J/111 Worlds Preview(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The J/111 Garmin World Championship is less than a week away; fourteen teams from seven different countries will be taking part. Forming a truly international fleet, the teams come from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America. Racing on tight Solent courses the fleet will enjoy a five-day racing programme and a lively social schedule, organized at the Island Sailing Club in the heart of Cowes.
“This is going to be a great championship with a strong international fleet,” commented JELVIS’ Scottish skipper, Martin Dent. “Besides the top European teams such as SWEENY and RED HERRING that came over earlier this year and have done well, we have an Aussie team, and then there are the two teams from the US. Last year we were amongst four UK teams (including the defending 2014 World Champion) that went to Newport for the 2015 Worlds. It was noticeable that the top US teams were a notch up on us all. This year, KASHMIR and SKELETON are the clear two form J/111’s in the US, which is awesome. KASHMIR has just won the 2016 North American Championship, and it’s hard to find anything other than a bullet amongst SKELETON KEY’s race results. As for JELVIS, as usual, we have a young team, barely old enough to drink coffee, 3 teenagers on board and with everyone besides myself and the mainsheet trimmer being 21 or under. We were delayed getting our J/111 programme started this year, since 6 of the 8 crew were still in school/university until July, but now it’s the summer holidays so we have been able to practice, and hopefully if we get some athletic conditions that favour youthful exuberance, we can be competitive."
Rod Warren campaigns his J/111 JOUST in Melbourne Australia, and has chartered KESTREL from Simon Bamford for the championship.“The crew is an eclectic bunch,” explained KESTREL’s Rod Warren. “Aaron Cole is head of North Sails Melbourne and has experienced 13 Sydney-Hobart’s; Stephen Daniel is a tree surgeon, perfect for the foredeck- he can climb anything! Aaron Linton is a sugar cane farmer from far North Queensland, who is our wind whisperer. Stuart Johnstone and his wife Julia are from the USA and part of the J/Boat sailing family. Simon Bamford and his son Oscar are the owners of KESTREL, based in Hamble and brave enough to let us loose on their boat. And, I am a Cardiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. I began sailing keelboats a couple of years ago and quickly wanted to chase speed, hence the J/111. We love one design racing and we did the Worlds in Newport last year and loved it. We are really looking forward to this year's competition, especially to sail in such a great venue as The Solent. Coming from Australia our goal is obvious!”
Mike Mayer's American J/111 KASHMIR was runner up in last year's J/111 World Championship. “We are very excited to come to the worlds,” commented Kashmir's American skipper Mike Mayer from Chicago, Illinois. “A big driver of our decision to come to Cowes was coming close at the Worlds in Newport last year. We had a blast at that regatta and have enjoyed travelling as a team, so here we come. Our team is the same as the Worlds in 2015, except that my partner Karl had to miss last year's race because his wife had a baby during the event, and he will be back on board for this event (as he was for our recent North American Championship win). We are all from around Lake Michigan, except our bow man Fireball, who is a college kid from Florida. Most of us have never sailed in the Solent and are looking forward to absorbing the sights and sailing history there. Conditions in Chicago tend to be light, and there are no meaningful tides and currents. That will be a major difference and challenge for us. The logistics of racing across the pond are daunting, and we want to thank J/Boats and J/Composites for working with us to make our attendance possible. We look forward to seeing the UK friends we made at last year's Worlds again, and making new ones at this Worlds.” Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright / Photoaction.com Follow the J/111 Worlds on Facebook For more J/111 Garmin World Championship sailing information
Marblehead NOOD Preview(Marblehead, MA)- The final event of the highly popular HELLY HANSEN NOOD Regattas will be taking place this weekend in Marblehead from July 28th to 31st at Boston Yacht Club. It has become an enormous one-design event and featured in the regatta is the largest keelboat fleet- the J/70s with twenty-seven boats! Not to be outdone is the largest “big boat” fleet, the sixteen boat J/105 class and, of course, the classic J of them all, the dozen boat J/24 class. All boats will be competing for the honor of being selected as the Overall Winner to join past HELLY HANSEN NOOD Regatta winners in the British Virgin Islands for the NOOD National Champion sailing cruising boats with refrigerators, yakuzzi’s, blenders and swim ladders.
The twenty-seven boat J/70 class is a world-championship level fleet, featuring top teams like Jud Smith’s AFRICA, John Brim’s RIMETTE, Brian Keane’s SAVASANA, Will Welles’ SCAMP, and Dave Franzel’s SPRING. In addition, top regional crews that will be pushing the envelope include Holly Fabyan’s ASTERIA, Andrew & Melissa Fisher’s BUTTON FLY, Frank McNamara’s CHINOOK and Tim Finkle’s JUNIOR crew from Youngstown YC from New York.
The local J/105 fleet always sports a great turnout. For this 2016 edition, sixteen boats are participating with past Marblehead NOOD Champion, Fred deNapoli’s ALLEGRO SEMPLICITA, leading the charge. They will be chased hard by perennial J/105 adventurers- Mark & Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS from Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX. Also, in the frame for most of the event should be Steve Hollis’ SIROCCO and Ken Bowden’s KNOTLESS.
