Alcatel J/70 Cup Act III Preview(Riva del Garda, Italy)- The second Lake Garda event for the ALCATEL J/70 CUP takes place this weekend with a record-setting seventy-two boats registered. The host club, Fraglia Vela Riva, is looking forward to hosting the world championship caliber fleet; the Regatta Committee is chaired by Fabrizio Donato with PRO Fausto Maroni.
Hoping to “three-peat” the event is the winner of the past two editions, Franco Solerio's L’ELAGAIN. However, there are many top teams from sixteen nations (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey) participating in the regatta, many of whom are world championship caliber teams. The local Italian fleet has virtually all their top teams present, including newly crowned J/70 European Champion Claudia Rossi and her PETITE TERRIBLE crew, Vittorio di Mauro’s TCL SAILING TEAM, Luca Domenici’s NOTARO TEAM, and Carlo Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK.
The “foreign contingent” that will be doing their best to match the top Italian crews include Klaus Diem’s PFANDER from Austria, Patrick van Heurck’s JAXX from Belgium, Mauricio Santa Cruz’s MANDA CHUVA from Brazil, Peter Cunningham’s POWERPLAY from Cayman Islands, Jose Maria Torcida and Luis Martin Cabiedes sailing NOTICIA from Spain (2nd in the J/70 Europeans in the U.K.), Marco Schirato’s JAWS TOO from France, Jeremy Thorps PHAN from the U.K., Tobias Feuerherdt’s HANDWERKER from Germany, Sebastian Ripard’s CALYPSO from Malta, Vincenzo Onorato’s MASCALZONE LATINO and Stefano Roberti’s PICCININA from Monaco, Wouter Kollmann’s PLAY from The Netherlands, Krzysztof Krempec’s EWA from Poland, Valeriya Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE and Dmitri Shunin’s GOLDEN WING from Russia, Julian Flessati’s JILL from Switzerland, and Emir Icgoren’s AMEERA JET from Turkey! For more Alcatel J/70 Cup sailing information
Long Beach Race Week Preview(Long Beach, CA)- Co-hosted by Alamitos Bay YC and Long Beach YC, the Long Beach Race Week encompasses a combination of One-design and around the buoys/ random-leg racing in PHRF handicap classes all over San Pedro Bay using fixed navigational points, providing a variety of beating, reaching, and running.
The largest class at the event is the J/70s, with twenty-eight entrants vying for J/70 World’s qualifying spots for the 2018 event in Marblehead, MA. Teams from all over the West Coast and Mexico will be on the starting line. Notable teams include Jack Franco’s 3 BALL JT sailing with Bill Hardesty as tactician, Chris Snow’s COOL STORY BRO, Chris Raab’s SUGOI, Jeff Janov’s MINOR THREAT, Craig Tallman’s JAYA, Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER, Steve Hendricks’ MONKEY HOUSE, Pat Toole’s 3 BIG DOGS, Curt Johnson’s AVET 2.01, and Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE. The leading Mexican teams present include Ignacio Perez’s ZAGUERO and Luis Barrios’ ZUMBALE.
The J/120 fleet has five incredibly evenly matched teams participating, all of whom had won some event in J/120s over the years. The impossible to predict racing form includes John Laun’s CAPER, Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER, Ernie Pennell’s MAD MEN, Rudolph Hasl’s HASL FREE and John Snook’s JIM.
In the world of PHRF handicap racing, the PHRF Racing fleet includes David Boatner’s J/35 RIVAL and in the PHRF Random Leg fleet are Seth Hall’s J/124 MARISOL, Glenn Griley’s J/122 TKO, Jack Mayer’s J/109 ZEPHYR, and Tim Harmon’s J/124 CIRRUS. Sailing photo credits- Dave McBridge For more Long Beach Race Week sailing information
J/80 Pornic Cup Preview(Pornic, France)- The third event of the J/80 Coupe de France will be held in Pornic, France. Thirty boats are expected for the event, a popular one for the French J/80 fleet since it is a beautiful summer setting, the races are always perfectly run, and the hosts are impeccably gracious and welcoming of all the sailors.
