First J/70 Midwinters @ Key West!(Key West, FL)- It’s official! The first J/70 Midwinters will be taking place at Quantum Key West 2013 Race Week this coming January. In support of the worldwide launch of this exciting new class, Premiere-Racing will provide a stand-alone J/70 racing circle just west of Sunset Key (only a 20 minute sail from the Truman Annex launch ramp).
A special entry fee of $700 includes ramp-launching and trailer storage at the Truman Annex for the week, which will be a big help for those looking to “do Key West” on a budget. For dealers/owners looking to ship their new boats directly to Key West from Rhode Island, there will be an opportunity to share trucking expense as part of a multi-boat shipment. Please let us know if you are interested and we’ll circulate information as soon as it’s available. Once the boats are in Key West, there will also be delivery and storage services available for the rest of the J/70 circuit events following Key West-- St. Pete NOOD Regatta in February, Bacardi Sailing Week in March, Charleston Race Week in April, and Annapolis NOOD Regatta in May. For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information
J/70 UK Sailing Tour(Hamble, England)- The first J/70 arrived in the UK last weekend and has already been causing quite a stir in the Solent. Local sailors were able to get their first glimpse of the long awaited high-performance one design at the J-Cup 2012, generating much shore-side chatter about the possibility of a J/70 class of its own for 2013. This week the J/70 will embark upon a tour of the biggest marinas in the South and West Country. Her first stop will be Royal Harbour Marina in Ramsgate, coinciding with Ramsgate Week. Her tour will come to a close in Dartmouth in early September, just in time to arrive back home for the Southampton Boat Show. The J/70 Tour dates are the following:
Ramsgate: 2nd – 3rd August Royal Harbour Marina
Hamble: 4th – 10th August Port Hamble Marina
Cowes Week: 11th – 17th August Cowes Yacht Haven
Plymouth: 18th-19th August Queen Anne’s Battery
Fowey Week: 19th-25th August TBC
Dartmouth Week: 30th August – 2nd September Royal Dart Yacht Club
Hamble: 3rd – 13th September Port Hamble Marina
Southampton Boat Show: 14th – 23rd September
For anyone considering a J/70 for the 2013 season, trial sails will be available on all of the dates enumerated above. For those interested in arranging a sail, please call Key Yachting on +44-2380-455669 or email- gemma@keyyachting.com.
J/70 48 North Review(Seattle, WA)- Dan Kaseler and team for 48 North magazine took the first J/70 on Puget Sound out sailing in the last three weeks to both test the boat and get prepared for racing PHRF Class in Whidbey island Race Week. The team were able to sail in a wide variety of weather conditions, from drifting to low 20s on the wind-scale. Please be sure to read more about their experience, you can download the J/70 48 North sailing review PDF article here. For more 48 North J/70 sailing review info
Cowes Week Preview(Cowes, IOW, England)- Since 1826 Cowes Week has played a key part in the British sporting summer calendar and is one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events. It now stages up to 40 daily races for around 1,000 boats and is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world.
This year, Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, as the event is now known, offers a great mix of competitive sailing and social activities from August 11th to 18th. The 8,500 competitors range from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors. In excess of 100,000 spectators come to watch the sailing, enjoy the parties and live entertainment, and to experience the unique atmosphere. It is genuinely a one-of-a-kind event.
Traditionally, Cowes Week takes place after Glorious Goodwood and before the Glorious Twelfth (the first day of the grouse shooting season) - occasionally the traditional dates are changed to ensure optimum racing, taking account of the tides. Over the years the event has attracted British and foreign royalty, and many famous faces.
The first race was for a Gold Cup of the Value of £100, held in 1826 for just seven yachts under the flag of the Royal Yacht Club (which later became the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1833). The next year King George IV indicated his approval of the event by presenting a cup (the King's Cup, presented at every subsequent event until 1939) to mark the occasion, and the event became known as Cowes Regatta. This was run as a three-day, then a four-day, event and quickly became part of the social calendar.It was not until 1964 that, on the suggestion of HRH Prince Philip (a regular competitor and Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron), Cowes Combined Clubs was formed to run and organise the regatta. This body represented the seven clubs involved in managing the racing (Royal Yacht Squadron, Royal London Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Southampton Yacht Club, Royal Southern Yacht Club, Island Sailing Club and Royal Ocean Racing Club) and Cowes Town Regatta Committee. The Royal Yacht Squadron line became the universal start line and there was one set of sailing instructions and racing marks for the Week-- it was a brilliant suggestion by the Prince as since the regatta has mushroomed in popularity.
Over the course of time, J/Boats sailors have found the Cowes Week to their liking, enjoying the fabulous on-shore festivities along with the equally challenging sailing up and down the capricious tidal river known as "the Solent". Participating in this year's events will be one-design fleets of J/109s and J/80s as well as fleets of J/111s, J/122s, J/97s sailing within various IRC classes. Thirty-one of 180 IRC entries are J/Teams, about 17% of the fleet, quite a good show again and the dominant brand in IRC class sailing-- twice as many as Beneteau or X-Yachts participants in each brand!Again leading the charge as biggest one-design keelboat fleet at Cowes are the twenty-five J/109s and what amounts to a changing of the guard amongst the top of the fleet will be in the making as last year's top boats are all gone. Amongst the leaders could be ME JULIE (Dominique Monkhouse), David Mcleman's OFFBEAT and the RAF Sailing Team on their familiar RED ARROW. It will be an fascinating fleet to watch as the pecking order gets jumbled rapidly race to race!
The J/Sprit class may again include a selection of J/92, J/97 and J/105 designs. In 2011, there was keen competition for the top spot, the class winner being the J/92s J'RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) followed by Nick and Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE, third was Andy Howe & Annie Kelly's J/92 BLACKJACK. All three competitors are sailing again and will have to contend with two top J/105s, NEILSON REDEYE (Pip & Pete Tyler) and KING LOUIE sailed by Fiona and Malcolm Thorpe. Then, the rest of the fleet are no less intimidating, including several J/92s like WHO'S TO NO (Richard Sparrow), BOJANGLES (Richard Sainsbury), HULLABALOO (Andrew Dallas); and a gaggle of fast J/97s like MCFLY (Tony Mack), JACKAROO (Jim and Stephen Dick), JET (James Owen), the champion JIKA-JIKA (Mike & Jamie Holmes) and another champion FEVER GLENFIDDICH (Grant Gordon).The J/80s recently had their J/80 Worlds in Dartmouth and, as expected, the run-up to that event would have an impact on the large twenty-four boat attendance the J/80s enjoyed last year. This year it looks like there will be a competitive coterie of nine boats with some familiar top boats in the fray, including JAMMY DODGER, AQUA J and the RAF Sailors on SPITFIRE.