With a dozen boats, the J/24s always will have good fun sailing with top-notch competition. Past Marblehead NOOD Champions include- John Denman’s AIRDOODLE, Carter White’s SEA BAGS SAILING TEAM, and Erica Beck Spencer’s SEA BAGS WOMEN’S SAILING TEAM!! Wow, that’s some tres amigos/amigas to have to contend with!! Hoping to do battle with that trio are Chris Keimig’s LITTLE MARTHA from Sail Newport in Newport, RI and Alex Bolan’s SAMURAI TAKEDOWN. For more HELLY HANSEN Marblehead NOOD Regatta sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
The third week of July has been a busy one in both Europe and the Americas. The biggest offshore event in the Great Lakes and one of the largest in America took place on Lake Michigan this past weekend. The 289nm race from Chicago to Mackinac Island featured 242 boats sailing in two large divisions- the Mackinac Cup and the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy; one-design fleets of J/105s, J/109s, J/111s and J/120s were joined by offshore teams sailing J/88s, J/112E, J/122s, J/133s, J/130 and J/145s. In Maine, the Connie Madeira Pursuit Race took place featuring a fast J/100 from Northeast Harbor, ME and hosted by the Northeast Harbor Fleet. Over in upstate New York on Lake Ontario, the Can Am Challenge took place, a contest between Canadians and Americans for J/70s, J/88s, J/22s, J/24s and offshore PHRF J’s (J/111, J/109, J/105 and so forth) in Youngstown, NY. Out West on the Pacific Coast, the J/70 Pacific Championship took place at St Francis YC, the J/105 Sausalito Invitational was hosted by San Francisco YC and out in Hawaii, the Pacific Cup Race concluded their 2,308nm race for a J/42, J/44, J/35, J/124 and J/46.In Europe, the ALCATEL J/70 Cup was sailed on Lago di Garda, Italy and hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine- the first of two parts for the Alpen Cup, the second taking place at Fraglia Vela Riva del Garda. The fourth stage of the J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga took place in Travemunde, Germany. Then, the 2016 ORC Worlds that saw good performances from a brand new J/112E and a J/109, hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark on the Baltic Sea. Finally, down in the Mediterranean, a J/92 flew around the course in the Malta-Syracuse Race.
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:
Aug 1-4- J/111 World Championship- Cowes, EnglandAug 4-7- J/80 North American Championship- Toronto, ONT, Canada
Aug 5-7- J/27 North American Championship- Oakville, ONT, Canada
Aug 6-13- AAM Cowes Week Regatta- Cowes, IOW, England
Aug 13-14- J/FEST New England- Bristol, RI
Aug 13-19- J/24 European Championship- Plymouth, England
Aug 14-20- Women's J/70 World Keelboat Championship- Rye, NY
Aug 19-25- J/22 World Championship- Kingston, ONT, Canada
Aug 19-21- J/120 National Championship- Detroit, MI
J/70 Events:
Jul 22-24- J/70 Great Lakes Championship– Youngstown, NY
Jul 22-24- J/70 Pacific Coast Championship- San Francisco, CA
Sep 15-18- J/70 Rolex Big Boat Series/ Pre-Worlds- San Francisco, CA
Sep 24-Oct 1- J/70 World Championship- San Francisco, CA
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Stormy, Windy Chicago Mackinac RaceJ/Crews Dominate Several Classes
(Chicago, IL)- The 108th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac had 121 boats race the Mackinac Cup Division and 121 boats race the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Divisions in their annual 289nm race from the Chicago waterfront north to Mackinac Island. The race was incredibly wet, wild, blustery, squally, with thousands of lighting bolts flickering across the sky (your basic garden variety quadruple vertical flash to horizontal pulsing flashes flickering across the skies looking like a “live” nervous system). Some updated NOAA Weather Services warnings indicated threats of severe thunderstorms that had popped up over Wisconsin with damaging winds up to 60 knots.
The first line of thunderstorms hit the Racing Division after 1700 hrs Saturday, causing the fleet to go left of the rhumb line before scattering as the storm hit. The second set of storms approached around 0100 hrs Sunday morning, carrying well past 0400 hrs. While wet, they did not bring nearly the same winds as the previous front. Lynn Kotwicki aboard the J/120 HOT TICKET explained that she couldn’t keep track of the number of sail changes, while Jim Calto from the J/111 ROWDY reported a double-reefed main and surfing down the waves with soaked foul weather gear from the inside out. Then, at approximately 1450 hrs CDT on Sunday afternoon, it was reported to the United States Coast Guard a 48 footer was sinking inside the Manitou Passage after their rudder broke off. The crew deployed a life raft and all ten crew boarded safely. Several boats in the vicinity stopped to assist the crew, including the J/122 EVVAI skippered by Matt Songer from Marquette YC and the J/88 BLUE FLASH sailed by Scott & Sean Grealish from Portland, OR.
As has been the case in the past, the weather prognosticators were nowhere near what was actually happening on the water during the race. The basic strategy was to work as far north as possible after the start, from Saturday evening into Sunday morning. At that point, a micro-Low warm front would pass through with occasional showers, during the night, move on to the east and a southeast breeze would fill in behind it of 7-12 kts as it moved away. The breeze would “backfill” from the west, stronger, as the front progressed eastward. Then, during Sunday the breeze would progressively veer into the southwest, filling in strongest from the northwest side of the lake at 19-18 kts and progress southeast. Later on Sunday, a cold front would pass through with intermittent showers and thunderstorms and behind the front the breezes would shift into the Northwest at 8-13 kts.
