J/70s @ Royal Yacht Squadron Bicentenary(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Founded in 1815 the Royal Yacht Squadron will mark its 200 years with an invitational regatta from the 25th to 31st July 2015 at its historic home in Cowes with racing on the Solent and a Round Island Race on Wednesday, July 29th (the famous 60nm “America’s Cup” course around the Isle of Wight). The RYS has invited 25 clubs from 19 countries to send crews to the event with the option of taking part in a one-design regatta with supplied boats or participating in IRC Division. Additionally, two-on-two team racing will take place in J/70s for sailors 30 years old or younger (teams of 4 each).
The 2015 Transatlantic Race, organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron, the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Storm Trysail Club, is expected to attract a good number of entries who will use the race from Newport, RI as a feeder event to the Solent.
A very high level of interest has already been shown in the event. A number of J-Class yachts have indicated their interest in taking part in the Bicentenary Regatta. In addition, several J/Boat teams are planning to participate.
The RYS Bicentenary Regatta will be held two weeks before the annual Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week regatta and the Rolex Fastnet Race. "The invited clubs, all of whom have enjoyed special relationships with the Squadron over the years, have already shown extremely positive interest in the event," comments Rear Commodore David Aisher (owner of the J/109 YEOMAN XXI). "With only 200 places available for visiting yachts we expect a strong entry well in advance of the regatta."As part of accommodating their J/70s on the Solent, where dock space and dry-sail space is at a premium, the Solent fleet has carved out an incredibly clever way of docking their boats ready to launch in 30 seconds! Take a look at this photo of the DrySail System by VersaDock- it shows 10 J/70s at the Hamble Point Marina ready-to-race right off floats. As a result, perfectly clean bottoms and no bottom paint to maintain! Launching a J/70 is as easy as launching a jet-ski! For more information on the DrySail System, check it out here (http://www.versadock.com/drysail.htm). Watch the “launch/ retrieve” video of a J/70 getting ready to go sailing! For more Royal Yacht Squadron Bicentenary Regatta sailing information
J/24 South Americans Preview(La Punta, Peru)- With the advent of spring sailing “down under”, the various J/24 fleets in South America and Australia are beginning to get the ball rolling in their various summer season championships as well as major events.
In La Punta, Peru, the J/24s have just started their South American Championships sailing on the Pacific Ocean along the spectacular coastline of this mountainous country. The fleet so far has been blessed with good sailing conditions for the highly competitive fleet.
While the betting is that Mauricio Santa Cruz on BRUSCHETTA may be able to repeat as South American Champion, behind him there is no question many are expecting to challenge them enough to dethrone them for 2014! Leading that charge should be several good local teams, like Luis Olcese’s SCARAMOUCH, Javier Arribas’ WAYRA, Matias Seguel’s GURU, Lucas Peschiera’s TIAMAT and Vernon Robert’s JOYTIA. There is a lot of racing planned for the fleet, with the regatta starting on November 8th and finishing one week later on November 15th. For Facebook photos & commentary on the J/24 South Americans For more J/24 South American Championship sailing information
J/70 “Storms” Mirabaud Photo Competition(Paris, France)- For those passionate J/70 sailors, J/Crew and J/Lovers around the world, here’s a wonderful chance to continue to grow the momentum of not just the J/70, but “J” sailing worldwide with family and friends.
Sharon Green of Ultimate Sailing took this awesome photo of J/70s starting off Key West on the first day of racing at the J/70 Midwinters, held in conjunction with Key West Race Week 2014. As she describes, “it was like a battalion of white sails raking the coal-black squall behind the fleet, symbolizing how the J/70 has literally taken the sailing world ‘by storm’ since its introduction in 2012.”As the only J/Boat represented in the “Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image” contest, the “J/70 Storm” photo needs your VOTE! Please click on this link here to vote now.
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The changing of the sailing seasons from the fall to winter in the northern parts to the spring into summer in the southern parts always makes for an amusing transition. Throw in phenomena like the “polar vortex” off the Arctic Circle and “El Nino” down south off Chile/ Peru and you can bet on the fact that weather patterns around the world will be unusual.Nevertheless, ignoring all prognostications of good or bad weather were our friends in the far, far eastern Caribbean, enjoying the first of their many fun-loving winter regattas. The Triskell Cup was just hosted off Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe, West Indies with an excellent J/111 team participating.
Off to the northwest of them, we get an update on the J/88 experience winning the Rum Runner Race, the 75nm sprint from Newport Beach, CA to San Diego, CA. Close by, the first of the San Diego YC Hot Rum Series Reports comes through with some interesting insights offered up by the race-tracking software- RaceQs.com.
