J/Newsletter- January 8th, 2014

J/70 Expands to Asia/ Pacific Rim
(Newport, Rhode Island) - J/Boats announced today that McConaghy Boats has been named the J/70 builder for the Asian and Pacific Rim markets.  This is following the recent news of the J/70 receiving International Class status from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).  Nearly 500 boats are already sailing in 20+ countries within 20 months of launch.  McConaghy Boats joins J/Composites (France) and CCF Composites (USA) as part of the J/70 world building team.

“McConaghy Boats and the J/70 are a perfect fit,” said Jeff Johnstone, President of J/Boats.  “McConaghy is world renowned for building high performance custom racing yachts (such as the famous 7-time Rolex Sydney-Hobart winner WILD OATS XI), and they’re also highly regarded for producing one-designs to exacting tolerances.  We look forward to working with Mark Evans, Stephen Oliver and their team in Zhuhai to build on the momentum the J/70 is already generating in the Pacific Rim.”

“The rapid growth of the J/70 has been nothing short of phenomenal and we’re proud to become a building partner with J/Boats,” commented Mark Evans, Director of McConaghy Boats.  “The J/70 represents the next-generation of fun, easy-to-sail sportboats— a perfect match for the Asia/ Pacific Rim markets we’re supporting.”

New tooling arrives at McConaghy in late January and production is expected to begin this spring. The J/70 will be distributed in the Pacific Rim region by J/Boats Asia.  For more information, please contact Jim Johnstone of J/Boats Asia at jimjboats@gmail.com or J/Boats USA headquarters at info@jboats.com.
For more International J/70 sailboat information

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Catch the Wave @ San Francisco Boat Show!
(San Francisco, CA)- 2013 was a banner year for San Francisco Bay J sailors and 2014 looks to be even better.  The Bay Area J/111 fleet is growing well with eight boats, the J/70 fleet has grown rapidly to twelve boats, and the J/88 fleet is already at four boats.

Now is the time to plan for your 2014 sailing season! Come and see all three models (J/70, J/88 & J/111) at the new San Francisco Boat Show.  The  event is scheduled for January 23-26, 2014 at McCovey Cove and Pier 48, adjacent to AT&T Park.

Sail California, the Northern California J Boat dealer, can provide test sails as well as get J/70’s, J/88’s and J/111’s for spring delivery! Please contact Norman Davant at Norman@sailcal.com or Pat Nolan at pat@sailcal.com for details.   For more San Francisco Boat Show information

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J/88 Strictly Sail Show Update
(Chicago, IL)- The new J/88 has arrived in Chicago and is getting ready for the Strictly Sail boat show which runs from January 23 – 26 at Navy Pier.  The Stearns Boating booth will feature the new J/88 along with the J/70, J/111 and J/105, all of which are well represented classes in Southern Lake Michigan.  Here’s the latest update from J/Midwest dealer Rich Stearns from Stearns Boating:

“As many of you know, J/Boats has been updating its line of boats for the past few years. The J/111 has turned into one of the most successful offshore boats ever to sail on Lake Michigan (the Lake Michigan fleet is Fleet #1 and has 12 boats).  In the last three Mac races the J/111's have placed 5 or 6 of the top 10 overall and has it's own section!  The J/70 is the most successful small sportboat ever developed, selling over 350 in its first year with over 500 sold as of today. We already have 25 boats from Holland, MI to Madison, WI.  The J/70 was the first boat under 25 feet J/Boats had introduced in 30 years!

Now J/Boats is introducing the J/88 a fast, fun, stable, easy–to-sail (and tow) 29 footer. It has been 32 years since the J/29 was introduced, so I guess it’s about time for a boat this size again! What makes the J/88 a unique boat and appealing to everyone? It’s simple: it’s a boat perfect for a day-sail with the family, can be rigged and launched easily by two people, can be towed by a normal size vehicle, AND can be sailed in the Mac Race (speed is about the same as a J/105).

The biggest surprise so far is how easy it is to tow this boat. I just finished pulling the boat from Bristol, RI to Chicago (through the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania) during winter storm Hercules without a problem. Our car is a Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel, with a towing capacity of 7,400 lbs, it easily handled the payload (read about Richie’s amazing adventures in the J/Community section below).  We will be towing to South Carolina for Charleston Race week and also plan to drive back from Mackinac with the boat.  With the mast deck-stepped and on a pivot, two people can rig it, and with the single point lift the J/88 can be launched without a travel lift. The crane at Belmont should launch it easily.

If there is one problem with the boat, it’s that they’re sold out through the summer! There will be two in Chicago this summer and we are working to get more in stock. The J/88 will be available for test sails in the spring and summer (before the Mac Race). If you are interested please give me a call (847-404-2209 ) or drop me an email (rich@stearnsboating.com) to set up a date/ time to check it out and sail it this summer.  Check out the J/88 sailing video on the Stearns boating web site

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Quantum J/70 Winter Series Preview
(Tampa, FL)- The Davis Island YC, one of the “most sailingest sailing clubs” in Florida, graciously extended the red carpet and their famously fun hospitality to the J/70 class to host a winter series over three weekends.  Starting this coming weekend, January 10-12, forty-two teams will be participating in the shifty, choppy waters of Tampa Bay, many of the teams using the event as a “warm-up” for the upcoming J/70 Midwinters held in conjunction with Key West Race Week.

While the weather may have been downright terrible in the past few weeks in the eastern 2/3rds of the USA, it’s done nothing to dampen the spirits of the J/70 teams.  Many are looking forward to thawing out from sub-Arctic cold and “making their beach” with an ice-cold Corona on a sunny, warm, breezy day (at least that’s what the local Chamber of Commerce promised!).  Coincidentally, NOAA Marine Weather is forecasting ESE light winds 4-8 kts Friday with a sunny day at 80 F.  However, Saturday the breeze looks to veer further into the SW and increase to 15-25 kts by afternoon with cloudy skies with an approaching frontal system.  Classically, as the front blows through overnight, the sailors magically wake up to a southern-style breakfast with bacon, eggs, grits, a cup of Navy Joe (e.g. coffee thick as mud) and enjoy a sunny, sybaritic Sunday afternoon down on the water with lightish NW to NE winds caressing their hangovers with a gentle 6-12 kts breeze.  Some forecast.

Many “veterans” as well as newcomers will be sailing in the “Open” and “Corinthian” divisions in the fleet.  Showing how healthy the competition is within the J/70 fleet, it’s fairly evenly split between the two, with 24 open and 18 corinthian.  With so many new faces and some veterans sailing with new crews, it’s anyone’s guess the ultimate outcome for the front-runners. Plus, there are teams from Great Britain and Canada joining the fleet, all with very good helm/tactician combos.  Amongst those American teams who could finish “in the chocolates” might be Brandon Flack on TORQEEDO, the Johnson’s on VITAMIN J, the Kimbrough’s on NOSTALGIA, Henry Brauer sailing SCAMP, Joe Colling on US 69, the Finkle’s on JUNIOR, the Klingler's on MENACE, Mark Ploch on SUGAR DADDY and Jud & Cindy Smith on US 179.  The Canadians Andrew Papierz on DYNAMO and Rob Butler on TOUCH 2 PLAY and Joe Woods on RED from Great Britain have proven their capable of top five performances!  One thing is certain, there will be surprising performances from new teams as everyone keeps playing games of “leap-frog” as they learn their boats better and better.   For more Quantum J/70 Winter Series sailing information

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Bacardi J/24 Midwinters- It’s Official!
(Coconut Grove, FL)- Just as the swallows return to Capistrano, the J/24s keep coming back to Miami. This time the regatta host is Coral Reef Yacht Club, the new title sponsor is BACARDI, and the dates are February 21st through 23rd.

You might ask why this will be the 15th time that Biscayne Bay was chosen as the venue in the 36 years of Midwinter Championships? Yes, it might have something to do with the fact that Miami guarantees no blizzards, nice breezes, lots of great Cuban food and a legendary J/24 tradition. It also just makes sense.

According to last year’s winner, John Mollicone, “I will be down in Miami for the 2014 BACARDI J/24 Midwinters and really am looking forward to it.  I have been racing in the J/24 Class since 1998 and like the competition, the boats, and especially the great people.  There are no restrictions on sailor classification in the J/24 class so you end up racing against so many great skippers and crews.  I also love sailing with the genoa, which you do not really see anymore on other types of boats.  I love sailing in Miami during the winter months for its warm weather, dependable breeze, and I like the chop that Biscayne Bay has to offer.” Some of the other sailing stars who have already registered include Skip Dieball, 2011/ 2012 winner Peter Bream, Tim Healy (5 time champ), Robby Brown and Travis Odenbach as well as top local sailors like Eamonn DeLisser and Gary Sprague.

Although the J/24s have been around for 37 years, they are comparable to a Ford Mustang … still going, still popular and very American. Watching the boats with their colorful spinnakers is fun, too, and the sailors will certainly enjoy the food and beverages at Coral Reef Yacht Club along with the competitive race courses and regatta management by Coral Reef Yacht Club’s highly regarded Race Committee.

J/24's are one of the oldest classes still racing in Biscayne Bay. Local J/24 Fleet 10 was the 10th fleet formed in the late 1970's when the class first started and has as many members as the local Miami Etchells 22 and Snipe fleets.

Here are the ingredients: The Overall Regatta Chair is Mark Pincus of Columbus Day Regatta and Bacardi Miami Sailing Week fame. For a class which began in the 70s and is still charging along, “be there or be square”! You do not want to miss out on the sailing and the partying.

For more BACARDI J/24 Midwinters sailing information, contact Connie Bischoff at wingsmiami@aol.com or 305 812-1073 or check the BACARDI J/24 Midwinters website.

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J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

As the new year starts off like an old-fashioned steam engine just getting out of the station, we see glimpses of activity taking place all over the world as sailors are either preparing for their upcoming winter series events in America or our friends Down Under are in the midst of their hot summer sailing season with major events taking place.

This past week, the J/24s were sailing their Australian Nationals in Sydney at Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club.  The current update saw the top three boats having a knockdown, drag’em out, fight between Sean Kirkjian (recent Sydney-Hobart winner as tactician/ strategist), Dave Suda, Steve Girdis and Ben Lamb.  Watch this space next week to learn how it all went down!  Just north of them on the western Pacific, the Chinese J/80 fleet settled a few scores and crowned their new J/80 Hong Kong Series Champion.

Heading east across the Pacific, we find the J/24s in Peru just completed their Peru J/24 Nationals sailing in La Punta with a good fleet turnout for the two weekend regatta.  Along the same side of the Pacific, a J/120 sailed in the first offshore regatta of the new year in California- the Two Gates Race off Long Beach.

