J/70 Sailing World 2013 Boat of the Year!(Newport, RI)- In addition to being named SAILING WORLD's Boat of the Year 2013, the J/70 also had a nice review by boats.com's Sailing Editor/ Contributor- Carol Cronin. As Carol exclaims, "the J/70 is hitting the high notes. This offering from J/Boats is already popular, months before its first birthday. Every once in awhile a boat comes along that hits the high notes perfectly, a moment of sweet sound in the raucous symphony we call one-design sailing. This time, it’s the J/70 that is showing off its perfect pitch. Read more of Carol's J/70 sailing article here.
J/70 @ London Boat Show!Plus, J/80, J/97 and J/111 Offshore Speedsters!
(London, England)- Be sure to mark your calendars to enjoy the launch of the International J/70 Sportsboat at the Tullett Prebon London Boat Show in January, running from the 12th to the 20th at Stand E-144. There will be two J/70s on display, including the Royal Air Force's latest SPITFIRE.
The J/70 SPITFIRE is sponsored by Prolinx Ltd in support of the RAF Benevolent Fund charity and raced by Team RAFBF Spitfire powered by SLAM.
The International J/70 Sportsboat Class is off to a flying start in the UK, Europe the USA and 15 countries around the world. The International J/70 Class has a packed regatta schedule for 2013 and beyond, with class one-design events scheduled in the USA, UK, France and Italy.
Wing Commander Simon ‘Sling’ Ling, one of the owners of SPITFIRE, has owned and raced many different keelboats and sportsboats over the years including SB20s, J/109s and J/80s. The J/70 held instant appeal for Simon, so much so that he was amongst the very first UK sailors to trial the boat. Simon’s confidence in the J/70 is illustrated by the fact that he has been appointed Chairman of the new J/70 UK Class Association. Team SPITFIRE will sail on behalf of the RAF Benevolent Fund.He explained, "The boat needed no sales pitch and was very much a product that sold itself. After five minutes and despite test sailing in only 10 knots of wind, we knew that the J/70 was the right boat for us. We are very excited at the prospect of sailing such an exciting boat in a new one-design Class. As a serving officer in the Royal Air Force, I am delighted and proud to continue to support the work of the RAF Benevolent Fund supported by Prolinx. This year, our relationship with the Fund took on new meaning with the death of one my Sailing Team, Flight Lieutenant ‘H’ Poole. H was tragically killed in an air accident flying an RAF Tornado Jet Fighter just four weeks before he was due to race on board our previous boat, a J/80 (which was also called SPITFIRE) at Cowes Week 2012. The Fund, who had supported H as a member of my Sailing Team, was there to support H’s family in the aftermath of his tragic death. Such support only reinforces our strong desire to promote the Charity and the wonderful work it undertakes."
Dean Benton, Director of Marketing and Communications at the RAF Benevolent Fund said, "We have enjoyed a long standing partnership with Sling and the RAF crew of Team Spitfire who sail in support of the RAF’s leading welfare charity. The crew are great advocates for their charity, raising awareness of our welfare work alongside the need for fundraising. The team have had great success previously and have done much to raise our profile and brand, not only within the sailing community but amongst the wider public. The addition of Prolinx Ltd, a long term supporter of the RAFBF and now boat sponsor, can only build on what we have been achieving previously."
