Nautitech, based in Rochefort, France, have been one of the largest French catamaran builders since 1999. The current range of 40 to 54 foot multihulls are designed with stylish and comfortable sailing in mind. Nautitechs have taken their owners to all corners of the globe. Nautitech catamarans stand out from the rest of the multihull market because of their innovative designs and comfortable living. From charterers to families seeking blue water adventures, there is a Nautitech layout to suit everyone.

The decision to pursue a partnership with Nautitech was not purely based on Key Yachting’s admiration for the boats, but also a family connection between Marie-Claude Heys, Director at Key Yachting, and Bruno Voisard, Managing Director at Nautitech.

Marie-Claude said;

‘We have felt a demand for multihulls from some of our current boat owners for some time, and it was a natural decision to begin discussions with Nautitech about their presence in the UK. Not only do Nautitech catamarans offer fast sailing and spacious living, they are also built to the highest standard whilst remaining affordable.’

Key Yachting, a long established family-run business, are also UK distributors for J Boat racing yachts, Grand Soleil racer-cruisers and MJM power boats. In addition the company run a very active brokerage business. Key Yachting pride themselves on providing outstanding customer service.

Key Yachting will be introducing their Nautitech range at The Multihull Show, Haslar Marina, Portsmouth from 25^th to 27^th May, where they will display a Nautitech 40².

For more information contact Key Yachting on 02380 455669 or email info@keyyachting.com. To view the range visit www.keyyachting.com.

Good work boys!

Hi Becci

Just a note to say that J-97 Black Dog won the first leg of the Cornwall Offshore Group Series, Falmouth to Fowey.

We were blessed with sunny skies but a tricky NE wind, in the 8-11 knot range, so hard work hunting the breeze.

Long leg out from Black Rock in Falmouth to B buoy, 4 miles out from Dodman Point, before a tricky beat into St Austell bay.

Challenging conditions, with 20 degree wind shifts a general trend of a backing wind around to NNW throughout the day, so it was a matter of getting into phase with the shifts, whilst keeping left.

The beat to Bay buoy inside St Austell bay saw the winds freshen a little, enough for our no.2, before a tight spinnaker leg to Cannis cardinal off the Fowey entrance, then a tricky beat up the Fowey River to the finish line. Our dinghy sailing routes came out and we made the most of the shifty conditions to consolidate our lead.

6 sail changes, sun burnt and thirsty, we finished 40 seconds behind the Beneteau First 36.7 on the water, which gave us well over 5 mins on corrected, J-105 3rd (I think).

Fowey was absolutely glorious when we arrived, not a cloud in the sky, sheltered, good banter with the other boats as we moored up on the town pontoon drinking well deserved beers, stayed on board (after more beers), nice tootle back next morning…

Great weekend, Black Dog was the prefect race machine that then delivered the home comforts we elders required on arrival

Cheers,

Stuart

J/70 Stonington Demos
(Stonington, CT)- Ever visited the original seaside fishing and summer village that was the foundation for the original garage-built J/24?  If not, you have an  opportunity now to head on down to Stonington, CT to visit John Johnstone and brother Rodney to sample what it’s like to sail the J/70 speedster.  Daysail to Sandy Point for a picnic lunch.  Whistle around Fishers Island in less than an hour. Go past Montauk for a daysail out and back and see a few Great White Sharks and Blues along the way.  Even a round Block Island tour passing hugely delicious Giant Bluefin Tuna in a day?   Anything is possible given the right wind and current conditions.  Of course, you can take the benign approach and go for a tour in Stonington Harbor and relax afterwards in the hottest pub/restaurant this side of New York City- cousin Clay’s DogWatch Cafe.  If you wish to take a sailing tour on the J/70 and become part of one of the fastest growing sportboat designs ever, please be sure to contact John Johnstone at ph- 860-536-2610.  For more J/70 speedster sailing information

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North Sea Regatta Preview
(The Hague, Netherlands)- Many teams are entered in the upcoming Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta in The Hague, The Netherlands, which starts next week with the “Vuurschepen Race”. About 400 yachts will be participating in the three separate events of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta.

