This past week saw a lot of season-ending sailing activity taking place in Europe and eastern Europe. Lots of J/70 sailing league events from Russia in the east to the United Kingdom in the west, northern Germany down to Italy/ Spain.
Starting in the north, the originators of the sailing league concept held their final event in Hamburg, Germany on the gorgeous, downtown, Alster Lake. It was the occasion for the J/70 DSL Cup for eighteen teams across Germany.
Down to the south, the Spanish held their Villalia J/70 Open de Espana in Vigo, Spain. The Real Club Nautico de Vigo hosted eighteen teams for an amazing four-day event off western Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. Off to the east of them in northern Italy, the Italian J/70 Cup- Act 2 was held on the famous Lago di Garda, hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine on the eastern shoreline of Malcesine, Italy. A simply fabulous place to sail!
To the west, the Hamble Sailing Club in Hamble, United Kingdom hosted the J/70 One-design Championship on the Solent for an incredibly competitive fleet of boats. Off to the east, the Russian J/70 Class hosted their National Championship on the Klyazma River immediately north of Moscow. The eighteen-boat fleet was hosted by the Pirogovo Yacht Club in Pirogovo, Russia.
Finally, in the middle of Europe, the EFG Swiss Sailing League Women’s Cup was hosted in Ascona-Locarno, Switzerland for the top Swiss women's sailing teams. The sailing conditions on the northern part of spectacular Lago Maggiore could not have been better.
Big boat sailing has been taking place on the Solent as well in the U.K. The Hamble Sailing Club started up their annual HYS Hamble Winter Series two weeks ago, much to the delight of a number of J/sailors! Check out the report below.
Over in the Americas, sailing is still taking place in the warmer parts of the vast country. On the east coast, it was Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, Maryland that hosted the combined J/22 and J/24 East Coast Championships on the Chesapeake Bay. A fantastic turn-out honored the passing of a very much beloved Geoff Ewenson [Ed. note- as a young boy, Stu & Drake Johnstone taught Geoff how to sail and race as the sailing instructors for Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, RI. Geoff will be missed by many friends and sailors.]
Out in the Pacific Northwest, a paradigm-shift occurred amongst the local sailors. With the pandemic restrictions throttling just about any effort by the local sailing clubs to run events, the sailors took matters into their own hands. The very popular Seattle Yacht Club Grand Prix regatta was cancelled, so the sailors created the "Virtual Seattle YC Grand Prix Adventure!"
Finally, do not miss reading the amazing article and interview by Carol Cronin and SEAHORSE magazine about Rod Johnstone's epic adventure that resulted in the person and company you know today- J/Boats Inc. Fun read, many amusing anecdotes Rod has not shared in recent memory! Even the editor learned a lot about Uncle Rod in this interview!
Hot Rum Series Preview
(San Diego, CA)- The San Diego Yacht Club's incredibly popular Hot Rum Series will be starting on time again on November 7th, 2020. With nearly 100 entries, it proves the event is as popular as ever for Southern Californians, despite living in pandemic times. It's one of the most popular "pursuit style" races in America, where slowest boat starts first hours ahead of the biggest and fastest boats, whoever crosses the line first wins! Starting and finishing just off the western end of Shelter Island, the fleet heads out en-masse through the Point Loma passage to two buoys offshore and return to the same start line to finish the race just off Shelter Island.
Since it is consistently one of the world's largest PHRF "pursuit races", the little boats know they almost always have no chance of winning overall and simply enjoy the parade of beautiful large sailing yachts gliding past them in all their glory. The smallest, slowest boats (J/22s & J/24s) start well over an hour before the biggest boats- the J/145s and J/160s, for example.
In this year's edition, there will be two J/145s- Rudy Hasl's PALAEMON and Ernie Pennell's MORE MADNESS. In addition, participating will be three J/105s- George Scheel's SUN PUFFIN, Steve & Lucy Howell's BLINK, and Richard Collins' LUCKY DUCK. Joining them will be Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL, Ed Sanford's J/111 CREATIVE, Chuck Nichols J/120 CC RIDER, Chuck Bowers's J/29 RHUMB RUNNER, and two J/30s (Tim Lynch's RUFFIAN & Bob Noe's MAD HATTER). Good luck to all on this upcoming event. For
more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information
Fun J/99 DASH video sailing Pacific Northwest!
(Orcas Island, WA)- The brand-new J/99 DASH Racing recently went out in 20-35 knots a few days ago on West Sound, Orcas Island, Washington.
Dash Racing is all about LIVING YOUR DASH! Based on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, Stephanie and Ken race their J/99 racing sailboat throughout the Pacific Northwest.
As Ken said, "we got DASH out in 20-35 knots today on West Sound. Such a stable boat! Most challenging part of the day? In/out of the slip!".
Watch their J/99 DASH sailing video here For more
J/99 shorthanded offshore speedster sailing information
Enjoy SAILING Champions League J/70 Video
(Porto Cervo, Italy)- Twenty-seven teams from thirteen nations sailed in the finale for the AUDI SAILING Champions League in Port Cervo, Sardinia. The host, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, and their race committee and media production teams provided the 300+ sailors the red carpet treatment. And the Weather Gods blessed everyone with epic sailing conditions all four days of the competition. Their media team produced a pretty cool video summary of the event. Enjoy this
J/70 SAILING Champions League sailing highlights video!
J/Gear HOLIDAY 20% OFF Specials!
(Newport, RI)- Believe it or not, it is just about time to get into the holiday spirit of things. The year-end is fast approaching and now is as good a time as any to give some thoughts to your holiday shopping for your crew, family, and friends.
