top two teams were going for broke to take the lead, with Kris Werner's team on SUPERFECTA trying valiantly to hold off a strong challenge from Mike Ingham's team on USA 5443.  In the end, SUPERFECTA took the top spot with scores of 1-1-3-4-1-14-6 for 16 pts net.  Second was Mike Ingham scoring a 5-5-1-2-6-8-1 for 20 pts net.  Third was taken by Ron Medlin Jr on BASH with consistent scores of 3-6-4-6-5-5-4 for 27 pts net.  The balance of the top five included Aidan Glackin in 4th sailing the infamous MENTAL FLOSS and in fifth was Frank McNamara sailing ZOT.  Good, tight racing in the J/24s, with a dozen boats all posting top five finishes over seven races!

The J/80s had a mild turnout and in the end it was Bert Carp who reigned supremo taking near straight bullets to win class on USA 11.  Just behind them two points back was Richard Donn's SUPERFLOUS that took second and in third overall was Brad Bertram's ROCKET DOG.

Offshore, the PHRF fleets were treated to some excellent sailing with the solid 10-18 kt southerly breezes on Friday and the moderate NNE winds on Saturday.  Taking PHRF A Big Boat division was Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK, sailing a solid series and amassing a 2-1-1-2-7-3 record for 9 pts net.  Just behind them was a super-sharp J/120 team aboard the pretty flag-blue REBECCA, led by skipper Glenn Gault and tactician Terry Flynn (of J/22 World Champion fame) they managed to score a 4-3-2-1-4-2 against some top teams to net 12 pts for second place.

Within PHRF A, the J/111s had a closely fought series amongst themselves.  In the end, Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 prevailed with 24 pts total as top J/111.  Second was the rapidly improving FIREBALL from Annapolis, MD sailed by Fast Eddie, Kristen Berry and crew.  In their first major outing in a tight racing fleet, Robert Stein's KINETIC was third J/111, narrowly missing out second by one point!

In PHRF B was the "battle of the 35 footers".  Gary Weisberg was the top J team, taking 4th overall with his J/109 HEAT WAVE.  Fifth was the J/105 DEAD ON ARRIVAL sailed by Joe Highsmith.  And, sixth was Willy Schwenzfeier's J/35 ARROW.

PHRF C had its moments and plenty of drama for the top boats.  It was very close racing for these fast 30-footers and, as expected, the top teams were the J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN and the J/92 AMIGOS.  When the dust cleared, Dave Pritchard's J/92 AMIGO had to take an SCP (scoring penalty) in the first race, hurting their chances at taking the golden ring.  In the end, Steve Thurston's J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN sailed a very consistent series to score a 1-3-5-1-3-2 for 10 pts net to take the gold by one point.  Second was the J/92 AMIGOS with a 6-2-3-2-1-3 for 11 pts net.

In the Pursuit Class, the only fleet to sail all three days, the J/105 JADED sailed by Peter Rugg from Long Island Sound started off with a bad first race, but rapidly learned the ropes of Charleston Harbor's whirlpool currents and twisting breezes to close on the leaders to finish 6th overall with 16 pts, just two points from third!

What was most remarkable about this year's CRW was that not only were J/Teams by far the largest brand at this year's event, but J sailors also took all three perpetual trophies!  The Palmetto Cup, awarded to the best performer under PHRF, went to Robin Team and his family crew aboard their J/122 TEAMWORK.  The Charleston Race Week Trophy, awarded to the top boat in the most competitive one-design class, went to J/24 Class winner Kris Werner and his Rochester, NY-based crew on board SUPERFECTA.  And, the Jubilee Perpetual Sportsmanship Trophy went to local J/24 racer and the Commodore of CORA, Mike Palazzo. Palazzo and his JO MOMMA crew rescued a man overboard in Friday’s heated action and never approached the jury for redress. In fact, the skipper of the boat that lost the man overboard tried to do that on Palazzo’s behalf.  Congratulations to all for job well done!  Sailing photo credits- Meredith Block.  For more Charleston Race Week sailing information

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J/24 Vic States A Heart Attack!
PACEMAKER Overcomes CONVICTS REVENGE
(Victoria, Australia)- Two days of hard competitive racing saw Dave Suda sailing ‘Pacemaker’ regain the Vic States crown – just.  Not his closest winning margin (that goes to a previous tussle with yours truly, winning on a countback in the last race), but by one point from Stephen Girdis sailing Convicts Revenge from Sydney. The most important point to take out of all this for the rest of the fleet was the lack of individual dominance that has been seen in the class over the last few years. Dave won with a score of 25 points, rather than the single digit scores we have seen sometimes recently. Put that down to the shifty conditions or to the growing depth in talent of the top half of the fleet. You choose, but congratulations go to Dave and his crew.

