J/109 North American Championship Preview(Annapolis, MD)- Following on their extraordinarily competitive meeting this summer sailing the "East Coasts" during Rolex Block Island Race Week, the J/109 class continues on a roll. Fifteen entries are ready to do battle for their J/109 North American Championship being hosted by the Annapolis YC in Annapolis, MD. Like their J/105 counterparts, it's often hard to portend "who's on first" and "who's going to be on first" at the end of the ninth round in this heavyweight fight.
Continuing their tradition of good natured competition are class super-heavyweights, Rick Lyall on STORM, Bill Sweetser on RUSH and Ted Herlihy's GUT FELLING, each with one or more J/109 North American Championship or Rolex Block Island Championship rings on their trophy shelves. Can't say anyone in Las Vegas would take odds on any of these high-powered crews sailing very well-sailed boats, might have to call it a "dead heat" as to who rules the roost after a long weekend of sailing. While these "Monsters of the Midway" keep a wary eye on each other, it's certain that other teams have a good shot at the top, including Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN, Don and Cristina Filippelli's CAMINOS, Paul Milo's VENTO SOLARE and Dave Rosow's LOKI.
To keep tabs on this group, please be sure to follow your favorite sailing teams from the Chesapeake Bay, Buzzards Bay or Long Island Sound. Sailing Photo credit- Howie McMichael
NEW! J/Fest Winter Circuit(Ft Lauderdale, FL)- Great news for J/Sailors worldwide! A "J/Fest Winter Circuit" has been developed for Winter 2012 in Florida that encompasses J/111s, J/105s, J/109s and larger J's (J/120s, J/122s, J/124s, J/44s). To that end, a regatta schedule for "big boat" J sailors that includes sailing once per month all winter includes the following dates and events:
1. Lauderdale- Key West- Jan 12-13- http://www.lyc.org (optional)
2. Quantum Key West Race Week- Jan 15-20- http://www.premiere-racing.com
3. J/Fest Ft Lauderdale- Feb 18-19- President's Day- http://www.bahiamarhotel.com/marina
4. J/Fest Ft Lauderdale- Mar 16-18- St Patrick's Day- http://www.bahiamarhotel.com/marina
5. Charleston Race Week- Apr 19-22- http://www.charlestonraceweek.com
So far, several J/111s, J/105s, J/120s and J/122s have expressed interest in a winter circuit based out of easy-to-access deep-water facilities in Fort Lauderdale- the Bahia Mar Marina and Hotel complex will be the base of operations for the regattas. A complete, professional "concierge service" has been developed to make it a "turn-key", affordable proposition for J owners from Chicago to Houston, Newport to Halifax and Annapolis to fully transport their boats, launch/ haul and have their boats "ready-to-sail" at each location- cleaned, polished, rigged, literally ready-to-race. Fly down with the crew, hop aboard and off you go, "no worries", ready to go sailing! Daily awards will be given for each event as well as overall and at the end of the J/Fest Winter Circuit, awards will be given for best three of five results at the conclusion of Charleston Race Week. For more information on the J/Fest Winter Circuit including "all-in budgets and costs", please contact J/Boats at Ph. +1-401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com. Or, call your local J/Dealer for more information. Sailing Photo credit- Onne Van der Wal
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
October marks the beginning of what many consider to be one of THE best "winter series" going on in Europe. Sailed on the Solent since man invented the first sailboat, a palm leaf on a log that cruised down the Hamble River, sailors ever since have been attempting to divine the capricious waters that race East and West between the "forts" and the "needles". Today, the Garmin Hamble Winter Series has started with one-design classes for J/80s and J/109s and in IRC there are J/97s, J/105s, J/111s, J/122s and J/133s sailing. Far, far to the East, that seafaring nation of yore called China is rapidly getting its 1.0+ billion people interested in sailing (especially since it isn't powered by coal) and hosted the first of a series of regattas in J/80s, starting with the China Match Race Challenge in Xiamen. Continuing further East across the Pacific, the Californians in San Francisco Bay hosted the Sausalito Cup in J/105s, yet another match race event. A bit further south, the Pan Am Sailing Games are about to start using the "Pan Am J/24". Going East across the continent we find what may be the world's largest collegiate sailing regatta, a monster "Jump-Up" of J/105s, J/109s, J/111s, J/122s and J/133s- nearly 80% of the 47 boat fleet were J's sailing in Storm Trysail Foundation's "Big Boat" College Regatta. Speaking of "jump ups", read on below how three guys who were J/24 World Champions may have a shot at the sailing world's "Triple Crown"!Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Oct 9-15- J/22 Worlds- Southern YC, New Orleans, LA- http://www.j22worlds.com/Oct 9- Dec 4- Garmin Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, England