We are offering a 20% discount on all orders excluding the following: J/Models, J/Prints and J/Calendars.
The discount code is-
JB2020XS. It will be effective October 1st through November 28th, 2020.
Attention J/Boat owners- because of the demand for customization, we encourage "early ordering" in an effort to meet holiday gift dates.
NOTE- The J/Class logo of your choice can embroidered on the front. We can also customize with your detail. Perfect for the whole crew! For
more information and to buy now.
Sailing Calendar
Oct 24-
Witches Brew Race- Charleston, SC
Nov. 1-
Hot Rum Series I- San Diego, CA
Nov. 14-
Around the Island Race- Hong Kong, China
Nov. 21-
Hot Rum Series II- San Diego, CA
EFG Swiss Sailing League Women’s Cup Fun!
(Ascona-Locarno, Switzerland)- Congratulations to Horgen Yacht Club Women's team! Winners of the EFG Swiss Sailing League Women's Cup sailed in Ascona-Locarno, Switzerland on the northern part of spectacular Lago Maggiore.
The Horgen YC teams was comprised of Mara Bezel, Alexa Bezel, Viviane Mouron, Diana Otth, Milena and Leonie Matthys. Finishing second was the Bielersee Yacht Club team with Lea Tschudi, Ester Oggenfuss, Dominique Müller, Barbara Brugger and Florence Schibler. Just one point back, taking the bronze on the podium was the beautiful Zürcher Segel Club with Amrei Keller, Theresa Lagler, Zoé Staub and Franziska Glüer.
Congratulations to all 3 teams on the podium. The teams of Club Nautique de Versoix, Segelclub Cham and Club de Voile de Lausanne have positioned themselves very well.
Swiss Sailing League Association is looking forward to the 2021 edition of the Women's Cup, which will take place from August 20 to 22, 2021 in Davos. Learn
more about the Swiss J/70 Sailing League here
J/24 & J/22 East Coast Champs- Fun on the Bay!
HONEY BADGER Tops 24s, HOT TODDY Blitzes 22s
(Annapolis, MD)- Over the weekend of October 17-18, Severn Sailing Association held the annual J/24 East Coast Championship in Annapolis, MD. Each year, almost every team on the East Coast looks forward to this long-standing regatta. The event attracts some of the very best in the Class. But, not only that, it usually supports one of the best parties in the J/24 Class as well. Here is the report from Travis Odenbach of the famous HONEY BADGER fame:
"Obviously, this year has been a little different to say the least. I was truly happy to see that 22 boats make the trek to participate. It was a breath of fresh air to see the J/24 family out in force.
Everyone was safe and kept their distance for the most part. What SSA showed us is that we can run regattas safely and hopefully others will follow their lead.
The racing was challenging as always. Annapolis provided us with a true Annapolis weekend. Light air with lots and lots and lots of power boat chop. The breeze ranged anywhere from 5-10 knots all weekend with 20-degree shifts thrown in there, just to keep it interesting.
My team of Patrick Wilson, Chris Stocke, Wilson Stout and Collin Kirby did an excellent job at getting the boat around the race track. I truly would not have had success if it weren't for these guys.
So, what did we learn this weekend while sailing in lump and light air? The first lesson to us came quickly on Saturday to focus on our own race. The third race, we port tacked the fleet and saw Tony Parker below us heading out right. We all agreed that with Tony being a local, we might as well keep going this way. Boy were we in for a surprise the further right we went. A massive left shift provided us with our excellent place in the back of the pack, and to make matters worse I decided to hit the mark. What a moron! But after a quick pep talk by Patrick, the team got back on track and decided to worry about our numbers and our speed. This allowed us to salvage a seventh and take away a big lesson going forward. Worry about your race, your gut feelings and stay on the lifted tack and out of trouble. Those are things you can really control in a race, and they seemed to keep us in the top after that race.
The second lesson was a progression throughout the regatta. The winds were light and sometimes variable, so we had to set the boat up for max power. We ended up making sure we had enough headstay to power the genoa up, and we made sure to sail the boat as flat as possible unless going through a big chop. The key here is constant communication with your driver if you are a trimmer. The trimmer must let you know they are easing or that you have ups at all times so you never detach from the breeze and that you are always sailing as upwind as you can. I truly think we improved on this all weekend, and it was the difference maker in the end.
At the end of the day, getting to sail with great friends and keeping it light was a joy and no matter the outcome it was nice to be around some great people. Just the mention of great friends and keeping it light and fun makes me reflect on one person in particular: Geoff Ewenson, who sadly and shockingly recently passed.
Geoff was the HONEY BADGER's East Coast Championship tactician the last three out of five ECCs. Geoff passed away suddenly last week, and the entire sailing community around the country (and I am sure around the world) felt the loss of a man bigger than life. Finding out the news last week made me buckle at my knees and become overwhelmed with sadness. But, reading his wife's brief post helped me shed some light on the sad and heart wrenching situation.
Geoff's wonderful wife Mary said that she was lucky to have shared the time she had with him and that hit a nerve with me. I have decided to celebrate his life with the amazing memories he has given me and so many others.
One of those memories reverts back to the first East Coast Championship Geoff did with the HONEY BADGER team. I believe it was about three minutes to the first start, and Geoff dipped below. All of a sudden, I hear music blasting. I couldn't tell what kind of music it was, but it could have been reggae or The Clash most likely. I said, "Geoff what the hell are you doing? I can't concentrate." Geoff responded with a warm smile, "I noticed you are a little jacked up, so I figured some music will calm you down."
All of us on the boat kind of chuckled, but I continued to explain that I would not be able to focus. At that, he stood up tall and pointed at me and said, "Look, I am going to play this music, and when you lose a race, I will shut it off."