Sure to be a factor will be the six J/111s, starting with David & Kirsty Apthorp's new J/DREAM, winner of this year's IRC Class in the Round Island Race. Then you have SHMOKING JOE (Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas- past IRC Class winners in the Round Island Race). Newcomers include MOJITO from Hong Kong sailed by Simon & Michele Blore, previous owners of successful J/92s of the same name; DJINN from Belgium sailed by Sebastien de Liedekerke, a former J/109 owner; JEEZ LOUISE (James Arnell); and ICARUS sailed by Charles Rolls and Andrew Christie. If the performance of the 111s in recent offshore events with any amount of breeze is indicative of the possible outcome in IRC2 Class, their friendly J competitors will have a tough time handling them. Included in this group are the J/122s.The four powerful J/122s JINJA (Ian Matthews), GHOST (Ken Lowes), THE SISTERHOOD (Susan Glenny), MINT JULEP and JOULOU (Ivan Trotman) will keep everyone honest and perhaps win a race or two and take a podium finish!
Two well-sailed J/133s- JUMP (Ian Dewhirst) and MADJUST (Richard Huges) have proven their capabilities to win races both around-the-cans and offshore may possibly end up in IRC1 or IRC2, in any event they will have their hands full as they strategize how to get around the Solent as cleverly as possible. Sailing Photo Credits- Beken of Cowes/ Tim Wright-Photoaction.com. For more Cowes Week sailing information
RORC Channel Race Preview(Cowes, IOW, England)- The RORC Channel Race Starts Saturday August 4th, it's a "flex-course" race designed to last 24 - 36 hours, starting and finishing in the Solent.
With just two races left in the RORC Season's Points Championship, the 10 race series that started back in February is heading for a dramatic conclusion. Three yachts are contesting the overall victory and several classes still hang in the balance; with a French and Dutch team contesting the overall with a Two-Handed British boat also looking for a fairy tale end to the season-- it's Nick Martin's J/105 DIABLO-J that is still very much in the hunt for an overall win (photo is colleague- Voador- doing what J/105s do best offshore!). We wish the Martin's God Speed, fair winds and a running tide!
For more RORC Channel Race sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
As July draws to a close, several significant regattas and offshore events took place that demonstrated why J sailors love their boats as much as they do. No matter what Mother Nature throws at you, you can rest assured (for the most part) that with a bit of prudent seamanship while still pressing on the throttle hard that you can have fun and win races most anywhere on the planet. Nowhere was this more self-evident than in the recent RORC Commodore's Cup that took place in the United Kingdom for over a week where a bunch of "kids" raced a J/109 to a fabulous performance while their "adult" counterparts on the J/111 and J/122s proved their mettle and hung tough to deliver meritorious performances for their team-mates. Literally "next door", the extraordinary J/Cup Regatta and J/109 UK Nationals took place off Southampton Water and in the Solent with a lot of camaraderie, fun and games. Across La Manche, the J/80s were having fun in the late summer sailing their J/80 Deauville Open. On the "far side" of the pond, the American's had a number of big events taking place as well. Starting in the northeast, the three clubs in Marblehead (Eastern, Boston and Corinthian YCs) hosted their usual fantastic Marblehead Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta in the famously challenging waters north of Boston for J/24 and J/105 one-design fleets. West of them was the Youngstown Level Regatta hosted by the Youngstown YC for a combination of PHRF, IRC and One-designs- including J/24s and J/105s. Moving west to the Great Lakes, the J/111s and J/105s had a scream sailing one-design in the Little Traverse YC Ugotta Regatta, included were PHRF sailing for J/122, J/100 and others. Finally, headed to the Far West, it's remarkable to think that multiple events were taking place over an extended fortnight that included a J/125, J/120 and J/35c "sending it" in the Pacific Cup (a little offshore race from San Francisco to Hawaii for 2,000+nm); the Fiesta Cup in Santa Barbara for J/105s; the Santa Barbara to Kings Harbor Race for a slew of J/Sailors; and the St Francis YC's Aldo Allesio Regatta for J/105s. A busy week it was!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:
Aug 3-5- Buzzards Bay Regatta- S Dartmouth, MAAug 3-5- Monhegan Race- Falmouth, ME
Aug 10-12- J/29 Northamericans- Lunenburg, NS
Aug 11-18- Cowes Sailing Week- Cowes, England
Aug 11-12- J/27 Lake Ontarios- Oakville, Ontario
Aug 17-19- Verve Cup Regatta- Chicago, IL
Aug 17-19- Nantucket Race Week- Nantucket, MA
Aug 24-26- J/80 Pornic Cup- Pornic, France
Sep 6-9- Rolex Big Boat Series- San Francisco, CA
Sep 7-9- J/80 German Open- Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Sep 11-14- J/22 North Americans- East Tawas, MI
Sep 13-21- J/24 Worlds- Rochester, NY
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
J/109 Wins J/Cup OverallJ/111 J-DREAM Wins Tie-breaker!
(Southampton, England)- On Saturday morning the fleet at the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics headed off the dock to complete the final races in this 63 boat regatta. Tony Lovell and his team from the Royal Southern Yacht Club ensured that each of the six classes got two races away in a northerly breeze, moving left and building to 22 knots in the gusts as the day developed. By 16.00 hours all J-Cup challenges had been settled, two National Championships had been won and the winner of the 2012 J-Cup had been decided.
Mike & Jamie Holmes team on Jika Jika had led the Lombard J/97 UK National Championship fleet from the start of the event. At the first gun on Saturday morning Jika Jika had 6 points on the sheet, Grant Gordon’s Fever was just three behind on 9 and Stuart Sawyer s Black Dog had 12. The team on Jika Jika have done plenty of sailing together over the last few seasons and two more race wins were the result on Saturday: Mike, Jamie and crew triumphed and won the Lombard J/97 UK National Championship convincingly with a net score of just 8 points. Fever took the silver slot with 15 points and Black Dog took the bronze medal and also the North Sails Boat of the Day prize for this class.
With 24 boats taking part the largest class racing at the 2012 J-Cup was racing for the J/109 UK National Championship supported by Sebago. Whilst Steven Tapper ’s Stalker had held the top slot for the duration of the regatta, they did not make it easy for themselves on the last day. In fact the top five boats in this fleet all had a monumental tussle on Saturday with three of them posting (and discarding) their worse results of the whole regatta. Not surprisingly and there were several changes in the rankings. Jonathan Calascione and Johnnie Goodwin’s Harlequin put in the best performance of the whole fleet with a 1, 2 score on Saturday and this earned them the North Sails Boat of the Day prize. Never having to count a score outside the top seven across the eight races sailed, ultimately it was the team on Stalker who finished at the top of the podium and who were pronounced the new J/109 UK National Champions, supported by Sebago. Harlequin took silver, Mike and Sarah Wallis took the bronze in Jahmali, Paul Griffith’s Jagerbomb was fourth overall and Tony Dicken’s Jubilee finished fifth.
