J/105 Lipton Cup Preview(San Diego, CA)- This coming week the San Diego YC will be hosting the fourth of its J/105 Fall Series events, the famous Lipton Cup Trophy. Since the first regatta in 1903, the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup has been the most prestigious trophy contested in Southern California and one of the most coveted in Southern California. The 98th edition of the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup Regatta will continue the successful round-robin format introduced in 2011. Twelve yacht clubs from around Southern California along with three clubs invited from around America will be participating. The competition promises to be incredibly competitive as most clubs have selected some of their best sailors to represent them in San Diego.
On top of that, the weather forecast looks promising for breeze, in fact, it may be too good! A monster Low is spinning southeast out of the Gulf of Alaska headed across the eastern Pacific to the west coast of California. The weather system promises cloudy weather and northwesters blowing 10-15 kts Friday and 15-20 kts Saturday. The 12 boat fleet of J/105s will compete for 3 days, racing in San Diego's natural sailing amphitheater San Diego Bay surrounded by three islands- Coronado Island, Shelter Island and Harbor Island.
There are many strong teams representing the various clubs. The host club, San Diego YC, has J/120 champion Chuck Driscoll skippering their team with Star World Champion Mark Reynolds as part of the crew. San Francisco YC has recent J/105 North American Champion Chris Perkins skippering their team that include Tom & Melissa Purdy. Southern YC from New Orleans, LA has Tommie Meric and Kyle Smith leading their team. St Francis YC has Russ Silvestri skippering their team, an Olympic Medallist and champion sailor from San Francisco, along with Nicole Breault as tactician- a top women match race sailor and four-time All-American sailor at Yale. California YC has Bob "Peaches" Little skippering their team that includes Whit Batchelor and Bennie Mitchell, both champion offshore sailors. Newport Harbor YC from Newport Beach, California has Chris Raab skippering with Bill Menninger as their tactician, both National and North American champions in various classes. New York YC has Glenn Darden skippering along with Jim Brady and Stu Johnstone aboard, a formidable crew with multiple World, North American and Key West Championships to their credit. With sailing inside San Diego Bay, the racing will have the flavor of college-style tactics and strategy as the J/105s are maneuvered around the course by these top teams in remarkably shifty conditions. Plus, you can follow them LIVE on Kattack-LIVE!! For more J/105 Lipton Cup sailing information
J/111 European Circuit 2013(Paris, France)- The J/111 owner group in Europe has planned five events for 2013 including a European Championship. The main goal is to ensure that at least ten boats will be participating in every event and more than fifteen for the Le Havre race.
The 2013 European J/111 calendar includes the following events:
- SPI Ouest France – France: 28th March- 1st April 2013
- Porquerolles – France: May 2013
- Euro Championship/ Normandy Sailing Week – Le Havre: 6th to 9th June 2013
- Cowes Race Week- England: 3rd to 10th August 2013
- Breskens–The Netherlands: September 2013
For more sailing information about these events, please contact either Paul Heys at J/UK (info@keyyachting.com) or Frederick Bouvier at J/Europe (fred@jcomposites.eu).
