Showing posts with label hong kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hong kong. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

J/Newsletter- November 27th, 2019

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

As we head into the final weeks of the 2019 sailing season, things have wound down quite a bit in the northern hemisphere sailing schedule, while it is slowly ramping up in the "Down Under" regions of the world.

In the USA, the third annual U.S. J/70 Youth Championship was held in St Petersburg, FL, hosted by the St Petersburg Yacht Club.  The PRO Todd Fedyszyn managed to run eleven races over the three-day weekend regatta for the 11 teams from across the country (representing CA, CT, FL, GA, MA, MD, MI, NJ and SC). Out west, the San Diego Yacht Club hosted their annual Hot Rum Series, the fleet sailing the second of three weekends in the series.

Then, three emancipated colonial countries from the former British Empire all hosted various fun-loving events for J/sailors around the globe. Starting with Bermuda, the J/105 Bacardi Keelboat Regatta was hosted by the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club in Hamilton, Bermuda for 7 teams comprised of "locals" and International sailors.

Next is Hong Kong. There, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club hosted their annual, insanely popular, Round Hong Kong Island Race. Over 200 boats participated, including a highly competitive class of twenty J/80s.

Finally, in the not to be forgotten colonial class way, way Down Under, the Australian sailors across their vast continent are heating up their schedule substantially. Recently, a J/122 sailed the West Coaster Ocean Race of 100.0nm, hosted by Freemantle Sailing Club. Needless to say, in the challenging condition they encountered, they were quite pleased with their performance.
 

2020 J/Calendar
Gorgeous 2020 J/Calendar Hot off the Press!

(Newport, RI)- A sailing calendar is a great gift for loved ones, family, friends and crew.

For 2020, we have created another beautiful calendar for J/Sailors who love the joys of sailing a J in some of the most spectacular harbors and waters of the world. Whether you are a cruising, racing or armchair sailor, these stunning sailboat photographs will transport you to wonderful sailing experiences in faraway places.

The 2020 sailing calendar features the most popular, as well as latest creations, from the J/Design team sailing in many of the world’s most popular sailing areas- Palma Mallorca (Spain), St Barths, Chicago, Lake Garda (Italy), Frutillar (Chile), Lake Thun (Switzerland), Torquay (England), Valle de Bravo (Mexico).
See the gorgeous photo gallery and order your 2019 J/Calendar here
 

J/Gear Special Holiday Offer
J/Gear Holiday Special
Order J/Gear for your special J/Crew and receive a 20% discount. Make sure to check out the new J/Gear items— shirts, caps, outerwear, accessories, bags, belts, etc…lots of great stuff that make great gifts!

Enter Code as you finalize your order- JB2019sp

Please note J/Boat 1/2 models and Custom “J” Prints are exempt from this offer. Allow extra time for custom orders. The offer is good through Nov 24, 2019.   Start Shopping NOW- click here!
 

J/70 Youths 
San Francisco/Annapolis Team Wins U.S. J/70 Youth Championship
(St. Petersburg, Florida)- Eleven teams vied for the third annual J/70 U.S. Youth National Championship, hosted by St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, FL from November 22-24. The weekend was dominated by the teams of San Francisco Yacht Club/Annapolis Yacht Club, led by James Golden, and Cal Maritime, led by Kyle Collins. Although they were tied on points heading in the 11th and final battle, it was Golden’s team who earned the victory by four points, with crew of Luke Koerschner, Hannah Sellers and Caleb Yoslov. They ended with 23 points to Collins’ 27. Golden and Koerschner are from Annapolis YC; Sellers and Yoslov from San Francisco YC. The Cal Maritime team consisted of Collins, plus crew of Justin Zmina, and brothers Brock & River Paquin.

J/70 Youth winners- San Francisco/ Annapolis
Light winds prevented racing on Friday, but conditions allowed all 11 intended races to be completed over the next two days.

The goal of this event has been to help develop and build leading-edge junior keelboat sailing programs across America. Youth teams (representing CA, CT, FL, GA, MA, MD, MI, NJ and SC) competed on provided J/70s with class sails. Boats were identically rigged and tuned at base settings recommended by the sailmaker.

J/70 Youths St Petersburg, FL
As teams gathered on Thursday for a practice race, local J/70 expert Marty Kullman conducted on-water coaching and classroom lessons at SPYC. Each youth team was permitted up to five crew, age 20 or younger as of December 31, 2019.

These were the eleven teams that participated in the event:
  • Augusta Sailing Club (Georgia)- Nathan Bowen skipper, with crew of brother Mike Bowen, Isabel Smith, and sisters Ellie & Lucy Spearman
  • Brown Sailing (Rhode Island)- Jack Murphy skipper, with crew of Blaire McCarthy, and siblings Chase & Julia Reynolds
  • Cooper River YC (New Jersey)- Zack York skipper, with crew of Sean Groskoph and friends
  • Eastern YC (Massachusetts)- Haley Andreasen skipper, with crew of Jack Dalton, Phil Jeffries, Anders Kearney, Anna O'Conner
  • Lauderdale YC (Florida)- Joey Meagher skipper with crew of Garret Dixon, Sam Juskiewicz, and Bobby Rielly
  • Little Traverse YC (Michigan)- Trip Wagner skipper, with crew of Caroline Grin, Maren Matthews, Jack Miller, and Kate Moran
  • Mudratz Youth Team (Connecticut)- Lily Flack skipper, with crew of Jack Derry, Dylan Flack, Jonathan Gardner, Tanner Kelly
  • San Francisco YC (California)- Jim Golden skipper, with crew of Luke Koerschner, Hannah Sellers, and Caleb Yoslov
  • South Carolina YC (South Carolina)- James Thurlow skipper
  • St Petersburg YC (Florida)- Heather Kerns skipper, with crew of Emily Allen, Heidi Hicks, and Emma Shakespeare
  • TS Golden Bear (California)- Kyle Collins skipper, with crew of Justin Zmina, and brothers Brock & River Paquin.
For more U.S. J/70 Youth Championship sailing and results information
 

J/122 sailing off Fremantle, Australia
J/122 Wins 100nm West Coaster!

(Perth, Western Australia)- The J/122 JOSS from Perth is starting the new season the way they finished the last – winning!  Last weekend’s race was 10.00nm West Coaster Ocean Race from Fremantle to Yanchep and return, the race was hosted by Fremantle Sailing Club (FSC).

J/122 Joss sailing off Australia
100.0nm may not sound too bad, nor terribly challenging. However, with very light winds forecast, a very "un-Perth-like Freemantle Doctor", the race turned into an endurance contest. The race took 23hrs 55mins, which meant the focus was on endurance, concentration and keeping the boat moving.

100nm race off Fremantle, AustraliaOwner Ian Clyne commented, “JOSS had a long, at times frustrating, but very rewarding FSC West Coaster Ocean Race.  There were huge holes along the route, so the focus was to just keep moving. The J/122 keeps going even in 5 knots of wind, so we knew we were in with a chance, and were very happy with the result. Knowing the forecast was for light winds, we were conscious of crew weight, and kept the sail wardrobe to a minimum. The A1.5 kite is just a brilliant sail as well as the Code Zero.

The race started in North Fremantle and headed due west to pass to the south side of Rottnest Island. Then, we headed north to round a virtual turn mark at Yanchep, then a zig zag SE, North, SE back to Fremantle.

On the final leg, there was zero wind along the beaches and zero wind off Rottnest Island, but a small line of breeze in the center, so the crew took full advantage and tacked back and forth to keep within the narrow breeze band. JOSS finished a clear 37minutes ahead of the competition on IRC."

JOSS is currently leading the Blue Water season point score.
 


AIRFORCE Four-peats J/105 Bacardi Keelboat Regatta!
(Hamilton, Bermuda)- The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club once again hosted the Bacardi Keelboat Regatta from November 21st to 24th.  The J/105 fleet participation is at the invitation from the local J/105 fleet. The J/105s raced with a combined Bermuda and Overseas crew to compete for a Bermuda, Overseas and Overall series. Over the three-day series, up to ten races can be sailed by the tams.

In the end, the fleet of Bermudian and International sailors were rewarded with great sailing conditions, with all ten races being sailed.

While they may have "four-peated" the regatta win, their fourth win did not come easy for the AIRFORCE duo of Peter Bromby and Cheryl Harvey. Starting off red-hot, the AIRFORCE crew had all-podium finishes in the first 7 races.  However, a disastrous 8th race saw the team scrambling to avoid even more grievous errors in the subsequent races.

Starting off slow was the James Macdonald & Bill Lackenmacher duo on PASSION. Third after the first day, they climbed back into contention over the next two days to nearly snatch the regatta win.  In the end, AIRFORCE finished with 26 pts to take the gold, with the PASSION team closing with 29 pts for the silver.  Third was another slow starter, the MORNING GLORY duo of Glen Astwood & Hasso Plattner. Sitting in fifth place after day one, the MORNING GLORY team rose like a "phoenix from the ashes" to close with by far the hottest record of the entire fleet in the last five races- a 3-3-1-2-2 to snatch the bronze medal on the last day of racing!

Rounding out the top five was MAYHEM (Jon Corless & Jason Owen) in fourth place and WINDFIRE (Keith Chiappa & Paul Beaudin) in fifth position.

At the awards ceremony, the International Team Trophy, sponsored by the Bermuda Tourism Authority, went to Team MAYHEM's Jason Owen.  The Bermuda Teams Trophy, sponsored by Goslings Rum, went to Team AIRFORCE's Peter Bromby. And, the Bacardi Keelboat Overall Trophy, sponsored by XL, was awarded to the Overall winner, Team AIRFORCE yet again.  Follow the J/105 Bermuda fleet on their Facebook page  For more J/105 Bacardi Keelboat Regatta sailing information
 


J/80 FOOTLOOSE Tops Class in Slow Around Hong Kong Island Race
(Hong Kong, China)- Over 200 boats turned up for the 26.0nm Solaris Yachts Around the Island Race under a perfect blue sky. Given the sheer number of boats, Race Officer David Norton set two start lines off of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Kellett Island Clubhouse with the line closest to Kellett Island used for starting the one-design boats and the outside line for HKPN, IRC and beach cat divisions.

The first start was at 0830hrs with the Pandoras and HKPN Monohulls setting off in an easterly breeze of around 4 to 7 kts and the last division to set off at 1030hrs were the Big Boats hoping to make up their lost time in this pursuit-style race.

Unfortunately, the wind softened in the afternoon and a wind hole developed around Middle Island. The majority of the fleet were sailing slowly downwind at the southern side of Hong Kong Island and in the end, just one third of the participating yachts could not reach Kellett Island before the cut-off of 1700hrs.