Then, we also get a “total immersion” perspective on what it’s like to sail in the backwoods of Bill Gates’ Microsoft Empire in the Pacific Northwest; a.k.a. the Round County Race that also sees some of Mr Bill’s employees/ shareholders having some fun in sun, wind, rain, wind, no wind and awesome parties!
Flipping across the planet to the Mediterranean, we find a fleet of J/80s sailing in the first-time AnyWayAnyDay Cup Championship off Cyprus with a broad cast of characters from Russia’s yachting elite on-board the various teams.
Finally, even further east, we find a J/122E just got launched off Bombay, India, to the great joy of not only its owner but to the crowds watching her sail in her first race just recently.
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 4- Nov 30- Garmin Hamble Winter Series- Hamble, EnglandOct 24- Mar 8- Monaco J/70 Winter Series- Monte Carlo, Monaco
Nov 10-16- J/24 South American Championship- La Punta, Chile
Nov 16- Around Island Race- Hong Kong, China
Nov 19-22- J/105 International Invitational- Hamilton, Bermuda
Nov 22- Hot Rum Series #2- San Diego, CA
Dec 4-7- J/22 Jamaica Jammin’ Regatta- Montego Bay, Jamaica
Dec 6- Hot Rum Series #3- San Diego, CA
Dec 13- Feb 7- Quantum J/70 Winter Series- Davis Island, FL
Jan 18-23- Quantum Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
Mar 4-7- Bacardi Miami Sailing Week- Miami, FL
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
J/88 BLUE FLASH Report“It Was Love @ First Sight!”
(San Diego, CA)- As we covered in last week’s news, the J/88 is beginning to realize its enormous potential in offshore races in Southern California. Having already won the Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race in its class, new owner Scott Grealish just took his J/88 BLUE FLASH to both class and overall honors in the Rum Runner Race- a 75m dash down the SoCal coastline from Newport Harbor to San Diego. Here’s Scott’s report (download PDF version here- http://www.jboats.com/images/stories/pdf/J88_BlueFlash_Report.pdf):
“Some days on the water are better than others, and racing my newly bought J/88 offshore in the Rum Runner Race from Newport Beach to San Diego was supposed to be one of the good days. But it wasn’t just our first race, it was also the first time any of the crew had sailed the boat, and only my third day aboard, so anticipation was tempered by the reality that we had no idea how the day would really unfold.
All week the forecast was amazingly consistent; a cold front would move onshore overnight before the start and bring strong 25-30 knot Northwest breeze that would last all day with seas “steep NW”, at least until the remaining SW wind waves stopped mixing with the predominant NW swell.
Interesting. At 29’ and 5000 pounds, we were certainly the smallest boat in the race, and not likely to have much company out there if things got wild.
But it was my 50th birthday weekend, and luck was going to be on our side. The forecast moderated, and by race morning, Commander’s Weather was calling for mid teens, gusting low 20’s. The Beach Boys “Surfin’ USA” started running through my head. And when we woke up gazing over the beach in Newport, the breeze was on, the waves were running, and most important for our Portland based crew, it wasn’t raining and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds. There was even a rainbow offshore. Which should have been a clue. But the shower that passed only made us smile at the Socal “rain”; the skies had been pouring for two straight weeks in Portland and we were fully acclimated. Besides, my buddy Phil from West Coast Sailing in Portland was doing a product demo of the new Zhik foul weather gear, and he was shedding water like a duck!
We weren’t smiling at the start, however, because the cloud was followed by sun and exactly zero wind. As we bobbed across the line in the first start, it wasn’t too clear whether to set a kite or a jib, or maybe just fire up the engine and grab lunch back onshore. It was starting to look like a beautiful, sunny, windless day off Newport Beach, and I started mentally writing a “feedback” email to the good folks at Commanders Weather; “Dear Sirs, Please elaborate on the value of 20 knot forecasts on windless days....”