Previous winners Ben Lamb and Arthur Crothers didn’t defend, Ben is in the wilds of NT or FNQ (gone a roving for work … nobody knows) Sean Kirkjian was another missing face from interstate amongst many missing out on a great regatta this year. But with 19 local boats (including two interstate crews) and another two boats from interstate, the 21 boat fleet fought it out over 4 races on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

Third was taken out by Adam Evans in SDM and it seemed this was a popular placing as the next 4 boats all came very close to coming third, with only 6 points separating 3rd from 7th and with a number of stories of ‘if onlys’ and ‘might have beens’.

Doug Watson from SA will be thinking if only he hadn’t gone deep to the left going downhill on Sunday when the wind came from the right he would have been third. Ron Thomson giving an awesome display of ability in the old green boat will be thinking how close he came to winning a new kite in the middle of the field when his OCS was reinstated back to a first, but if he hadn’t had the uncharacteristic 11th on Saturday he would have been 3rd. The girls on Hyperactive with their new ‘import’ calling the shots would be thinking that a couple of double digit placings on Sunday morning took them out of 3rd and then there is Jet going hard left to engage the forecast change when running 3rd found the breeze went the other way, losing those 6 points made all the difference.

Brendan Lee sailing ‘By the Lee’ finishing a bit further back could have been 3rd too – if only he hadn’t had the DSQ after communing with Doug MacGregor at the top mark. Doug didn’t sail after that either. If only !

Hard luck stories abound in racing, Hugo lost a rudder on the first day, the only one he had so that was catastrophic to his cause, Warren Campbell lost his kite pole around his foredeckies ear, meaning a new pole and hospital surgery for his bowman after an ambulance ride. Sam Haines and his crew all came down with gastro on Saturday night so MMJ did no work at all on Sunday – did they eat together ?

But really – was it that bad, well apart from the aching bones and sore muscles, the fleet went about it’s business in a pretty orderly way. A southeasterly on Saturday around the genoa /jib mark with many changing back and forth and a little lighter then windier from the north east on Sunday, but shifty, very shifty. It’s not often you see Dave Suda mixing it with some of the back markers and some of the back markers were pretty surprised to find themselves next to Dave !

And the Sunday was nearly Dave’s undoing, after ones and twos on Saturday and being required to wear the new ‘Club Pro T-shirt at Mike Lewenhagens great BBQ night (thanks again Mike) in the evening as he wielded the BBQ tongs and downed the sherbets, Dave put in a very ordinary day by his standards on the Sunday. With a 7,8,4 he only just scraped home ahead of Convicts Revenge. Can’t have the title going to NSW two years in a row !

As usual we had a cast of worker bees and volunteers doing the planning and organising to get us all on the water, thanks again to Sarah, Doug, Kirby and Jill, mainstays of the Vic Association, plus the committee and hangers on. Thanks once again to MonJon Security for their most appreciated and continuing support. Special mention to Sam Haines from UK sails for putting up a new kite to be won by the boat coming 11th out of 21 boats, This is to show his support for the middle of the pack, the unsung heroes of the bulk of our fleet, out there every day learning and moving up the pecking order. Of course it was won by Robin and Jim Townsend, two of the nicest people in the class …. from SA. Well Sam the plan was good and much appreciated. Sam has chartered ‘Make my Jay’ this season and is now buying the boat, pity he hasn’t got to sail it much and only got one day out of the states. Much more to come from Sam I think !

So the racing was tough, the course legs around a mile, longer than we do in club racing, but the learning curve for many is steep and rewarding. Many skippers telling me of their experiences and enjoyment, a tough but a good regatta by any standard. The highest placed new owner, Mark Foster sailing ‘Gridlock’ at 9th a very good effort, no major ups or downs, just a good consistent performance. Andy Hunting, one of our youth boat skippers at 10th with a best placed 3rd, Michael Lewenhagen a long time class stalwart, now in Vertigo has jumped up the placings to 13 and at times was right up near the pointy end. Best placed newcomer though was Bruce Alexander in ‘Melbourne Sailing’, the old ‘Dolly’ which he recently picked up for a song (and maybe some dance).