I just said "fine". Not willing to argue that point, we went with our starting process. Well, that music never shut-off until the awards. We laughed around the race course, and changed bands to listen to, and I think he even played some Chris Rock stand-up comedy! LOL!
It was an amazing regatta and our first East Coast victory. Since this is a regatta report, I thought I would share that story with you. Because, not only was Geoff about having fun and keeping people entertained, but that is what the East Coast Championship has been about since I started sailing at the event.
My heart goes out to Mary and Geoff's family, and to everyone at the East Coast Championships this last weekend...thank you for another amazing event!" Thanks to Travis Odenbach for his report and honoring the loss of a close, heartfelt friend.
In the end, the HONEYBADGER team crushed the competition...nearly lights out! The Rochester YC team posted a 2-7-1-1-2-1-2 record for a mere 16 pts. Second was, in fact, Tony Parker's BANGOR PACKET crew (Will Bomar, Zeke Horowitz, & Emma Mendenthal) and taking third was Aidan Glackin's MENTAL FLOSS crew (Patrick Fitzgerald, Kelly Fitzgerald, Mike Coe, & Meredith Jacob).
Like their J/24 colleagues, the J/22s also saw a dominant team govern the top of the leaderboard. After a disastrous first race, Jeff Todd's crew on HOT TODDY posted a 7-2-2-1-2-1-2 tally for 16 pts to win by a country furlong. The balance of the podium was, in fact, a huge battle between three teams, all finishing in the end separated by just 3 pts! Ultimately, the US Navy Academy's Jeff Petersen took the silver by one point over Chris Junge's THE CORNER OF SANITY & MADNESS. In turn, they were just two points clear of JR Maxwell's SCOOBY in fourth. For
more J/24 and J/24 Eastern Championship sailing information
Virtual Seattle YC Grand Prix Adventure!
(Seattle, Washington)- The Seattle Yacht Club Grand Prix regatta was cancelled due to the Covid restrictions. As a result, a group of passionate, determined sailors put together a virtual race. "Virtual" being defined as not online, but "word of mouth" promotion to go sailing on the water, doing the same race because Seattle YC was not permitted by the State of WA to host it! So, between social media and emails, there was online registration, course information and finish time input. The 17.0nm courses were set up for Saturday and Sunday with a start between a buoy and a painted rock on the Shilshole Breakwater.
According to J/Northwest dealer Ben Braden, "it was amazing! We had 22 boats signed up for Saturday. But, the weather Gods didn't cooperate. Although a spectacular, beautiful day, it blew 30 knots. It was windy enough that just 5 boats raced; four of which were J/Boats! However, with much milder conditions on Sunday, just as beautiful and blowing 15 knots, TEN J/Teams showed up to get a chance to go for a sail amongst friends. Lots of camaraderie for all!"
Thanks to J/Boats Northwest Ben Braden for this report.
NOTARO Team Triumphant @ Italian J/70 Cup
(Malcesine, Lago di Garda, Italy)- Like all other events this season, the Italian J/70 Cup series adapted as quickly as possible to the ever evolving covid-19 pandemic. As the epicenter of the initial massive growth of infection rate in northern Italy (and for the rest of Europe) back in March/ April, it was amazing to see the Italian J/70 class have the passion and determination to conduct their 2020 Italian J/70 Cup series.
The second stage was conducted on the famous Lago di Garda, hosted by the Fraglia Vela Malcesine along its picturesque eastern shoreline...truly a storybook town. Thirty crews participated in this event this past weekend. Many of the hot Italian teams were in attendance, such as reigning J/70 European Champion Claudia Rossi on PETITE TERRIBLE and European Corinthian Champion Gianfranco Noe on WHITE HAWK. Here are the daily reports.
Day One
The Peler wind, which remained strong throughout the day, slightly decreased during the afternoon. That traditional southern breeze made it possible to complete four consecutive races, much to the delight of all the sailors.
The first victory of the day went to Federico Strocchi's CHEYENNE, sailing just his second regatta ever on the Italian J/70 Circuit. And, by winning the last race, closed the day in third overall. The second bullet of the day went to Luca Domenici's NOTARO Team, and the third win went to Mauro Roversi's J-CURVE.
At the end of the day, NOTARO Team closed the day in first on the leaderboard with solid 2-1-2-6 finishes. Federico Leproux's ALICE was a distant second with a 5-9-7-3 tally.
Day 2
Sunday's weather was windy, cold, intense, with a stronger than normal "peler" breeze from the south. Three more races were held. And, the domination of Domenici's NOTARO team continued unabated.
"In Malcesine, we had days of strong wind and demanding conditions, which the crew has always been able to cope with well. There have been changes in the crew compared to 2019. So, initially we had to find some synergy on board. But everything went well. In fact, to the point that once again we managed to win. This victory brings great satisfaction to me, especially because it is shared with my family who was here with me. Thanks also to those who support me from home. Because, without their help I would not be able to be here to race," commented Luca Domenici. Luca's crew included Diegro Negri, Giorgio Tortarolo, Michele Mennuti and Francesca Gangi.
Second was J-CURVE crew led by Mauro Roversi, with team of Manuel Modena, Federica Salvà, Branko Brcin and Carlo Fracassoli. And third was ALICE, skippered by Alessio Peppu Marinelli and crewed by Vid Jeranko, Enrico Fonda, Nevio Sabadin and Livia Tarabella.