Finally, in the Middle East the report from Manama, Bahrain was that it was rough going sailing J/24s in the Kingdom Match Cup.  Some of the world’s top match racers were in attendance soaking up the sun, winning $10’s of $1,000’s of prize money and getting their butts whipped by some up and coming sailors from around the world.

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:

Jan 10-12- Quantum J/70 Winter Series- Davis Island YC- Tampa, FL
Jan 19-24- Quantum Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Jan 19-24- J/70 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 19-24- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Feb 7-9- Quantum J/70 Winter Series- Davis Island YC- Tampa, FL
Feb 7-9- J/70 Primo Cup- Credit Suisse- YC Monaco- Monte Carlo, Monaco
Feb 14-16- Wells Fargo J/22 Midwinters- Southern YC- New Orleans, LA
Feb 14-16- St Petersburg NOOD Regatta- St Petersburg YC- St Petersburg, FL
Feb 19-23- J/24 Midwinters- Coral Reef YC- Coconut Grove, FL
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 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 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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J/120 Takes Two Gates Race
(Long Beach, CA)- In the 2014 Two Gates Pursuit Race, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, Jim Snook of Long Beach Yacht Club sailed his J/120 JIM to victory Sunday. Snook and his crew (with an average age of 71) passed and fought off 30 other boats, some bigger and faster, throughout the 13.2 nautical mile course that winds its way through and around Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors.

Going into the day the weather forecast called for light, changeable breeze. Not what you want to hear when you’re planning a long sailboat race with a 5 o’clock sunset.  Fortunately the weather gurus got it wrong as a consistent breeze between 6 and 11 knots showed up just before the start and stuck around throughout the day.

In a pursuit race, the slower boats start ahead of the faster boats with each boat’s scheduled starting time based on its corrected handicap rating.  The slowest boats in Sunday’s race were the three Cal 25s and the fastest boats were a Santa Cruz 70 and the renown Andrews 63 Medicine Man (the fastest rated boat in the fleet).  Medicine Man started 30 minutes behind Snook’s J/120 and it was up to him and JIM’s crew to keep them back there.

“We were counting our blessings,” Snook said, “and watching Medicine Man during the entire race. We were trying to create passing lanes for ourselves to keep them back there and decided running along the breakwater wasn’t going to work. So we went deep into the harbor and passed quite a few boats.”  Ron Masterson, working at “Pit” on Snook’s crew, said, “We kept looking back [to Medicine Man] figuring how much we were ahead of them.”

During the race, as the lead boats were sailing from Los Angeles Harbor back towards the Long Beach Harbor entrance---often referred to as 'Queens Gate'---a rather large freighter in the harbor began moving towards the entrance.  As the ship drew near the entrance, the race committee hailed the racing boats on the prearranged VHF radio frequency and advised the skippers to hold their positions and wait for the ship to clear the entrance. Everyone complied (Wouldn’t you?) and the ship passed safely.  A Port of Long Beach pilot boat and a Long Beach Police boat assisted in keeping the way clear for the ship.

Some of the lead sailboats made it through Queens Gate before the ship arrived, but some did not. The delay was only a few minutes, but it was frustrating for some of those that had to wait.  “We saw the big ship coming out and we were watching it,” Masterson said. “As we got closer we realized we could get by it without a problem. We felt so bad for the rest of the fleet behind us.”

Reflecting on the day and the race, Snook said, “It was a great race, but we’d like to see it as part of a [pursuit race] series like they do at San Diego Yacht Club each year. We’ve been doing their Hot Rum series for a number of years now and we think it would be great to have one up here.”

Masterson smiled and eluded to the fact that they had “help” in winning today’s race.  “We had something in our favor today,” Masterson said. “We usually cook something onboard during the race. Today it was Korean BBQ. We’ll use any strategy to gain an advantage.”

LBYC re-invented their long-standing Two Gates Invitational race in 2012 and turned it into a pursuit race. But they didn’t change the course which starts in Long Beach Harbor, takes the boats up to Los Angeles Harbor and then back in to Long Beach for the finish. It gets its name from the fact that the race boats weave in and out of Long Beach’s Queen’s Gate harbor entrance and Los Angeles’ Angel’s Gate harbor entrance.  Congratulation to Snook & the JIM crew!  Thanks for sailing photos & contribution from Rick Roberts.   For more Two Gates Pursuit Race sailing information

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JChi Crowned Hong Kong J/80 Champion
(Hong Kong, China)- Eight races over two days was always going to be hard work for the J/80s, but with the strong winds on the first day, the fleet really had their work cut out. The J/80s Class Championship 2013 took place just off Lamma Island where the Etchells 22s were also competing. In total fifteen boats entered the Championships for some spirited racing over the long weekend.

For the first start the fleet was slightly back from the start line, taking a conservative approach in the strong winds gusting to well over 25 kts. Upwind was hard work and the fleet was well spread out by the time they reached the windward buoy. The first few boats, including JChi at the front, hoisted their spinnakers without too much trouble, immediately throwing themselves into a plane. Many of other boats played it conservatively sailing main & jib wing-on-wing and still surfing like mad down the enormous waves.  Those that lived by the mantra of “go big, or go home” and were able to control their boats had an absolute epic time!

JChi reveled in the tough conditions, taking a win in the first race. They followed up that commanding performance with three more top three results in races 2-4 placing her in a solid position going into day 2. Javelin’s first race was a disappointment (6th) but she was able to rectify that in impressive style with three wins to follow, placing her one point behind JChi going into Day 2. The other boats performing well towards the front of the fleet were Tigrina, Jasmine and Joss, although Tigrina was forced to retire from race 4 losing her series discard on Day 1, placing her under pressure for Day 2.

Day 2 saw lighter winds, which meant the crews were able to focus more on strategy and less on keeping themselves upright. The big change in weather conditions also reflected in the results, with each race won by a different boat. Of the eventual top 5 boats only Tigrina was unable to pull of a race win on Day 2, although her results of 3-5-3-2 were enough to squeeze into 3rd place overall beating Jasmine by just 1 point after discards. Taking 2nd overall was Javelin, her aggressiveness caught up to her with an OCS in the final race, meaning she had to count her 7th in race 7 instead of using it as a throw-out. Finally, pulling off a win in the last race, to top off an excellent Championships, was JChi.   For more Hong Kong YC J/80 season sailing information

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Olcese Blitzes Peru J/24 Nationals
(La Punta, Peru)- The thirteen teams sailing the Peruvean J/24 National Championships for the “Copa Jose Barreda Moller” were pretty much given a “clinic” in how to sail J/24s fast by their past champion, Luis Olcese sailing SCARAMOUCH.  Tossing a 5th and counting five 1sts amongst their scoreline in a best of nine races, the SCARAMOUCH team demonstrated why they remain the leading Peruvian team on the world stage.  Racing took place for two successive weekends off La Punta- November 30th/ December 1st and December 7th to 8th.

While Olcese and crew were sailing in another dimension, the rest of the fleet was having quite a battle for the balance of the podium.  In fact, four boats were vying for contention over the two weekends, including Tania Zimmerman’s JITANA, Daniel Mendoza’s WAYRA, Lucas Pescherria’s TIAMAT and Javier Arribas’s HAWKY.  Seemingly, none of the four teams could keep themselves out of trouble, either having to toss an OCS or DSQ or overcoming bad starts/ tactics to try to stay in the hunt.

As is often the case in such tight four-way skirmishes, the last race determines the outcome.  By virtue of winning the 8th, and second to last race, Zimmerman’s JITANA held onto a slim lead for second overall over Mendoza’s WAYRA.  Despite an 8th in the last race (her toss race), JITANA hung on to take the silver by one point over Mendoza.  Had Mendoza finished 2nd or better in the last race, he would’ve taken the tie-breaker, that’s how close the finale was for these teams.  Pescherria’s TIAMAT was involved in several protests but managed to fend off Arribas’s team on HAWKY to take fourth by just four points after the nine races (eight counting).  Spirited racing continues in this fun-loving J/24 fleet in Peru and it was clear the teams enjoyed some of the nice sunny conditions with warm breezes during the event.   For more Peru J/24 Nationals sailing information

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Kingdom Match Cup Report
(Manama, Bahrain)- Young Sam Gilmour continues his “glam” run up the ISAF world match racing tour ladder, and the Western Australian, an Anarchist since he learnt to read, sent in this exclusive report from another new Arabian venue that may be following in Dubai and Oman’s footsteps as an “up-and-comer” for the next generation of sailors.  As you’ll learn, the regatta was spectacular, with sunny skies, winds blowing a gale and many an experienced skipper humbled by match-racing J/24s in fairly demanding conditions.  Gilmour’s commentary follows:

“The 2013 Kingdom Match Cup held out of the Bahrain Maritime Sports Centre was held over the week 15-21 December, beginning with a qualifying event, followed then by the open regatta. Competitors flew in from all over the world to compete for the title, and with serious prize money up for grabs as well as an Omega sponsorship, the competition was fierce.

Neptune Racing, consisting of skipper Sam Gilmour, trimmer Adam Negri, tactician Chris Smith and bowman Justin Wong travelled to Bahrain hoping to contest for the title. We as a team knew we had to bring our A-game with some others with impressive résumés racing. We hadn’t heard much about Bahrain previously, so we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived by the modern layout of the capital city Manama, and the difference in culture was a real eye opener to us.

Having qualified for the open event already, we sailed the qualifying regatta as a warm-up event. This gave us a chance to orient ourselves with the boats, conditions and some of our opponents. We were racing J/24’s- a very common class, and whilst not ideal for match racing, the team adapted to the boats quickly- finishing the qualifier just ahead of Sergey Musikhin from Russia, Seviero Ramirez from Italy and Mati Sepp from Estonia. These guys had some high ISAF rankings, with Sepp being 20th and Musikhin being 23rd in the world, so it was a positive sign for us to take out the lead up event.  Directly after this we went into racing the open Kingdom Match Cup. Whilst most of the teams had raced in the qualifier, a few teams joined the regatta- including Olli-Pekka Lumijarvi from Finland and Vladimir Lipavski from Russia.

In the opening day of the event we were met by an onshore breeze, ranging between 15-18 knots, bringing with it a very steep chop due to the shallow waters surrounding Bahrain. As a result, conditions were really challenging, with a number of teams (including us) having some big wipeouts as a result of mistimed maneuvers. We managed to go through the first day of racing with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss which put us in a good position for the remainder of the round robin- after which, four teams were to qualify for semi-finals to be raced on the final day.