On Tuesday May 15th the Vuurschepen Race from Scheveningen to Harwich, England will start at 1900 hours. This offshore race of 110 nautical miles is the opening race of the week-long event. The route across the North Sea has been slightly modified to include sailing away (out and around) from the enormous windmill farms off the English coast.  After the finish, the sailors will enjoy a day of rest in Harwich, hosted by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club in Woolverstone. On Ascension Day the sailors enjoy lunch in the pub often used by ancient smugglers along the coast- The “Butt and Oyster” at Pin Mill.  After much camaraderie and reveling in past sea stories, the sailors will then hop aboard again and go back across “La Manche” (the Channel) in the RORC North Sea Race back to Holland on Friday May 18th. One of The Netherlands top offshore sailors, John van de Starre, will be sailing the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER in both events in IRC2 Class.

In the Pentecost weekend from May 25th to 28th 2012 more than 400 teams will race just of the coast of Scheveningen. Different classes will attend, including a good field of J/22s and J/24s as well as an IRC Class for the North Sea Regatta.  In IRC will be the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER participating in the third portion of the event.   For more Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J’s Sailing Worldwide

Last week saw a significant uptick in both offshore and one-design sailing activity on the European side of the planet.  Lots of J/24 and J/80 sailing on both the continent and in the UK.  The J/24s were sailing their annual Trofeo Academia Navale off Livorno, Italy with the help of the Italian Navy.  The J/24s were also sailing the Irish Eastern Championships in Howth, Ireland.  And, their counterparts in the UK were sailing their J/24 Spring Cup at the Royal Western YC in Plymouth, England.  The J/80s were doing their usual regional Spanish “Cup” events in Santander, Bilbao and Palma.  North of them, the J/80s in Germany sailed their season-starting MAIOR Cup in Kiel and just south of them were the Netherlands J/80s sailing the Almere Cup.  Offshore the J/Teams were faced by winds that varied from 5 to 40 knots and from flat seas to mountainous, breaking walls of water.  The RORC Offshore racing season started with the incredibly “challenging” Morgan Cup, with the usual start off the Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in Cowes– the J/122, J/109 and J/105s reveled in the tough going.  The Royal Southern YC also sailed their famous “Island Double” Race, a favorite amongst short-handed offshore sailors in the UK, the same 60nm jaunt around the Isle of Wight– again, the J/109, J/122, J/105s and some J/97s and J/92s faired well. French offshore sailors were having fun starting with 500 of their best friends on ONE starting line in their annual “round island” classic, the “Tour de Belle Ile”- the J/111, J/133, J/122 and J/109s were all significant factors in the outcome of that race.  Across the Atlantic having fun down in the Caribbean were a top J/120, an excellent “local” J/30 and a well-campaigned J/95 racing in the Antigua Sailing Week.  Finally, in the Americas, one of the big Sailing World NOOD Regattas in Annapolis, MD had some great sailing over three days on the Chesapeake Bay.  Just north of them on Long Island Sound the American YC played host to their Spring Series and managed to put in two great weekends of sailing for J/44 One-Designs, a J/111, J/122s, J/109s, J/105 One-Designs and a J/133.  Out West, the San Diego YC held one of their pre-eminent events, the Yachting Cup for a large number of PHRF racers and J One-Designs, including J/125s, J/145 and J/29 in PHRF handicap and J/105s, J/80s and J/120s sailing one-design.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below 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 15-28- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands- http://www.nsr.nl/
May 18-20- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 25-Jun 3- J/24 Italian/European Championships- Sardinia, Italy
May 26-28- Swiftsure Offshore Race- Victoria, BC, Canada- http://2012.swiftsure.org/
Jun 1-3- J/22 Canadians- Vancouver, BC- http://www.j24can.com/
Jun 1-4- J/24 UK Nationals- Poole, England- http://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/
Jun 8-10- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL- http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp
Jun 9-15- J/80 Worlds- Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com/
Jun 15- Newport-Bermuda Race- Newport, RI- http://www.bermudarace.com/
Jun 16-23- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany- http://www.kielerwoche.de/
Jun 24-30- J/24 US Nationals- Dillon, CO- http://www.dillonyachtclub.com/
Jun 26-29- J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- http://www.j22-france.com/world%202012/index.htm

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

Doyle Wins Annapolis NOOD Overall Performance Title

Highlighting day one were strong showings from local Annapolis boats in the J/22 class, which was one of the largest classes competing during the weekend – it was also the J/22 East Coast Championships for the class. The top three placing boats in the 36 boat class all hail from Annapolis.  LEADING EDGE held the lead after posting an impressive one-point first-day tally. HOT TODDY and HANDBASKET also posted admirable scores, two-points and three-points respectively, and hope to continue such dominance after one race in the next two days of competition.