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The first week of November dawned with the chill of the fall air streaming across both America and Europe. While Americans in the northeast of America were still contending with the fall-out of Superstorm Sandy, the rest of the world were getting on with various national and continental events. In Europe, the French were beginning to go down the path of preparing for their 2013 J/80 World Championships in Marseille, France, sailing their French J/80 Nationals in Douarnenez, France. Their J/80 compatriots across the Big Pond in Texas were sailing the J/80 North Americans on Eagle Mountain Lake in Forth Worth, TX. On the eastern seaboard, the J/70s enjoyed sailing their first official J/70 one-design regatta in the first J/70 Fall Brawl off Annapolis, Maryland in fairly blustery conditions-- two great stories from crews accompany this event info. Then, in southern California the San Diego YC was hosting their 3rd J/105 event with the famous International J/105 Masters Regatta. This event also combined one of SoCal's more unique events, the San Diego Hot Rum "pursuit" race-- an event that saw 120+ boats participating, including the J/70, J/105, J/120 amongst others (J/125, J/100, J/124, J/22, J/24, J/29)!Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Oct 6- Dec 2- Garmin Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, EnglandNov 14-18- J/24 North Americans- Jacksonville, Florida
Nov 29-Dec 2- St Petersburg Boatshow- St Petersburg, FL
Dec 8-16- Paris Boatshow- Paris, France
Jan 12-20- London Boatshow (70, 111)- London, England
Jan 19-27- Boot Dusseldorf Boatshow- Dusseldorf, Germany
Jan 21-26- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 21-26- J/70 Midwinters- Key West, FL
Jan 24-27- Strictly Sail Boatshow- Chicago, IL
Jan 24-27- San Diego SunRoad Boatshow- San Diego, CA
Jan 25-Feb 3- Seattle Boatshow- Seattle, WA
Feb 14-18- Miami Sailboat Show- Miami, FL
Feb 16-24- New England Boatshow- Boston, MA
Mar 6-10- HISWA Amsterdam Boatshow- Amsterdam, Holland
Mar 12-17- Moscow Boatshow- Moscow, Russia
Apr 11-14- Strictly Sail Pacific- Alameda, CA
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
SAVASANA Wins J/80 North Americans(Fort Worth, Texas)- Brian Keane of Beverly Yacht Club sailing SAVASANA with his team of Steve Hunt, Mike Wolfs and Ben Powers have been crowned 2012 J/80 North American Champions, edging out defending champions Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard on LE TIGRE who finished just one point behind. Terry Flynn and David Whelan aboard QUANTUM GC Racing took third. Following today’s racing, Keane said, “This is the second time we have been here, having sailed in the Ol’ Man of the Sea Regatta a couple of weeks ago. After that regatta we expected this to be simple sailing, but we had three days of unbelievably different sailing. Conditions were always changing. We were able to minimize our mistakes and repair them when we made them. Fort Worth Boat Club is a great venue for racing and it is a testament to the club members, race committee and the judges that they were able to put on such a successful event.”
Here is how it all went down for this year's event on Eagle Mountain Lake, northwest of downtown Fort Worth. For the first day of racing, the serious fun began. PRO Mark Smith promised at the Competitors’ Meeting that he would make the best possible use of time and weather conditions to maximize the quality of races and closely watch weather pattern changes for Saturday and Sunday. Five W4 races averaging 48 minutes in length were run with breeze ranging from 9-11, starting at 210 degrees and shifting to the left throughout the day. Most shifts were easily accommodated with a code flag C notification, but Race 3 went to AP within a minute of the start and the signal boat was repositioned and all marks reset, with the race starting at 1242.There was another sunny day on Saturday. Friday's leaders, the Quantum/Gulf Coast Composite team of Terry Flynn (FWBC) and David Whelan (LYC) sailing with Jake Scott and Matt Romberg had a brilliant day but found themselves in second (pending protests) when Brian Keane, Steve Hunt, Mike Wolfs and Ben Powers on Savasana came back strong Saturday. Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard, with Max Skelley and Karl Anderson climbed back up in the standings with two top ten finishes and the help of that throw-out.
Weather predictions Sunday morning weren’t stellar for the kind of racing the PRO hoped to provide, but after the frustration Saturday dealing with a front that just lolly-gagged around and refused to settle in, PRO Smith felt fortunate to have completed seven races before facing the challenges of this final day of scheduled racing. Temperatures were a bit cooler, but there was no rain and earlier threats of thundershowers for Sunday never materialized.