Because of the regatta format we had a few days mid-regatta of no sailing. This lead to all of us getting a little side tracked, and nearly resulted in Justin thinking he’d take up a new profession, almost getting taken to Pakistan on a falcon expedition with some local hunters. The rest of us just managed to get him back in line for the next day’s racing.

As it turned out, the breeze hung around the entire regatta, increasing at times to well above 20 knots, not falling below 12 knots. Whilst difficult at times, we found our boat handling to be one of our strong points, which allowed us to make up for mistakes made at other points around the race course. Eventually, we finished up the round robin series with a record of 8-3, and qualifying us in second place for the semi-final! We progressed to the next round along with Lumijarvi in first, Musikhin in third and Lipavski in fourth. We were pretty pleased with our position going into finals, but knew we had to step up another level to finish strongly.

Lumijarvi chose Lipavski to race in the semi’s, meaning we were matched against Musikhin in a first to 3 points semi-final. We got off to an ideal start by taking out the first race convincingly, but Musikhin came back strongly and with a show of impressive boat speed around the course, winning the second race. Knowing that we were up against it, the team really lifted for the next two contests, allowing us to progress into the final with a scoreline of 3-1. Meanwhile in the other semi-final, Lumijarvi was able to achieve a similar result, also winning 3-1.

The finals series got underway immediately, though due to a time constraint it was shortened to a first to 2 series. Fortunately, we managed to come out firing! We won race one after leading around the entire course. This meant a great deal to our confidence, as Lumijarvi had shown great speed in the boats all week.

The match point position put an increased level of pressure on both teams, and it showed in the next pre start, with penalties flying for both teams. Eventually though we started with a penalty off the line (meaning we had complete a circle at some point around the course), but with the lead. The race began with a flurry of tacks up the first leg where we were able to put some distance between us. It was going to be close getting our penalty in, but we took the spin whilst managing to just keep the race lead. From there, it was a tense final leg where we were able to hold Lumijarvi off giving us both the race and regatta win!  It was awesome to come away victorious, winning our first-ever Grade 2 event, as well as going home with some beautiful new watches and prize money in our pockets, definitely making the win that little bit sweeter!

From here, out next event is the Warren Jones International Youth Championships held in home waters at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Australia. With some strong international competition coming down to contest the title [including brother David -ed], it’s going to be a thrilling week of sailing.

The team is already looking forward to getting back out on the water, taking huge steps forward every time we compete. Our next step:  To continue funding these events as we keep climbing the ISAF world rankings (currently we are up to 33rd), so thanks to RFBYC and all our supporters for helping us to make it happen!” Thanks for contribution from Sailing Anarchy.

Youtube Sailing videos of J/24 match-racing-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tNItDkuI8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYS4qxQyC8A with Smack That remix
http://www.thebahrainyachtclub.com/?q=content/watersports
 

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J/Community

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

*  Richie Stearns recently drove a new J/88 behind a Jeep Grand Cherokee truck through winter storm Hercules, one of the worst so far this winter in America.  Here’s his commentary on the experience:

“I have been looking forward to getting the new J/88 after I sailed it last Summer. I was excited to get a boat I was hoping could be trailed behind a normal size SUV and still sail in the Mackinac race. . But after looking at a bunch of cars I only found one that fit the bill. The new Jeep grand Cherokee diesel tows 7,400 pounds. But there were people that told me with a short wheelbase it wouldn't be able to pull the boat properly. So I was excited to see if my new car would actually pull this boat a 1,000 miles over mountains.

I spent Christmas in Montauk New York. I had a friend drive the car to Connecticut and pick me up. We spent the night near Providence Rhode Island and the weather forecast was horrible. By the time we got to CCF C they were already closing the schools in most of Rhode Island . Winter storm Hercules was bearing down on us. The boat was ready to go at 8;00 when we got to the factory and we hooked it up to the to the car and drove the Hall spars. No sway bars just a very nice Triad trailer with surge brakes slug low so we were at 12'5" clearance. Thank goodness everything went smooth at Hall Spars and we are on the road by 10:30.


It was snowing in Bristol but as you can see from the picture in front of Hall Spars (seen above) it hadn't snowed that much. And there was only an inch or 2 of accumulation. The roads were good going towards New York City . Five hours in the trip we were in the foothills of the Poconos Mountains . Now it did begin to see snow with a good wind. However the rig was just fine we could go 55 to 60 miles an hour without a problem and averaged 12 MPG. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon the snow started to accumulate and we started seeing semi trucks that had gone over the guard rails. We stopped for about 30 minutes and got fuel and thought that maybe it let up a little bit. Back on the road it really was snowing, we drove at 45 MPH for over 2 hours but at that rate we were not getting to Chicago very fast. The salt trucks and plows were not out and the roads were now white, so we got off again, hoping the plows would come through.

After waiting about two hours we decided to go one more exit down the road and spend the night. The roads were not plowed or salted so it was time to stop. The next morning  the snow had stopped and we're on our way again no problems. It was cold and windy -2 degrees when we got up, but clear sky's. Coming over a bridge of Ford Ranger (which is very light in the backend) had spun out on black ice, but there appear to be no problem with our rig. For the rest of the way we saw very little snow and clear skies. When we got to Indiana the wind began to blow fairly hard. We had been thrilled that we were getting 12 miles a gallon. But with a big headwind we could only manage 10 miles a gallon. The boat was getting pushed around by the wind a bit in these conditions but nothing to slow us under 60 MPH except for our bad MPG. We slipped into Chicago before they close the roads to semi semi's due to high winds. The next day there was a ton of snow and then the deep chill came Chicago . We had threaded the needle, the Triad trailer and the Jeep was a great combination.”

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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- November 20th, 2013

International J/70 Class Update
(London, England)- Over 500 delegates from more than 60 nations gathered together in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman for the 2013 ISAF Annual Conference. Held from 9-16 November, the ISAF Council made decisions that affected the sport of sailing in the immediate future.  Most importantly, the J/70 one-design class was awarded “International Class” status.

As one looks back on the history of one-design classes that have achieved International Class status with ISAF (and its precursors like International Yacht Racing Union), never has a boat from any nation achieved “international” status in less than eighteen (18) months from its initial commercial introduction to the world’s marketplace.

Remarkably, the J/70 is now sailed on five principal continents that are part of the ISAF World of Sailing (North America, South America, Europe, Asia & Australia).  To date there are over 500+ boats ordered in some of the world’s best places to go sailing anywhere.    For more ISAF Conference information   For more International J/70 One-Design Class sailing information

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J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

This past week was busy on the European front despite the simply awesome fronts and enormous gales that were besieging the western coast across the region. The Garmin Hamble Winter Series continued with the J/111s, J/97 and others having a wonderful time in the somewhat benign conditions offered up to them this past weekend.  Also taking place were the J/70 Western Ligurian Championships off the famous San Remo seaport of Italy.

Over in Asia, the J/80s just completed their most famous and long-standing championship, the “China Club Match Race Challenge” off Xiamen, China to wildly popular acclaim from many local sailors.

In the America’s, a number of J/Teams competed in the Round The County race off Seattle, WA with several dozen friends. Just south, the Brazilian J/24 Championships were completed off Porto Alegre, Brazil.

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:

Nov 16-17- J/24 Regata de la Revolucion - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Nov 16-17- J/70 Fall Fling Regatta - Hampton, VA
Nov 21-25- J/24 South American Championships- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 6-7- Jamaica Jammin' J/22 Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Jan 19-24- 2014 Key West Race Week- Key West, FL

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

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Hamble Winter Series- Weekend VI
(Hamble, England)- After weeks of gales, it was with some trepidation that the Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet nosed out of the river on Sunday in time for their start. Fears of wintry weather were misplaced, however, and some hours later the fleet returned with grins on their faces. ‘Awesome day on the water’ and ‘Champagne sailing conditions’ were some of the phrases heard bandied around the clubhouse after racing by competitors sporting that most unseasonal of things – sun-kissed faces.

The north-west 15-18 kts breeze provided some delightful but testing sailing conditions for the assembled racing yachts, with big shifts offering up big gains for some competitors with their eyes out of the boat and big losses for the less fortunate. One race was sailed.

In IRC 0, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J/111 J-DREAM continued to sail a consistent series in their class and maintained their strong record with a 2nd this past weekend to hold on to their bronze podium position as well as their gold position in the J/111 one-design class overall.

In IRC 2, Paul Heys’s J/88 JUNGLE DRUM won class for the second time in the series and Louise Makin’s J/105 JOURNEYMAKER took fifth.

Nick Munday’s J/97 INDULJENCE won their fifth race in IRC 3 Class to take a commanding lead overall.  Just behind them is David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J-RONIMO lying in fourth overall.

In the J/109s it was Ivan Burden’s JACOBI who won, ahead of David McLeman’s OFFBEAT for the weekend.  At this stage in their series, David McGough’s JUST SO is leading the series, followed by Sir Owain Frank’s JYNNAN TONNYX in second and Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB in third.  Thanks for the contributions from Ben Meakins.   For sailing photo credits-  Paul Wyeth Pictures   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

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Xiamen’s Blue Sea Wins J/80 China Match Race!
(Xiamen, China)- Who said good sailing didn’t exist in China. 4 Days, 4 umpires, 17 teams, 64 Races, 2 Black Flags, more ‘Y’ Flags, green, blue and yellows than you could shake a stick yet not one Rule 14 infringement and all this with a loss of 2 hours a day on the first 3 days. In one semi-final, on one 800m windward leg, 27 tacks apiece and on the final day 23 knots of wind – more than they can seemingly handle in the America’s Cup.

The Club Cup, as it is often known amongst sailors in China, is the oldest keelboat regatta in China and it would be a fair guess that it is the largest (for Chinese sailors), the highest quality, and most respected keel boat regatta in the country.

Started as a challenge between two clubs in beat up J-24s almost 10 years ago it pre-dates the more commercial China Cup International Regatta by a couple of years but the biggest difference is that this is a Chinese Regatta for Chinese teams not racing charter for predominantly a bunch of foreigners and the event has grown in size, quality and stature year on year.

The speed at which this event has matured both in terms of race management and the skill levels of the competitors is little shy of unbelievable, there is obviously a lot of coaching, practice and perhaps even video watching going on in Chinese sailing circles.

In the past it has been run over the week of the Chinese National Holiday, this year the event had to be split into a preliminary fleet racing regatta where the 30 entries were whittled down to 16 who returned to Xiamen 3 weeks later (this past extended weekend) for 4 days of knock-out match racing.

