J/Newsletter- May 5th, 2010- Cinco De Mayo Edition

J/80 UK Nationals Preview

(Cardiff, England)- The Tacktick Suunto J/80 UK National Championship 2010 commences this week. The event will be hosted by the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club, racing will take place in the Bristol Channel under the watchful eye of PRO David Cairncross. The J/80 is the fastest selling sportsboat in Europe and the UK J/80 class is delighted that marine electronics specialists Tacktick Suunto are sponsoring the event.

The competition in Cardiff will be hotly fought; alongside the travellers there will be a strong local field of five J/80 teams. J/80 International Class Chairman, Steve Cooper, will be competing in JUNIOR HIGH. Steve sailed the J/80 Worlds in Santander last year. Another local, Scott Cole and his team on PURPLE HAZE, are known to be fast-- both these boats know the sailing area well.

Toe In The Water, a charity that aims to encourage and rehabilitate injured servicemen and women through the sport of sailing, have four boats entered in the regatta. The relationship between the charity and the UK J/80 Class has been established for over three years now. Whilst these crews don’t get to sail with each other as frequently as many of the others at the Nationals, in the past the Toe In The Water teams have proved tactically strong and have shown skilful boat handling as well as pace.

The British Keelboat Academy will be represented by Tom Phipps and Kelvin Matthews. These lads got really strong results at the championships in 2009 and will be well worth watching. The Britannia Royal Naval College will also be racing for the Championship title in J/80 WAVE WARRIOR skippered by Joe Henry.

From the Solent, Thor Askeland makes his J/80 National Championship debut, racing  ELLE S'APPELLE. Thor won the Autumn Champs in Hamble last year and has shown more than a few moments of brilliance throughout the spring season. Terry Palmer (J/80 UK Class Chairman) and Caroline Cooper slotted in a top three result in the 93 boat J/80 fleet at Spi Ouest earlier this year, racing JUST DO IT. Ian Atkins will also be making the trip to Cardiff; having won 5 of 7 races last weekend in the Warsash Spring Series, Ian and his crew on BOATS.COM will always be a force to be reckoned with.   For J/80 UK Nationals sailing info    Photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com  

StFYC Foundation Selects J/22s

Growing California's Team Racing/ Match Racing Talent

(San Francisco, CA)- The St. Francis Yacht Club Foundation, in partnership with St. Francis Yacht Club, has chosen the J/22 for its expanding match racing and team racing programs in California.  

The J/22 has become the preferred match racing boat for major events around the country.  The Santa Maria Cup, Ira Ross Match Race, Richardson Cup and many others are sailed in the J/22.  Sailors love them because they reward skill and technique.  Good club sailors can get up to speed quickly and they can be equally as well sailed by women and men in most weather conditions.  Regatta organizers and club fleet managers love the boat because it's affordable, rugged and is designed for ease-of-use and ease-of-maintenance.  For example SailNewport in Newport, RI has a fleet of twelve boats that have withstood daily sailing from June to October by SailNewport and New York YC members since 2005- at an average of 700+ hours per boat per season, or 8,400+ fleet hours per year-- greater than a lifetime of sailing on-the-water for most sailors!

The J/22s will first see action this year during the US Match Racing Area Semi-finals being held at the St. Francis YC on July 17-18, 2010.  In 2011, St Francis YC expects to have at least one event per month in Northern California, both at the developmental level  (to enable people to build their match racing experience) and at the intermediate/upper levels with a goal towards developing more sailors that can participate in ISAF/WMRF Grade 3 events. See this video on a mark trap J/22 Team Racing at St. Francis YC this spring (seen here).

The newly-formed California Dreamin' Match Race Circuit will hold its first Grade 3 event at St Francis YC during the last weekend of February 2011.  The CDMRC circuit continues the following weekend at Long Beach YC in Catalina 37's and the next weekend at San Diego YC, again in J-22s-- imagine that, three consecutive weekends of Grade 3 match racing on the West Coast!

For the rest of 2011, St Francis YC expects to have match racing events in the Bay Area during April, May, June and July, two of which will be the US Match Racing Area G Quarter-finals.  These events will be interspersed with team racing events both at the Regular and Masters levels to help further grow interest and participation in the exciting, spectator sport of team racing.  Some regattas will be held on the City Front and others on the Berkeley Circle or Richardson Bay.  For more information on St Francis YC's J/22 Match Racing/ Team Racing programs  

BoatUS Santa Maria Cup Preview- Girls Rule!

(Eastport, MD)- Eastport Yacht Club and BoatUS will host a slate of the world-class female sailors on June 2-5 in Annapolis, Maryland, at the 2010 BoatUS Santa Maria Cup racing aboard the local fleet of matched J/22s. The roster is comprised of many of the top-ranked international skippers, including three teams representing France, four teams from the USA, two Brazilian entries and a Canadian team. All competitors are campaigning for spots on 2012 Olympic teams and the BoatUS Santa Maria Cup is part of the training and ranking process.  For more Santa Maria Cup sailing information.

Team captains and their home country are:
- Claire Leroy (France): Ranked 1st in the world and defending champion and two-time match racing World Champion (2007 and 2008).
- Anne-Claire Le Berre (France): Ranked 6th in the world.
- Julie Bossard (France): Ranked 7th in the world.
- Anna Tunnicliffe (USA): Ranked 10th in the world, Tunnicliffe is an Olympic gold medalist (Beijing 2008) and 2009 International Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year
- Genny Tulloch (USA): Ranked 14th in the world and three-time collegiate all-American, Tulloch was selected in 2007 as the only female team member of MORNING LIGHT, the boat featured in the Roy Disney sponsored documentary film.
- Sally Barkow (USA): Ranked 17th in the world and an Olympian (Beijing 2008), Barkow is past Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and three-time winner of the BoatUS Santa Maria Cup.
- Juliana Senfft (Brazil): Ranked 25th in the world.
- Maegan Ruhlman (USA): Ranked 60th in the world and winner of the 2010 Sundance Cup, Ruhlman is a local 'Naptown favorite.
- Sarah Bury (Canada): Ranked 68th in the world.
- Raquelhora Aimone (Brazil): Ranked 79th in the world.  

Regatta & Show Schedules:

May 5-8- J/80 UK Nationals- Cardiff Bay YC, England- http://www.j-80.co.uk
May 10-14- J/22 South African Nationals- False Bay YC, South Africa- http://www.j22.co.za/
May 14-16- Seattle NOOD- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 18-23- J/24 North Americans- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.j24northamericans.com/
May 22-23- Race For the Case- Lloyd Harbor YC, Long Island, NY- http://www.lhyc.org/
May 27-30- J/80 Copa Espana- Barcelona, Spain- http://www.rcnb.com
Jun 4-6- J/MedCup- Ill de Porquerolles (Hyeres), France- http://www.k-yachting.com
Jun 5-6- Sprit Fest Regatta- Breakwater YC- Sag Harbor, NY- http://www.spritfest.org
Jun 10-13- J/80 Italian Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 19-20- J/Fest Northwest- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailnorthwest.com
Jun 21-26- J/80 European Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 20-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Is, RI- http://www.blockislandraceweek.org
Jun 25–27- Long Beach Race Week/ J/120 NAS- Long Beach YC- Long Beach, CA- http://www.lbrw.org
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

It was a busy late spring weekend around the world with events taking place in Europe, Bermuda, the Caribbean and America, with a lot of great sailing to be had no matter where you went.  Seemingly the weather Gods (and Neptune) were cooperating to dish out warmer than usual weather and fair breezes for most.  In Europe, the Italians hosted their Regate Pirelli Coppa Carlo Negri, an honor to the late Beppe Croce- an enormous contributor to the sport of sailing worldwide.  Going down island to that popular regatta known as Antigua Race Week, the participants were not disappointed by their postcard perfect sailing conditions.  The Bermudians hosted yet another fabulous Race Week on the Great Sound.  And, over in America, three big events took place simultaneously- the Sailing World NOOD Annapolis Regatta on the Chesapeake; the San Diego YC Yachting Cup out West; and the conclusion of the American YC Spring Series on Long Island Sound (gee, sure makes it tough for J sailors to pick an event, eh?).   Read on! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

YCI Regate Pirelli

J/133 CHESTRESS 2 Wins Coppa Carlo Negri

(Portofino, Italy)- The Regate Pirelli - Coppa Carlo Negri, organised by the Yacht Club Italiano, in collaboration with the Circolo Velico di Santa Margherita Ligure ended on Sunday. The first round of racing took place in optimal weather conditions with Sirocco winds of 16 knots. The second round started with winds of 12 knots, decreasing throughout the day, causing the race committee to shorten the course.  After four days of racing in the Coppa Carlo Negri Perpetual Challenge the J/133 CHESTRESS 2, sailed by Giancarlo Ghislanzoni from Yacht Club Italiano took overall honours in the largest class (IRC A) that saw forty-seven yachts competing.  The J/109 FREMITO D'ARJA sailed by Marcello De Gasperi sailed very well to finish second in IRC B.

The event sees the creme'd'la'creme of Italian yachting participating since it honors one of Italy's most prominent yachtsmen, Beppe Croce, the historic president of the Yacht Club Italiano and the only President of the ISAF from a non-English speaking country, having held the post for 17 years.  It was created in memory of Beppe Croce's friend, the aviator Carlo Negri, the son of Margherita Pirelli, holder of the gold medal for military valour, who was killed in Albania on 24th September 1943 during a voluntary action, while taking part in a mission to rescue a group of Italian soldiers surrounded by German troops. Established in 1945 as a perpetual challenge trophy, the Coppa Carlo Negri was donated by Margherita Puri Negri in memory of her brother.

Participating in this year's Coppa Carlo Negri were members of the Loro Piana fashion house in Milan, Pierluigi Loro Piana, sailing his large sloop MY SONG.  Also competing was yet another Italian fashion house leader, Leonardo Ferragamo, owner of Nautor/Swan in Finland.  Leonard sailed his Swan 42 CUORDILENE into second place behind Giancarlo's J/133 CHESTRESS 2 in IRC A class.

In the forty-seven boat IRC Class A, there were three other J's competing, including Andreas Farber's J/122 NIKITA in 10th overall, Marco Fantini's J/133 JAM in 25th and Federico Piccini's J/122 SMIGOL.

The fourteen boat IRC Class B also had two other J's sailing, including Daniele Fogli's J/109 EL CHICO in ninth and the Gabbai-Cohen team sailing their J/92 DAJENU in twelfth.     More Yacht Club Italiano information      For more Regate Pirelli Coppa Carlo Negri sailing information  

SW NOOD Annapolis

Flynn's J/80 Overall NOOD Winner!

(Annapolis, MD)-   The enormous 120+ boat J Fleet (nearly 62% of the entire NOOD fleet) were met with better than expected weather conditions, soaking in the sunny skies and gentle warm breezes from the southerly quadrant for most of the weekend and even the partly cloudy, extremely shifty winds on Sunday did little to diminish sailors enthusiasm for this remarkably well-run event.

The J/22s saw Greg Fisher's WHAT KINDA GONE establish an early lead on the first day and sailed a solid, consistent series with scores of 2-1-1-9-4-5-2-5 for 29 points.  Jeff Todd racing HOT TODDY was also in the hunt on the first day just behind Greg Fisher and fired off two firsts in the last two races to finish  second just four points back with a 8-7-2-4-5-4-1-1 score for 32 points.  While these two Annapolis teams showed their tail feathers to the fleet, the outsiders led by Travis Odenbach from Rochester, NY sailing INSTIGATOR fought hard over the three days to climb into contention to finish third with a 1-8-5-16-2-2-3-6 for 43 points, beating David Kerr racing SHARK SANDWICH on a tie-breaker.