In the Corinthian category, the victory went to the ANIENE YOUNG team comprised of Luca Tubaro, Filippo Baldassari, Matteo Morellina and Andrea Ruffini. Second was Ludovico Fassitelli's JUNDA- BANCA DEL SEMPIONE (crew of Maximilian Kuester, Francesco Orlando, Davide Vignone, Alessandro Montefiore). Third was WHITE HAWK (Gianfranco Noè, Matija Succi, Giuliano Chiandussi, Barbara Bomben, Alexander Gabriel Harej).
The Italian J/70 fleet is preparing to leave Lake Garda to head to Sanremo, where the last two events of 2020 will, hopefully, be held for the 2020 season. For
more J/70 sailboat information
AKHMAT Crowned Russia J/70 National Champions
(Pirogovo, Russia)- An eighteen-boat J/70 fleet from across Russia gathered together at the amazing Pirogovo Yacht Club on the Klyazma River immediately north of Moscow for an excellent four-day weekend of racing. With nearly perfect fall weather, the regatta PYC PRO managed to run fifteen races for the happy sailors.
The first day dawned sunny, warm with a 5-10 knots breeze flowing down the river that ultimately built to 1- to 17 kts of breeze. For the next two days, the weather hardly changed, with the same conditions blessing everyone with great racing conditions on flat water.
In the end, it was the AKHMAT TEAM that won with a very strong 48 pts in the fifteen races, for an amazing 3.7 average in 13 races counted. A very familiar team took the silver, Valeriya Kovalenko's ARTTUBE RUS1 with a nearly similar scoreline for 52 pts. In fact, she just beat by one point a newcomer to the Russian J/70 circuit, the ELF TEAM.
Sailing Photo Credits- Valeria Isaenko For
more Russian J/70 Championship sailing information
NOTICIA Dominates Villalia J/70 Open de Espana
(Vigo, Spain)- The Real Club Nautico de Vigo hosted this year's edition of the Villalia Open de Espana for an incredibly competitive fleet of eighteen boats, a fleet riddled with numerous Spanish Olympic, World, and European champions of various classes. It was an intense three days of sailing. As they say, the fleet experienced four seasons in one regatta! Rain, no wind, lots of wind, snow flurries, lots of sun, hail! Winds from every quadrant of the compass.
The teams came from all across Spain; from Valencia, Andalusia, Madrid, Palma in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Asturias, Catalonia, Cantabria, Barcelona, Santander and from all of Galicia.
After a fiercely fought nine-race series, it was pretty clear the class act of the regatta was a boat led by two former J/80 World Champions. Needless to say, a seriously hard combination to beat when even Spanish Olympic Gold Medallists acknowledge they are some of Spain's best sailors. Starting out by leading on the first day, the duo of skipper Jose Maria "Pichu" Torcida and tactician Rayco Tabares on Team NOTICIA never looked back and kept extending their lead. With such enormous talent, no one was surprised they were runaway champions. Their eight race counters consisted of all podium finishes, but only winning two races. Such consistency was indicative of their fast, but conservative approach to winning the regatta...no corner shots! Pichu and Rayco's team included Luis Martin Cabiedes, Francisco Palacio, and Pablo Santurde.
For the balance of the podium and top five it was like a battle amongst equals. None of them had any particular advantage over the other. And, their scores reflected the "roller coaster" nature of sailing against very strong, equally matched teams. In the end, it was Luis Albert Solana's PATAKIN that grabbed the silver based on their very strong performance in the last two races. Solana's crew included Alfonso Domingos, Karlo Hmeljack, and Andre Kemp. Taking the bronze medal was Alfredo Gonzalez's EUROFRITS-AVIKO TEAM just one point back. His team consisted of Daniel de la Pedraja Yllera, Jon Larrazabal Lallana, Alberto Padron Torrent, and Alejandro Prego.
Rounding out the top five was Luis Bagallo Arriola's MARNATURA 1. Starting out the regatta with two bullets, they could only manage top 10 finishes to take fourth place. Taking fifth position was Luiz Martinez Doreste's MERCEDES BENZ SAILING TEAM. For
more Spanish J/70 Championship sailing information
EAT SLEEP J REPEAT Wins U.K. J/70 One-Design Championship
(Hamble, United Kingdom)- The J/70 Class had a cracking weekend of racing at their U.K. J/70 One-Design Championships, organized by the Hamble River Sailing Club. Beautiful winter conditions with a solid northwesterly breeze produced some electric action for the J/70 UK Class, competing in Round 4 of the J/70 UK Grand Slam Series.
Twenty J/70 teams enjoyed six races over two days. J/70 Open World Champion, Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT, won the regatta. But it was far from easy with seconds deciding every race. The UK National Champion, Graham Clapp’s JEEPSTER, was second. JEEPSTER were in red hot form scoring no lower than fifth. Calascione & Peters racing CALYPSO won the last race to claim third. Martin Dent’s JELVIS won the penultimate race but was just a point off the podium in fourth. Nick Phillips’ CHAOTIC continues to impress as one of the exciting new teams in the class, winning Race 3 on the way to a regatta finish in fifth.
“The competition in the class is just getting stronger and stronger,” commented Paul Ward (pictured below). “The established teams are very hard to beat, and we have some outstanding sailors coming into the class. The first day of the regatta we had thrilling conditions, fully on the step, planing mode all day! The second day was more shifty and lighter air, so everyone was roughly the same speed and tactics really came into play. Well done to the Hamble River Sailing Club for giving the class a fantastic weekend’s racing.”
While there was no official Corinthian Class, there was a ding-dong battle for the top Corinthians boat. Doug Struth’s DSP came out on top, just two points ahead of the UK National Corinthian Champion, Charles Thompson’s BRUTUS. Corinthian World Champion Marshall King, on the stick of SOAK RACING, finished just a point behind Brutus.