But I have finally learned a little patience at 50, and Commander’s turned out to be spot on as the day unfolded. First a little breeze line came in from the NW, and by this time the big boats had started and were already beginning to creep over us. The OMRA 60 trimaran “Mighty Merloe” didn’t creep, she whooshed past in her own apparent wind, in her own private race, quickly leaving the fleet behind. Onboard our J/88, we set the Code Zero for the first time and got our first pleasant surprise of the day; we were hanging in there with the Flying Tigers, the J/124, and quite a few other big boats. The first “leg” was a 14 mile fetch, and the breeze kept building into the 10-12 knot range. We went between our J1 and the Zero, and felt happy to have our crack bowman David Aymar from Socal onboard. Dave has worked the bow on “Pyewacket” (Andrews 70) and “Bud” (TP52), and despite the small platform, he felt at home on the J/88. We were pretty happy to round just behind one of the Tigers, who owed us quite a bit of time (we rated 75 random leg course and they were 48). The other Tiger was already around and we would never see them again; they went on to take a well sailed second place overall.Turning the corner, we set the big A2 PHRF kite figuring that the breeze would moderate and we’d need all the help we could get just to get close to home before it died completely at sunset. We also figured that was the last we’d see of the Tiger and the J/124. We were wrong on both counts. We quickly found out that the J/88 likes going downhill in 14-18 knots, and while the seas were a little jumbled, we found a groove and started seeing boat speeds of 12-14. We quickly caught the Beneteau 40 ahead, while we seemed to be hanging with the Tiger and J/124. But we had great rudder control even with our big A2 and the waves a bit more on our beam than ideal; we could stay up on the rhumb line while they fell off to leeward.
We were starting to believe the forecast at this point, so our goal was rhumb line or better yet further right, in order to stay out in pressure as long as possible before it started fading.
But then an interesting thing happened; instead of fading, the pressure came up to the 18-23 range and suddenly we were launched. Boat speeds went to solid sustained 14-16’s and I got my birthday present with the “record of the day” at 17.8! We put the Tiger and J/124 on the horizon and started catching some pretty big boats like the Swan 651 and the Santa Cruz 50. The J/88 was proving to be a weapon in those conditions with a really forgiving groove, excellent buoyancy, and to our surprise, a dry ride. Every once in awhile we’d catch a wave sideways and round a bit, but we never actually totally wiped out; she would be off again in just a few seconds. Kudos to my friend Kerry Poe (North Sails Oregon) who traded driving with me. Kerry was an Olympic level 470 skipper in the 90’s, but I most definitely have a non-sailing day job, so I’m happy to report the J/88 certainly doesn’t require “pro” level skills to be fast.
After years of watching J/125’s surfing on YouTube while heading to Cabo or Hawaii (typically on a dark rainy day in Portland’s bleak mid- winter), I found it almost surreal to be ticking off miles for hours at those speeds in a 29’ boat. Dr Laura had named the boat “Crazy 88”, a reference to a Quentin Tarantino film, but I was thinking “Easy 88”. It was fast, but no drama. We had already re-named the boat “Blue Flash”, a reference to the seldom seen blue version of the “Green Flash” (the boat is painted blue). As the sun set, we got neither green nor blue flash, but I did get another birthday present. The breeze kept blowing!
No matter how much preparation (Thank You Kenyon at JK3 and David and Will at SD Boatworks!), teamwork, and expertise you bring to this sort of sailing, there is no accounting for good luck. We knew full well that with the STP65 and TP 52 catching us in the first minutes of drifting off the start, and then disappearing for good at the turn, we would need luck to correct out in the end. As those boats finish before sunset, the typical pattern would catch us still out there in the dying breeze watching victory fading away with the light. But it was our lucky day and our conditions, and as we gybed into the last mark, we still had 12-14 knots of NW breeze and didn’t even need the Zero to fetch the last 2 miles to the finish. The gun was sweet confirmation of victory in class, but it wasn’t until later that night that we found ourselves correcting out over the Tigers, the J/125, TP52, and Rogers 46. At least on this day, she was the “little blue boat that could”.
How cool would it be to do an even longer race in the J/88 with (hopefully) similar conditions (CABO!)? Well, you’d have to be crazy to do it in such a small boat. But then again, maybe Dr Laura had the right name for this boat in the first place?”
Here are some of Scott’s impressions sailing the J/88:Looks good, feels better!
I’ve been fortunate over the years to have owned a J/80, J/105, J/70 and now the J/88 and I’ve driven several other J/Boats including the J/111 in some breeze. I’ve always appreciated reading about the sailing impressions of others, so hopefully mine will help those considering their options. I find the J/88 so far to be an extremely well done mix of the J/70 and the J/111. The helm is great, and in flat water she feels light like a J/70, yet offshore it felt like you had the control of a J/105 (a really solid boat in a big breeze).