You can see the J/70 Spitfire on stand E144 at the Tullett Prebon London Boat Show from the 12th to 20th of January, but two special events are planned; the first is at midday on Saturday 12th of January and then her official launch will take place on Monday 14th January, also at midday. All are welcome. For more London SailBoat show information
J/70 @ BOOT Dusseldorf!J/22 Class Attending, Too
(Dusseldorf, Germany)- If you are traveling anywhere near central Europe and need a "sailing fix", be sure to swing by the amazing Boot Boat show in Dusseldorf. On display in Hall 17- the Sailing Center- will be the new J/70 as well as the J/22 represented by their class members. The J/70 will have J/Boats dealers from France, Germany, Benelux and
Switzerland attending. It will be interesting to see if the J/70 wins the coveted European Yacht of the Year Award for 2012/2013, too.The J/22 class members include Christian Rieck (GER 1562 "Jolly Jumper"). The J/22s had 58 teams from 4 countries that sailed their EuroCup Circuit. French J/22 owner Charles Michaux and Christophe Declercque (FRA 1444) with her German helmsman Reiner Brockerhoff won this year's circuit. Second was the Dutch team led by Wouter Kollmann (NED 1591) and 3rd was top German boat SVEND sailed by Hartog (GER 1450). For more Boot Dusseldorf boat show information
J/70 SoCal Sailing Circuit Announced(San Diego/ Los Angeles, CA)- Great news from the Southern California J/70 contingent. JK3's Jeff Brown recently announced their plans to support the Southern California Fleet 4 at the events outlined below. Please be sure to check out Jack’s work on JK3 Yacht's program to support the J/70 fleet in the SoCal region at- http://www.socalj70.com. J/70 owners can sign up for special information and updates as information is posted. Support from JK3 is planned for the following events in 2013:
- Mar 15-17 San Diego NOOD- San Diego YC
- May 4-5 Yachting Cup- San Diego YC
- May 31-Jun 2 Cal Race Week- California YC
- Jun 28-30 Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach YC
- Jul 20-21 Fiesta Cup- Santa Barbara YC
- Aug 10-11 San Diego Champs- San Diego YC
- Sep 27-29 J/Fest- San Diego YC
- Oct- t.b.d. SoCal Champs- location t.b.d.
The Perfect Gift- 2013 J/Calendar!(Newport, RI)- It's not too last for those naughty or nice on your Holiday gift-giving list! Give them the gift that lasts all year-- the 2013 J/Calendar. Whether you're a cruising, racing or armchair sailor, these stunning sailboat photographs will transport you to wonderful sailing experiences in far away places. The sailing calendar features photos (pictured here-) of a dramatic J/111 powering upwind off Newport; a fleet of J/24s off sunny Tampa; surrealistic scenes of J/80s off Santander, Spain and flying downwind off Marseilles, France; a fleet of J/120s rocking downwind under spinnakers on San Francisco Bay; J/70s flying along under spinnakers; J/22s starting in the Rocky Mountains; and a J/97, J/109 and J/122 sailing in sunny Solent conditions. A great gift for loved ones, family, friends and crew! Order your 2013 J/Calendar today, click here.
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
With the start of another year, fresh off lots of delicious food, drink and plenty of socializing and celebrating with friends and family, our minds turn to several things in no specific order- sailing, Key West, summer and how to organize work around all of this really important stuff. Plus, there's still plenty of time to daydream and fantasize about new boats (or new used boats) and how and where you're going to sail them-- so, the advent of winter/spring boat shows are a great time to again catch up with more friends and family and discuss which J you're going to sail in the coming year. To that end, don't forget to pencil in on your sailing calendars the fact that London, Portland (Oregon), boot Dusseldorf, Chicago's Strictly Sail, San Diego's SunRoad and Seattle's Boat shows are all held in the coming weeks (see schedule below). On the sailing side of things, we discovered that the J/109 skippered by a French women was the first double-handed boat to finish the 2,700m ARC Rally- congratulations Sophie! College teams recently sailed their College Match Race Championships at the Fort Worth Boat Club in Texas on J/22s. The J/24s are about ready to race their Australian Nationals near Sydney, plus the J/24s in Argentina are having a ball off Buenos Aires, and soon up in the Andes Mountains near Cordoba on the mind-glowingly beautiful Lago San Roque. J/80s in Italy are enjoying their Winter Championship of Tigullio. And, the start of the winter sailing season in Florida was recently marked by a famous J/44 sailing the Wirth Munro Memorial Race to Palm Beach, Florida. For your entertainment, take a look below at the various videos of J/22s sailing in Jamaica, a J/37 surviving the infamous "Straits" race off Vancouver, British Columbia and some J/125 footage of sail-testing off Los Angeles, California.Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Jan 6-10- J/24 Australian Nationals- Sandringham, NSW, AustraliaJan 9-13- Portland Boat Show (70)- Portland, OR
Jan 12-20- London Boatshow (70, 80, 97, 111)- London, England
Jan 19-27- Boot Dusseldorf Boatshow (70)- Dusseldorf, Germany
Jan 21-26- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/70 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 24-27- Strictly Sail Boatshow (70, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jan 24-27- San Diego SunRoad Boatshow (70)- San Diego, CA
Jan 25-Feb 3- Seattle Boatshow (70)- Seattle, WA
Feb 11-15- J/24 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Feb 16-24- New England Boatshow (70)- Boston, MA
Feb 28-Mar 13- J/22 Midwinters- Davis Is YC- Tampa, FL
Mar 6-10- HISWA Amsterdam Boatshow (70)- Amsterdam, Holland
Mar 8-10- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Seabrook, TX
Apr 11-14- Strictly Sail Pacific (70, 111)- Alameda, CA
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Tufts Wins J/22 College Match Race Championships(Fort Worth, Texas)- Hosted by the Forth Worth Boat Club, this year's College Match Racing Nationals were sailed in J/22s. In the end, the Tufts University "Jumbos Sailing Team" won the event.