Oct 13-16- J/109 North Americans- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD
Oct 13-16- Harvest Moon Regatta- Houston, TX
Oct 14- Greenport Ocean Race- Greenport, Long Island, NY- http://www.greenportoceanrace.org/
Oct 14-16- J/80 China Fall Regatta- LiuZhou, GuangXi, China - http://www.cnmcr.com/
Oct 28-30- J/24 East Coast Championship- Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis, MD
Oct 29-30- J/Fest Southwest- Houston, TX
Oct 29- Nov 6- Hamburg Boat Show (J/108, J/80)- Hamburg, Germany- http://www.hanseboot.de
Nov 4-7- Xiamen Boat Show (J/80)- Wuyuan Bay, Xiamen, China
Nov 11-19- J/24 Worlds- Buenos Aires, Argentina- http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Team Hudson Wins ChinaMatch Race
(Xiamen, China)- The China Club Challenge Match is the premier Chinese sailing event for Chinese sailors, with 34 teams from around this country of 1.0+ billion people battling it out for the right to challenge the 2010 trophy holder. It is run on the waters off Xiamen in Fujian Province, renowned for serving up good breezes every day, like clockwork, at this time of year.
The event is open to all sailors in China - including foreigners who live and work in the country. The China Club Challenge has earned a reputation in recent years for good winds, tight courses, fair, unbiased umpiring and rulings, and good tight racing in the ‘proper’ spirit of sailing. Such is the good-natured spirit of the event that even defeated teams crossing the line a few boat lengths behind the victors have been seen spontaneously raising their hands in applause for the victor!
The regatta starts with a "fleet racing" format to setup the elimination ladder for the match races. It was expected that the fleet racing element of the event would sort out the men from the boys. The breeze was providing a steady 20kts, and with some sailors on the J/80s for the first time it proved so, with some of the fleet opting to avoid the spinnaker. But with the committee boat recording 30+ kts in the gusts perhaps this wasn’t surprising. Spin outs were very much in evidence, with some skippers failing to keep their boats under the rig, providing some dramatic viewing for those on the spectator boats.A busy time was had by the on-the-water judges who then were back sitting behind the table in the protest room for much of the evening, especially on day 1 when they left the venue at 2250h. Altogether around a dozen protests were lodged, but it could easily have been more as the racing was close. Having said that, boat damage and breakdowns were remarkably light considering the conditions, and the J/80s lent by Hudson Yachts proved to be more than up to the task-- only two requests for redress due to gear failure were lodged in the entire fleet racing section of the regatta. After the initial three days of racing, with 14 races run in total, the fleet was whittled down from 34 to 16 for the match-racing portion of the event.
The event then shifted gear into the match racing phase with the round of 16 requiring 24 races in one day. Sounds incredible, but that is what the race management team managed to squeeze out on day four. Race Officers Russ Parker and Tony Liu, along with umpires Al, Ewan, Peter and Tim certainly earned their stripes on this day, with all of them on the water for every race.The fleet were gradually whittled down to four semi-finalists from all over China - SANYA, SHENZHEN, IRONROCK of Xiamen (the hosts for the event) and SHANGHAI. Two matches later, SEAWOLF from Longcheer Yacht Club in Shenzhen emerged the winners of the China Club Cup Challengers Trophy, earning the right to sail against the defenders on the final day of the event.
For the Match Race Finals, it was a bit of a David and Goliath event, with the defender Team HUDSON (the J-80 builder and skippered by Jim Johnstone) competing against the SEAWOLF team from Shenzhen. Unfortunately for Shenzen's SEAWOLF Team, the result wasn’t the same as the Biblical encounter, with Team HUDSON successfully defending their trophy, although the SEAWOLF Team from the south were hardly embarrassed by the 4-1 score line and never finished a race more than eight boat lengths down on the winners.
