Wednesday, May 22, 2013

J/Newsletter- May 22nd, 2013

J/70 one-design sailboat- sailing with women's teamJ/70 @ Sanctuary Cove Show 
 (Sanctuary Cove, Australia)- This coming weekend, the J/70 will debut at the 25th Anniversary Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show from May 23rd to 26th. Located on the gorgeous "Gold Coast" of Queensland in eastern Australia (just south of Brisbane), be sure to take a hike with your family and friends to enjoy the fabulous beaches, islands and learn more about how the J/70 can be your next trailer-sailer for your "mates, kids and the ladies".

Women sailing on water- J/70 is the ultimate choice for women sailingIn fact, speaking of the ladies, the show features "Women on Water- High Tea on the High Seas" on Saturday and Sunday!  Ladies, leave the men at the Boat Show and embark on one of two special cruises full of fun and frivolity! Hosted by Channel 7 personalities, Kimberley Busteed and Liz Cantor, enjoy two hours cruising, complimentary bubbles, a light lunch, pampering sessions, on-board entertainment, prizes and gifts! "WoW Seminars" for the women also include Women J/70 sailors can win silver, too!"How to Furnish you boat" hosted by BoatStyle, "Basics of Sailing" hosted by Sunshine Sailing Australia, and "Look Your Best on Your Boat" hosted by Hypoxi Body Botique.  Sorry guys, none of this is for you.

In fact, the perfect W.O.W. sailboat is the J/70 trailerable speedster!  Easy-to-sail even in 20+ kts breeze racing, a frolic for the ladies for a bubbly champagne evening sunset sail.  Like this gorgeous, fashionable woman seen here winning silverware sailing her J/70!

Please be sure to contact J/Dealer Yachtspot at "info@yachtspot.com.au" or telephone- +61-2-9449-4976 for a demo sail or appointment at the show!   For more J/70 and Sanctuary Cove Boat Show information

J/105 JADED sailing Block Island RaceBlock Island Race Preview
(Stamford, CT)- Ushered in with snow and rain, a messy spring in the Northeast looks to be giving way to more acceptable conditions for Memorial Day Weekend and the Storm Trysail Club’s 68th Block Island Race that coincides with it. An end of spring classic, this 186nm race going sailing out of Long Island Sound to Block Island and return is an annual rite of passage for many racing yachts.

The course itself is both elegant in its simplicity, but maddeningly devilish in how to execute the right tactics and strategies based on the weather and currents.  Basically, you start in Stamford, go out of Long Island Sound, rounding Block Island clockwise (leaving it to starboard), then back through The Race to Stamford.  The BIG issue is where to go through the infamous "Race"- Plum Gut south of Plum Island, through the middle, or along the Connecticut shore and Fisher's Island to the north.

J/35 Paladin leading start at Block Island Race“The natural obstruction of Plum Island, which lies about 60 miles off the start, forces navigators to decide whether to take the passage of Plum Gut or The Race (or in some rare instances, Fishers Island Sound), and the decision often determines the outcome of the race,” said Event Chair Ray Redniss.  He added that Long Island Sound, an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, is situated between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south and that with eight million people living within its watershed, it’s no wonder that the Connecticut cities of Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, Southport and Stamford as well as the New York cities of Bay Shore, Brooklyn, Larchmont and New York City are well represented by the 63 boats signed up, thus far, in six IRC and two PHRF classes as well as a one-design class for J/109s and en enormous contingent of J/sailors in the Double-handed Division."

Rambler’s Project Manager, Mick Harvey, also adds that the race is extremely challenging for a number of reasons. “Firstly it is very early in the season, late spring really, so the race is subject to cooler seawater temperature and relatively fast passage of weather systems across the course. The land mass in Connecticut is relatively cool this time of the year; however, in the right weather conditions, it can become quite warm during daylight hours. You can have situations where there are two sea breezes fighting each other, one on the Connecticut shore and one on the Long Island shore.”

Harvey also mentioned the “big tidal features” at Plum Gut and The Race as contributing to an “interesting, tricky race. Every time we do this race it's different, and no doubt you will learn something new, however, what you learn most likely will not be applicable to the next edition of the race,” said Harvey. “It’s like a long day race where you have a basic plan based on forecasting and tides, but then you have to be able to change your plan and adapt quickly to changing conditions during the course of the race.”

Over the course of time, various J/Teams have learned to master the course better than most-- one where keeping your "eyes wide open" and thinking "outside of the box" is an enormous help as the weather changes across the course.  Races have been won and lost everywhere on the course, including the first 10 miles and the last 10 miles!

J/44 sailing Block Island Race fast!The largest contingent of J's will be participating in the IRC Double-Handed class.  With eight of thirteen boats, it's likely that one or more J/Teams will be taking home some silverware.  The smallest J, Todd Aven's J/92 THIN MAN, is also one of the most experienced and can be dangerously quick if there's any prolonged reaching involved.  Multiple Block Island Race and Bermuda Race One-Two winner, Jason Richter, will certainly be a factor on his famous J/35 PALADIN.  One of the "sleepers" in the race that could lead the pack is Adrian Little's J/100 FLASHPOINT.  The class as well as the overall IRC teams will also have to contend with the J/105 JADED sailed by Peter Rugg-- both a class and overall winner in the Block Island Race in the past.  Two J/109s are sailing, Andrew Berdon's STRIDER and Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN, both well-sailed boats in the fully-crewed events, so time will tell if they can translate that experience offshore.  Two J/120s are participating including Gardner Grant's ALIBI and Hewitt Gaynor's MIRIELLE, as proven offshore winners, the 120s themselves could lead all the J's home.

The J/109s are sailing as a one-design class and the five boats sailing have all proven themselves around-the-cans.  It would be hard to handicap this gang which includes ARIEL (Jeff Warren), PAX 3 (Bob Siegel), LOKI (David Rosow), APSARA (Mike Sleightholme) and SKOOT (Jim Vos).

The J/44s are not sailing as a class, but some of their veteran offshore sailors are participating in IRC 2.  Len Sitar's VAMP is almost always amongst the leaders.  And, "offshore newbies" Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes, are sailing their new and much more comfy KINCSEM (a J/44) against some of Long Island Sound's best offshore teams.  Nevertheless, no shrinking violets they are, Joerg and Duncan are veterans of hundreds of races winning on their J/105 KINCSEM and with a good crew (and navigator) may prove to be quick learners of the offshore trade!

Finally, in IRC 3, the custom J/120 AVRA will be sailed by its new owner, Leo Vasiliev from New York and they're hoping to duplicate some of the good performances offshore that she's had in her past.  For more Storm Trysail Block Island Race sailing information

J/120 sailboat- sailing the Swiftsure RaceSwiftsure Race Preview
(Victoria, BC, Canada)- For Pacific Northwest sailors the start of their offshore sailing summer is marked by the rituals associated with preparing for the premiere offshore race, "the Swiftsure."  Hosted by Royal Victoria YC, the race takes place over the Memorial Day Weekend, starting May 25th and finishing May 27th.

The Swiftsure's a rugged, exacting, colorful, and international competition. Or, it can be quite the boring "Driftsure," sometimes accompanied by fog and drizzle.  Every year, the Swiftsure becomes a major community event and is the premiere long distance sailing race in the Canadian/ American Pacific Northwest. It's a race in which yachts, both racing and cruising, and crews capable of adventure in exposed waters are encouraged to compete and test their skills. Swiftsure has drawn boats and sailors from California, Hawaii, New Zealand and even Russia.

J/122 sailing Swiftsure Race- Straits of Juan de FucaThe nature of the course and the potential variety of sailing conditions are a significant test of good seamanship. Swiftsure is now actually five different races over three separate courses, plus an inshore regatta. The "classic" Swiftsure Lightship Classic course goes out to Swiftsure Bank and return for 139nm.  The Cape Flattery Race goes to Neah Bay and return for 103nm and the Juan de Fuca Race sails to Clallam Bay and return for 80nm.  The inshore race courses are determined based on wind/ weather conditions the day of the race.

Leading the J's into the Straits may be John McPhail's J/160 JAM in the Swiftsure Lightship Classic Division, the only J/Team participating in that division.  And, nipping at their heels sailing the Cape Flattery Unlimited Class will be Tom Huseby's J/145 DOUBLE TAKE.

J/105 sailing offshore in Swiftsure RaceIn the Cape Flattery Division, it will be a duel for line honors with Tom Kelly's J/122 ANAM CARA, Lynn Adkins J/111 ADALGISA and Scott Campbell's J/46 RIVA.  Giving them a run for the money on handicap honors will be the J/120 TIME BANDIT (Bob Brunius), the J/109 ILLUSIONIST (Dave MacLean), the J/35 TAHLEQUAH (Don Leighton), the J/37 FUTURE PRIMITIVE (Ron Mackenzie), the J/42 VELOCITY (Tom Keffer) and two J/105s-  ALLEGRO VIVACE (Lorenzo Migliorini) and FREE BOWL OF SOUP (Doug Schenk & Eric Hopper).

Sailing the Juan de Fuca Race will be the J/109 TIPPY (Peter McComb) and two J/30s- CONRAD J (Geoffrey Wolf) and IMPULSIVE (Ulf-Georg Gwildis.

Finally, doing the day-sailing portion of the event, the Inshore Flying Sails Division will be the J/35 INTREPID skippered by Bob McClinton and the J/33 CORVO sailed by Tom Kerr.  Sailing photo credits- Brenda Jacques (bjart@shaw.ca)/ Andrew Madding (bowhshot@shaw.ca).  For more Swiftsure Yacht Race sailing information

J/105s sailing FIGAWI RaceFIGAWI Race Preview
(Nantucket, MA)- The 42nd Annual Figawi Race Weekend is recognized as a top sailing event not only on the east coast but is known worldwide. Figawi Race Weekend kicks off the the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer season. Participating this year are 210 boats with over 3,000 sailors and friends attending the event, one of the world's largest "pursuit-style" races.

The folklore associated with this race is legendary-- far too too many stories, many that will remain buried forever, while others thrive and are retold hundreds of times.  Needless to say, the race had its origins as a friendly competition with a few sailors from Hyannis and Nantucket.  A long time ago, four sailors started out from Baxter's Boathouse in Hyannis to race their sailboats to Nantucket.  That race would be the first of the Figawi Race Weekends, and the beginning of what has become a Cape Cod tradition.  And, an enormous Memorial Day Weekend party celebration for dozens of notable charities.

Whether it was the charm of a race to Nantucket, or maybe just the personal appeal of the early founders is really not clear, but Figawi began to grow by leaps and bounds.  In the early eighties, some notable skippers calling the Cape their summer home-- names like Kennedy and Koch-- began to sail with the fleet and spread the Figawi news all around New England, indeed across the world.

Figawi Charity Ball- NantucketIn 1987 the Figawi organizers decided they wanted to create a means of giving back to their home communities and what better way than to develop a charity ball. So they invited sailors, local businessmen, and friends to the first Figawi Ball. With around a seven hundred guests, money was raised with the commitment to support only local charities.  Over the last twenty years the Figawi Charity Ball has become the largest single night of fund raising for local charities. Now each year, "THE BALL" attracts 1,200 passionate supporters and is considered to be the premier social event of the season. It's not only famous as a great night out (no need to elaborate here), but thanks to the generosity of sponsors and proceeds from raffles and the silent auction, Figawi Charities generates nearly $200,000 each year and has provided over $2.2 million in support to local organizations who would otherwise go without.