Not surprisingly, the top J/80 teams in the 2017 J/80 circuit are participating, including most of all the top boats from the last event, the Grand Prix Ecole del Navale in Camaret-sur-Mer, France. The top of the leaderboard should see teams like Simon Moriceau’s ARMEN HABITAT, Eric Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR, Capucine Vitel’s VITEL SAILING TEAM, Luc Nadal’s GAN’JA, and Patrick Bot’s ECOLE NAVALE CG 29. For more J/80 Pornic Cup sailing information
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
It was a busy mid-June sailing across the world, whether in the America’s or across the European continent. In North America, the Bermuda One-Two reached its conclusion with a great outcome for a J/133 and J/35. On Lake Erie, the Cleveland Race Week was hosted for one-design classes of J/70s, J/22s, J/24s, and J/105s at Edgewater YC. Down in Texas, the J/22 U.S. Sailing Youth Championship took place in Forth Worth, TX at Fort Worth Boat Club. Then, out West was the famous Farallones Race off San Francisco, CA for doublehanded and fully crewed boats that saw J/120s, J/90, J/105s and others partake in the mad dash offshore. Finally, in the Pacific Northwest, the Van Isle 360 Race continues to take place- basically a massive “round island” event that is Vancouver Island, for a J/122E, J/125 and J/109s and a J/30.Down in South America, we find the J/70 South Americans qualifiers were sailed in the Pacific Ocean off Algarrobo, Chile, hosted by the Cofradía Nautica sailing club.
Hopping across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, there was a lot of one-design and offshore activity as well. For starters, there were three sailing league events in J/70s: the Norwegian J/70 Sailing League in Sandefjord, Norway; the German J/70 Sailing League in Kiel, Germany; and the Danish J/70 Sailing League in Brejning, Denmark. Over in the United Kingdom, we find that several J/Boats sailed successfully in the RORC East Coast Race off Harwichport. And, the J/80 UK Nationals hosted a very competitive fleet off Hamble, England at Royal Southern YC- home for the upcoming J/80 World Championship.
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:
Jun 16-18- J/70 Great Lakes Championship- Cleveland, OHJun 16-18- Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH
Jun 17-18- British J/80 National Championship- Southampton, England
Jun 17-25- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany
Jun 18-23- Block Island Race Week- Block Island, RI
Jun 18-23- J/109 North American Championship- Block Island, RI
Jun 29- Jul 1- J/70 Nordic Championship- Hanko, Norway
Jul 8-14- J/80 World Championship- Hamble, England
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Golison Wins J/70s @ Cleveland Race WeekMO’MONEY Tops J/22 Great Lakes Championship
(Cleveland, OH)- In one of the largest Cleveland Race Week events ever, 138 one-design boats were welcomed at Edgewater Yacht Club for the 37th annual Cleveland Race Week One-Design Weekend from June 15th to 18th. One-design fleets that participate include J/22, J/70, J/24, and J/105 classes. And, the PHRF Division has nine racing divisions and three JAM divisions. This year’s event is also the Great Lakes Championship for J/22s and J/70s.
J/70s started their Great Lakes Championship on Friday with sixteen boats. After seven races in three days, Bruce Golison and his crew out of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club on the J/70 MIDLIFE CRISIS, went home with the title and 17 points. Trey Sheehan and his crew on HOOLIGAN: FLAT STANLEY RACING placed second with 24 points, Dave Koski on SOUL came in third with 33 points, in fourth place was James Prendergast on USA 167 with 36 points, Lee Sackett on USA 364 placed fifth with 37 points and in sixth was Tod Sackett’s FM with 39 points. Sheehan and Koski qualified for open berths and both Sackett teams, as Corinthians, to the J/70 World Championship in Marblehead, MA next fall. Additionally, Trey Sheehan, from the ILYA Area E, earned a berth for the Mallory Cup in St. Petersburg, FL this November.
The eleven-boat J/22 fleet from across five states in the northeast and midwest saw Victor Snyder and Kevin Doyle on MO’ MONEY out of Youngstown Yacht Club take the overall title, winning four of six races. Second was Mark Stuhlmiller’s EUDAIMONIA with 19 pts, third was John Huebschmann’s ESCAPE with 23 pts, fourth was David McBrier’s VAMANOS/ HARDWARECHIMP.COM with 26 pts, and fifth was Scott Gelo’s VENTUS with 28 pts.The J/105s had five local boats, and Chip Schaffner and team on FALL LINE placed first in class with 12 points after seven races and taking four 1sts along the way. Taking the silver was Robert Mock’s UNBRIDLED and sitting in the bronze position on the podium were the Uhlir Brothers on TRIO.
The nine-boat J/24 class has incredibly spirited competition. Winning his class with three bullets in six races was Ryan Lashaway’s ESCAPE PLAN on an equal points tiebreaker over John O’Brien’s FLY BY. Third on the podium was Park McRitchie’s NO B.S. with 18 pts.
Following racing each day, competitors were greeted with live music, food trucks and cocktails. The Race Committee did an outstanding job on all four courses and in all weather conditions. Following two days off, Cleveland Race Week starts up again with the Junior Day on Wednesday, and Women’s, Doublehanded and RC Boat Racing Wednesday evening. Offshore Racing will begin on Thursday evening and continue through the weekend. For more Cleveland Race Week sailing information
Sproul Crowned British J/80 National Champion(Southampton, England)- Over the June 17-18 weekend, the Royal Southern Yacht Club, in conjunction with the UK J/80 Class Association, welcomed nineteen teams for their U.K. J/80 Nationals. The event was good training program to tune up boats, sails, and teamwork in preparation for the J/80 World Championship the second week of July that will be held at the same venue (http://www.royal-southern.co.uk/J80-Worlds-2017).