Because of the forecast, the strategy employed by many boats was negatively impacted by what actually happened on the water. After the start, the fastest boats went straight north, none of them dove west to the IL/WI shoreline, nor farther to the east of rhumbline. Around 1700 hrs, a micro-low developed quickly into a significant squall line that crossed the lake, forcing the fleet to rapidly dump their Code 0’s and other reaching sails to reefed mains and #4 jibs; the wind shifted from a 6-9 kts easterly of 90 to 120 deg to a NW gale of 25-35 kts for a brief period of time, shredding sails for a lot of boats! Less than an hour later, the fleet was bobbing in leftover storm waves, seeking any wind to move along using light spinnakers and Code 0’s- with breezes filling in from the West, Southeast, and everything in between. Ultimately, by 2100 hrs, the breeze stabilized into the southeast, but shifting and varying in intensity with every thunderstorm that swung across the fleet- fluctuating in direction from 170 to 215 deg. As a result, the tacticians had to be vigilant, as the boats that did best kept gybing on the lifts to head faster up north. Those who did not were getting passed quickly.
By Sunday morning, it was evident that boats who did best, stuck to the “go north” strategy at every opportunity they had. The big issue for most of the fleet is that they all got “stuck” east of rhumbline during the night; the result of using the original “rhumbline” of 18 deg, not 0 deg based on the recommended pre-race strategy. By afternoon Sunday, most of the fleet was experiencing a fast race with breezes from the 180 to 215 deg range. For a period of several hours, winds in the Manitou Straits were ranging from 20 to 33 kts. By the time the fleet arrived at the “gateway” to the Mackinac Straits, the 2nm Grey’s Reef turning point, the wind had diminished dramatically, fog set in, and the breeze swung into the westerly quadrant at 4-8 kts. The weather conditions proved to be beneficial to the eighty-four J/Teams (1/3 of the fleet) that were sailing in the race.
Section 2 had two J/145s and for the second Mac Race in a row (Bayview then Chicago), the big fast reaching machines won their class, this time is was the Schanen family’s turn on their bright red boat- MAIN STREET from Port Washington YC- skipper was Bill Schanen, famous for publishing their large format sailing magazine- SAILING! Joining Bill as crew were Erin Schanen, Jean Schanen, Bill Schanen IV, Will Schanen V, Dan Branson, Mike Burt, Joseph Fillingham, Scott Fruechtl, Nick Hayes (the famous sailing writer from Milwaukee), Jamie Hummert, and Dale Peters. Chris Saxton’s VORTICES from the Detroit, MI area that had won class in the Bayview Mackinac Race narrowly missed the magic “double” for the two Mac races, instead settling for 4th in class.
Taking the silver in Section 3 was the J/130 WILLIE J (Bert Vanderweele from Macatawa Bay YC).
Section 4 saw J/Crews take three of the top ten, with Robert McManus’s J/130 EDGE from Milwaukee YC finishing 3rd place, Randy Kuhn & James Richter’s J/44 CHEEP N DEEP II from Chicago Corinthian YC placing 4th and Bob Klairmont’s J/133 SCIROCCO 3 from Chicago YC in 10th place.
Section 5 was easily one of the most competitive divisions in the entire race, featuring well over several dozen class winners and at least a half-dozen overall Mac Race winners! Taking J/Class honors was Rich & Lori Stearns & Ben Lumpkin’s brand new J/112E sport-cruiser, MARY GAIL from Chicago YC- Richie reported hitting 16.8 kts for a cruising boat while flying down the Manitou Straits! The J/112e MARY GAIL was 2nd in class. Third place was Mitch Padnos’ family crew on the J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON from Macatawa Bay YC. Then, fourth was Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI from Marquette YC.
After winning their section in the Bayview- Mackinac Race the previous weekend, it was a good bet the J/109 TOA sailed by a family crew from Chicago could be a repeat class winner in Section 7 Class with a good shot, again, at the overall honors in the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Division. After the storms and the fog cleared from the race course, there was no question the J/109 TOA crew was fast, smart and well-sailed! The team of Bruce Danley & Jimmie Mitchell not only won class easily, but also took a third overall in the Chicago-Mac Trophy Division! Their team consisted of Bruce’s son Clay, the brother’s Peter & Will Holz, Simon Minoprio and Rod Keenan from Auckland, New Zealand, and Jimmie’s brother Mike. Second in Section 7 was another family crew on the J/35 BOZOS CIRCUS- the Metcalf family and friends- Jack, Chris, Bruce, Christopher Metcalf along with Earle Atwater, Bob Glennie, Ally Haramia, and Charles Nodus. Matt Beer’s J/33 RETRIEVER was 5th in class.