Other than two tactical memory lapses in races 2 and 7 (yes, does happen when we all get older), Tony Parker's venerable J/24 BANGOR PACKET "schooled the kids" in the J/24 class.  Tony's 2-10-1-2-1-1-9-3 for 29 points were a strong performance from this experienced team, leading second place finisher Paul Van Ravenswaay on MILLENIUM FALCON by eight points.  Paul's 1-14-2-1-3-3-8-5 record put him in a tie for second with Tim Healy's 7-5-7-6-2-7-2-1 record.  Third on the tie-breaker was Tim Healy from SailNewport, fourth was Club Nautico de Olives' Ken Johnson from Buenos Aires, Argentina on TEAM OJOTA and fifth was Pat Fitzgerald on RUSH HOUR.

With thirty-six boats, the J/80 was not only the largest, but the most competitive class at this year's SW NOOD Annapolis- the fourth stop of the J/80 USA Tour leading to the J/80 Worlds in Newport.  There were significant swings in performance for all the leading teams in the top ten.  Fairing better than most was past World Champion Terry Flynn from Ft Worth Boat Club winning with a 9-3-3-2-1-6-6-2 record for 32 points to overcome J/80 class newcomer Brian Keane (past J/105 North American and Key West Champion).  Brian's SAVASANA sailed a 3-13-1-7-13-1-1-10 record to hang in for second with 49 points.  Third was past J/80 champion Jay Lutz and Gary Kamins sailing for California YC, overcoming a very slow start to finish with a flourish, garnering a 14-19-4-1-2-5-3-9 record for 57 points.  Fourth was Jason Balich/ Matt Allen from Jubilee YC, another Marion/Buzzards Bay sailor like Brian Keane and fifth was Henry Brauer from New York YC.  For their performance in this large, closely fought J/80 class, Terry Flynn also received the Best Overall Performance for the NOOD, qualifying him for the SW NOOD Nationals in the British Virgin Islands!

The J/30s had a great regatta with many closely contested finishes with boats overlapped and finishing within seconds of each other.  After the smoke cleared, Bob Rutsch/ Mike Costello sailed a remarkable series after their modest first day performance to post a 4-1-2-5-1-1-1-1 record for 16 points!  Not to be outdone, Lawrence Christy posted a 1-3-4-3-2-2-2-3 series to finish just four points off the pace.  Ron Anderson from AYC finished third, fourth was National YC's George Watson and fifth was Glenmar Sailing Association's Phil Heldrich.

The J/35s also had a fun and incredibly competitive series amongst the top four boats with a tie-breaker to end all tie-breakers determined in the eighth and final race!  Bill Wildner's MR BILLS WILD RIDE from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron took a 1-1-6-1-1-1-2-1 record to dominate the J/35 class, winning by 18 points! But, the real drama was taking place just behind them.  Chuck Kohlerman sailed MEDICINE MAN to a strong finish after a very slow start on Friday to win a THREE-WAY tie-breaker for second!  MEDICINE MAN's record of 8-2-4-9-2-4-1-2 was just enough to beat Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel's AUNT JEAN (5-6-1-4-7-3-3-3 scores) and Barry Moss's BAD COMPANY (3-5-9-2-3-2-4-4 scores) to finish second, third and fourth, respectively!  After starting off the regatta strong on the first day, Maury Niebur on BUMP IN THE NIGHT completed the series in fifth.

The J/105s saw local hotshot Peter McChesney from Annapolis YC lead the series starting the first day and never relinquish his lead, sailing to an unassailable 1-1-5-1-3-5-2-3 record for 21 points over Royal Canadian YC member Jim Rathbun sailing HEY JUDE (Jim finished 2nd in the 2009 J/105 North Americans at American YC).  Jim's tally (3-2-16-3-12-4-1-1) with two firsts in the last two races were not enough to overcome a forgettable third race and a 40% penalty in the fifth race to challenge Peter's fast team for the series lead.  Third is Jim Coningsberg from AYC, fourth Arthur Libby from AYC and fifth Will Crump from NYYC.

The first stop on the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy (also doubling as the Mid-Atlantic Coast Championships) saw the two class leaders dueling for the top of the leader-board throughout the series.  A potent combination of good speed, local knowledge plus a bit of luck enabled Bill Sweetser's RUSH, the local Annapolis YC boat, to sail to an incredibly consistent 1-1-2-1-1-3-1-3 score for thirteen points.  Second was Rick Lyall's Block Island-winning STORM from Cedar Point YC sailing to a 4-4-1-3-2-2-2-2 record for twenty points.  Just behind this duel of the class titans were Steve McManus sailing his SAYKADOO very well to third place, just nipping Craig Wright's AFTER THOUGHT in fourth.  Fifth was Tony Syme's LOGOS.   More NOOD sailing news at Sailing World's site.   Photo credits- Tim Wilkes  

SDYC YACHTING CUP

Nichols J/120 CC RIDER Wins! Big J's Sweep PHRF2!

(San Diego, CA- May 1-2) – Ninety-seven keelboats and over 700 sailors participated in San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup this weekend. The J Fleet was well represented with 37 boats competing  (38% of the fleet)  spread across the one-design and PHRF classes.  The winner of the Yachting Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the most competitive fleet, went to Chuck Nichols and his J/120 team on CC RIDER. Said Nichols, "It was a difficult weekend because we rarely have a southerly on sunny days and we had it both days. The only way to win is with outstanding crew work and that’s what we have."

Racing in the J one-design fleets was so close that it was commonplace to have overlapped boats cross the finish line throughout the weekend in which sailors experienced the Catalina eddy. Cold air coming down from the north deflects north of LA and hooks back into the San Diego area as a southerly. It wasn't until well into Sunday’s racing that the wind started to shift right as a light haze burned off. Said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 WINGS, "It was a chamber of commerce weekend."

The big boats on the West Ocean Course off of Point Loma and the J/120's and J/105's competitors on the "Roads course" off of Coronado experienced an 10-12 knot SSW, a large swell, sunshine, temperatures in the low 60’s throughout the weekend. Even rail meat had an important job this weekend – spotting kelp.

J/80's and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. Said longtime J/80 fleet champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 AVET to a very close regatta victory; "We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water. We had really close racing among the top three boats," he emphasized, "within inches."

On the "Big Boat course", the big J's took a clean sweep of PHRF2.  Tom Holthus' J/145 BAD PAK continues on a roll, winning PHRF2 with a 2-2-1-1-2 record for 8 points over Fuller's J/125 RESOLUTE in second with 11 points and Mark Surber's DERIVATIVE in third with 14 points.

On the "Roads Course", Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER was low point in the 9-boat J/120 fleet on Saturday and Sunday. CC RIDER's victory in the most competitive fleet earned the team the 2010 Yachting Cup. John Snook's JIM and Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI were second and third overall. They were tied on points with 16.

The 15-boat J/105 fleet comprises the largest one-design fleet participating in Yachting Cup. Most of the fleet is from San Diego and they take no prisoners when they play. Three different boats won races during the regatta and Doug and Pam Werner's JAVELIN came out on top with 11 points. Everyone worked hard throughout the weekend and Hurlburt/Driscoll's BLOW BOAT moved into a solid second on Sunday. Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis and Sharon Case's WINGS and Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION2 finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with only four points separating them.

Over on the South Bay Course were the J/80s.  Curt Johnson's AVET won with a strong, consistent 1-2-2-1-1 record for 7 points.  Said J-World's Jeff Brown, whose team finished second overall, "Sailing on the flat water in the South Bay is fantastic. We have three J-World boats here and it is a lot of fun. We had very competitive sailing with second and third place finishes within boat lengths of one another." Bob Hayward and his crew on BLUE JAY were third in the regatta.

Finally, in the PHRF 4 division, Larry Leveille's J/29 Rush Street was third, with the last race determining their chances for a silver on the podium.  Another J/29, Greg Raines' MAC 5 finished fifth.   For more San Diego Yachting Cup sailing information  

American YC Spring Series

J/133 SIREN SONG Victory Chorus!

(Rye, NY)- The AYC Spring Series concluded with a fairly light and streaky weekend of winds with sunny skies and unseasonably warm weather (must be that volcanic cloud circling the Earth again).   The American YC Race Committees and PRO's provided the sailors with  great racing in challenging conditions over the two weekends of sailing.

The J/122 One-Design class saw Tom Boyle and Mike Callahan aboard WINGS continue their leading ways from the previous weekend to win this tightly fought class, with a 1-2-2-1-1-2-2-3-1 record for 12 points to win by three points over Andrew Weiss' family racing CHRISTOPHER DRAGON to a 3-1-1-3-2-1-3-1-3 tally for 15 points.  Barry Gold and Jamie Anderson sailing SUNDARI stepped up their game this weekend to punctuate their previous finishes with a 1-2-2, but not enough to move them up the standings from the previous weekend.  So SUNDARI's scores of 2-3-4-2-3-5-1-2-2 for 19 points kept them on the podium, finishing third for the series.

Bill Ketcham and his team aboard the J/44 MAXINE, held off the hard-charging crew on Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER to win the J/44 One-Design class.  GOLD DIGGER's 1-1-2 this past weekend was not enough to overcome the remarkably consistent scores of MAXINE.  After a strong start the previous weekend, Jeff Willis on CHALLENGE IV fell off the pace a bit, garnering a 6-2-3 to drop down to third place for the series.  All in all, it was a good showing and start of the year for both MAXINE and CHALLENGE IV to give the GOLD DIGGER gang a run for the money.  The J/44 One-Design Class continue to enjoy fantastic racing with their "class matched/supplied" one-design sails.  Draw each sail out of a hat and off you go!  It's been a terrific formula for success.  Look out for another large J/44 class for this year's Storm Trysail Club Bermuda Race.

The J/105 One-Design class continued their very competitive racing and, as usual, it all came down to the last day to determine who would be the top three on the leader-board.  The anxiety level was high as anxious skippers and crews sought to get good clean starts, avoid the corners and get in three solid races on the last day.  The weather conditions sure didn't cooperate since anyone shooting the corners could flip-flop the standings rapidly.  Despite the difficult conditions, Bruce Stone's and Scott DeWeese's POWERPLAY prevailed over their seventeen competitors, just winning by three points over Damian Emery's ECLIPSE.  In fact, both boats must've spent a lot of time watching each other on the same side of the race track as both had their worst daily scores for the series- POWERPLAY sailing to a riveting 3-7-4 record and ECLIPSE matching them with a mind-blowing 11-13-7 score, uncharacteristic for both well-sailed J/105s to drop that far down the standings. Redeeming themselves nicely after the first weekend were Kevin Grainger on GUMPTION 3, getting on to the podium for third overall with a late charge of 2-5-3-3 in the last four races to bring them into contention.  Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson CONUNDRUM started off well the first weekend, but a 9-15 in the last two  races hurt their chances to a podium finish to finish fourth.  In fifth was George and Alex Wilbanks REVELATION.

The IRC 40 Class appeared to be a playground for the J/133s these past two weekends.  The class was dominated by Thomas Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG with seven bullets in nine races- clearly they were singing their own tune and marching to a different drummer!  Their 4-1-1-6-1-1-1-1-1 tally for 11 points was the most dominant performance of any boat in the AYC Spring Series, winning by 13 points.  Finishing third was Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE, coming on strong in the final weekend to just miss out second overall by one point.  Fourth was George Petrides' J/120 AVRA.