It’s easy to make a lower drag rudder than the one on the J/88, and I’m sure we could debate certain aspects of the design (it could be smaller, higher aspect, better tip efficiency etc.); but while others wiped out around us trying to go higher, we were able to point ourselves where we wanted to be and stay in control. I’m a big fan of rudder control in small boats without dedicated grinders etc, where the driver spends a lot of time steering to the waves and the kite isn’t always constantly trimmed (or properly trimmed!).
One-Design, Multi-Purpose
I think the J/88 benefits from the sum of many incremental changes in yacht design over the past 20 years: the hull is lighter and stiffer, the sections are finer forward and flatter aft. The rig is taller with a higher aspect ratio that is more efficient and better in light air. The sprit is longer which moves the kite forward helping to drive the boat and reducing interference with the main. The keel is more efficient with better lift and lower drag (and, importantly, it is encapsulated in molded glass so doesn’t require fairing).
We had hoped she would be stiffer than the J/70 and J/80, to allow easy shorthanded family sailing. And as a matter of fact, she does feel like a much bigger boat, again much closer to a J/105 or J/111 in breeze and waves. The interior is really similar the J/105, and for day racing it works well with room for sails, stuff, and people. Compared to our J/80 and J/70 experience, the J/88 will be much better for family outings!! The inboard engine is a “game changer”, as is the “head” (with privacy curtain). You can go below and sit or sleep comfortably. Who cares on a “race boat”? I do. My wife and daughter go sailing to be with my son (a dedicated racer) and I, not to be in “race mode”; we want them happy! Yet, after 21 years, my wife is shrewd enough to know that if the boys are sailing fast in a fun boat, the whole day is going to be a winner.
The purchase price is a little high for this size boat, and there are many new and used boat options (including many older J/Boats) that will give more boat for the money. But, my experience has been that it’s the “round trip costs” that really count in the end, and resale on J/Boats is always strong precisely because they do keep making incremental and meaningful improvements in their designs that keeps driving greater demand. I wish I could buy one of their bigger boats in some ways, but our plan has been “buy the one we can afford and just go sailing”. Lot’s of fun so far!!” Here’s Scott’s PDF download version of the story. For more J/88 family speedster sailing information
“LIVE” Hot Rum Report(San Diego, CA)- What fun! You can watch a “live” pursuit race play out in real-time on the Internet courtesy of San Diego YC and the sailing teams that are participating in the famous SDYC Hot Rum Series— watch how they all did on Saturday November 8th here- http://raceqs.com/regattas/hot-rum-series.
There were dozens of J/sailors participating in the fleet of 134 boats, with 32 J/Teams (25% of the fleet!), all hoping to be the first boat to cross the finish line in this epic pursuit race format. You never know how these things turn-out, but more than half the fun is participating and watching many of your sailing colleagues pass by (one way or another!).
How did it all shake out for the first race of the series? Overall, Chuck Nichols’ J/120 CC RIDER took a 1st in class and 5th overall sailing an amazing race (check out their track on RaceQs.com to see how they did it). And, Karl Pomeroy’s J/70 ZERO TO 60 took 1st in class and 21st overall. The winner boat-for-boat was an old Ericson 35 and 2nd was an STP 65! As always, fun and games in San Diego “pursuit-style” racing in the Hot Rum Series.
On a class basis, the two J/125s in Class 1 were 6th and 7th, respectively, Jim Madden’s STARK RAVING MAD IV and Viggo Torbensen’s TIMESHAVER. In Class 2, behind Nichols’ CC RIDER, classmate Mike Hatch on J-ALMIGHTY took 5th and Rudolph Hasl’s J/120 HASL FREE took 7th and the Brockmann/ Laun combo on the J/120 CAPER were 9th and Peter Zarcades on the J/120 MELTEMI was 10th. A great showing overall for the J/120 fleet.
Class 3 was, as usual, a hound dog’s collection of stuff from across the IOR, IMS, PHRF spectrum of a century or so. While taking 4 of the top 10, 35 ft class J’s were in the middle, with Dennis Case’s J/105 WINGS in 5th, with Ed Sanford’s J/105 CREATIVE in 6th, Herb Zoehrer’s J/35 Z-Force in 7th and Dag Fish’s J/105 VIGGEN in 8th.
Behind Pomeroy’s ZERO TO 60 in first for Class 4, Dave Vieregg’s J/70 SOGGY DOLLAR took a well-deserved 2nd in class, followed by Dave Cheresh’s J/70 FLARE at 7th in class.