The competitors left the harbor for a scheduled 1000 start, with wind at 5 mph coming from the north. After a postponement of 45 minutes, support boats set up for a W4 course at 010 with 0.6 nm legs, having been able to move the signal boat back toward the south end of the lake from Saturday’s location in an effort to minimize shore effect and the bend around the point at FWBC. Wind velocity held pretty steady from 5-8, but dropped to 3 several times during the two races completed today. The course was shifted only slightly to 005 for the last race of the day and the fleet was pretty well split for all four 0.6 mile legs of the final push. PRO Smith was very complimentary of his race committee team. He reported, “Three quarters of our team was here for the Ol’ Man as a tune-up for this regatta. A racing skipper wants to make a decision on the course and have the crew execute without further direction. This is what I had with this race committee crew. We had outstanding teamwork and excellent communication, therefore great results.”In the end, while Brian Keane's SAVASANA and Glenn Darden's/ Reese Hillard's LE TIGRE took the top two, the balance of the top five were Terry Flynn's/ David Whelan's QUANTUM GC RACING winning a tie-breaker to finish third in front of Ray Wullf's NORTHERN AGGRESSION from Annapolis YC. Fifth was Les Beckwith on FKA from Lake Winnepesaukee Sailing Association in New Hampshire. Sailing photo credits- Sue Bodycomb For more J/80 North Americans sailing information
IC2 Wins J/80 French Nationals(Douarnenez, France)- The J/80 sailing teams in France are clearly gearing up for the J/80 Worlds showdown in Marseilles, France in 2013. The enormous turnout of highly competitive teams from around Europe meant the seventy-eight teams participating off Douarnenez were going to see spirited competition from the leading teams vying for the top three spots on the podium.
The first day of racing was simply "gray"- the sky, metallic gray, mingled with the sea, just lit by a light cold. But, it was not enough to discourage the crews. The wind had eased a bit before switching to 50 degrees for the first race. Emerging out of the gloom, somewhat prophetically, to win the first race was Simon Moriceau's team on INTERFACE CONCEPT 2 and, so it went for the rest of the regatta.Simon's team sailed a strong regatta to win by 5 pts with a 1-6-2-7-2-15 scoreline, quite a remarkable display of sailing for this team. Second overall was Nicolas Troussel's BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL with a record of 8-1-3-2-9-18 for 23 pts overall. Third was another top French champion, Luc Nadal, who sailed GAN'JA to a 25-8-6-6-7-4 record for 31 pts. Rounding out the top five were Quentin Ponroy's ELECTRA in fourth and in fifth was Vincent Vanderkerkhove's DUNKERQUE PLAISANCE. For more J/80 French Nationals sailing information
DIESEL Wins J/70 Fall BrawlJ/70 Teams Enjoy Blustery Fall Chesapeake Weather!
(Annapolis, MD)- The first J/70 one-design class regatta, outside of the NYYC USQS series in Newport earlier this summer, was the Eastport YC's J/70 Fall Brawl Regatta held on the Chesapeake Bay. The fleet of twenty-three boats were greeted by incredibly challenging conditions on both Saturday and Sunday over this past weekend. While many friends could not attend because of Super-storm Sandy's wrath still afflicting the northeast, some intrepid sailors from across the northeast managed to make their migration to the Chesapeake to sail in a fun and very competitive regatta.
Eastport YC did a fabulous job hosting the event in winds ranging from 15+ kts on the first day to 15-25+ kts on Sunday. The fleet was faced with tough, cold conditions with very shifty wind conditions. In the end, Tate Russack's DIESEL team was declared the J/70 Fall Brawl Champion with a record of 5-4-1-6-2-1 for a net of 13 pts. Not far off the pace was Henry Filter sailing his new WILD CHILD to a 2-1-7-4-1-dnf for a net of 15 pts. Coming from the far away Midwest was Richie Stearn's team on TYLISHAN from Chicago YC finishing third with a steady 3-3-2-7-8-3 for 18 pts. Rounding out the top five were the team of Heather Gregg-Earl and Will Welles on RASCAL with a 1-6-3-10-3-9 for 22 pts in fourth and fifth was Ron Thompson's crew with a 6-14-8-2-5-2 for 23 pts, coming on strong in the last few races.
What was amazing was to see the heart-warming camaraderie amongst the crews as they were "warming up" after the races, sharing war-stories and, in general, learning how to sail their boats better, comparing notes after the races. On that note, we received some wonderful commentary from two people sailing aboard two different boats. One was Katie Burns on RASCAL sailing with Will Welles and Heather Gregg-Earl and the other was Greg Lanese sailing with his buddies.