After a full-on schedule of nine races, it was Great Britain’s own Kevin Sproul on J.A.T. that won the UK National Champion title with his crew of Helen Yates, Adrian Gray, and Chris Fisher. In fact, British teams swept the top five in what bodes well for a strong British performance at the upcoming World Championship.
For the balance of the podium, it was a battle for 2nd place with just one point separating the two teams. Starting out slowly, but closing with three bullets in a row in the last three races was Luke Patience’s RYOKO MEKA. However, that was still not enough to overcome the more consistent Jon Powell on the famous BETTY that took the silver. Rounding out the top five were Chris Body’s MOCKING JAY in 4th place and Nick Haigh’s SLIGHTLY STEAM in 5th position. For more UK J/80 Nationals sailing information
Team VOLVO Wins Chile J/70 South Americans Qualifiers(Algarrobo, Chile)- The third and final leg of the Chile J/70 Class qualifiers for the 2017 J/70 South American Championship that will be taking place from October 27th to November 1st was just completed. Host for both events was Cofradía Nautica in Algarrobo. The conditions for the weekend event were excellent, with moderate breezes on Saturday and 12-17 kts on Sunday in reasonably cool fall sailing conditions on the Pacific Ocean in Algarrobo Bay. While there has been great skiing this fall just 150 miles away in the Andes Mountains, a group of fifteen boats were having an excellent time racing. The courses were long, cold and choppy, so the crews need to manage the wave patterns, especially on port tack getting to the weather mark. The wind was sometimes shifting right and sometimes shifting left at the very end of the course in the left corner, mostly close to the shore- very challenging for all crews, to say the least!
Going into the final weekend qualifier event, Matías Seguel’s VOLVO team had already a good lead over BLACK SAILS (Per Von Appen) and SENSEI (Carlos Vergara), but they wanted to further increase their lead. Plus, the fleet saw the participation of Tito González (5 times Lightning World Champion and top J/24 sailor) at the helm of WILD SAILS, so it was a like mini-South Americans with most of the best skippers and crews of Chile sailing together.
Seguel’s VOLVO Team had a good performance on Saturday, but managed to close with a 2-2-1 on Sunday to win the regatta as well as the overall qualifying series. Vergara’s SENSEI very talented team sailed well to take 2nd place over BLACK SAILS that was skippered by Dag Von Appen (he replace his brother who was sick). In 4th place was LEXUS skippered by Felipe Robles and fifth went to Pablo Amunategui and crew onboard BLACK JACK.
The next regatta for the Chilean J/70 fleet takes place on August 26 and 27 at the Cofradía Nautica Anniversary Regatta. What is exciting is the fleet in Chile is now composed by 27 boats and there are 4 on there way to Chile, so we expect to have 31 boats by the middle of July and hope we can get to 20 boats at the starting line on August 26th! Then, everyone will be looking forward to the next regatta- the J/70 South American Championship held by Cofradía Náutica del Pacífico (October 27th to November 1st)!
Van Isle 360 Race Midway Regatta Report(Vancouver, BC, Canada)- Taking place from June 10th to 24th has been the famous Pacific Northwest truly massive “Round Island Race”, one of the world’s longest at 600nm+ (only Round Britain & Ireland is longer!). In this year’s event, there have been thirty keelboats participating in the infamous race, of which seven of them are J/teams (23% of the fleet!). There are nine individual point-to-point races that comprise the entire score for the Van Isle 360, your basic circumnavigation of Vancouver Island! Here is the breakdown for each leg:
- Date Start Finish NM
- 10-Jun Nanaimo Comox 37.4nm
- 11-Jun Comox Campbell River 27.6nm
- 12-Jun Deepwater Bay Hardwicke Island 24.2nm
- 13-Jun Hardwicke Island Telegraph Cove 41.0nm
- 15-Jun Telegraph Cove Port Hardy 28.7nm
- 16-Jun Port Hardy Winter Harbour 69.1nm
- 18-Jun Winter Harbour Ucluelet 138.1nm
- 21-Jun Ucluelet Victoria 98.2nm
- 23-Jun Victoria Nanaimo 59.9nm
“Day 6 - Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy: Winds up to 40 knots, 10 foot rolling waves, hail and rain, multiple blown spinnakers, round ups, a blown main, a lost rudder, broken spreaders, bent spinnaker poles... and a quick trip to Port Hardy for most! It was sketchy out there to say the least, but everyone made it back to port safe! Resting in Port Hardy till tomorrow's race to Winter Harbour!Day 7 & 8 - Port Hardy to Winter Harbour: Just about every type of wind condition you can get, ruled this 80 nm race. Started off slow, some nice winds before hitting Nahwitti Bar and a nice run until winds died again at the finish. We had amazing sunset, despite the challenging conditions!