Check back again soon to see how the fleet does “live” on RaceQs.com in their next Hot Rum Series #2 race on November 22nd! Watch the action in real-time here. For more SDYC Hot Rum Series sailing information
J/122E Bombay Race Winner!(Bombay, India)- Recently, a brand-new J/122E was delivered to her owners in Bombay, India. That it was an enormous undertaking to simply get the boat launched and sailing would be worthy of “Sisyphian” feats of wonder and tall tales that would be repeated in many local saloons along the commercial waterfront of Bombay. The combination of Sunil Lobo of J/India and Jim Johnstone of J/Boats Asia had to work wonders with the local Indians to offload, rig and get the boat sailing; then spend considerable time getting her up to speed. Here is the report from Jim J on the Far Side of the Pacific:
“Nandan (the new J/122E owner) called to say they were excited about winning their first race on their J/122E in Bombay. The other boats were using spinnakers and his J/122 doesn’t even have one yet! He said the next closest boat was about a mile behind him. The breeze was about 17 knots and he was working with the targets, making sure they didn't let the boat go faster then 7.6 kts upwind. He said that he was noticeably higher then everyone else racing and was completely thrilled, especially against a well-sailed local Nautor Swan 57. This was quite a remarkable feat considering how it all came together in the first place. After spending several days in the commercial port of Bombay, we were in a rush to get the boat off the docks and over to Gateway Harbor in downtown Bombay. Facilities in Bombay are difficult, but there are options. As you can see in this photo here, this might have been the most expensive way of handling the boat- easily the largest crane that has ever launched a J/Boat?? If you would believe it, this crane was also used for the mast installation! You’d be amazed at how precise and accurate these crane operators are from such a high vantage point!
Overall, Nandan is very happy with the boat. He loves buzzing his friends and sailing past them with a few knots of additional boat speed. Since we have been doing that for the past weeks along with practicing on the boat, the activity on the J/122E has been creating a bit of a stir around the club. As a bit of a backgrounder, he owned a MacGregor 26, then a Hanse 33, and now the J/122E. He could not be happier. The best way of explaining the experience with the J/122E in India is the smiles you see on the guy driving, Nandan and Sunil are always there!! They loved the boat. The ease of sailing it. The power it offered and the comfort with bringing out friends to show of the new boat.
The current rig tune is set-up for about 20 knots of wind. Average daily wind conditions in the area are between 12-17 kts in the afternoon. Needless to say, the results speak for themselves. Hopefully, Nandan and crew enjoy more opportunities to win silverware in the future!”
J/92 HIJINKS Dominates Round The County!(Seattle, Washington)- Here’s the report from Pacific Northwest offshore racing guru, Ben Braden. “What an event - it’s taken days to digest everything from the race. A four day event – 30 to 50 mile deliveries for 2 days of racing, 30 miles each day for only 60 miles total and then another 30 to 50 mile delivery home in some of the most beautiful waters this country has to offer, and doing it in November when most East Coast boats above 39 degrees North are on blocks for the winter.
“Round The County,” hosted by Orcas Island Yacht Club, has become a fixture here in the PNW and is easily one of the premier point-to-point rally races that North America has to offer. Known for its majestic views of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, Mt. Baker fixed to the east and the rugged terrain of the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands, Round the County, in her 27th year, has become a “happening” – an entity of her own – and she keeps bringing out the numbers in an era when participation has declined all across the board. They cap the entries at 100 boats and reach it a month before race day!
Is it the often frigid temperatures? The early morning, well before sunrise, dock calls? Is it the spectacular currents or the unique geographical wind holes and shifts? What is it that brings out the Olympic class sailors and Professionals (many sailing their personal yachts), the Local Talent, and even the 6 old guys at the yacht club bar that are always complaining against everything that happens? People fly in from California and the midwest, boats come together from Canada and the United States all to spend countless hours and dollars racing just 30 miles a day in the cold, wet, snowy, rainy, windy, drifty, sometimes sunny, current riddled waters of the San Juan Islands. It’s just the type of racing sailors love to do and sometimes things just make sense, right?
And what really made sense was the Race Committee postponing the start Saturday morning at Lydia Shoals until enough wind came up that they could “hit a home-run” (their words) and get the first starters off of the line far enough that the next start had a clear lane. It then became a game of linking the puffs to work your way south in Rosario Strait. One minute you looked like the hero as you linked from one lifting puff to the next and even found a little escalator ride in some good current and the next you were flushed out the back watching the fleet sail by and around the corner out of sight.The first boats to reach Davidson rock had the tough choice of heading for the halfway point along the bottom of Lopez or sailing off over the horizon offshore. One of the leaders headed offshore and it quickly, very quickly, became apparent that offshore was the way to go. It didn’t take much more time before the TP52’s, having started last, worked their way past Davidson rock and Iceberg point with the big SC70’s hot on their heels. The wind began to pick up and things looked great as the leaders crossed the bottom of Lopez, passed the Cattle Pass lighthouse and began turning up towards the entrance to Haro Strait. But, it didn’t last long and as the wind crapped out the currents became the real battle for the fleet.