This match racing could best be described as competitive with the flags flying almost as much as the spray on the final day yet so often the teams could be seen giving each other the thumbs up and applauding each other as they crossed the finish line with victories that were incredibly frequently not assured until the last 100m of the race track.

The first 3 days lost an average of 2 hours per day due to the breeze being, simply put – somewhere else but the team comprising of PRO Kang Peng, Li Li, the “glue” that held the event together, and the umpire team of Jono, Al, Lauren and GG, not forgetting Jim Johnstone who tirelessly fixed breakdowns and handled boat swaps kept the event pretty much on schedule albeit with nav-lights required on the umpire boats for the return to the marina on a couple of days.  The semi-finals saw both extremes of weather from 6 knots for the first 2 races to over 25+ kts for the completion of the final matches.

Little by little the 16 teams were whittled down to the finalists Xiamen’s Blue Sea YC and Yomovo Sailing Club from Hainan. Each race within this match was won by boat lengths rather than legs and proved to be a hard fought battle to the final finish line. In one pre-start the boats did so many spins round each other than the umpires appeared to be demoted with the umpire flag on their RIB turned from a ‘U’ to a ‘J’. (Think about it)!

There were attempts, some more successful than others, to use just about every rule in the book to encourage the umpires to fly the other boats flag but the umpires decisions were accepted in the right spirit with, quite naturally, one or two close decisions having to be talked through on the dock later.

There were lead swaps where a runaway leader dropped the kite in the tide allowing the other boat to take over and run away themselves, to races where the protagonists crossed the finish line overlapped as they had been for virtually the whole race.

Ultimately it was Xiamen’s Blue Sea SC who prevailed winning the competition to become the challengers to the current holders Liuzhou Sailing Club with the local team from Xiamen Island prevailing 4-1 over the defenders although the scoreline suggests less close racing than reality.

So it is all over for another year, and although there may be pretenders to the throne of the Club Cup, certainly as far as match racing is concerned, nothing in China even comes close. Thanks for the contribution from Hong Kong’s Alistair Skinner.

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J/70 Liguria Championship Report
(San Remo, Italy)- Last weekend the final races were sailed to complete the first West Liguria Championships off San Remo— for many, it was the best winter sailing event in northwestern Italy.

The regatta saw steady northeast to easterly breezes blowing from 25-30+ knots for both days of racing. The J/70s delivered an extraordinary show of power & performance, sailing upwind against big waves at a very competitive speeds compared with bigger boats in the 35 to 45 ft size range.

With such strong upwind performance the J/70’s then hoisted their spinnakers and were literally flying downwind, holding the best breeze and angles, catching the big boats before the end of the downwind leg!

What was most impressive was the result of the second day, when the breeze was a little stronger and waves bigger: the small J/70 won “overall” for the day and, as result, finished second in the overall standings!  In Group “B” the J/70 was easily leading both days.  At the docks after sailing, many sailors came down to look at this little Speedster— all astonished!

Many thanks to Gian-Luca Grisoli, a new happy J/70 owner, for his experience in sailing such a wonderful regatta. And, a special and friendly thanks to Beppe Zaoli YCS President for the welcome hospitality to the new J/70 class in San Remo!

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J/Sailors Enjoy Round the County
(San Juan, WA)- 89 boats made it out for Orcas Island’s annual romp around the San Juan Islands, well they made it out and a few made it around, some almost made it, and most just didn’t have a chance. Boats began their deliveries as early as Wednesday, some chose the rippin’ southerly on Thursday to make the trip, with Here & Now breaking their boom on the way up, and a large group made the trip in the sedate conditions on Friday. Beginning what for many is a four day marathon – delivery on Friday (often a 50 mile delivery), head out at O-dark-thirty Saturday to get to the starting area and then the 34 mile sail from Lydia Shoals to Roche Harbor, head out just after sun up Sunday for the 31.4 mile sail back to the finish inboard of the Lydia Shoals Buoy, then deliver back home on Monday. What seems like a short race around the San Juan’s quickly develops into over 200 miles of deliveries and racing in what is usually 40 to 45 degree fall weather – yet still 89 boats made it out to race.

The current was flying at the start on Saturday. The fleet had winds out of the North but with a current of 3 knots heading into the wind the boats had some good power heading off the starting line. The problem became holding position before the start, timing it just right and spinning around at precisely the correct moment to fly across the line with the current. 34 boats in the first start barely making headway against the current on the non-course side then spinning around and charging towards the start with really no way to bail out if things went wrong. Inevitably some spun too early and with 6 boats OCS the race committee decided to call a general recall instead of naming the boats that were over early. Everyone spun around as quick as they could, fired up their motors and began the long slog against the current to get back across the line for another try. 20 minutes later they tried again and this time the RC let ‘em go, but that 20 minutes became a huge loss on a day that had a large group of boats not make the halfway point at Patos, 8 boats missing the time limit by just 5 minutes or less.

Muffin quickly charged into the lead after the start and worked a bit East before heading North around the Pea Pods - looking great, but as they approached Orcas the wind just crapped out and it became painfully apparent that the further East you went towards Lummi the more wind you had. More wind, but not much wind, and with this information Here & Now, More Uff Da, and Chinook worked well up the course on the right before the faster boats began catching up and working through the early starters. Dragon Fly, of course, defied the logic of the right and worked through low along Orcas and Clark with Neptunes Car, Wasabi & Flash hot on their transoms. Eventually, though, it became a race against the clock in the light air, and since the tide waits for no man, the current eventually went against the majority of the fleet and spun them every which way.

Boats that had made it past Sucia and up to the South end of Patos without rounding Alden Point got swept back with the change in tides. Some scooted through the large gap between the islands and began the slow slog up into the eddy below Patos but Bravo Zulu & More Uff Da were lucky enough (thick sarcasm) to find the river along the North end of Sucia Island. The current sucked their transoms closer and closer to the island until they were just feet away and charging sideways towards the west at over 2 knots – testing their nerves to the point that motors were readied and eventually fired up and engaged on both boats to avoid ripping the rudder off on the jagged cliff wall - An exciting few minutes for the two adrift boats. Bravo Zulu decided to throw in the towel here but More Uff Da killed their motor after one boat length and kept racing, but in the end missed the halfway point by 5 minutes. Soon after the excitement along Sucia, the Northerly finally filled in and everyone worked their damnedest to make Alden Point before 4pm. Chinook almost made it, missing it by just over 30 seconds with Por Favor just behind them. The RC could be seen packing things up on shore as boat after boat sailed around the point and aimed their bows towards Roche and another 2 hour delivery to the marina.

The party tent was hoppin’ and bouncin’ as everyone arrived at the marina, most well after dark and with a break in the live music the short list of finishers was rattled off, and I mean short list. One boat made the full course finish in the Multi-hull class and only 2 boats made the halfway point. The IRC division had 6 of 10 boats making it to the full course finish with Wasabi crossing the line first at 5:08:47pm. Division 0 had 1 boat finish the long course, The Farr 395 Ace, finishing with less than 5 minutes left on the time limit. 11 of the 20 in Division 0 made the halfway point. Division 1 had just one boat make the halfway point, the Express 37 Ptolemy. Division 2 also had just one boat make the halfway point before time ran out at 4pm, the 30/30 Blackout. The 16 boats in Division 3 didn’t have enough steam to make it to the halfway point by 4pm, many missing it by less than 5 minutes – that over early call really came back to bite them at Alden Point.

Sunday was different, the racers had wind, the current didn’t seem too bad and off everyone went from the start line near Snug Harbor. Boats shot out into the lead by working down the shore of San Juan Island, with Madame Pelle & Muffin leading the way. The closer you got the better you did. Although the big benefit was in making it to the Canadian shore from the starting area and then joining the incoming tide in the straits, but most of the early starters simply didn’t have the boat speed to cross the current and get to the huge benefit that Martha & Por Favor caught by working west. The bail out point on shore was obviously Lime Kiln Point. Every boat that bailed off the shore there and headed west made out huge, if you made a few more jibes along the shore you got stuck in the way back machine watching your competition pin wheel around you towards Cattle Point.

Still sailing along downwind, the racers had to make a serious tactical decision passing the South end of the islands. Follow the rules in the SI’s and sail within ½ mile of Iceberg Point so their halfway time could be scored while setting themselves up in light air and adverse current, or ignore the SI’s and stay well offshore in favorable current and breeze, ignoring the halfway time and hoping to make the full course finish. A tough gamble at the time, although in the end it didn’t matter for those fleets that used the halfway times as the RC decided to score everyone no matter how far offshore they were.

The leaders in the IRC & Multi-hull divisions got around Davidson Rock and into Rosario near slack water and were able to work their way up the strait in a nice northerly breeze to begin finishing at 12:15pm but the later it was when you got around Davidson Rock the harder time you had in making the finish. Division 0 began finishing at 2:50pm and the first boat in Division 1 didn’t finish until 4:30pm and the leader in Division 2 finished at 5:06pm! The current was rippin’ out Rosario towards Juan de Fuca as the majority of the fleet worked north towards the finish. The left shore worked great early and boats sailed along Jones to Blakely and then found themselves in everyone’s favorite hole to the North of Blakely island. The later boats made huge gains by sailing across to the right and along Cypress, at times in positive current until cutting across to Lydia Shoals and joining the drifting masses as the sun set and everyone spent the final painful hour trying to get to the finish well inshore of the Lydia Shoal buoy in little to no wind and adverse current. As the clock ran out at 6pm three boats had made it across the line in Division 2 and Martha had the line in site with More Uff Da hot on her tail after working up the Cypress shore and across to the Lydia Shoal buoy.

It was a tough day on a tough weekend when at moments boats made amazing tactical choices to get far ahead of their fellow racers only to run into an equalizer and watch everyone catch up or simply ran out of time within sight of the finish. 8 boats managed to finish the full course on Saturday and 40 boats managed to finish the full course on Sunday. It didn’t rain much, it never snowed, the racers were in the San Juan’s, and absolutely no one out there spent the weekend mowing their lawn or raking up leaves – another successful Round the County!   Full sailing results can be found at the Round the County website   Sailing Photo's by Jan Anderson

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Creole VDS Team Wins Brazilian J/24 Championships
(Porto Alegre, Brazil)- What could be more of a surprise than to have a “local” win the Brazilian J/24s Nationals and to have a “foreigner” becoming a “spoiler” to the party??  Well, that’s exactly what happened in this year’s edition of the J/24 Brazilian National Championships.

