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.
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
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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!
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Owner 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
(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.
(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...
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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J/Sailing News
Williams, 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 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. 
On 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. 
* 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: 
The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.
* 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).
The 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!”
Winds 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 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.
For 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.
In 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.
Out 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. 
Saturday 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. 