What an event! There were 34 teams (seen here at right), 72 races, 12 protests, too many blue, yellow and green flags to count (along with a couple of reds and blacks thrown in for good measure), a worthy winner in the challenger series and a fair and penalty free challenger/defender series. And just like Queen Victoria was told all those years ago during the original "Round Island Race" for that 100 Guinea Cup (aka today's America's Cup)– "there was no second." No matter, it was clear the enthusiasm and the popularity of the event continues to grow significantly across China with next year promising to be an even bigger event! Many "Thanks" must go to Hudson Wang, Hudson Yachts and those sponsors that supported this year's China Challenge Cup.
THE Winter Series OpensWith a BANG!
(Hamble, England)- This weekend saw the Garmin Hamble Winter Series get underway, with some exciting, blustery conditions to see in the start of the event’s 30th anniversary. Perhaps one might refer to this eponymous event as "THE Winter" Series as it has always enjoyed an immensely popular following amongst knowledgeable and enthusiastic sailors over time. Like some other events across Europe and the America's, it does assume a bit of a "Goodwood-type" or "Woodstock-like" pilgrimage from the cozy confines of the tree-lined squares in London and surrounding suburbs down to the sleepy little seaside town alongside the Hamble River just north of the boisterous and, sometimes, sublime "river" of water known around the world as simply "The Solent".
Saturday was the first day of the new-format Autumn Championships, with racing for J/80 and J/109 classes on two courses. Winds of 12-18 knots provided ideal, if gusty racing conditions, and race officers Ian Sumner and Jamie Wilkinson got 4 races in for all classes without incident, although an over-eager start by the J/80s saw them pushed to the back of the queue in the first race after a general recall.
Sunday’s forecast was for more wind, and the weather Gods certainly delivered with gusts of 25 knots at times. Three races were sailed – with no general recalls this time. But the day wasn’t short of drama, with a J/80 shredding her kite close to a lee shore, perhaps taking up one of Bob Fisher's oft-quoted pearls of wisdom- "carving yet another furrow through the mud for others to follow" (a local Lymington tactic for those not "in-the-know" to avoid a wee bit of Solent current).What is wonderful to see are some fresh new faces giving the "old guard" a run-for-the-roses in both the J/80 and the J/109 classes. After a shaky start in the J/80 class, Rob Larke in J2X found his form and won four races in a row, and is sitting in first place overall, ahead of J.A.T, sailed by Phil Taylor. Both boats are a point apart and are well ahead of their closest rivals. Lying third is Thor Askeland on ELLE S'APPELLE, fourth is Terry Palmer's JUST DO IT and fifth is Allan Higgs and Cressida Robson's JUICY. Team SPITFIRE is just warming up, as are two French entrants this year, J-OUT-OF-THE-BOX and LA BETE (it is very cool these French teams are making the dash across La Manche for more fun and games on "La Petit Manche" (a.k.a. The Solent)).
Stephen Tapper’s STALKER currently leads the J/109 class, just two points ahead of Richard and Valerie Griffith’s OUTRAJEOUS. Third is Tor McLaren's INSPARA another six points back. Fourth is Jody Windmiller's J2EAU and fifth is David and Mary McGough's JUST SO.
BLACK FLEET Report- The first weekend, Sunday, also saw the first day of racing for the Black Fleet in the main series, with two races scheduled. PRO Jamie Wilkinson set a range of windward-leeward courses for the different classes. At 1045 the wind shifted left by 20 degrees, causing some bigger boats to overstand their windward mark. This first race saw 17-20 knots of breeze and a classic wind-over-tide chop which made for some impressive surfing on the downwind leg. By the second race, the wind, now in the south-west, was building, with regular gusts of 25 knots.In IRC Class 1, Dr Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU leads the fleet, yet another fresh face amongst the leadership in IRC I with a 1-4 for a total of 5 points. Ken Lowe is sailing his J/122 GHOST and lies 7th after collecting a 9-8 for 17 points.