Katie's commentary: "A few years ago I wrote my first piece for Sailing Anarchy titled "The Suck". Well, guys ... I found The Suck again. It was here in Annapolis on Saturday, during the J/70 Fall Brawl - the first ever J/70 one design regatta. There's something about torturing my body that really warms my soul, so I have to share the story of this event. It was freezing, we were soaked, and I am so sore today that I could hardly shift the gears in my Saab this morning. But the downhills on that Saturday were worth all of that, and we got a beautiful, sunny, flat-water Sunday on the Bay as a reward for the torture. Maybe what I love the most about The Suck is when I'm not in The Suck anymore.Leading up to the regatta, I was stoked. I was still coming down from my adrenaline high after the Harvest Moon on the Peerless, so I was amped to get back out on the water and try something new. Heather Earl and Joe Bardenheier of Boston recruited me to sail with them and Will Welles of North Sails (Newport). I really didn't know what I was getting myself into - I had never properly sailed a J70 before, and one-design buoy racing is totally not my forte (someone get me back offshore, stat!), but the J70 has become all the rage here in Annapolis, so I really wanted to give it a try.
Waking up on Saturday morning and stepping out on my balcony (super gorgeous view of the Bay, if you're curious), I knew I was in for a really, really cold day. I got all of the gear I could find together, and headed down to EYC to help put the boat in the water. Within minutes of being outside, my hands were numb from the frigid cold. I could already tell I was going to be hating life for the rest of the day, but something about hating life really makes me happy, so we shoved off the docks and began mentally preparing ourselves for what was in store.
It turns out that Heather, the tiniest woman I have ever sailed with in my life, is actually a beast at the helm. The breeze was way up, more than the forecast called for, the waves were getting more and more choppy, and Heather was back there all day, driving and pumping the main. I'm sure she must have struggled, but she didn't give it away and she just kept hammering away at it. Joe trimmed jib and kite, calling puffs and waves when he could. Will, one of the best J boat racers around, called tactics in the mayhem. I pulled strings, handled the vang and jib downwind, and doused the kite, or at least, I tried to. Like I said, I'm not really that great. I am in need of some major small keelboat training, actually.
Despite the conditions on the water, we had a great first day. There's something to be said about scoring the first ever bullet in the first ever J70 one design regatta. I can't wait until I'm an 80 year old hag, just so I can sit at the yacht club and brag to the young whippersnappers that, 50 years ago, I sailed in the first ever J70 event and my team won the first race. That's my vision anyways, that this event will be like the J24 Easter Regatta, which is stupid old but really, really fun.
We followed the first race with a 6 and a 3, to come out in a 3-way tie for 2nd place. We were behind Richard Stearns (Tylishan), and tied with my fellow local sailors Henry Filter (Wild Child) and Tate Russack (Diesel). Personally, I was really feeling some competition with Diesel because my co-worker, APS storefront manager Mike Lindsley, was on board trimming the headsail. I just had to beat him!
Coming in off the water on Saturday, we were definitely licking some wounds. It's really hard to put a boat away when you've lost all grip in your fingers because you're so cold. I felt soaking wet from taking waves to the face all day and couldn't stop shivering, but I somehow managed to limp home. My roommate, longtime Annapolis sailor Gretchen Esbensen, came home to find me sitting on the couch, still in most of my gear with a bucket of fried chicken in my lap, watching a crappy Amanda Bynes movie. I remember her asking me if I was hypothermic because my face was purple. I just stared at the wall. Sometime after that, I managed to pull myself together and get in the shower. EYC had a nice set-up for us at the club, so I wanted to get back and talk shop with the other J70 racers. Plus, my team was pretty awesome and I wanted to recap the day we had and prepare for Sunday.
One thing is for sure - I wasn't playing games with the cold on Sunday. I dug up even more gear, I rocked a skiff suit under my bibs, I layered some waterproof gloves under some arctic gloves, and I wore earwarmers. Of course, all of this was a little unnecessary, as Sunday turned out to be gorgeous. The sun was out, the water was flat, and our course gave us a great view of Annapolis, the town that I have grown to love so much.