The J/109s racing IRC35 Class saw two of the leading J/109s not participate this past weekend.  One of them, Rick Lyall's STORM sailed in the SW NOOD Annapolis for the J/109 Mid-Atlantic Championship and the start of the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy.  Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN sailed a nice series, getting a 5-5-4-1-3-5-6-3-3-7-1 score for 36 points, just missing out third overall by one point due to their forgettable second to last race 7th place finish.

True to form, the J/29 HUSTLER sailed by John and Tony Esposito simply walked off with PHRF Division honors.  Again, their performance in light airs and flat water with a lump is pretty devastating with their powerful masthead rig and chutes.  The Esposito's managed to dash off a 3-3-1-1-1-3-1-1-1-1 record for 13 points for a thirteen point lead over the next boat.   Photo credits- Alan Clark/ Photoboat   For more race and sailing information on the American YC Spring Series.  

Antigua Sailing Week

J/122 CATAPULT Wins Racing 3

(English Harbour, Antigua)- The classic down island regatta to end all Caribbean regattas.  As one owner commented: “Fantastic weather, good breeze, good waves and tough competition is what Antigua Sailing Week is all about."  The two J/122 owners that participated in Racing 3 Division couldn't agree more.

Marc Glimcher and his team on the J/122 CATAPULT secured an overall win of Racing 3 by winning the final race. CATAPULT also finished third overall in Division A behind the R/P 75 TITAN.  Not to be outdone by their sistership, local hero from Antigua, Jim Dobbs, sailed his J/122 LOST HORIZON to a well-deserved third overall.  LOST HORIZON managed to work out some good local knowledge "plays" to finish amongst the leaders.  In fact, had they maintained their pace in the first three races they might've giving the CATAPULT boys a run for the money.  For more Antigua sailing info      Photo credits- Tim Wright  

Bermuda Race Week Blustery & Fun!

Snyder Dominates J/24s, Williams Repeats in J/105s

(April 25, 2010) - This year's Bermuda International Race Week was not without its dramas and extraordinary weather.  With enormous fronts blowing across from the North American continent, sweeping across the North Atlantic, it seems that Bermuda fortunately only gets the "tail feathers" of most of them and not the brunt of the huge Lows whistling across to their North.  Race Week this year had its fair share of light to moderate winds as well as partly cloudy, very blustery days blowing 20-30 knots plus.  In the heavier conditions, it's interesting to see how well IODs, J/24s, J/105s, Lasers and what not handle the conditions.  Some handle it better than others, some not so well.  Every try hoisting a spinnaker in 30 knots with an inexperienced crew?  Not recommended.

Enjoying, if not reveling, in the blustery conditions were the experienced crew aboard Allan Williams' J/105 NOT MINE, co-skippered with Glenn Astwood.  For the fourth consecutive year, Williams' NOT MINE won the J/105 One-Design class at Race Week.  However, for the first time Williams had a strong challenge from former Sunfish North American and World Champion Chuck Millican (back in the old days, remember?) sailing ELUSIVE into a tie-breaker with Williams' NOT MINE, but sadly losing on the tie-breaker to finish second. Jim MacDonald finished five points back from the leaders to finish third.

The J/24s had a very eventful regatta this year.  For starters, a bunch of "colonialists from America" showed up and stole the show.    Scott Snyder from Colorado was the only international winner in all five classes. He and his crew from Colorado and New York took first place in the J/24 Class to win the "Wetty Gripper Trophy".  Snyder got off to an amazing start with five firsts in the first five races. Then on Thursday he got a 2,4,3 score. He and his crew computed the possibilities of anyone beating them if they dropped two DNS 12 point scores, so they didn’t have to race on Friday to win first place. Snyder’s team had 14 points.  Trevor Boyce also had two 12-point scores from earlier races in which he retired after finishing. With his dropped scores he moved back into second place with 18 points. Peter Rich finished third one point back with 19 points.  The big event of the week was the death-roll, sinking (temporarily) of Tim Lynch's J/24 ERIN on the last leg of Race 5. ERIN was flying downwind under spinnaker in 30+ knots of wind on Bermuda’s Great Sound when she took a knockdown and stuck her mast in the water.  Within hours, ERIN was floating again, and like a "Phoenix from the ashes," was ready to race the next day, ultimately finishing sixth in the closely fought J/24 class!   For more sailing information, videos and photos of Bermuda Race Week.  

J/133 Wins Singlehanded Guadalupe Island Race

(Marina del Rey, CA)- Gil Maguire sailed his J/133 TENACITY singlehanded on the 600 mile Guadalupe Island Race.  Here is a good long look at one man's perspective on some shorthanded offshore racing...

"The Guadalupe Island Race is run every other year in late March by the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association, and has both single and doublehanded classes. The race is about 600 miles long and goes from Marina del Rey, past Catalina Island, past San Clemente Island, 300 miles due south to and around Mexico’s Guadalupe Island which is about 125 miles west of the Baja peninsula, and then back, 300 miles uphill, slogging to windward, to the finish line at Catalina Harbor on Catalina Island. Guadalupe Island is about 22 miles long and quite high (4500 feet or so). It is known for its elephant seal colonies and as a breeding ground for great white sharks. Most of the great white footage you see on TV is shot off of Guadalupe’s eastern shore.

The race is mostly outside the protection of the Southern California bight so it can get very windy with gales and very large seas not unusual at this time of the year. So you can have a great run down to the island but a brutal beat back. Unlike the other, longer Mexico races, the Guadalupe Island race requires participants to race back, against the wind and swells. To that extent, it is a more complete test of a boat and its crew’s seamanship skills, requiring vessels and crews to demonstrate their ability to windward as well as their downwind sled capabilities. While the slog back can be uncomfortable, it is tactically and physically challenging and has the advantage of finishing the race at or near one’s home port without the need to feed and house crew in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta, or pay for a delivery crew to get the boat home, often several weeks later.

I tried to do the race singlehanded two years ago in Tenacity, our J/133, but had to drop out when I lost my autopilot and electronics about halfway down to the island. I was looking forward to doing it this year before my advancing age began to take a bigger toll."  Read more about Gil's sailing experience on Sailing Anarchy.  

J/Community

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

* Ed Baird - Back on the helm with LUNA ROSSA for AC34? Like the Ken Read's, Terry Hutchinson's, Chris Larson's, Dave Curtis', Maurizio Santa Cruz's of the world, winning the World Championship in a one-design class like the J/24 is terrific training for sailors wishing to succeed at world-class levels offshore and around the cans.  There is NO substitute for starting with world-class one-design dinghy sailing, then jumping into world-class one-design keelboat sailing to learn what it takes to prepare boats, fine-tune the sails, practice perfect boat-handling and motivate the crew to work as a cohesive team with the ultimate goal in mind of sailing to win.  Few practicioners know how to do it well consistently.  Ben Ainslie comes to mind as a good example of a next generation sailor that is learning the art and science of it quite well.  Amongst the "old guard", Ed Baird is certainly amongst the best.  Ed was at the helm when the Alinghi team won the 32nd America's Cup in 2007, which led to him being honored that year as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Last week it was announced that the Italian fashion house PRADA was returning to the America's Cup scene, where team owner Patrizio Bertelli - a three-time America's Cup campaigner - had reassembled the LUNA ROSSA team for the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia next month.  Read more about Ed's interview and current sailing plans on Scuttlebutt.  

* Terry Flynn- a past J/80 World Champion had a great time in the recent SW Annapolis NOOD Regatta, in particular since he had long-time Texas friend Mark Foster sailing with him (a former 470 Champion with Mark Ploch and J/24 Champion, too).  Sailing World's Mike Lovett interviewed Terry, read on below:

With a first-time crew, Terry Flynn won the J/80 class—and the overall prize—at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD.  As the J/80 freight train rolls northward on its USA Tour, bound for the World Championships in Newport, R.I., in October, the class just keeps picking up steam. The 36-boat fleet at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD was the largest of the regatta's 16 divisions, and, arguably, the most competitive.

Over the course of eight races, four boats posted first-place finishes; Houston native Terry Flynn had just one bullet in his scoreline, but his team sailed with enough consistency to win both the division and the overall prize, which includes an invitation to compete in the NOOD Championship in the B.V.I. in November.

The Annapolis NOOD was the first time Flynn had sailed with his crew of David Whelan, Mark Foster, and Charlie Snyder, but the Quantum sailmaker had no trouble getting everyone on the same page. "Too many times, when it's your first time sailing together as a crew, everybody's real quiet the first race of the regatta, and you do terrible," says Flynn. "We made an effort to say, 'You start giving input, and if we don't want to hear it, we'll tell you."

With Foster and Snyder feeding information to Whelan, the tactician, Flynn was able to concentrate on steering the boat through the light wind and mixed-up chop on Chesapeake Bay. "I didn't do anything but drive," he says. "I put my head down, concentrated on keeping the boat moving, and listened to what they wanted me to do. I very rarely got involved in the tactical end of things. I'm pretty good at listening, and they're pretty good a putting me where we need to be.

"It's important for everyone on board to give feedback," continues Flynn. "I've been on boats where the tactician doesn't really share the information, he just kind of tells the skipper when to tack. But I think it's important that the skipper know the thought process. That way, it's not like, 'Why are we doing this?'"

Refined communication, uncharacteristically good starts—"I historically have terrible starts," says Flynn—and close attention to changes in wind speed propelled Flynn's team to victory. And, apparently, word is spreading that the affable Texan is a fun guy with whom to sail. "I've already had a few people come up and tell me they want to go to the B.V.I. to crew with me," he says.

Between now and November, Flynn will be competing in the J/80 North American Championships, the aforementioned Worlds, and the J/22 North American Championship. So there's a good chance that, by the time he hops aboard that Sunsail 39 in Tortola, Flynn could have a few more feathers in his cap—and a few more eager crew members.   More SW NOOD Regatta coverage.  

* Lance Fraser - Bermuda J/24 sailor, aspiring 16 year old racer still in high school, wrote an entertaining blog during Bermuda Race Week (note to Ken Read- he wants to race on PUMA!):

"We went into the week with a goal of top 3, but after the first day, we realized we could win the J/24 fleet.  Everything had fallen into place leading up to Race Week and we couldn’t wait to start sailing Sunday morning.

Thanks to RBYC, RHADC and BJCA our entry fee was covered as we are a group of students, all 16 years of age. Trevor Boyce (New Wave) lent us some sails and Jorge Chiapparro helped us get spoRHADiC race- ready.

Day one started with a bang. Erin (Tim Lynch) had an amazing first upwind leg and took a huge lead around the first mark. We passed them on the next upwind leg and continued to duke it out right until the finish with only a couple of feet between us, with Erin coming out on top. It was a tough loss for us.

The second race was also very close as we finished in second just ahead of Erin. We ended the day tied for 1st place with 4 points.

Monday was tougher and we ended the day with a 2nd, 3rd, and a 7th leaving us in second place. In the last race we had our only horrible start and could not recover. This is evidence of the top-rate competition we faced throughout the week; one mistake and you’re out of it. Our crew work and chemistry was great - when we were doing well; but when we got 7th there were a lot of unhappy people onboard, including myself.  It was a long sail back to the club.

One tends to forget about Trevor Boyce, Bermuda’s top J/24 sailor, when he’s not dominant. When I was asked how Trevor did on the second day, I responded, “not that good. He didn’t have a good day, again.’ Well, looking at the results, he got a 1st, 3rd, and 4th. I would happily have traded my results with his that day! And day three he returned with 3 bullets! He was unbeatable and I have to give him and his crew credit for working very hard and going incredibly fast in the heavier wind. We just couldn’t keep up. A 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, were good enough to keep us in the hunt going into the lay day.