David and Kirsty Apthorp’s J/111 J-Dream left the dock on Saturday with 9 points on their card, a two point advantage over Didier Le Moal’s J Lance on 11 points and nerves must have been jangling, especially when Race 7 (the first race of the day) was won by Jamie Arnell’s Jeez Louise, with J-Lance in second. Now the gap between J-Dream and J Lance was down to just one point. The final race of the series was smashed by J Lance and J-Dream took second. So… two J/111s on equal points at the top of the Class : exactly the same situation in which these two boats found themselves at Spi Ouest regatta earlier this year… This time however it was the J-Dream team who took the Class win on count-back. J Lance was second overall and Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas ’ Shmokin Joe were third. J Lance won the North Sails Boat of the Day prize.
The J/133s and the J/122s raced in IRC 1 at the 2012 J-Cup and the predominantly Solent based fleet included Mick Holland and Carolyn Aylmer’s J/122 Majic form Guernsey along with Herman Bergshaven’s J/133 Madjus from Norway. Having led the regatta since Race 1 Ian Dewhirst and his team on the J/133 Jump stole the gold in IRC 1 finishing with just 8 points. Robert and Jackie Dobson settled for silver in their J/133 Jeronimo and Ivan Trotman took the bronze and the North Sails Boat of the Day prize in IRC 1.Having had a sticky start to the 2012 J-Cup, the current holders of the coveted silverware Andy Howe and Annie Kelly found improving form throughout the regatta sailing their J/92 Blackjack in IRC 2. Scoring just four points in the final races on Saturday was enough to secure them the North Sails Boat of the Day prize but it was Richard Sainsbury’s team on his J/92 Bojangles who won the class overall from Blackjack in second and Richard Sparrows’s Who’s to No from Ramsgate in third place overall.
The J/80 Class all enjoyed the building breeze and planning conditions on Saturday, and Chris Ducker ’s SLAM finally found some decent form for which the crew were nominated as North Sails Boat of the day. Patrick Liardet’s Aqua J also had a fabulous day and won both races but neither SLAM nor Aqua-J were able to knock Stewart Hawthorn’s J’ai 2 Amours off the highest podium position and the results at the end of the day were J’ai 2 Amours in first, Aqua-J second and SLAM third overall.
The Prize-giving dinner and party for the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics took place at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday night and 400 competitors were in attendance. Prizes were presented by generous sponsors for first to third place in all classes and for first to fifth for the J/109 UK National Championship fleet. Following a very quick (and debilitating) round of SLAMbucca, armfuls of silverware, glassware, Wight Vodka and caps, SLAM clothes, bags, gifts and Harken goodies galore were offered up to those who were lucky enough to finish on the podium. Then, as has now become the norm at the J-Cup, a number of other very special prizes were also presented.
The Dubarry Boot for Endurance was awarded to David Richards of the J/109 Jumping Jellyfish. David and his crew are regatta stalwarts and do more racing, covering more nautical miles than most in their J/109 and if there is a J Boat regatta to be done, David will be there, fully supportive of the fleet and of the organising team. The second Dubarry Boot, this one for Outstanding Achievement, was presented to Jim Dick of the J/97 Jackaroo. Jim was the founding Chairman of the J/97 UK Class Association and has been responsible for building cohesion in the class and for championing one-design racing. He also won the Scottish Series overall in Jackaroo in 2011, helping in no small way to put the boat on the regatta map.The Musketeer Trophy is presented for the best two boat team from differing classes and the scores are weighted according to the size of the Class in which each boat competes. This year it was won by the J-Dream (winners of the eight boat J/111 Class) and Harlequin (placed second overall in the 24 boat J/109 Class). The trophy itself is a beautiful silver double Champagne ice-bucket and the winners must return it topped with Champagne at the 2013 J-Cup.
B&G has been a principal sponsor of the J-Cup for ten years and this year a voucher for £3,000 of electronic equipment was on offer. This is clearly a major prize and it went to Mike and Sarah Wallis from Jahmali. Mike and Sarah are valuable long-term members of the J/109 Class; Mike sits on the Committee as the Technical Representative, Sarah organised the Class Party earlier this year. They are competitive racing sailors who each share their well defined sense of fair play and friendship with the other owners and crew in their fleet and are deserving and popular winners of the B&G prize.
In addition to all of the other prizes and trophies presented at the J-Cup, this year there was another rather special one to add to the list. ‘H’ Poole was a well known J Boat sailor, all round top bloke and friend to many of us in the fleet. He was tragically killed in a crash between two RAF Tornado aircraft a few weeks ago. Some of H’s closest mates and colleagues who were racing at the J-Cup wanted to present a trophy in his honour and it was a privilege to have H’s partner Beth at the party on Saturday to present the prize. It was awarded for an "individual performance by someone who knew no limits" and fittingly it was presented to Nick Cherry: erstwhile J Boat Sailor (who was racing with Jumping Jellyfish again this year) and who is a recently returned hero of the Figaro single handed series.The overall and most coveted prize of the whole regatta is the J-Cup itself, a relatively modest piece of silverware by comparison with some of the other beautiful trophies which are contested at the event. In eleven years of running the J-Cup regatta, the J-Cup has never been awarded to the same boat or the same team, twice. A simple piece of silverware it may be but it embodies the soul of the J-Cup regatta and of the unique spirit of friendship, competition and camaraderie which exists between J Boat owners. The overall winner of the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ logistics was Steven Tapper and his crew on Stalker. A determined and focussed progress up through the J/109 rankings over the last three years or so and now a National Championship win in a 24 boat fleet: yes, that’s an impressive result and an extremely deserving J-Cup win.
With thanks to all of the sponsors of the 2012 J-Cup, not least the title sponsor MIQ Logistics, but also to our supporting sponsors SLAM, B&G, North Sails, Dubarry of Ireland, Coast Graphics, Harken UK, Lombard, Sebago and Wight Vodka. All of the results and information about the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics can be found online at www.sailracer.org/jcup and the 2013 event will be held in the West Country in August next year. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright- Photoaction.com For more J/Cup sailing information
J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE Crushes Pacific Cup(San Francisco, CA)- The forty-six boats racing in the 17th edition of the Pacific Cup that left from the San Francisco city front (off the St Francis Yacht Club) at noon on Monday July 16, sailing under the famed Golden Gate Bridge to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, had no idea they would be treated to a dominant, epic performance and blast across the Pacific to Hawaii. The 2,070nm race is always full of surprises.
Winner overall was Andy Costello, skipper of J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE, sailing simply a magnificent race and finishing second only boat-for-boat to a 60 footer in a finishing time of 7 days, 23:42:44! Wow, that's fast 10.8 knot average, even for any 41 footer made of carbon/foam/epoxy! In short, Andy and crew said they "simply sent it" down the Pacific swells as fast as they dared, often hitting low 20s continuously through the night with rain squalls battering them incessantly.