Qualifying as a "veteran" in IRC Class 3 is Mike and Jamie Holme's J/97 JIKA JIKA, currently lying first in IRC 3 after a dominating, class crushing 1-1 scoreline for just 2 points after two races. Another J/97 making its presence felt was Nick and Adam Munday's INDULJENCE, lying fifth after getting consistent 5-6 finishes for 11 points to remain in the hunt for a podium finish over this lengthy series. For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing results. Sailing photo credits- Eddie Mays
"College J/Fest"- the World's Largest College Sailing Regatta?(Larchmont, NY)- Could it be that J Class sailors have learned how to hook into a good thing, evangelize it, grow it, and have a great time to boot!? Judging by the turnout of J sailors supporting this year's Storm Trysail Foundation's "College Big Boat" regatta, hosted in collaboration with the Larchmont Yacht Club, this event could easily be the world’s largest college regatta- 400+ collegiate sailors raced on a fleet of 47 offshore boats ranging from 35 to 44 feet-- most all of them J/Boats of varying types and sizes-- seven in IRC 40 (J/111, J/122s, J/130, J/133s), seven J/44 One-Designs, eight J/109 One-Designs and fifteen J/105 One-Designs. Do the math. 37 J's are nearly 80% of the entire fleet! Kudos to Jim Bishop (of J/44 GOLD DIGGER fame) and others like Barry Gold (J/122 SUNDARI) and Adam Loory for their perseverance and vision to grow this event into what it is today-- the coolest, grooviest, most awesome regatta on the collegiate sailing circuit! Chicks dig it. Guys love it. J-Owners can't believe they've got crew lists filled out for their 2012 sailing season, plus learned a thing or two how to make their boats go even faster!
The regatta introduces college sailors to the challenge and teamwork of big boat racing and gives them a chance to race evenly-matched boats. The purpose of the regatta is two-fold: to introduce dinghy sailors to the team work and fun of big-boat racing as well as to provide a chance for experienced big boat sailors to have a place to race. As in the past, there were five divisions: J/105s, J/109s, J/44s, IRC 35s and IRC 40s. The regatta uses one-design or closely-rated divisions so the skills of big-boat racing can be taught without burdening the uninitiated with the machinations of ratings. The Storm Trysail Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization, and Larchmont Yacht Club raise enough sponsorship to make this regatta totally FREE for the college sailors as well as boat owners. There is NO entry fee or damage deposit-- can you imagine any J sailor/ owner turning down that deal? No wonder the J/Fleet continues to grow leaps and bounds for this event.Teams are coming from Canada, the West Coast, the Midwest, Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states. The owners of their boats sail with the teams as a safety officer and as a coach. Each boat has a second coach aboard who can be one of the boat’s regular crew-members or someone appointed by the regatta organizers. The adults are free to teach boat-handling, sail trim and safety, but the kids call their own tactics.
The regatta gives back as much as the boat owners give. It is a great way to forge a bond with their alma mater’s sailing team or the team of their children. Some boat owners have requested schools that their children are considering attending so that they can have a more fun interview. Many boat owners have used the regatta to grow their crew pool.
Watching the racing, it is clear that many of the college sailors are very proficient big boat sailors. The racing is always close. In 2010, three of the five divisions had ties for first place -- after six races. The regatta’s PRO Butch Ulmer runs six four-leg windward-leeward races in a limited amount of time. His committee can reposition the windward mark, while starting and finishing different classes. Races go on in all conditions; to keep things safe for the boats and the collegiate sailors, the race committee has the ability to restrict the use of spinnakers.For this year's event, schools came from across the country to compete in the placid waters of Long Island Sound off Larchmont, NY. Three light air races were sailed on Saturday and the race committee started two races on Sunday, but had to abandon each after the wind shifted too much. After the second abandonment the wind died away to nothing and never returned. No one was under any grand illusions the Sound would serve up perfect sailing conditions, it's always "come si, come sa". No matter, as far as the teams were concerned the party Saturday night for all was a killer event, many forming new friendships and promising to return for yet another year of camaraderie and fun sailing.
The overall winner was Maine Maritime which won the eight-boat J/109 fleet with a perfect score of three firsts. They were leading the fourth race when it was abandoned. The other division winners were the US Naval Academy, which won two divisions: the 12-boat IRC 40 class and the seven-boat J/44 class. Tufts University won the five-boat IRC 35 class for the second year in a row and first time participant USC won the 15-boat J/105 class in a tie-breaker with last year’s overall winner, the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY. The University of Southern California traveled all the way across the country to attend the regatta with their coach Mike Segarblum.
Maine Maritime, led by their coach- US Sailing Paralympic Gold Medallist Tommie Brown- is at the top of their game and this finish bodes well for their performance at the Student Yachting World Cup in France later this month.