Day 9 & 10 - Winter Harbour to Ucluelet: That was a brutal leg. Winds starting in the 30 knots, waves up to 12 feet tall... crazy cold and bumpy, 138nm race took us over 33 hours to complete. Winds and surf lightened up towards the finish. Thank the universe I can fall asleep anywhere, or I'm not sure how I'd make it through that leg of the race!”
So far, the John Murkowski’s J/122E JOY RIDE (https://www.facebook.com/joyridesailing) has been leading her fleet. However, the duo of Jason Andrews & Shawn Dougherty’s J/125 HAMACHI (http://hamachiracing.blogspot.com) have been catching up fast on the “ocean” legs versus the “straits legs” that JOY RIDE seemed to enjoy! Through leg six, JOY RIDE was leading, with Ron Holbrook’s J/133 CONSTELLATION in third and HAMACHI in fourth place overall in the entire fleet.
The HAMACHI blog commented on their experiences so far: “we just crushed Leg 5 of the Van Isle 360. Winds were 30 plus kts at the start and averaged 15 to 25 with peak of 35 kts. We started under reefed main and J4, and then set the A3. We covered 29 nm in 2.5 hours taking line honors for the fleet (ahead of Smoke who split their main at the start) and allegedly set a course record. We saw 20.5 kts of boat speed and averaged high teens. The boat beautifully handled 4-6 ft seas. We could do this every race! It was a great couple of days racing around the north end of Vancouver Island and through the Johnstone Strait. Beautiful vistas, fast currents (5-6 kts helping and hurting) and good fleet. Its been all upwind so far in 4-20 kts and Hamachi has held her own, although we don’t understand ORC scoring. Hamachi took division line honors on Day 4.The two J/109’s (Tom Sitar’s J/109 SERENDIPITY and Mark Hansen’s J/109 MOJO) were 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in ORC 2 division after six legs. And, Mardy Grossman & Scott Shaw-MacLaren’s J/30 NATURAL HIGH that have been sailing Doublehanded Division and were in first at the sixth leg point in the race. In other words, an amazing performance by the intrepid adventurers aboard the J/Boats in this tough, but spectacular event. For more Van Isle 360 sailing information
J/Crews Dominate Doublehanded Farallones Race!(San Francisco, CA)- The famous Farallones Islands Race, the often brutal 58nm course that goes from inside San Francisco Bay, out around the Farallones Island to port and back to the finish line on the San Francisco city waterfront saw some great performances by J/Crews this past weekend. This year there were seventy keelboat teams participating, fifteen of which were J/crews (21% of the fleet)!
In the twelve-boat Doublehanded Class, sweeping the top two spots were Sean & Jeff Mulvihill’s J/120 JAMANI in first place, followed by David Morris and Neal Barth’s J/90 RAGTIME in second place!
In the large PHRF 2 Class, a fully-crewed division, it was Doug Bailey’s J/105 AKULA that placed 2nd, with crew of Caspian Bailey, Lyndon Bailey, Collin Breakstone, Les Yamamoto, and Roberto Giramonti. Then, in PHRF 1 Class, taking 8th was Tracy Rogers’ J/120 HOKULANI and in 10th was Graham Ellis’ J/124 ALBION. For more Farallones Race sailing information
J/111 DJINN Wins RORC East Coast Race(Harwich, United Kingdom)- Here is the report from Sébastien de Liedekerke, owner of the J/111 DJINNN about their recent experience sailing the RORC East Coast Race:
“The RORC East Coast Race 2017 was the third offshore race of the season for DJINN and her crew, starting from Burnham-on-Crouch near Harwich (Thames Estuary) and finishing in Oostende (Belgium), for a good 130 nautical miles of zig-zagging between the wind farms of the Southern North Sea.
DJINN had a good downwind start, crossing the line ahead of the IRC 1-2 fleet. The first three hours of racing, extracting ourselves progressively from River Crouch in very fluky winds and strong currents, were especially challenging and, as we missed a few gusts, two of our IRC 2 competitors managed to build a nice half-mile lead on us.