This year, the weekend begins with a "Kickoff Party" at Hyannis Yacht Club on Friday, May 24th, 2013.  It's for competitors, friends, family, and Figawi fans. Beginning at 3 pm, there is a cash bar, coveted Figawi merchandise for sale and great entertainment.

Early Saturday morning, crews begin gathering. Skippers and boat owners prepare their boats, gather their crews, and head out to the start line. The first boat (the slowest from a PHRF rating standpoint) officially begins at 10 am off the Hyannis Port Jetty and by noon, when the fastest boats finally start, there are 13 divisions sailing majestically across Nantucket Sound.

Depending on the course conditions, the theory of the Pursuit Race format is that all competitors should reach the Nantucket Harbor buoy at around the same time. Over the years, there have been in fact rather remarkable finishes with enormous clumps of boats in all size ranges flying past the finish line (out West, the San Diego and Santa Barbara sailors have their Hot Rum Series and the San Francisco sailors have their Three Bridge Fiasco-- all the same basic idea).

After the Saturday evening Competitors Party and general R&R on Sunday, the afternoon Awards Ceremony Party is then followed by the Charity Ball. For those still capable of sailing, Monday has the "Redux" race back Hyannis. The gathering at Hyannis YC in the afternoon includes entertainment and one last time to enjoy the Figawi camaraderie until next year.

J/Teams have done quite well in the event, often winning class and on several occasions winning the entire race boat-for-boat overall!  The J's range in size from J/24s up to the gorgeous J/160.  Sailing this year are two J/24s- MUTINOUS DOGS (Marc Holdaway), DRAGIN-Z-BALZ (Jon Wenderoth); the J/29 SEEFEST (Ira Perry); six J/105s including PRIMA sailed by the Nantucket High School Sailing Team; two J/109s including SPITFIRE (Dan Grossman) and DEJRA VU (Jim Bello); two J/111s including PRAVDA 2 (Ed Kaye) and EAGLES DARE (Mike Piper); the J/37 DUCK SOUP (Stephen Lipman); two J/40s- JAZZ (Kirk Brown) and SMITTEN (Bill Jones); two J/120s- M-SQUARED (Bill Mack) and GLORY (Dave Follett); the J/122 URSUS MARITIMUS (Jim Masiero); the J/44- BEAGLE (Phil Gutin); and the J/160 AVATAR (Alan Fougere).
For more FIGAWI Race sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

May is fast coming to an end with a furious pace around the world, especially with a holiday weekend arriving in Europe and Memorial Day celebrations being observed in various parts of America, Canada and the rest of the world.  Starting in the United Kingdom, the Royal Corinthian YC hosted its popular Vice Admiral's Cup Regatta that had great sailing and competition amongst the J/109 and J/111 classes.  Across the Channel in The Netherlands, the Delta Lloyd North Sea Race Week was a hosted offshore for one-design classes like J/22s, J/24s,  and J/109s along with an IRC division.  In France, the Yacht Club Crouesty Arzon hosted one of the premiere one-design events for French sailors, the Grand Prix Crouesty- which saw fleets of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s sailing along with an IRC handicap class.  Over in Germany, the J/24s held their German Open in the beautiful location of Glucksburg, on the Flensberger Fjord on the Baltic Sea.  The Swedish sailors got their sailing season rolling with the immensely popular Lidingo Runt, an around the island race for hundreds of boats that included J/70s and J/80s one-design sailing.

Across the Atlantic to America, a lot was happening on the Left Coast.  In the Pacific Northwest, offshore sailors completed their Oregon Offshore Race from Portland to Victoria, BC, Canada.  Sailing quite well were a J/122, J/46, J/105 and J/42.  Some of them managed to head down to Seattle and sail the Sperry Topsider NOOD the following weekend, an event that had J/24s, J/80s and J/105s sailing one-design.  Down in the middle of the coast, the San Francisco sailors saw Richmond YC host their season opener, "The Big Daddy Regatta" in which a certain J/125 had fun with the locals.  Then, across the Bay the venerable St Francis YC hosted their Aldo Alessio Regatta with one-design sailing for J/105s and J/120s as well as hosting an IRC class.  Not to forget the famous Cinco de Mayo weekend celebrations, the local Santa Barbara Sailing Club hosted their popular Cinco de Mayo Regatta for a large fleet of J/24s.

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:

May 23-26- Sanctuary Cove Boat Show (70)- Sydney, Australia
May 31-Jun 2- Southern Bay Race Week (24, 70)- Hampton YC, VA
Jun 7-9- Chicago NOOD Regatta (105, 109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-9- New York YC Annual Regatta (111, 122)- Newport, RI
Jun 14-16- J/Cup Celtic Regatta- Pwllheli, Wales, UK
Jun 14-15- Off Soundings Regatta (105, 109, 120)- Watch Hill/ Block Is
Jun 15-16- Cleveland Race Week (70)- Cleveland, OH
Jun 19-22- J/24 US Nationals- Wayzata, MN
Jun 23-28- Block Island Race Week- (80, 35, 105, 109, 111, 44)- Block Island, RI
Jun 27-30- Kieler Woche (70, 80, 24)- Kieler Segeln Club- Kiel, Germany
Jun 27-30- J/22 Europeans- Zierikzee, Netherlands
Jul 4-7- J/24 UK Nationals- Plymouth, England
Jul 6-13- J/80 World Championships- Marseilles, France
Jul 12-14- Bacardi Newport Regatta (22, 24, 70, 80, 105)
Jul 13-15- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Jul 25-28- J/30 North Americans- Barrington, RI
Jul 26-28- J/70 New Englands/ NOOD- Marblehead, MA
Jul 27-28- Youngstown Level Regatta (70, 24)- Youngstown, NY
Aug 9-11- J/109 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-11- Verve Cup Offshore (109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-13- J/27 North American Championship- Oakville, Ontario
Aug 14-18- J/111 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Aug 22-30- J/24 Worlds- Howth (Dublin), Ireland

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

J/111 sailing upwind on Solent off Cowes, EnglandSHMOKIN & JELLYFISH Top Vice Admirals Cup Regatta
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club recently hosted the ninth Vice Admiral’s Cup Regatta with MUSTO as its principal sponsor.  Since its introduction the Vice Admiral Cup has gone from strength to strength with it’s close racing format and fun social programme making it enjoyable for all the competitors.  Strong turnouts of J/111s and J/109s made for fantastic racing across a broad spectrum of conditions-- shorts & shades to something "good for ducks on a cool, damp day".

On the first day, with four frenetic races there was plenty of action for the competitors taking part in the opening round of the 2013 Musto Vice Admiral's Cup.  Race Officers Bob Milner, officiating for the bigger boats, and Robert Lamb, on the small boat course, kept their customer's good and busy with some great windward leeward racing on Central Solent courses in a variable 8-15 knots from the north east. The smaller boats managed three races whilst the larger boats pushed through and went for a fourth.

J/111s starting off line in Vice Commodores Cup- Cowes, EnglandClass 2s six J/111s proved to be a three way battle between James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE, David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM and Duncan McDonald & Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE. The only boat that was able to challenge the trio all day was Tony Mack's MCFLY who made the podium twice with a second in race two and a third in race four, which put them into fourth overall at the end of the day. With a 1-3-3-1 scoreline it was JEEZ LOUISE that took J/111 of the day by a single point from J-DREAM. SHMOKIN' JOE showed great speed, but a lost protest in the fourth race, which means that although they still hold onto fourth place they are now four points behind J-DREAM and only a single point ahead of MCFLY.

What the fleets on the small boat course lack in size they more than make up for in numbers. Class 3 featured thirteen J/109s with a different winner for each of their three races. First to show was David Richard's JUMPING JELLYFISH who claimed race one and went on to add a third and a fourth to their scoreline to take the overall lead with eight points. Andy Johns and David Rolfe's SHADOWFAX got her regatta off to a slightly wobbly start with a seventh place but won race two and took third in race three to claim second place overall on eleven points. Just one point behind them was Steve and Jody Maine's J2EAU who won the final race of the day.

The second day of racing brought a mixed bag of weather. Morning saw very light airs and weak sunshine forcing the race committee to postpone. After an hour's delay racing began under steely skies in a shifty and patchy breeze of circa five knots from the west-south-west. As the day wore on the wind built slowly, maxing out at around ten to twelve knots by mid afternoon, and the sun eventually put in a most welcome late appearance.

With the Solent jam packed with dozens of events and classes, Bob Milner elected to take the big boats west for clear air and set up shop off the entrance to Beaulieu River. Meanwhile Robert Lamb managed to find a nice corridor for the small boat fleet up and down the Bramble Bank. Both fleets completed three races today.

James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE hung onto the overall lead in J/111s by the skin of his teeth. He went into the day with a single point lead and added a pair of seconds and a bullet to his score so now counts 10 points overall. Top performer of the day was Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE with a pair of first followed by a second, which jumps them up for third overall into second on count back sharing equal points with JEEZ LOUISE. David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM had a mixed day with a third and fourth followed by a did not finish and they drop down from second overall to third, six points behind the leaders.

J/109 one-design sailboat- sailing upwind at Vice Commodore's Cup- Cowes, EnglandDavid Richards' JUMPING JELLYFISH put in another very conservative day with a four, two, four score and continues to lead the J/109s in Class 3 with a seven point margin. Paul James's JIGSAW turned the tables after yesterday's mediocre performance and jumped from ninth overall to second with the help of a pair of wins and a sixth place. Tony Dickin, helming JUBILEE, moved up from fourth to third and is now tied on equal points with JIGSAW. Last night's second placed SHADOWFAX, owned by Andy Johns and David Rolfe, struggled in the light airs finishing ninth and tenth before recovering with a second in the windier last race. As a result they drop down from third to fourth overall, but are only one point behind JIGSAW and JUBILEE. Top J/109 performer today was FARDONYX, helmed by William Edwards, with a pair of thirds and a first, however they were unable to sail yesterday so currently lie ninth overall.

"Good weather for ducks" is probably the best way to describe conditions on the final day of sailing where grey was the predominant color and oilskins were the preferred attire (good news for sponsor Musto!). Fortunately nothing could dampen the spirits of the competing teams who took on two final races to decide this hugely competitive series. Winds were predominantly from the northeast, but with some very big shifts and velocity ranging from sub five to around ten knots the tacticians and trimmers certainly got a strenuous workout. Once again Rob Lamb took the small boat fleet onto the Bramble Bank and Bob Milner returned to the Ryde Bank area with the big boats.

The final result of the J/111s went down to a protest between Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas's SHMOKIN' JOE and Tony Mack's MCFLY regarding a pair of incidents on the run into and rounding of the leeward mark in the final race. The Protest Committee elected to hear both protests together and ultimately found that SHMOKIN' JOE had not infringed. A very relieved SHMOKIN' JOE were delighted to claim overall victory in the class from James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE. Having had to pull out of yesterday's race seven David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM was back in the hunt today and a third and fourth place put them into third overall, just one point ahead of MCFLY.