In the J/80 class, Henry Wong's FOOTLOOSE was the big winner, starting at 9:10am with his colleagues and simply smoking them around the track, winning by nearly a half hour. Second was top woman helm Belinda Ng on JENA PABE.  Rounding out the podium in third place was the duo of Antoine Segaud & Jasper Ten Berge's JAMMIN.  For more Royal Hong Kong YC Around the Island Race sailing information
 

 Slow San Diego Hot Rum Series II
(San Diego, CA)- The second race of the Hot Rum Series took place last weekend in more classic San Diego fall weather conditions.  Starting light in the morning, the winds gradually built into NNW in the 7-12 kts range.  It was a day of resurrection for a number of J/Teams from their previous weekend's disappointing performances.


In PHRF 1 Class, we find three J/crews clustered together in the 5, 6, 7 positions. Leading that group is Standish Fleming's J/125 TIMESHAVER with a 6-7 for 13 pts. Second is Rudy Hasl's J/145 PALAEMON with a 5-10 for 15 pts. Then, third in that group is Robert Pace's J/145 ANDIAMO2 with twin 8ths for 16 pts.


In the PHRF 2 Class, John Laun's J/120 CAPER is never ever held back for long, this time posting a 1st place to race up the ladder to 4th place. Chuck Nichol's also was on the comeback trail, posting a second after his first race 13th to leap into 8th overall.


The PHRF 4 Class still sees three J/crews occupying three slots in the top five.  Leading is Dennis Case's J/105 J-OK with an 11-1 to be leading a three-way on 12 pts each.  Second is Tom Garret's J/70 SLOOP JOHN B with an 8-4. Then, only one point behind in this crazy horse race is Jeff Brown's J/105 SWEET KAREN with a 4-12. Seventh is Steve & Lucy Howell's J/105 BLINK, Chuck Bowers' J/29 RHUMB RUNNER is in 8th and George Scheel's J/105 SUN PUFFIN is lying in 10th place.

Finally, in PHRF 5 Class, Tim Lynch's J/30 RUFFIAN is just two points off the bronze position on the podium with a 3-8 scoreline.  Sailing photo credits- Bob Betancourt   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information
 

Regatta & Show Schedules:

Oct 5- Dec 1- Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, England
Nov 23- Hot Rum Series II- San Diego, CA
Nov 30- Dec 1- J/80 Mundialito Regatta- Santander, Spain
Dec 6-8- J/22 Jammin’ Jamaica Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Dec 7- Hot Rum Series III- San Diego, CA

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

 30th J/22 Jammin’ Jamaica Regatta Preview
(Montego Bay, Jamaica)- It is a momentous weekend for the J/22 JAMMIN' JAMAICA Regatta, it is celebrating its 30th anniversary from the 6th to 8th of December.  First started by the local J/22 fleet, the Royal Montego Bay Yacht Club has been hosting the regatta from the very beginning. Similar to the J/105 Bermuda Invitational, the "locals" from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, invite international sailing teams to participate and are given a boat for a nominal fee.  Bring your own sails, bring your own crew, and whatever is missing will be filled in by the local J/22 fleet. It has proven to be a popular event, particularly as it is held just three weeks prior to the December holidays.

A record thirteen boats are participating in this year's event with teams representing Canada, the USA, Jamaica, and Cayman Islands. The two Canadian teams are Michele Cimon's JIM SCREECHIE from Ottawa, ONT and Tracy Snow's NINA from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The four USA boats include famous J/22 Class President Galen Freeman racing CALYPSO from Nashville, Walter Caldwell's ZIPPER from Texas, Drew Mutch's FACEY WHITE HOT from Annapolis, and Bruce Berner's AWESOME from Indianapolis.

The Cayman Island contingent, though not large, is quite formidable in their talents. Led by homeboy Mike Farrington's ADJUSTED, they will be a force to contend with (Mike has gotten a 3rd in the J/22 Worlds). The other top crew is Bruce Johnson's YAHOO.

The hometown boys are well-represented with a few past winners in their midst. Leading them should be Richard Hamilton's RENEGADE, with Mike Morse's AYAHSO, PJ Gibson & Capt. Hernault's TSUNAMI, Jim Wilson's DEFENDER, and Steve Cooke's GERONIMO in hot pursuit for class honors.  For more J/22 JAMMIN' JAMAICA Regatta sailing information
 

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

* This past summer, an all-women's team sailed on the J/92 KNOCKOUT with owner/ skipper Libby Tomlinson from Quantum Sails in Traverse City, MI. They had a very successful season sailing on Grand Traverse Bay.... here is Libby's report on the fun times and the challenges they face...

J/92 women's team
"I’m excited to share that our J/92 KNOCKOUT was named Yacht of the Year at Grand Traverse Yacht Club, in Traverse City, Michigan! The all-women crew of KNOCKOUT came together seven years ago after the husband of a good friend of mine recognized that his wife wanted to get more involved in sailing but felt uncomfortable being the only woman on the boat (typically).  So, we got to talking, and Rob suggested that we go in together on a boat, “for the girls”, and we decided a B-25 would suit the needs and budget nicely.  The name KNOCKOUT came after a long, hilarious, democratic process to name an all-girls boat.

J/92 all women's crew
During the six seasons on the B-25, we enabled over 25 women to get out on the water for Wednesday night racing, a little cruising, and some weekend short-distance events.  At the start of it all, only myself and my foredeck, Petra, knew anything about sailing!  Coaching from the helm, while driving and trimming main, and Petra coaching from the bow, we managed to get everyone up to speed in their positions.  Our first season was also our most successful, being named Yacht of the Year and winning our Intermediate level fleet.

J/92 women's team kids
Being a Knockout crew is something special, and everyone onboard has become part of the team by asking to be there.  We’ve never recruited.  Nonetheless, we’ve grown over the years a bit, in numbers and skill level, and Rob and I both have had children who we wanted to introduce to sailing on a more family-friendly boat.  That led us to wanting a J/92.

I joined the forum and kept watch for boats coming up for sale.  One day last fall, the opportunity came:  Bob Johnston on San Francisco Bay listed his beloved J/92 RAGTIME, hull #18.  I jumped, and about a week later, after a glowing survey, she started the journey across the country from San Francisco to Michigan.  Yes, fall isn’t the best time to buy a boat in Michigan!  She went into heated storage, amongst the area’s most prized auto collectors’ treasures, presiding high.

Come to find out, hull #18 has some special history.  Originally owned by Rod Johnstone himself and named RAGTIME! Yes, the co-founder of J/Boats had sailed her for two summers in the Stonington, CT sailing circles, Off Soundings, Block Island, etc.

Bob Johnston bought RAGTIME in November 2002.  She was in Marion, MA and owned by a former J/24 sailor, Joe Moore.  Joe was/is an engineer and meticulous.  Being in the Northeast, the boat (then called Acrobat) was kept inside for 5 months every year.  Joe sent many photos of every bit of the boat and they had some good conversations, such that Bob bought the boat sight-unseen.

Bob and RAGTIME had many great adventures in their 16 years together, including double-handing to Hawaii once, and single-handing 4 more times!  Besides the Hawaii races, Bob and "Rags" have been the singlehanded season champions in the SSS (200 members), won the local ocean series (most recently singlehanded in 2016 and doublehanded in 2017), and had success in many other races on San Francisco Bay and the coast.

J/92 boat owner- Libby
So, we on the KNOCKOUT crew had a bit of a legacy to live up to!  Our season started out slowly, learning the changes needed to our crew work and positions, adjusting to the bigger loads and honing our teamwork, and getting our rig tuned for our new suit of Quantum sails.  The boat was a delight to sail from the get-go.

We attended every Wednesday night race all summer, finishing the Spring series in second and the Summer series in third.   About mid-season we seemed to hit our stride with a string of bullets in August.  Our biggest competitor, an Express 34 fitted with a bowsprit, had been leading the season and we were quickly coming from behind.  It came down to the final race of the year, winner-take-all, and we managed to take line honors that night!  We also enjoyed a fun race mid-season and dressed up like Rosie The Riveter(s).  And our kids really enjoyed it all. Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

J/Newsletter- November 19th, 2014

J/Boat Show Schedule
(Newport, RI)- Over the course of the next few months, there are some excellent boat shows to view some of the latest J/Designs and also have a chance to speak with many of your friends and colleagues about the world of sailing.  Here are some of those events to consider, so mark your calendars to see the latest J’s on display:

J/88 sailboat- family speedsterJ/88 The Perfect Boat?
(Chicago, IL)- “When I sailed the J/88 in Newport in the fall of 2013 I really liked the boat but wondered how was it going to fit into the racing scene in Lake Michigan and who would want the boat. I have sailed boats from Sunfish to IOR Maxi's and America’s Cup 12 meters and I enjoy smaller boats more than the big ones. So, for me a 29 footer was right up my alley. The big question was could it do all the things I want to do with a boat?” said Richie Stearns.   Rich went on to say, “my perfect boat" needs to do the following:
  1. Has to be fast and fun to sail.
  2. Has to be affordable (price/ resale price) J/Boats hold their value better than any boat.
  3. Has to have a head with privacy
  4. Has to be able to trail behind a normal size vehicle
  5. Single-point lift and mast-up with gin pole. Doesn't need a boat yard to launch.
  6. Can sail the Chicago-Mackinac race.
  7. Can sail short-handed and around the buoys.
  8. Have an inboard engine to get some place.
After sailing in Newport with Stu J, I bought our first demo boat.  We had an amazing sail in 15-20 kts, a spectacular northwesterly breeze, clear skies, sunny, on Narragansett Bay.  I had to put all the pieces together to see if this was my perfect boat. So, I started looking at vehicles. That was tough, I live in downtown Chicago in a 1924 building, and the parking is tight. No way could I have a truck or a big SUV and I don't want one either. Most medium SUV's can only tow 3,500 pounds. However, Jeep had just come out with a diesel and that fit the bill. The Hemi in the Jeep would have worked, but didn't get good mileage.