A large group didn’t make it past Davidson Rock into the Straits of Juan De Fuca and of the boats that did make it out and past the halfway finish off Iceberg Point only two boats eventually made it across the full course finish line at Roche Harbor; leaving everyone else motoring in across the line to the evening festivities graciously hosted by the Roche Harbor Resort. Heated dock tent, BBQ’s and libations meet the sailors every year now for the biggest and best dock party the month of November has to offer.
Sunday arrived with a stellar forecast of 20 to 30 knots, clouds, a bit of rain and a bit of sun and by 8:30am all 100 boats were pacing back and forth waiting for their turn at the downwind start and their charge to the first corner at Turn Point Lighthouse and into the predicted breeze. The J/105 LAST TANGO led the way around the corner with the J/92 HIJINKS hot on their tail and it wasn’t long before Boundary Pass looked like a 70’s shag carpet with all those colorful spinnakers pulling hard on port pole, but without the forecast big breeze. Enough to keep the boats moving well but not the small craft advisory predicted by the forecasters. Canada to the left, America to the right and the fleet split between the middle and the left with each choice working for some and not working for others as the finicky breeze rolled through from the Northwest. The old Baltic warhorse Pangaea bulldozed her way down the middle of Boundary Pass while a large portion of the fleet worked the Canadian shoreline until shooting down towards Patos Island in the current heading south out of the Straits of Georgia. And man was the current running hard at Patos! The boats that worked too low along Boundary Pass found themselves slipping to leeward at over 30 degrees while they strapped their chutes in and flogged their way up and around the point while giving up every gain they had made by sailing the shorter course.
As the majority of the fleet turned their bows South towards the finish near Lydia Shoals, the big fast IRC boats and Multi-hulls had already found the finish line and were motoring off to their corners to drop off their crews. Moves could still be made in the drag race south and often boats would jibe out away from the group on what looked like a horrible VMG angle and then jibe back and smoke by everyone as they found their own personal current or puff. But, no matter what year it is, no matter what direction the race goes (it switches every year) it always comes down to the decision on going inside or outside the Peapods to make or break someone’s race.
The large majority of the boats chose the low road towards Cypress Island and around the Peapods but then one boat turned hard right, then another, then the puffs began rolling down the hills, one surprisingly creating a small water spout, and the next thing you saw was the inside boats rounding up in the puffs and then dropping their bows down and charging inside the rocks towards the finish. The closer to Obstruction Island they got the better the wind became and soon their spinnakers were out again and the inside boats slid across the line passing many of the outside boats utilizing the shorter inside line.Finally, finally, the forecast breeze began to roll in over the hills and as the finishers turned their bows towards their respective ports the winds piped up into the 25-30 kts range. The sun was still out, the views were still stellar, the winds had picked up and the smiles stretched from bow to stern on every boat out there. Thank you, once again, OIYC for putting on a crazy fun event.” Thanks to Senor Braden for the report.
Amongst the J/Teams, the big honors go to Ellis’s J/92 HIJINKS, not only grabbing 2nd PHRF Overall but also winning their PHRF Division 4. In their same division, the Bottles’ family J/30 CELEBRATION took 4th.
As they have countless times before, the PHRF Division 1 saw Brunius & Wareham’s J/120 TIME BANDIT sail remarkably consistently to take 3rd in their division, yet another podium finish for this illustrious team.
For the IRC 2 PNW Championships, it was John McPhail’s majestic blue J/160 JAM taking 2nd place while Tom Huseby’s J/145 DOUBLE TAKE sailed fast to take the 3rd spot on the podium! Sailing photo credits- Sean Trew/ Facebook Follow the action on Facebook/ Round The County page For more Round The County sailing information
JAVASCRIPT Wins J/80 ANYWAYANYDAY Cup(Limassol, Cyprus)- For the first time, the AnyWayAnyDay Cup was held in Cyprus on 10 newly built J/80 yachts from 30th October to 4th of November. With the support of the Russian Sailing Federation, the Cup attracted many famous Russian yachtsmen such as Igor Lisovenko (a two-time Russian Olympian), Vladimir Silkin (President of the Russian Yachting Federation) and Russian Olympic Gold Medallist at the Sydney Olympic Games- Evgeniy Braslavec.