J/109s sailing off start- Vice Commodores Cup- Cowes, EnglandIn the J/109s, William Edwards' FARDONYX and David Richard's JUMPING JELLYFISH battled it out for supremacy with each boat adding a second and a first to their totals. For JUMPING JELLYFISH the hard work paid off with overall victory by a confident twelve-point margin, but FARDONYX had to settle for fifth overall having been unable to compete on the opening day. The battle for second and third was incredibly close with half a dozen boats in contention for a podium place going into the day. Paul James of Jigsaw had held second place on count back from Tony Dickin aboard JUBILEE, but just couldn't seem to find traction in the difficult conditions and after two disastrous results dropped down into sixth. JUBILEE meanwhile played it conservatively taking a third and fifth and put themselves onto the second step of the podium. Thanks to a third place in the final race Steve and Jody Maine's J2EAU snatched third overall, just one point ahead of Andy Johns and David Rolfe's SHADOWFAX.  Thanks for contribution from Fiona Brown.   For more Vice Admiral's Cup sailing information

J/22s sailing one-design off The NetherlandsFun Sailing North Sea Week
J/22, J/24, J/109s Enjoy Close Racing
(The Hague, Netherlands)- The major summer regatta in the Netherlands, Delta Lloyd North Sea Week, saw some great competition, nice weather and one of their best turn-outs for participation in recent years.  Teams from all over Europe migrated down to the beautiful seashore off the Hague, including the J/22, J/24 and J/109 one-design classes.

J/22s sailing the Netherlands around markThe J/22s saw some new faces at the top of the podium this past week, a refreshing change in this ever evolving fun class in the Netherlands, Germany and France.  Sailing an amazing series and counting only top three finishes after ten races was the FRAPORITA team led by Jean-Michel Lautier, Giuseppe D'Aquino and Denis Neve-- 13 pts net for 10 races!  Showing flashes of brilliance with three bullets in their shoreline was the all-women XJE team led by Misja Adamczyk, Lilith Michaelis and Marion de Ha.  Starting out in the lead after four races, the girls faded in their last four, never finishing higher than fourth.  Nevertheless, they maintained their composure and with 22 net pts secured second overall.  Third overall on the podium was JABBADABBADOO sailed by Stan Heltzel, Nadine Fritz and Audrey Paterson with 23 net pts.  The balance of the top five was Sander Brinkhuis's DJINN in fourth and fifth was Ivo Jeaukens's DE KANTOORBUTLER.

The half-dozen J/24s sailing saw NED 49 take the silverware by a significant point margin. The team of Erik Jeuring, Calijn Muller, Jeroen Horts and Merk Meester ran away with the regatta counting straight firsts in eight races!  Second was NED 51- DE JANS sailed by Nils Jannichsen, Nina Hagoort and Peter Jannichsen followed by BED 68- AS IS helmed by Dirk de Brouwere.

With nine boats sailing, the J/109s had some awesome one-design racing.  Like some of his fellow J sailing colleagues in other fleets, Tom van der Vecht's EXPECTO nearly swept the class counting eight 1sts in ten races to be crowned North Sea Week J/109 Champion.  Second was A van Leeuwen's JOULE finishing second overall with 16 pts.  Third was Niels Groothuizen's TAXATION with 19 pts.  Fourth was BIG TIME (Rein Bakker) and fifth was the offshore veteran sailing team on YETI (Paul van der Pol).

In IRC Class, an initial contender was the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER sailed by John van de Starre and Robin Verhoef.  After flirting with the lead sailing a 2-2 on the first day, their hopes vanished for a podium finish after struggling to regain their "mojo" and momentum, ending up an uncharacteristic 5th in their class.  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea week sailing information

J/24 one-design sailing- Seattle NOOD regattaClassic Cool Seattle NOOD
J/24, J/80 & J/105s Sailed Dozen+ Races!
(Seattle, WA)- Yes, it was an amazing fact.  Long known for its famous late spring monsoon season with next to no wind, the Pacific Northwest version of the Sperry Topsider NOOD regattas can also produce some spectacular sailing conditions with the mighty, snow-capped Cascades Mountain range in the background.  While perhaps not postcard perfect sailing conditions, the sailors didn't care (see J/24 team at right)!  Wind was all that mattered, not the wet & wild variety, but just good breezes; the type of conditions that permitted the PRO's on the various course to seriously crank out some fast turn-arounds and dozens of starts. For the J/24s that meant an exhausting sixteen races and for the J/80s and J/105s a dozen races!

J/24s starting at Seattle NOOD RegattaAs anticipated, some of the top local J/24 teams managed to sail solid, consistent series to lead the pack of eighteen J/24s-- the largest fleet at the regatta.  Scott Milne's TREMENDOUS SLOUCH fired plenty of finishes into the top three to secure the top spot with 56 pts.  Mike Johnson's PEARL closed rapidly on the leaders after a slow start, counting 1-1-1-2-1 for his last five races to snag second overall with 62 pts.  Mark Laura's and Craig Suhrbier's BABA LOUIE were sailing the roller-coaster version of the top two leaders, winning some races, getting top three's, then bombing a race or two.  Net, net, BABA LOUIE's veterans hung tough and fought off challenges from others down the ladder to get the bronze on the podium with 81 pts. Fourth was Brad Miller's HAIR OF THE DOG and fifth was Jeff Bond's JOYRIDE.

The J/80s saw two veterans dueling for the top prize in their fleet, Bill McKinnon's SKYE ROCKET and Dave Schutte's TAJ MAHAL. However, even after closing the last six races with three 1sts and three 2nds, the TAJ gang couldn't muster enough momentum to overcome their early deficit.  Consequently, SKYE ROCKET took the win with 21 pts with TAJ in second with 23 pts.  Third went to Bryan Rhodes's CRAZY IVAN with 33 pts.

J/105s sailing Seattle NOOD RegattaWhat appeared to be the only "schooling" taking place at this regatta was the fact that Jerry Diercks's DELIRIUM team sailed deliriously well-- smacking their J/105 classmates with all finishes in the top three for 19 pts in 12 races.  Starting off with three bullets must've been a bit mind-numbing for their fellow J/105 sailors.  Nevertheless, taking a beating early but closing with a vengeance in the last six races as Erik Kristen's JUBILEE, snapping off four 1sts and two 3rd in the end to score 29 pts total to take a solid second overall.  Third was Eric Hopper's FREE BOWL OF SOUP, fresh off their most excellent performance in the Oregon Offshore Race.  The balance of the top five included Jim Geros's LAST TANGO in fourth and Lorenzo Migliorini's ALLEGRO VIVACE in fifth.   Sailing Photo credits- TimWilkes.com.  For more Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD Regatta sailing information

J/122 Anam Cara sailing on Oregon Offshore raceJ's Sweep Oregon Offshore
J/122 ANAM CARA Wins Class + Overall!
(Portland, Oregon)- It was a "Banner Year" for the 35th Edition of the Oregon Offshore Race.  Twenty seven entries, the most in over a decade or two.  The event has been a classic "feeder" taking enthusiastic offshore sailors from the friendly confines of Portland, Oregon up to the Seattle/ Victoria, BC region for some excellent sailing in the summers-- e.g. Vic-Maui, Seattle NOOD, Swiftsure Race and so forth.

J/46 RIVA crew showing how to get'er done offshore!The Oregon Offshore can be challenging, especially the long stretch from the start to the first turn at Cape Flattery.  The race goes 193 nm race, starting off Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the famous Columbia River, then head north up around Cape Flattery at the opening of the Juan de Fuca Straits, then down ESE to the finish line at Victoria, BC, Canada.

Veterans of the race continue to demonstrate their knowledge of the capricious conditions that can confound the "newbies" who've not experienced the vagaries of storms, calms, whirlpools, massive eddies and currents and which shore to pick going down the Straits of Juan de Fuca!

J/42 sailing fast in cruising mode off Portland, OregonFor this year's edition, Tom Kelly's beautiful navy-blue hulled J/122 ANAM CARA swept the entire race, taking both A2 Class honors as well as 1st Overall!  Second in class and third overall was Scott Campbell's J/46 RIVA (crew seen above relishing their amazing performance).  And, completing the sweep of A2 class was the J/42 VELOCITY sailed by Tom Keffer from Hood River, OR (seen here to right practicing "fast cruising").

Taking B Class honors was the J/105 FREE BOWL OF SOUP.  She was 1st in Class and 5th overall sailed by the trio of Portland, OR co-owners Doug Schenk, Matt Davis and Eric Hopper.  Congratulations to all, fantastic performance in this challenging race!   For more Oregon Offshore sailing information

J/105s sailing on San francisco bayARBITRAGE & CHANCE Dominate Aldo Alessio
J/111 MADMEN Debuts First Regatta
(San Francisco, CA)- It was nearly perfect, classic San Francisco Bay sailing conditions for the weekend.  A bit of fog in the morning, clearing soon after everyone had their first cup of coffee, then turning into gorgeous sunny weather with a solid westerly blowing through Golden Gate Bridge!  A recipe that many sailors love and will never tire from-- it has to be one of the world's most reliable "thermal breeze engines" (50 deg bay waters + 100 deg valley desert = 20-30 kts!).

With the largest fleet in the regatta, the eighteen J/105s had some spirited competition.  The winner, Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE, sailed a constant series with a 3-1-6-5-1 record for 16 pts.  Adam Spiegel's JAM SESSION was second with a 4-3-2-6-3 for 18 pts.  Third was Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK with 5-4-rdg-1-5 for 19.5 pts.  Fourth was Jason Woodley and Scott Whitney on RISK and fifth was the DONKEY JACK trio- Shannon Ryan, Rolk Kaiser, Steve Kleha (might've been regatta winners had they not taken a dive down the rabbit hole in race 2 with an 11th).  Here's the report from the front of the pack- Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE:

J/105 champions- N Breault and B Stone on Arbitrage- San Francisco Bay"Despite it being among the lightest ebbs of the month, the Aldo Alessio course was heavily tidal influenced, with typical city front conditions on Saturday.  There was a pronounced counter-clockwise favored course - go outside upwind in the stronger ebb and hug the city front downwind in less ebb.  You needed a good start and then tack immediately to get out the stronger ebb outside.  There were significant passing opportunities downwind as some folks stayed tight inshore and missed shots of extra breeze just a bit out, while others jibed out for that breeze, missed it and ended up sliding back in the ebb - the typical arbitrage of wind and tide!

On Sunday, the RC set up a Big Boat Series-type course with a starting line on the face of Treasure Island, exposing the fleet to an ebb running northerly along the line from the pin to the committee boat. This race course made more work for the tacticians, with the winners legging over toward downtown where the river running from south bay would then curve to the northwest into the channel between Alcatraz and the city front.  Those who spent time on port tack rode the ebb toward Angel Island probably hooked into a stronger ebb on the north side of Alcatraz, but in planning the day we felt the "lefty-lifty" conditions as one passed the south side of Alcatraz would trump the better ebb on the north side. And, anyone going right for more tide would then be coming back on a header to the windward marks at Presidio Shoal.