J/88 sailboat- towing on trailerSo, I picked up the boat in December 2012 during winter storm “Hercules.” They were closing schools in Rhode Island and I was pulling a boat to Chicago. We did have to stop in the mountains but it wasn't it was the car or trailer's fault, there was 2" of ice on the road and the spin outs of other vehicles were getting out of control. But, the next day we made it to Chicago. Until we got to Indiana everything was very stable. There was some rocking in the rig as we approached Chicago. We found out later they closed Interstate 80 to trucks because of 50 kts cross-winds. The answer is, “yes a mid-size SUV can tow the J/88 over mountains and through storms!”  Read more about Rich’s experiences here (PDF download): http://www.jboats.com/images/stories/pdf/J88_PerfectBoat.pdf

Then, the J/88 Great Lakes fleet invites everyone to join them for the 107th running of the Chicago-Mackinac Race in 2015.  Afterwards, you can then cruise the beautiful waters of the lakes, like the North Channel in Canada or Harbor Springs, Michigan and surrounding islands. It is an experience that cannot be beat anywhere in the world with your J/88! When you’re done, just pull at Mackinac City, Harbor Springs (or anywhere else) and drive home!

Here is the J/88 invitation to sail the gorgeous Great Lakes in awesome fresh water sailing, you can truly knock-off several “bucket list” programs with these experiences (PDF download):  http://www.jboats.com/images/stories/pdf/J88_ChicagoMac.pdf

J/27 one-design sailboat off TorontoJ/27 Midwinters Announcement!
(New Orleans, LA)- On behalf of Merlin Wilson (Commodore & J/27 Sailor) at the Southern Yacht Club, you are all cordially invited to attend the inaugural annual J/27 Midwinters (and Mardi Gras festivities) in New Orleans this coming February 18th to 21st, 2015.

For those of you who are unaware, Southern YC has a fleet of 5 J/27s and is actively growing.  This presents a real opportunity to build another OD/Class event so those of you who are closer to NOLA and too far to make it to the NAs in Oakville can now also have a chance to race the 27 at its most exciting level.  And for those of us stuck in a "Polar Vortex"; an excuse to head South to escape the cold!!

For more information on sailing J/27s outside of the Polar Vortex, contact Andrew "Curved Air" Riem (CAN 59) at- andrew.riem@rogers.com.  As a Canadian, Andrew knows about all that polar vortex stuff, how it relates to your financial future and how to go “short” certain energy futures for all you hedge fund guys.  Plus, it also affects the trajectory of hockey pucks!  Finally, so that you can take advantage of some really fun sailing activities in the “French Quarter” (no explanation needed), be sure to contact J/27 maestro “Curved Air” Andrew.  Andrew truly is your “go to” guy for all things J/27s this winter.  The simple recommendation here?  Go South with your J/27!  Trust us, these J/27 guys (and some of their all girl boats) tend to have a LOT of fun!

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The second to last week of November brought with it stormy, wintry conditions in North America, similar scenarios for northern Europe and a mix of weather in Hong Kong and South America.  Down under, the J/24s in South America were enjoying relatively decent weather all week long for their South American Championships in La Punta, Chile.  North of them in Florida and the Bahamas, the Storm Trysail Club and the SORC hosted their famous Miami to Nassau Cup Offshore race that goes from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas.  It was a challenging race for a J/122, a J/125 and twin J/120s.

Across the pond, there was plenty of activity on the Solent, with the 6th weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series taking place for one-design J/111s and J/109s along with an IRC fleet that included a trio of fast J/97s.  Also taking place in the flight path of busy Heathrow International Airport was the RYA National Match Race Championship sailed on J/80s at the Queen Mary Reservoir.

Finally, leaping across to Asia, we find the J/80s in Hong Kong had concluded a very busy three weekend schedule that include their Hong Kong J/80 Championships, the Lipton Trophy Pursuit Race, and the always entertaining Around the Island Race.  Also sailing the around Hong Kong race was a fast J/111, a J/145 and a J/109.

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.

Regatta & Show Schedules:

Oct 4- Nov 30- Garmin Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, England
Oct 24- Mar 8- Monaco J/70 Winter Series- Monte Carlo, Monaco
Nov 19-22- J/105 International Invitational- Hamilton, Bermuda
Nov 22- Hot Rum Series #2- San Diego, CA
Dec 4-7- J/22 Jamaica Jammin’ Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Dec 6- Hot Rum Series #3- San Diego, CA
Dec 13- Feb 7- Quantum J/70 Winter Series- Davis Island, FL
Jan 18-23- Quantum Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Mar 4-7- Bacardi Miami Sailing Week- Miami, FL

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

J/111 sailing Hamble Winter SeriesHamble Winter Series- Weekend #6
(Hamble, England)- Menacing skies, a torrential rain squall and an indecisive breeze couldn't stop the assembled Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet from getting in some cracking racing on the sixth weekend of the series.

After a vicious rain squall caught the fleet on the way out, the wind shifted around between southeast and northerly until it settled in the northeast for long enough to get a good race in for all classes. The race team combined some starts to get everyone away in good time, with all classes sailing short courses between Royal Southern and East Knoll buoys. This led to some close-quarters racing to keep everyone on their toes, but the frequent windshifts gave tacticians the chance to make some big gains up the beats and down the runs.

In IRC 0, Chris Body's J/111 Icarus added a first place to her scoreline which leaves her equal on points with fellow J/111, Louise Makin’s JOURNEYMAKER II.  Just 2 pts back is Martin Dent’s J-ELVIS.  With two weekends left, is it possible there is a three-boat clean sweep of IRC 0 Class for the J/111s? 

J/88 family speedster- sailing Hamble on SolentStew Hawthorn’s J/88 JIFI sailed a great race to take the top spot in IRC 2, ahead of Paul Hayes' J/88 JONGLEUR in third.  At this stage of the game, JIFI is sitting in third overall with 24 pts with a good mathematical chance for 1st overall. Not far off the stage is Paul Ward’s J/88 EAT SLEEP J REPEAT; and an outside chance for the top three is Ivan Trotman’s J/88 JOJO.

It appears that Charles Ivill's J/97 JTB TYRES/ JUST LIKE THAT, which finished just under two minutes ahead of the fleet on corrected in their last race, is poised to be the primary candidate for series leader.  However, they have a mere 2 pts lead over Andy Howe’s J/97 BLACKJACK II and knowing how the teams have responded to sailing conditions in the last few weekends, this class could still be open for a surprising outcome?

J/109 fleet rounding mark on SolentIn the J/109s Adrian Wheal's JOLLY JACK TAR added another first to her scoreline, with Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX in 2nd place. As a result, Wheal’s crew is leading for the series with 9 pts, followed by Roger Phillips’ DESIGNSTAR II in second with 12 pts and Franks’ JYNNAN TONNYX in third with 18 pts.  Given the fact that any one crew is capable of winning one or more races, it would not be prudent to go down to your local Ladbrokes Betting Parlour and bet on a horse that may not leading by a nose on the final furlong!

Having endured one rain squall before the race, competitors were relieved that the clouds held their rain until the fleet was assembled in the HRSC clubhouse for the prize-giving, were day prizes were presented by Peter Kay and Ian Brown from One Sails, who have been longstanding supporters of the Hamble Winter Series for over 20 years.  Next week sees the penultimate weekend of racing in the 2014 Garmin Hamble Winter Series. Thanks for contribution from Ben Meakins.   Sailing Photo Credits- Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com.    For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Bruschetta- Santa Cruz win South AmericansBRUSCHETTA J/24 South American Champion
(La Punta, Peru)- With spring sailing going full-tilt “down under” the equator everywhere, it was perhaps the South American J/24 sailors who were most eager to get the ball rolling in their 2014 South American Championship hosted by Centro Naval de Peru- Club Nautico.  An enthusiastic group of thirteen J/24s, mostly from Peru and Chile, were ready to take on the top Brazilian team led by skipper Mauricio Santa Cruz on his famously-named BRUSCHETTA.

Sailing in the spectacular bay surround La Punta, the fleet was treated to excellent sailing conditions all five days of the event with winds averaging around 8-13 kts for the total of ten races.  It was a fair test of skills and it was pretty self-evident after the first day of racing that Santa Cruz’s BRUSCHETTA simply had “another gear” and could extricate themselves from difficult situations and still manage to win races.  In the end, they were crowned South American Champions after posting a remarkable seven 1st and a 3-4 as counters for a total of 14 pts net.

J/24 women's sailing team- La Punta, PeruBehind BRUSCHETTA, it was a game of consistency and avoiding “the big mistake”, some teams faired better than others.  After day one, the Brazilian BRUSCHETTA team led the fleet, followed by Luis Olcese’s SCARAMOUSH from Peru, then Javier Arribas’ WAYRA team also from Peru.  For two more days, the top three didn’t change.  Then, disaster struck the WAYRA team.  After posting mostly top three finishes, the WAYRA gang seemingly “lost the edge” and plunged into the abyss and off the podium.  In their last five races, WAYRA posted a 6-6-10-8-10 to seriously “fall from grace with the sea,” ending up in 5th overall.

On the third day of the regatta, the composition of the top five began to change, with Matias Seguel’s GURU team from Chile getting two 4ths to slide into third by a point to spare.  Then, on the final day of racing Saturday, WAYRA continued to be snake-bitten while GURU finished off the series by winning the last race and taking the bronze.   The race for the top five was rounded out by Vernon Robert’s Chilean team on JOYITA, taking 4th overall with relatively consistent finishes.

Of note was the continuing improvement of the all-women’s team sailing JITANA, skippered by Tania Zimmerman and her sisters and friends from Peru.  While they finished 8th, they managed to post a 1st and 3rd in races #8 and #9.  In fact, their 9-3-1-6 in the last four races on the last two days of the regatta was the 5th best in the fleet!   Sailing photo credits- Bernardita Grez  For Facebook photos & commentary on the J/24 South Americans   For more J/24 South American Championship sailing information

J/80 sailors- Queen Mary Sailing Club- Heathrow, EnglandWilliams Wins 5th RYA National Match Racing Title
(London, England)- Ian Williams confirmed his match racing caliber this weekend as the quadruple World Champion scooped a fifth RYA National Match Racing title at Queen Mary Sailing Club sailing on the matched fleet of J/80 one-designs supplied by the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Royal Thames YC. The Lymington-based skipper now joins Mark Campbell-James and two-time Olympian and America’s Cup sailor Andy Beadsworth at the top of the all-time winners list with five wins each.

The Championships got underway in a light five-six knot breeze on Friday, with results going very much according to the seeding’s, however the big match of the afternoon saw Ali Hall beat the world number two and former world champion leaving Williams with it all to do after the opening day’s eight flights of round-robin.

With no racing possible on Saturday due to very little wind, Sunday again started with a light five-six knot breeze with the racing more varied with unexpected wins and losses for many of the teams.

Williams wins RYA Match Race ChampionshipWilliams, and his crew at the event, Gerry Mitchell, Simon Shaw and the British Keelboat Academy’s James French, found their winning rhythm taking nothing but race wins, while Hall who had led after Friday’s racing with five wins was only able to win one of his four races. The breeze dropped early in the afternoon and the decision was made to finish the program at the end of the round-robin stage, handing Williams event honors with eight out of nine race wins.