Clear skies and favorable winds prevailed over Chesapeake Bay today during day two, which saw top-tier racing from all 17 boat classes. Many fleets managed to get in four races for the day, like J/22s and J/24s. Others were less fortunate, with the J/111s, J/109s, J/35s and J/30s getting in three races and the J/80s and J/105s only two.

Light and variable winds greeted the final day. Demonstrating masterful tactics throughout the three days of racing, Chris Doyle, skipper of “THE JUG 4-1″ from the J/22 class, was awarded the Overall Annapolis NOOD title. As the Overall Winner in Annapolis, Doyle will be invited to participate in the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Championship Regatta in the British Virgin Islands to compete in the season-ending event aboard Sunsail 44is against the other overall winners in the 2012 series.

The fleets all had great racing.  The J/111s had their first East Coast one-design event.  And, it was great racing with all boats trading the five spots amongst one another.  In the end, the local Annapolis boat VELOCITY sailed by Marty Roesch and team prevailed on the last race, winning by two points over Henry Brauer’s Newport/Marblehead team sailing FLEETWING.  Hanging tough on the first two days was Bob Moran’s RAGIN team.  However, like FLEETWING, they had a rough last two races on Sunday in light airs and lots of current, hanging in for third overall.  Anthony Culotta’s CUORE DI LEONE and James Whited’s BAD CAT both showed enormous improvement over the course of the regatta.  Both boats, in fact, were leading races at one point or another and with a bit of training under their belts will be contenders in the future.

With three dozen teams starting, the J/22s proved yet again the top teams are no push-overs.  However, some teams do get hot, hot, hot depending on the regatta.  While all Annapolis teams were leading the first day, the next two days belong to Chris Doyle and gang from Rochester.  Chris’s team managed to walk away with the top overall honors for the regatta after a slow start; after a 7th in race one, they tallied up a 1-4-1-2-4 to win by 14 points!  Second was another slow starter, Brad Julian on JULIAN ASSOCIATES; they managed an 8th in race one, followed by a 3-1-4-14-3 for 33 points.  Third was another local hotshot, Todd Hiller on LEADING EDGE with a very, very fast start of 1st, followed by a few duds like a 13-13-12 then a ego-boosting 1-7 to finish with 47 pts.  Fourth was yet another local, Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY, having a similarly yo-yo-like experience to score 2-12-8-6-7-19 for 54 pts.  Rounding out the top five was another Rochester J/22 mafia team, Vic Snyder on MO’MONEY, sailing to a 19-2-10-3-11-12 for 57 pts.  As a result, Chris Doyle’s crew from Rochester will be heading down to the British Virgin Islands to sail in the Sperry Topsider NOOD Championships.

The J/24 class didn’t’ see any dominating performances like what was witnessed in the J/22s.  In the end, it was a titanic battle amongst the top five again.  Never say die in this group.  Just like their hero, Kenny Read winning the recent legs in the Volvo Ocean Race on his Volvo 70 PUMA.  Just never give up and keep the pedal “fire-walled”!!  After the smoke cleared from the battlefield, it was the great yacht HONEY BADGER sailed by Travis Odenbach that took home all the silverware, winning with a remarkably consistent 3-2-3-4-4-5 record for 21 pts.  Making a strong comeback after a slow start was Robby Brown from Tampa’s Davis Island YC, sailing USA 799 into second overall with a 10-4-4-2-2-1 for 23 pts.  John Mollicone on 11TH HOUR RACING started out strong but failed to get into second gear and hit the right corners later, amassing a 2-11-1-6-3-6 for 29 pts, good enough for third place.  Rounding out the top five were class stalwart Tony Parker on BANGOR PACKET with a 13-14-7-1-1-2, another slow starter but a very, very fast closer!  Fifth was Chris Stone on VELOCIDAD, losing on a tie-breaker to Tony.