In an update from Michelle Slade (Sailblast.blogspot.com), she commented- The victory is particularly sweet for Costello as it’s his first-ever Pac Cup. He was stoked to reap the benefits of two+ years he’s put into optimizing his boat. Costello also hand-picked a crew with the right chemistry to get the job done - fast.
“We sailed to Hawaii in under 8 days on a 40-footer,” Costello said, “That’s pretty good! I know it’s an extremely fast time for the size boat. It was really windy and the conditions were really suited for the boat and of course Skip (McCormack) called a perfect navigational race. We had five extremely good drivers - at night there was no horizon, no moon and plenty of clouds so you’re not driving by sight - it’s all feel and you had better know what you are doing. We didn’t have to slow down; we just went as fast as we could possibly go during the night. We were changing our drivers out every two hours so there was always someone driving the boat at full capacity. It keeps the pace on. We got to the point about 2-3 days before the end of the race where we felt good enough that we could put it into a slower gear or we could have probably finished the race 8-9 hours faster. But there was no need to break anything or blow the boat up before we got here.”Costello said they had breeze in the lower 20s for most of the race, and for them, that was based on putting the boat in the right position on the course.
“I think a lot of the guys who stayed higher than us didn’t get as much breeze as we did because we dove south and because of that we were able to stay in the pressure and get around everybody. We sailed a lot more miles than everybody else but we still got here faster. It was awesome. Warrior is another J/125; we beat him by 250 miles - just shows that we’ve done everything to get the boat going like this. Trevor (Baylis) has designed the sails for the boat - the spinnaker is not like a normal sail - we really developed everything to make the boat faster and faster over the past few years. It’s a whole other level and I think we can win some more races with it.” The other two crew on board Double Trouble are Jody McCormack and Matt Noble.
On an update from the DT blog, "super-skiffy sailor" Skip McCormack checked in form the "skiffy-filled" J/125 DT at the pointy end of the fleet. Said Skippy, "It's Tuesday, July 24th 1800 hrs PST, wind 13-18 kts @ 200-205 with A5/spin staysail/full main all flying. It's now Day 6. This boat has been LIT UP. We have been pushing hard. The last two nights were spent "sending it" into complete darkness. There has been no visual reference what-so-ever until last night when we had stars to drive by for 30 minutes until we were engulfed by another big, black, horizon eating rain cloud.
No throttling back, keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get to the leverage point first in an attempt to remove options from our competitors. We have now gybed and are headed to Hawaii. Now we are officially allowed to talk about that first Mai Tai. No more of this unofficial talk.
So far, Jody has the boat speed record at 20.8. She is "killing it", having gained huge confidence in her driving skills.
Matt is silently dominating. One of the most under-spoken and over-capable people on an offshore program, he is always aware of the surroundings and looking for ways to push the boat harder.
Trevor is the secret weapon on this program. He knows every mode the boat has and how to gain every ounce of boat speed out of it. Not only have he and Andy spent hours racing and learning this boat, but he has had his hand in designing the sail plan which gives us many different options for different conditions.
Andy has glued us together. He loves this boat and has spent countless hours to keep it in fighting condition. He is doing really well on the helm, but we have to keep pushing him to get more time in because he just wants to go faster!!
I've switched my 6 hour on 6 hour off watch schedule so that for the last four nights of the race I'm on midnight to 6am. Doing so puts three people on deck during the hours of most wind from 11pm and 5am. We rotate drivers often and keep people fresh on trimming.
After our gybe, we spent a few hours cleaning the boat, sponging every nook that hid water while we were on starboard gybe. "Bleachy sprayed" (Jody's nickname for Clorox cleaner) the galley, head, bunks, nav station and floor boards. Worked on the instruments to get these damn Ockam's reading properly and it was off to the races. We had to do our third back down a few hours ago to remove a huge piece of fishing net that had lodged itself firmly around the keel.
We have decided to back off the step a little bit this afternoon/evening having gotten around the corner in a good position on the fleet. We have changed kites and going into low mode. We are a little underpowered in the lulls, but have plenty of power in the puffs. This setup will take us through this evening when the cloud activity generates bigger pressure and we can decide what we want to do tomorrow morning based on fleet position and weather conditions.
Thank you all for the great input. We love to hear from everyone and it's been a really fun race so far. We are keeping the hammer down but being conservative towards the finish. Router has us 744 miles to go, and finishing in about 2.5 days from now, Friday morning." It was an epic, extraordinary performance. Kudos to Andy, Trevor and team for a job well done. Read more about it on the Double Trouble blog- http://www.sailblogs.com/member/doubletroubleracing/
Meanwhile, the J/120 sailing in the double-handed division, JAMANI sailed by Sean & Jeff Mulvihill from Park City, Utah also sailed near the top of their division but faded in the end to finish 4th.
In Division B the J/35c BRAINWAVES skippered by Jim Brainard from Golden, Colorado had a good race (see their blog- http://ibrainwaves.blogspot.com) and pulled off a 3rd in division and 18th overall! Not bad for a J/Cruiser. Equally as exciting a performance for a "cruiser" was the J/42 TIKI J skippered by Kim Worsham of Portland, Oregon (http://www.sailblogs.com/member/tikij/ or http://www.tikij.com/) that finished just behind them in 4th in division and 19th overall in a time of 12 days 02:26:00. Sailing photo credits- Erik Simonson For more Pacific Cup sailing information
J/111 WIND CZAR Wins Ugotta Regatta & J/111 Great Lakes(Harbor Springs, MI)- The first ever J/111 Great Lakes Championship saw ten boats participating from the Michigan and Chicago fleets. All of the top J/111s that sailed the recent Chicago-Mackinac Race were present, part of an illustrious, history-making fleet where ALL ten boats finished in the top 20 overall in the Mac Race! A feat never before achieved by an entire class of boats in ANY offshore event in the world!
The Ugotta fleet of sixty-nine boats was treated to good weather and steady winds were offered to the sailors during the Little Traverse Yacht Club Regatta weekend of July 27-29. The total fleet included J/111s racing one-design as well as J/105s. And, there were J/Teams participating in PHRF handicap, too, including a J/122, J/42 and J/100.
“We had great wind on all four days of racing, it was spectacular,” said Vice Commodore of the Little Traverse Yacht Club, Kathryn Breighner. The conditions made for competitive and exciting racing, Breighner noted. On Friday's One-Design Racing day, the winds were out of the east, an unusual direction for Little Traverse Bay, and made for more than unusual wind shifts and breeze lines across the bay with winds ranging from 6 to 14 kts. By Saturday and Sunday, the more familiar localized "sea-breeze thermals" developed after 2-3 race postponements each day, making for exhilarating racing around the Bay in westerly breezes. There was no question that some degree of "local knowledge" was required in order to be a top performer in the event, with known fast local boats going certain directions on certain parts of the race course with a high degree of consistency.