J/111 sailing San Francisco BayIt was also a great day for active trimming because the ebb made for choppy conditions as the wind built into the low 20's.  Nicole was constantly easing and trimming the main going upwind, and since we cross-sheet, she has the jib sheet on the winch right next to her and can do the final trim when we get up to speed from tacks, and ease when we encounter a particularly nasty wave set from the ferries.  Downwind there were gainers from catching waves through coordinated work on spin and mainsheet.  It was an exhausting weekend for the crew as everyone worked hard to get every extra bit out of the boat.  Second place Jam Session sailed an excellent regatta with some great starts and competitive tactics."

The half-dozen J/120s have historically had very tight racing, with no team simply dominating the events they sail together.  However, this may haven the first time in recent memory where that did happen! First was Barry Lewis's CHANCE with a strong three 1sts and two 2nds scoreline for 7 pts.  Second was Dick Swanson's GRACE DANCES with a 2-3-1-3-2 for 11 pts.  Third was John Wimer's DESDEMONA with a very consistent 3-4-3-2-3 for 15 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Steve Madeira's MR MAGOO in fourth and Timo Bruck's TWIST in fifth.

The IRC Class saw the debut of the J/111 MADMEN sailed by Dorian McKelvy.  Even with their "non-IRC optimized" rating, they sailed very well to score 3-3-3-6-6-6 for 27 pts and place 4th overall.  The wind was right in the 14-17 kts range, not enough wind to send the J/111 down the Bay in a full-on plane.  Nevertheless, post-race analysis shows that MADMEN's team did a great job sailing and using a "standard UK/French IRC certificate" for J/111s, it's clear the J/111 would've won IRC Class!   Sailing photo credits- Pressure-Drop.us   For more Aldo Alessio sailing information

J/80s sailing in French regatta at Crouesty ArzonJ/80 ELECTRA Electrifies Grand Prix du Crouesty
J/111 J-LANCE VIII Scores in IRC
(Crouesty Arzon, France)- One of the classic late spring, early summer events on the French sailing calendar is the Grand Prix du Crouesty sailed in southern Brittany. It's traditionally been a very strong one-design regatta with additions of handicap fleets over the years.  The GPEN is hosted by Yacht Club Crouesty Arzon and sponsored by the Yacht Club de France. The event is always sailed the weekend of Pentecost on the beautiful bay bordered by Presque'Ile Rhuys and the islands of Houat Hoedic called Mor Braz.

With over 130 boats and 600 sailors competing for three days literally just off the beaches and cliffs, the general public have an exceptional view of Petit Mont on the Bay of Mor Braz.  And, with magnificent conditions blessing the fleet for most of the weekend, the sailors got in some fantastic sailing and some spirited competition.

J/80s sailing downwind- Grand Prix Crouesty, FranceLike the first major J/80 event, this one also produced yet another "new kid on the block" at the top of the fleet. After sailing eight races, Quentin Ponroy's team on ELECTRA never finished out of the top five, scoring three 1sts and three 3rds to win with 12 pts net, a clear 16 pt margin of victory.  Sailing nearly as smart and fast was Simon Moriceau's INTERFACE CONCEPT, however, two "soon-to-be-forgotten" finishes of 12-18 in races 6 & 7 damaged their efforts to finish atop the podium, settling for second overall with 28 pts net.  Third was Nicolas Lunven on GENERALI, suffering a similar fate as Moriceau, having to face a 17-13-13 score mid-series to otherwise enable them at shot at the top, too.  Fourth was Phillipe Guigene on FAIS TOI PLAISIR MARINE LORIENT and fifth was the familiar team on Luc Nadal's GAN'JA.

J70 sailing Grand Prix Crouesty, FranceIn the Monotype Division, the combination of J/22s, J/24s and J/70s made for some interesting racing as the scoring was based on handicap.  While the J/70s were miles ahead crossing the line on elapsed times, they could only wait until they got to the dock at the end of the day to know how they performed on corrected.  Nevertheless, the J/22s swept the division based on handicap.  More importantly, on a class-by-class basis there were clear leaders as described below.

For the J/22s, top dog was Patrick Huet's EUROPEAN HOMES sailing to nearly straight firsts amongst J/22s.  Second was Charles Michaux's JAZZY and third was Claire Pouteau's SOFFE.

J/24s sailing Grand Prix Crouesty- FranceThe J/70s were led by Gerard Chapelot sailing ALBERTO sailing very consistently.  Second was Luc Lajoye's EXIUM and in third was Jean-Marc Gosset's VOILERIE SAILS CONCEPT.

In J/24s, the leader was Aorelian Garcia's INSULARIS followed by Charles Gury's JINETTE.

The IRC handicap division saw Didier Le Moal's J/111 J/LANCE VIII take third on the podium despite having a very slow start to finish with a 3-1-4-3 for 23 pts net.   For more Grand Prix du Crouesty sailing information

J/125 sailing on San Francisco BayJ/125 Takes Big Daddy!
(Richmond, CA)- One of the first major regattas of the summer sailing season on San Francisco Bay is generally Richmond YC's Big Daddy Regatta.  Richmond is home to the famous J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE, sailed by co-owners Peter Kreuger and Andy Costello.

Their boat has a full summer program, including Bay inshore regattas as well as offshore classics like the Spinnaker Cup (a race from San Francisco down the coastline to Monterey Bay) and the Santa Barbara- King Harbor Race (a race from Santa Barbara, out around the Channel Islands and down to King Harbor off southwest Los Angeles).

J/125 Double Trouble- co-owners Andy Costello (L) and Peter Kreuger (R)DOUBLE TROUBLE started her inshore series this past weekend with a "bang". With Peter Kreuger at the helm and his DOUBLE TROUBLE Big Boat Series 2012 winning crew all aboard, including tactician Jeff "Madro" Madrigali. DT was blazing fast using her new North 3DI Inshore sail Inventory.

The team had great boat speed and solid boat-handling.  Along with Madro's tactics their excellent team effort put them in the top spot with 6 points in the best of 3 series.  They held off some other great teams, including the new MC 38 Whiplash and Big boat series winner from 2012 IRC B- TNT, the custom Tripp 43.  For more on the J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE's sailing escapades

J/24 German Open- girls rule!J/24 German Open Success!
Top German Women's Team Take Silver
(Glücksburg, Germany)- The J/24 class in Germany continues to have fun sailing competitive regattas across the many inland lakes as well as on the Baltic or North Seas.  Recently, their J/24 German Open Regatta was hosted by Flensburger Segel-Club sailed in the Flensburg Fjord on the Baltic Sea, a beautiful and challenging place to sail for anyone.

A fleet of 28 J/24s showed up en masse to enjoy the event.  Despite difficult weather conditions for the weekend of sailing, the PRO managed to conduct four races for the fleet of the nine that were planned.

J/24 German women's team leading sailing on Baltic Sea!In the end, the team of GER 5420 took first place by the narrowest of margins.  With Simon Grorteluschen as skipper and crew of Justus Kellner, Tobias Peters, Jan-Marc Ulrich and Mattias Wallentin, their team started slowly and finished with a flourish, scoring 8-6-2-3 for 19 pts to take the regatta by one point.

Second overall was the top women's German team that sailed extremely well in the event (pictured above).  GER 513 skipper by Ragna Thonnessen with crew of Laura Hatje, Ann-Kathrin Frank, Lisa Raschdorf, Janne Hopken and Venita Damm sailed to a 3-1-9-7 for 20 points.  Sadly, they started fast out of the blocks leading the regatta but couldn't hang in there for the overall win.

J/24 German Open winners on podium!Taking the third position on the podium was GER 5281 skippered by Jan Kahler.  His crew of Roland Bohm, Tim Becker, Olaf Zeitz and Ole Harder sailed the best last three races for the entire fleet! However, their first race killed their chances for the top of the podium.  They scored a 12-4-1-4 for 21 pts, to narrowly miss out taking the regatta overall.

Rounding out the top five finishes are the GER 4230 team lead by Peer Kock in fourth and GER 5440 skippered by Matthias Garzmann in fifth.  Congratulations to all for such a great turnout!  Sailing photos- Ingvild Buchholz and Hajo Andresen.   For more J/24 German Open sailing information

J/80s finishing LidingoRunt race off SwedenJ/80s & J/70s Challenge Lidingo Runt Race
(Lidingo, Sweden)- The Around Lidingo Island Race was first organized by the Lidingo YC in 1949 as a small competition amongst friends to have some fun in the early part of the Swedish summertime.  The start is below Foresta / Millesgarden and the finish is at Old Torsviks lighthouse, north of Lidingobron.

For the first few years around fifty or so boats sailed, but the numbers began to increase quite rapidly. During the 2000s, the race had about 400 to 450 participating boats. The event is the start of the season for many East Coast sailors in Sweden.  In fact, the race has grown in such popularity that even Super Maxi 100 footers, Open 60s and 80 ft trimarans have participated for honors of "first around Lidingo"!

This year, a modest fleet of 280+ boats registered to sail the event, including a very strong class of a dozen J/80s sailing one design.  It also marked the debut of the first J/70 to participate in this famous "round island" race.

The J/80s saw the event as the first part of their training program to get teams ready to sail the J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France as well as the J/80 Europeans.  Leading the pack home were the HAPPY team led by Johannnes Bergh.  Second was the DYNAMANT Consulting team with skipper Anders Rosenberg several minutes behind.  Third was MK-PRODUKTER sailed by Lars Gellerhed. Fourth was the HEAVY DUTY crew doing heavy duty work for skipper Pontus Tornlund. Rounding out the top five was TEAM SEGER led by Andreas Seger.

Sailing in by far one of the largest classes in the fleet was J/70 JULIA!  With next to no practice and little knowledge of how to make the J/70 go fast, it was amazing the Jan Nillson managed to skipper the J/70 to a third overall in their SRS-1 Handicap class against 23 other competitors.  For more Lidingo Runt sailing information

J/24 sailing off Santa Barbara, CA in Cinco de Mayo RegattaTHREE BIG DOGS Snatches Cinco de Mayo Regatta
(Santa Barbara, CA)- One of the highlights of the Santa Barbara sailing season is always the Cinco de Mayo celebration.  The event always attracts a good fleet of one-design classes.  In fact, Cinco de Mayo and the Fiesta Cup celebrated later in July are the highlights of the summertime sailing season for locals due to the enormous influx of sailors looking forward to the time-honored celebrations associated with each event.

Host of the Cinco de Mayo Regatta is the Santa Barbara Sailing Club, a wonderful "home-grown" sailing organization dedicated to promote primarily one-design class sailboat racing in the Santa Barbara area. Perhaps most importantly, it primary objective has been to provide affordable access to the sport of sailboat racing for the general sailing public.