The Tufts University Jumbos team of Will Haeger, Paula Grasberger, Solomon Krevans and David Liebenberg, overcame a first race loss in the best of three finals to overtake Yale University to win their first college match racing crown. A pre-start penalty and late start was too much for Tufts to overcome in race one but Yale was over early in race two which set the stage for the finale. Tufts held a slight advantage at the start and went right into covering mode. Yale’s double tacks were initially hard for Tufts to cover but the Jumbos settled down in the 10-13 knot Southerly and pulled away with superior speed and boat handling the rest of the way through the windward-leeward twice around track on Eagle Mountain Lake.
The Fort Worth Boat Club in Lake Worth, Texas provided ten perfectly matched J-22s for the ten national finalists. The initial round-robin in a light air Easterly saw St. Mary’s College win a three-way tie break over Tufts and Georgetown. Quarter-finals were then staged on day two in a more moderate Southerly as Michigan bested Tulane in the 9th place consolation races. All the quarters were decided in three straight but one as St. Mary’s beat Cal Maritime, Tufts bested Eckerd, Georgetown took Washington and Yale, who overcame a first race lose, came back to put away 5th place finisher So. Florida.
Yale, with Chris Segerblom at the helm won a hard fought semi-final over St. Mary’s, 3-1 while Tufts eliminated Georgetown with skipper Nevin Snow, 3-0. The middle race featured a bizarre finish with Tufts holding a slight lead but a penalty to burn from start to finish. With the brakes on hard despite spinnakers up, Tufts parked in front of Georgetown next to the finish line. Georgetown couldn’t quite slow down enough and tried to take room at the committee boat. After spinning around Georgetown’s spinnaker grazed the RC boat before finishing in reverse right behind Tufts. After the smoke cleared Tufts was declared winner via offsetting penalties. Georgetown went on the defeat St. Mary’s, with skipper Jake Ledow, 2-1 in the petit finals setting up the exciting finals between Tufts and Yale.In the end, the Final Results were Tufts, then Yale, Georgetown, St Mary's and South Florida to round out the top five overall. For more college sailing results.
J/109 First Double-Handed Boat to Finish ARC 2012!(St Lucia)- Congratulations to ALBACOR IV! The French J/109 ALBACOR IV, skippered by Sophie Olivaud, successfully completed the ARC and were the first double-handed boat to finish and first women skipper to finish! Sophie was one of just five female skippers in the race and the J/109 has beaten some much much bigger boats, as well as the majority of the cruising yachts, over the water to arrive in St Lucia. ALBACOR IV was sixth overall in the Racing Division against the other fully-crewed boats, a fantastic result and extra impressive given that this year has seen much more wind and squally conditions than this race usually expects to see. Her "J-colleagues" on the J/145 ACE also performed well in their Cruising Division sailing "white sails" only-- mainly a jib and a main. The ARC is a 2,700nm passage from Gran Canaria to St Lucia and 2012 was the 27th edition of the race. Sailing photo credit- Tim Wright/ photoaction.com. For more ARC Rally sailing information
J/44 Sails Wirth Munro Invitational Race(Palm Beach, FL)- The Sailfish Club in Palm Beach hosted their annual sprint up the coast that runs from Fort Lauderdale up the famously rugged, fast Gulf Stream to Palm Beach. The Wirth Munroe Memorial Yacht Race is held on the first Friday in December. First sailed in 1957, the race begins the winter ocean racing circuit in South Florida. The course, from Ft. Lauderdale to Palm Beach, presents challenging conditions as yachts must consider the vagaries of the Gulf Stream and the passing of the season’s first frontal systems.