On Wednesday we had to go to school and there were a lot of people rubbing it in our faces Tuesday night at the party.

Thursday we came back rested and ready to go. The first race we took 2nd to Trevor, which was not quite what we wanted. We were also protested by the Canadian boat. Thanks to the advice received from seasoned Bermudians in other fleets and the fact that we were right, we came out of the protest victorious and kept the 2nd. The second race of the day was the biggest eye sore of our entire week. We went around the first leeward mark in first, and the next mark in last! I had tried to cover the entire fleet and of course, it didn’t work. I got caught in the middle and watched everyone sail by me. I was not at all happy with myself when we finished in 7th and I had only myself to blame. We rebounded in the next race with a convincing bullet, our first of race week, which provided a big boost for us mentally. We had led four of the first five races at one point or another and until now had not yet finished first.

That put us tied for second, 3 points out of first. With Trevor 3 points ahead of us, and the wind blowing about 15 knots, it was not easy to come back. Unfortunately, Tim Lynch (Erin) was unable to skipper the final day and was replaced by Rickki Hornet. I knew I had to put a boat between us and Trevor in both of the last two races to win the regatta. In the first race I had Trevor beaten, but there was no other boat between us. I also couldn’t let Erin pass us.  I gambled and let Trevor go to the right, and myself to the ‘Lucky Left.’  Not so lucky this time.  Trevor passed us and we settled for a third in the race and second in the regatta.

Going into the final race, we had 1 point on Erin, and New Wave had deservedly won the regatta. We had a little fun on the downwind with Erin, securing 2nd place in the regatta, a finish with which we were extremely pleased.

There are so many people to thank for putting this regatta together. Jay Hooper and his team ran a fabulous regatta on the water. Of all the race committee’s I’ve seen locally and internationally, Jay runs the best; Race Week was no different.

In addition to those already mentioned, I wish to thank our coach Luis Chiapparro, who sadly is no longer on the island, for teaching us how to sail and race. He was the biggest and best role model for me, and there’s no way I would be where I am today without him.  Also, full credit is due my crew, James Anfossi, Jason and Jordan Saints and Catalina Sposato.

Whoever picked up our spinnaker pole out of the water in the last race, THANK YOU, too!"  Read more about Bermuda Race Week events.  

Featured Boat

Gorgeous J/133 SOFIA in Europe

The ideal mid-40s length racer/cruiser, winner of The Sailing World Magazine Overall Boat of the Year and many other international plaudits, the J/133 is a yacht with the stability for short-handed cruising, race winning speed under IRC and the durability you would wish for rough offshore passages. Add in the retractable carbon bowsprit and flying and handling the asymmetric kite becomes playground simple!

The J/133 combines cruising comfort with more powerful performance ratios. The easy to manage sail plan allows fewer and less experienced crew, and the extra rig power afforded by a low VCG keel and standard carbon mast will maximize performance across a wide spectrum of conditions.

Since her introduction, J/133 has established a winning record in some of the highest profile PHRF & IRC events around the world including class wins at Key West Race Week, Spi-Ouest Week in France, and she has been the best performing boat in the RORC series overall in 2007 and again in 2009. In the UK J/133 owners also enjoy Class events.

The J/133 also has full interior accommodation with 3 cabins. There is plenty of space for getting comfortable inshore or offshore with proper offshore galley, nav station and companionway designs, lots of grab rails, large sea-berths, comfortable well ventilated cabins and a warm varnished wood finish.

SOFIA is a fantastic J/133 with many upgrades/modifications to provide an amazing boat for short-handed sailing with her asymmetric spinnaker. SOFIA was Winner of Round Gotland Race in her class 2007 and 2009.  For more information, please visit J-UK.

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors.  The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by:  15 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world.  Sailing is all about friends.  Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!

For more information on J/Boats:
http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm
  

J/Newsletter- April 14th, 2010

---

J/111- It's a Beauty and She Flies!

(Bristol, RI)- Fresh out of the molds and seemingly ready to take off is J/111 hull numero uno at CCF Composites operations in Bristol, RI.  The first boat will spend the summer in Newport, RI sailing locally and moored in Brenton Cove, just off the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court docks.  The second boat is going to Chicago to sail the renowned 290 nautical mile sprint- the Chicago-Mac- at the end of July with a cracker-jack crew that won last year's event overall.  Peel your eyes away from your work screens and take a look at this gorgeous hull, sweeet lines and curvy, firm buttocks- she's a keeper, fun, fast and great-looking!  You can see more revealing shots of the first J/111 hull here.  

J/80 Wins Asia's ABMA Sportboat Class Award

(Shanghai, China)- The awards and enthusiasm for the J/80 class continue to roll in, a phenomenal achievement for the world's largest ISAF International sportboat class and a boat first designed in 1993 to grow the sportboat revolution worldwide.  This past week, the Asia Boat Marine Association voted on the "Best Sportboat for Asia", a category that had a slew of other well-known sportboats competing.  The J/80 received five of ten votes while its erstwhile competitors received only one or two votes each!  The four reasons mentioned by the ABMA Committee that strongly influenced the voters were:
    * New Hong Kong Fleet
    * Use of the J/80 in the Asian Games
    * Production in Xiamen
    * Overall an all-around performer meeting the sportboat and daysailing requirements.
For more information on the ABMA Sportboat Sailing Awards  

J/100 Classic Daysailor Growing Worldwide

(Newport, RI)- The reaction most sailors have when seeing the J/100 for the first time is often one of wonder and day-dreaming about taking off with a friend or loved one for a gorgeous evening sail.  Interest in the J/100 is going strong and with three new boats going to Long Island Sound and one to Sydney, Australia for summer 2010! The most exciting development is the addition of the new bow sprit package, which was first installed on the J/100 recently shipped to Sydney, Australia.  The J/100 sprit extends to 5.5' in front of the headstay (or 4.25' in front of the stem) and allows the kite size to increase from 80m2 to 89m2, or the same size as a J/105 class kite.   The Australian J/100 will be displayed by Ray & Sandra Entwistle (of Yacht Spot) at the Sydney Boat Show in July, while another J/100 sporting a spectacular AWLGRIP black hull will display at the Newport Show this September.  For more J/100 sailboat information.  

Regatta & Show Schedules:

Apr 9-11- J/Fest San Francisco- St. Francis YC- San Francisco, CA- http://www.stfyc.org
Apr 15-18- Strictly Sail Show- Alameda, CA- http://www.strictlysailpacific.com
Apr 30-May 2- Annapolis NOOD- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com
May 5-8- J/80 UK Nationals- Cardiff Bay YC, England- http://www.j-80.co.uk
May 10-14- J/22 South African Nationals- False Bay YC, South Africa- http://www.j22.co.za/
May 14-16- Seattle NOOD- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 18-23- J/24 North Americans- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.j24northamericans.com/
May 22-23- Race For the Case- Lloyd Harbor YC, Long Island, NY- http://www.lhyc.org/
May 27-30- J/80 Copa Espana- Barcelona, Spain- http://www.rcnb.com
Jun 4-6- J/MedCup- Ill de Porquerolles (Hyeres), France- http://www.k-yachting.com
Jun 5-6- Sprit Fest Regatta- Breakwater YC- Sag Harbor, NY- http://www.spritfest.org
Jun 10-13- J/80 Italian Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 21-26- J/80 European Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 20-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Is, RI- http://www.blockislandraceweek.org
Jun 25–27- Long Beach Race Week/ J/120 NAS- Long Beach YC- Long Beach, CA- http://www.lbrw.org

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

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Spring sailing continues its frenetic pace filled with stories of unusually great sailing or, conversely, remarkably difficult (e.g. bad) sailing. What else is news? It's spring! The European contingent of J sailors seemed to have their fair share of everything, but mostly good. The Warsash Spring Series now continues in the challenging Solent after their Easter break.  The Spanish are flying around in their J/80s and watching one of their J/80 friends dash across the Atlantic on an IMOCA  60.  The start of the World Match Racing Tour off Marseilles, France featured a matched fleet of J/80s.  The Americans had two great events on opposite coasts.  Charleston hosted a fabulous Race Week where one-third of the 180 boat fleet were J's of various sorts. St Francis YC hosted the J/Fest West in the Bay in somewhat uncharacteristic weather.  Across the Pacific, the Asian J sailors on-board a J/145 and J/109 took a slow route not to China, but from Hong Kong to the Philippines in the Rolex China Sea Race.   Read on! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.  Photo credit- Gilles Martin-Raget

J/Fest West 2010

Stormy, Grey Weather Thrashes the Bay

(San Francisco, CA)- The fleet of J's that gathered together for this year's J/Fest were greeted by stormier than normal weather and with breeze directions that were nowhere near the norm for San Francisco Bay.  Here's an account of what it was like to race in the J/105 fleet from the winner, Bruce Stone sailing his boat ARBITRAGE- "It rained and was cold and gusty, up to 25 knots, out of the southeast, so they put the starting line between Harding Rock Buoy near Angel Island and Alcatraz, and ran us to the south near Aquatic Park, a routing I have never done before, across the shipping lanes and across the tide...and the wind near the shore was in the 8-11 range so setting the rig tension was tricky.  Needless to say it was our kind of cockamamie race. We had a good start, duked it out with 4-5 boats who also sailed well, and ultimately won the race. It rained quite hard toward the finish, the front went through and they sent us home.  The wind died after we hit the dock!"

In the 22 boat strong J/105s it was a donnybrook as usual for the top five sailors.  Who won was determined by the finish of the last "cockamamie" race with St. Francis YC's ARBITRAGE avoiding a bad race and just beating Tiburon's Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK, getting a first to Scooter's ninth.  Bruce's team on ARBITRAGE won with a 1-6-3-1 1 tally, beating by four points Scooter Simmons sailing BLACKHAWK with a 4-1-1-9 record. Lying third was Phil Laby and Rick Pipkin's RACER-X from Alameda just two points back....again with a mathematical chance to win in the last race despite their 9th place in the third race.

The J/120 class also saw spirited competition with eight boats.  Racing with several "ringers" from the New England area was Northeast Harbor's Steve Madeira on MR MAGOO, winning by just two points over Harry Lewis' team on CHANCE from San Francisco (see the J/Calendar photo of them!).  Both boats had nearly identical records, MAGOO with a 1-3-1-1 record and CHANCE with 3-1-2-2!  Just off these two boats blistering pace was Don Payan's DAYENU from San Francisco with a 2-4-5-3 score to capture third on the podium with fourteen points.

The J/24s had a blast as usual amongst the seven boats.  Berkeley's Mike Whitfieldon aboard TMC RACING won with a strong 1-1-2-1 record, winning by five points over Darren Cummings' DOWNTOWN UPROAR from Treasure Island with a 2-2-3-3 score to garner second place and Don Taylor's ON BELAY from Brickyard Cove finishing with 4-4-1-2 to get third overall. 

The J Handicap fleet had six boats.  The winner was definitely not determined until the closing minutes of their last race.  The J/22 called CHEESEBURGER became the giant-killer in this fleet.  The CHEESEBURGER gang led by Peter Lane from Paradise Cay won on a squeaker, and a tie-breaker, over Trig Liljestrand of Belvedere Cove on RAGTIME, the super-fast J/90- a downwind flyer in most conditions.  Third was Cam Lewis of Monterey, CA sailing his J/22 TRINITY.  For more J/Fest sailing information  

Gorgeous Charleston Race Week

J Sailors Love Southern Hospitality!