A warm welcome to two new J/70 teams racing this weekend; Stuart Bethell’s JM7 and James Howells’ LIGHTFOOT. Also, John Greenland’s newly acquired J/70 WOOF!
The J/70 UK Grand Slam Series continues with Round 5 and the conclusion of the HRSC One-Design Championships, 24-25 October.
Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth/ PWPictures.com. For
more UK J/70 Class sailing information
Norddeutscher Regatta Verein Blitzkriegs German J/70 DSL Cup!
(Hamburg, Germany)- Just one week after winning the championship of sailing clubs, the North German Regatta Club (NRV) also won the German Sailing League Cup DSL Cup in its home waters on the gorgeous Alster Lake in downtown Hamburg.
With a 21-point lead over the second-placed Württemberg Yacht Club and the Flensburger Segel-Club in third place, the North German club achieved a clear victory. Their performance on such a shifty, puffy lake was nothing short of astonishing...obviously, local knowledge plays a huge role on the lake! Winning nine of 12 races outright, their worst finish was a single third place! Yes, one might call that performance a virtual white-out!
“We are really happy! Last week the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga championship and this week the DSL Cup - it couldn't be more beautiful,” said Tobias Schadewaldt, helmsman from NRV, happy about the top performance of his team. He attributes the success to the common spirit on board, “we concentrate on the positive things and on the parameters that we can influence. This constructive attitude, which we all share on board, carried us to victory."
In addition to the trophy, the regatta was also about staying up in the league and advancing to the 2nd sailing league for many teams. For the Westphalian Yacht Club Delecke and the Sailing Club Ville as the second division at risk of relegation, it was about staying up, which they secure with sixth and ninth places for the coming season. The Salzgitter Sailing Club and the Regatta-Segler-Neuruppin move up to the second sailing league for the first time with places seven and eight.
Sailing Photo credits- DSBL / Lars Wehrmann Watch this
German J/70 DSL Cup highlights video- sweet! For
more Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
Hamble Winter Series Report
(Hamble, England)- The Hamble River Sailing Club worked with local and national authorities in the United Kingdom to ensure that sailing events could take place on the Southampton Water and the infamous Solent while adhering to the covid-19 pandemic guidelines. As a result, they were able to start up their annual Hamble Winter Series, albeit with a bit of a delay. Here are the quick reports for J/Sailors around the world.
Saturday saw the start of racing for the two days of the Hamble IRC Autumn Championship. Fifty-eight teams went out over the weekend, including a twenty-five strong Class 1, who were also battling for the Hamble Star Trophy for the best" Big Boat." That world-renowned photographer from the Isle of Wight, Paul Wyeth, declared it was "The best turn out all season."
Conditions looked tricky for all concerned from the forecast’s light winds from the NE on Saturday and three fifths of sod all on the Sunday. The CV Condor went to East Knoll to start Race 1 on Saturday and laid a couple of windward marks and a couple of leeward marks to allow for the predicted shift in the wind.
This turned out to be the best breeze of the weekend and the 25 strong IRC 1 fleet had a great first race and finished in a big bunch with the top four separated by only 1 minute 30 seconds on corrected time. Michael O'Donnell's J/121 DARKWOOD was second.
In IRC 2, the battles between the two J/109's of Simon Perry and Mike & Susie Yates, were quickly re-joined. Mike & Susie's JAGO made the most of the first beat by staying south of the North Channel. They arrived at the windward mark first only to be interrupted by a wine glass, in the spinnaker that is, not the cockpit. This meant they spent some time going down tide allowing Simon Perry's JIRAFFE to slip through and gain control of the race. JIRAFFE finished 1st.
The failing breeze meant that only Class 1 managed to finish the second race on Saturday.
As already stated, the forecast for Sunday did not look positive. PRO Peter Bateson was determined to give it a go, if at all possible, and his Saturday night WhatsApp enthused "We are going to try. It only needs a couple more knots of breeze and we'll get some racing." The Race Team went out on time and at 09.13 the message was "We currently have 4-5 knots of breeze from the North. Suggest boats come out and join us." Peter set up a short 0.8-mile course of loops to keep the fleet close for the expected failing breeze, not to mention the start of the spring tide ripping in the wrong direction. As it turned out every class was shortened by radio Amendment 3, which allowed at least some of them to have a race.
IRC 1 spoiled the plan to get everyone away quickly, by forcing a general recall. "A crucial loss of 10 minutes!" was the only printable comment from those classes waiting patiently behind them. The upshot of this was that in IRC 3, only four boats managed to finish. David Greenhalgh's J/92 J'RONIMO finished a comfortable first. J'RONIMO managed third overall due to 13 retirements on the last race.
In IRC 2, Race 3 started with the J/109s JIRAFFE, JAGO and one other boat OCS. Although this call by the Race Team was hotly disputed on JAGO, they duly returned with JIRAFFE and set about recovering the situation. They repeated their tactics from the first race, this time without any spinnaker trouble and came home first. Mark Stevens J/105 JACANA was second and JIRAFFE was third.
With the benefit of going first, eventually, IRC 1 with their greater speed managed to get 16 boats to the amended finish. The overall positions for the IRC 1 Autumn Championship saw Cornel Riklin's J/111 JITTERBUG take third place!
Peter Bateson and the Race Team are to be congratulated in getting three races run in such trying conditions.
Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth For
more Hamble Winter Series sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni, and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
-----------
* SEAHORSE had the opportunity to speak with one of J/Boats co-founders, Rodney Johnstone, as part of the "innovators" series in the sport of sailing. Thanks to writer Carol Cronin and SEAHORSE for this awesome interview!