A delighted Williams said: “It is always satisfying to win any match racing regatta. We were obviously the most experienced team but in match racing it is all about the performance on the day and you’ve still got to get the job done so we were pleased to come out on top in the end. Conditions were mainly on the light side, but the Race Committee did a great job of getting all the racing away which were good fair races and, by the way, in very evenly matched J/80s.”

“After losing to Ali Hall in our sixth race we needed to win all our remaining three races and hope that he slipped up along the way, so when we crossed the finish line in our last race we did not know if we had won or not as we did not know his results. Fortunately for us Ali had lost some races so we came out on top,” explained the 37-year-old.

This year’s event set a very high bar for the quality of sailing in the round-robin stages, as evidenced by the real mix of results between sailors.  Racing in J/80s got underway on Friday (November 14) with a 15-flight round-robin schedule followed by knockout quarter-final and semi-final rounds before the Champion was decided in the final round on Sunday.

“We last competed in the RYA National Match Racing Championships two years ago and I think the standard has definitely improved a great deal in that time. We were behind at some point in four out of our nine races and really had to fight for all our wins. It was just really good fun to get out and do some racing in the UK as we don’t get to sail at home very often,” said Williams.

The final scores showed a tie between Mark Lees, Tom Mallindine and Ali Hall each with six wins. As Lees had beaten both Mallindine and Hall in the round robin he gained second overall with Mallindine taking third. The British Sailing Team’s Olympic classes sailor Nick Thompson took fifth on his first outing into match racing while Annabel Vose finished sixth.   For more RYA National Match Racing sailing information

J/122 sailing Miami Nassau Cup RaceTEAMWORK Makes the Dream Work!
J/122 2nd In Nassau Cup Race
(Nassau, Bahamas)- Since 1934, some of the best offshore sailors in the world have battled for the prestigious Miami to Nassau Cup, including Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, Dick Bertram, and Ted Hood, aboard legendary boats like Running Tide, Windward Passage, Tenacious, and Boomerang.  Half a generation after World War II forced a short intermission, the race became part of the fabled Southern Ocean Racing Conference in the 1980s until the series’ dissolution in the 1980s.  Building on the race’s welcome rebirth in 2003, the new SORC, a group of race-veteran race managers, announced its management of the Nassau Cup Race in 2010.

Starting in South Florida, racers leave Great Isaacs Light to starboard and proceed past Great Stirrup Light, finally finishing at Nassau harbor. Today’s modern boats just need the right conditions to claim this legendary prize, and racers of all types will enjoy the navigational and crew challenge of the race across the Gulf Stream.

J/125 sailing Miami Nassau Cup raceIt was a “come from behind victory parade” this year for the 2014 Miami-Nassau Cup Race, with slower boats riding new breeze right up to the leaders on the final leg into Nassau Harbor. The entire fleet finished within 2.5 hours of each other on Friday evening. First across the line was Frank Atkinson’s new J/125 RAISIN’ CANE, sailing in the IRC Class.

For the faster boats, it was a day of light downhill work that brought the leaders slowly to Nassau.   Behind them, a classic frontal system blowing off Florida and across the Gulf Stream brought strong, new breeze to the tail-enders in the fleet, the proverbial “fleet compression puff” on an enormous, macro scale!  Nevertheless, Robin Team’s illustrious J/122 TEAMWORK managed to play their cards right and take 2nd overall in the IRC Class for the Nassau Cup.  Getting the short-end of that stick was Atkinson’s RAISIN’ CANE, having to settle for 5th overall after watching their substantial lead over the fleet evaporate in the last 12 hours of the race!

J/122 Teamwork in 2nd IRC at Miami Nassau CupA similar scenario played out in PHRF Class for the top J/120s.  After a great start and strong overnight performances, the two J/120s, Frank Kern’s famous Detroit team aboard CARINTHIA and Bill Terry’s crew on TAMPA GIRL, could only watch in dismay as they saw the little spinnakers popping up over the horizon behind them with the incoming breeze.

To the fleet’s great amusement, teams were selected to participate in a J/22 Match Race event right off Nassau YC.  Sailing just main & jibs only, a great time was had by all in this fun, low-key regatta that brings local kids aboard to experience keelboat racing on J/22s— a bit different than their Optimist dinghies!    SORC Media - C. Woolsey   For Mr Dunkley’s sailing photos:   For more Miami- Nassau Cup sailing information

J/80s sailing off Hong KongTIGRINA Crowned King of Hong Kong J/80s!
J/111 Wins Around The Island Race
(Hong Kong, China)- Over the past few weekends, the J/80s in Hong Kong have been quite busy, having a wonderful time sailing their Hong Kong Championships, the Lipton Trophy Pursuit Race and the classic Around The Island Race; all events hosted by the extraordinary Royal Hong Kong YC.

Starting with the Hong Kong Championship on November 1st & 2nd, an excellent turnout of seventeen boats participated, with the fleet enjoying a total of eight races to complete the series.  It was extremely close racing for the top two boats, Andrew Moore & Lionel Welch’s TIGRINA and Felix Ng’s JAVELIN.  After the first day of racing, JAVELIN had the upper hand, closing out the day with a 1-3-2-2 for 8 pts with TIGRINA just one point back with an equally stellar record of 2-2-4-1 for 9 pts.  Behind this duo, the fleet was experiencing a bit of the “snakes & ladders” conundrum, working hard to stay in the top three, but often snagging defeat from the jaws of victory.

Hong Kong J/80s sailingOn Sunday, it was clear that Moore’s TIGRINA crew must’ve had a can of “whup-ass” for breakfast in their steak & eggs and heaps of coffee.  For after starting out the day with bullet, they closed out with a 3-1-1 to win the series by four points over the friendly rivalry with Ng’s JAVELIN team.  The balance of the top five was equally tough competition with next three boats finishing just four points apart.  Winning (or perhaps, surviving) this battle was Dan Tullberg’s UNKNOWN PLEASURES, completing the podium on third with 27 pts net.  Only one point back was Jonathan Hodgson’s J-CHI with 28 pts in fourth and sitting on fifth place was Gill Keefe’s JELIGNITE with 31 pts. For more J/80 Hong Kong sailing information.

Lipton Trophy Pursuit Race
The replenishment of the northeast monsoon coincided with the first pursuit race of RHKYC’s 2014-15 season, with an average 10kts of easterly wind bestowed on the competitors sailing in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.  A total of 47 boats started the race in front of Kellett island, on staggered start times according to their RHKATI ratings. For many boats it was a great warm-up for the much anticipated Around The Island Race, the circumnavigation of Honk Kong Island.  In the end, top J/80 was David Fan’s SEA BISCUIT, followed by Alex Cheung’s FIGURE OF EIGHT in second and Paul Lam’s LILA in third.  For more Lipton Trophy sailing information.

J/111 sailing Hong KongAround The Island Race
While the Lipton Trophy took place on Saturday and was good sailing, Sunday’s Around the Island Race was shortened due to a bit too much light air.  Sailing like a man possessed, it was clear David Fan’s J/80 SEA BISCUIT crew were simply on fire.  Starting first in the J/80 Class and increasing his lead (isn’t that what the textbooks tell you to do?), Fan’s crew finished first with a nearly six minute lead at the gun!  Lonny Chen’s crew on MAY-13th took second and they were 4:30 seconds clear of the third place finisher, Henry Wong on FOOT LOOSE.

Amongst the J/70 Class, it was John Leven’s SAN LONG that took class honors followed by Paul McMaster & Fabrice Bureau taking second with DAZIBAO.

In the offshore IRC handicap world, Simon Blore’s J/111 MOJITO again took class honors over the best-sailed boats and most competitive offshore class at the Royal Hong Kong YC.  For more Around The Island Race sailing information.   For more Royal Hong Kong YC Facebook photos
 

J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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J/88 Canada- sailing fast*  J/88 Great Lakes sailors extend a warm welcome to Rob & Sandy Butler! They are from Collingwood, Ontario but winter down south.  Also new to the “Great Lakes 88’s” fleet is Bob Kreilick from Rochester, New York.

What’s new in the J/88 program?  Year two of the J/88 demo program is in the books.  This year was a lot of fun because we had 4 other J/88’s to race against on Lake Ontario.  We have the biggest fleet in the country with 5 boats, not bad for a smaller market!  The 88s still raced PHRF, so it was a balance of trying to beat one another but also the rest of PHRF 1 on corrected time.  This year, we were given a 6 second “protect the fleet” rating, so what was going to be an 87 rating, brought us down to an 81.  This was actually OK, because it allowed us to see how the boat stacked up with a tougher rating against those in the area like the Beneteau 36.7 (rates 78 here), J/109 (rates 80), Beneteau 10R (92), Nelson Marek Custom 30 (93), and a J/105 (92). Of course there are many factors that weigh into PHRF besides the boat itself, like wind speed, wave conditions, crew ability, sail inventory, clean bottom, and on and on.  Overall the boat performed very well and all of our owners were pleased with how easy it was to handle and sail, forgiving on the crew, and just plain fun!

My thoughts on the J/88, by Don Finkle:
“I admit to being spoiled.  For over 40 years I have always been able to sail the newest models when they come along, and there have been many.  Each new boat represented the state of the art in production boats at the time.  They varied from just OK to good to really good.  The J/88 falls into the last category in my mind.  With a season and a half of sailing the J/88 under our belts, I can say that with confidence.

J/88 family speedster sailing Rochester, New YorkWhen sizing up a new boat it is important to put the design goal in perspective.  In the case of J/Boats any new model must perform well and be easily handled, with broad-enough appeal to be commercially viable and to sell in numbers sufficient to offer the promise of one design racing.  Boats that are too exotic in construction or too extreme in any way do not fit the pattern that has proven so successful over time.  Sometimes we hear the knock that other boats are faster, and that is true.  There is room in the sport for higher-performance boats but they will always be limited in number.  Examples of new similar sized boats that were designed for that top end speed-wise would be the C&C 30 and Farr 280, and before them the Mumm/Farr 30.  They are each cool boats in their own right but are aimed at the top of the performance curve where fewer sailors reside.

The J/Boats mantra is to offer a level of performance that is fun and exciting but also not intimidating or limiting.  We find that the J/88 is just that, fast and fun but not over the edge.  It is hard to complain about the speed of the 88 when you realize that at 29 feet we are routinely sailing with boats 5-10 feet longer and often beating them boat-for-boat.  At the same time the 88 offers a usable interior with berths, a marine head, modest storage and a comfortable cockpit for daysailing too.  Add in the powerful diesel saildrive and you have a boat that can do limited cruising and overnight racing.  These factors were all part of the plan when the J/88 was conceived; it had to meet a more varied usage profile.  We think the Johnstone’s nailed it.