(Charleston, SC- Apr 9-11)- After the first two days at 2010 Charleston Race Week brought winds of up to 20 knots, the final day of racing eased up to just 8-12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor. For the 184 teams competing, not a frown was seen on the hundreds of faces at the awards ceremony on Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina's sandy beach. "The city, the weather and the event organizers couldn't have presented this town any better," said local sailing coach Ryan Hamm, whose J/24 PIGS FLY TOO finished in 6th place. "The competition is stiff, and it's great to see so many sailors learn to love Charleston.

Chilly temperatures greeted the record fleet of racing sailboats on Friday. Braving 55 degree-morning temperatures and a wind-chill driven by the 20-knot breeze made the racing "a serious adrenalin rush", as competitor Peter Crawford put it. Temperatures reached the 70s by noon, providing picture perfect sailing conditions to start race week off with a bang. "I don't know if conditions could be any more perfect than today," said Christof Wieland, who traveled all the way from Germany to compete in his second Charleston Race Week.  By Saturday morning, more nice wind, warm sun and waves graced Charleston with picture-perfect conditions. For the second straight day, winds up to 20 knots propelled the J fleets across all four courses.  Sunday dawned with a big change to the previous two extreme sailing days, with just 8 - 12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor.

The J/80s had a tough twenty boat fleet, with many serious North American and Worlds contenders vying for the top spots.  After the smoke cleared, past World Champion Kerry Klingler skippering LIFTED just beat out the Roger/Welan team sailing B-TEAM on a tie-breaker, each finishing with 22 points, taking seven first places of the ten races between them.  Key West Race Week winners Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard finished third in LE TIGRE, fourth was Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO and fifth was Henry Brauer and Will Welles on RASCAL.

The seventeen boat strong J/24 fleet had a great turnout for this event and they certainly enjoyed the breezy conditions racing inside Charleston Harbor.  Chip Till on MURDER INCORPORATED managed to hang onto the lead on the last day to win by one point over Joe McDonald on REX.  Chris Jankowski finished third.  The top three were a tough bunch, garnering all ten first places distributed amongst them!

The J/105s had a small but highly competitive class of six boats.  The top three were trading off the fleet lead all three days, race to race.  At the end of their scrum, Jackson Benvenutti's LITTLE BOOTY prevailed on yet another tie-breaker over veteran J/105 campaigner, Damian Emery and the beautiful flag blue hulled ECLIPSE.  Bill Zartler and crew aboard SOLARIS sailed great on the last day, getting two bullets, but not enough to take on the fleet leaders, finishing just three points back in third. Like the J/24s, this tough bunch took all eight firsts places in the regatta.

In the first ever IRC fleet at this race week, the J/122 TEAMWORK that won last year's handicap class sailed nicely to finish third overall.  Seemingly, the crazy currents, tide lines and wave conditions conspired to favor the larger boats, the winner was a custom IRC RP52 called VINCITORRE with straight firsts.

In PHRF A, Will Hanckel's J/120 EMOCEAN sailed the offshore course, finishing just one point out of first.  On the last day, a soul-satisfying 2-1 got them into the hunt, but not enough to win the event, having to settle for second place.  In PHRF B, Willy Schwenzfeier's J/35 ARROW had fun sailing to a fourth overall.  In PHRF D, the three masthead J/29s were having a ball racing against each other.  At the end, Jim Mackevich's FOR SAIL beat out perennial Key West Race Week participant (and often winner) Steve Thurston's MIGHTY PUFFIN from Rhode Island.  Miles Martschink's MONGO didn't sail the first day but still managed a fourth in fleet.   For more regatta/ sailing information on Charleston Race Week.  

Warsash Spring Series Week 4  

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- Back after an Easter break, the Warsash Spring Series continued on April 11 with the entries topping 200. There were challenging conditions for Week 4 with the wind ranging between 9-14 knots. The general mean direction was from the northeast, but local conditions prevailed on the three separate race tracks.  Jon Spencer, in charge of the White Group J/80s was closest inshore and reported the wind moving to the east each time it faded. In the middle of the Solent at ‘Flying Fish’ buoy, Black Group CRO David Greenway found the wind sufficiently stable to set the same basic course for all the keelboat classes, with only a minor adjustment for the smaller boats. The only interruption to a smooth start sequence came between the J/109 and IRC3 starts, when a second outer distance mark was laid to achieve a square line.

IRC1 got away on time and JINJA, Ian Matthews’ J/122, took a flyer from the pin end of the line and established a winning lead within the first 10 minutes of the race.   JINJA is the fourth different winner in IRC 1 so the class is wide open with two races to go. Another J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH has sailed consistently well to remain second overall in the series standings.

Unusually, the highly competitive J/109 class was slightly reluctant at the start. This gave David McCleman helming OFFBEAT, who had perhaps been watching the earlier starts, the golden opportunity to grab the favoured position at the pin end. He achieved an immediate lead. David Apthorp on J/DREAM gained on the first beat and, although never far away, could not get close enough to cause danger.  The seventeen J/109s saw Kirsty and David Apthorp's J-DREAM continue to separate themselves from the pack with a 1-2 this past weekend to be ahead by ten points.  David Mcleman's OFFBEAT has jumped into second ahead of James Arnell's JEEZ-LOUISE.

IRC3 and the combined J/105 and J/92 starts were subject to individual recalls. As the wind lightened towards the Island shore, rounding Prince Consort buoy against the tide caused a few problems and the fleet became very spread out.  JIKA-JIKA, the fast J/97, took second place on handicap. Charles Wittam’s Juno has now won three of the four races and holds a good lead in the class. At the back of the fleet Domaine and Gambit ran out of time but benefited from the “out of time” provision in the Sailing Instructions.

The combined J/105 and J/92 starts were subject to individual recalls. As the wind lightened towards the Island shore, rounding Prince Consort buoy against the tide caused a few problems and the fleet became very spread out. The J class was finished early at the last windward mark. Rob Dornton-Duff in his J/105 JAVA ended a run of third places with the J/105 win. Things are extremely tight at the top of the leader board. Anyone who can put together two more good results over the remaining two weeks could change things dramatically.  For J/105s, there is still what amounts to a three-way tie for first place.  And, they're still only separated by a point!  Chris Jones JOURNEYMAKER 5 is now third in a tie for second with Paul Griffith's FAY-J and Rob Dornton-Duff's JAVA that was in third is now first!  The battle continues, more news next week...hold on to those keyboards!

On the same course, the J/92s continue to have very tight class racing amongst the top competitors.  Leaping into the overall series lead after a slow start is Bill Howard's WIZARD.  Yes, it did take some mastery of Hamble/ Solent wizardry to win two races in a row against this hard fought class.  The trio of Andrew, Matt and Peter Campbell sailing JAMMIN are now down to fourth. Dominic Horner's JEKYLL in second and  Rory and Cathy Staunton on JAYA are third.  Anyone who can put together two more good results over the remaining two weeks could change things dramatically.

The J/80s are also having some great one-design racing in a wide variety of conditions. Not sailing this weekend was Terri Palmer on JUST DO IT dropping to third in the standings after a dominating performance the previous weekends.  The fly-boys on TEAM SPITFIRE are now in first after some good sailing, just leading John Cooper's OI! John Cooper in Oi! took the first race but the RAF TEAM SPITFIRE made the best start of the second race. They managed to stay ahead of both OI! and Charles Somerset’s LOUDWATER down the run but a poor spinnaker drop let both the others through. At the same time, Katie, working foredeck on Jannine Stoodley’s WAIRUA thought of having a quick swim but after testing the water temperature decided against it and stayed on board. At the end of the third beat, JAVA NANO had made up a large deficit to round the mark in the lead but a poor tactical decision on the final run put her back in the pack. In the end, LOUDWATER took the gun a few boat lengths ahead of OI! TEAM SPITFIRE had their revenge in the final race establishing a small lead to the finish. LOUDWATER and OI! finished virtually level, only two seconds separating them.  Full sailing results on the Warsash Website   Sailing Photos by Eddie Mays  

ECC VIVIENDAS Wins J/80 AVEGA CUP

(Santander, Spain)- Thirty two boats participated in the coveted J/80 AVEGA Cup in Santander.  The event is widely popular because the winners get to take home HUGE new LED television sets to enjoy with family and friends those popular futbol (soccer) matches so prevalent in Spain and Europe.  The picture here is of José Manuel Sansalvador, CEO of AVEGA SRL, along with the winners of the biggest TV, Pichu Torcida and crew from ECC VIVIENDAS.  They sure are happy aren't they?

After two very nice days of sailing in the beautiful waters off Santander, Pichu's crew won by six points over his arch competitor BANCAJA sailed by Javier López-Vázquez.  There was a big point jump after the leaders up to NEXTEL ENGINEERING raced by Ignacio Camino, fourth was GRUPO RHIN skippered by Angel Herrerias and fifth was a regular front-runner in this fleet, FUNDESTIC capably steered by Toño Gorostegui.  For more J/80 Spain sailing info.  

Slow Rolex China Sea Race

(Hong Kong, China- April 5)- The 25th China Sea Race started Thursday 01 April 2010, from Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong and sent the fleet across 565 nm course across the straits to Subic Bay in the Philippines.  The prevailing strategies are to do whatever it takes to get across the straits fast then the issue becomes what to do with the Philippine coastline, stay in our stay out offshore to get the best winds-- and it changes a lot from year to year.  As one of the sailors said about this year's conditions, “It was very unique in that there were very light winds on the first day, and strong winds on Friday afternoon and Saturday. It was exciting in the sense that you have to prepare your route and where you’re going to have your landfall. It paid off in that we were more east compared to the others in our division, so we were able to get the land breeze earlier.”  Another navigator said, “We always planned to go north then come south, but we actually had to do an ‘S’. Our plan was to stay high, but we knew from the weather on Thursday night that a big surge would come through. Our plan was just to bear off and go with our max VMG with the surge. It was very frustrating sitting around yesterday, and we caught a corridor of wind and we were desperate to get to the land by dawn, but we didn’t make it. We knew there would be no wind out on the sea and we wanted the land breeze. So we had to struggle; we would go along the coast and sail into each bay – there was more wind in the bays than outside, so we scalloped our way down the coast.”

Having a bit of struggle with this year's navigational challenge were the two J's racing across this Asian offshore classic.  The J/145 RED EYE sailed by Paul Leese and Wayne Thompson- finished 4th in IRC Racing B, they were also 10th boat across the line behind a fleet of very fast vintage TP52s. The J/109 WHISKEY JACK that sailed well by Nick Southward in the 2009 Asian offshore series faired not much better, getting a 4th in IRC Racing C.  For more Rolex China Sea Race info.  

J/Community

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

* Of interest to those who follow the French offshore sailing scene were some of the notables racing J/80s at SPI OUEST the previous fortnight.  Sailing with J/France West Brittany dealer, PL Yachting, was the famous French offshore sailor "Nicolas Troussel", the past Figaro race winner and offshore Figaro annual championship winner.  Also joining them in the 93 boat J/80 class was Jean Galfione, the old French Gold Medallist at the Olympic Games (pole vaulting)!  Apparently, Jean said handling the J/80 foredeck duties with a carbon pole, the horizontal variety, was "tres simple"!

* Ken Read and the Volvo 70 PUMA are preparing for another rock around the clock!  Good Luck!  PUMA announced last week that it will participate in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 after placing second overall in the 2008-2009 competition. Led by Kenny in the last race, Ken will again be in charge of the PUMA Ocean Racing team, and shares his thoughts about the team, the lessons learned in the last race, and how they seek to improve for the next race.  Scuttlebutt has an interesting series of interviews with Ken here.