The 1st place winner of the Ugotta Regatta Overall and taking home the Credit Suisse Award and the Thomas Carruther’s Award was the J/111 WIND CZAR, whose skipper is Little Traverse YC Commodore Richard Lehmann. “The bottom line is that the Wind Czar is very fast and we made very few mistakes, and that is the formula for success. Being that this is Rich’s last term as commodore, the crew was pleased to accompany him with this victory," said Wind Czar crew member Bryan Burley. "We are thrilled that the overall winner is again a Little Traverse Yacht Club boat. We look forward to doing it again next year," said Vice Commodore Breighner.
The J/111s had a remarkably competitive series, with fast & furious changes taking place on every leg and every mark rounding. In fact, the pace of sailing was more akin to "chutes(snakes) & ladders" commented one of the J/111 crew members. Winning one leg, mid-fleet the next leg, back to top three at the next mark. All it took was 3-5 degrees wind shift and only 2-3 kts wind pressure and enormous gains could be made both upwind and downwind. It's incredibly fun racing for those who've never experienced sailing a boat that's so close-winded, so fast and responsive that every wind shift, every piece of wind pressure makes such a fantastic difference in relative speeds. The experienced 111 teams know by now that you're always in a "never say die mode", where truly the much-hackneyed phrase that "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings" really does apply to J/111 one-design racing. While the regatta is split into two "events", the overall J/111 Great Lakes Champion was the local Harbor Springs team of WIND CZAR skippered by Rick Lehmann, sailing to an unassailable score of 1-4-1-2-3-1-1 for 13 pts. KASHMIR sailed by the Chicago team of Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson and Mike Mayer, added yet more laurels to their tremendous double-win in the last two years in the Chicago-Mac Race, managing to finish 2nd overall with a consistent score of 2-1-3-1-4.5-4-3 for 18.5 pts. Third was a steadily improving team on IMPULSE sailed by Dr George Miz, Peter Dreher and Mark Hatfield from Chicago, amassing a score of 5-2-2-4-7.5-2-10 for 32.5 pts overall. Fourth in the group was the champion Annapolis team on VELOCITY sailed by Marty Roesch's team, getting a 6-7-7-3-1.5-11-6 for 41.5 pts; their highlight being the big win on the Saturday "around the bay tour race" for seventeen miles. Rounding out the top five by only a half-point back was Paul Stahlberg's Chicago/Milwaukee-based team on MENTAL with a scoreline of 7-3-5-5-6-8-8 for 42 pts.
In the end, regatta J/111 team host Dave Irish (sailing NO SURPRISE) from Irish Boatshop felt the experience was a tremendous one for all the J/111 sailors. Having been a Chicago-Mac and Bayview-Mac Race winner multiple times, even Dave felt the racing was of tremendously high-calibre, as Dave said, "you can't have enough of a lead with this fleet, even if you're way out in front you're vulnerable". That same sentiment was echoed by past J/109 Great Lakes Champion Lenny Siegal on his latest LUCKY DUBIE, "Wow, fast fun boats. Gotta a lot to learn still. But, we're getting there! We're sorry our famous blender broke, otherwise the regatta may have had a different outcome!" Paul ("Murph the Surf") Murphy sailing on the VELOCITY team from Annapolis commented multiple times on the fact that "damn, all these Chicago boats are FAST! We learned a lot about what not to do here!" It's no wonder the entire J/111 Great Lakes fleet finished in the top 20 overall in the Mac Race!
The J/105s also saw some great racing in the Friday One-Design and weekend Ugotta Regatta sailing. In the end, it was a shoot-out amongst the local boats, Carter Williams' CREATIVE DESTRUCTION and the "Little Traverse Sailors" juniors on EXIT STRATEGY. While EXIT STRATEGY won the Friday event with CREATIVE DESTRUCTION in 2nd and Bill Petzold's GREEN FLASH in 3rd, things changed for the Ugotta Sat/Sun races. This time around, Carter's team on CREATIVE hammered the fleet with a 1.5-1-1 to win by a landslide. Second was Mark Gurney on BUZZ with a 3-3-2 and 3rd were the kids on EXIT STRATEGY.
Meanwhile, in the well-attended PHRF handicap divisions, there were some significant performances by J/Teams. Leading the charge in PHRF 2 was Mitch Padnos on his J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON, grabbing the bronze in their division to follow up on his Division Class Win in the Chicago-Mac Race! In PHRF 3, the J/35s were having a field day with their competition with Bruce Metcalf on BOZOS CIRCUS scoring 2nd with Ed Bayer's FALCON in 4th, Larry Schell's TOUCH OF GREY in 5th. In PHRF 4, the J/100 COURAGE sailed by Raenette Mcmanus sailed nicely to a 5th in class. Then, in PHRF NS Division, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their globe-girdling J/42 JAYWALKER to third place in their division-- not bad for a J/42 with over 30,000nm under her belt and a some trans-Atlantics in her resume! For more Little Traverse Ugotta Regatta sailing information
J/109 "Kids" Third RORC Commodore's Cup(Cowes, IOW, England)- The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Commodores' Cup fleet received an inadvertent visit from His Majesty's Queen Elizabeth II the morning of the 4th inshore race, her Diamond Jubilee Tour taking in Cowes Yacht Haven where the 21 boats were based in the premier three boat team event for international amateur crews. It proved to be one of the highlights of the events for two of the J/Teams participating in the regatta.
That afternoon only one race was held, again along the Lee-on-Solent shoreline as it was on the first day with the 6 - 9 knot southeasterly, enough for the boats to race. The boats then had to head out into the tide to round the first mark and spreader mark before heading back downwind. The course was shortened, when a southwesterly sea breeze filled in after a brief transition just short of the finish line.
Winner of the day was the young British Keelboat Academy crew on former RORC Commodore David Aisher's J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT competing in RYA Team GBR Black, whose time corrected out to more than two minutes ahead of John van der Starre's J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER in the Benelux team.At the end of the regatta, the French team with the J/122 NUTMEG IV managed to finish 3rd overall and the "numero uno" GBR Black team member that shined on that special day happened to be the J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT.
In addition to winning on that special day, after four races the J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT and her young crew were the leading boat across all seven teams at the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup! And, at that time the French team with the J/122 JOOPSTER were the overall team leaders! After all the remarkably challenging racing, the youngest team at this year's RORC Commodore's Cup Team, sailing a 10 year-old design in the form of Sir Aisher's J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT, basically "kicked booty" against the best that European IRC teams had to offer and finished 3rd OVERALL on an individual points basis! Not bad for a bunch of "kids". :) For more Brewin Dolphins RORC Commodore's Cup sailing information
FRE
E ENTERPRISE Profits @ Fiesta Cup Regatta Again(Santa Barbara, CA)- During the third weekend of July, Santa Barbara gears up for a colorful celebration of its Mexican, Spanish and American pioneers, called the Old Spanish Days Fiesta, that lasts for a week and brings in people from all corners of California, if not America, Mexico and Europe. Coincidentally, many boats from around Southern California arrive in town to join the party and also prepare and gear up for the popular Santa Barbara to King's Harbor Race- a mad reaching/running dash out around the Channel Islands to King's Harbor near Los Angeles.