Race results are not the best way of judging the potential of a boat because so many factors enter into it beyond the capability of the boat itself.  But at this point we are very comfortable saying that the J/88 is a step ahead of most other boats of its size that have gone before, as it should be.  What has surprised us most has been the excellent light air performance, which we did not anticipate, given the lack of an overlapping headsail.  The other aspect that exceeded our expectations is the pointing ability upwind when the in-haulers are employed; it is like riding up an elevator.  The keel really seems to work.

The sail inventory that seems to work best includes a main, two headsails and two spinnakers.  The light-medium jib is 105%, and the heavy jib is 100% but flatter.  The crossover point between the two jibs is in the mid-teens, depending upon sea state.  The heavy jib can be carried down to as low as 12 knots and the Lt/Med up to 18, so there is a fairly large spread where you can get away with either.  The full size A2 spinnaker is 95 square meters, and the heavy/reaching A3 kite is about 80 SM.  Our main has one reef point but if memory serves, we have yet to use it.  Jib battens can be either vertical or roller; either style works with the standard Harken below-deck furler.         

Sailing the J/88:  We would normally sail with 5 or 6 aboard, but could take more if they showed up due to the large cockpit and clean deck.  We hate to leave anyone at the dock but for most conditions five people is probably a good number.  The main controls are set up for the helm to trim the main or for a dedicated main trimmer.  Coarse and fine sheet tackles, traveler and backstay are close together.  If you are using a main trimmer, the easy mode is to move the fine tune block on top of the coarse tune block with both in front of the traveler.  For short-handed sailing, the driver can sit aft, straddling or in front of the traveler, any of those positions work.  Tacking the small headsail is easy, one person can release, and then trim in on the other side so long as the driver makes a reasonable-speed tack! 

We sail with many different people on our boat.  We spend more time exposing people to the fun of J/88 sailing, and often their first exposure to asymmetric spinnaker sailing, as opposed to fine-tuning our trim.  For sure we can get more speed out of the boat over time as we focus more, and we noted that as the season wore on we kept going better and better.  There is a lot you can do with the jib, especially with the adjustable cars and in-haulers.  The 88 really tracks well upwind when in the groove.  When dialed-in, which is not hard, the boat has a very balanced and light helm.    

Before we changed our backstay length (see below) we were probably sailing with a poorly-tuned rig much of the time.  We often got to the boat from work with hardly any time to prep for the race so the rig was often too tight or too loose.  It did not seem to bother the boat much but for sure our performance would have been even better if we tuned for the conditions.  Because we seemed to be going well we also were a bit lazy about the rig.  Finally, as the boat comes the shroud turnbuckles are not as easy to adjust as they should be but we now have a good solution for that (see below).  Looking back on the season, we were probably too tight more often than not.

We found that the big cockpit tended to attract people who ended up sitting further aft than they should be for best performance.  When we moved people forward it always seemed to make us go faster.  The exception is downwind in a breeze where you want to slide people aft.  It is easy to move around the J/88 so there is no problem placing weight where it should be.  Of course, for daysailing, that big cockpit is awesome, you can fit a pile of folks aboard, and they will have a comfortable place to sit.  Tim reminded me of the time we had the young grandchildren aboard this summer and they had a ball, even swimming off the back, easy with the open transom.  The 88 works for daysailing, course racing, distance racing or limited cruising.  The jib furler is convenient as is the Harken luff track on the mast for the mainsail cars.  The boat seems to handle a wide range of wind velocities very well, the sign of a good design.

Toronto Boat Show:  We are lending our hull #27 to Pat Sturgeon Yachts, the dealer for the greater Toronto area so that there can be a J/88 on display at the show.  It will bring good exposure of the boat on the north shore and hopefully we can build out our Lake Ontario fleet even further.  Pat has recently sold an 88 to a Toronto couple.

J/36 Jazz getting cleaned* J/36 Cruising with United Kingdom/ Mediterranean long distance cruiser Norman Curnow.  More often than not, Norm is single-handing his boat from port to port and occasionally brings along a friend or so for double-handing.  Said Norm recently, “just catching up with my J colleagues around the world.  My J/36 JAZZ (Rodney Johnstone’s original J/36) is back at her homeport after a 9,000 mile sail single-handed covering many places in and on the cost of Portugal, Spain and France.  She awaits 2015 for more racing at her club and homeport of Cornwall.  We are looking forward to some offshore racing with friends.  Here is a photo of JAZZ having her scrub off in the Tamarriver River after her trip back home!” All the best, Norman
 

J/Cruisers
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.
*Giant whale breaching in front of J/160 SALACIA off  Australia's Whitsunday Islands J/160 SALACIA has been sailing in Australia in the Whitsunday Islands.  Guess who decided to throw themselves across their bow as they cruised comfortably to their next destination?  A giant whale!  Look at this amazing photo!

J/42 cruiser- sailing across Atlantic Ocean* 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 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over ocean* 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- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* 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

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

J/Newsletter- May 21st, 2014

J/30 sailing off SeattleSwiftsure Race Preview
(Victoria, BC, Canada)- One of the Pacific Northwest classic offshore yacht races is about to take place this coming weekend- the “Swiftsure Classic”.  Hosted by the Royal Victoria YC in British Columbia, there are twenty-one “J” teams sailing in a fleet of 184 boats spread across four different race courses.  Indeed, the RVYC over time has encouraged broader participation in the Swiftsure by adding shorter, easier-to-sail courses depending on types of boats and, in fact, time limitations many people are experiencing today with their crews.  Those choices include the Swiftsure (138nm), the Cape Flattery (101nm), the Juan de Fuca (78nm), and the Inshore “day regatta held just off downtown Victoria.  The forecast looks light with 5-10 kt breezes from the SE to SW quadrants all weekend (see forecast here).

The Swiftsure has grown out of a long tradition of offshore sailboat racing in the Pacific NW.  The first recorded sailboat racing in the Victoria area was in the late 1850s, between boats of the Royal Navy and the early Colonists. Interest in the sport grew in the following decades, and by 1930, a long distance race from Cadboro Bay around the Swiftsure Lightship on Swiftsure Bank, at the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait was proposed, and there were six entrants! Since then, the event has simply grown in both stature and in participation.

Swiftsure LightshipThe Swiftsure has, in fact, been a pioneer of “social media” and “public broadcasting” across the airwaves since its inception.  In the earlier years of Swiftsure, Eaton’s Department Store (like Harrod’s of England) had a major display window at the corner of Douglas & View, in downtown Victoria— this was always set up as “Swiftsure Headquarters”. A large map of the race course was installed, and the progress of the race was shown by moving miniature boats across the map. As the numbers of boats increased this became a daunting task. The event, and this way of graphically displaying progress, was very much appreciated by Victorians. “People used to line the sidewalks, sit on the curbs. There was a feeling of excitement right there, in the middle of town!”

In addition to the Eaton’s race HQ, there was a radio show to accompany the race! “Since the first radio broadcast from “Dose crazy yotsmen” competed with the fisherman’s band to the outside world during the 1952 race, and L’Apache (later Diamond Head) broke her backstay during the effort, Humphrey Golby has been “on the air”. Coverage expanded when Harold Elworthy’s Island Tug and Barge Company generously provided tugboats for the press. Radio station CKDA pioneered with the limited ship-to-shore equipment of the day and ‘The Voice’ of the Swiftsure was born.”

Partaking in all the camaraderie and festivities associated with the premiere offshore event are J teams sailing in virtually all four courses.  In the “grand-daddy” of them all, John McPhail’s J/160 JAM from Gig Harbor YC will be sailing the Swiftsure Lightship Classic course, the lone J/crew to do so.

J/46 sailing Swiftsure off SeattleThe highly popular Cape Flattery Race has attracted a flock of thirteen J’s, including John Tenneson’s J/145 JEDI and Ron Holbrook’s J/133 CONSTELLATION in IRC Racing class.  Others in L-1 Class include some past winners of the race, like Tom Kelly’s J/122 ANAM CARA, Bob Brunius’s J/120 TIME BANDIT. L-2 Class is chock full of J/105s, many of whom have lots of offshore silverware and pickle dishes gathering dust- current Oregon Offshore winning team FREE BOWL OF SOUP (Doug Schenk, Eric Hopper, Matt Davis) will be up against Jerry Diercks’s DELIRIUM (Seattle NOOD winner), Jim Geros’s LAST TANGO and Lorenzo Migliorini’s ALLEGRO VIVACE. In the H-1 Class are a number of fast J cruiser-racers, including Oregon Offshore veterans VELOCITY (Tom Keffer’s J/42), RIVA (Scott Campbell’s J/46) and FUTURE PRIMITIVE (Ron Mackenzie’s J/37).

The Juan de Fuca Race seems to be popular with the J/30 gang, with two entries from Sloop Tavern YC- Ulf Georg Gwildis’s IMPULSIVE and CONRAD J (Geoffrey Wolf & Adrien Felon).  Joining them are Todd Rutter’s J/32 BLUE JAY and Jim Prentice’s J/109 DIVA.

Finally, the Inshore regatta includes the J/80 SW sailed by Kevin Reath, the J/30 CORVO skippered by Tom Kerr and the J/40 MALOLO helmed by Mike Hoffman.   For more Swiftsure Race sailing information

J/105 sailing Figawi raceFIGAWI Race Preview
(Hyannis, MA)- The most anticipated opening regatta for the offshore sailors in New England (particularly those around Cape Cod) has to be the renowned FIGAWI Race weekend.  Traditionally taking place on the USA Memorial Day holidays, this mad dash of 60nm or so (depending on how you sail it) from Hyannis port to Nantucket has to be one of the world’s larger pursuit races.  And, that is its charm.  No one has any idea of how well they will do since it’s really a race to yet another social event/ party that takes place on Saturday night.  For most, the racing is secondary to the social activities ashore in Nantucket all Sunday.

The 43rd Annual Figawi Race Weekend kicks off the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer season with over 200 sailboats and nearly 3,000 sailors attend this event.  The weekend begins with a Kickoff Party at Hyannis Yacht Club on Friday, May 23rd, 2014.  It is a come-one, come-all affair!

Early Saturday morning, the first boat officially starts at 10 am off the Hyannis Port Jetty, hoping to be the first one to Nantucket Harbor. In this pursuit-style race, there have often been cases where maxi 70 footers are crossing the line simultaneously with J/24s, J/35s, J/44s, Concordia 40s and Lord knows what else!