In 1957, members of the Florida Station of the Cruising Club of America, led by Dick Bertram, decided to sponsor a race from Miami to Palm Beach and to hold it in early December as racing yachts from the north had arrived by then in preparation for the Southern Ocean Racing Conference held in January and February. Over the years, yachts have raced under numerous rating rules, CCA, IOR, IMS, and now sail in three classes, IRC, PHRF, and Multihull. The original course has been shortened and now starts in Ft. Lauderdale to allow the yachts to finish before dark. In the 1960’s the Sailfish Club of Florida became a co-sponsor of the race and hosts the well known awards party following the finish.The J/44 WHITE GOLD sailed by Jamestown YC's & Sailfish Club's Jim Bishop sailed to a 5th overall in IRC against some of the hottest offshore boats on the market, including a slew of the new High-Performance Rule 40 footers, TP 52s and a Mini-Maxi. Interestingly, over 75% of the IRC fleet was comprised of current and former J/Boats owners with boats that range from J/22s to J/105s and from J/125s to J/65s! For more Sailfish Club Wirth Munro Race sailing information.
XXXVII J/80 Tigullio Winter Championship(Tigullio, Italy)- Over December and January, the J/80 fleet in Italy hosts their annual "Winter Championship". A lavishly fun event with plenty of great food and wine and, given some decent weather, even some good sailing!
On the first day of sailing, the wind Gods, of course, didn't cooperate, so everyone had a wonderful time tasting delicious local pastas, antipastos and vino blanco y roja. However, on the second day, two races were run in excellent conditions off Lavagna. Winds were around 10-12 kts from the south in a reasonably warm, gentle breeze.
Massimo Rama's JENIALE ran off a string of five first places, leading at the end of the weekend with a good margin over their rivals. Behind the battle for first place, Signori Tye sailing TWT is solidly in second place with four 2nds and a 5th for a total of 13 pts. Maria Cristinia Rapisardi sailing her J-BLUE-2 is quickly becoming one of Italy's top women sailors in J/80s, amassing a 3-4-3-2-7 to just hold onto 3rd place with 19 pts. Just behind her in fourth is Alberto Garribotto on J-BES with 7-3-4-3-3 for 20 pts and in fifth is Andrea Henriquet on J-BLUE-6 with a 4-6-6-6-5 tally for 27 pts. The final round that takes place on the weekend of January 13. For more J/80 Italian Winter sailing information.
And, speaking of J/80s, check out the "iSea tracker" video of the French J/80 Nationals in Douarnenez, France. It's interesting to hear the excited French voice-over commenting on the J/80s sailing around the track. Watch the YouTube J/80 tracker sailing video here.
Cubria's Win J/24 Argentine Championship(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- The J/24 class in Argentina continue to sail a fun "summer series" while their J/24 counterparts are frozen way up North. Their latest "Campeonato Argentina" had a small but highly competitive fleet sailing out of Yacht Club Argentina off downtown Buenos Aires (one of the coolest cities on the planet).