As wind conditions stabilized, we started catching up on them and by midnight we were in the lead again. With light Westerlies of 5-13kt, flat water and a 100% reaching and broad-reaching course, the conditions were ideal for DJINN and her crew to build progressively a significant gap with key competitors and to finish largely ahead of the pack in Oostende after 20 hours and 26 minutes of racing and despite dying winds again...This was supposed to be "just" another Fastnet qualifier for our crew, with no one expecting anything special from it in terms of results, and yet... we ended up coming back home with some silverware ... a lot of silverware actually!
- Ailish Salver trophy for 1st yacht home (line honours)
- Blackwater Cup for 1st yacht in IRC 1-2 class
- Bob Stewart Trophy for 1st yacht in IRC overall
Fellow J/Boats crew in the Race included the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram, 7th overall) sailing two-handed and the J/120 JAMEERAH (Simon Ruffles, 8th overall) sailing fully crewed and preparing for Rolex Fastnet Race as well.A big thanks and congratulations to the DJINN crew (Sebastien de Liedekerke, Sylvain Duprey, Andy Hoefig, Bertrand Lefebvre and Florence Hubert) for a wonderful three days of sailing to the UK & back! We cannot wait to gather again with the rest of the Fastnet gang (Sandra Gottcheiner, Yan Trouwen and Thibaud de Fraipont) for the RORC Channel Race in July, our next offshore challenge - and last preparatory race before Rolex Fastnet Race in August!
Wood Crowned U.S. Youth Match Racing Champ!(Fort Worth, TX)– Sunday marked the conclusion of a successful and fun five day event at the Fort Worth Boat Club, host to the 2017 U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup that was sailed in evenly matched J/22 one-design class sailboats. This US Sailing Championship was exceptionally special for David Wood (Corona del Mar, Calif.) and his Southern California based team comprised of Max Brennan (Newport Beach, Calif.), Catherine Reynolds (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Jeffery Petersen (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Despite placing in the middle of the standings following stage one’s round robin, Wood and crew picked up momentum through the Knock-out rounds to win the championship. Wood was ranked fifth out of 10 teams following the round robin and defeated fourth ranked Jack Reiter (San Diego, Calif.), 3-0, on Saturday. They went on to up-end number one ranked Porter Killan (Newport Beach, Calif.) Sunday morning in the semifinals, 3-1, after dropping the first race of the series, Wood blanked Jack Parkin (Riverside, Conn.), 3-0, in Sunday’s final series. Parkin’s second place team includes crewmates Robbie Nicholls (Houston, Texas), Christina Sakellaris (Milton, Mass.) and Wiley Rogers (Houston, Texas).
Wood receives an invitation to the 2017 Governor’s Cup on July 17-22 at the Balboa Yacht Club in Corona del Mar, Calif. and qualifies for the 2017 Oakcliff Halloween Invitational on October 28-29 at Oakcliff Sailing in Oyster Bay, N.Y. The Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Award was awarded to the team of Porter Killian, John Horton (Newport Beach, Calif.), Robert Garrett (Newport Coast, Calif.) and Victoria Thompson (Newport Beach, Calif.), after receiving votes from their fellow competitors.In the round robin, each team raced six or seven matches on Friday and completed the stage on Saturday. Killian took control of the number one ranking with eight points through nine races. The top eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals.
Teams raced in 10 mph winds from the South/Southwest for most of Friday, with diminishing breeze in the afternoon on Eagle Mountain Lake. On Saturday, winds were in the 10-12 mph range with gusts exceeding 15. Conditions on Sunday morning were in the 6-8 mph range with gusts reaching 15 early in the afternoon.
In its brief, yet impactful history on the match racing circuit, this invitational event for 16 to 20 year olds has served as an outstanding training ground for young sailors who are passionate about match racing and focused on competing at the next level.
Ten teams of four, consisting of at least one female crew per boat, raced in J/22 one-design sailboats this week. Coaching and instruction played a major role in these sailors’ experience this week in Fort Worth. Five-time U.S. Match Racing Champion, Dave Perry, along with Mike Pinckney and two-time Rose Cup winner Christophe Killian conducted a North U Advanced Match Racing Clinic on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The Clinic included long days of training on the water, presentations on all aspects of match racing with video debrief.“This was by far one of the best youth match racing events I’ve ever seen,” said Perry. “The Fort Worth Boat Club did its usual amazing job, the race management was perfect, and the 40 competitors, including 11 girls, competed at a high level.”
Originally known as the Rose Cup, this event was founded by members of the Balboa Yacht Club and the Newport-Balboa Sailing & Seamanship Association (NBSSA), and was started as an invitational youth match race event in 2010. The mission is to promote youth match racing in the U.S. and improve the skills of racers from around the country in national and international competition. In 2015, US Sailing elevated the Rose Cup to an official US Sailing National Championship.