* J/80 Across the Atlantic? Seriously? Why? Here's an amusing story about sailing a J/80 on the old "trade-winds" route from Europe to the Caribbean, going by way of the Azores and the Canaries.  Follow the adventurous blog of two Swedish J/80 sailors, Andreas and Jens, a fire-fighter and IT consultant, respectively.  "The idea of sailing to the West Indies was born during a warm summer night on our way to Fårö, Sweden. A J/80, is an eight metre long racing boat with the same conveniences as a two-man-tent and is so fast that it even leaves some 40-feet boats behind. J/80 boats have been sailed in races like Gotland Runt and other ocean races many times but still, no one has crossed the Atlantic Ocean in one. We will change that during the autumn 2007.  So follow us during our preparations and also during our journey to the West Indies in one of the smallest racing boats!"  They're now down in Los Roques/ Tortuga off Venezuela having a scream cruising, fishing and kite-boarding.

So, Ken, maybe you should get these guys to sail with you on the Volvo 70 PUMA!  Clearly, a luxury yacht ride compared to a J/80, eh?  Could even use their "rubber-band auto-steering" innovation, too, that works surfing down waves up to 20 knots!  This story had me in tears laughing.  http://adventure.roxen.com/

* Can The Favourites Win Match Race France in Marseilles on J/80s?  Not.  Instead, it was "Local French Hero Reverses History!"  Here's the report from the WMRT.  "Twelve skippers went to Yacht Club Pointe Rouge, Southern France for the start of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT). The first of this 10 event global series starts in Marseille and will count towards points for the ultimate prize of becoming the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Champion.  With a daunting line up of skippers including seasoned World Champions, Olympic medal holders and adrenalin-fuelled youngsters, any skipper lining up to perform pre-start tactics would have to be confident of their match racing prowess and boat handling abilities onboard the J/80 yachts. The J/80 will provide a lively model for the skippers to race, a design that works for dinghy sailors as well as big boat racers making tight boat maneuvering during the pre-start achievable for all skippers. The J/80 cockpit is also spacious for the four person crew to perform their jobs to the best of their ability, involving constant alteration of sails, body weight and vantage points to see the competing boat's next move. The J/80's will be raced asymmetrically for this event so it will be interesting to see if those skippers who have previous asymmetric experience will have an advantage on the downhill legs."

As the regatta unfolded, it was clear that strong dinghy sailors had an advantage.  Here's what happened, "Stage 1 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), has put a new twist on an ancient maritime tale. The scenario of English sailors battling French sailors is reminiscent of the famed 1805 Battle of Trafalgar when UK’s Lord Nelson defeated Emperor Napoleon of France. Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAM ORIGIN took on Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team.  The French local, Richard, took a convincing victory winning both of the final two matches raced under a testing 6-7 knot westerly. Richard celebrated with local Marseille supporters, who were quick to take to the water in boats of all sizes."

Mathieu Richard, who is also tactician for the French America’s Cup syndicate, ALEPH, observed, “We had a slow start to the regatta, but a slow start motivates you to really improve when it counts.” Ainslie sees his time invested in attending WMRT events as a profitable way to keep his match race training fresh, “My ultimate goal for the ISAF World Match Racing Tour events is to improve my match racing skills and rules knowledge”. The Tour forms an important ingredient in Ainslie’s long term America’s Cup ambition with TEAM ORIGIN.   Richard advanced to the finals by beating Francesco Bruni (ITA) 2-1, while Ainslie bested Paolo Cian (ITA) by a similar score. Bruni beat Cian in the single race Petit Final.  For more info sailing J/80s in the World Match Racing Tour

* Speaking of J/24s, here's an amusing pitch from the Australian J/24 Class, titled "A Strange Paradox".  As Australian J/24 class leader Simon Paine describes it, "In a world that is constantly changing and becoming more expensive, one keelboat class offers you the opportunity to cruise and race for under $20,000 AUD (note- they're even cheaper in America). A class that offers fleets all over Australia and an international fleet of over 5,500 boats.  You guessed it – the J24. And it’s making a big come back as people realize the unique potential of this little boat.  24 ft with a main, jib, genoa and kite, five crew, 4 bunks and an icebox. 24 ft of competitive excitement. And they are everywhere and compared to Etchells, Sportsboats and other similar sized keel boats – they’re as cheap as hell!

Some call it old – it is, same age as the Etchells.

Some call it slow – it isn’t, Div 3 of this years Spinnaker Cruising (Racing class) at Geelong Audi Week (the biggest class available), 56 boats and J/24s gained 3 First places and a Second over the line in the 4 races held, even though it was the smallest boat in the fleet (beating boats 12ft longer over the line). It isn’t a sports boat speedboat, but it is a one design that doesn’t get out designed and out dated.

Some do call it outdated – it isn’t in fact, in a handicap or measurement class it rates so well they hate us entering – we tend to win. We still put 90 odd boats on the start line at most world champs.

So what other one design keelboat is there for under $20,000 AUD with all these benefits you can get into and race competitively (or cruise), in a fleet around Australia?

You’re right – there isn’t another one.

Some people call it all sorts of names--- but, we simply call it the J/24!

We’re putting "stars" into--- reasonably priced--- boats!"

Take a look at how they're promoting J/24 fun and "class" in Australia.  Good on ya mates!  http://j24australia.com.au/

Featured Boat

Gorgeous J/133 SOFIA in Europe

The ideal mid-40s length racer/cruiser, winner of The Sailing World Magazine Overall Boat of the Year and many other international plaudits, the J/133 is a yacht with the stability for short-handed cruising, race winning speed under IRC and the durability you would wish for rough offshore passages. Add in the retractable carbon bowsprit and flying and handling the asymmetric kite becomes playground simple!

The J/133 combines cruising comfort with more powerful performance ratios. The easy to manage sailplan allows fewer and less experienced crew, and the extra rig power afforded by a low VCG keel and standard carbon mast will maximize performance across a wide spectrum of conditions.

Since her introduction, J/133 has established a winning record in some of the highest profile PHRF & IRC events around the world including class wins at Key West Race Week, Spi-Ouest Week in France, and she has been the best performing boat in the RORC series overall in 2007 and again in 2009. In the UK J/133 owners also enjoy Class events.

The J/133 also has full interior accommodation with 3 cabins. There is plenty of space for getting comfortable inshore or offshore with proper offshore galley, nav station and companionway designs, lots of grab rails, large sea-berths, comfortable well ventilated cabins and a warm varnished wood finish.

SOFIA is a fantastic J/133 with many upgrades/modifications to provide an amazing boat for short-handed sailing with her asymmetric spinnaker. SOFIA was Winner of Round Gotland Race in her class 2007 and 2009.   For more information, please visit:   http://www.j-uk.co.uk

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors.  The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by:  15 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world.  Sailing is all about friends.  Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!   For more information on J/Boats:  http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm  

-------------------------------

J/Newsletter- March 31, 2010

BMW Sailing Cup 2010 in J/80s

BMW Wins Sports Marketing Award

(Munich, Germany)- BMW won this years Sports Marketing Award in Munich with the BMW Sailing Cup Series on J/80s,  one of the most coveted prizes in the sports business industry.  It is quite an honor for BMW to be the winner of this award in Europe's biggest sports business conference- the Congress of ISPO SpoBiS held this year in Germany.  BMW decided earlier this winter to continue the series with the International J/80 One-Design fleet.  As a result, BMW will prepare their eight J/80s for the new season that starts in May with 14 events at different locations all over Germany in 2010.

The project, known last year as "SAILING CUP 2009", by the Bavarian car maker BMW has now established itself as the world's largest amateur regatta series.  According to the results of the online vote in Germany, it has BMW demonstrating that its marketing efforts with J/Boat's International J/80 Class in Germany is an ideal way to combine the positive images of the yachting experience with sales/CRM measures that measure impact on auto sales.

Manfred Bräunl, Marketing Manager for BMW of Germany: "We are delighted with the award. We are, with the BMW Sailing Cup, on a successful path and our commitment to yachting continues in the future. In the field of yachting, BMW can take the opportunity to demonstrate our technological competence and we can also share common values such as teamwork, innovation and high-tech to be experienced. Sailors and sailing enthusiasts are already looking forward to sailing the J/80s in the BMW Sailing Cup 2010."

The BMW Sailing Cup, which goes into its fifth season in 2010, has been an inspiration to the sailing community around the world.  Promoted under the slogan "pleasure is sailing" it has attracted sailors from around the world, including teams from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.  BMW has established with the BMW Sailing Cup Regatta series for a sport boaters. Every year more than 1,200 sailing enthusiasts are participating in the event.  BMW has a long tradition in yachting and is a premium partner and presenter of major sailing events: Since 2002, BMW has been involved actively in international yachting and the America's Cup as a partner in the Team BMW ORACLE Racing.

For this year's qualifying regattas, the BMW Sailing Cup is handled by a combination of the local BMW dealer organization and a local sailing club.

TOUR CALENDAR 2010
May 1-2- Leipzig, Cospuden, Leipzig branch
May 8-9- Hamburg, Elbe, Office Hamburg
May 15-16- Northeim, Northeim Big Lake, Autohaus Leinetal
May 29-30- Munster, Lake Aa, Autohaus Hakvoort

For more BMW and J/80 Sailing Cup information.  

J/Fest NW Celebrating 27 years

Sail Northwest would like to invite all J Boat owners and their crew to join us at the 27th annual J/Fest Northwest regatta June 19th and June 20th hosted by Sail Northwest and Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle.

Fleets expected this year are J/22, J/24, J/80, J/29, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109, J/PHRF and J/Cruising.

The J/Cruising Class, J/28, J/32, J/35c, J,37c, J/40, J/120,  J/42, J/130, J/44, J/46, J/160, and any other J that wants to do a casual one day race on Saturday.  PHRF ratings will be assigned for flying sails and no flying sails.  Last year the J/Cruisers had a great time joining in on the festivities and we expect a large turnout this year.

Saturday evening will be the ever popular J/Fest dinner and door prize give-away.  Join us to make this 27th J/Fest one you won’t want to miss! For more information you can call Sail Northwest at (206) 286-1004 or email us at sales@sailnorthwest.com or go to http://www.sailnorthwest.com  

Race Charter J/80s At J/World San Diego

J/80 North American and J/80 World Championships are just around the corner right here in the US and J/80 sailing is gearing up from Coast to Coast. J/World San Diego recently entered four J/80s into the San Diego NOOD Regatta, adding to the class totaling 12 competitive boats. Bring your crew to San Diego and tune up for the season and big races this fall. Yachting Cup 2010

is coming up the first weekend in May. J/World San Diego is offering individual positions as well as full boat charters for the regatta. Contact us for more information at info@jworldsandiego.com or http://www.jworldsandiego.com  

Regatta & Show Schedules:

Apr 1-5- SPI OUEST- La Trinite, France- http://www.spi-ouestfrance.com
Apr 8-11- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC- http://www.charlestonraceweek.com
Apr 9-11- J/Fest San Francisco- St. Francis YC- San Francisco, CA- http://www.stfyc.org
Apr 15-18- Strictly Sail Show- Alameda, CA- http://www.strictlysailpacific.com
Apr 30-May 2- Annapolis NOOD- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com
May 5-8- J/80 UK Nationals- Cardiff Bay YC, England- http://www.j-80.co.uk
May 10-14- J/22 South African Nationals- False Bay YC, South Africa- http://www.j22.co.za/
May 14-16- Seattle NOOD- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 18-23- J/24 North Americans- Seattle YC- Seattle, WA- http://www.j24northamericans.com/
May 22-23- Race For the Case- Lloyd Harbor YC, Long Island, NY- http://www.lhyc.org/
May 27-30- J/80 Copa Espana- Barcelona, Spain- http://www.rcnb.com
Jun 5-6- Sprit Fest Regatta- Breakwater YC- Sag Harbor, NY- http://www.spritfest.org
Jun 10-13- J/80 Italian Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 21-26- J/80 European Championship- Lake Garda, Italy- http://www.j80euro2010.it/
Jun 20-26- Block Island Race Week- Block Is, RI- http://www.blockislandraceweek.org
Jun 25–27- Long Beach Race Week/ J/120 NAS- Long Beach YC- Long Beach, CA- http://www.lbrw.org

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

J/Regatta News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

This past week was a busy one worldwide in the J sailing world.  Starting with the Caribbean, the renowned International Rolex Regatta lived beyond its promises to stage an event to remember.  In the Americas, the Balboa-Cabo Race saw J/125s crush the competition and a J/44 do the same in the Islands Race off Southern California.  In classic Texan hospitality, the Fort Worth Boat Club hosted the Sundance Cup on J/22s for the girls' WIMRA.  Europe's strong spring season is kicking into higher gear with yet another nice weekend for the Warsash Spring Sailing series, the completion of the J/80 Winter Series won by "girl power" and the start of the famously ginormous SPI OUEST Regatta in La Trinite, France where over one-third of the fleet is J's and 93 J/80s are racing!  Read on! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page!  Below are the summaries.