This year’s 206 entries are sure hoping the weather cooperates.  Fog, drizzle and rain are not unknown in these parts in late spring, so is no wind.  Nevertheless, with an enormous depression moving offshore spinning off northeasterly breezes, the fleet should have light drizzle Friday, but clearing for Saturday start! (see weather forecast).

Hoping to make their mark in this year’s event are nineteen intrepid J adventurers whistling across Vineyard Sound.  First out of the blocks will be the two J/29s, Pat Cerundolo’s IL CATTIVO and Ira Perry’s SEEFEST.  Next are likely to be another duo of J/40s, Bill Jones’s SMITTEN and Kirk Brown’s JAZZ.  Then, comes the single biggest “one-design” start in the fleet, a half-dozen J/105s that include the Nantucket High School Sailing Team on CLIO (very cool, eh?) along with Joyce & Wagner Reservitz’s DARK’N’STORMY, Doug Riggs’s RIGADOON, Ed Lobo’s WATERWOLF, Brad Mascott’s TWO IF BY SEA and Jon Bloom’s BEAR SPIRIT.  Two J/109s are next, making the trip are Jim Bello’s DEJA VU and Bill Kneller’s VENTO SOLARE.  Not far behind will be two J/120s, Dave Follett’s GLORY and Gordon Mack’s M-SQUARED.  Ed Kaye’s J/111 PRAVDA 2 will be in hot pursuit behind the 120s.  Yet another duo of J/122s will be following them, Jim Masiero’s URSUS MARITIMUS and Peter Duncan’s PATRIOT. Finally, the “big boys” this year starting about the same time are Lauren Burke’s J/44 SPICE and Dick Egan’s award-winning J/46 WINGS!  Fun for all. It’s likely to be a jib/ genoa fetch reach across, particularly if the front keeps moving and the wind veers into the ESE quadrants!  For more FIGAWI Race sailing information

J/35 Paladin starting Block Island raceBlock Island Race Preview
(Stamford, CT)- Over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, the Storm Trysail Club’s annual Block Island Race takes place on the tricky waters of Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound.  An end of spring classic, this annual rite of passage for many sailing yachts in the northeast is a daunting 186nm sprint that starts off Stamford, CT and uses Block Island as a turning mark offshore.

The course is simple but maddeningly exasperating at times depending on how you execute the tactics and strategies based on the weather and currents.  In fact, the central issue for the entire race almost always comes down to how you go through the infamous "Race" at the end of Long Island- Plum Gut south of Plum Island, through the middle, or along the Connecticut shore and Fisher's Island to the north.  This year’s weather forecast indicates easterlies at the start on Friday, backing into the NE to N by Saturday afternoon (see weather forecast here).  A light to moderate breeze beat going east down Long Island Sound may be an issue for many boats but most of the J/Teams should simply love it.

Facing that challenge are seventy-two boats, fifteen of them J/Crews (20% of the fleet), sailing in IRC & PHRF handicap classes and a J/44 one-design fleet.

The largest brand in the IRC 1 Double-handed Division are the J’s with 5 of the 12 boats sailing.
Multiple Block Island Race and Bermuda Race One-Two winner, Jason Richter, will certainly be a factor on his famous J/35 PALADIN.  Two J/120s are participating including Gardner Grant's ALIBI and Hewitt Gaynor's MIRIELLE, both are proven offshore winners- the 120s themselves could lead all the J's home.  New additions to the double-handed group this are Mike Piper’s J/111 EAGLES DARE from Marblehead, MA and Norman Kilarjian’s J/105 TOLO from New York.

In IRC 2 Division Robert Siegel from Stamford, CT will skipper the lone J/109 PAX 3.  Their most significant competition will surely come from Rives Potts’s 48 ft custom sloop CARINA- a Bermuda Race winner.

The two J teams sailing in the IRC 3 Division have eight other classmates to contend with, many with strong Block Island Race credentials.  Regardless, the J/133 MATADOR sailed by Dale and Michael McIvor and the J/122 RED SKY skippered by John Pearson should like the forecasted breezes relative to their competition.

In PHRF Division 1 world, the famous J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN will be sailing with a completely junior crew aboard made up of American YC’s Junior Big Boat Team sailors. Aboard as “adult supervision” will be Peter Becker, AYC’s sailing coach/ director.

Taking on the PHRF 2 Division will be Rick Oricchio’s J/120 ROCKET SCIENCE from Black Rock YC in Fairfield, CT.

J/44 VAMP sailing Block Island raceFinally, the J/44 One-Design Division has an excellent turnout of five boats and included are several that have offshore championship winning pedigree.  Phil Gutin’s BEAGLE, Norm Schulman’s CHARLIE V and Len Sitar’s VAMP are amongst those who’ve done this race many times.  Also veterans of the offshore wars are Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes sailing KINCSEM, quick learners of the game after just getting nipped at the finish last year by Sitar’s VAMP!  Harry Devore’s team on HONAHLEE are no shrinking violets either, after not sailing the race the last few years, they’re hoping to make their mark in this tough group of one-design group sailors.   For more STC Block Island Race sailing information

J/109 team sailing fastPoole Regatta Preview
(Poole, England)-  The Poole Regatta is a huge bi-annual event held over the 3 days of the late May Bank Holiday Weekend starting 24th May.  In addition to the IRC series, there are a number of national championships being run as part of the regatta, including J/24s, J/70s and J/80s.

At the top of the IRC 1 entries is Jackie and Rob Dobson’s J/133 Jeronimo, who will expect to lead this fleet around the course.  Joining them are two J/109s, Steven Tapper’s STALKER and Alan & Lis Bennet’s BLUE JAY.

The one-design side of things is pretty remarkable, three International J one-designs are sailing their UK Nationals at this event!  What is even more impressive is that all three fleets have excellent attendance, the J/24s have 19 boats registered, the J/70s have 13 and the J/80s have 16.  Fun and games for all!

J/70 RAF Spitfire sailing fastFor the J/70 UK Nationals it is a compulsory qualifying event for teams that wish to go to the 2014 World Championship in Newport, RI.  Many of the top UK teams are attending, including Ian Atkins on BOATS.COM (top finisher at Key West Race Week), Simon Ling skippering TEAM RAF SPITFIRE Powered by SLAM and Marie-Claude Heys on JACOBS COAT.  In addition, participating is the American team of Jen & Ray Wulff from Annapolis, MD; they are sailing a chartered J/70 called JOINT CUSTODY.

The J/80s also have most of their top teams attending, including Patrick Liardet on AQUA-J, Andrew Dallas & Ben Richards on BOYSTEROUS, Gary Owens on JAMMY DODGER, Phil Taylor on J.A.T. and Team JUICY.

The J/24s have a number of familiar faces from the local fleet at Parkstone YC and from the fleet on the Solent; many sporting sail numbers of recent vintage, like 4000 and higher!  Amongst the contenders may be Andy Taylor’s HITCHIKER, Bob Turner & Ian Brown’s SERCO, Nick Phillips’s CHAOTIC, Roger Morris’s JOLLY ROGER and Simon Hall’s SUSPICION.  Like the J/70s, there is an American team participating- Paul Anstey’s team from Melbourne YC in Florida racing JOBS FOR THE BOYS.   For more Poole Regatta sailing information

J/24 Hudson River Community sailing team“Dark-n-Stormy” Community Sailing Benefit
(Pier 66, NY)- The Hudson River Community Sailing Center is hosting its 7th annual “Dark & Stormy” Sailing Benefit at the Pier 66 facilities known as “The Frying Pan” at West 26th Street and Hudson River Park on Tuesday, June 13th.

This program has grown tremendously over time and the fact that a fleet of J/24s are helping to provide academic enrichment to New York City and New Jersey public schools is an awesome program to support— for all sailors!

The event takes place on Tuesday, June 3rd from 7pm to 10pm with music, dancing, great food, open bar and fantastic raffle prizes.  Please contact event chairs Joy Macdougall, Chrystal Puleo, Lisa Fox or Emory O’Mealia.

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The third week of May was busy with sailing activities taking place in many interesting sailing areas around the world.  However, perhaps none were busier than the second stage of the J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga taking place in Starnberg, Germany and hosted by the Bayerischer Yacht Club.  Eighteen yacht club teams participated in the three-day event that saw dozens of races sailed.

Over in China, the Qingdao International Marine Club (QIMC) located at the Qingdao International Sailing Center recently hosted the International City Clubs Open Regatta. Two of the “local” J/80s managed to defy all odds and perform quite admirably in the ORC Handicap division.

In the Americas, the J/22s just held their North American Championship on the Chesapeake Bay and had the Annapolis YC host the event over a four-day period.  Speaking of J/22’s, the Canandaigua YC hosted their perennial J/22 Jack Rabbit Regatta on the gorgeous Canandaigua Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.  Out West, two events took place along the Pacific coastline.  Up in the northwest, the Sperry Top Sider Seattle NOOD Regatta was held on Puget Sound, surrounded by the mighty Olympics and Cascades snow-capped mountain ranges.  Fleets of J/24s, J/70s, J/80s and J/105s participated in that event.  Down south, the J/105s and J/120s sailed in the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta on San Francisco Bay and hosted by St Francis YC.

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.

Regatta & Show Schedules:

May 24-26- Swiftsure Race- Royal Victoria YC- Victoria, BC, Canada
May 27- Jun 9- Delta Lloyd North Sea Week- Scheveningen, Netherlands
May 28- Jun 1- J/22 Europeans- Cameret-sur-Mer, France
May 29-Jun 2- Italian J/24 Nationals- Tirano, Italy
May 30- Susan Hood Trophy Race- Mississauga, ONT, Canada
May 31- Delta Ditch Run- Stockton Sailing Club- Stockton, CA
Jun 6-8- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Jun 6-9 Norseewoche- Heligoland, Germany
Jun 9-15- Normandy Sailing Week- Le Havre, France
Jun 13-22- Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH

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

J/22 North American crews relaxing at Annapolis YCBAD NEWS 2 Wins J/22 North Americans
(Annapolis, MD)- Thirty-eight teams from across the United States and Canada competed in this year’s J/22 North American Championships held at the Annapolis YC in Annapolis, MD.  Mike Marshall of Jamestown, Rhode Island earned his first J/22 North American Championship with crew Mark Sertl and Matt Gowell sailing BAD NEWS 2. BAD NEWS took advantage of a discard in the fifth and final race to secure the championship with 12 points. Local teams rounded out the top three, as Chris Gaffney’s CHASING WATERFALLS took second with 16 points and J.R. Maxwell’s SCOOBY snared the bronze spot with 18 points. Four races were held on Sunday, after light and fluky breeze allowed just one race over the first two days of the championship, bringing the total number of races to five.