This regatta was the first of two US Sailing National Championships in the match racing discipline this year. Oakcliff Sailing will host the U.S. Match Racing Championship in October. For more J/22 US Youth Match Racing sailing information
YC Furesoen Win Danish J/70 Sailing League Act II(Brejning, Denmark)- The Yacht Club Furesøen’s “Red Stars” took the competition by storm and came from a 14th place in the first regatta to become the winner of Brejning event! The wind was very varied and at times it was difficult for the sailors (and event leader) to see the exact wind conditions. It blew up late for the finale on Sunday, and it gave the last few races a little extra thrill to the public.
The spectators at Brejning Lystbådehavn got a rare experience when some of Denmark's best sailors in the J/70 class, several of them Olympic sailors, participated in the Danish Championship for sailing clubs at Brejning. In fact, the possibility of getting so close to the racing was precisely why Brejning Marina had been chosen in front of Vejle Harbor according to Danish Sailing Sport League director Nynne Mortensen.
"We want to have the audience as close as possible. It has been an issue for sailing; it's simply too far away that people cannot see what's going on. So, when we visited the harbor in Brejning half a year ago, we said that an extra dock and public places should be built if the competition should be here. And so, they built it, it's absolutely exceptional,” said Ms. Mortensen.
As something new, the audience was treated to a famous local personality who has been active at the Brejning Båtklub since the 1970s. Wearing his straw hat and standing in the small gazebo on the end of the pier, Steffen Bøllund provided live commentary over the local radio and loudspeakers so that people could understand what was going on out on the water.Winning five of the 12 races sailed, the Yachtklubben Furesoen won the regatta quite easily. Taking second in a battle for a top five position was Frederikshavn Sejklub with 31 pts. Just one point back was Skovshoved Sejlklub with 32 pts. Then, rounding out the top five was Kertemeinde Sejlklub with 35 pts. It was very close sailing for all the clubs and that produced some changes in the overall leader standings for the series.
The series standings after the Struer and Brejning events sees Frederikshavn Sejlklub still leading with a 1-2 for 3 pts total. Second is Kerteminde Sejlkliub with a 2-4 series score for 6 pts. In this is Skovshoved Sejlklub with a 4-3 for 7 pts. The rest of the top five includes KDY in fourth place with a 3-5 score 8 pts and in fifth position is Kalovig Badelaug with a 5-7 for 12 pts. Follow the Danish J/70 sailing league on Facebook here For more Danish J/70 Sailing League information
NRV Lead J/70 German Sailing League Act III(Kiel, Germany)- After a slow start in the first event and beginning to pick up steam after their second event in the J/70 Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) team with the former Olympic sailor Tobias Schadewaldt on board managed to hang on to win their first event of the 2017 season! Their team of Tobias Schadewaldt, Daniel Reichart, Florian Weser, and Klaas Höpcke sailed constantly to the front of the fleet in different wind conditions. But, not everything was perfect with the NRV team. "Although we made too many mistakes at the start, we were able to make good use of our chances in the race course," explained a visibly pleased Tobias Schadewaldt. There’s was not an easy win over the fleet.
The second place team was Segelkameradschaft “Wappen von Bremen” (SWB) that consisted of Gordon Nickel, Thomas Dehler, Klaas Simon, and Morten Nickel. There were just 2.6 points back from the NRV all-stars. According to Morten Nickel, "We had hoped for a podium spot on the Kiel Fjord. It was a big surprise for us to take second place!”The team from the Berliner Yacht Club (Philipp Bruhns, Valentin Gebhardt, Maximilian Nickel, Max Wohlfeil) finished third with 41 points. Then, rounding out the top five was determined by a tie-breaker on 44 pts each between Lubecker YC and Bayerischer YC, with LYC winning the count-back.
As a result, after three events in the DSBL (Prien/ Lindau/ Kiel), the NRV had found themselves back on top of the leaderboards with a 10-2-1 record for 13 pts! Even they were shocked by the turn-about of events after this past weekend. Second is now Segel-und Motorboot Club Uberlingen with a 1-4-10 tally for 15 pts, dropping down from the top of the leaderboard in dramatic fashion. Then, third is currently determined on a tie-break between Berliner YC and Deutscher Touring YC at 16 pts each, with the nod going to BYC. Sitting in fifth place is Bayerischer YC with 18 pts. Follow the J/70 Deutsche Segelbundesliga on Facebook here. For more J/70 German Sailing League information
Risor SF Leads Norwegian J/70 Sailing League(Sandefjord, Norway)- There was a hard fight for the top of the leaderboard in Sandefjord this past weekend. But in the end, Bundefjorden SF had to be beat by Risør SF in the final race to win the regatta. In the end, it was hard to overcome the formidable team from Risor, they also won in Oslo. There were fourteen teams participating with a total of 42 races between the 15 teams.