As a result, it's a popular week to be in Santa Barbara for Californians, nothing else is on the racing schedule, kids are out of school (or at camp) and "the Fiesta" becomes a popular destination for friends and family for some fun and frolic on the gorgeous American "Riviera" known as Santa Barbara (one of five cities in America that claim that same title). The main drag in town, State Street, seemingly turns into another version of New Orleans's infamous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter with thousands celebrating into the wee hours of the night (learn more about it here- http://www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org).
Sailors are always greeted by the customary amazing hospitality from the host, Santa Barbara YC and were entertained for hours at the traditional beach party underneath the club's porch with free-flowing beer and margaritas as well as delicious tacos, enchiladas and other yummy Spanish-Mexican foods off the grills. Plus, an added bonus-- a real-live band! Cool.
This year, the eight boat J/105 fleet had two great days of racing with westerlies blowing down the shoreline from 5 to 15 knots. As usual, it was critical to get off the starting line, stay right upwind, avoid the big kelp lines (or force competitors into them!), and play the shifts as they come flying down off the bluffs on the right side of the course.
In the end, it was FREE ENTERPRISE (Tedd White/ Alex Rasmussen) that took first with 1-2-3-1-1 for 8 pts. Larry Harteck seems to be getting back into his "game-on" mode and sailed better in this regatta than he has in multiple events over the past year or so. Larry's 4-1-2-4-2 for 13 pts was good enough to beat out a local Farr 40 Champion, John Demourkas, racing his J/105 ROCKIN'N'GROOVIN. Fourth was Scott McDaniel on OFF THE PORCH with a remarkably consistent scoreline of 5-5-5-6-3 for 24 pts. Fifth was John Blair on PHANTOM with a 6-3-6-7-5 tally for 27 pts. Notably, there were no Southern California J/105 teams participating from Long Beach and San Diego as they're the host for this year's J/105 North Americans. For more Fiesta Cup J/105 sailing results
ESCAPE'D TIGGER Wins By More Than A Whisker!J/105 & J/33 Win Epic Santa Barbara-King Harbor Race
(Santa Barbara, CA)- The SB-KH distance race that spans 81 nm has been a tradition for Santa Barbara YC and King Harbor YC for nearly 40 years. The blast around the Channel Islands offshore down to King Harbor is never an easy race, but it's clearly the most fun when the fleet starts off on a blast reach, sets the kites at the first turning point off the Channel Islands and head SSE toward Los Angeles under spinnaker, surfing constantly on the ginormous Pacific swell. This year it was nearly a record run, making for epic rides sledding downhill towards the finish with many boats finishing by midnight!
15 J/Teams (17% of the total fleet) headed south out around the famous Channel Islands off the western coast of Los Angeles along with 71 other teams in what turned out to be one of the fastest ever races on record for the 81nm blast out around the islands. The fastest 70 footers covered the race in 6 hrs, 48 min. The fastest J/Team was the J/145 RADIO FLYER, covering the same distance in 8 hrs, 52 min- a 9 kt average over a race course that sees many highs and lows.
Here was the forecast for the race:
FRI
WINDS VARIABLE 10 KT OR LESS...BECOMING W 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 TO 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING.
FRI NIGHT
W WINDS 10 TO 20 KT WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 25 KT IN THE EVENING...BECOMING 5 TO 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 TO 3 FT.
PATCHY FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
That's from the USA NOAA weather forecast center! Perfect sailing?! Shirts. Shorts. Shades. Lots of sun-screen. Plenty of wind and sunshine. Yup, pretty damn close to perfect.
It was a glorious morning for the start and the wind picked up about 30 minutes after the start. It was a phenomenal race, the wind held up in the 20s until well after dark, and even when it lightened it went south so the angles were hot and the surfs were long and many. On Larry Leveille's J/29 RUSH STREET, they reported they had only had four guys, "so gybing and/or peeling in 25 kts after dark was hearts-in-mouth stuff, but the boat relished it and the boys made it look easy."From a divisional basis, here's how it all shook out amongst the primary players in this classic "SoCal" offshore race.
In PHRF B, the first boat on handicap was the J/33 TIGGER sailed by Fred & Suzanne Cottrell, plus they were 6th in fleet-- repeat offenders!! They won their class last year, too! This time around lying in 5th was the J/124 MARISOL sailed by Islands Race winner Seth Hall.
In PHRF C, there's no question that local Santa Barbarian Larry Levielle and team have this race pretty much "dialed-in", like their TIGGER friends. While 2nd last year, Larry's added yet more silverware to his trophy cabinet now busting with pickle-dishes, artwork and bowls from races past, garnering a well-deserved 3rd in class and 15th in fleet on his J/29 RUSH STREET!
In what may have been a wise move or a "political move", the race managers decided to create a Sprit PHRF fleet and toss all the fast-moving VMC/VMG flyers into the same group-- quite a broad range of PHRF numbers here! J/92s at 90 to J/122s at 18! Nevertheless, as one might expect, the outcome was that 9 of the top 10 were J/Teams. Starting with the Top 8. So, the J/105 ESCAPADE sailed by Mark Noble wins for the second year in a row (only a two-peat) and can lay claim to be "prodder master of western civilization" (or at least in SoCal). 2nd was the J105 OFF THE PORCH (Scott McDaniel), 3rd the J/120 SHENANIGANS (Gary Winton), 4th the J105 ARMIDA (Tom Bollay), 5th the infamous J120 POLE DANCER (Tom & Terri Manok), 6th the J92 DOUBLE DOWN (Brian Kerr), 7th the J109 LINSTAR (John Shulze), 8th the J111 JATO (Webster/Moorhead) and 10th the luxurious cruiser-racer J/122 SUNDAY TICKET (Daniel Scouler).
While the Sprit PHRF Class was dominated by J/Teams, their compatriots in Sprit ULDB B nearly managed to do the same! 2nd was the J125 TIMESHAVER sailed by Viggo Torbensen and 4th was the gorgeous candy-apple-red J145 RADIO FLYER sailed by Carolyn Parks. For more Santa Barbara-King Harbor Race sailing results
J/80 BABY J Wins Deauville Open
(Deauville, France)- 13 races (11 to count) in four days of racing. Windward-leeward courses of 1-1.2nm. Wind from 8-20 kts. It was a prescription for some great sailing by the eighteen J/80 crews assembled for the gorgeous Deauville Open.