J/24 sailing upwind offshore Santa Barbara, CA in Cinco de Mayo RegattaAttending this year's event was one of the strongest J/24 one-design turnouts in quite some time.  Sailing were a dozen J/24s with hot competition, especially for the top of the leaderboard.  Past J/24 North American Champion, Pat Toole and crew on THREE BIG DOGS, just barely managed to hang on to win the J/24 crown on a tie-breaker with identical scores!  The 3BD crew took a 3-1-1-3-2-2-1-2-1 scoreline for nine races to win. Giving them a serious run for the money was Klatt's JADED with a 1-2-3-1-4-1-2-1-2 tally for equal 13.0 pts for their eight counter races.  How was the tie-breaker broken?  Well after identical counts for 1st, 2nd and 3rds, it goes to who-beat-who in the last race!  Great racing to all!  Taking third overall while watching the histrionics taking place in front was Zimmerman sailing the mighty SVENJA. Fourth was Baurley's CRITTER and fifth was Susan Taylor's TAKE FIVE.   For more Cinco de Mayo Regatta sailing information

J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

J/100 Aura sailing on Chesapeake Bay off eastern Maryland* Last week we highlighted a fun "winter project" making a J/100 wind-driven "whirligig".  The owner of the J/100 AURA- Bob Gallagher- passed along to us the "recipe" on how to make it for those who wish to duplicate it for their own boats or make them as gifts for family and friends.  Here's Bob's commentary:

"The secret is a turntable bearing for a "Lazy Susan" that I bought at Lowe's for $7.50. It provides a stable low friction platform for the arms of the whirligig to connect to.  Also, I used the drawing of the J/100 from your website to make scale models of the boats.

I took the video at our vacation home here in Cambridge, Maryland. Cambridge is on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay across the Bay Bridge and about one hour south of Annapolis. The sailing here is great.

I am a member of the Eastern Shore Sailing Association. We do Wednesday night races and special distance races on Saturdays throughout Summer and Fall. I've single-handed my boat to Annapolis and to Solomon's Island from Cambridge. Both sails are about 40 miles.  I've always felt safe sailing the J/100 even when the wind starts blowing hard and the seas kick up.

My J/100 is hull# 91. It was originally a dark gelcoat which I spruced up about three years ago with an Awlgrip finish -- it's a head turner!  Here's a photo of us sailing in the waters off Cambridge area during a Wednesday night race."  Best, Bob

* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again!  We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.

J/160 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over oceanAlan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above)  from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA.  A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day!  Amazing passage it was!  Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda.  Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large.  Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

Bill & Judy Stellin- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea".  The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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 Cruising CommunityJ cruising directions- roll the dice and go!  Sailing to anywhere, anytime! J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand.  Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.


J/Brokerage

J/65 Maitri- offshore performance cruiser for saleJ/65 MAITRI For Sale

Custom build, sloop-rigged, J/65 is long and lean with low wetted surface, allowing the boat to be easily driven with a moderate sailplan in light airs. To make target cruising speeds of 9-10 knots, J/65 won't be as dependent upon auxiliary diesel power as most vessels in her category. A graceful sweeping sheerline and flared topsides allow for a sleek and purposeful silhouette and a dry, comfortable ride. The large, protected aft cockpit offers plenty of space to get comfortable as well as great protection offshore.  MAITRI was built in 2006 and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

Contact:  Jeff Brown- JK3 Nautical Enterprises. Work- 619-224-6200 or Cell- 619-709-0697

J/46 Questar offshore performance cruising sailboat- for saleJ/46 QUESTAR For Sale

Questar is an immaculate and extremely well maintained J/46 built in 2000. Commissioned for an avid and seasoned yachtsman, she is thoughtfully outfitted and well equipped and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

J/46 may be the only investment grade sailing yacht of its size not requiring professional crew to sail at designed performance levels-- or to maintain. Two people can easily manage her upwind and down to achieve the same 8 knot passage-making speeds under sail that is possible when motoring with 76hp diesel auxiliary. The joy of sailing the perfect boat is, after all, a goal we believe every owner ultimately seeks. To insure that good sailing days are spent sailing rather than scrubbing and varnishing, J/46 is designed to be virtually maintenance-free. Her exquisite joinerwork is protected from the sun-- belowdecks where it’s beauty can be preserved.

Contact:  Kenyon Martin- JK3 Nautical Enterprises- wk- 619-224-6200 or cell: 858-775-5937

J/122 Pen Azen cruiser racer sailboat- for sale usedJ/122 PENN AZEN For Sale

One of the world's most successful J/122s is for sale- hull #6 built in March 2007 by J/Europe.

PENN AZEN has been very successful since her launch in 2007:
- 2007 RORC IRC Class 1 season winner
- 2008 RORC IRC “Yacht of the Year”- plus 8 season’s awards
- 2009 Winner of UNCL Trophée Atlantique in class 1
- 2010 French Rolex Commodores Cup team and 2nd at Trophée Atlantique
- 2012 Cowes-Dinard race: 3rd in IRC Class 2 and 4th IRC Overall

Inside arrangement- 3 cabin version plus folding sea berths in the saloon – 10 berths in total

J/122 Pen Azen racer cruiser sailboat- for sale usedDeck/ Rigging includes- Varnished Hall spars high modulus mast and boom, Rod rigging and dyneema backstay on hydraulic adjuster, Tuff-luff Forestay and Carbon steering wheel

Sails- X-Voiles France- complete inventory for any offshore racing, including RORC Fastnet Race.

Electronics- Full set from NKE Electronics including carbon wind indicator, 3 mast displays and 2 cockpit displays, gyroscopic compass, gyro autopilot, plus Icom VHF with ASN and AIS receiver and Furuno GPS.

Please contact- Gwen THOMAS from Ouest Greement-
P: +33 (0)2 40 82 66 65
E: tgreementpornic@free.fr

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

J/Newsletter- May 15th, 2013

J/88 one-design offshore speedster sailboatJ/88 One-Design Offshore Speedster Hatched!
(Newport, RI)- The latest J sailing machine from the stable of offshore, one-design sailing speedsters is the J/88.  A family-friendly, easy-to-handle sailboat that can fly around the course or easily slip into "cruise-control"-- have a fun time sailing with family and friends around the harbor or for a lazy evening sail under main alone. Weekday evening "beer-can" racing will be a frolic for the crew, especially with all the important amenities like cooler and real marine head!

The J/88 is an outgrowth of its sisterships, the J/70 and J/111.  With a huge, highly ergonomic cockpit designed for a party, it serves not just offshore racing functionality, but the more sybaritic pursuits of laying back in the comfortable cockpit seats, enjoying the experience and beautiful views across the water.

Learn more about this exciting offshore hot-rod today!  With over two-dozen boats on order, one will certainly be coming to a regatta near you!  With eye-blistering acceleration and heart-pounding power off-the-wind, J/88 will be ready to set new standards for fun, appealing performance boats in the family-friendly 30 ft size range.

In fact, with a June launch for Hull #1, you will be able to see J/88 at Storm Trysail's Block Island Race Week and soon after back to Newport for dealer/customer demo sails!  Be sure to contact your J/Dealer today to book a demo sail soon!  For more J/88 one-design speedster sailing information

J/22 sailing Netherlands Delta Lloyd North Sea Race WeekDelta Lloyd North Sea Week Preview
(The Hague, Netherlands)- One of the most important major regattas in the Netherlands is the North Sea Week.  Teams from all over Europe migrate down to the beautiful seashore and beaches off the Hague and other points to sail dozens of one-design classes, ranging from most of the Olympic classes, to some old Dutch classics, to several of the J/Boats range, including the J/22, J/24 and J/109.  Included in the offshore festivities are large, competitive fleets of handicap sailing boats, including IRC classes.  In the IRC Division alone are top J/Teams racing J/109s, a J/111 and J/122.

The J/22s will have a good fleet of a dozen boats participating, including the "Big LIFT/ TU Delft" teams of "Happy Star" (Jeoen Moens), Happy Future (Nico van der Kolk) and Happy Sky (Jochem Nonhebel).  Must be one Happy Team!  If recent regatta results are indicative of what might transpire in this regatta, look to see one or more of these teams occupying the top spots on the podium.

J/111 Xcentric Ripper sailing Netherlands Delta Lloyd North Sea Race WeekWith a half-dozen J/24s participating, it looks like it will be anyone's game to be the top Dutch team as it doesn't look like any of their arch rivals and friendly competitors from Germany will be crashing the party to plunder for some silverware!

The J/109s got themselves organized this year to do one-design racing in a few key events along the North Sea/ English Channel.  The expected turnout of ten or so boats will be taking place with a British team joining them from across the Channel-- Wim van Slooten's FIRESTORM.  After their solid showing in the recent Vuurscheppen Race/ North Sea Race, expect to see Paul van der Pol's YETI near the front of the pack as well as perhaps Rein Bakker's BIG TIME and A van Leeune's JOULE.

In IRC Class, one of the top contenders will generally be the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER heading up a fully-crewed team led by John van de Starre and Robin Verhoef.  As a "double-handed" team, John and Robin got the silver as a top-scoring boat in the combined Vuurscheppen Race/ North Sea Race the previous weekend!  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea week sailing information

Sailing Seattle's Puget SoundSeattle NOOD Preview
(Seattle, WA)- The Pacific Northwest version of the Sperry Topsider NOOD regattas have always enjoyed a strong following for sailors who enjoy the challenges and breath-taking scenery of Puget Sound.  Weather in this region of the country can certainly see the extremes, from light air, no wind and tropical downpours to spectacular 10-15 kt winds, sunny, crispy cool and a snow-capped mountainous view in crystal-clear skies that evokes the Beatles vision of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"!

Attending this year will be strong divisions of one-design J/Teams in the J/24, J/80 and J/105 classes.

The J/24s are enjoying strong turnouts from the local Corinthian YC and Seattle YC fleets with eighteen boats sailing! Sure to be amongst the top dogs in this crowd are some familiar faces, like Scott Milne's TREMENDOUS SLOUCH, Andrew Macfarlanes's TUNDRA ROSE and also Mark Laura's and Craig Suhrbier's BABA LOUIE.

The J/105s have several class leaders participating in the seven boat fleet.  Look for Lorenzo Migliorini's ALLEGRO VIVACE, Jerry Diercks's DELIRIUM, Eric Hopper's FREE BOWL OF SOUP and Jim Geros's LAST TANGO to be a factor for the top of the podium.

The J/80s also see some veterans that will be vying for the top prize in their half-dozen boat fleet.  Bill McKinnon's SKYE ROCKET, Dave Schutte's TAJ MAHAL and Bryan Rhodes's CRAZY IVAN will all be amongst the leaders.  However, so long as FEARFUL SYMMETRY (Cline) and HEART ATTACK (Shapiro) aren't falling asleep at the wheel, this could be one of the tightest classes in the entire event.  For more Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD Regatta sailing information

J/70s sailing one-designJ/70 Mid-Atlantic Fleet Development
(Hampton, Virginia)- After their inaugural winter circuit, the J/70s continue to grow their local and regional fleets across the world as sailors continue to spread the excitement about this amazingly popular "baby J".  In such a short life-span, the J/70 has been setting attendance records in most major regattas they've participated in as a class- namely, Key West, St Pete NOOD, Charleston and Annapolis NOOD.  Next up are some really fun, laid-back events that are developing for 70s in Europe as well as across America.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, the J/70 circuit has evolved into the following events that sailors in the areas of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida should take into account for their summer sailing plans.  Here is the latest schedule:

May 30- June 2- Southern Bay Race Week- Hampton Yacht Club- Hampton, VA- http://www.blacksealcup.com or please contact- Lin McCarthy at (757) 850-4225 or email-mcbear@earthlink.net.