The battle of the 30-footers in Section 8 was full of drama. Perhaps the craziest scenario for any boat to entertain in this year’s Chicago-Mac Race was to see Scott & Sean Grealish’s BLUE FLASH from Willamette SC in Portland, Oregon (seen right on Mac Island beach) to stop sailing and lead assistance to a sinking boat while leading both class and the fleet overall on the leaderboard at 1500 hrs. At that time, they had punched the “MOB button” to provide safety assistance to the sinking OD48 and stood by for over an hour until the US Coast Guard had cleared the crew. At that point, they resumed racing, much to their detriment in the overall standings. The simple reason was that the epic conditions that had produced the broach/sinking of the OD48 had diminished dramatically in that hour that BLUE FLASH stood by as a “good Samaritan”. In other words, instead of planing away at a steady 10-15 kts in 20-32 kts winds, BLUE FLASH sailed away in just 15-20 kt winds and averaging 8-12 kts an hour later. To make matters tougher for them, as the wind died into the evening hours, they got stuck up under the famous Hog Island “wind hole”, necessitating a near 80 deg gybe to rhumbline course to Grey’s Reef. Prior to their “standing by”, BLUE FLASH was 6th boat-for-boat against the top J/111s and only 12nm behind the J/111 NO SURPRISE- winner of the J/111s and 7th overall! 
In the end, the Grealish’s J/88 BLUE FLASH won their class and were closely followed by Ben Wilson’s RAMBLER from Chicago YC in second place. Bruce Santerre’s J/92 SPLIT DECISION from Lake City YC finished 9th, Boyd & Janice Jarrell’s J/88 SLOT MACHINE was 12th and John Madey’s J/92 CYCLONE from Chicago Corinthian YC was 13th.Perhaps the ultimate sleepers in this year’s Mac Race were the boats sailing in Section 10. Given the right conditions, this section can often produce the overall Chicago-Mac Race winner. Ironically, in this year’s event, it produced the top two boats overall- FLYING BUFFALO and PROVIDENCE! Taking third in this class, unsurprisingly, was Scott & Kimberley Petritz’s very well-sailed J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS from Grand Traverse YC.
The fifteen boat J/111 one-design section saw an enormous battle between the top six boats going well into Sunday afternoon. Leading for quite some time at dawn was Kevin Saedi & Raman Yousefi’s MOMENTUS. They were battling with Dave Irish’s NO SURPRISE from Pt Betsie onward.
About two-thirds the way up the Manitou Straits to Grey’s Reef, NO SURPRISE gybed away on a shift to then gybe back and grab the lead with less than 5nm to go to Grey’s Reef Lighthouse. From there into the finish off Mackinac Island, NO SURPRISE was undeterred and, remarkably, stretched a 300 yard lead at Grey’s Reef into a one hour, twenty minute elapsed time win! As a result, they not only took the class win but also finished 7th overall. Mounting a remarkable bid to chase down the leaders was the trio of George Miz, Peter Dreher & Mark Hatfield on IMPULSE. Sitting about 10nm behind at dawn on Sunday, they managed to break free from a battle with Brad Faber’s UTAH, John Kalanik’s PURA VIDA and Rich Witzel’s ROWDY to take a 6nm chunk out of the top two boats between Pt Betsie and Grey’s Reef. In the end, it was not enough to overhaul them, but IMPULSE did close the distance dramatically with the MOMENTUS crew, crossing the line just 3 minutes behind, to finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Rounding out the top five was Faber’s UTAH in 4th and Kalanik’s PURA VIDA in 5th place.Another good battle took place amongst the 8-boat J/120 class. In the end, it was Mike & Bob Kirkman’s HOT TICKET taking class honors with Mike Fozo & Robin Kendrick’s PROOF in second, the trio on J-HAWKER (Dave Sandlin, Ken Brown, Ken Schram) in third, Ed Vermet & John Hughes’ NAUTI BOYS in 4th and John Harvey & Rick Titsworth’s SLEEPING TIGER in 5th position.
The J/109 Division saw the 11-boat fleet seesaw back and forth all the way up the lake. As a result of the luck of the draw regarding who was east vs. west of rhumbline on Sunday morning, it was evident those reaching fast up the lake in the building SSE breeze were sailing much faster than those inshore. Taking advantage of those conditions to win class was Doug Evans’ TIME OUT from Whitefish Bay, WI. Second was Jim Murray’s CALLISTO, third was Dave Gustman’s NORTHSTAR, fourth Peter Priede’s FULL TILT, and fifth was Charlie Schroeder’s CHASE.
The Level 35s had spirited competition amongst the seven J/35s. Winning class was a family affair aboard NOMATA! Skipper Jack Amedio sailed with Kaitlin Amedio, four Leslie family members (Indigo, Mike, Ed, & Dan), Mory Matias, Roxanne McGinn and Mike Milsna. Taking second was another J/35, Dave Timmer’s HAT TRICK and 4th place was Steve Dorfman’s ON EDGE and 5th was a past Chicago-Mac winner, Larry Schell’s TOUCH OF GREY.