After establishing their supremacy in the first eight races with four 1sts, 2nd and 3rd, the team of BABY J lead by Jean Francois Guionet backed off the throttle a little bit and put themselves into "cruise control" knowing that they'd won the regatta with only 3 counters left to go in the entire event to finish with 34 pts.
A strong women sailor in the form of Nathalie Corson led her team on JAWS to a strong second place, only two points behind the BABY J team. Her finishes nearly were the converse of Jean Francois's team- with a 5-4-6-4-3-2-1-1-3-5-2 for 36 pts.
In third place overall was Marine Cherbourg Issartel sailed by Gilles Drouet with finishes of 2-5-1-6-10-5-4-5-1-1-3 for 43 net pts. For more J/80 Deauville Open sailing information
MERLIN & AIRODOODLE Win Marblehead NOODs(Marblehead, MA)- Overcoming a morning fog postponement, the sun prevailed over Massachusetts Bay to commence the second full-day of racing in Marblehead for the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta. A very light breeze showed up on the Bay to spark racing from nearly every boat class. At long last favorable winds arrived for the final day of the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta resulting in the most action-packed day of the entire 123rd Annual Marblehead Race Week. With each class completing multiple final day races, thank goodness!
In the eleven boat J/24 class, it was the Denman/Smith team on AIRODOODLE that tools the top spot with an impressive 3-2-1-1-dns record to win with 7 net pts (after toss). Second was Matt Herbster's HIGH FIVE with a very consistent 2-3-2-3-3 record for 10 pts. Third was Ted Johnson's VITAMIN J.
The nineteen boat J/105 class had some classically close one-design racing. Leading the charge were some new names at the top of the leader board. Who's Charlie, Matt and Rick? Oh boy. Perhaps some good teams that have some college sailors aboard and simple know how to get around the race-track. In the end, it was Charlie Garrard on MERLIN that dominated the proceedings with a 1-2-5-2 to take the 105s with 10 pts. Next was Matt Pike on GOT Q! with a 2-3-1-9 for 15 pts. They just narrowly edged out Rick Dexter's team on CIRCE'S CUP with an equally impressive 11-1-3-1 for 16 pts. Rounding out the top five were Peter & Doug Morgan on STEELAWAY III with a 4-8-7-3 for 22 pts and a trio of gangsters aboard BLOWN AWAY (Jon, Mike, Robert) with a 3-11-6-4 for 24 pts to round out the top five. Sailing Photo Credits- Lauren McKenney. For more Marblehead NOOD Sailing World information
J/70 Crushes Youngstown(Youngstown, New York)- For the past decade the Youngstown YC has hosted the popular "Youngstown Level Regatta" for a variety of classes. Over time, it has evolved to address the needs of local racers for both handicap sailing (PHRF and IRC) as well as one-design racers. This year the sailors were treated to a combination of great sailing (as memorialized by Tim Wilkes great photography- timwilkes.com), great committee work (as demonstrated by few complaints from competitors) and great fun on shore-side festivities (as manifested by a few morning headaches described by a number of crews).
Out of the 150-odd boats in attendance in this corner of New York on Lake Ontario, there were at least 28 J/Teams seen sailing in the vicinity that had managed to honor the local YYC SI's, paid, scored themselves, and walked off with a haul of silverware worthy of good pirates pillaging the Spanish Main off Cuba in the days of old.
Starting with the local J/One-Design fleets, the J/24s had a nice turn-out with some well-known teams like HOWARTH HAMMER sailed by Mike Howarth finishing 1st overall. Second was a VERY well known local team called MR BUMPY sailed by Kevin McAuley and third was the J/24 JOKER sailed by AJ Ficcardi. From what we've heard from the local Newport J/24 fleet, "beware", party-animals all these guys are!In the local J/105 fleet on Lake Ontario, it's clear they take their one-design quite seriously. What's amazing was to see that a J/105 North American's contender Jim Rathbun was eclipsed by another local sailor, Peter Hall. Both solid teams, strong sailors. In the end, Peter's JAMAICA ME CRAZY gangsta's took the gold medal. Jim's well-seasoned, fast crew on HEY JUDE had to settle for a 2nd to these characters. Then, another good team in the form of Terry Michaelson's THE USUAL SUSPECTS had to settle for a less than usual 3rd place.
The IRC Fleet has continued to grow over the course time as sailors have looked for better ways to handicap themselves. This year's event continues to see the fleets diversify and get tighter as the sailors learn (like the J/35 fleet in particular) how to optimize and go even faster. In IRC 1 Class, it was the J/133 HOT WATER sailed by John McLeod that managed a 4th in class. In IRC 2, the new gorgeous J/111 LAKE EFFECT sailed by Bob Hesse sailed to a solid 4th overall as they learned how to sail their boat faster and faster. In IRC 3 the J/109s also hung in there for some great performances, including the J/109 MOCCASIN skippered by Ed Werner to a 4th place overall and the J/109 LIVELY sailed by Murray Gainer to a 5th in class. For the IRC 4 class, the J/35s simply smoked their "comp", taking 2 of 3 in class with the J/35 CRIME SCENE skippered by J/35 superstar Stephen Trevitt 1st place followed by fellow partner in crime, the J/35 JAEGER skippered by Leszek Siek in 3rd place.Next in the PHRF handicap world, it was nice to see that in PHRF 1 the J/100 SQUIRMY Joe O'Brien sailed well in their class. So did the new J/70 JUNIOR in PHRF 2 sailed by Morgan Paxhia & Tim Finkle, garnering an unprecedented 1st in class. In PHRF 3 the J/Teams nearly swept class, with 1st going to the J/34 SOUND WAVE sailed by Fred White, 2nd going to the J/35c MOONRISE skippered by David Braitsch and 4th going to another sistership J35c ROGUE WAVE guided by Doug Clarke. Next up was PHRF 4 that was simply smoked by some fast-sailing, fast-talking, very clever J/27 sailors. Three of the Top 5? Wow. Way cool. Awesome, perhaps? Yeaaah. So, top dog in 1st was the J/27 NORTHERN SEITZ sailed by the veteran of Lake Ontario sailing wars Mike Seitx. Next up on the podium in 3rd was the J/27 SHADES OF AVALON directed by Peter Winkelstein. Not disappointing his classmates in 4th was the J/27 MESSING ABOUT conducted by Andre Beese. Can't imagine a more fun group of sailors having fun in some incredibly fast, "classic" J/27s. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes For more Youngstown Regatta sailing results
ARBITRAGE Wins Aldo Allesio Regatta
(San Francisco, CA)- This past weekend, one of the long-standing St Francis YC trophy regattas held each summer saw only a single one-design fleet participate due to lack of participation in other renown StFYC classes over time. Fittingly, it was the well-attended J/105 class that managed to field sixteen teams, many of whom are regular participants along with some who are looking at this regatta as part of their overall practice to go sail the J/105 North American Championships down in San Diego later in October.