The sailors in the 2nd Division in the Seilsports League got great weather for the weekend. A pretty and relatively stable breeze filled the Sandefjord both days, and it was perfect for tanning and for close and sunny sailing.
"It was windy or it simply disappeared in the last race, and luckily, it went our way," said a satisfied Morten Røisland, skipper from Risør SF.
Askøy Sailing Association took an honorable third place in the weekend's racing - only three points behind the second place. The home-team Sandefjord SF also sailed well to take fourth place. Fifth position went to Alesunds SF.
After two regattas in the Norwegian J/70 Sailing League, Risør SF has a clear leadership with a 1-1 tally for 2 pts. Askøy SF, is second with two 3rd places. Meanwhile, to balance of the top five is up for grabs between the next few teams. Bundefjorden SF took a jump in the standings up to third overall by virtue of an 8-2 record for 10 pts. They are tied with Alesunds that have a 5-5 tally for ten points, but lose the tiebreak on countback. Then Hurum SF is sitting in fifth place with a 2-9 for 11 pts after their disappointing weekend's performance. More drama is sure to come with these teams in their upcoming events as they explore how to get off the proverbial monster roller-coaster scorelines! Follow the Norwegian J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here For more Norwegian J/70 Sailing League information
Bermuda One-Two- J/133 and J/35 Triumphant(Newport, RI)- Over the past fortnight or so, a small fleet of intrepid adventurers partook in the 635nm Bermuda One-Two Race, an event that starts in Newport off Fort Adams, finishes off St David’s Head Lighthouse in Bermuda, then returns to Newport. The first leg out to Bermuda is singlehanded and the return trip is doublehanded.
The two J/teams that took place in this year’s event both placed in their respective divisions. Clay Burkhalter and Rod Johnstone sailed the J/133 J-HAWK to a 2-4 record for 6 pts ended up third place in Class 1.
Meanwhile, Paul Grimes sailed the J/35 BREAKAWAY to a 1-2 tally for 3 pts for first place in Class 2!
Here is the report on how the second leg of the Bermuda One-Two race took place, as observed by Rod Johnstone on the J/133 J-HAWK:
“The doublehanded leg was a great ride during which we took an early lead in fleet by heading NNE on port tack to get to the frontal easterly breeze first. We slowly got ground down on day two by the water ballasted Class 40s and the daggerboard and canting keeled Elliot 35 once the breezy easterly kicked in. At one point, we were leading the fleet by over five miles late the first night.
Starting Friday night, we sailed bare-headed for twenty hours after wrapping our chute tight around the genoa. We used all our spare halyards to wrap up all the air bubbles in 20 knot winds and big choppy seas. We were Main only for twenty hours, it was too dangerous to fix the problem sooner. Then, we ran under barepoles downwind for over half an hour late Saturday afternoon, while I hoisted Clay aloft to retrieve the halyard off the top of the wrapped A-sail. The YB tracker shows how slow we were going bare-headed. I figured we lost over two knots on average when we only had the main up. That would be about fifty miles or more counting the final three hours of the race where we probably lost more. Would that have been enough to win our class, fleet, and the whole thing? Maybe not, but it would have been close.We then hoisted our big reacher A-sail and flew it as tight as we could for over 24 hours in a SW wind for over 200 miles directly for Newport. 23 miles from the finish going 10-14 knots we realized we would not fetch. So we doused the A-sail, headed up, and slogged to the finish in the fog for the next three hours at about seven knots.
On the bright side, we never had to go upwind without a headsail in light air. We would probably still be out there flipping to see who would get to eat the last pretzels!
I had a great time doing this race with Clay, as I always have sailing with him on many occasions in the last 53 years!” For more Bermuda One-Two Race sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
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* Here is a nice "Welcome" video from the Mexican J/70 Class and Club de Vela La Pena to the women sailing in the International Women's Keelboat Championship in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Please share it with your friends!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF8dP4qXuqg
* Preparing for Success- Joel Ronning’s Catapult (USA) took top honors at the 2016 Alcatel J/70 World Championship, beating a field of 68 boats on San Francisco Bay. Preparation was key to their success, as the investment in crew (John Kostecki, Chris Stocke and Patrick Wilson), training, and coach support (Grant “Fuzz” Spanhake) was at a level few teams could match.
In a report by Wilson for the J/70 class, we provide some of the team’s winning tips that are relevant for most boat types.
I am going to discuss a few important topics on boat preparation, as well as the process my team and I go through on our boat Catapult prior to the first race of each day. As with many things in sailing, there is no absolute right or wrong way to prepare for a regatta. The key is finding a routine that works best for you and your team.Sailing is a complex and complicated sport that involves countless variables both in and out of your control. Whether you are competing in your local weekend event or a major international regatta, planning and preparation can be used to give yourselves the best opportunity for success.