There was an excellent turnout of thirty-four J/80s for the fourth event on their Winter Circuit and sailing in what amounted to be their East Coast Championships.  Winning his first major J/80 event after two years of sailing was Brian Keane from Buzzards Bay, MA, sailing to a 10-5-2-3 for 20 pts to take the gold.  There were also a lot of new teams amongst the balance of the podium and top five.  Clarke McKinney sailed well on CW’s VACATION to snag second with a 5-1-6-11 for 23 pts.  Third was Nizar Abuzeni from Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands, sailing ARROW to a steady 6-3-4-12 for 25 pts.  Fourth was Jim Kershaw on COOL J and fifth was Ken Mangano on the magnificent MANGO mon!

The eighteen boat J/105 fleet was as competitive as ever.  Nevertheless, it was that fun-loving gang from way up North, Jim Rathbun on HEY JUDE from Toronto, ONT, Canada that sailed a fantastic, consistent regatta, never finishing out of the top three!  Their record of 2-2-1-3 for 8 pts was one of the dominant performances at this year’s Annapolis NOOD Regatta.  Local hotshot Peter McChesney also sailed well but had to overcome a tiebreaker to finish second.  Sailing MYSTERY MACHINE, Peter’s team got a 3-1-9-1 for 14 pts to win the tiebreak over the MIRAGE team of Cedric Lewis and Fredrik Saldesen that had a 4-6-2-2 also for 14 pts.  Fourth was Hugh Bethell on JESTER and fifth was the MBE Syndicate on VELOCE.

The nine J/30s had a scream and the racing was tight for the top three.  With six races under their belts, it was still a wide open fight for the first four positions.  In the end, Robert Putnam’s BETTER MOUSETRAP won the dog-fight, getting a 1-4-4-2-1-4 for 16 pts to win J/30s overall.  Second was Ron Anderson’s INSATIABLE with a 2-7-1-6-2-2 for 20 pts.  Third was that sweet, but tough, gal aboard BUMP, skipper Pam Morris, that showed the boys how it’s done, sailing a very consistent 4-2-3-4-3-5 for 21 pts.  Rounding out the top five were RAG DOLL sailed by Rob Lundahl in fourth and BEPOP sailed by Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello in fifth.

One of the most storied J/35s continued its winning ways no matter what body of water it sails on.  AUNT JEAN, now sailed by Jim Sagerholm, has won in New England, on the Great Lakes and now on the Chesapeake.  Amazing boat.  Great crew, too!  Jim’s team walked off with the top spot with  an average of below a second!  Their record of 2-1-2-1-2 for 8 pts would be awfully hard to beat!  The next two boats had a donnybrook, but winning in the end was MAGGIE, sailed by Peter Scheidt, finishing second with a 4-2-5-2-3 for 16 pts.  MEDICINE MAN skippered by Charles Kohlerman was third with a 1-6-6-3-1 tally for 17 pts.  Fourth was DAKOTA GIRL sailed by another excellent woman skipper, Stephanie Reuer and fifth was Mark McGonigle on WINDEPENDENT.

The dozen strong J/109 fleet had three past J/109 North American Champions dueling it out for top honors.  In the end they took 2 of the top 3.  Bill Sweetser on RUSH was on form and sailed a remarkable 1-2-1-2-1 scoreline for 7 pts to win the J/109 class quite handily.  Perhaps as one of the top Annapolis/ Chesapeake teams they should have since most of the racing demanded local knowledge and geometry tucked under Thomas Point Lighthouse.  Long Island sailors on CAMINOS led by Ryan Dempsey sailed an excellent regatta to garner a 2-1-6-3-7 for 19 pts, enough to secure second.  Just missing out second in the end was Ted Herlihy’s team on GUT FEELING, securing third place with a 3-5-3-1-8 score for 20 pts.  Next in the top five were Tony Syme on LOGOS in fourth and Paul Milo on VENTO SOLARE in fifth.  For more Sperry Topsider Sailing World NOOD Annapolis sailing information Sailing photo credits- Sarah Proctor

J/120 CAPER Wins Yachting Cup Overall Trophy

In the early years, SDYC’s premier regatta, the Yachting Cup, was used several times as the United States Ton Cup Championship, which served as a qualifying event for the IOR World Championship.  SDYC and its regatta organizing committee have continued the Ton Cup as part of the Yachting Cup Regatta weekend experience. The 2012 Ton Cup sailed on Friday May 4th in a match race format in J/22s provided by SDYC, in La Playa Basin.  The Ton Cup is a standalone match race regatta with its own prizes. However, competitors also had the opportunity to compete in one, or both regattas, and win individual and combined regatta prizes.