J/22s sailing North Americans off Annapolis, MDMarshall, also the winner of the Annapolis NOOD two weeks ago, credited Gowell in the middle and Sertl on the foredeck for getting him around the race course while he focused on steering. Despite light air and strong current, the team focused on the conditions where they were at any given moment. “You made a decision that brought you to where you are, so you just have to concentrate on that,” Marshall stated. “The Race Committee did the best they could with the conditions they were given. It was challenging and tough.” Marshall is relatively new to the J/22, having just competed in last year’s Worlds and some local club racing.

J/22 sailors winning trophyWinds at 8-10 knots greeted competitors on Sunday morning under sunny skies, as local Jeff Todd’s HOT TODDY won the day’s first battle. Brad Julian’s THREE DORIES.COM team followed in second, and Jonathan Phillips’ BRUISER in third. 2013 J/22 World Champion Allan Terhune on DAZZLER dominated the next contest, with Gaffney and Marshall behind him. Chris Doyle steered “THE JUG 4 1”to victory in Sunday’s third race, trailed by Maxwell and Marshall, as winds decreased slightly. Terry Flynn’s TEJAS closed the event with a victory. Next were Chris Wilson’s LIL’ PUFFY and Jeffrey Love’s STAMPEDE.

The top five after Marshall’s BAD NEWS 2 was Gaffney’s CHASING WATERFALLS in second with 16 pts, Maxwell’s SCOOBY in third with 18 pts, Wilson’s LIL’ PUFFY in fourth with 21 pts and Doyle’s “THE JUG 4 1” in fifth with 27 pts.  Sailing photo credits- Susan Mikulski.  For more J/22 North American Championship sailing information

J/70s sailing Deutsche Segel-BundesligaDeutsche Segel-Bundesliga Starts With Three-Way Tie!
Norddeutscher RV Win The Tie-Breaker
(Starnberg, Germany)- After an intense qualification regatta a few weeks back, eighteen clubs participated in the Bundesliga season opener on Lake Starnberg at the Bayerischer Yacht Club. The thirteen sailing clubs that qualified from the first season in 2013 were joined by five “newcomers” that had qualified in early April- Bodensee Yacht Club Ãœberlingen, Düsseldorf Yacht Club, Kieler Yacht Club, the S.C.”Wappen von Bremen" and the Seglervereinigung Itzehoe.

Prior to the start of the regatta, Ilya Wolf (BYC team manager) said, "Our team is perfectly prepared. We are looking forward to the coming weekend and are proud host of this event. We are very excited about participating with the Segel-Bundesliga. It is a very good opportunity for our young sailors and a great way to promote sailing to everyone."

J/70s sailing off Starnberger, GermanyRecognizing the importance of this season long series that culminates with the Finale in Hamburg, many clubs pulled out all the stops to get their top sailors to hop aboard the teams as either crew or skippers.  Among the most prominent sailors in Starnberg were four German Olympians. Sailing for Württemberg Yacht Club was Stefanie Rothweiler (two-time Olympic 470s); sailing for Wansee was Ulrike Schumann (Olympics in Ynglings); and Kristin Wagner (Olympic Yngling) and Patrick Follmann (Olympian 470) were both sailing for Deutscher Touring YC.

With so much talent and tactical horsepower aboard the various boats, the racing was going to be close.  In fact, far closer than anyone could have imagined!  After the first day of sailing, three teams were tied on points- Bayerischer YC, Deutsche Touring YC and Flensburg SC! Lots of sunshine and light 7 kt winds greeted the fleet, enough to get in seven races.  "The weather conditions were not optimal. In fact, it was often difficult.  But, we are extremely pleased and excited that we were able to get a good start in the new season on home turf," concluded Christian Schäfer, helmsman of the BYC boat.

J/70 youth sailors - Sailing in GermanyThe second day offered sailing at its best. Starting out with a bit of rainy weather, by afternoon, the weather had cleared and the good breezes enabled twenty-four races to be sailed! The defending champions, Norddeutscher RV, had an impressive day of sailing.   "The field is so close and tight that a single mistake is sufficient to be passed from the very front to the very back of the pack. With good starts and safe maneuvers, we were able to stay up front most of the time. Our goal is the top three," stated Florian Weser from the NRV team.  In fact, after Saturday’s racing, they did much better than that; Team NRV was leading after ten races.  Following them were Wannsee in second, Deutscher Touring YC in third and Konstanzer YC in fourth.

After Sunday’s sailing, only 39 of the 45 scheduled races were completed, 13 for each club.  In the end, the defending Segel-Bundesliga 2013 champions, Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, took first place overall by breaking the tie-breaker with seven race wins over their competitors.  The other two teams tied on 44 pts each were Verein am Wannsee and Deutscher Touring YC, taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.

"For us it was a roller-coaster of emotions. The quality of sailors and the competition were extremely high. All in all, we really sailed well and look forward to enjoying our first win," commented NRV teammate Carsten Kemmling.

Second-placed VSaW Team manager Ulrike Schumann said, "After the bad start, we pressed the reset button and then it all ran much smoother. We want to win this year, that's our goal!"

Next stop on the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga is July 19-21 as part of Travemünde Sailing Week on the Baltic Sea.  Remember, all races are broadcast via “live stream” on the Internet, so thousands of sailing enthusiasts in Germany and around the world can watch it “live” on the water.   Sailing photo credits- DSBL/ Lars Wehrmann    Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing video:   Day One    Day Two   Day Three   For more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information

J/24 sailing Seattle NOODBABA LOUIE Seattle NOOD Overall Champion!
(Seattle, WA)- This year’s Sperry Top Sider Seattle NOOD Regatta brought tears of joy and smiles all around to the sailors for one simple reason- wind!  At least enough of it so that most fleets got in a least six if not ten races over the three day event.  Taking advantage of this most precious of commodities in the Pacific Northwest was none other than BABA LOUIE; the J/24 sailed by Pat Dore with Chris Snow, Melanie Edwards (bow), Ken Monaghan (mast), and Dale Turley (trimmer).  BABA LOUIE not only won their class but also won the entire event overall— declared as the Overall Seattle NOOD Champions!

Friday was a rather auspicious start for the regatta.  A consistent 10-15 kts southerly allowed some classes to complete as many as five races.  Pat Dore's local team on the J/24 BABA LOUIE, which won four of five races in the 16-boat fleet, was the standout team of the day. "We had a really good day," said Dore's tactician Chris Snow. "It was a great day of sailing. It was a lot of fun, especially to be able to get in that many races. The left side of the course was really favored because the wind accelerates over the headland, so the key was to work that side."

Seattle NOOD overall winnersFor the second day of sailing, there was still wind, but just a bit less.  Jerry Diercks, of Seattle, knows how tricky the sailing conditions can be on Puget Sound, especially when the winds are as light and the current as strong as it was. Dierck’s J/105 DELIRIUM was tied for first in its seven-boat class after five races, and in the first race of the day, they almost took themselves out of contention.

“I had one of the worst starts of my life,” said Diercks. “The current was so strong and I jibed away from the line two minutes before the race [which took him down current] instead of tacking like I should have, and in an instant we were 200 yards away from the line and behind the entire fleet before we even started.”

Fortunately for Diercks and his teammates on DELIRIUM, the race committee abandoned the race shortly after the start because a considerable wind shift skewed the racecourse. “With no throw-outs allowed in this regatta, we can’t have another bad race [they’re already carrying a seventh from yesterday],” said Diercks. “With the tie, we need to have two good races tomorrow.”

Sunday’s racing ultimately had to be abandoned for lack of wind after two light air races.  However, most sailors were grateful and quite happy with the fact the regatta’s PRO’s pushed hard the first two days to get in some good sailing.

Behind BABA LOUIE in the J/24 class was Harrie Dursch and crew on SELF ABUSE taking second place.  This team was closing fast on the boys in front of them going into the final races on Sunday, in fact posting a 2-3-1-2 to get within two points of the overall lead on Sunday.  Grabbing third place was past winner Scott Milne on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH with 33 pts.  The balance of the top five was Steve Travis on SPARK in fourth with 44 pts and fifth was Brad Miller on HAIR OF THE DOG with 68 pts.

In the J/105s, Diercks’s DELIRIUM crew continued their winning ways and closed with a 1-1-2 to win the regatta with 14 pts.  Leading with a 2-1-2 after the first three races was Todd Rickard’s SEAMIST.  However, it appears that SEAMIST’s tactician went A.W.O.L., since SEAMIST’s scores of 5-2-6 in the last three races completely torpedoed their grandiose dreams of glory, instead having to settle for silver on the podium.  In fact, SEAMIST had to win on a tie-breaker they had sunk so fast. Third was Erik Kristen’s JUBILEE team sailing remarkably consistent all weekend, winning a race and never posting a score over 4th, to finish with 18 pts and tied with SEAMIST!

In the J/80s it was clear the regatta had become a duel between two boats, Bryan Rhodes’s CRAZY IVAN and Bill McKinnon’s SKYE ROCKET. After the dust settled at the O.K. Corral in this gunfight, CRAZY IVAN took top honors by winning four of the six races.  McKinnon’s SKYE ROCKET took four 2nd place finishes to secure second overall.  Third was Lek Dimarucot’s FEARFUL SYMMETRY.

In addition, sailing ten races in the regatta were the inaugural J/70 class.  Clearly, the fleet loved the first day of sailing with a combination of planing and soak modes all day long.  Sailing super-fast out of the box on that day was the experienced team aboard DaSPENCER, skippered by Mike Pitt, taking two bullets to lead the fleet after day one.  However, as the wind dropped off over the next two days, so did Team DaSPENCER’s fortunes.  In the end, JUST LISTED sailed by the Sail Northwest team took top honors with 13 pts.  They were followed by Andrew Mesher’s PERIDOT in second with 24 pts and in third was DaSPENCER with 27.

Finally, in the North Sails Rally class, a one-day time-on-time PHRF pursuit style race around the bay on Saturday, the J/24 CHALLENGER sailed by Chris Archer took second overall! Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com.  Sailing World video interview - Dave Reed and Chris Snow   For more Sperry Top Sider Seattle NOOD regatta sailing information

J/80 sailing off Qingdao, China in CCOR RegattaJ/80s Win China City Clubs Open Regatta
(Qingdao, China)- The International City Clubs Open Regatta is hosted annually by the Qingdao International Marine Club (QIMC) located at the Qingdao International Sailing Center (the same venue used for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Sailing events). Overseeing Jiaozhou Bay, the sailors in the regatta enjoyed what many have said is one of the world’s best yachting and sailing centers ever developed (a $300 million development budget may have helped).