With a great crew the Creole VDS team, led by Samuel Albrecht, was the winner of the 2013 Brazilian Championship off Porto Alegre. In second place were the Uruguayan’s PANTHER team, skippered by Diego Garcia from Punta Del Este.  Third was BRUSCHETTA sailed by J/24 World Champion Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil.

"It was a sensational championship, things were happening that were favorable to us.  We tried to sail without pressure, without getting anxious and doing little risk. It was fun,” said Renato Plass.  It’s also interesting to note this team will represent Brazil in the sailing competition in the South American Games in March 2014 in Chile.

The Uruguayan team that sailed very well in strong winds, left satisfied by the result obtained in Porto Alegre. "The regatta was very good, with great races, and it is always good to compete here," said the captain Diego Garcia .   Sailing photo credits     For more J/24 Brazilian Championships sailing information

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J/Community

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

*  RI Narragansett Bay Archipelago Rally!?  Rhode Island ‘classic’ comfortably reaches ‘annual’ status.  It was 2006 when Olympic silver Medalist Bob Merrick won the inaugural Archipelago Rally on a beat up Hobie 14 by a mere 30 seconds over windsurfing champion Nancy Johnson.  That first weekend in December was thrown together the week before with a few phone calls and emails and with a 20-25-knot Westerly, about a dozen “craft” raced, slowest starting first, to Spar Island, a scrubby little sand bar in the middle of Mt. Hope Bay in the middle of Narangansett Bay.

Now in its eighth year, this Rhode Island ‘classic’ has comfortably reached ‘annual’ status, sticking to its small boat pursuit race roots (under Portsmouth Yardstick Ratings). How else would everyone have an equal chance to enjoy the BBQ/Beach Party afterwards?  There were PLENTY of J/Sailors participating in this year’s edition!  Chris Museler reports on the 2013 edition:

“The only thing we expected about his year’s Archipelago Rally was having a fantastic time on the water. The unexpected was the icing on the cake at Quonochontaug Pond with aqua-marine colored water and white sand shoals the size of football fields, there was a lot of walking of boats and damaged rudders and centerboards but nothing could dampen the Rally spirit!

The highlights this year weren’t that there were thirty-five craft and more than forty kids sailing or that the breeze and bright sun made for a spectacular venue. I would say the main takeaway was the fact that two young girls were second and third and that a windsurfer won for the first time in the eight year history of the event. The third place girl miraculously has placed in the top five each time she has competed!

We tell everyone, it is impossible to plan on winning the Archipelago Rally. Just ask newly anointed Head of Sales for North Sails- Kimo Worthington, who was on his way to a top three finish before hitting a shoal in his Penguin sailboat!  He wound up steering the boat to the finish with his legs hanging off the transom while Bridget Murphy trimmed the sail on their wooden Penguin dinghy!  Jeepers, can you imagine other Volvo 70 Round the World Sailors doing anything different?”  Here are some of the Special Awards:

- Broken Head Perpetual (first place): Will Tuthill, Mistral Windsurfer
- Last Place: Matt Gineo, Crosby Fast Cat
- Lonely Loon: Rush and River Hambleton, Dyer 9
- Furthest Traveled: Ray Garcia, Zef, Babylon, NY
- First All Family: Tim, Karen, Benjamin (2) and Jamie (2 months) Fallon, Beetle Cat
- Vintage Rallier: Adam Walsh, McCaffery-built Peapod Sailing Dory

Video by Annie Tuthill, who has yet to miss a rally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oMPUF9CQrpk

J/Newsletter- October 16th, 2013

J/Performance @ Strictly Sail Long Beach
(Long Beach, CA)- Attention Sailors!  JK3 Yachts will be presenting some exciting boats at Strictly Sail Long Beach, October 24-27th at Shoreline Village in Rainbow Harbor, with a high performance line up of J/Boats! Featured will be these proven speedsters, the J/125 “Warrior”, the J/145 “Jeito”, and the J/133 “Tango”. Whether racing offshore, around the buoys or cruising off to the islands, J/Boats are the perfect choice. Now is the chance to step aboard these thoroughbreds to compare the quality and great value for your next big campaign.  For tickets or more information on this exclusive J/Boat line up, please contact Jeff Brown- info@jk3yachts.com

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J/Fest + Harvest Moon Rising!
(Houston, TX)- A lot is happening in parts of grand'ole Southwestern America.  They think big down there whether it's "honky-tonks" with mechanical bulls, epic parties, enormous blond hair, rattlesnake boots, dude ranches and, sometimes, even huge regattas!  First up on the agenda is the Harvest Moon Regatta, or "HMR" as the locals call it.  This year's 27th edition starts the 17th of October and can be a real "trick or treat" event.  HMR was hatched over drinks in the Lakewood YC bar by a few sailors that wanted to use their boats more!  The October weather window between the summer doldrums and the blue northers makes for spectacular sailing along the Texas Coast.  Add in the beautiful "ginormous" Harvest Moon and a course from the Galveston Jetties to Port Aransas and you have the HMR.  Just a 100 plus mile jaunt down the coast with over 200 sailboats!

With several classes there is a place to race or cruise for every type of boat.  The Bacardi PHRF Racing fleet is about 50% J/Boats with the J/105, J/109, J/120, and a J/44 the primary entries.  Every year epic stories hatch of blast reaching at over 15 knots for 8 hours, or drifting in the same spot for hours!  The cruisers seem to enjoy regaling the racers with how they enjoyed watching the race boats zip by with the crew hanging over the lifelines chomping on a energy bar or MRE as they sipped a nice chardonnay and enjoyed exquisite hot cuisine under the bimini.  At Port Aransas all of the sailors come together for a lively party, brag a lot, tell mind-blowing stories (real or not!) and a wonderful time is had by all.  Almost all the boats start back on Sunday- either motor sailing down the cut or back out in the gulf.  It's no wonder this event attracts 200 entries every year to become one of our nations largest offshore point-to-point races! Put this one on your bucket list!  For more Harvest Moon Regatta sailing information

J/Fest Southwest is next up on the agenda.  Shortly following the Harvest Moon Regatta, be sure to note the deadline Friday is fast approaching!!  The skippers bag has well over $100.00 in product goodies such as Rejex Wax and boat wash, dinner coupons, t-shirt and J/Fest coffee mug!  After Friday the entry goes up by an additional $50.00!

Don't miss the racing action, live music, free beer, Kattack race tracking and thousands of dollars in goodies to be raffled off from Velocitek, Marlow, Torqeedo, Harken, Blackburn Marine, North U.  Along with these great product sponsors we also get financial support from the City of Seabrook, North, Quantum, Torqeedo, Hayes Rigging, Hays Insurance, Sundance Grill, Gulf Coast Marine, and Sundance Grill!

What does all of this mean?  The J/Fest Southwest Regatta committee puts on great racing designed to maximize your time on the water and our sponsors put the shoreside activities over the top to produce one of the highest quality events in the nation with a lot of bang for your buck!  There's a class for every J/Boat ever built and we want y'all to come on down to Galveston Bay and play! Come join the 50 fellow J/Owners already registered! So don't delay register today!   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

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J/Teams Ready For Rolex Middle Sea Race
(Gzira, Malta)- Closing the Mediterranean sailing season with gusto, the 34th edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race starts on Saturday 19th October and is destined to mark a significant chapter in the history of a popular offshore event. The race is in a period of ascendancy. Over one hundred international yachts have registered for the 606-nm contest commencing and finishing in Malta, and comprising a challenging anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Sicily. First held in 1968 and organized by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, the race has been sponsored by Rolex since 2002.

The appeal of the race is clear: first-rate competition, a largely Corinthian atmosphere, a fascinating racecourse.  The race is a true challenge to skippers and crews who have to be at their very best to cope with the often changeable and demanding conditions. Equally, the race is blessed with unsurpassed scenery with its course, taking competitors close to a number of islands, which form marks of the course. Ted Turner described the MSR as "the most beautiful race course in the world". Starting from the Grand Harbour, Valletta, beneath Fort St Angelo and the Saluting Battery in Valletta, the fleet head north along the eastern coasts of Sicily up towards the Straits of Messina. Mt Etna is usually visible on the fleets port side, billowing ashes and lava throughout the night. Once through the Straits, the course leads north to the Aeolian Islands and the active volcano of Stromboli where the yachts turn west to the Egadi Islands. Passing between Marettimo and Favignana the crews head south towards the island of Lampedusa, leaving Pantelleria to port.  Once past Lampedusa the fleet turns northeast on the final leg towards the South Comino Channel and the finish at Marsamxett Harbour. En route the crews take in an amazing diversity of landscape and sea conditions, all of which combine to create the attraction and challenge of the race.

In any race of this type, the most coveted prize is for overall victory. Along with Hasso Plattner's 86 footer- Morning Glory- another recipient of the Rolex Middle Sea Race Trophy is in attendance. Lee Satariano and Christian Ripard’s J/122 ARTIE-RTFX ended a near ten-year wait for a Maltese victory in 2011, and become the sixth local boat to win the race-- in fact, they're two-time overall winners having done it before in their J/125!  Joining them will be two more Maltese boats, one is the J/133 OILTANKING JUNO sailed by David Anastasi-- they nearly won their class in 2012 and lost in the final straits into the finish line!  The other is Aaron Gatt Floridia's OTRA VEZ- they, too, were in leadership contention halfway through last year's race and hope to build on that this year!

There are two J/111s participating this year from Italy and, given the "stop & go" driving in light to moderate conditions that are typical of this race, these two boats may give their larger stablemates enormous headaches.  Marco Flandin's BLACK BULL and Massimo Colosimo's J/STORM will be dueling for leadership not only in class but overall if they get a mix of the right reaching/ running/ beating conditions.  Be sure to follow the fleet and the updates as all boats have YellowBrick trackers on them and you can track them each day as they progress around the course!   Sailing photo credits: Rolex/ Kurt Arrigo    For more Rolex Middle Sea Race sailing information

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J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Fall is finally beginning to expose its "dark side" this past week as the monstrous "harvest moon" is apparently beginning to affect how weather patterns are changing in the northern hemisphere.  The sailors participating in England's Garmin Hamble Winter Series on the famously challenging waters of the Solent were, indeed, treated to wintry, cool, misty conditions over the weekend.  The various one-design classes of J/70s, J/80s, J/109s, J/111s and IRC handicap classes that saw the debut of the J/88 were certainly pushed to their limits in the somewhat frigid conditions.  Similarly, the J/80s sailing in Student Yachting World Cup in Pornic, France started off in the same conditions but are now enjoying somewhat more benign weather.  Earlier, the J/24s concluded one of their best attended J/24 Europeans in history, with 67 boats vying for the title in off the fashionable, glittering city of Monte Carlo, Monaco.  The increasingly popular J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailed off Friedrichshafen, Germany on Lake Constance.  Hosted by the Wurttemberg YC, the eighteen German sailing clubs participating truly enjoyed their weekend of camaraderies and close competition.