Boat Preparation
1. Rig Tune: Having a proper and repeatable base setting for your rig is critical to boat speed. Make sure to use the correct tuning guide depending on which brand of sails you use. In my experience, all the guides are quite accurate and a good place to start. They are a guide so make minor tweaks and changes over time to fit your boat and style of sailing.
The dock tune will get you close, but do not hesitate to add a half turn to one side and take a half turn off the opposite to get the mast in column while sailing. Once you have established your base, calipering the rig is the next step. Using calipers, measure the distance between the studs of the turnbuckle for the lower, uppers and forestay.
On Catapult, we write the numbers on the deck next to each shroud in a permanent marker. With these numbers, it is easier to tune the boat from the time you first step the mast, as well as day to day during an event. Also, if you ever lose track of turns on the water, you can easily get back to base.
2. Know Your Settings: One of the easiest and most commonly overlooked practices in boat preparation is having meticulous marks and number scales on everything. The ability to have easily repeatable settings on all major sail controls is critical to maintaining good boat speed.
Taking the time to accurately and symmetrically mark your boat is something everyone can do that will sharpen your learning curve and keep you going faster more of the time. Off of the starting line, around the leeward mark, and from tack to tack, the ability to get in your mode quickly is critical and starts with good marks on the boat.
3. Boat Diet: Going through your boat prior to regattas and only taking required equipment, minimal tools and spares is a good habit to get into. Over time, we tend to acquire more stuff and before you know it, the boat is full of unnecessary items.
Pre-Race Preparation
As previously mentioned, having a routine prior to the first race of each day will not only give you a tactical look at the conditions for the day but also gives you a chance to warm-up so you can be confident going into the first race. Below is a quick look at our process on Catapult.
1. Timing: Depending on the venue and distance to the race course, we leave the dock to ensure we are at the starting area between 45 minutes to one hour prior to the first race. This ensures we have an adequate amount of time to prepare for the day.
2. Upwind/Tuning: On the way to the race course, it is the ideal time to estimate the rig tune based on the current conditions. It is quite easy to convince yourself as a team that everything feels good going upwind without lining up against another boat.
I have made the mistake of going upwind without lining up against another boat, only to realize during the race that our upwind speed was below average. Often times, the mistake made is to keep sailing in the lineup even when your setup is off. You can always find another lineup.
3. Downwind Run: After we are satisfied with our upwind setup, we return downwind to the starting line. It is essential that the driver is placing the boat at the proper angle out of the hoist for a quick exit out of the offset. Having telltales on the shrouds will give you a great sense of where the bow should be, whether its bow up and planing or VMG running. Downwind for me is all about communication between the driver and trimmer. It takes time to find your rhythm, but when in doubt, communicate more.
4. Starting Line Preparation: Now that we are pleased with our speed and setup, we shift our focus to the starting line. In the last few years, pinging the line has become instrumental for starting. When pinging, it is important to have the boat at your approximately close-hauled angle and boat speed at a minimum. As the GPS updates twice a second, having the boat at a slow speed and avoiding drastic course changes are crucial to an accurate ping.
It is important to pay close attention to conditions that will make pings inaccurate. For example, Charleston in changing tides, offshore in big waves, changing wind velocities or a dragging anchor can all make the ping inaccurate. When possible, sailing up to the middle of the line to check the ping is always beneficial. Having a line sight as a backup and being aware of when the ping is off can save your regatta.
5. Final Rig Check: With around 10 minutes to the start, my team has a discussion about the rig. Discussing changes since the lineup, along with forecast trends for the day (dying verses building breeze) will help hedge your bets since you don’t have the ability to change the rig during the race. If you do make a change and time allows, always go upwind even if only for 30 seconds and test the new setting.
Conclusion
Proper preparation is key for success. It allows you to focus on tactics and have confidence in your marks for boat speed once on the race course. It also helps minimize the risk of gear failures and other malfunctions during races, allowing you and your team to have the most success and enjoyable time racing.
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 and points further around the Blue Planet Earth. Here is their latest update (December 2016) from Bill & Kathy:“We completed a three year tour of the south pacific and sailed from Hobart Tasmania back to Seattle in the fall of 2012. After two seasons of local cruising, we decided to truck the boat to Rochester NY. In the summer of 2015, we sailed out the Saint Lawrence seaway and down the east coast of Nova Scotia and the US, with a few months in the Bahamas that winter. This past summer, we crossed the Atlantic with stops in Bermuda and the Azores, making landfall in Falmouth, UK. We have worked down the coast of France, Spain and Portugal and are now in Lagos Portugal. We plan on passing through the Straits of Gibraltar and spending a couple seasons in the Med.”
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. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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