Qingdao Olympic Sailing CenterIn fact, the sailors in the CCOR enjoyed the amazing hospitality of the host club house along the waterfront.  QIMC was founded in 1999 and has the distinction of being China's only official international sailing club under State General Administration of Sports based in Beijing, capital of China.  What was one of the strong attractions of the club?  The fact that it serves one of the world’s best beers for pennies a pint.  Remember this, the city of Qingdao holds an international beer festival every August where the centerpiece is, of course, the local brew, Tsingtao beer.  Tsingtao Brewery is one of the oldest beer producers in China and was founded in 1903 by German and British merchants. The brewery is still using the original yeast transported from Germany more than 100 years ago- no wonder it’s the number one export beer from China.

Qingdao sailing center- Tsingtao Beer waterfrontOut of the four local J/80s in Qingdao, two sailed in this years CCOR regatta in ORC Handicap Division. Not your normal J/80 regatta since the teams found themselves sailing against a First 40 with a good skipper and two other 50 footers.  Ironically, the rating of the First 40 was only 10 seconds per mile faster then the J/80.  With very inexperienced crews, the J/80s sailed in 10 races with winds ranging from 14 to 30 knots over the 4 days.  The J/80 teams faired well with Jim Johnstone racing the lead boat and the Liuzhou Riviera Yacht Club instructor team racing the second boat.

After 9 races, Johnstone had eight 1sts and one 2nd and the other J/80 had a split of seconds and thirds.  Boat-for-boat Johnstone finished in front of the First 40 four of nine races; that’s quite an accomplishment since they should be much faster.

The last race of the CCOR regatta was a 15nm distance race and the J/80s knew there was no way we were going to have sufficient handicap time on the First 40.  While the First 40 won on handicap, the J/80 sailed by Johnstone finished second overall, thus taking the overall ORC Division win by a significant margin.  Second in ORC class was the Liuzhou Riviera YC team on the other J/80.  Of note, was that Johnstone’s J/80 team beat all of the Far East 26's and the lead Soto 27 boat-for-boat and the Flying Tiger FT10 finished only a few boat-lengths in front when they finished.  Sailing with Johnstone were Jeppe, the J/Boats Asia Qingdao representative doing cockpit, the owner and one of the Liuzhou Members doing bow.
For more City Clubs Open Regatta sailing information

J/22s sailing Jack Rabbit regatta- Lake Canandaigua, NYHallagan Crowned Chief “Jack Rabbit”
(Canandaigua, NY)- The J/22 Jack Rabbit Regatta was recently hosted by J-22 Fleet 24 at the Canandaigua Yacht Club from May 17th to 18th on beautiful Canandaigua Lake.  A good time was had by all; though attendance was down this year as the J-22 North Americans were scheduled for the same weekend.  There were major rain storms in the area on Thursday before the regatta, and Canandaigua Lake was at flood levels with water up to the top of the docks.  The County Sheriff issued a safety warning and issued a speed restriction of 5 mph to minimize any shore damage. The camping area was wet, but several brave souls camped and had nice camp fires going on Friday and Saturday evenings!  That is the tradition of the “Jack Rabbit”, laid back, fun and so popular that it’s now going into its third decade as a great late spring regatta to “de-mothball” your J/22 and get it ready for the summer sailing season!

J/22 sailors at Jack Rabbit regatta- Lake Canandaigua, NYSaturday morning was bright and clear with NW winds in the 5-8 kts range, with temperatures in the low 40’s.  There was plenty of coffee, donuts, juice and fruit donated by “Wegman’s Market” to get us warmed up and ready to race.  Jim Muller, who has been the regatta PRO for the last 7 years, got racing started at approximately 10:30.  By 3:30 five great races had been completed and the boats headed to shore. 

After the boats were secured for the night, the fleet headed to the Canandaigua YC building for an awesome “house party”!  Entertainment was provided by “The Table Top Three,” a local favorite that play blues, standard stuff and contemporary popular music, featuring an acoustic trio of guitar, harmonica and upright bass. They certainly had the house rocking late into the evening!

Again, according to tradition, after the running of the Preakness Stakes (part of the horse-racing “Triple Crown”) on Saturday, spirits, glasses and shirts provided by East Avenue Liquor were given out to participating boats!

J/22s sailing on Canandiagua Lake, NYAs the sailors slowly woke up at the crack of noon Sunday morning, the weather couldn’t have been nicer, bright and clear again with temperatures in the mid 40’s. Winds were again light from the NNW.  Racing started at 9 and two more races were completed before noon.

Awards for the top three included J/22 sailboat models and gift certificates from sponsors APS Ltd. and German Brothers Marine.  The Mid-Fleet winner garnered a bottle of “Pyrate Rum” with a wooden display case.  Awards were also given to the best sailing clubs with 3 or more boats participating and for the boat that came the greatest distance.  As people packed up their boats, there were smiles everywhere.

After winning four of the seven races sailed, Richard Hallagan’s crew on CHIBOUGAMAU took first overall with 10 pts net (after toss race).  Second was Mark Stuhlmiller on EUDAIMONIA with 15 pts net and third was Gary Schmidt’s MOOI NOOI with 20 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Adam Masters on TRAINWRECK and Todd Salzman on HANDBASKET, 4th and 5th, respectively.  For more J/22 Jack Rabbit sailing information

J/105s sailing San Francisco BayBLACKHAWK Wins Swiftsure Regatta
(San Francisco, CA)- The Swiftsure Regatta is a classic “city front” event that takes place along the San Francisco city shoreline, just south of Alcatraz Island.  The regatta is well-attended by the local J/105 fleet on San Francisco Bay.  Here’s the regatta report from one of the J/105 teams, Bruce Stone’s ARBITRAGE:

“This year’s Swiftsure was a classic, with a building flood and relief on the shore, wind in the high teens and low 20’s, with the forecast to build into the high 20’s, so we brought out last season’s sails.  The race committee set up off of Ft. Mason, and while they usually cant the line to draw boats toward the committee end, we (Arbitrage) felt the pin was way favored with the tide advantage and we started all alone on port at the pin, successfully crossing the fleet.

The next problem was to determine when to tack to shore for the relief.  The crowd taking our stern of course got there first and unfortunately we got a terrific lift which I should have ridden around 20 more seconds.  By tacking to shore off the lift, I sent us back into the semi-cheap seats.  Blackhawk tossed off a bad start, found a clear spot at the shore and came out clean, establishing a big lead. With the rest of the fleet camping on each other, short-tacking the City Front, Blackhawk and Godot pulled away.  We had to fight our way back into contention and rounded the windward mark around 5th place, even with Mojo and Jam Session.

The race committee set us up with starboard rounding’s anticipating everyone would want to go out into the deeper water for more flood, and we all set, went out for a few minutes, then made one jibe to lay the leeward mark, Blossom Rock buoy, also a starboard rounding.  This was a race committee error as it should have been a gate given the entire fleet wanted to go to the cone of Alcatraz for relief heading upwind.

J/105 Blackhawk sailing San Francisco BayAnyway, with Mojo and Jam Session overlapped inside us, and Moonshine outside us, we tried to round to starboard, but Mojo and Jam turned slowly, holding us out so we could not round.  Moonshine anticipated we’d be rounding and their mainsheet trimmer hauled in the sail.  With the wind in the mid-20’s and gusting to 30, they rounded up into Arbitrage, and its bowsprit hit our port push pit, taking it out, along with my GPS and VHF antennae and my SailTec hydraulic backstay, while bending the tang attaching the backstay to the transom!  It’s a bit exciting sailing on the Bay with closely-packed one-design keelboats!

Moonshine did its penalty turns and then stood by to offer help.  We retired and motored home, but decided to try for the third race.  We quickly took everything apart, called a neighbor, Ariel Poler, owner of Juxtapose, who graciously offered the use of his push pit and we went to his boat, disassembled it and reinstalled it on my boat, along with my spare backstay adjuster, and hoping for the best on the stainless steel tang, we were ready to go racing when the race committee abandoned racing for the day due to many people broaching (the leader Blackhawk broached four times!) amid winds around 35 kts!!

We applied and got redress, and raced the next day.  Big flood and big wind!! Most boats went out to catch the late ebb.  We had a 7-2 score, ending up fourth.”

While ARBITRAGE finished fourth, the story of the weekend may be that it was Scooter Simmon’s son, Ryan, who sailed and skippered BLACKHAWK to the overall win in the J/105 class!  In fact, they won by a whisker, beating Jeff Litfin’s MOJO crew on a tie-breaker.  Starting with a 1-3-1, Simmons’s crew nearly lost it all by taking a 10th in the last race to Litfin’s 1st!  BLACKHAWK took the tie-break on most “firsts”.  Third just three points back was Jason Woodley & Scott Whitney on RISK followed by ARBITRAGE then Doug Bailey on AKULA in fifth.

Also sailing was a PHRF Division with three J/120s sailing against 50-54 footers and one-off carbon racers.  Taking two of the podium spots were Steve Madeira’s J/120 MR MAGOO in 2nd with Barry Lewis’s CHANCE in 3rd.  For more Swiftsure Regatta sailing information

J/Community

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

J/120 Sunset Child (ex-El Ocaso) sailing Caribbean* Go sailing aboard the famous J/120 SUNSET CHILD! Yes, you and your friends can join them for some awesome offshore yacht racing in northeastern USA for summer 2014.

SUNSET CHILD is the famous ex-EL OCASO that won everything in the Caribbean over the past decade.  Today, Performance Yacht Racing USA, which has been operating four yachts for many years, is taking on “paying crew” (think “J-World Offshore” type of experience) and giving them the opportunity to race in high specification yachts all over the World. This program has been an enormous hit with established crews who already race J/Boats in their own backyards, but want to race further afield without having to move their own boat. They are always assured that PYR’s yachts are in top condition and have the latest sails and equipment.

This summer, the J/120 SUNSET CHILD will be based in New York City, but will race all over the northeast before heading south to Florida and then the Caribbean at the end of the season. You can learn more about their summer sailing circuit here:  http://www.performanceyachtracingusa.com  Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth- pwpictures.com

Contact Marcus Cholerton-Brown at Performance Yacht Racing USA for more information: cell- +1-917-617-5335 or email- marcus@performanceyachtracingusa.com

J/Cruising CommunityJ cruising directions- roll the dice and go!  Sailing to anywhere, anytime!

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.

J/42 cruiser- sailing across Atlantic Ocean* 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 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over ocean* 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- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* 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

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.