In the Far East along the western Pacific Rim, one of the oldest keelboat regattas in China just finished off Xiamen.  The local fleet of J/80s hosted the regatta, called the "Club Cup", and the simple conclusion was that top level Chinese sailors are learning awfully fast how to fleet race and match race J/80s-- something about getting "shanghai'd" by some "high-flyers" had many teams wondering what him them!

Yet another regatta was held recently with several hundred college/ university students on Long Island Sound.  Officially known as the "Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR)", the college "big boat" series hosted by Storm Trysail Club at Larchmont YC in Larchmont, NY had an enormous fleet of J/One-Designs playing host to some of America's best college sailors, including J/105s, J/109s and J/44s.  Speaking of "youth", there's a heart-warming and educational story about how one J/Owner and his yacht club expanded the horizons for several youth sailors in southern California- read on below about how Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL is growing youth sailing for the offshore world!

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:

Oct 12-14- J/80 China Coast Race Week- Hong Kong, China
Oct 19-20- Harvest Moon Regatta- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Oct 25-27- Ole Man of the Sea Regatta- Ft Worth Boat Club- Ft Worth, TX
Oct 31- Nov 3- J/105 North Americans- Annapolis, MD
Oct 31-Nov 1-  J/Fest J/World Clinic- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Nov 2-3- J/Fest Southwest Regatta- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Nov 1-3- J/80 French Nationals- Cherbourg, France
Nov 1-3- J/24 East Coast Championships- Annapolis, MD
Nov 21-25- J/24 South American Championships- Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 6-7- Jamaica Jammin' J/22 Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Jan 19-24- 2014 Key West Race Week- Key West, FL

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

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England's IL RICCIO Dominates J/24 Europeans
Germany's Thoennessen Takes Women's Crown
(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- A record turnout with 67 boats, 11 nations and a top level playing field sums up the J/24 European Championship (Open) hosted for the second time by the Yacht Club de Monaco 20 years after it organized the first edition, with the invaluable support of Stuart Jardine, a legend on the sailing scene in England and the J/24 class.

An International Race Committee presided by Englishman John Coveney fired the gun on eight hard-fought races over the four days, in east to south-westerly wind conditions ranging from 5 to 30 knots. It was a tactical as well as physically challenging championship for the 335 sailors, who had to cope with varied conditions, complicated by the Ligurian current, not counting practice races and a succession of starts.

Faced with a compact fleet it was difficult to avoid the 67 J/24s when rounding the mark or to fight for a place on the start to be sure of clean wind. With courses averaging five nautical miles and taking less than an hour, the competition was intense, with less than 10 minutes separating the first from the last in each race.  In the end, it was Englishman Ian Southworth, triple European Champion, who lifted his fourth title with Chris MacLaughlin (Il Riccio). Despite not winning a race, they were impressively consistent and always in the top six.

The racing itself was quite complex and challenging.  The sailors often found themselves at odds with the wind, current and fleet.  Tight fleets and some local knowledge helped.  In fact, by the end of the second day, the Monegasque team skippered by Ian Ilsley was leading the fleet  thanks to a sound second place in the fourth race.  “These are the conditions we really enjoy! It’s great to be competing in a championship regatta organized by one’s own club. It is so motivating especially because the level is higher than the world championship that was held in August in Dublin,” commented Ilsley.

Nevertheless, as everyone knows in this level of competition, "it ain't over 'till it's over".  Hot on their heels was the  English team of Ian Southworth & Chris MacLaughlin, hanging in for second place with 5 points and the Italian Pietro Diamanto skippering JAMAICA in third with 6 points.  Not far off the pace and expecting to get on the podium were past J/24 World Champion Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil sailing BRUSCHETTA and also  American Mike Ingham sailing JULIA.

The third day of racing dawned with a very strong south-westerly breeze with ginormous cresting waves (more like breaking swells).  Making the most of the conditions, the PRO managed to sail three very fast races for the large fleet.  BRUSCHETTA  made a comeback, moving from fourth to second place in the overall rankings and winning one race hands down by a country mile.  A steady performance was also turned in by the IL RICCIO team, taking a top ten for each race, and took the lead in the ranking from the day’s first race.  Monaco sailor Ian Ilsley managed to cling on to his place in the top three, despite a poor performance on the seventh leg of the last race.

However, there was disappointment for one of the favourites, Pietro Diamanti's JAMAICA, third yesterday and 15th after day three's sailing; proof of the quality of competitors and just how hard-fought the racing has been on the Monaco courses. The general view is that a hierarchy seems to be establishing itself with the gaps widening in the fleet as the breeze increases in strength.  And, so it went for the next two days with close racing and great camaraderies amongst the European J/24 teams.

In the overall event, second place went to another favorite, triple world champion Mauricio Santa Cruz on the famous BRUSCHETTA- he was second in the Dublin Worlds in August 2013. Surprised by the level and high quality of the playing field, he won one race in style, leading from start to finish and widening the gap to put him well ahead of his competitors in the fifth race.

But the title of vice-champion of Europe went to the Monegasque ST ANDREWS SECURITIES team helmed by Ian Ilsley with François Brenac on tactics.  They pulled off a coup by coming third, just three points shy of the Brazilian.  “This is the culmination of a year’s hard work. We made the trip to the World Championship in Ireland in August to prepare for this one and hone our boat. Our efforts have paid off and the contract largely fulfilled, beyond our expectations as we had set our sights on finishing in the top ten,”comments Ian Ilsley, for whom the next meeting is the Primo Cup (31 Jan/2 Feb & 7/9 Feb 2014) then the North American Championship in Mexico in March 2014.

Fourth for the regatta and third European was the Italian team on LA SUPERBA skippered by Ignazio Bonanno sailing for Centre Veico Marina Militare.  Fifth was early regatta leader EVNIKI, skippered by the popular Greek helmsman Dimitris Altsiadis.

Rounding out the top ten were 6th- Aurelio Bini from Italy (VIGNE SURRA), 7th- MacCathy Duncan from England (MADELEINE), 8th- Marco Stefanoni from Italy (KONG EASYNET GRIFONE), 9th- Claude Rodelato from Monaco (TOPO TOO) and 10th- Stephan Mais from Germany (RUNNING MEN).

The top three women's teams included Ragna Thoennessen from Germany sailing JUELSSAND in first place, she was part of the twenty team contingent from Germany-- the largest at the regatta from any single country. In second was her team-mate, Lea-Katharina Witt sailing ALICE for the Hamburg Segel-Club.  Then, third was Francesca Guzzo from the host club YC Monaco sailing COOL J!   Sailing photo credits- YC Monaco/ Franck Terlin   For more J/24 Europeans sailing information

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College Big Boat Regatta Runaway Success!
J/44, J/109 and J/105 Fleets Enjoy Big Breeze!
(Larchmont, New York)- The Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR) as it's officially known, run by the Storm Trysail Foundation and the Larchmont Yacht Club, had an epic regatta this year. Over 300 college sailors hopped aboard 54 borrowed offshore boats to make this year's IOR the largest collegiate regatta in North America. The fleet was made up of eleven J/105s, fifteen J/109s, five J/44s, and two 10-boat handicap divisions-- the 35 J/Teams on the line comprised 65% of the fleet with 216 sailors manning the boats (about 70% of the college sailors on the water!).

As a result of a stationary low, strong northeast winds blew for three days before the regatta as well as for the two days of racing, making conditions extreme – even for experienced Long Island Sound racers. After two races were sailed on Saturday in winds blowing from 22-30 with higher gusts, the race committee sent the dwindling fleet back to the harbor in hopes of more benign conditions the next day. But on Sunday the low pressure system still refused to budge and conditions remained the same.

After a two-and-a-half hour harbor postponement, the RC called it quits and neither the owners of the borrowed boats nor the sailors thought it was a bad call. “It was a shame for the teams that came so far,” said Regatta Chair Adam Loory. Eleven teams came from the Midwest and three teams came from Canada. “Our committee had to err on the side of caution; if boats get broken or people get hurt, we won’t be able to pull together a regatta on this scale ever again. As it was, the City Island UK Sailmakers loft burned a lot of midnight oil to get sails back into one piece for Sunday. In the cases where sails were un-repairable, we found loaner sails to fill in.”

After two races, the standings were tight; three divisions were won by boats with two firsts and the other two divisions were won with scores of a first and a second. Picking an overall winner was impossible; therefore, the Paul Hoffman Trophy for the overall winner of the 2013 IOR went jointly to Georgetown and the College of Charleston.

The Charleston team sailed on Austin Fragomen’s J/105 WARLOCK. Third overall went to one of the three teams from Massachusetts Maritime sailing Rick Lyall’s STORM in the 15-boat J/109 fleet.

Coming the farthest were two teams from Europe, the result of a joint venture with the EDHEC Sailing Cup, which is the world’s largest intercollegiate regatta. The EDHEC Sailing Cup is staged every year in France by students of EDHEC, one of France’s most prestigious business schools; last year their regatta attracted over 1,500 sailors who raced on 180 boats. In an effort to get more foreign teams at the IOR and the EDHEC Sailing Cup, respectively, winning teams from each regatta will be given the opportunity to compete, cost free, at the regatta on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. Georgetown was the very first winner of the EDHEC Challenge, which earned the team a free trip to the 46th EDHEC Sailing Cup in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, in April 2014.

Adam Loory, the Storm Trysail Club co-founder of the I.O.R. event, said that "we've been getting some great comments from both boat owners and collegiate competitors that sailed in this year's regatta."  Here are some of the below:

Tufts’ sailing coach Ken Legler who brought two teams said, “We didn’t get much sailing in but what we did get was pretty special.” Andrew Berdon, owner of the J/109 STRIDER, posted on his Facebook page, “Sailed with members of the Dalhousie University sailing team today. They drove 13 hours to get down here from Halifax, Nova Scotia and proceeded to kick butt taking a first and second in our races today. The wind was 'blowing dogs off chains', 22-30 knots from the northeast with higher gusts and huge, breaking waves. Thank you to the Storm Trysail Foundation and LYC for putting on my favorite regatta of the year.”

Adrija Navarro wrote, “I just wanted to thank you for matching the Princeton University Sailing Team up with Matt Breef (on Matt Baker’s J/109 RELIANT) for the IOR. The IOR is an incredible event, and we hope to come back again next year."