June 15-16- James Island One Design Regatta- James Island, SC- http://www.jiyc.org/sailing.html or please contact Jack Martin at (941) 266-2856 or email- jwmartinjr@gmail.com.

July 27-28- Carolina Yacht Club Regatta- Charleston, SC- please contact Tommy Harken at (843) 830-4483 or email at Tommy@northpointyachtsales.com.

For more J/70 Mid-Atlantic sailing information, be sure to contact John Killeen/ JBoats Carolina at 704-236-8303 or email jkilleen@jboatscarolina.com.  Sailing photo credit- Tim Wilkes.com

J/80 SailFirst sailing off Cyprus in MediterraneanSAIL FIRST Sponsors ISAF Youth Worlds!
(Limassol, Cyprus)- Recently, Giannos Photiou, President of the Cyprus Sailing Federation, announced that SAIL FIRST has come on board as the title sponsor of the 2013 ISAF Youth Worlds and, in a difficult financial climate in the country, extended his special thanks to the company for their financial support.

With 358 sailors from 55 countries set to compete in Limassol Photiou said, "The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship is one of the greatest sports events ever to be held in Cyprus and it is characterized as a small sailing Olympiad for ISAF Youth Sailors."

J/80 SailFirst yacht club on CyprusSAIL FIRST, based in the harbor of Paphos on the western end of Cyprus (the island itself is in the far eastern Mediterranean), have a fleet of 10 fully-equipped J/80s to make on-water activities available to those who want to get out sailing.  They organize and manage events at any level, including fleet, match and team racing events for both yacht clubs and corporate events.

With a full-time staff based in Paphos Harbour, Cyprus including two RIBs, racing buoys, and judging and technical support, it's simply a phone call/ email to SAIL FIRST to enjoy a weekend/ week-long event of sailing on the gorgeous eastern Mediterranean-- all year long with great winds, too!  Plus, you can be one-design racing with less than four hour flights from London, Frankfurt, Paris, Moscow and other EU cities and stay in 3-5 star hotels on the island! No need to live in cramped charter-boat cabins! Plus, it's a very convenient "two in one" holiday-- one with the family and the other-- your participation in the regatta!  For more SAIL FIRST J/80 one-design fleet sailing information

J/109, J/97, J/111 sailboats - sailing in Wales, UKJ/Cup Celtic Regatta Announcement
(Pwllheli, Wales, United Kingdom)-  For those of you who can appreciate, and are familiar with, the enormously engaging and passionate hospitality offered by Celtic sailors in Wales and the western parts of the United Kingdom, be sure to book on your calendar the J/Cup Celtic Regatta!  It's a great way to enjoy the beautiful, spectacular coastline of western Wales, sailing in the Irish Sea.

From the 14th to 16th June 2013, the Pwllheli Sailing Club will be hosting the J/Cup Celtic Regatta for the fast growing fleet of J/109s and J/80s, including the recent additions of a J/111, J/97 and J/92s.

There's free marina berthing for all participants, all are welcome!  Plus, as is the tradition of all J/Cup events, there will be fun evening entertainment with live bands and more!  For more J/Cup Celtic Regatta sailing information.

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

Last week was epic, with spring events producing a number of surprises across the world of sailing. A women's J/97 sailing team led the Semaine de Porquerolles in Hyeres, France for all other J/Teams participating.  The J/111 and J/122 sailed the Vuurschepen Race/ North Sea Races quite competitively.  The J/80 Grand Prix Ecole Navale was a tour'de'force off Brest, France.  Similarly, the J/80 Germany MAIOR Regatta saw the start of their spring events leading to the J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France in July 2013.  In the  Royal Southern Regatta a J/97 led a woman-overboard rescue effort.

Across the pond to Central America, the J/24s hosted the first part of their Mexico National series.

Off to the north along the Pacific Rim, the J/Team's Sailing the Seattle "Race to the Straits" had an enormously challenging times fighting the ubiquitous currents and general lack of wind.  Nevertheless, a classic J/35 and J/36 had some fun with the fleet.

Last, the J/22s in South Africa recently held their "LAUGH A MINUTE" J/22 Mpumalanga Provincial Championships.

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:

May 17-19- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA
May 18-19- Race for the Case- Lloyd Harbor, NY
May 18-20- J/24 German Nationals- Flensburger, Germany
May 31-Jun 2- Southern Bay Race Week (24, 70)- Hampton YC, VA
Jun 7-9- Chicago NOOD Regatta (105, 109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Jun 7-9- New York YC Annual Regatta (111, 122)- Newport, RI
Jun 14-15- Off Soundings Regatta (105, 109, 120)- Watch Hill/ Block Is
Jun 15-16- Cleveland Race Week (70)- Cleveland, OH
Jun 19-22- J/24 US Nationals- Wayzata, MN
Jun 23-28- Block Island Race Week- (80, 35, 105, 109, 111, 44)- Block Island, RI
Jun 27-30- Kieler Woche (70, 80, 24)- Kieler Segeln Club- Kiel, Germany
Jul 4-7- J/24 UK Nationals- Plymouth, England
Jul 6-13- J/80 World Championships- Marseilles, France
Jul 13-15- Chicago Mackinac Race- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Jul 27-28- Youngstown Level Regatta (70, 24)- Youngstown, NY
Aug 9-11- J/109 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-11- Verve Cup Offshore (109, 111)- Chicago, IL
Aug 9-13- J/27 North American Championship- Oakville, Ontario
Aug 14-18- J/111 North Americans- Chicago YC- Chicago, IL

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.

J/111, J/105 and J/122 sailing North Sea Race and Vuurschepen RaceJ/Teams Win IRC Double Class- Vuurschepen/ North Sea Races
(The Hague, Netherlands)- The start of the offshore sailing season in the Netherlands has been good to J/Teams!  With the combination of the Netherlands's Vuurschepen Race and the RORC's North Sea Race, two top J/Teams are on top of the offshore double-handed world! Many of the top teams from both sides of the "ditch" enter into the criss-cross races over the English Channel in May to not only get a head-start on the season, but ensure they're competitive for the overall RORC Season offshore championship series in both the UK and in the Netherlands.

The long weekend started with the Vuurschepenrace, part of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta, a 100nm blast across the Channel from the Netherlands to Harwich, England.  After a day of rest in Harwich, England, the classes sail back across the English Channel in the 180 nm race from Harwich to the Smith's Knoll Buoy off the North Norfolk Coast then across the eastern parts of the North Sea to Scheveningen.

J/111 xcentric ripperOn the initial leg across to Harwich, the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER, sailed by the strong offshore duo of John van de Starre and Robin Verhoef from the Netherlands, managed a 4th overall in IRC Class, taking 2nd in the Double-handed Division.  Just behind them was the J/122 JUNIQUE sailed by Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker.

On the return leg to Scheveningen, it was a completely different story for all of the teams entered. The 210 nm race from Harwich to Scheveningen looked like it could be a fast sleigh ride across the North Sea. Fresh southwesterly winds with gusty rain squalls were predicted, which could produce an ideal angle for an exhilarating race.  Gusting over 25 knots with rain squalls, the early part of the race was not a comfortable one, but more settled weather in the latter part of the race with glimpse of sunshine coming through the cloud cover was welcomed by the 75 yachts that entered the race.

In the Two-Handed class the Dutch team of Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker retained the class title racing J/122 JUNIQUE.  Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker's Dutch J/122 won the IRC Two Handed Class last year and the duo are back to defend their win. "It is looking like we will have a fast race," commented Chris Revelman. "However, we are not making any special changes because of the conditions. We will have a good meal tonight and plenty of rest, as during the race we will get little sleep and eat simple bread and soup. Our objective will be to win the race and it will be a big part of our build up for the highlight of the season, the Rolex Fastnet Race."  Their words could not have been more prophetic before the start of the race from Harwich back across the Channel to Scheveningen, the top two teams flip-flopped. This time the J/122 JUNIQUE took top honors and the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was second in the IRC Double class. Remarkably, in IRC Two Class (including fully crewed boats), the J/122 was 5th overall and the J/111 6th!

Following their lead were a small armada of other J's sailing both fully-crewed and double-handed in IRC 3 and IRC 4 divisions. Leading the charge in IRC 3 was the beautifully restored J/35 RAGAZZA led by the trio of Gabriel/ De Bie/ Malchair, taking 3rd in class!  Fourth was Kees Mijs J/109 ARETHUSA and fifth was the double-handed duo on the J/109 YETI sailed by Paul & Mike van der Pol.

In IRC 4 Class, the J/105s performed well in the tough offshore conditions.  It was Stan Fenton's well-known FAY J that took 2nd in class while the Double-handed team of Harry Roek in HARPOEN took third overall.  For more Vuurschepen/ North Sea Race sailing information

J/80 one-design sailboat- sailing off FranceCOURRIER DUNKERQUE J/80 Grand Prix Ecole Navale Champion!
(Brest, France)- The 12th edition of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale produced an "upset" of sorts in the French hierarchy of J/80 sailing, one of the largest regional one-design keelboat classes in all of France.  With hundreds of J/80s sailing in France over the past decade, it takes top teams years to migrate to the top of the class and maintain a continuum of success that is not easily achieved.  Last weekend, that status quo was upset by a relative newcomer to the J/80 class in France.

J/80 one-design sailboats off FranceAs if destined to win from the very beginning of the vent, COURRIER DUNKERQUE, skippered by Vincent Vandekerkhove managed a great performance to finish first and second in the last two races of the final day of racing, reserving their place atop the J/80 podium as Champions of the GPEN event!  In fact, they never looked back after the first two races, taking their place in the lead spot and never finishing out of the top ten in eight races!  Vandekerkhove dethrones Eric Brézellec and crew on INTERFACE CONCEPT who won the last three editions of the event.

J/80 one-design sailboat sailing upwind off FranceThe balance of the podium was comprised of Brezellec's INTERFACE CONCEPT in second place, winning a tie-breaker at 35 pts over fellow team-mate Simon Moriceau's INTERFACE CONCEPT 2, who had to settle for third place. The rest of the top five saw a brilliant performance by Bernard Hughes on ESPOIR PAYS DE LA LOIRE, sailing to a 3-3-1-3 in the first four races, only to "fall from grace with the sea"!  Their next four races were anything but brilliant, having to tack on a BFD-8-13-8 to drop them to 39 pts net, good enough for fourth overall.  Fifth is past J/80 champion Luc Nadal on GAN'JA with 44 net pts.