Coming out on top with a solid performance was Bruce Stone's team on ARBITRAGE, starting fast out of the blocks with a 1st, hanging tough with a 4-6, then closing out the weekend regatta with a 1st for a total of 12 points, easily winning by 8 pts over his closest rivals.
Meanwhile, in the "back at the ranch category", with Bruce's ARBITRAGE crew sailing well, it was a shoot-out for the next SIX boats to determine who would finish out the podium and the top five. And, it was a rocky-road for all that were fighting for the silver and bronze. In the end, sailing one of their better events was Keith Laby on GODOT, winning a tie-breaker over a past Rolex Big Boat Series winner DONKEY JACK sailed by Shannon Ryan, Rolf Kaiser and Steve Kleha. GODOTs 8-2-2-8 beat out DONKEY JACK's 3-6-5-6 for 20 pts. Meanwhile, 2011's Rolex Big Boat Series winner, Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK managed to finish off the series in a flourish after a very slow start, amassing a 12-7-1-2 for 22 pts for 4th place. Just out of the money was Walter Sanford's ALCHEMY, accumulating a 7-5-12-3 for 27 pts to snag 5th place. For more Aldo Allesio Regatta sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* New J/70 owner "Flackster (SA pen name)- had this to say about his first experience sailing with his family in a local regatta- "Thought I would chime in on a bit of sailing we did with a J/70 this weekend. My wife and I have bought a boat that will be delivered in time for Key West. We were lucky enough to come up with a J70 to try this past weekend in the local Mudhead regatta here in CT.Let's start by saying the reason I wanted this boat was to be able to race it BOTH loaded up with my rockstar homies AND my family at different events. My homies are all ex college sailors who are still at the top of their game. My family is a 7 year old boy, 10 year old girl, and wife of unknown age. The kids have been sailing opti's for a few years and have more experience then the wife.
For the homies I knew events like Key West and Charleston will be a blast... I mean we have fun sailing Shields, Swans, and anything in between... so as long as there are 20 plus boats... we will have a blast like we always do. Must say I am better at crushing the tent party now then I am on the water these days.
The family part I was not so sure of. So sailing the boat this weekend offered me a good look. Right off the bat I was happy with the fact I was rigged and sailing in 1 hour. For a first timer with a new boat that was pretty good. I needed to find a friend to hoist the mast, but after that all the jobs were done by the family. My 7 year old son lowered the keel with our battery drill. Have to say that is a way better system then any other lifting keel boat I have sailed. On the water the boat was stable and solid and made my family feel pretty comfortable on the sail out. While racing my daughter trimmed the jib, my son did the pole controls, and my wife grabbed the spin sheet and said "So you let this out till it curls then pull it in right?" and we were off. The kids managed to take the chute down with some early drops and for a first day out I thought the crew work was really easy for everyone. Most of the controls have lots of purchase so everyone could adjust what was needed as we talked about what and why we were doing it.The breeze was about 6-10k for two 5 mile races. My wife flew the chute all day, and in the last leg of the last race I even give her a break and flew the chute while driving... almost like a laser. She got the hang of jibing it as well... and if I turned the boat right, and controlled the main, our jibes were actually pretty good.
My kids took turns diving the boat between races and felt right at home cruising around the start line.
Things I liked... purchase everywhere and ease of controls. It will be easy for anyone to crew or drive on this boat. I'll still have to see if the winch is really needed in big breeze as we did not need it on this day. The high boom made seeing the course obvious for both the crew and driver and was really easy to tack and jibe under for everyone. Fun to be able to show the kids what was going on down to leeward and teach them a bit about how the race was developing. The boat had plenty of power upwind to feel lively in these conditions.
Things I'm not sure of... the size of the chute. I'm not sure if a bigger chute would help the boat be more fun in lighter conditions. We heated it up a ton in 10k and the wife could still fly it fine. With the winch I'm thinking some more sail area might add to the wow factor off the wind for everyone.
Things my wife did not like... legs out hiking. If she had one thing she would change it would be to not have to swing her legs in and out of the boat. She thought that was a bit hard with the low lifelines and she was a lot more comfortable sitting legs in. I have to say legs in driving with that padded lifeline was very cosy.
All in all the next photo is of 3/4's of the team AFTER the last race. The kids are already circling regatta's like the St Pete and Annapolis NOODs where they want to Road Trip to! Might be a battle between the Family and the Homies for future regatta dates! A great problem to have!
As for speed and results... if it was a 50 boat OD fleet I think we would have been about 40th and about 3 min behind the leaders. We lost to some pretty well sailed Vipers and a M24 by about 5 min, and beat an ok sailed J80 one race, they beat us the next. All in all I did not buy this boat with the idea of ever sailing PHRF again."
* Vic-Maui Race notes from Jay Sharkey- "Just got back from CRUSHING the Vic-Maui on the J/145 DOUBLE TAKE (nee Stark Raving Mad/ Bad Pak and the boat I've been taking care of) and I gotta tell you, she's one helluva of a machine. Had her surfing down those mythical Pacific swells at 20+kts for days! We even managed the 7th best elapsed time in the 44 year history of the race slower only to a handful of the sleds and a custom Perry 65. Not bad! Hope you enjoy some of the shots we took during and after the race. The crew absolutely LOVED their experience on this bad-ass ride!"
* J/70 Whidbey Island Race Week report from Bob Ross- "The J/70 crew had a great time. They won almost every start and in the light and fluky winds and were still to the top mark in the top three every race. Downwind they struggled against the more powered up boats. Except for Monday the wind never got above 8 knots. Check out the size difference between the Rocket 22 & J/70. And then there was the Dart with a favorable PHRF rating. The Dart was sailing with the crew hiked out to keep the boat flat in 7 kts TWS while the J/70 had one crew to leeward. If there was 10 kts TWS or higher the J/70 would have dominated her class. The three J/80s in the class were 4th , 7th and 9th.
* An update from the J/100 SHEK O- Skipper/owner Al Wilson from Holland, Michigan had this to say about the Queens Cup and other events he's sailed with his avidly campaigned J/100- "Our J/100 has been very successful in "offshore" races on Lake Michigan placing in the top three in section in 14 of 15 races we have entered since purchasing the boat new in 2006. The Tripp Cup, Queen's Cup, and Clipper Cup are cross lake events of 67+nm while the Anchorage Cup is a down the east side of the lake race. Also, The Tripp and Queen's are overnight events.We have found our "day sailor" responds very well to lots of weight on the rail along with a Code 0 or A2 kite. When round-ups do occasionally occur, the boat turns up with a very mild action and control is quickly regained. We normally race with a crew of seven. We simply LOVE this boat!"
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/