Winning the largest one-design class in this year’s Mac Race was Mark Gurney’s BUZZ in the J/105 Division. With 21 boats, it was going to be a tough road to the finish line as so many teams have won so many events over the course of time. So close was the racing that the first six boats all finished within a half hour of one another. Behind BUZZ by just 7 minutes was Dave & Matt Pierce’s CAUGHT IN TRAFFIC, third was Carter Williams’ CREATIVE DESTRUCTION, 4th Sandy Curtiss’ ROCKING HORSE and 5th Ken Ganch’s GONZO. For more Chicago to Mackinac Race sailing information
CALVI NETWORK Leading ALCATEL J/70 Alpen Cup(Malcesine, Italy)- Thirty teams representing six countries participated in the ALCATEL J/70 Alpen Cup hosted by hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine on Lago di Garda. This event was the first of a two-weekend regatta, starting in Malcesine and concluding at Riva del Garda over the September 9th to 11th weekend. The winners are determined by a combined score of the two events. So far, the star of the show happens to be a class leader in a number of major J/70 events in the US and Europe- none other than Carlo Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK.
On the first day, Fraglia Vela Malcesine’s PRO managed to produce three good races, marked by bright sunshine and 20-22 kt winds. The undisputed leader with three bullets in three races was CALVI NETWORK. Following them with three 2nds was Franco Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN with tactician Matteo Ivaldi on board. Third for the day with a 6-3-3 was the Monegasque team of Stefano Roberti on AIR.
The second day of racing was a virtual carbon copy of the first. A beautiful day with the famous “peler” wind roaring down Lake Garda. The top three nearly duplicated their results from the first day. Consequently, Alberini’s crew on CALVI NETWORK won with straight 1sts as counters with Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN in second and Roberti’s AIR in third. Rounding out the top five was the 2016 J/70 European Championship winner, Claudia Rossi sailing PETITE TERRIBLE. Just four points behind her in fifth position (and winner of the Corinthians Division) was MAGIE, skippered by Alessandro Zampori and his “50 Shades of Grey” crew- Gianni Sommariva, Andrea Magni, Luca Antonetto and Eugenio Ramassotto. Sailing photo credits- Fabio Taccola For more ALCATEL J/70 Cup sailing information
Chiemsee YC Wins Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga- Act III(Travemunde, Germany)- It was a weekend of high tension and spectacular pictures, entertaining the crowds on-shore in Travemunde with live action on the giant SAP Sailing Cube.
The battle for the top spot in the overall series ended up with a tie for first place between Deutscher Touring YC, Lindauer Segler-club and Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee, all sitting on 9 pts apiece.
Sailing the most consistently over the three regattas so far (Starnberg, Konstanz, Travemunde) have been Lindauer SC and Verein Seglerhaus, both with 2-3-4 results in three regattas. DTYC took a plunge in this regatta, coming off the hot pace they had established in the first two events with a 2-1, adding a 6th in Travemunde to drop them into the three-way tie.
Sailing like a team possessed, the Chiemsee YC all of a sudden “got religion”, figured it all out, and burst out the door of the first six races with four 1sts and two 2nds. They closed out the regatta with a 3-2-1 to win the Travemunde event and vault themselves like a meteor into 4th place on the overall series leaderboard.
In the meantime, Lindauer SC was happy to post another top 4 finish. ”We were very pleased with our performance. We indeed had a chance to take the lead in the overall leaderboard, but it did not work. Too bad we had no wind today and the final races were not completed. The conditions for the first two days were almost optimal," said Teresa Hemmeter from Lindauer Segler Club.
Thousands of onlookers witnessed the racing of the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga live thanks to the mobile "SAP Sail Cube”! With SAP as a partner of Travemunde Week, thousands of spectators were able to watch live the thrilling head-to-head racing of J/70s in the short-course format. The event was produced by ZDF sports reporter Alexander Ruda, analyst Marcus Bauer and multiple co-commentators. Vivid graphics and entertaining play-by-play made it easy to understand and exciting for everyone.
The next stop for the 36 clubs of the 1st and 2nd Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga is on the Wannsee from 19th to 21st August. Watch J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing highlights here For more J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga sailing information
CATAPULT Dominates J/70 Pacific Coast Championship(San Francisco, CA)- As things continue to ramp up for the J/70 World Championship at St Francis YC on San Francisco Bay this coming September, more teams are taking the opportunity to participate in events on the Bay to test the waters and their teams.
This past weekend, the St Francis YC hosted the J/70 Pacific Coast Championship on the waters in front of the club, sometimes using the StFYC club starting line and others starting off the face of Alcatraz Island. The nineteen-boat fleet enjoyed beautiful breezes all weekend long, with the classic westerlies building late morning, enabling the StFYC PRO to run 4-5 races per day in planing mode conditions.
Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT, who’s crew included local hotshot and America’s Cup veteran John Kostecki as tactician, managed to dominate the event, winning six straight races enroute to a total eclipse of the fleet, counting just 11 pts net in 9 races counted. Taking second with one of his best performances of the year was Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER crew, posting four 2nds in their scoreline to net 35 pts. Taking third was Justin Kromelow, winning a tie-breaker over Glen Darden’s crew with 57 pts each. Rounding out the top five was Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE team with 61 pts net. For more J/70 Pacific Championship sailing information
ORC Worlds Report(Copenhagen, Denmark)- The ORC World Championship 2016 was organized by KDY and Egaa Sejlklub and took place out of Skovshoved Habour, just a few kilometers north of Copenhagen. Sailing for the inshore races was on Öresund, a well-known racing venue, renowned for having hosted numerous Worlds, Europeans and Nordic championships. The offshore races were off the southern part of the Kattegat north of Helsingör, or into the area where Öresund meets the Baltic Sea.