After four days of intense racing in the harbor of Brest-Morgat Crozon and Camaret, the 177 boats of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale and their 711 crew members completed their competitions on the last day in a moderate westerly flow of 10-15 knots.  Conditions were warmer than the day before and greatly appreciated by competitors after some cool days beforehand

The Grand Prix Ecole Navale event once again confirms the dynamic combination of expertise of the Naval Academy, the Navy and the French Sailing Federation, together with the participation of many volunteers Nautical center of Crozon-Morgat and Club Léo Lagrange de Camaret, led to fantastic regatta organization and on-the-water race management for one of the most famous in European yachting events.
Sailing photo credits:  Pierrick Contin- pierrick.contin@wanadoo.fr/ Jacques Vapillon- photo@vapillon.com    For more J/80 Grand Prix Ecole Navale sailing information

J/24 one-design sailboats- sailing off MexicoPorter Leads J/24 Mexico Series
(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- The active, fun and highly competitive J/24 class in Mexico continue to attract a strong following across their country, particularly at Valle de Bravo (a gorgeous mountain lake west of Mexico City) and at Puerto Vallarta (the renown resort along the Pacific Coast) where they sail on the picturesque Bahia de Banderas.

The sailing was close for the first part of the J/24 Mexican National series, with two dozen races divided into five events over the course of time.  So far, 39 different J/24 teams have sailed in regattas.  The first series ended on an upbeat note, with a gorgeous day and onshore breezes of a steady 10-14 knots, gusting 16-18 knots.

Congratulations to the winners of the 1st part of the series, sailing the mighty yacht "S", with skipper Kenneth Porter leading the charge with his crew Gerrit Gentry, Kenneth Porter Galindo, Gerrit Gentry Homes and Leopoldo Farias.  Second overall went to Miguel Arroyo's team on CHILE MANZANO, his crew included Alan Benitez, Tito Benitez, Manuel Benitez and Javier Benitez.  Third was skipper  Javier Velasquez along with his crew Ricardo Robledo, Emigdio, and Erick Gonzalez Feliciano White.  Rounding out the top five were  Eduardo Porter's CHARISMA and in fifth place was Peter Wiegandt's BRUSCHETTA.
For more J/24 Mexico National Championship series information

J/80 one-design sailboat- sailing fast offshorePROCEDES DIVA Takes German J/80 MAIOR Regatta
(Wannesee, Germany)- As the northern European sailing season gets underway, it's apparent the J/80s in Scandinavia and in Germany are rapidly getting organized in their regional fleets with a focus on sending a few good teams to the J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France in July.  We recently got a nice report from the German J/80 team that took third place in the MAIOR Regatta, the first of the season.   Here is Henning Buchman's commentary:

"This year MAIOR greeted us with blue skies and moderate wind conditions. Sixteen J/80 teams were registered and fifteen ended up starting in the event. Like every year, we shared the main local hotel and the race course  with the M24s, P25s and SB20s.  The J/80s were, in fact, by far the strongest and largest field this year's event.

Literally with a bang, most J/80 sailors were taken out of hibernation at the first start. Friday morning shortly before eleven came the first sound signal and all was clear!  Second start - "Oh great, then we can look at the start of the other boats in peace!" But the late spring had probably left some of the participants still in the "fog of winter"-- two or three boats hadn't noticed that both the start pennant "one" and pennant "two" were flying simultaneously! Something no one had experienced to date!

As a result, the first start was a common starting signal for all fleets, not a real race start.  What a commotion, no fleets were happy, especially us J/80s!  No one was really satisfied with the situation. Fortunately, the race committee relented and we got our own J/80 start on the second day of sailing.

There is not much to say about the other days of sailing. Sun sun sun! The wind shifted to the west and we sailed the last two days with the wind coming from the direction of the Wannesee rather than on the Baltic Sea.

In the end, it was PROCEDES DIVA that took first overall, PIKE was second and we were third on VIVACE.  Fun sailing!

Despite the unusual starting order on the first day, we want to thank the race committee that made the really difficult sailing conditions on the following days easier for everyone- a truly fantastic job. A really great race!  We look forward to the next event and hope to see many teams at the J/80 World Cup!"  Thanks for contribution from Henning Buchman- skipper VIVACE.  For more J/80 Germany sailing information

J's sailing on Solent, off Cowes, EnglandJ/97 Rescues Sailor- Royal Southern Regatta
(Hamble, Hampshire, UK)- Capping a class-winning racing performance with a piece of impressive, no-nonsense seamanship in rescuing an MOB from another boat counts as a pretty good day on the water.  Adam Munday is in the process of applying for Academy membership at the Royal Southern Yacht Club. On the basis of his performance in the Club's May Regatta, the first in their annual Summer Series, it's not unreasonable to think he may be a shoo-in!

In Saturday's racing, run by the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and incorporating its prestigious Clarkson Cup Regatta, Adam posted three bullets in IRC3 as skipper of the J/97 INDULJENCE. Then in Sunday's first race, the 20 year-old and his crew were, thankfully, in the right place at the right time.

"We were slightly behind Jeopardy 2 and they Chinese-gybed," said Adam. "We spotted someone in the water- we thought it was a girl. We were in the right place and we could see Jeopardy was in a bit of trouble trying to retrieve their kite so we dropped ours and went back upwind to her. I think she was in the water for about five minutes. The crew behaved really well and it all went quite smoothly," he added.

Conditions at the time of the incident were typical of the regatta on each day, a building breeze and an increasingly lumpy sea, particularly when tide turned against westerly wind in the course of racing.

Jeopardy 2's female crew was transferred back to her yacht by the Southern's mark-laying RIB Sir Michael, seemingly none the worse for her experience in water as apparently it was "not as cold as she'd expected".

INDULJENCE received redress for her rescue and, with a further win in the last race, took IRC3 ahead of David Greenhalgh's J/92 J'RONIMO and Andy Howe's J/92S BLACKJACK.  Sailing Photo & story credit to- Phil Riley.   For more Royal Southern YC Series sailing information

J/97 one-design offshore sailboatWomen's J/97 NO LIMIT Tops Semaine de Porquerolles
(Hyeres, France)- It was a beautiful finale for the 15th edition of Porquerolles Race Week in France.  The last day saw good sailing conditions, a single windward-leeward race (a.k.a.- a "sausage" or "banana" or "hot dog"- depending on your frame of mind)! It was all beautiful and rich in emotions with podium contenders often being  upset with the ultimate winners who scrap hard to get silverware, sometime in-extremis! All "in a perfect state of mind" for some, perhaps for others just "another day's work".

"A big THANK YOU to the Committee and the entire organizing team for this week," was the phrase heard most on Sunday at noon via VHF as the fleets were returning to the harbor. Congratulations were well deserved. Especially, for the first time in four years that racing has been run on Sunday in ideal conditions-- six races sailed in total (5 windward-leewards and 1 coastal race).

The ultimate W/L of about 5nm on Sunday was accompanied by a staggered arrival at the port of Porquerolles, so that everyone can enjoy the beautiful show of sailboats as they parade by the piers into the harbor.

In IRC2, the competition was tough and the J/111 ESPRIT SUD.NET led by Oliver Krauss sailed incredibly well to finish 3rd class and 3rd Overall.

In IRC3, it was "spectacular coup'de'theater: where the final victory eludes prime time television!"  In the end, the J/109 GALANGAL sailed by Philippe de Saignes ends with equal points for third overall in a race that could have gone either way!

In IRC4, the women of St Tropez crew on the J/97 NO LIMITS skippered by Agnes Di Russo enjoyed on-going celebrations at this sailing festival!  Feeling at home in comfortable surroundings, the dynamic heroines were imperial in their class!  Congratulations girls for their fantastic sportsmanship at sea-- and their entertainment in the evenings were simply superb!  With Di Russo as their lead, the rest of the team should be recognized for their extraordinary accomplishments- Josiane Rizzo, Brigit Carstens, Elodie Briand, Sabine Cousin, Fabienee Moyersoen, Magali Richard and Francoise Jean-Jean!

Di Russo, skipper of NO LIMIT, said "Thanks to the first owner of our J/97, Pascale Barbier. The week was excellent in all respects: windy on the water and challenging downwind sailing! For us, it was almost as difficult sailing on the water as well as navigating the evenings!  We knew how to be steady in our performance in our class, but it was very tight. After the final round of races, we are thrilled!"

For the overall Challenge J/Boats Trophy, it was led by the J/111 ESPRITSUD.NET (Oliver Krauss); followed by the J/109 GALANGAL (Philippe Saignes) in 2nd; the J/109 MISS JUJU (Jean-Marc Picon) in 3rd; the J/122 NOISY OYSTER (Olivier Parchet) in 4th; and the J/109 JET LAG (Richard Burton) in 5th.

Oliver Krauss, third in IRC2 and site manager of ESPRIT SUD J/Challenge, organizer and partner of Porquerolles Week: "We're the new J participating in this week's Porquerolles as the J/111 ESPRIT SUD. As a partner in the event, it was a great opportunity to interact  with owners of J/Boats and motivate their network of J sailors across France. We set up a symbolic challenge between us and the girls who won with their J/97 in IRC4-- we finish third in IRC 2 losing this place today ... that's great! It was really nice to sail like that in these windy conditions.  A very good first experience this week Porquerolles!"  For more Semaine de Porquerolles sailing information

Epic Race to the Straits Regatta
J/36 MONKEY BONES & J/35 GREAT WHITE Dominant!
(Seattle, WA)- The Pacific Northwest is full of fun-loving sailors always looking for a reason to get out on the water, seeking out yet another challenge and enjoy the shared experience afterwards over some great food, BBQ, fresh salmon and the occasional beer.  With over 200 days of "moisture" on average, the Seattle sailing crowd are a hardy bunch and, all things considered, are some of the nicest group of sailors you'll ever encounter around the world.

Recently, one of the more notoriously fun group of sailors hosted their annual "Race to the Straits" Regatta.  Imagine this, 100+ short-handed boats duking it out from Seattle to Port Townsend Saturday, then sailing back on Sunday. The first weekend in May and entries are capped at 100 boats!?! The Party is back at the American Legion Hall Saturday night.  There's a keg at the skippers meeting, kegs at the party in Port Townsend, kegs at the awards.  What more could you want?  More to the point, who are these people?  Well, the host is "Sloop Tavern YC" in Seattle, not exactly your classic "yacht club", in fact far from it! They're the equivalent of the East Coast's "Mystic River Mudheads", the spirit that drives them is being the ultimate underdogs in their local sailing circles-- pomp and circumstance be damned (unless, of course, it includes a kegger).



Repeat winner of the small Single Handed Flying Sails class was Dan Wierman aboard his J/35 GEAT WHITE leading by over an hour in front of the second place boat.  As for the balance of other J's participating in the race, many had good performances despite the stunningly challenging tactics & strategies employed to even finish!  In Class 3 Doublehanded Non-Flying Sails Division, the J/35c ASTRAEA sailed by Lee Harris pulled off a 4th.  In Class 4 Doublehanded Flying Sails Division, the J/36 MONKEY BONES sailed by Jason Andrews won by over five minutes.

Class 7 Doublehanded Flying Sails Division was somewhat insane in terms of the enormous cross-section of boats sailing in that fleet-- somewhat laughable, really.  M24's, J/105's, J/35c, C&C 43's, Olson 30's.  Nevertheless, Tom Mitchell's J/35c WILDFLOWER placed 3rd, James Geros's J/105 LAST TANGO was 4th and Matthew Gardner-Brown's J/105 DULCINEA was sixth!