Bruce also took out the handicap win for the series ahead of John Neville in ‘Vice Versa’ (raffle winner as well) and Robin Townsend sailing in Good Company (well-- renamed from Excite Your Senses for the regatta)

Perhaps the most unusual thing to happen was a text message from a new French crew member to be sailing with Janette Symes in the middle of the night to indicate the potential success he was about to have with an Australian woman and the subsequent no show!  Rotten luck Janette, I didn’t see it awarded, but that would be where you lost the Thommo Cup this year I guess!

The results this year mean the racing is wide open, Dave is nearly beatable (last seen recharging his confidence with a beer under the boat) and although the usual suspects are still near the pointy end the pattern is definitely changing. Victoria is the place to race J/24s at a club level at the moment in Australia with consistent racing all year and a strong ‘traveling’ group of owners as well. However, some of the best sailors still come from Sydney and I know Steve Girdis is taking the message home to the harbour city that the storm is coming from the South in the next two major regattas.

Now is the time to start thinking about going to the NSW States on Cup weekend at RPEYC and the Nationals at the same venue in early January and mixing it with our Sydney mates.

Finally, thanks go to all the owners, skippers and crews, their traveling companions and those left at home, without you this group of sailing loving people could not get together regularly and tell old stories while they make new ones.  For more J/24 Victoria States Championship sailing information

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Glorious Warsash Spring Championship!
Awesome sailing for J/70, J/80, J/109 and J/111 Fleets
(Warsash, England)- It was a busy weekend for Warsash Sailing Club on 20th/21st April with racing on both days for the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Championship and the fifth Sunday of the Spring Series. Perhaps the warmer weather had enticed new entries on the water, resulting in 150 boats ready to enjoy a busy programme of racing. Over the weekend, the race officers ran 40 separate races - a challenging but rewarding time all round.

Saturday- Spring Championship Day 1
The Spring Championship offers an intense schedule of four days’ racing, with no discards allowed. This year all IRC classes are eligible in Black Group as well as J/109s.  J/111s racing in IRC1 were also given extracted results to show how they performed as a “class-within-a-class”.  White Group includes classes for J/70 and J/80.

Although the day dawned with the River Hamble resembling a millpond, everyone was pleased to see the wind fill in and racing got underway without delay.

Windward/leeward courses were set for all classes in Black Group varying in length from 4.3 to 6.2 nm for IRC1/IRC2 and 3.1 to 5.5 nm for J/109 and IRC3. IRC1 had an impressive lineup that included six J/111s as well as J/133s. After an initial general recall, the class was given a second chance to start under a ‘P’ flag and all went well.

The J/109s were out in force with a 17-strong entry. Sardonyx IX (William Edwards) beat Juke Box (Chris Copeland) in Race 1 and Jahmali (Mike and Sarah Wallis) in Race 3 but clearly had problems in Race 2 where Jubilee (Tony Dickin) headed the class.

White Group completed three good races between 40 and 50 minutes in length before the wind faded away and PRO Peter Knight called it a day amidst requests from competitors and race officers alike to enjoy a beer on the terrace in the sunshine. Information from ‘Bramble-Met’ confirmed this to be a good decision since there was a lull of well over an hour before any wind returned - too late for racing.

In the J/70s North Sails (Ruairidh Scott) took two races and Boats.com (Ian Atkins) one. Betty (Jon Powell) won the first J/80 race with Juicy (Allan Higgs) 15 seconds astern. J’ai Deux Amours (Stewart Hawthorn) was a slender one second adrift in third place but returned in the second race to win. Betty came back on form for the third race.

Sunday- Spring Series Day 5,  Spring Championship Day 2
The weather was bright and sunny with a forecast south-westerly breeze set to build from 10 to 17 knots during the day. The Black Group committee boat set up station near Universal buoy using courses with an initial windward leg to Williams Shipping or West Knoll buoy. The plan was to offer a longer race well over two hours to the Spring Series competitors followed by a short race for those boats entered in the Spring Championship only. The conditions offered the best sailing in the series so far, only a few sunbeams short of champagne sailing – the champagne instead being presented after racing. Smaller boats needed to choose carefully to find clear air avoiding the  powerful IRC1 and IRC2 classes speeding downwind. Sundays in the Solent are also also busy with commercial traffic and the North Channel saw several shipping movements to avoid.