Favorable 8-15 knot conditions on the opening day enabled the PRO to hold three inshore races. The day was characterized by very tight racing all day. Leading after the first day in Class C with 59 teams was Bo Teichmann’s J/112E LANCE 12, posting a 2-3-1 scoreline. The J/112E was being sailed by a mixed German and Dutch team that includes racing legend Bouwe Bekking (famous for both one-design and offshore championships in various classes as both tactician and skipper).
The following three days of sailing for the LANCE 12 team proved to be a challenging task for this team. A highly controversial 4th race DSQ of LANCE 12 for a starting line incident hurt their chances of a strong podium finish. Nevertheless, they fought back hard in the ensuing races, posting a final race 4th to close out the series in 6th overall in a hot fleet of 59 boats.
Starting off slowly and gradually improving their results every race was Alain Bornet’s J/109 JAI ALAI from the Netherlands. At one point in races 2 thru 5, they had posted scores of 5-5-2-3, good enough to vault them into 4th place overall. For more ORC Worlds 2016 sailing information
FUN CanAm Challenge Regatta!(Youngstown, NY)- A regatta that features street hockey games between American and Canadian teams is always going to have plenty of playful bantering between the sailors! Throw into the mix some fun one-design sailing in one-design classes for J/70s, J/88s, J/22s, J/24s and an offshore division of PHRF ToT divisions and you have a recipe for great fun amongst all participants young and old!
As the biggest fleet in the regatta, the eighteen-boat J/70 class saw excellent sailing all weekend long. The fleet enjoyed twelve races, with everyone enjoying the fast, frenetic pace of banging out the starts as soon as everyone finished. It was a first major regatta win for Lee Sackett’s team on USA 364, winning six races and taking four 2nds enroute to an eight point win. Tim Finkle’s JUNIOR was second sitting on 39 points, the only real challenger to Sackett’s dominance all weekend. Third was Scott Weakley’s REX with 49 pts. Fourth and fifth, respectively, were Tod Sackett’s FM and Tim Gibbs’ LAYLA.
In the J/88 class, we see yet another crew get their “game-face on” and put together a string of good races to win the regatta with all top two finishes! This time it was Joe & Jeff Pawlowski’s EASY EIGHTS that counted four 1sts and three 2nds for a total of just 16 pts in seven races. Hot on their tail was a determined Iris Vogel skippering DEVIATION to a close second winning three races herself to round out the regatta with 20 pts, just 4 pts in arrears of the Pawlowski boys. Third for the regatta was Jim Egloff’s SEAWEED with 32 pts.
While there were strong performances by some boats in the Can AM Challenge, no question the “global dominator award” goes to Mike Marshall’s crew on the J/22 BAD NEWS! What can you say after winning all seven races in the twelve-boat class!? Second was Victor Snyder’s MO’MONEY, third the Canadian team THREE’S COMPANY skippered by Paul Davignon. Fourth was another Canadian team, Trevor Collins’ ALTERNATIVE GIRLFRIEND and fifth was Anna Huebschmann’s ESCAPE.
The Canadians won the J/24 class, with Rick Sherk’s BAD HABIT posting five 1sts in six races to win by a large margin. Second was Lee Ann Zaretsky’s MINX and third was Gabriel Lewis & Elisa Schneider’s HANG LOOSE
In the all J/Boats PHRF ToT Division, it was Bob Hesse’s J/111 LAKE EFFECT that took class honors with six 1sts in his scoreline for an astounding total of 10 pts in eight races! Second was the Canadian team on the J/109 MOCCASIN, skippered by Ed Werner. Third was another Canadian J/109 team- Bob Eckersley’s BLUE STREAK.
The PHRF ToT Non-Spinnaker 1 division, Andrew Koolman’s LOYALIST place second, while Doug Clarke’s J/35c ROGUE WAVE completed the podium in third place. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes/ timwilkes.com. For more Can Am Challenge Regatta sailing information
Arbitrage Wins 2016 Sausalito Invitational(San Francisco, CA)- SF Bay whipped up a significant flood tide and fearsome 20-27 kt winds to make for a challenging weekend of windward-leeward racing for the 19 J/105s that made it out to the western face of Alcatraz for the Sausalito YC J/105 Invitational, July 23-24, 2016. Unlike racing anywhere in the country, where you need to sail upwind both legs, time the oscillations of the shifts, and take into account a progressive veer or backing of the wind based on forecasts, here it was a case of advance planning. Before leaving home, skipper Bruce Stone reviewed the Sailtactics.com wind and tide forecast with his team on Arbitrage and announced, “We’re starting at the pin and banging the shore for tide relief upwind, and then jibing out to the bigger flood downwind.” Here if the report from on-board reporter- Nicole Breault:
Well, of course, it doesn’t perfectly work like that! We grapple with competitors for solid execution, and sometimes we pursue too much of a good thing. Arbitrage nailed the pin end of the line on the first two starts and led to the shore, winning both races by large margins. On the third try, as shown in the photo below, with heavy traffic at the pin, Arbitrage was forced to set up too low and failed to make the pin, so had to jibe around and start on port, taking the sterns of the peloton and going in the wrong direction away from current relief. “We’ll get some leverage outside in more pressure – no other option.” Heading into the teeth of the flood, they made little progress up the course while the fleet legged over to the shore. At mark one, Arbitrage was in a solid trailing position... ugh. Good boathandling downwind got them past a handful of boats struggling with the blustery afternoon winds. Taking a chance with the outside, seemingly more upwind leeward gate, then tacking right away toward shore helped gain quite a few lengths to windward and more boats. By the end of the race, they finished tenth and were still leading the regatta, albeit by just one point.