Chris Ercole, owner of the J/109 SWEET CAROLINE wrote, “Yes, it was a lot of fun. I had no idea the Ottawa team does not have a coach or even much of a sailing budget as they are not a varsity level team. Our helmsman never steered anything bigger than a 420 before, never mind anything with a wheel. I think we were all very happy with our performance. The kids were absolutely great and very appreciative for having use of the boat. They were very respectful of the boat and gear; nothing was lost or abused. Having Tom (Darling) aboard was great too as I’m still learning and don’t know the first thing about teaching kids how to sail.”

Each boat had the boat owner or his representative aboard as well as a second adult. The adults are encouraged to teach boat-speed, boat-handling and sail trim since much of big boat sailing is new to dinghy sailors as Chris Ercole noted above. Since the regatta is a stand-alone event and is not used to rank the teams, the regatta organizers encourage teaching during the regatta. The only line that is drawn covers tactics-- the college sailors call their own tactics since figuring out which way to go on the race course is universal to all sailboats.

David Doody, a coach on David Wilson’s J/109 BLANCHE, wrote, “Great job with the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta; it really is a terrific thing and you do an incredible job pulling it all off. Canceling racing on Sunday was the right decision for the event, which was clearly another huge success. We went out sailing for an hour after racing was abandoned without problem; we got the spinnaker up and they learned how to spell b-r-o-a-c-h. The weekend was a big learning experience for the six intrepid sailors of the team from William and Mary.”

Ron Weiss, an offshore coach at SUNY Maritime wrote, “I just wanted to drop a personal note about how grateful we are for the IOR. The SUNY Maritime guys had a blast and it was an important stepping-stone in their progress as a team. Again, thanks for everything you’re doing for the sport.” The SUNY team won the J/44 division on Dr. Norman Schulman’s CHARLIE V, which was an all service academy division. They beat Navy, Mass Maritime, Maine Maritime and Coast Guard.

The goal of the Storm Trysail Foundation and the Larchmont Yacht Club in running the IOR is to introduce dinghy sailors to the fun and teamwork of big boat racing, which is a new aspect of the sport to many dinghy sailors. It also gives college sailors with big boat skills a chance to compete in some of the best prepared boats around. Thanks to sponsors Rolex, Vineyard Vines, Caithness Energy, Safe Flight Instruments, Flintlock Construction, Dimension/Polyant Sailcloth, UK Sailmakers, Gill (foul weather gear), Heineken and Coke, this is a totally free event for the boat owners and college sailors.

Storm Trysail Club Commodore Nick Langone said, “I applaud the organizing team, led by Adam Loory and Butch Ulmer, for spending so much time organizing, giving direction, and finally executing one of the best, and well run regattas I’ve been associated with.”

Finally, a special thanks to Larchmont Yacht Club, the co-sponsor of the regatta. “There are very few, if any, clubs that can host an event this size, while not inconveniencing their members,” said John Fisher, Chairman of the Storm Trysail Foundation. Larchmont provided over 35 guest moorings and put on extra launch service for the regatta. They also ran their own Columbus Day regatta at the same time. Report contributed by Adam Loory.   For more Intercollegiate Offshore Race sailing information

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J/80 Student Yachting World Cup Update
(Pornic, France)- The Student Yachting World Cup, an annual sailing competition organized by students of the École Polytechnique, a French engineering school, has the world’s best student sailing teams racing the International J/80 Class sailboats! The 33rd edition of SYWC is currently being sailed from October 14-19 in Pornic, France, with teams from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, Ireland and USA vying for the 2013 title. Representing North America will be Dalhousie University (CAN) and the US Naval Academy (USA).

The SYWC is an event organized every year in France by students for students. Created in 1979 under the name of Course de l'Europe, the Cup was just meant to include participants from Western Europe. But, as time went by, more and more Eastern European countries joined the Cup. That's why the Course de l'Europe changed its name to become the SYWC.

The regatta lasts for one week in France and includes about 150 competitors, representing 15 countries from all around the world. During the week, the atmosphere is both fun, sporting and multicultural. The first night, every team has to participate at the crews' dinner by bringing some dishes or some beverage representing their country. This way, the students have an opportunity to meet and discover other cultures before the cup begins. Each night, students can also meet at the dining room and have a nice time with members from other university teams.

So far, the teams have been treated to a wide variety of sailing conditions, from rainy windy 15-25 kts days to sunny, benign conditions in the 6-12 kts range.  Kristen Berry from J/World Annapolis reports that the US Naval Academy teams has been sailing well.  Berry says the USNA trained on their J/80s in preparation for the SYWC.  Evidently, it has paid off since winning the practice day and leading after the first day, they are still in contention for a podium finish.  The French team (the prestigious Kedge Business School) are clearly familiar with sailing the J/80s-- as of Thursday they were leading by a substantial margin.  However, with racing so tight in the lighter conditions, anything can happen with upwards of 3-4 races being sailed per day!

With two days of sailing left with a good forecast for breeze, the French Kedge BS school is leading with 14 pts, followed by the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique FL school in 2nd with 39 points. Third is the American US Naval Academy with 43 pts, 4th is the Australian Macquarie University team with 51 pts and 5th is the Scottish Universities team with 56 pts.

There have been great sailing video summaries of the event posted on YouTube.  Please take a look at some of them here from the first three days:

• Day One YouTube sailing video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypddfEMrEoo
• Day Two YouTube sailing video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iLk6XX98tY
• Day Three YouTube sailing video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQsfo2TPJI

For more J/80 Student Yachting World Cup sailing information

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J/70 Segel-BundesLiga- Thrilling 4th Regatta
"Locals" Wurttemberg YC Win Fourth Stage!
(Friedrichshafen, Germany)- The fourth regatta of the J/70 Deutsche Bundesliga was hosted by the Wurttemberg YC located in Friedrichshafen from the 27th to 29th of September.  The sailors experienced everything from light airs and super flat water to strong steady winds with choppy seas on the gorgeous Lake Constance (a.k.a. the "Bodensee").  The host team won the regatta-- Wurttemberg YC-- with skipper Max Rieger, his brother Moritz Rieger, Thomas Dietsch and Felix Stemmer.

With seven wins in twelve races, the team from the WYC had "tough sledding" to rise to the top, especially since the second place team, Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee were counting eight 1sts in their scoreline!  Said the relieved skipper of WYC, Max Rieger, "We may have had home advantage on Lake Constance, but one cannot expect it to help at all in the difficult, shifting winds. But, we are very satisfied with the result!"

Only two points behind the leader was the team from the Wannsee in Berlin- Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee.  Their team comprised of Kathrin Kadelbach, Ulrike Schumann, Nils Schröder and Malte Kamrath started off with two bullets, struggled in the mid-series of races and closed fast with five 1sts and one 2nd to nearly pull off an upset.

The Norddeutscher Regatta Verein team from Hamburg, including Carsten Kemmling, Klaus Lame, Weser and Florian Haufe, finished the regatta with a string of five bullets to rapidly close on the leaders and take third overall.  It wasn't enough to overcome the stronger start of the other teams, but it certainly kept the others anxious as they closed to within 4 pts of the lead and only 2 pts back from second!  As a result, the team successfully defended their overall Deutsche Bundesliga championship lead going into the fifth and last stage of the event in Berlin.  Said NRV Team Manager Klaus Lame, "we wanted the team that would sail in Berlin to race here on Lake Constance and gain the experience necessary to hopefully win the title!  We're fortunate to have succeeded after sailing in these difficult conditions this weekend!"

The last regatta for the Bundesliga takes place from November 8th to 11th sailing at NRV's yacht club on the Wannsee in Berlin.  The question of which clubs are in the best position for the season finale in Berlin certainly became clearer after the Lake Constance event.  With 66 pts, NRV is leading by just 4 pts and they're hoping the "home-town" advantage will play in their favor.  Lying second is the fast-learning Wurttemberg YC team with 62 pts overall and they're excited about sailing on the Wansee.  Another "local" Berlin team, the YC Berlin-Grunau are sitting in third overall with 60 pts, struggling a bit after winning the first event in Tutzing at the beginning of the season.  They, too, are hoping that sailing home-town waters will bring them better luck!  Fourth is Bayerischer YC with 56 pts and fifth is Chiemsee YC with 54 pts. Of the eighteen teams participating, it's conceivable that up to eight teams have a mathematical possibility of winning or leaping onto the podium in Berlin!  Don't count out other teams like "locals" Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee, Deutscher Touring YC and Konstanzer YC!

Are the teams having a lot of fun and, as some have asked, is this the future of regatta sailing?  Maike Christiansen from the magazine Segeln.de in Germany was posing that question to the various sailors and team managers during the last event in Friedrichshafen.  Here's Maike's commentary:

"The Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga, a struggle for status as the best sailing club in Germany, is nearing the end of its first season sailing the new J/70 sportboat.

Short, fast races. Sailing J/70s with just main, jib and asymmetric spinnakers. The crews, some of whom have never sailed together before, others fielding strong, established teams, give nothing away at any corner or leg of the race course. Sometimes only centimeters determine who will be first to the finish, who can cheer loudly for their team.

Back on land, the sailors forget everything about the day on the water.  With gourmet chefs providing delicious food and with plenty of drink and music, the sailors sit together and exchange ideas, exchange tips and anecdotes about sailing J/70s, make new acquaintances and refresh old ones again. When sailing the Segel-Bundesliga everything mixes together: young and old, followers of traditional sailboats and sailors of modern skiffs, America's Cup participants, German champions and those who have won the regatta on the village pond around the corner, match race experts and fleet racing sailors.  Yet, in the first German yacht club competition in the sport of sailing, it's not the individuals, but the sailing clubs that are in the foreground. In a series of five regattas spread over the whole of Germany (like the "stages" in the Tour de France), eighteen teams fight for victory.

One may argue whether such a regatta series really has significance as to which club is the best and also whether such a comparison is at all meaningful!  However, with the Segel-Bundesliga, where teams train all year together, can the event - apart from the name - at least not really compare?!

Nevertheless, the facts and realities mean one thing-- the format has a future. The facts are (i) that J/70s are strict one-design class sailboats made to travel easily; (ii) the sailors can travel quickly on a weekend to all of the events; (iii) the J/70s are great for the German lakes and bays for sailing many short, tight races; and (iv) the sailing teams can depart after the sailing without having to worry about boat transport or maintenance.  In short, the "sailing" and "social" activities are at the forefront of the regatta experience. The format is particularly attractive for good sailors who have to contend with the responsibilities of study, work, family, and so forth-- leaving precious little time available for any recreational activity, especially sailing on weekends with friends! That the five Segel-Bundesliga regattas have been elevated to a higher context - the championship of all German sailing clubs- it will be asked, has the sailing in the event taken on even greater significance??  Yes, it has because it addresses the most important point: It's FUN!