The Series race for IRC3 saw a very close finish, Induljence (J/97 – Nick and Adam Munday) taking first place by five seconds.  Sardonyx IX scored two wins in the J/109s, to count towards the Series and Championship.

White Group enjoyed good sailing with a start near Meon. The moderate breeze remained fairly stable from the south-west necessitating only a single slight reorientation to the course to maintain good beats and runs.  Racing took place on a small neap tide which may have led boats into a false sense of security. Several had to take penalties after misjudging the tide at the windward mark. This had its effect on Betty which moved her from first boat at the end of Saturday to third overall on Sunday after six races in the J/80 Spring Championship. J’ai Deux Amours grabbed the opportunity to consolidate three wins. North Sails went well in the J/70s followed by Spitfire (Team RAF Benevolent Fund) then Boats.com in each of the three races.

As a result of the weekend's sailing, taking an early lead in the J/111 class is James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE with a consistent 2-1-3-1-1 tally for 8 pts.  Just behind with just two points separating them are Duncan McDonald's SHMOKING JOE in second with a 4-2-1-4-2 for 13 pts and Tony Mack's McFLY in third with a 5-3-2-2-3 for 15 pts.

The J/109 class has been seeing a very steady performance by Mike & Sarah Wallis' team on JAHMALI, leading both the Spring Championship as well as the Spring Series.  Not having sailed the Spring series hasn't seemed to have handicapped William Edwards' team on SARDONYX IX. Blasting out of the box on Saturday, the SARDONYX IX crew continued their winning ways on Sunday, sitting 2nd in the Spring Champs as a result of collecting four 1sts!  Just behind in them in the Spring Champs is Tony Dickin's JUBILEE with a somewhat roller-coaster scorecard.  As for the Spring series scenario, the JAHMALI crew can't rest on their laurels as Owain Franks & Jean Lockett's JYNNAN TONNYX crew are hot on their tail and just one point back.  Still sitting in third for the series is David Mcgough's JUST SO.

The J/70 class has seen the teams fluctuate on performance based on weather conditions.  Nevertheless, showing greater consistency of late is Ruairidh Scott's NORTH SAILS team, leading both the Spring Championship as well as the Spring Series-- running the table with three straight 1sts on Sunday seemed to have helped their scoreline a wee bit.  Bolting out of the blue on Saturday and maintaining the same performance on Sunday was Simon Ling's Royal Airforce Team sailing SPITFIRE, taking six 2nds over the two days!  In third for the Spring Champs is Ian Atkins' BOATS.COM with lots of 3rds and is hanging onto second in the Spring Series just one point back from NORTH SAILS.

J/80s are having a battle for second place while Stew Hawthorn sailing J'AI DEUX AMOURS is seemingly sailing away with the Spring Champs.  The next four boats, successively, include JUICY (Allan Higgs), BETTY (Jon Powell) and AQUA J (Patrick Liardet) and they're all within 7 pts of each other!  Exciting racing!  On the Spring Series side, Powell's BETTY is still ruling the roost and it's unlikely he'll get unseated from their throne atop the standings.  However, the battle is also for second place in the Series, with Gillian Ross' ROCK & ROLL and Allan Higgs' JUICY within 3 pts of each other, so anything goes in next weekend's finale.

Finally, the Spring Series IRC3 class continues to have an absolutely insane, panic-inducing, anxiety-driven, nose-to-nose dust-up to the grand finale next weekend.  Four boats are essentially tied for the lead, including the J/97 JIGGERY POKERY sailed by Chaz Ivill and their stablemate J/97 INDULJENCE sailed by Nick & Adam Munday.  Both boats lie 2nd and 3rd overall, tied on points at 10 apiece, one point from the lead and just 3 points above 4th!!  Should create a few sleepless nights for these crews next weekend!  The betting is getting HOT, HOT, HOT at Ladbrokes betting parlor for this gang of four!
Sailing photo credits- Iain McLuckie   For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information

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Good Times J/Fest San Francisco!
(San Francisco, CA)-  This year's J/Fest hosted by St Francis Yacht Club had another strong turnout of San Francisco Bay area J/Teams.  Leading the way with twenty boats was the J/105 class, with good sailing for the J/24, J/70 and J/120 teams as well.