Sunday brought the same weather and tide, and Arbitrage brought the same strategy. However, at the first start they once again did not make the pin and had to jibe out to start on port. Rinse and repeat, taking plenty of sterns and heading the wrong way. This time perhaps the regatta would be lost. Yet this time after tacking on the hip of the fleet heading toward the City Front, they connected with more pressure and right angle while the leaders had lighter air, getting them back into a fighting position by mark one. Grinding up through the fleet, Arbitrage managed a hard fought 2nd place. So for the last race, Stone finally tried a more conservative start in the middle of the line, and with good position and speed earned a solid third to secure the victory, with a score line of 1, 1, 10, 2, and 3, two points ahead of Steve Kent’s team on Perseverance and six points ahead of Philip Laby’s team on Godot. Stone remarked, “It was really special for the J/105 fleet to have a dedicated race course, with our own water and no delays. Sausalito YC did a great job in arranging this for us and dealing with really tough conditions for setting marks. Hospitality in sunny Sausalito was off the charts, with the Commodore pouring free beers for us and offering sandwiches. We’re looking forward to coming back next year.” Sailing photo credits- Cynthia Willson For more Sausalito Invitational sailing information
J/42 Wins Wet & Wild Pacific Cup Race(San Francisco, CA)- The 2,070nm ”Fun Race to Hawaii" from San Francisco to Kaneohe (Oahu) Hawaii was anything but “fun”. In fact, it was one of the most challenging races ever in this biennial event. Reports varied considerably, but all had a central theme- “windy, wet, wild, and fast”!
All sailors gave similar reports of intense conditions with frequent squalls, record boat speeds and confused seas. The breeze was solid all the way, rarely dropping below 20 knots. With overcast skies, confused seas and squalls, nothing onboard dried out for any of the boats. “Driving through the morning squalls was amazing,” reported one crewmember. “It felt like you were tumbling inside a washing machine.”
Sail inventory management was also a key issue some boats blew out three spinnakers and were down to their last one coming into the finish line. Frequent 30-40 kt squalls with heavy rain were not uncommon.
Scott Dickinson’s J/42 TIKI J from Coyote Point YC in San Mateo, CA won the Weems & Plath Division B. It was a great performance for this peerless, classic cruiser from the J/design stable. It as also a good showing for J/crews in general in the blustery conditions. Taking 3rd was Bill Williams’ J/44 VIAJANTE from Richmond YC in San Francisco, CA and in fourth place was Karl Haflinger’s J/35 SHEARWATER from Corinthian YC Tacoma in Washington.
In addition to being the winner of the Weems & Plath Trophy, the J/42 TIKI J won the Fastest Family trophy, the boat’s crew included skipper Scott Dickinson, his wife Kim Worsham, their two young sons, with Kim’s brother Brad as navigator. “Everything went fine,” said Kim Worsham. Son Cody Dickinson, 9 years old, said, “I was kind of nervous at the beginning but after a few days it became really fun!” He kept a journal during the race.
In the Pasha Hawaii ORR Division D, Graham Ellis’ J/124 ALBION from Encinal YC in Alameda, CA took third place! Taking a seventh was Scott Campbell’s famous J/46 RIVA from Portland YC in Portland, OR. However, there is a story as to why the ended up sacrificing a near certain podium finish. About 1,200nm out from the finish, one of RIVA’s crew had a severe medical emergency. See the J/46 RIVA medical emergency video from the US Coast Guard:On Tuesday, July 21st, an HC-130H aircraft from U.S. Coast Guard Airsta Barbers Point in Kapolei, Hawaii, successfully dropped medicine and medical supplies to the crew of the S/V Riva. The vessel was halfway between California and Hawaii when one of the
crewmembers had a medical emergency, and the HC-130H traveled over 1,200 nautical miles to make the aerial delivery and return home on one tank of gas! Thanks for U.S. Coast Guard videos by Petty Officer 1st Class Derek Woods, Petty Officer 2nd Class Garth Booye, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Josh McKeague and, especially, a big “thanks” to the flight crew of the HC-130H!Just to let everyone know that it all ended up OK for the J/46 RIVA crew, here's a happy photo of them having completed the Pacific Cup after the finish late one night in Kaneohe Harbor in Oahu! Sailing photo credits- Leslie Richeter/ Rockskipper.com. For more Pacific Cup Race sailing information
J/92 Wins Malta-Syracuse Race!(Gzira, Malta)- Just recently, the 20 year old J/92 PEP (MLT 92), skippered by Peter Valentino, won the IRC class in the 56th edition of the Malta-Syracuse race, sailed each year since 1960 between Valletta, Malta and Syracuse, Sicily, and organized by the Royal Malta Yacht Club and the Lega Navale Italiana, over a distance 84 miles.