SPI OUEST Starts With 430 Boats

Monster J/80 Class with 93 Entries

(La Trinite Sur Mer, France)-  A cast of thousands have descended upon the quaint, beautiful seaside village of La Trinite for this Easter weekend.  Renowned not only for its premiere sailing event but also for its soothing thassolotherapy spas along the seashore, La Trinite will serve up yet another fantastic weekend of sailing for some of the top sailors in France and the rest of Europe.  The J/Fleet is enormous. Of the 430 boats racing, over one-third- about 125- are J's ranging from ten J/24s to ninety-three J/80, a smattering of J/92s to J/97s and over twenty J/105s, J/109s and J/122s.  Sailing on Circle B will be the J/105, J/109 and J/80 classes (only J/Boats- a first in French sailing) and on Circle C will be the three IRC Classes- 1-2-3. More than ten nationalities will be represented with crews from Germany, England, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Russian and Sweden.  Within IRC1 with 32 boats starting on the line will be 5 J/122s, including last year's winner Philipe Delaporte's champion PEN AZEN.  For more SPI OUEST Sailing information.  

J/125s Crush in Balboa-Cabo San Lucas Race

WARRIOR, RESOLUTE Finish 1-2 Overall

(Coronado del Mar, CA- March 31)- Balboa Yacht Club’s 2010 Corona del Mar to Cabo Race started this past Friday and Saturday with a fleet of thirty six boats. All competitors were focusing on the extremely competitive Class D fleet with four J/125’s and three Farr 40’s racing one-design as well as for class and overall corrected time.  Their fears of getting blitzkrieged by this group were not unfounded.

The seven J's sailing the race were all highly competitive, mostly placing in both Class D and E.  In Class D, the four J/125s, WARRIOR, RESOLUTE, DERIVATIVE and REINRAG2 finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th in class and 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th overall! CONGRATULATIONS to all of you.  To give  you an idea how competitive it was, REINRAG2 has won or placed in several TRANSPACs and is an extremely well sailed boat.  We bet that Jim Madden wished he'd brought his J/125 STARK RAVING MAD into the fray to have some fun class racing!  Just off the furious pace set by the J/125s in Class D were the two J/133s, PICANTE and TANGO.  In Class E, the J/120 ADIOS sailed a good race to post a third class and 26th overall.    For more information:  http://www.balboayachtclub.com/  

International Rolex Regatta

J/122 LOST HORIZON Wins Spinnaker Racing Class

(St.Thomas, USVI- Mar 26-28)- The three-day event, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, has a track record - spanning 37 years - for delivering the goods when it comes to racing and island-style hospitality.  This year, it delivered again.  With sixty-nine teams competing in four divisions (IRC, CSA, One-Design IC 24s and Beach Cats), the forecast of 12-17 knots over the three sunny days, and plenty of Caribbean parties, music and cuisine to fill any time not used up by racing, there's no question this year's International Rolex Regatta completely delivered a getaway to remember!

"This year we arranged for some races to snug up next to St. John, so competitors could expand their horizons and our sister island could share in some of the excitement of seeing the spectacle of the fleet racing," said Regatta Co-Chair John Sweeney. "For the same reasons, we had the IC-J/24s racing off the beachfront at the Ritz Hotel on Saturday, and later that night, hundreds of sailors, organizers, volunteers and townspeople took part in a giant reggae music concert and food festival at Yacht Haven Grande, where some of the event's larger boats are berthed. All to say, everyone really enjoyed getting around to different places on the island and out on the water."

Last year he lost this event in the final races on the last day, but this year at the 37th International Rolex Regatta (March 26-28), Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo had built some good padding into his score line over two days and followed form on the third, today, to win the IC/24 class and a Rolex timepiece (which he awarded to his trimmer Milton Gonzalesz) as proof of his team's prowess shown over 17 races. Lugo now can claim eight International Rolex Regatta victories in a variety of classes.  The IC/24s kept with short round-the-buoy races after the event's opening "town races" on Friday, while their counterparts in six other classes (IRC, Spinnaker Racing 1 and 2, Non-Spinnaker Racing, Spinnaker Racing/Cruising and Beach Cats) took to the more scenic winding courses through and around the cuts, cays and islands off the east end of St. Thomas, USVI, where host St. Thomas Yacht Club is located.

Another winner of a Rolex timepiece was James Dobbs' (Antigua) J/122 LOST HORIZON in Spinnaker Racing/Cruising Class. "I knew which boats had a chance of winning before the race," he said, referring to a tight group at the top of the scoreboard that included second-place finisher Three Harkoms, a Beneteau 442 skippered by James Hudleston (Yarmouth, UK). "I've sailed against them before, and they are serious about racing, as we are."  Just behind them finishing third was Rick Wesslund's crew on EL OCASO, the very well sailed J/120 that has won Key West Race Week in the past.  Not to be missed was the beautiful J/46 MISS MAGIC, sailed by Jim Baus, finishing a well-deserved sixth overall.

In IRC class, Bill Coates' J/122 OTRA VEZ consistently sailed in top three handicap overall during the three days.  However, two bomber finishes in the fourth and sixth races hurt their opportunity to get a Rolex Submariner!  After sailing well enough to be second at one point, they fell off the podium to finish fifth overall.

 Yet another proud winner of a Rolex watch was Tony Sanpere.  For CSA Non-spinnaker Racing, it was all CAYENNITA GRANDE, the J/36 sailed by Tony and friends and family.  They won with straight firsts in five races!  'It's my crew's fault,' deadpanned Antonio Sanpere (Christiansted, VI), who handily won both races on the last day with his J/36 CAYENNITA GRANDE in CSA Non-Spinnaker Racing Class. 'No matter how I tried to screw up, they made it right.' In the following easterly at the start of the first race, Sanpere launched his 120% reacher to easily pass to port of natural navigational obstacles that others had to come 'way up' to avoid. That was the start of his winning moves, which have enabled him to win this regatta four times before as a skipper.  For more Rolex Regatta sailing information
http://www.rolexcupregatta.com  

J/44 PATRIOT Wins In "Islands Race"

PATRIOT Third Overall in Fleet!

(Newport Beach, CA- March 10-13)- It was billed to be a fun new race around the islands off the southern California coast.  "Great parties, an offshore overnight race of 130 nautical miles taking us around our own beautiful Channel Islands Catalina and San Clemente, wind (if it will be windy anywhere it will be offshore in March), a course that will test various points of sail and fun class racing."  The promise held true to form with good conditions and a great turnout of forty one boats.  J/s were prevalent in Divisions 1, 2 and 3.

Paul Stemler's J/44 PATRIOT won Division 2 with Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL finishing in third.  PATRIOT also sailed well enough to garner third overall in fleet, missing the overall win by only twelve minutes!

In Division 3, the J/92s STING sailed by Charlie Underwood from MWYC was third and just behind in the venerable J/35 PREDATOR were Tom and Terri Manok from OYC.   For more Islands Race information  

J/22 Sundance Cup Regatta

Annie Get Yer Guns!

(Fort Worth, Texas- Mar 16-20)-  Long-time J sailor Annie Gardner Nelson recently attended the Sundance Cup racing J/22s out of the Fort Worth Boat Club.  Here's here amusing report: "The 2010 Sundance Cup was hosted by the St Worth Boat Club and sailed on the club's fleet of matching J/22's.  This year the event was preceded with a 2 day clinic run by WIMRA (Women's International Match Racing Assoc)  Director Liz Baylis and assisting her was Kirsten Lane of Sausalito, CA.   Baylis did an excellent job of balancing drills with chalk talks and on the water coaching.

Skippers were invited based on ISAF ranking and/or resume and 7 teams from across the country and Canada attended with many teams using at least one Texan to fill the boat.  My team was all Texan other than me and boy did I learn some funny jokes and accents!  Anyone who was there will fondly remember my bowchick Kritter who wore camouflage pants, hockey shirts, and had us all in stitches at meetings and on the water.

Race day one was extremely light and the FWBC they were only able to complete 4 flights.  Day 2 the storm was coming and by mid day the wind increased with puffs to 20 so the no spinnaker rule came into play.  Even without kites the racing was fun and intense as match racing is always about constant action. Day three a snow storm was close by, and with wind gusts hitting 29 knots the RC and OA decided to abandon any further racing. The results went back to the round robin scores, and the winners were Maegan Ruhlman 1st, Katy Lovell 2nd, and Liz Hyorth 3rd.  With a day off, the girls went shopping and watched as the snow flurries hit the ground.  The awards dinner saw several crews wearing cowgirl hats which stayed on all the way through the night while we rode bulls and danced to Travis Twitt at his concert at the famous Billy Bobs's in downtown Ft. Worth.  Texas will never be the same! Yeehaw!  Annie Nelson"  Photo Credits: Cindy Cady  

Close Racing in UKs Warsash Spring Series

J/97  JIKA-JIKA Racing Fast!

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- The third week of Warsash Sailing Club's Spring Series saw the first south-westerly breeze of the season. The wind stayed true in direction with the strength varying from 10 to 14 knots, providing near ideal sailing conditions if still cold. Despite the clocks going forward, competitors were out early for practice with new entries joining the fleets.

The Black Group committee boat anchored near Hamble Yacht Services buoy and used Air Canada, close to the Bramble Bank, as the first windward mark with a finish at East Knoll. Adjustments were made to the lengths of the courses with IRC1 completing 15 miles and IRC3 12.5 miles. IRC4 used a White Group start line but also finished with the other Black Group boats at East Knoll after a course covering over 10 miles. High water occurred during the start sequence, so competitors had the favoured combination of beats with the current and runs against it. Tacticians kept careful watch of the depth to benefit from or dodge the tide.

The number of "Big Boats" competing in IRC1 has increased as their Spring Championship after Easter approaches. In IRC1 the J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH sailed to an uncharacteristic 7th, but still remained in second overall in the standings.  the J/133 JAMMY DODGER raced by Neil Martin sailed a great race to get a third to move into fifth place overall.

In IRC3, the J/97 JIKA-JIKA sailed by Mike and Jaime Holmes again made another jump up in the standings from this past week to move into second overall!

For J/105s, there was an unprecedented three-way tie for first place last week.  And, in short, they're still only separated by a point.  Chris Jones JOURNEYMAKER 5 is now first one point ahead of a tie for second between Paul Griffith's FAY-J and Rob Dornton-Duff's JAVA.  Bet everyone's relieved to not have to race Easter Weekend!