Even though no races were sailed on Sunday, both college sailors and the boat owners who lent their boats had a great weekend. Connor Sestudies, the tactician for the Purdue team, summed things up well when he said, “This was a fun college regatta that was a great learning experience for me and my crew. It was a great opportunity to sail on these boats that the owners generously let us use. I'm looking forward to next year.” His teammate Matt Steiner followed up saying, "I had very little experience on big boats before this event. After this weekend, though, I'm looking forward to getting into more races. This event definitely opened my eyes to the world of big boats, and I like what I see!"
In this regatta, the boat owners don’t give their boats to a college team, instead they sail with the teams as coaches and safety officers. In some cases less experienced owners sign up to learn as much as the kids; STC assigns experienced coaches where needed. One such case was John Maltz who recently bought the J/105 SUNNYSIDE UP. This is his first year with the boat and he is beginning to climb the learning curve. He sailed with American University, where he was a student, and had experienced J/105 sailor Mike Quaglio as a coach. Within in minutes of the regatta finish, Maltz texted the regatta’s chairman Adam Loory saying, “Great regatta. Sign me up for next year. Mike was the best! Thanks.”
Thanks to the financial support of the Storm Trysail Foundation and sponsorship from Rolex, Vineyard Vines, Caithness Energy, Safe Flight Instruments, UK-Halsey Sailmakers, Coke, Heineken and Gill. In short, due to their help and support it was another smashing success! For more Storm Trysail Foundation College Big Boat sailing information For more STF College Big Boat sailing results Sailing Photo Credits- Howard McMichael.
J/24 Pan Am Games(Guadalajara, Mexico)- One week from today, hundreds of American athletes across the country will assemble in Houston en-route to the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Dan Rabin is a member of the US J/24 Team and had this early commentary before the event gets rolling: "Sailing World is providing me with this forum to share my experience of being part of the U.S. Team as we compete in the J/24 Class in Puerto Vallarta.
It seems like ages ago that we won the U.S. Pan Am Games Trials at Davis Island YC last February. Our team for that regatta on Tampa Bay consisted of John Mollicone on the tiller, Tim Healy on tactics, Geoff Becker trimming, and me on the bow.
The Pan Am format for the J/24 is unique: the crew weight limit is trimmed from 882 pounds to 705 pounds, and the genoa is eliminated. The boat does feel remarkably better with the extra space on deck. As far as sailing with only a blade, the boat has plenty of power as soon as the breeze gets up to 8 knots or so.
The Trials was a battle between a group of class veterans including Robby Brown, Charlie Enright, Will Welles, and Flip Wehrheim. We were very fortunate to come out on top. The imminence of the Games hit me one evening in mid-September when I found two representatives of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency standing on my porch. We've been subject to random drug testing since April 1, and sure enough, they finally paid each of us a visit in the span of a week. To the athletes who have to go through this ordeal on a regular basis, I salute you.
FORECAST: We recall it being a challenge to get updates from the 2007 Pan Am Games in Brazil. And it is always a challenge to get updates from Mexican regattas. Putting the two together and we could be in for some serious online silence. The Pan Am Games sailing events, which will include Men's Laser, Men's Windsurf, Women's Laser Radial, Women's Windsurf, Mixed Hobie 16, and Open J/24, Sunfish, Snipe, and Lightning, are scheduled for October 17-23." Thanks for contributions from Dan Rabin/ Sailing World
For more Pan Am Sailing Games J/24 sailing information. Sailing Photo Credits- Tim Wilkes.com
Stone Wins Sausalito Cup
(San Francisco, CA)- The weekend couldn't have been more gorgeous for sailboat racing, although Sunday saw the breeze show up late enough that it caused some abandonments in the various regattas around San Francisco Bay.
One of the regattas that did make it through its full schedule was the Sausalito YC's Sausalito Cup. The club hosted six J/105s over the weekend for a double round robin match racing regatta. Bruce Stone sailing for St Francis YC came up big, nearly running the table with nine wins. John Horsch finished in second with eight.