The J/105 class on San Francisco Bay continues to remain a strong fleet and fresh blood is always popping up over the course of time to make life interesting.  Such was the case this past weekend.  Leading the way home was Steve Kleha sailing the renown DONKEY JACK to first place with a 3-5-10-4-1 record for 23 pts to just nip a group of four veteran boats hot on their tail.  Second was the team of Jason Woodley and Scott Whitney sailing RISK to a 4-2-5-5-9 tally for 25 pts, just two points back.  Third was Pat Benedict on ADVANTAGE 3 putting on a strong effort to finish in the money with a 5-7-6-6-3 scoreline for 27 pts.  Rounding out the top five based on a tie-breaker at 29 pts were Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK in 4th and Walter Sanford on ALCHEMY in fifth.

Similarly, the J/120s have such an evenly matched fleet it's often the case the top three are all just about tied on points after the smoke clears on the race course.  For this event, it was Dick Swanson's GRACE DANCES that started off strong with two bullets to finally win the regatta with just 11 pts.  Second was Barry Lewis's CHANCE with 13 pts, climbing up the score ladder quickly  in the last three races with a 1-2-2.  Third was Steve Madeira's MR MAGOO sailing a "barbell" series, weak start and finish scores bracketing a solid 2-3-3 to finished with 18 pts.  Incredibly, though not too surprisingly, for this fleet was that 4th was a tie-breaker with John Wimer's DESDEMONA taking it over Timo Bruck's TWIST.

Familiar faces did prevail amongst the leaders in the J/24s, with Darren Cumming's DOWNTOWN UPROAR taking first by only one point over his buddy Mike Whitfield's TMC RACING!  Third was Valentin Lulevich's brilliant, metaphorically named boat- SHUT & DRIVE! Smart guy, Valentin is-- drive that bus fast!  :)

As for the J/70s, Jim Cascino's EOS prevailed while Chris Andersen's OLD AND IN THE WAY stayed out of the way!  They apparently had some amazing rides blasting around San Francisco Bay at about 100 kts with afterburners and vapor-trails smoking behind them!  OK, well maybe 15-18 kts at GPS speeds. :0
 Sailing photo credits- Rolex/ Daniel Forster.   For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information

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J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

*  Annalise Murphy- just another J/24 sailor at the J/24 Worlds in Howth, Ireland?!  Not!! Annalise is also a very committed Laser Radial sailor for the Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Here's what the boys will be up against -- see video link here-- great intro to Annalise's approach to self-improvement in sailing, even when it's freezing and snowing!

Ireland’s Annalise Murphy was the early leader at the 2012 Olympic Games, winning the first four races in the Laser Radial event. Going into the final race, Annalise was one of four sailors capable of standing on the podium, but got shut out of the medals. Based on this video, released by the Irish Sports Council, Annalise is undeterred. Watch out Rio 2016!

* Embracing the regatta experience as a family?  Here's what Brandon Flack, his wife Cindy, and the kids have been doing with their J/70 TORQEEDO.  Pretty amusing and cute story, not exactly the "DisneyWorld" experience many parents promise to their kids!  Here's Brandon's story:

"When we bought a new sailboat this year, one thing on my mind was the advice of boats.com editorial director, John Burnham. “Don’t make the mistake I did,” he said. “Invite your kids to race with you while they still think you’re cool.”

Well, we just finished up a family trip to Florida to race our new J/70. I could’ve chosen a lot of different boats if I were the only one involved. My former college race buddies make a formidable crew in any boat. But the J/70 has a multi-purpose aspect that jumped out at me right off the design table. Here’s a sport boat that’s fun for my pals, but easy to handle for my family.

When we landed in Florida, it was 60 degrees, light wind, and lots of RAIN. Not what the brochure (or the old man) had promised. It took a bit of convincing to get the family into their fresh new foul weather gear but once they realized they would stay dry, we made it off the dock for an afternoon practice sail. The sails went up and down and everyone watching seemed impressed our family crew could do it. And at the end of the day we cheered as a hint of sunshine finally broke through.

When the official racing began the next day, we sailed our first race as a full family team. Dylan, 7, is the bowman/driver in a pinch. Lily, 10, is the jib trimmer and neat freak who keeps the middle of the boat tidy. My wife Cindy is the spinnaker trimmer and voice of reason. Dad does the boat work and drives.