The most broadly successful performance yacht designer of the last 35 or so years has achieved that status through a laser-like ability to lock onto the requirements of a target market and then deliver the ideal product for it — and which also works off the shelf. Carol Cronin unravels the creative force that is Rod Johnstone.
SEAHORSE: We all know the story: a budding yacht designer builds a race-winning boat in his garage, then teams up with his marketing-savvy brother to create a family business— which just entered its fourth decade. So, any profile of Rod Johnstone, co-founder of J/Boats, should focus on less well-known details. Childhood, design inspirations, favourite boats? Seated on the properly distanced cockpit seats of Rod's brand-new J/99, I spent two hours enjoying a wide range of stories — too many to fit in here.
There was the time he fell in the water at six months old — an inauspicious start to a sailing career. The 1970s races he can still recount, tack for tack. Chasing his future (second) wife all the way across the country, just to drag her back to Stonington. Each golden thread led to another worthy tale, because there's much more to this guy than just J/Boats. So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Rod Johnstone — mostly in his own words.
Childhood sailing:
Rod was born in 1937 and spent childhood summers in Stonington — where, after World War II, "every family had a Lightning". He claims the home-built Johnstone Lightning class sailboat was the heaviest: "The old boats were fir plywood decks with canvas over them, but you couldn't get regular plywood — it was all used up by the US Navy. So, what did my father get? Masonite, which is like three times as heavy! And that's what we sailed on from 1947 until I went away to college." (Rod graduated from Princeton- Class of 1958.)
Nevertheless, despite its weight, Rod credits that Lightning with instilling an early love of sailing in him and his two brothers. "My father was so much fun to sail with, because he had the right attitude. He was the best sailor around here, but his ego never showed; he was always very humble about it. That environment really influences you a lot when it comes to what you like to do."
Learning and teaching:
Rod majored in history at Princeton, though he says math’s might have been the better choice. "Math’s was a total bore to me; that was the problem. My parents always wanted me to be well rounded. So, I took that to mean that I was supposed to not be bad in anything. I love studying history, but I'm a really slow reader. If I'd been brave, majored in math’s, it sure would have been a lot easier."
As a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Rod spent six months after graduation at a field artillery school in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. "That's the furthest west I'd ever been until I went out to get Lucia and bring her back to Stonington in 1971. But that's another story..."
When I asked how he met his first wife, Franny, whom he married right after college, he pauses for one of the baritone chuckles that foreshadows another fond memory. "I was a member of the Tiger-tones, a singing group at Princeton. In March of 1957, we were hosting a girls' singing group and I was responsible for making sure they had accommodation somewhere. I also had the option of assigning blind dates. So, I did a little advance research, and fixed myself up with my first wife and the mother of all my children!" He laughs again. "That worked out pretty well."
After the Army Rod and Franny moved to upstate New York, where Rod taught history at the Millbrook School. "I really loved that job. That's where Jeff and Phil [Johnstone] were born." (Jeff is now President of J/Boats, and Phil is the company's legal adviser.) But, now Rod also started fiddling around with boat designs, which made him realize he needed more education.
He signed up for the Westlawn School of Yacht Design's correspondence course, though he never officially completed the curriculum. (However, they would eventually award him an honorary degree.)
Once kid number three was on the way (Al, J/Boats VP and designer), the family moved back to Stonington. Rod ran a brokerage office and they had two daughters, but the marriage broke up in the late 1960s.
Then in 1971, at a yacht club party, his sister pointed out a cute girl and suggested he introduce himself. "I am totally chicken about stuff like that, so I went up and got myself a cup of coffee. She was sitting with her parents. So, I said, "Hi Tessie, how are you doing? They weren't about to introduce me. They knew I had five kids... and I wasn't married."
He soon retreated to his own table, but the very next night, thanks to a boat engine that wouldn't start, Rod and Lucia met up at a cocktail party. After three weeks "where I didn't let her out of my sight", Lucia (with two kids from her own previous marriage) went back to her
assistant headteacher's job in California.
"I said, I'm coming out to bring you back to Stonington on October 15th. "`She didn't say for sure that she was coming [back], because I don't think she was sure that I was going to come out there. But I just kept making plans, told her when my plane was gonna arrive." They married in November 1971, three months after that first yacht club meeting.
Honeymooning on a 505 In Bermuda:
After the wedding Rod spotted a brand-new Parker 505 and talked the owner into inviting them out. First, the guy Rod describes as "an archetype of an RAF pilot, handsome guy with a moustache" and he invites Lucia to put on the trapeze harness. "She takes off with this sailor and I was thinking, 'Am I making a huge mistake here? I'm standing on the dock and my new wife is going off with this handsome Englishman!'"
After the 505 returned the owner then crewed for Rod — a test. "He said, 'You'll do, you can take the boat.' Lucia had never been on a trapeze before, but she took right to it."
Back home they bought a cheap kit boat and drove it to regattas. There were plenty of husband & wife teams in the 505 class, though probably no others with a blended family of seven kids. Rod says they had a wonderful time but were always too small to be competitive.
At one of their first regattas they capsized in very cold water. But, thanks to brand-new wetsuits, they could self-rescue and continue racing. "But, on the next leg the race committee came out and said, 'We'll give you your points for last.'"
All these years later, Rod's voice still conveys a mix of disbelief and disgust. Finishing last was not in Rod's DNA, so they sold the 505 and bought a 470.