Congratulations go out to Team Alchemy on their Friday Ton Cup Match Race victory. Alchemy defeated the crew from Wings in the final match up. 3rd place went to Team Stars & Stripes, with their consolation round win over CC Rider.  Remarkably, Will Stout of Team Alchemy  was walking the docks Friday morning, was invited to fill in for a team that dropped out last minute, and ended up winning the whole event!   Ton Cup Sailing photo credits- Bob Betancourt

On the Offshore racing part of the world, the fleets were broken down into PHRF handicap racing and one-designs (J/80s, J/105s and J/120s).  In PHRF 2, the big winner was the J/125 STARK RAVING MAD sailed by Jim Madden with tactician/mainsail trimmer Benny Mitchell at his side.  There was no way you were going to beat their boat speed and scoreline of 1-1-1-1-1 for 5 pts.  And, this was a very tough class to beat with just six boats sailing with them, including a Puerto Vallarta podium finisher, the J/125 TIMESHAVER sailed by Viggo Torbensen and a Newport-Ensenada Race class winner and overall third place winner, the J/145 RADIO FLYER sailed by Carolyn Parks.  Nevertheless, despite winning all races on elapsed time, it was hard for the big boat, Carolyn’s J/145 RADIO FLYER to hold-off the little speedsters. In the end, second was the J/125 TIMESHAVER skippered by Viggo Torbensen with a 3-5-2-2-3 for 15 pts. Third was the J/125 RESOLUTE sailed by Tim Fuller to a 5-2-4-4-2 for 17 pts. And, fifth was Carolyn’s J/145 RADIO FLYER (please see a great story by one of her crew about the Newport 2 Ensenada Race experience below).

In PHRF 4 Class, another Newport 2 Ensenada race class winner was Larry Leveille’s J/29 masthead RUSH STREET.  After some tough racing around the cans in a very tough class, Larry’s crew still managed to eke out a fourth place.

Congratulations to John Laun and J/120 CAPER team who hoisted the Yachting Cup as the overall regatta winner and scored first in the ten boat J/120 class.   John and the capable CAPER crew knocked out a 3-4-2-2-1 for 12 pts to win by 3 pts.  Second was J-ALMIGHTY sailed by Mike Hatch with a 1-1-4-5-4 scoreline for 15 pts.  Third was past Yachting Cup Regatta Champion CC RIDER sailed by Chuck Nichols with a 2-2-3-6-7 tally for 20 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Gary Winton’s SHENANIGANS in fourth and POLE DANCER sailed by the Tom & Terri Manok family team in fifth.

With their eye on the ball to be contenders in the J/105 North Americans later in the fall in San Diego waters, the fifteen boat J/105 class had some excellent racing.  However, as they have done in the past, the WINGS team led by Dennis & Sharon Case simply stepped it up a gear, or two, and simply sailed through the fleet to amass a 1-1-3-1-3 record for a mere 9 pts.  Keeping touch with them was Rick Goebel’s SANITY with a 2-3-7-2-2 score for 16 pts.  Third was TRIPLE PLAY (Dave Vieregg), scoring a 3-2-4-4-12 for 25 pts.  Fourth, PERSEVERANCE (Bennet Greenwald) and fifth DECOLORES (Sean O’Keefe).

Like their counterparts in the J/120 and J/105 classes, one team managed to put it all together and sail a strong series.  At the top of the pack was Curt Johnson’s AVET with four 1sts and a 3rd for 7 pts, enough to win by four pts.  Second was Bob Hayward’s BLUE JAY and third was Kurt Wiese’s MONKEY SHOULDER.    Yachting Cup Sailing- JOY and Friends photo credits For more Yachting Cup and Ton Cup sailing results