The format for the regatta was mixed teams, in which professional yachtsmen shared their experiences with novices. The goal of the event was to show that every person can start sailing despite of their age and abilities!
The event was blessed with good weather conditions for most of the four-day regatta. Strong and steady winds up to 20 knots provided a really exciting start of races on the first day. It was a sunny and warm afternoon that made possible the celebration of the opening ceremony outside on the roof of the restaurant at the newly built Limassol Marina. There was lots of sun and shifty 15 kts winds on the second day, making for a challenging day of racing for most teams.During the third regatta day, races were cancelled due to lack of the wind (1-2 knots) and a rainy morning. As a result, all yachtsmen went for a trip to see sights around the island – the birthplace of the famous Greek goddess Aphrodite and the beautiful, picturesque mountains of Cyprus!
For the final day of the regatta, everyone was treated to magnificent weather! Lots of sunshine, moderate winds up to 9 knots made the final races both memorable and remarkable for some teams!
After all the festivities and fun-and-games, the racing was incredibly close for the top four in the regatta between JAVASCRIPT, JOKER, JIBBER and JAMESON. Only six points separated the teams after nine races and, in fact, going into the last race only first place was secure, but the balance of the podium hung in the balance. In the end, it was the Olympic champion Evgenii Braslavec (skipper) on JAVASCRIPT that took the lead on the first day and won the first Anywayanyday Cup J/80 in Cyprus! Congratulations to Evgenii and crew of Timohov Sergey, Bolotnikov Vladimir, Petuhov Alexei, Myasnikov Sergey!
Not to be outdone, giving Braslavec a run-for-the-money on JOKER was the 2nd place team of Vladimir Silkin (skipper) - the President of the Russian Yachting Federation! Our congrats to “Vlad” and his team of Besputin Konstantin, Zaharov Petr, Sergeev Anton, Silkin Kirill!Literally, just meters away from the 2nd place at the finish line and, having to settle for 3rd place, was the JIBBER team of Kirill Podolsky (skipper)! Congrats to Kirill and crew of Zelensky Vladimir, Lisovenko Igor (a two-time Olympic sailor), and Bozhko Alexandr!
The balance of the top five were in 4th place JAMESON (Alexander Generalov-skipper- with Sergey Shvecov, Nikolay Kovalenko) and in 5th place JAMES BOND (Anatolii Karachensky-skipper with Alexey Krilov, Vitalii Zubkov and Maxim Kuzmin).
There was a women team from the famous Russian newspaper “Vedomosti” - Elena Nikitina, Arina Chindina, Olga Oreshnikova, Anna Semenyk (seen here) with one “token” male aboard- Maxim Duunov.
The Closing Ceremony took place in the “Yacht Club” Restaurant in Limassol Marina where the Mayor of Limassol, Andreas Christou, came to congratulate the sailors of the J/80 Anywayanyday Cup Regatta.
“Cyprus is a perfect place for sailing– it is warm, most of the time steady winds, sunny, tasty and with great hospitality! Also, I enjoyed sailing the chartered J/80 yachts– all new, all the same, under new sails,” says Anton Sergeev – a sailor on the JOKER Team that took 2nd place!
Michael Nicholas, the director of SailFirst Sailing Club and the host club of the event in Cyprus, said “A big thank you for all organizers of the regatta and sailors. We are proud to be a host club and partner for the J/80 Anywayanyday Cup Regatta”! Nicholas also thanked other partners, such as “Communications sponsors” LENTA.RU; Russian newspaper “VEDOMOSTI”; the “Educational sponsor” MOSCOW BUSINESS SCHOOL; and the main sponsor– AnyWayAnyDay Corporation.
For more J/80 AnyWayAnyDay Cup sailing information, please contact Anastasia Marinskaya- Tel- +(357) 96392768/ email- anastasia@sailfirst.com/ www.sailfirst.com
J-BOSS Loves Triskell Cup(Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe)- What may be the first regatta of the 2014/ 2015 Caribbean Winter Sailing Season is the Triskell Cup hosted on the island of Guadeloupe. Sailing a series of races off the quaint French-inspired village of Pointe a Pitre, the fleet of boats enjoyed a broad range of “post-tropical depression” conditions; meaning that clear skies and steady 8-15 kts of breeze could often be punctuated by sudden squalls developing rapidly with rain, 20-30 kts winds and massive changes in wind direction. Such is the difficult life of sailing in the tropics with temperatures ranging from an extreme of 65 degrees up to 85 degrees F!