Unfortunately, the warmer conditions didn't mean the breeze was doing anything promising. It was pretty fluky, going up, going down, going left, going right ... it didn't know what it wanted to do. We went right and the breeze went left, we went left, the breeze went right. It left us wondering what we had done to piss off the wind gods, and we scored a 10 and a 3 in the first 2 races. The third race was a 5-legger, and we knew we had to gun it to move up in the scores. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get there, finding ourselves on the complete wrong side of the course during the first leg. But, after rounding the top mark at the back of the fleet, Heather started to pick up some boats one by one. Of course, I didn't help matters much. I had a really bad kite douse around the first bottom mark (they were all pretty bad, actually), and then I fell overboard right before rounding the next top mark. We were roll tacking at that point, and I got caught on the leeward side and flipped over the rail. Miraculously, I managed to hold onto the boat, so while I was getting dragged through the water, I flipped my leg back over the rail. Needless to say, I won't be a Navy Seal anytime soon since I couldn't get myself all the way back in, but Joe jumped down and strong-armed me the rest of the way. In shock, I rolled back up to the high side and started hiking again. It sucked so bad ... I was SO warm and dry up until then, until the point I decided to witch duck myself into the drink. How embarrassing. But I guess this is the way of sailboat racing, and I'm still learning the boat. Now I know what NOT to do, right?
We ended up picking up enough boats by the end of the race to score a 9, which put us in 4th overall. Tate Russack's Diesel (with my nemesis Mike on board) had a great Sunday to move into 1st. Henry Filter's Wild Child scored a bullet to put them in 2nd, and Richard Stearns' Tylishan moved into 3rd. And, my fellow Hampton, VA natives, Ron Thompson and crew, had a great Sunday also, scoring 5th overall.
All in all, it was a great first event for the J70. Everyone was out there learning the boat, learning their crews, and learning the conditions. Saturday was a prime day to learn what the J70 is really capable of. We were a little overpowered upwind until we found the groove (after racing, of course), and the downwinds were really fun. We had a decent wipeout after rounding a top mark, and we definitely weren't the only ones to lay the boat down. Going out on Saturday, Will mentioned training wheels ... there were no training wheels on Saturday, not even a chance for them. The breeze and the chop did not let up for even a second, so it was full on all day long. It was awesome!
As for the boat itself ... get your upper body strength up, ladies. This boat definitely tested me. There are a few awkward things about it that I'd like to see changed, but for the most part, it was a really great ride. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, even legs out hiking wasn't painful. It's definitely in its own class. Coming into this weekend, I have heard a lot of comparisons to other boats, but I no longer think of it that way. It's very well suited to a lot of different racers, which I think is great, and it's gaining popularity really fast. Our fleet in Annapolis is already well on its way, with boats still in production to add to the list. And there should be a good showing in Key West, which will be exciting. Imagining sailing in warm weather again is like a dream. Can't wait!"
Greg Lanese had this commentary: "My friend Ron had been going back and forth on what kind of boat to get for several years now. Vacillating between a bigger boat that can be raced (competitively) and cruised or a smaller boat that can be raced and trailered but that is still fun and easy to day sail with non racers. His background is in dinghies and windsurfing, and he is a strong Masters Laser sailor. Last spring he demo'd a J/70 in Annapolis and shortly thereafter put down a deposit for one. The winning argument, other than liking the boat, was the desire and ease to be able to travel and compete. All indications pointed to the J/70 becoming popular very quickly with potential fleets in many different places.
Fast forward to September. He picked up his new J/70 from in Annapolis and proceeded to invite me to join him and a Laser buddy of his to sail in the first J/70 one design regatta, the class inaugural event, “The Fall Brawl”. Organized by David Malkin of North Point Yacht Sales with support from North Sails Annapolis and Eastport Yacht Club, on the weekend of October 26th. Racers showed up from as far as Chicago, Boston/Newport, Vermont, North Carolina, and Virginia.
With twenty boats expected on the line, it was a well organized, well run event with the race committee doing a great job under difficult conditions both days. And on the first day, it was to be a baptism under fire. 15 to 20 knots with stronger puffs and the wind forecast to build in the afternoon. High temps in the low 50's with grey ominous overcast. Luckily we had a chance to sail the boat the evening before in similar conditions and got a feel of what it is capable of. That gave us some confidence for the racing. We had a bit of a though time finding the groove going to windward but the downwind runs were just nuts, an absolute blast. We had a couple of roundups, but once we learned how to deal with them it was not a big deal. As the afternoon progressed and the puffs became the sustained wind speed the Race Committee opted to cancel for the day with three races completed.