Coaching was all about trying to do things in very slow motion and set up a rhythm for how each job was done.  Crew placement, line locations, labels, terms, and new vocabulary were all our part of our “comfort level curve”.

Not that we didn’t have some frustrations. They say what goes up must come down, but that was not the case with our spinnaker. We just could not seem to get the hang of getting that thing back in the boat and spent a few mark roundings chasing it for a few extra minutes.

I usually make the tactical decisions around the course, but the kids made the best call of day. After the race, with the wind dying, they radioed the RC and said we’d be heading in — the pool was calling. This caused a domino effect, and the whole fleet soon followed suit.

Our crew work was flawless when it mattered most. After the kids radioed the RC, they jumped down below and pulled out the Torqeedo in its three easy-to-move, lightweight parts (battery, tiller and shaft). They assembled and lit up the engine, and we were off and running-- first place all the way in, for the all-important race to the dock and, more importantly, THE POOL!!  Kids win.

When all was said and done, we could've sailed better as a team.  However, I know we won our own personal victory; the kids are pumped to sail in the next event and try to do better!"

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* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again!  We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.

Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above)  from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA.  A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day!  Amazing passage it was!  Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda.  Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large.  Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea".  The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers.  We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.

WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"

Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.

Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.

People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."

READ MORE ABOUT BILL'S INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY AND THOUGHTS ON WSJ ONLINE HERE

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The J Cruising Community J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand.  Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

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J/Brokerage

J/65 MAITRI For Sale

Custom build, sloop-rigged, J/65 is long and lean with low wetted surface, allowing the boat to be easily driven with a moderate sailplan in light airs. To make target cruising speeds of 9-10 knots, J/65 won't be as dependent upon auxiliary diesel power as most vessels in her category. A graceful sweeping sheerline and flared topsides allow for a sleek and purposeful silhouette and a dry, comfortable ride. The large, protected aft cockpit offers plenty of space to get comfortable as well as great protection offshore.  MAITRI was built in 2006 and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

Contact:  Jeff Brown- JK3 Nautical Enterprises. Work- 619-224-6200 or Cell- 619-709-0697

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J/46 QUESTAR For Sale

Questar is an immaculate and extremely well maintained J/46 built in 2000. Commissioned for an avid and seasoned yachtsman, she is thoughtfully outfitted and well equipped and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

J/46 may be the only investment grade sailing yacht of its size not requiring professional crew to sail at designed performance levels-- or to maintain. Two people can easily manage her upwind and down to achieve the same 8 knot passage-making speeds under sail that is possible when motoring with 76hp diesel auxiliary. The joy of sailing the perfect boat is, after all, a goal we believe every owner ultimately seeks. To insure that good sailing days are spent sailing rather than scrubbing and varnishing, J/46 is designed to be virtually maintenance-free. Her exquisite joinerwork is protected from the sun-- belowdecks where it’s beauty can be preserved.

Contact:  Kenyon Martin- JK3 Nautical Enterprises- wk- 619-224-6200 or cell: 858-775-5937

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J/122 PENN AZEN For Sale

One of the world's most successful J/122s is for sale- hull #6 built in March 2007 by J/Europe.

PENN AZEN has been very successful since her launch in 2007:
- 2007 RORC IRC Class 1 season winner
- 2008 RORC IRC “Yacht of the Year”- plus 8 season’s awards
- 2009 Winner of UNCL Trophée Atlantique in class 1
- 2010 French Rolex Commodores Cup team and 2nd at Trophée Atlantique
- 2012 Cowes-Dinard race: 3rd in IRC Class 2 and 4th IRC Overall

Inside arrangement- 3 cabin version plus folding sea berths in the saloon – 10 berths in total

Deck/ Rigging includes- Varnished Hall spars high modulus mast and boom, Rod rigging and dyneema backstay on hydraulic adjuster, Tuff-luff Forestay and Carbon steering wheel

Sails- X-Voiles France- complete inventory for any offshore racing, including RORC Fastnet Race.

Electronics- Full set from NKE Electronics including carbon wind indicator, 3 mast displays and 2 cockpit displays, gyroscopic compass, gyro autopilot, plus Icom VHF with ASN and AIS receiver and Furuno GPS.

Please contact- Gwen THOMAS from Ouest Greement-
P: +33 (0)2 40 82 66 65
E: tgreementpornic@free.fr