After the smoke cleared, Eddy Chalono’s J/111 J-BOSS finished second in the Triskell Cup 2014, but the crew is extremely proud of their result after having to fight off one of the world’s most famous Figaro Sailing Champions- Gildas Morvan.
As reported by Eddy’s crew, “the big problem of this regatta was in particular to avoid the huge patches of sea-grass that had the tendency to drop our boat speed of 1.5-2.0 kts— impossible to see them sometimes! So, we needed very frequent stops and back-ups that penalized us on our handicap times.” Hmmm, sounds like J-BOSS needs a classic “SoCal Kelp-Cutter”!! For more Triskell Cup sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* The J/46 BRAVO has been sailing in Maine during the beautiful fall season. As many long-distance and day sailors know, once Labor Day hits in Europe and in the Americas, some of the world’s best cruising grounds are literally devoid of all forms of tourists and “outsiders”. As both a long-distance cruiser and a bit of a “local” in those parts Downeast in Maine, Tom Babbit from Portland, Maine can often pick his days for a lovely cruise on any given day or weekend. For example, here’s Tom Babbit at the helm of his J/46. As he comments, “just cruising along on a beautiful Saturday up here in Maine near Casco Bay, TWS 15 kts, AWA 60, going 9.1 kts. Zero angst, just 100% blade jib and full main. Couldn’t be easier on this delightful cruising boat! We’re so loving this J/46. Great evening in Pulpit Harbor compliments of Espar heat. Best, Tom and Jane”
* Canada was recently celebrating some of its best sailors. Remarkably (or alarmingly, depending on how you see it all), a number of Canada’s beloved “brothers in arms” were all top J/24 alumni of some form or another over the past decade or three. You can include in that group Andy Roy, Terry McLaughlin, Greg Tawastjerna, “Bean Pole” (Terry Neilson) and a number of other characters we should mention but may not. Nevertheless, October marks the time of year where Canadians celebrate good harvest and fortune followed by the ever so popular Halloween, the single night of the year when candy hoarding and unusual attire are encouraged. Amidst all the seasonal traditions included some outstanding showcases by their Canadian sailors.
Olympic silver medalist Mike Wolfs continues to draw attention to his ever-growing resume of sailing success including the latest achievement of 1st place at the J/80 World Championships in Annapolis. The Star Medallist crewed on SAVASANA with helm Brian Keane, Stu McNay & Ron Weed, edging out the competitive 30-boat fleet.
The Laser Masters World Championships was hosted in Hyeres, France with 500 entrants in four different age divisions. The Canadian contingent took the event by storm with top ten performances in each highly competitive division including Peterborough native and North American Laser class President Andy Roy, who ultimately finished second!
What they all forgot, was that Terry McLaughlin just won the J/105 North Americans and taking second was another native son, Greg Tawastjerna was tactician for Calgary, Alberta native Rick Goebel sailing his J/105 SANITY!
J/Cruisers
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.
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J/160 SALACIA has been sailing in Australia in the Whitsunday Islands. Guess who decided to throw themselves across their bow as they cruised comfortably to their next destination? A giant whale! Look at this amazing photo!
* Jim & Heather Wilson just completed a circumnavigation of our "blue planet Earth" in June 2013 on their J/42 CEOL MOR. Said Jim, "The odyssey of CEOL MOR is over, for now. We completed our circumnavigation on our J/42 when we crossed our outbound track in Britannia Bay, Mustique. We were, however, still 2,000 nautical miles from home. So we continued on through the Windwards, the Leewards, and then through the British Virgin Islands. After a farewell 'Painkiller' at the Soggy Dollar, and a last meal at Foxy’s, we made the 1,275 nautical mile passage to the Chesapeake and completed our port-to-port circumnavigation when we arrived in Annapolis on June 28, 2013. We had been away 1,334 days, completed 259 days of ocean passages, and sailed 30,349 nautical miles (34,925 statute miles). Read more about their adventures in their well-documented blog here: http://www.svceolmor.com/SVCeolMor/Welcome.html
* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again! We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR. Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above) from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA. A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day! Amazing passage it was! Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda. Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large. Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR
* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea". The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety
The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"
Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.
Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.
People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."
READ MORE ABOUT BILL'S INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY AND THOUGHTS ON WSJ ONLINE HERE
* 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/
* 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).- 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.
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