That evening there was a debrief and discussion session led by Kristen Berry from J World. He was out in a RIB watching us during the racing and had a great deal of valuable insights for all the racers. A query of who got rounded up resulted in a room full of hands in the air, with a quip of “if you didn't you are probably lying”. He also pointed out that his RIB tops out at about 16 knots and was having trouble keeping up with boats on the downwind legs. Like I said, it was nuts!
There was a great deal of discussion about boat handling, tuning, the future of the class and how to improve things. Some surveys/questionnaires were handed out for both owners and crew. The biggest concern I perceived from owners was that the class remain accessible to all levels of racing and not be hijacked by the upper echelons of the sport.
Sunday brought sunny skies and 7-12 knots, with 30° oscillations from the W-N. We got three races in with some very competitive sailing. The two old Laser sailors in the back did their thing and we had a good day.
My impressions, as crew, of the J70 are positive. Like most J boats she is well mannered and comfortable. She does not appear to have any bad habits or quirks. Overall it was a really fun weekend with two great days on the water. I got the impression everyone involved was psyched to be there and looking forward to more racing on the J/70. There was plenty of talk of races in FL this winter and growing of fleets in the Great Lakes, the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic in the spring." Sailing Photo Credits- Sara Proctor/ Sailfastphoto.com and Dan Phelps/ Spinsheet.com. For more J/70 Fall Sailing Results
J/70s Love Hot Rum Race #1J/105 Masters Crush Fleet, J/120 Wins Too!
(San Diego, CA)- This past weekend marked the first of the infamous three weekend series of "pursuit" races sailed off San Diego's Point Loma. An annual fall right of passage in the southernmost part of California, over 120 boats participated in near picture perfect conditions with winds blowing from the NNW at 10-15 kts. As the little, slower rating boats took off in sunny, breezy conditions on a long starboard tack reach out the Pt Loma shipping channel on a SW course to the first mark under spinnakers, you could practically hear the J/Teams smacking their chops knowing the first two legs would be fast spinnaker reaches before the long beat home to Pt Loma with a quick port tack reach home to the finish line just off Shelter Island.
Leading the entire fleet home were the J/105s, most of whom were participating in the J/105 Masters Regatta. First boat home sailing an amazing race was Bruce Munro's team from St Francis YC, however, as they finished they discovered they were OCS'd by the RC. As a result, the first official finisher was John Andron's team, also from StFYC; they were followed by the famous yacht designer Ron Holland from Ireland in 2nd; local hero, World Star champion and SDYC benefactor Malin Burnham finished in 3rd; fourth was yet another famous sailmaker, World Soling Champion, Hans Fogh from Denmark and Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and in 6th was local champion Rick Goebel on SANITY.Class 2 was won by John Laun's J/120 CAPER with fellow J/120 sailor Chuck Nichols sailing his famous CC RIDER in 5th. Peter Zarcades J/120 MELTEMI ended up 9th.
Class 4 saw the debut of the J/70s. And, what a debut it was with the group of four J/70s having a very close start and taking off in the first giant puff like a Navy F-18 getting shot off the catapult on an aircraft carrier! Taking off with foam hissing in their wake, the J/70s quickly overhauled all their competitors in front of them. In the end, the J/70s took 1st and 3rd. Leading them home was J/70 ULLMAN SAILS in 1st with the J/70 QUANTUM SAILS team taking 3rd. The J/70 NORTH SAILS team was 2nd across the line but suffered a similar fate as their J/105 counterparts (the Munro team) by having to take an OCS. For more Hot Rum Series sailing information
Case Wins J/105 Masters Regatta(San Diego, CA)- The International Masters Regatta was established in 1975 by St. Francis Yacht Club Member, Don Trask. For years, the worldʼs greatest master sailors such as Elvstrom, Buchan, Burnham, Tillman, Trask, Irish, Harken, North, Holland, Hinman and Dickson have competed in this prestigious international sailing event on the San Francisco Bay. After a three year hiatus, this year's event has moved down to the sunny, friendly climate of San Diego, with the San Diego YC hosting the event for the first time in 2012.