The J/109s saw Kirsty and David Apthorp's J-DREAM start to separate themselves from the pack by winning this weekends race to be ahead by two points.  James Arnell's JEEZ-LOUISE is now second and moving up the standings with a well-deserved third place was David McGough's JUST SO.

The J/92s continue to have very tight class racing amongst the top competitors.  The trio of Andrew, Matt and Peter Campbell sailing JAMMIN are now in second, just behind Dominic Horner's JEKYLL.  Rory and Cathy Staunton on JAYA and Bill Howard's team racing WIZARD are just off the pace.

The J/80s seem to have a new class standard to live up to since the leader by a wide margin is Terri Palmer on JUST DO IT with twenty one points after nine races, just over a second average!!  The fly-boys on TEAM SPITFIRE are now solidly in second with thirty three points and John Cooper's OI! has dramatically risen in the standings with three firsts this past weekend to jump into third place with forty five points.    Full results on the Warsash Website.  Photo by Eddie Mays- http://www.eddiemays.com.  

Benelux J80 Winter Series

Ms. Vroon's JOIE DE VIVRE Wins!

(Belgium)- After 18 races, divided over 6 racing days, the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) J80 winter-trophy goes to the JOIE DE VIVRE sailed by Laura Vroon.  Racing took place at the Grevelingen, Zeeland, a salty formed sea branch, closed off by the sea with a dike, with fair weather, smooth water and a moderate to fair breeze.  Up to the last racing day on March the 14th, the number one and two positions were uncertain. Before the last day Faber Munker from Twan Hanse was in the lead with only a few points difference with her closest contender.

So, on this last racing day of the winter series, stakes were high.  Not all the contenders fully applied the racing rules during the starts but no protests were fought out in the Jury rooms.  Port side of the course had a more favourable wind angle and the starboard side more pressure with hardly any noticeable advantage for either side.  After all, FABER MUNKER took place three, JALAPENO place two.  JOIE DE VIVRE took first convincingly with the three first places, and won the daily prize, too. That just did the trick for her to come out of this winter series as the glorious winner.  Third place overall was for Erik Scheeren's JALAPENO.

In total 18 boats have joined this winter series. After being launched only three years ago, the J/80 class in the Benelux shows a steady growth, in terms of fleet size as in the level of sailing.  

J/Community

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

* Australian J/122 MARTA JEAN Sailed Her Maiden Voyage recently from Sydney to Newcastle.  Here's a report from Ray Entwistle - "For the start of this story we’ve borrowed the tune from an old Billy Joel song– see if you can pick it..... Its 9am on a Saturday, the south-easterly breeze is kicking in, We’re sailing up to Newcastle, the maiden voyage of the J/122 - ‘Marta Jean’.  Lah de dah, de de da’ah..........  That’s the extent of our combined creative talent, so it’s back to our usual narrative.  The Rae family’s pride and joy ‘Marta Jean’, a new J/122, left Greenwich Flying Squadron, west of Sydney Harbour Bridge with water and fuel tanks half full and the dockbox fitted holding the inflatable, for her maiden voyage up to her new home base, Newcastle, about 70nm north of Sydney.  She had spent her first couple of months at Greenwich, nestled close by to 2 other J/122’s, Lithium and Jackpot.

We motored under Sydney Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House and hoisted the mainsail in the lee of Watsons Bay.  After a quick radio check reporting into Sydney Marine Rescue, 3 on board, destination Newcastle, zeroed the speedo and a few minutes later we sailed through Sydney Harbour Heads. A couple of 44 footers were half a mile ahead also heading north. Good, something to chase, even though we were in full cruising mode.  ‘Marta Jean’ dipped her bows into the Tasman Sea swell and with the wind now at 16 knots over the starboard beam  we surfed down the first big wave and hit 12.4 knots, with the owner Steve on the helm grinning from ear to ear and commenting “it really does what it says on the label“. We knew it was going to be a nice days sailing. Manly and Dee Why beaches soon slid past and within the hour we were clearing Long Reef  - the other two larger yachts we had passed were already specks in the rear view. Twenty five miles further north we radioed to Gosford Marine Rescue, it was almost midday and we were making great time. We tested the auto pilot in the two metre swell but not for long, we were having too good a time surfing down the waves at the wheel.

Averaging over eight knots, we soon found ourselves checking in with the chirpy Swansea Marine Rescue on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie, as we continued to surge north. We were already 75% through our journey.  We were now sailing through all the gigantic coal ships which were at anchor waiting for their turn to be called into port to take their precious loads to all parts of Asia.  We were also pushing 2 knots of the Australian eastern current but with the wind dropping to 12 knots and swinging a little more south we hoisted the spinnaker and sped towards Nobby’s Head beach.  Nobby’s Head was made famous when the giant coal carrier “Pasha Bulker “made global news when she grounded on the beach in a huge winter storm in June 2007. After gybing a few angles we dropped the spinnaker and sailed into Newcastle Harbour on a twenty knot squall hitting 12.3 knots and being amused by the fact that we had finished as we started. We found ‘Marta Jeans’ new pen and checked our watch and instruments. We covered the 70.8 n.miles in eight and a half hours averaging 8.35 knots. Ten minutes later we were sat in the new Newcastle Yacht Club with a well earned beer in hand and watched a rain squall cover the harbour, wondering how far back the other two boats were that started their journey just ahead of us from Sydney.   

* CITYSAIL NYC- Wants a J/24!!  For the last five years CITYSAIL has taken out over 100 Jersey City school children.  Although the kids live within a mile of some of the most exciting visually stimulating sailing around, they literally never get out on the water.  They might as well live 1000 miles from the water for as much as they are able to enjoy it - until City Sail.  "Without City Sail I'd never have learned to sail," says Derrik age 14.  Dozens of children entered our free sailing school and competed for points through three levels of seamanship.  Next year we would like to make this opportunity available to even more kids.  We are hoping to add a J/24 to our fleet!!  Anyone interested in helping us can contact us at citysail@gmail.com, all contributions or boat donations are fully tax exempt.

* Christos Patsavos sent us a recent note and photo of his J/44 from Athens, Greece- "I am a happy owner of a J/44 based in Athens, Greece and I am cruising, day sail or racing occassionaly.  I wonder if I could get in touch with other J/44 owners in US and would appreciate to have your advice about this possibility. Kind regards, Christos!"  For you J/44 owners, you can reach Christos at email- "patsos2002@yahoo.gr"

*  Six U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Sailors comprising the U.S. Armed Forces Sailing Team competed in a J/24 Match Racing event against representatives from 21 countries at the 44th World Military Sailing Championship March 13-21. Hosted for the first time by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the World Military Sailing Championship was hosted by the International Military Sports Council, which is headquartered in Belgium and boasts 122 military member nations worldwide.  The main mission of the International Military Sports Competition is fostering friendship through sport and enhancing military-to-military ties.

The U.S. team is part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Armed Forces Sports Program, which promotes goodwill and a positive image of the armed services through sports, encourages physical fitness by promoting a highly competitive sports program and provides the avenue for military athletes to participate in national and international competitions.  The U.S. team spent five days practicing in J/24 sailboats at J World in Key West, FL, prior to the match races at the Bahrain Sailing Club's Al Jazayir beach.  The Team finished #15 out of 21 with Italy, Russia and Turkey taking the top three places.

Team Members: CAPT Eric Irwin, USN - Senior US Military Delegate-  Newport RI; CDR Jay Cavalieri, USN - Team Captain/Skipper, San Diego CA; LT Nicole Auth, USCG-  Pearl Harbor HI; LTjg Brittani Koroknay, USCG-  Hampton Roads VA; LTjg Abby Lafond, USCG- Portland, OR; AN Michael Fleck, USN-  Boston, MA.  The team members, who had been selected earlier this year by submitting resumes to the DoD Armed Forces Sports Program, had never met before their first practice on March 5.  To learn more about opportunities to participate in the U.S. military's sports program, visit the Web site at http://www.armedforcessports.com  

* J/80 champion Spanish sailor, Antonio ("Toño") Piris from Santander, is skippering in the New York-Barcelona Race in IMOCA 60s.  You'll have seen his name frequently pop up in reports of the extremely competitive J/80 fleet racing off Santander, especially in this last Winter Series.  Great training to keep you sharp offshore in a 3,000 match race!! Toño began sailing in the Optimist class and soon moved on to the Laser, becoming runner-up in the Spanish national championships in 1981, and later winning in the youth category , as well as taking part in the Junior IYRU Laser World Championships in Portugal. He has sailed on boats across many different classes, such as J/24s, J/80s, IOR, IMS, IACC, TP52, as well as having taken part in the building process of many of them: Hispania, Galicia Pescanova, EF Education y EF Language, España 92, Rioja de España, Bravo España, Caixa Galicia and Iberdrola.  Read more about this epic assault on a Trans-Atlantic record with two IMOCA 60s racing.  http://www.ny-bcn.org/en/index.jsp  

* Jen Edney Photography- she did a magnificent job of shooting the J/24s in the recent Regata Copa Mexico event in March.  She dropped us a quick note since some of here girl friends in the area also started sailing on J/24s in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.  Said Jen, "I had the incredible opportunity to photograph two amazing female athletes. Both Olympians, Tania Elias Calles and Lisa Ross. A top Mexican sailor, Tania  just recently achieved a new Guinness Record for distance by sailing by wind alone in a laser sailboat from Los Cabos to Riviera Nayarit. Her next step is to sail from Cancun to Puerto Progreso in 2011, as part of her route to the Olympic Games in London in 2012. After competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Lisa is currently sailing and training full time, working towards the goal of representing Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games. Their coach, Rosie Chapman is an incredible athlete herself and is the new Nova Scotia Sailing Team Coach. Rosie, is from the UK where she was a member of the Great Britain national Sailing Team and has a number of years of coaching experience. Cheers ladies!"

To see some cool photos of the girls sailing Lasers and more of the J/24s in Bahia de Banderas, Mexico, please go to- http://jenedney.wordpress.com/  

Featured Boat

Gorgeous J/124 in Long Island, NY

Exceptionally well maintained without regard to cost, this highly customized J/124 is truly stunning! Equipped with Raymarine ST6002 auto pilot; Tack Tick speed, depth, wind, hand-held remote & Race Master; Raymarine C120 GPS/radar w/removable pole, stereo, elkhide-covered interior handrails, custom line bar in lazarette, retractable bowsprit for asymmetrical spinnakers, carbon spinnaker pole for conventional spinnakers and much, much more! Priced far below replacement, seller wants offers now to capitalize on future vessel.  Talk to Tim Mariner at McMichaels- email "timm@mcmyacht.com or go to http://mcmichaelyachtbrokers.com

About J/Boats

Started in 1977, J/Boats continues to lead the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors.  The International J/24 has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world with over 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves. Today, there are 13,000+ J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65 and ranging in style from one-designs to racers, cruisers to daysailers and, of course, the ubiquitous J sprit boats- J/Boats' innovation in 1992 for easy-to-use asymmetric spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits (J/80, J/92, J/95, J/105, J/109, J/110, J/120, J/122, J/130, J/133, J/125, J/145, J/160).

J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by:  15 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards in 14 years; 2 SAIL Awards for Industry Leadership; 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35); and the three largest ISAF International One-Design keelboat classes (J/22, J/24, J/80).

Counting crew, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world.  Sailing is all about friends.  Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!

For more information on J/Boats:
http://www.jboats.com/intro.htm
  
-------------------------------