On the first day of racing on Saturday, the sailing was well organized by the YCA Race Committee P.R.O.- Gneri Antonio. It was a full day with very gusty winds our of the west (blowing offshore) and plenty of sun. At times the wind was a steady 6-8 kts, but would often gust to over 15 kts (top end of the genoa weather). The fleet was able to complete three races with perfect starts. But the gusty, shifty winds made it a tactically difficult, but very enjoyable day. Sunday was another day with ideal weather. ENE wind at 10 knots, much more stable than Saturday's winds.In the end, the Cubria's (Nicolas and Mario) with crew Fernando Bertrand, Gonzalo & Juan Fildoro sailed a very steady series, starting off fast and hanging tough for the balance of the two weekends of sailing, collecting a record of 1-1-5-3-2-5-1-2-8 for a net 20 pts. Second went to Matias Pereira with a 2-4-7-1-1-3-4-1-10 record for a net 23 pts. Thid was Alejandro and Augusto Rossi with a record of 7-2-3-2-4-4-10-5-3 for 30 net pts. Rounding out the top five were Fernando Montes in 4th and Santiago Doval in 5th.
On land the organization was excellent, especially ending the day with pizza, beer and tasty PIMMS prepared by Ken Johnson. One of the regatta highlights were that attractive prizes were raffled, donated by Ken Johnson and North Sails and commemorative caps were distributed to all participants.
Remember, the "Andes Mountain Championship" will soon be hosted by the J/24 fleet of Cordoba (see at right). They have prepared this event with great enthusiasm and the program they intend to run is impressive-- it should be a very memorable Championship. The regatta will be held from 9th to 11th February in the waters of Lago San Roque in Villa Carlos Paz. It is open to any boat or crew associated with J/24 Class regardless of Fleet, region or country. Because of the high winds, the local Cordoban J/24 fleet sails the "Pan American profile" with sails limited to jib, main and spinnaker and limited crew weight of 320 kg.PLEASE NOTE-- the first 7 boats registered (NOT from Cordoba) will be offered FREE accommodations for the crew throughout the event-- a bargain!! And, if you FLY in from Europe or North America, we might even offer a FREE boat! Call us. Sailing photo credits- EL OJO NAUTICO.com For more Argentinean J/24 class sailing information
J/30 Class Message from the "Bill & Dave Show"(New Orleans, LA)- The J/30 Class continues to have lots of fun and have created a wonderful community of sailors in the few regions where they've always proven popular- namely, New Orleans, Houston, New England, Great Lakes (Chicago/Detroit) and Chesapeake Bay. The "Bill & Dave Show" (the two co-presidents) have ensured the camaraderie amongst the J/30 fanatics grows infectiously-- but they need help! Here's their message to the J/30 community at-large:
"Dave and Bill here wishing everyone a Happy New Year! What a year for the J/30 class in 2012! We noted 66 official active class members, 69 US Sailing members and have captured fleet information for 526 J/30 hulls. Our fleets continue to be recognized across the world.
We continue to work together to produce a class built on the foundations of sportsmanship and camaraderie. On the forum and on the water, we continue to be each other’s teachers. When we accept each other’s ideas, nothing is lost. May our approach to sailing be the same approach to life – to win the respect of others.
In 2013, we need to enable the J/30 sailing experience to reach more parents and children. We are announcing an exciting partnership with the National Sailing Hall of Fame to help local educators who are using sailing to teach math and science by giving connections to our sailing community. Let’s help NSHOF educators achieve learning objectives though use of our J/30s. Also, Bill and I are currently seeking future J/30 fleet leadership candidates. If interested in serving the J/30 class at the National level, please let us know. Finally, we want to highlight a few areas noteworthy of recognition during the past year:"2012 North Americans" – Ken Buhler and Billy Ross with Pontchartrain Yacht Club based crew aboard JALAPEÑO.
"J/30 Programs traveling over 1000 + Miles to attend NAs"- Dan Rather’s Oswego NY based team- CRUSADER and Russ Akinson’s Rockwood, MI based program- WILDCAT. We really appreciate these two teams coming the distance to New Orleans!
"J/30 Loaner Boat Program"- Special, Huge, Ginormous "Thanks" to Jason King for loaning his boat RAMBUNCTIOUS to Carl Sherter and the crew of FAT CITY.
"Newest Member to Finish Top 5 at NAs" – David Bolyard Jr. with LAND SHARK – 2nd Place. The sailors on this boat are in the missing demographic as mentioned by Nicholas Hayes at the Friday night NA presentation- sailing with family & kids!"Best J/30 Musician" – Terry McDermott (Team ZEPHYR) who placed second on NBC’s The Voice!!! See the YouTube video of Terry and Peter Frampton performing at the Season 3 Finale.