Class 9 Doublehanded Sails Division saw the J/70 DA SPENCER sailed by Mike Pitt take 4th followed by Dave Schutte's J/80 TAJ MAHAL in sixth.  Class 10 Doublehanded Flying Sails Division and the J/30 IMPULSIVE sailed by Ulf Gwildis take 5th!  Awesome job, dude!

Finally, in Class 14 Doublehanded Flying Sails Division the J/22s and classic wooden Thunderbirds were dueling for ABSOLUTE WORLD DOMINATION- fiberglass versus wood!!  Getting the short end of that stick were the J/22 mafia, having to settle for 5th, 6th, 7th in their division.  Top J/22 was Tom Brandt in 22 CALIBRE, next was Molly Jackson & Mike Karas on HOT LIPS HOULIHAN (love it!) and third was Nick Farley's DON'T TELL MOM! Really, you probably wouldn't' want to tell Mom you finished behind "hot lips"! :0   For more Sloop Tavern YC Race to the Straits sailing information

J/22 one-design sailboat- sailing off South AfricaLAUGH A MINUTE Wins J/22 Mpumalanga Provincials
(Mpumalanga, South Africa)-  The Amtec J22 Mpumalanga Provincials has become a regatta enjoyed by all the top sailors in the J/22 class in South Africa. Fourteen J/22’s entered with many happy to travel to the event, six entries from TYC, four from the Vaal clubs, three local entries and the J chairman from VLC.

Weather conditions were critical as sailing instructions required a minimum of 4 races to constitute a series and this was needed in two days. Friday’s weather looked bleak for sailing but Saturday proved far better for the 11.00 start. With a nip in the air and a breeze of 3-8 Knots coming from the NNW the shore was a buzz of activity as fourteen yachts prepared for racing.  Five slick races were sailed Saturday with the last race finishing by 1730 hrs.

J/22 sailing one-design sailboat- South AfricaFrom the first race the competitive nature of the fleet combined with the skills on each yacht gave an indication of what was to come. In the first race 42 seconds separated the local entry LAUGH A MINUTE and TYC entry of US'N’J for a 1st with SHAMBLES 55 seconds later in 3rd. The young newcomer to the fleet Marcello Marica, skipper on JUICE with Amtec’s Mike Hayton showed his potential with a 5th 38 seconds between 1st and 2nd.

In Race 2 saw MAJIC- Jessica Lenz and crew move from 6th (subsequently her discard) to 2nd and then she repeated this result in Race 3. JUICE had their best result, a 4th in the series.

JAYWALKER on the other hand did not have a good 3rd race. On the 1st leg they wandered off into the dam onto the way to Steve’s place! They appeared totally lost and confused but claims he saw some wind shift from there!  HAKAHANA also lost valuable places going off to the "game reserve" side of the course on the last leg of the race (must have thought this was the “Kruger” park) only to realise they were way off course as the Blue flag on bridge was flying and the finish line was open. A valuable lesson to all crew don’t forget to count laps and watch the flags.

Race 4 saw a turnaround for CELL-C who had had a few challenges in the previous races. Let’s say CELL-C, including others, had perfected the 360/720 penalty. A 1st in the next 2 races improved their overall position and they certainly went home hoping for wind on Sunday.

Great to see Donovan Kruger on HAKAHANA showing his potential with a 6th in this race but never far off the pace. Surprisingly the Race Officer, Mario Scalco, never needed to bring out a black flag.  But, his team had to be organized and quick-witted to deal with the close finishes in each race.

A beautiful clear blue sky as well as two perfectly rigged brand new Optimists greeted sailors on Sunday at breakfast. That is another story to be told at future regattas. At the first sign of possible wind boats were rigged but despite two valiant attempts at starting races it was not to be. At 1400 hrs the final signal was sounded.

The winner, LAUGH A MINUTE- John Brookman/ Dave Martinson and Ayshia Genloud had a convincing win with a net 8 points. CELL-C, disappointed with the lack of wind, finished 2nd overall with US'N'J finishing 3rd.

The hospitality, fantastic improvements and renovations to the Witbank Yacht and Aquatic Club, great racing organisation and ideal sailing waters all contributed to a memorable regatta that I am sure will see many J boats returning in 2014.   For more J/22 South Africa sailing information

J/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

J/109 one-design offshore sailboat - sailing off France* Jean Noel Tourin, proud owner of the French J/109 BLUEJAWS, happened to be sailing in the massive sailing regatta known as the Tour de Belle Ile 2013.  As Jean Noel explains, "I'm pleased to inform you, that I raced Tour de Belle Ile and finished 4th of 150 boats in the "Monohull Free Class" (the "anything goes" in IRC class).  We were 2nd in cruiser-racers behind an X-43-- first was a TP52 and 2nd was a JP54 (Jean-Pierre Dick), a famous Vendee Globe sailor sailing his personal custom offshore boat!!  Editor's note- Jean-Pierre himself was another notable J/Alumni having sailed J/24s quite competitively in France and the UK!

* J/Cup Awards Hosted @ UK's National Marine Aquarium!  The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth will host the final prize-giving ceremony for the 2013 J-Cup hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club, August 21st-24th. Though not the first time the annual regatta has visited the West Country, this will be the first time that the spectacular marine facility will feature in the regatta programme.

The National Marine Aquarium is the largest of its kind in the UK, with over 70 sharks and varieties of exhibits. Centrally located and a must-visit for tourists to the maritime city, the glass-fronted aquarium boasts superb views of the Barbican and Plymouth Sound, where some of the J-Cup racing will take place. As well as a tourist attraction, the Aquarium is also a registered charity, committed to promoting a sympathetic understanding of the sea through programmes of education, conservation and research.

J-Cup competitors will have exclusive use of the entire aquarium and its gardens for the prize-giving, which will take place on the final night of the regatta; Saturday 24th August. Sailors will enjoy a locally sourced "Best of the West" supper, followed by dancing in the Upper Gallery, against a backdrop of Plymouth Sound.

The J-Cup is an annual regatta exclusively for boats of the J/Boats brand, and all J/Boats models are eligible to compete. The 2013 event will debut the J/70 class- the exciting little 7m sportsboat which boasts 20knots+ of downwind boat speed. The J-Cup will also feature UK National Championships for the J/97 and J/109 and the J/97 EuroCup.

Paul Heys of Key Yachting, the distributor for J/Boats in the UK and the company who organize the J/Cup said, "We are delighted to be heading back down West where many of our owners sail and are looking forward to a prize-giving party unlike any we’ve had before!’   For more J/Cup sailing information.

J/97 sailing on Hudson River, New York- family offshore cruiser-racer sailboat
* J/97 offshore cruiser-racer endorsements continue to stream in from across the world of sailing (see photos above). This time, CC Dwyer from Hudson, New York, one of J/97's first women owners had some choice comments for her fellow J/Sailing enthusiasts regarding launching her J/97 for the 2013 sailing season-- "She's been in for a couple of weeks. The boat is SO MUCH FUN I can't begin to tell you. J/100 "whirlygig" powered by windWe are so in LOVE! I've attached a couple of photos for you. She looks so cool!!"   Sailing photo credits- Ginger Weismantel

* Hi there J/Newport! Attached is a video of a J/100 "whirly-gig" that I made to help pass the time over the winter. As you can see, it really gets going on a breezy day." Amazing invention.  Perhaps Bob Gallagher- proud owner of a J/100- ought to go into business making incredibly cool wind widgets!  Fun stuff.


* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again!  We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.

J/160 sailing offshore to US Virgin Islands- rainbow over oceanAlan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above)  from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA.  A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day!  Amazing passage it was!  Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda.  Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large.  Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

Bill & Judy Stellin- sailing J/42 Jaywalker* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea".  The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' Questions
Advice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

Wall St Journal interview- Stellin's Offshore cruising/ sailing retirementThe 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 Cruising CommunityJ cruising directions- roll the dice and go!  Sailing to anywhere, anytime! J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers.  Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand.  Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* 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/.

J/130 sailing ARC Rally arrives Portugal- leave a message on the sea wall!* 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.


J/Brokerage

J/65 Maitri- offshore performance cruiser for saleJ/65 MAITRI For Sale

Custom build, sloop-rigged, J/65 is long and lean with low wetted surface, allowing the boat to be easily driven with a moderate sailplan in light airs. To make target cruising speeds of 9-10 knots, J/65 won't be as dependent upon auxiliary diesel power as most vessels in her category. A graceful sweeping sheerline and flared topsides allow for a sleek and purposeful silhouette and a dry, comfortable ride. The large, protected aft cockpit offers plenty of space to get comfortable as well as great protection offshore.  MAITRI was built in 2006 and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

Contact:  Jeff Brown- JK3 Nautical Enterprises. Work- 619-224-6200 or Cell- 619-709-0697

J/46 Questar offshore performance cruising sailboat- for saleJ/46 QUESTAR For Sale

Questar is an immaculate and extremely well maintained J/46 built in 2000. Commissioned for an avid and seasoned yachtsman, she is thoughtfully outfitted and well equipped and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

J/46 may be the only investment grade sailing yacht of its size not requiring professional crew to sail at designed performance levels-- or to maintain. Two people can easily manage her upwind and down to achieve the same 8 knot passage-making speeds under sail that is possible when motoring with 76hp diesel auxiliary. The joy of sailing the perfect boat is, after all, a goal we believe every owner ultimately seeks. To insure that good sailing days are spent sailing rather than scrubbing and varnishing, J/46 is designed to be virtually maintenance-free. Her exquisite joinerwork is protected from the sun-- belowdecks where it’s beauty can be preserved.

Contact:  Kenyon Martin- JK3 Nautical Enterprises- wk- 619-224-6200 or cell: 858-775-5937

J/122 Pen Azen cruiser racer sailboat- for sale usedJ/122 PENN AZEN For Sale

One of the world's most successful J/122s is for sale- hull #6 built in March 2007 by J/Europe.

PENN AZEN has been very successful since her launch in 2007:
- 2007 RORC IRC Class 1 season winner
- 2008 RORC IRC “Yacht of the Year”- plus 8 season’s awards
- 2009 Winner of UNCL Trophée Atlantique in class 1
- 2010 French Rolex Commodores Cup team and 2nd at Trophée Atlantique
- 2012 Cowes-Dinard race: 3rd in IRC Class 2 and 4th IRC Overall

Inside arrangement- 3 cabin version plus folding sea berths in the saloon – 10 berths in total

J/122 Pen Azen racer cruiser sailboat- for sale usedDeck/ Rigging includes- Varnished Hall spars high modulus mast and boom, Rod rigging and dyneema backstay on hydraulic adjuster, Tuff-luff Forestay and Carbon steering wheel

Sails- X-Voiles France- complete inventory for any offshore racing, including RORC Fastnet Race.

Electronics- Full set from NKE Electronics including carbon wind indicator, 3 mast displays and 2 cockpit displays, gyroscopic compass, gyro autopilot, plus Icom VHF with ASN and AIS receiver and Furuno GPS.

Please contact- Gwen THOMAS from Ouest Greement-
P: +33 (0)2 40 82 66 65
E: tgreementpornic@free.fr