It's fun to compete on athletic keelboats with other teams that are just thrown together as their own crew! It's fun to tack under Jochen Schumann and force him to tack away! It's fun, not as a "lone wolf", but being part of a sailing team representing your club! It's fun to meet the regatta sailors from various boat classes to see and meet old friends!  The Segel-Bundesliga provides students with a "sense of community", attracting younger and older sailors and it makes you want to sail.  How can you expect anything more from an event like this?  Hard to beat sailing J/70s on a wild plane across some of the most picturesque bays and lakes in Germany with friends-- young and old, newly made or known for decades!  Looking forward to Berlin already!"   Friedrichshafen Sailing video highlights on YouTube 
Facebook Sailing photo credits: Segel-Bundesliga / Lars Wehrmann  
For more J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information

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Shanghai Airport Wins J/80 Club Cup
(Xiamen, China)- It takes time for anything to grow and the China Club Challenge Match is no different.  The event started as a challenge between two embryonic Chinese sailing clubs, Ironrock Sailing Club in Xiamen and Zhuhai Sailing Club in two beat-up old J/24s, and over the years the event has grown.

Over the last few days in Xiamen the ninth edition has been sailed in a competitive and sportsmanlike manner better than ever before, with 30 teams locking horns in J/80s. The number of teams depending on retired athletes has gone down, and the female involvement has gone up with 20% of the boats being driven by the fairer sex – although judging by their competitiveness that is very much a relative term.

The event had everything: protests (valid!); general recalls; and even one or two black flags. Close competitive racing, yet very little in the way of ‘bumper cars’ that can sometimes be seen in regattas with borrowed boats.

The event was sailed in International J/80 one-design sailboats supplied by the organizers thanks to the support of Hudson Marine, with the boats being equalized and checked by Jim Johnstone (the name is no coincidence) who heads up J-Boats Asia.

With 20 boats and 30 teams it was necessary to split into two flights, both getting in seven races each over the three days of racing in conditions that ranged from a shortened course to genuine broaching weather, with the event finishing just ahead of Typhoon Fitou which hit the coast around 100 miles away not many hours after the noise of the prize-giving party died away.

The standard of sailing has certainly evolved and improved over the years, with far more amateurs involved than the early days, and with some teams even being owner driven.

The Club Cup, as it is known, is the oldest keelboat regatta in China, pre-dating China Cup by a full year, and it has become the ‘must win’ event for many Chinese teams. This year, some were making their fourth or fifth attempt to have their name inscribed on the trophy, getting closer each time.

From the form shown in the first part of the event, the favourites heading towards the second knockout match racing phase must surely be Shanghai Airport Sailing Team which is primarily made up, as the name suggests, of employees and family from Shanghai’s airport workers sports club. They posted five bullets and two second places over their three days’ racing – not bad having a ‘2’ to discard!

So now the top 16 (eight from each flight) must go away, hone their boat handling skills further, and read up on the rules to be ready to re-join battle back down in Xiamen, 8-11 November. Will they be able to break last year’s record, when the race management team managed to get off 26 races in one day? In 2012, each match in the round of 16 went to the best-of-three decider, plus a couple of ‘exhibition’ races. Granted, it’s unlikely, given that one or two teams have shown themselves to be head and shoulders above the rest this year - but only time will tell.  For more J/80 China Cup & Club Cup sailing information

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Chilly & Rainy "Winter" Series Update
(Hamble, England)- The Garmin Hamble Winter Series lived up to its name on Sunday with torrential rain and a chilly 18 knots from the northwest that left competitors glad to retire to the bar after racing for a few "hot toddies" and warm Guinness! But despite the conditions the crews and the volunteer race teams alike braved the conditions to fit in two exciting races.

The worst of the rain held off until the second race, with the first sailed in a marginally preferable light drizzle. In IRC 0, Cornel Riklin's J/111 JITTERBUG sailed fast to snag a 2-3 to be tied for second, just three points clear of David & Kirsty Apthorp's J/111 J-DREAM with a 4-4 tally.

In IRC 1, Louise Makin's J/105 JOURNEYMAKER 5 took a 3-5 to be tied on points with the new J/88 JUNGLE DRUM sailed by Paul Heys with 4-4 finishes.

In IRC 3, Nick Munday’s J/97 INDULJENCE beat David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’RONIMO by 18 seconds in the first race and Jamie Muir’s Scarlet Jester by five minutes in the second, and now sits atop the overall results.

In the J/109s, Paul Griffith’s JAGERBOMB won the first race ahead of David McGough’s JUST SO, but in the second race JUST SO took first and now leads the series by 2 points. Behind them are Ivan Burden's JACOBI in third, tied with JAGERBOMB.  Fourth is Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX and fifth is Dave McLeman's OFFBEAT.

In the J/111 class, Riklin’s JITTERBUG are sailing fast and smart and managed to beat the Apthorp's J-DREAM in both races to take first overall. Lying third is William Naylor's BRITISH SOLDIER.

Day prizes were – quite appropriately, given the foul weather conditions – provided by clothing supplier Hudson-Wight at the prize-giving back at Hamble River SC after racing, as well as by Southern Ropes, whose prizes went un-awarded last week due to the lack of wind.

Doyle Sails Hamble One Design Championships
Saturday and Sunday also hosted the first of two Doyle Sails Hamble One Design Championship weekends, which ran starts for J/70, J/80 and J/109 classes. Saturday saw a pleasant if shifty 12-15 knot breeze that swung between 078 and 097 degrees, and bright sunshine. As in the main series, Sunday was far less pleasant, especially for the open sportsboats, but at least there was some breeze!

Iain MacKinnon’s TIGH SOLIUS II had a successful weekend in the J/109 class, winning three of the five races, and currently sits atop the results ahead of Tony Dicken’s JUBILEE in second place and Paul Griffith’s JAGERBOMB in third.  Fourth is Steven Tapper's STALKER and fifth is Owain Franks JYNNAN TONNYX.

In the J/70s, Malcolm Jaques’ DJANGO was similarly successful, also scoring three wins in five races. The RAF’s SPITFIRE entry, helmed by Simon Ling, is just two points behind with 9 points, ahead of Ian Wilson’s JOYRIDE in third.  Simon Cavey's PHEEBS is fourth while Jack Davies' JUGADOR stands fifth.

Jon Powell’s BETTY leads the J/80 class after a strong performance over the weekend – they scored two seconds and three firsts and lead the class by four points, ahead of Patrick Liardet’s AQUA-J and Yannig Loyer’s J-OUT-OF-THE-BOX.  Geoff Payne's SURF & TURF is fourth just two points in front of Brian Denny's JALAPENO.

After a weekend of close-matched and frenetic racing, the Doyle Sails Hamble One Design Championship returns in a fortnight’s time, with another five races scheduled.

Kudos to all the teams who braved Sunday’s weather and to the volunteers who manned the committee and mark-laying boats. Here’s hoping for better weather next weekend, which hosts the final MDL Hamble Big Boat Championship weekend and the third race day of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, with One Sails as the Day Sponsor.  Thanks for contribution from Ben Meakins.    YouTube sailing video of Hamble Winter Series   Sailing photo credits- Malcolm Donald   For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

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J/Community

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

*  A Simple Idea That Exceeded Expectations- Steve Schupak recently provided Craig Leweck's Scuttlebutt with some perspective on successfully getting young sailors into the "big boat" sailing game in southern California on Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL.  Here's Steve's commentary:

"The secret play going into the final race of the summer beer-can racing season had been deviously planned. Little did the crew realize that the big event wasn’t just sailing in blazers and bow ties, but they would now officially be the youngest team on the water!

As the engine was warming up and the dock lines being slipped from the boat, the adult supervision – all decked out in blazers and bow ties like the kids – gave the announcement that they would be staying off the boat and it was a "kids-only" night! Eyes got big, questioning looks spread from boy to boy, and finally they awoke to the fact that they were fully in charge.

“And by the way, don’t hit the dock as you pull out, and don’t get near anyone on the course.” Typical "helicopter" parent talk as they pulled out and set sail. Average age was around 15.3 years old.

The breeze was perfect and the boys were coming into their own out on the water. The gory details of the race really don’t matter as the boys sailed well; safely for both body and boat. And they did it with style! Those of us parents and grandparents following along on, hooting and hollering and cheering, enjoyed a special, special night.

With the support of many this summer, we watched the growth of the next generation of sailors for our sport. Nights like these will have a lasting impression and impact on these young men’s lives – more than any day in a junior program. Here they competed against adults, were accepted by adults, and cheered as adults!"

John Drayton provides a little background:  "Two summers ago, Seth Hall asked me to race his 40-foot J/124 MARISOL a couple nights when he was out of town for the Monday night summer races. The race course wasn’t real busy, and I’d usually grab our two boys (then 14 and 12 years old) and a couple of their friends. It was really casual, and we maybe only sailed a half dozen races in total that summer (2011).

Last summer (2012), with Seth’s encouragement, we got a little more organized. Steve Schupak joined me to help “coach” the boys. We recruited a regular team, and started treating the kids like adult sailors (they were responsible for rigging/de-rigging the boat, nobody leaves until everything is done, no un-excused missed nights). On several nights we recruited periodic “guest” coaches to come along for a night, including top local sailors like Dave Ullman, Bruce Cooper, Harry Pattison, Mark Olson and Tom Pollack (among others).

This summer, the “Monday Crew” continued their growth as a team. There were 7-8 kids with 2-3 alternates, all under 17 years. Every boy steered at least one full night (including a 11 year old). Each boy rotated through all the key positions: helm, trimmers, grinders, tactician. Progressively the adults were pushed out of the cockpit and away from any position of responsibility – by the end of summer, my only remaining job was to skirt the jib after tacks.

The final night when we exited the boat was a lot of fun, especially at the point where I told them they would be sailing without us. I’d worked out with Seth in advance that they’d sail without any adults, and it’s no surprise to any of us that they did a great job. They closed out their racing season in first place overall for the series!

None of this would have occurred without Seth letting (and trusting) a group of kids to sail his boat. There’s nothing magic about what we did – and the model for copying this elsewhere is really simple (put kids on a boat, let them race) – but the overall results of this program have far exceeded everyone’s expectations!!

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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.

* 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.