"Best idea to recruit new J/30 sailors with parents" – David Erwin
"Best Mentor to Grow the Next Generation of Sailors" – Vic Farmer with his VEEJAY programs in Naples, FL and Newport, RI
"Best Taking one for the Team!" – Amanda Baker (French Quarter 1 – Amanda – 0)- what did she do??
"Best J/30 Photographer" – Leighton O’Connor and his full multi-media coverage at the 2012 J/30 NAs. The Man, The Myth, The Legend- here->>"Best North Americans Participants"- "all winners!"- Congratulations to JALAPEÑO skippered by Billy Ross to win the North American Championship hosted by New Orleans Yacht Club. For the first time in the history of the class, a father David Bolyard Sr. called tactics on the first place boat and raced against his son David Bolyard Jr. the skipper of LAND SHARK, the second place boat. Dale Steinkamp skipper of Team ZEPHYR sailing with Nicholas Hayes and parent child crew members Donny and son Andrew Brennan with David and daughter McKenzie Erwin finished 3rd. The parent child participation is an important topic in Nicholas Hayes’ book Saving Sailing. Two J/30s were skippered by women: BLACK MAGIC – Laura Webb and HOT CHOCOLATE – Debby Grimm. For more J/30 class sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Jamaica J/22 Nationals sailing video- here's proof the Jamaicans know how to sail their J/22s fast down in the Caribbean and have one helluva lot of fun, to boot! Next time you travel to Jamaica on business or on holiday, be sure to swing down by the Royal Kingston Yacht Club, have a cold one and perhaps even go for a sail on a J/22! Watch their YouTube sailing video here.
* The J/37 FUTURE PRIMITIVE (has nothing to do with infamous "Sasquatch") sails in the spectacular cool waters off Vancouver and not far from the famously primitive Olympic Peninsula. Reports her proud owner, Ron MacKenzie from Royal Vancouver YC, "we were 2nd Division 1 in the Royal Vancouver YC Hot Rum Series Race last Saturday. We sailed under #3 jib and full main. Took us three hours around English Bay! For kicks & grins, take a look at our clip of the 2010 Southern Straits Race we did on FUTURE PRIMITIVE (our local distance race of about 125nm). This year was the only time in it's 42 years that it's been abandoned (one boat sank and about 12 people went swimming in the water from various boats!). The official wind reading was 80+ knots. We've done a couple of Vic-Mauis, an LA-PV, and 2006 Sydney-Hobart, but nothing as crazy as that Southern Straits Race. Good times! :) We LOVE our J/37. Bought her new in February 1988 (met Rod, Drake and others many times in Newport). Cheers, Ron"To see their Facebook sailing video, follow the link here.
* Bill & Judy Stellin have sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER all over the world. And, now they have her sailing in Harbor Springs on Lake Michigan-- a gorgeous, azure blue bay in the magical northwest corner of upper Michigan. On December 10th, the Wall Street Journal (that famous American business paper) ran a feature on the Stellin's sailing. You can read more about their sailing adventures here at Wall St Journal.com.By the way, if you want to do some "armchair sailing" and live a few fantasies of sailing in far-away places, the Stellin's have written three books about their adventures. You can either buy them as books, or better still download for free on an iPad, iPhone or iPod. They can be found at Blurb.com.
* J/125 Long Beach- Ullman Sails TV recently released some awesome downwind footage while they were out testing a new A5 spinnaker for the local J/125 that's getting ready to do some major campaigning in 2013 in such events like the Puerto Vallarta Race, Cabo Race and even TransPac Race. Here's the cool sailing video of them hitting sustained 20 kts on the "fun-o-meter".The J Cruising Community
J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/
* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years. Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker. The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com. Search for "SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing" by Bill Stellin or William Stellin." UPDATE- Just a short note to update from Bill- "Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, "Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III," can be found at www.blurb.com. Thanks, Bill and Judy"
* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between. Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins?? Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).
- SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).
- Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".
- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA)
, then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending. As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/