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* Triple-crown of World Sailing taken by J/24 Sailors? Maybe. Ed Baird just won the Audi TP52 World Championship on QUANTUM RACING. If Ken Read wins the Volvo Ocean Race on the VOR 70s with his PUMA MAR MOSTRO and Terry Hutchinson wins the America's Cup 34 with ARTEMIS RACING, it can legitimately be said that one-design J/Racing is "where it's at". After all, all three are past J/24 World Champions. Go figure. Many champions in many other classes compete against them, but still, it just seems the J/22, J/24 and J/80 World Champions continue to dominate offshore, too. Fastnet, Transpac, Trans-Atlantic, Chicago-Mac, Bermuda, Rolex Middle Sea, RORC 600, just to name a few. And, in many other classes. Lessons learned? Here's an "off-the-wall" idea-- sail a J/24 in the East Coast Championship on Halloween Weekend in Annapolis, then sail the J/24 "Open" Worlds in Rochester, NY in 2012, then graduate to dominate the planet. Won't be the first, nor last time this will happen. :)Anyhow, back to what just happened. Off that picturesque little town called Porto Cervo, Italy, good'ole Ed Baird showed he's still got some "MoJo" left in him and showed that winning an America's Cup with ALINGHI was no fluke. Continuing QUANTUM RACING's near total domination of the TP52 World Circuit, Ed and crew picked up their third title in four years of sailing. Not bad, really. They added to Worlds wins in 2008 in Lanzarote and defended the title they won last year Valencia. Emerging with a four points margin over Germany's CONTAINER, the American flagged QUANTUM team complete the same "double" as they did in 2008, winning both the Audi MedCup Circuit title as well as the World Championship. Congratulations Ed, I'm sure Lisa and the boys want you back home in St Pete to cook some food for those fast-growing boys!! What's so ironic about all this? One of the original "architects" of the TP52 circuit and one its "chief cheerleaders" was none other than North Sail's Ken Read! And, Quantum Sail's Terry Hutchinson won the Audi TP52 Circuit twice before! Wonders never cease. For more Audi TP52 MedCup/ World Championship sailing information
* "Friends & Mentors" - Dawn Nelson, who sails out of Chandlers Landing Yacht Club in Rockwall, Texas, is a Child & Family Therapist and a sailing mom. Here she provides her professional and personal experience regarding one design fleet growth:
Ever walked into a party and felt like the whole room stopped and stared at you?
If you're part of a fleet that is trying to encourage kids to sail with you, being a "strong fleet" won't help at all if everyone is staring at the kids when they come to the big party, aka the regatta. There are two things you should consider:
1) Are you making the kids feel welcome, off the water as well as on the water? It's easy for adults to sail with the kids, teach them during the races, and then at the dock, walk over to the keg and talk 'above' the kids. If they aren't welcome at your table, they won't want to be on the boat for very long. If you answered 'yes', are the kids being included in the sailing discussions at the table? Are adults talking to them, not condescending down to them?
2) Speaking of condescending, when you get an experienced youth sailor in a regatta, cheating is a really good way to get kids to choose a different boat class. That kid at the helm of that keelboat, the one that another boat's skipper is yelling at, trying to intimidate him to get off the starting line, has probably sailed in more regattas because he doesn't have to work all summer. If he wanted to, the kid could quote the RRS sections and numbers, and successfully protest for violating his right-of-way and lack of sportsmanship. But he won't do that; he'll just never sail your boat class again (true story)!
At 9, 7, and 4 years old, my sons fell in love with sailing on a J/22; just them and one extremely patient skipper. The boys have since raced in national and international championships in eight different boat classes in eight years. Yes, they love high-tech and speed, and are currently begging for a Nacra F18, but on any given Wednesday night, you'll find a 17 year old working spin on a J/92, the 15 year old on the helm of a J/22, and the 12 year old cranking sheets on a Hunter 35.... because it's the relationships that make the difference.
The sailing crowd are friends AND mentors. Thanks for contribution from SailingScuttlebutt.com
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). Check out there recent travels- now past Fiji!
- 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/
Featured Boats
Annapolis Show J/108 Ready To Cruise!J/Boats' modern new shoal performance cruiser/ racer, the J/108, has just completed her well received introduction at the Annapolis Boat Show and is now available for sea trials. Please contact Ken Comerford at phone 410-991-1511 or email- ken@northpointyachtsales.com- to schedule an appointment and learn more about this stunning new J - luxuriate in her Ultra-Leather interior, enjoy her enormous cockpit and find out how you can broaden your cruising horizons with just 4.0 feet of draft! Plus, you'll love her lively performance.
To learn more about this particular J/108, please take a look at the listing here on Yachtworld.com. Sailing photo credits- Billy Black