The regatta, sailed in J/105 sailboats, included buoy-racing inside the beautiful bay alongside San Diegoʼs gorgeous waterfront. On Saturday, the regatta incorporated San Diegoʼs most beloved race, the Hot Rum, where the master sailors mixed it up with 100+ other boats. The weather prognosticators could not have been more accurate for the three-day weekend. Truly "chamber of commerce" conditions were forecast and the weather Gods delivered, Neptune must've been happy! Gorgeous sky-blue days with NNW winds from 8-15 kts all three days made for some great racing inside San Diego Bay, as well as for the famous Hot Rum Race for the Masters 105 sailors.
After the first day of racing on Friday, the regatta leader was Bruce Munro from San Francisco with a 3-2-1-4 for a five pt lead over the fleet. The make-or-break race for many of the teams was the fifth race counter, the Hot Rum Race on Saturday. Making their bid for the top five was Jon Andron's team from San Francisco, winning the Hot Rum Race with Ireland's Ron Holland finishing 2nd and San Diego's own Malin Burnham snagging 3rd. On the last day of racing with five teams within five points of eachother, the top of the podium was up for grabs. Starting out of the blocks fast on Sunday was Bruce Munro's team, winning the first race with an emphatic 500 yard lead. However, after starting fast, the Munro team saw the wheels fall-off the shopping trolley with consecutive 7-7s to finish 2nd overall. Sailing a very consistent series on the last day to win was Dennis & Sharon Case with a 3-4-4 to win by just 3 pts. Third was one of Denmark's (and later Toronto's) more famous citizen sailors, Hans Fogh who finished the series with an exclamation point- first in the last race. Fourth was Jon Andron and fifth was local San Diego sailor Chuck Nichols. The Master Regatta was ably handled by San Diego YC's band of volunteers and excellent RC/PRO management. Kudos to Jeff & Karen Brown and team at JK3 Yachting (pictured above with sponsored spinnaker) for their extraordinary efforts to support this wonderful event along with their sponsors, friends and hosts at San Diego YC. Several sailors were overheard asking whether they could be included for the 2013 edition already! It was clear all the crews aboard the ten boats had a wonderful time sailing amongst one another and wished they could sail again next year! Sailing Photo Credts- Bob Grieser/ Outside Images. For more J/105 International Masters Regatta
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* HURRICANE SANDY UPDATE- Our hearts, wishes and thoughts continue to go out to our friends in the J/Sailing community in Long Island Sound, Hudson River and, in particular, Barnegat Bay inside the demolished spit of land known as Long Beach Island off New Jersey.The report from Manhattan YC's Mike Fortenbaugh was that "we were lucky, very lucky, and feel fortunate that all our planning to safeguard our fleet of J/24s and J/105s in the harbor went well." Their J/24 "story" seemed to be prophetic as all video images on American TV broadcast across all news agencies showed J/24s on the Hudson bobbing easily across the monster chop.
From our friends in the Hudson River Community Sailing, they, too, reported an encouraging tale of survival of all their J/24s other than their clubhouse along the piers. HRCS had this to say, "Thanks for the encouragement and support so many of you have shown HRCS since the storm. We feel fortunate. Our thoughts are with those whose homes and lives have been devastated.
Our Status:
- Our boats rode out the wind, rain, and surge successfully. Staff and members did a great job preparing.
- Our boat house did not fare as well. High storage spared some computers and electronics. The remaining contents of our classroom, workshop, and office were destroyed as 6' of water filled the boathouse and floated and tumbled its contents. The boat house is closed, and we do not have a timeline for its use.
- This past Monday, a week after Sandy, we resumed our after school program using one of our partner high schools as our meeting site. We are making contingency plans should a prolonged absence from the boathouse be necessary.
- We will resume sailing operations (without boathouse) this upcoming weekend November 8th for our youth, members, and the public!
How You Can Help - Donate equipment or supplies:
- Educational materials: laptop computers, calculators, stopwatches, one-subject notebooks, pens/pencils, charts, nautical books (fiction/non-fiction)
- Office and classroom: folding chairs and tables, business telephone, small refrigerator, microwave, electric heaters, fans
- Tools: drills, sanders, grinders, saws, hammers, tape measures
Please contact HRSC at email- info@hudsonsailing.org for any contributions.
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/