But now they were too heavy for the top of that fleet. After a very hot and light CORK Regatta (and a bad gybe that prompted Rod to call Lucia an "elephant"), "we're all taking our boats apart, everybody smiling and having a good time, like they do at regattas. Lucia's smiling, too. But, between gritted teeth she tells me, "Rodney, I'm never going to get on this goddamn f#$%ing boat again!"
Rod admits now he was privately pleased. So, he quickly signed on 14-year-old, 90 1b son Jeff as crew. Father and son did well together. "The most memorable sailing events were when my kids were my crew."
But Lucia still wanted to race, too. So, Rod decided to build a boat they could compete on as a family. That was the genesis of the fabled J/24. They launched their little 24-footer RAGTIME in May 1976 and immediately started winning all over the Off Soundings Club summer series. When someone asked to buy it, Rod realized other families wanted to sail together, too. Then, brother Bob came sailing, and the rest is J/Boats history.
Early designs:
Before RAGTIME, Rod had already designed "a couple of small boats". First, he reminisces about a 9ft dinghy that he built with 10-year-old Al. "That's the boat Al started sailing, and he won a few races. It swept away in a storm off our dock; who knows where it went, but it wasn't going to sink because it had so much flotation!"
Next, he mentions an 11-footer that "you might call to be loosely classified as a Moth," designed while he was teaching at Millbrook. "The building of that boat is what made me realize I needed to take a course. I won't say too much more about it; it sailed perfectly well but looked like hell and I knew that I wasn't doing it right. I knew what I wanted; I just had to learn to draw the lines of a boat."
Erasers, calculators, planimeter:
Early on Rod says, "I went through a lot of erasers. It was all pencil drawings. No computers, not even a hand calculator — not until after I'd designed the J/24. I think one of the reasons I did so well was I could do a lot of that stuff in my head. Everybody else was on their slide rules."
His most useful tool was a gift— and a piece of history. "My first wife's mother gave me a planimeter; it was her father's, and he'd been an engineer. Crosby Steam Gauge and Valve Company, 1888, it says right on it. I didn't even understand what it was until I started taking the Westlawn course and they said, 'You've got to have one of these because it makes everything so easy."
"This one was really sophisticated; you could read the results in either inches and feet, fractions, or..." his voice drops, reverently, into a bass register, "millimeters. It was the key instrument to get the areas of irregular enclosures. Now they've got electronic planimeters... AutoCAD basically."
When I ask how long it took to design RAGTIME, Rod shakes his head. "Many years. I actually built a model, 24in long, in 1965. I hollowed it out and made a sailing model. Guess who I made it for?" Jeff, I guess. He nods, grinning. "And, he probably doesn't even remember!"
Design process:
For any new design, Rod starts with "how long the waterline is going to be. For the J/24 I wanted something that was as big as I could build in my garage — and at least 23ft 9in because that was the minimum length for entering the Off Soundings Yacht Club's races!
"It's a numbers game," he continues. "You can't just eyeball it, right? You can't. Guys used to start with a shape they would do by eye, but at some point, somebody has to determine how the boat's going to float and visualize the three-dimensional shape. Otherwise, it's going to take you a lot longer than it should. The most important thing is to know how long the waterline is going to be, plus what the maximum section of the hull is going to be. Just think of the boat going through the water," he continues. "The thing that the water has to get around. How is the water going to get there most efficiently, and then how can it get away most efficiently?"
Sailing well upwind was his first priority, because "a barn door with a bedsheet on a pole will sail downwind."
The next decision is "what kind of heel angle are you going to tolerate? And when you heel over, your whole hull has to have fewer wave-making characteristics. Wide-ass boats (that look like big wedges of cheese) that go around the world, they're not designed to go upwind — and they don't. They go like hell downwind, but they don't go upwind. So, you have to decide the variables." He shrugs. "That's how I design, anyway. For me it's easy. I've always figured that out from my experience sailing."
I ask how long it took to design a new model, and Rod has to think about that out loud. "Well, I could design something quick and dirty and have it to you by... maybe not tomorrow, but pretty close. If I don't have to please anybody else, they go a lot quicker. All the research... if I were doing nothing else, I could probably do it in four months. Before computers, more like six months. The lofting and the drawing, so somebody can build it, that takes a lot of time. I spent three weeks on my hands and knees to loft the J/30 in 1977!" He says laughing. [Ed. note- today, son Al prints it out on mylar sheets in less than an hour]!
Favorite design:
Forty of Rod's designs have been built since J/Boats started. Asked for his favourite, he quickly names the J/105, because it's simple and can be raced well and cruised well. "You can just handle it with fewer people. That's what really prompted the asymmetric spinnaker, because people were complaining about the J/35s. Most J/35 owners had to have 10 people on the rail to be competitive."
The advent of carbon tubing then made the retractable sprit possible. He adds, "made out of aluminum or wood or fiberglass, it would be just too much weight.:
The 105 started the J/Sprit revolution, but the original priority was price. In the early 1990s a US tax on boats over $100,000 had put a major dent in the new boat market. "We definitely had to come up with our luxury-tax beater."
What turned the boat into one of J/Boats' bestsellers, though, was that asymmetric spinnaker. "You could race with half the number of people, that's what really sold it.' A harder sell was the PHRF committees, who thought the new asymmetric spinnakers should be the same size as symmetricals. "You needed a 20 per cent bigger area to have the same efficiency as a symmetrical chute. You get more efficiency reaching, and not as much running. It took a while to convince them we weren't trying to hornswoggle them."