A total of 22 boats participated, with 5 yachts racing in the IRC class, which apart from PEP included a First 35 (ITA 16512), a J/122 (FRA37250), a Grand Soleil 40 (ITA2006 ) and an Oceanis 40 (MLT040).
According to PEP’s owners, Anton Valentino and Denis Azzopardi, “The race was held on the 19th July 2016, starting in about 10 -12 knots of wind at a tight gennaker angle and ending in a 20–25 knots headwind with fairly big seas. PEP was the smallest boat in the fleet of 22, but was the sixth boat to cross the finish line in Syracuse harbour, finishing the race in just under 15 hours! A great boat and a good crew get results!”
J/100 Smokes Connie Madeira Pursuit Race(Northeast Harbor, ME)- A wonderful picnic and hike on Baker Island was followed by a sprint home to Gilpatrick Cove- the home of the Northeast Harbor Fleet sailing club at the opening of the spectacular Somes Sound (famous as America’s only natural fjord). Racers were required to leave the green can at the SE corner of Baker to port before heading NW to the Fleet. The event is named in honor of Connie Madeira, a long-time generous contributor to the growth of sailing and youth sailing programs at the Northeast Harbor Fleet in Northeast Harbor, Maine. The event is a “pursuit style” race, where slowest boats start first and fastest last. Then, whoever crosses the finish line first wins!
The Luders 16 “Surprise”, with Chris Booher and Connor Ratcliff, were the first to take a right turn and sail down past Thumper, Thompson Ledges and the Islesford Gut. Henry Brauer’s J/100 FLEETWING and Scarlett Bee pursued them while the remainder of the fleet went the conventional route up the NE side of Islesford to Sutton’s Island.
Brauer’s FLEETWING swallowed Surprise in the Gut and charged ahead to secure victory. The little Luders 16 held off Scarlett Bee to take silver and bronze, respectively.
Extra thanks to Tucker Charles, Emma Rusk, and Bailey Stillman who helped shuttle folks into the island and made it very safe to get in and out of the skiff with a little swell roll. Jean Beaulieu and Sue Charles were a huge help on Shearwater, too.
The Great Harbor Dream Pursuit Race is next Sunday with slowest boat off at 1300. There is no entry fee but we sure hope as many people as possible will buy a ticket to the post-race party at The Fleet House. “Mr Nick and the Dirty Tricks” blues band, full bar open, and dinner with all proceeds benefiting the Great Harbor Dream supporting the MDI High School Team. Sustaining “the Dream” means contributing to the local community and providing this opportunity for local youth who are learning how to race competitively. Please bring your credit card and checkbook to the party!! This is the highlight of the entire summer season. Learn more about this sailing event here- http://www.nehfleet.org
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* J/36 JAZZ report- Norman Curnow sailed his J/36 JAZZ in the JP Morgan Round Island Race- he commented that, “JAZZ still a sizzler on the race course, this was her third time around the Isle of Wight. Ben and Bill Mataford, J/24 racers in and around Plymouth, came sailing with us. They race the J/24 JAM, a.k.a. ‘the red rocket’.I had the tiller up to the Needles. Then, Ben took over steering while Bill was on the main. The wind reached 40 knots down the back of the island! We just stormed along! Ultimately, we came in 9th in class. I came away pleased with our performance- the J/36 is still an amazing boat after all those years! She was Rod Johnstone’s boat as JAZZ back in 1980-1981!
* J/160 PIPE DREAM- Bahamas Report from Scott Piper. “Our last night in Bermuda had strong winds from the South. There was no way we wanted to go to the Bahamas in that strong headwind, so we anchored under an island and had a reasonably comfortable night. We left in the morning under less than perfect conditions, but it only got better.Four and a half days later, we were in the Abacos and spent 4 nights there. We then headed directly for Nassau pulling into the Atlantis Marina, the most expensive Marina that I have been to in the entire world. Mary and I checked into The Riu Paradise Island Resort and her children, grandchildren and my brother and sister in law all flew in to celebrate Mary's 70th birthday.
A few days later we celebrated Nancy's 67th. Everyone enjoyed being at the Atlantis Water Park, but the walking distance from the Riu to Atlantis was above my physical ability. However, I did do the shark slide.We got away after a week in Nassau and went to Chubb Cay. This island was recently bought and millions are being spent on it. Today we motored across the Grand Bahamas Bank. Getting into Bimini is never easy regarding depth, but I only touched twice. Now we are at The Big Game Club Marina, which was Ernest Hemingway's playground. We should be home and docked at Biscayne Bay YC the afternoon of July 26th!
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.
* The J/40 HERON REACH sailed by Virginia and Jerry is participating in the Blue Planet Odyssey project and have recently joined them in the Marquesas Islands in the Eastern Pacific. Learn more about their adventures and experiences here- http://heronreachodyssey.blogspot.com/
* 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, for 2015/ 2016! 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 regards their various improvements and refit to the boat (see above). They will again be based at Proper Yachts in St John, US Virgin Islands.
* Bill & Judy Stellin were interviewed 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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