After years of dealing with local handicapping, Rod has developed a theory. "If you're really a good sailor, you're better off having a well-established production boat with a rating that they can't possibly change. Right now, that's the best boat for PHRF racing." The last J/105 Rod owned was a 2008 boat that he and Lucia cruised to Maine. Add a boom tent, open the hatches and Rod claims 7.0 ft headroom. "for two people, that worked really well. It's a great sailboat." The only reason he hasn't bought another one is the class restriction on professionals. But, as he's explaining he realizes, "I'm actually not a professional anymore!" (He stepped away from a paid J/Boats position in 2015, though he still consults.) I could almost see the thought-cloud forming above his trademark wide-brimmed hat.
Regrets:
Even with so much success Rod still has a few regrets. He designed an incredible forty-two 12-Meters for the America's Cup. But, "not a single one ever got built, and I never published anything. I wish I could have been a part of that."
[Ed. note- Rod also designed a few dozen AC 75's. Truth be told, between Rod J and Angus Melrose and his famous International 14 naval architect friend Ian Howlett, they were the first team to create the super-long, super-narrow, giant-rigged AC 75 designs that ultimately won the America's Cup in 1995. Guess who that beneficiary was?
Peter Blake! Because, when Rod and Peter were discussing Whitbread/Volvo Race designs in 1992, Rodney was also explaining to Peter how to make a faster AC 75 boat. Well, for you students of America's Cup history, you may recall that Team New Zealand showed up in San Diego, CA for the 1990 America's Cup with a wide, short, dinghy-like design from Bruce Farr. It did not do well. In fact, it got killed.
Peter asked Rodney if he could take those design ideas with him. As a very honorable person (backed up I am sure by Pippa Blake, Peter's wife) Peter had asked Rodney's nephew, Stuart Johnstone, at the time if he could remove himself from the nascent J/65 Team Whitbread/Volvo project and take on the role of Team New Zealand syndicate Chief in 1993. Stuart said "yes", of course. Guess who was the beneficiary of that research?
The American yacht designer Doug Petersen and Team New Zealand. Peter's collaboration with Rod, Ian, and Angus for the "new" super long waterline, maximum lead bulb keel, giant-rigged AC 75 became the new standard of AC 75 design...the net result? Team New Zealand's Peter, Rod J- influenced, Petersen design called BLACK MAGIC crushed Dennis Conner's USA-designed YOUNG AMERICA in five straight races. The irony of that match was Stuart's good friend Kevin Mahaney, a J/24 World Champion from Northeast Harbor, Maine had the closest boat to Rod J's concept. But, still not extreme enough! The rest is history.... New Zealand's BLACK MAGIC won 5-straight races with margins averaging over FIVE MINUTES! The largest winning margins in modern America's Cup history! That's how the America's Cup went Down Under to New Zealand. Thereafter, J/24 World Champion Ed Baird teamed up with Team ALINGHI and won it for Switzerland! Funny how the world works...but Rod J. definitely had a hand in winning the America's Cup, whether he knew it or not! And, ironically enough, another J/24 World Champion- Terry Hutchinson- is spearheading the New York Yacht Club's current American Magic campaign! Yet another J/24 World Champion leading the world of sailing!]
Rod also wishes he could have been more involved in the aforementioned Whitbread/Volvo Race. The closest he got was working on a one-design class ahead of the 1993 race. "The idea was to build eight boats, and Peter Blake was going to put the teams together and put them through their paces. He was one impressive guy... so knowledgeable, and very good at managing people. You could just tell by sitting in the same room. Peter gave me all of his proprietary wind matrices from the 1989 race, when he won on STEINLAGER 2. But we never got to build it. In 1991, there was a huge recession in Europe and the USA, plus the luxury tax. Too bad, because it would have been great fun. It was going to be like a big J/70, without the lifting keel. The entire structure built around a frame for the keel, lead on the bottom. We even had talks about whether we should make the sprit retractable!"
When I ask what he's most proud of, he assumes I'm still talking about boat designs and runs down a list. "The J/90, that was an incredible boat. I owned mine longer than any other J/Boat, five years. It was fun to sail, and we had lots of adventures! The other designs I'd be the proudest of are the J/35, J/44, J/80. And, of course, the 160."
I rephrase the question: how about life-wise? And then I spoon-feed him the most predictable answer: building a family company. "No, take one step backwards," he says firmly, holding up a hand like a stop sign. "Just building a family. That's what I'm proudest of, if you're talking about everything. I've been lucky in a lot of ways," he continues. "I'm lucky because I love sailing with all my kids. Even my daughter Pam, who was never really into sailing."
She asked me recently, "Dad, when are you going to take me sailing?" He laughs. "We all have a lot of fun together."
Next adventure:
Two hours go by in a flash, and as we wind up our conversation, Rod checks the dock for his nephew, Clay Burkhalter. Clay (an off-shore veteran) is prepping the J/99 (seen above L-R: Rod, Jeff, Al J.) for an offshore adventure to Bermuda, to deliver an owner and his friend to his 65-footer that got stuck there. "Then, Clay and I will sail this boat back." A Bermuda 4-2, I joke. "Yeah, a 4-2 is much more fun than a 1-2. Also, when you can pick your weather between here and Bermuda, that's always nice." He pauses until he's sure he has my full attention, then adds, "I never get tired of this. That's why I got this boat." As I turn the recorder off and we stand up from our cockpit seats, Rod's still sharing memories. Even though it's time to go and my brain is full. "You should write a book," I tell him. "You underestimate your influence on the sport!" Because, there's definitely a lot more to Rod Johnstone than a 24-footer that barely squeezed out through a standard garage door. And, all those designs that followed.
Thanks again for Carol Cronin's amazing Rod J interview for SEAHORSE magazine!
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
LA SUPERBA Five-peats J/24 COPPA ITALIA! 