J/133 JIVARO Wins Tour de Belle Ile

Winning IRC 1 and overall was the J/133 JIVARO sailed by Yves Grosjean and crew.  Second and third were two J/111s, Didier LeMoal’s J-LANCE 7 and Stephane Blanchard’s LE JOUET, respectively.  And, the J/122 JOLLY JOKER finished 4th in this tough class.  In IRC 3, the J/105 J CROIS PAS sailed by Philippe Tostivint finished second in class.  The Facebook page for Tour de Belle Ile.    For more Tour de Belle Ile sailing information

Solo Round Island Report

“The UK has a thriving short-handed sailing scene, the 2-hander’s have both the offshore orientated RORC races (which J/105’s have always done well in) being mainly 200-mile races round the English Channel as well as the shorter course but better attended (and truth be told a bit less competitive) Royal Southampton Series, which is 8 races over the season, 4 inshore and 4 offshore. The solo boys have a strong and growing group being run by the Solo Ocean Racing Club (SORC – which is confusing for the old timers who all know SORC to be the Florida series of yesteryear!) and they now have a full season of both inshore and offshore races, some to France, others up and down the UK’s South Coast.

On April 28th 31 boats came to the start line for the favorite solo event of the year, the Solo Round the Isle of Wight race (RIOW). This 50 mile passage race has it all. Strong tides, massive headlands to round, rocks, muddy shallows and with the full 360 degree loop of the island, wind from every angle! This year the forecast was light North Easterly to kick off (at 0600!) building so that by early evening it would be blowing 25 and heading for 40 knots NE. We would all in be in by then but some heavy air beating up the back of the island wasn’t out of the question.

The day dawned exactly as advertised (an 0430 alarm from a warm bed made it feel like the Vendee –  well, a tiny weeny bit anyway!) and three J boats took an immediate lead. Laurence Mead in his 105 nearest the island shore, Simon Curwen on Voador (another 105) in the middle of the Solent and Rob Craigie on his 122 nearest the mainland shore (more northerly). Mead hoped he had enough extra tide to get round the front of the other 2 as chutes were hoisted off the start line but in the end the gusts from the NE gave the other two just enough extra forward to lead at the first turn, being Hurst Narrows at the end of the Solent. Behind the fleet was already well spread out.

The three J boats all sailed down the edge of the Shingles Bank and lined up for the Needles Point. Craigie went wide to avoid any issues with Goose Rock and the wreck of the Varassi  – which sits off the point – while Mead (who had caught up with a bit more pressure to the north – having swapped sides with Curwen as they came past Hurst Narrows) and Curwen went round side by side about 2 metres off the lighthouse. They traded places twice within 2 minutes as they dropped chutes and set off up the 25 mile fetch and beat towards St Catherines Point on the Island’s southern side but Curwen held his lead, just!
The J105’s were never more than 3 boat lengths apart and continued to hold onto 2nd and 3rd place on the water all the way to the half way station at St Catherine’s Point, at which stage they were finally caught by some class 1 boats as Chris Rustom sailed by in his Andrews 37 Ding-Dong,  the Figaro 2 of Ian Hoddle caught them as well (but this is a water ballasted 35 footer that rates higher than the 122’s so Ian still had a lot to do!)  as did the second J122 of David Cule. Still the 105’s were leading on corrected time surely; there was no sight of the small boats astern.

Although the race had been very benign so far the gusts started to roll in as the next section of the race unfolded, this a 15 mile beat into the now 15 to 16 knot NE’ly from St Cat’s to Bembridge Ledge Buoy. The big boats all had slack tide at this stage, just a little turning in their favour while at the back the smaller boats were stirring!! They were by now 3 or 4 miles back and had favourable tide for the whole beat to look forward to.

The J122 of David Cule took a few minutes to get into her stride but when David got the trim right she took off like a scolded cat to power upwind. Mead got the better of Curwen here to finally grab a decent lead of about 3 boat lengths having worked hard to get inside as the boats hardened up.

Curwen was rolled by a couple of bigger boats and this dirty-wind, along with Mead possibly having a tad more of the early tide change inshore was enough to turn the tables. The big movers on the beat however were the small boats, which, although out of sight to the leaders must have done well on this leg. Jerry Freeman on the 3rd J105 “Juliette” was also going fast, inshore of the leading pack he closed noticeably over the course of the leg.

On the water leader Rob Craigie in his immaculately prepared J122 then overstood the Bembridge Ledge turning mark badly to give up his big lead, indeed by the mark David Cule had almost got his bow in front, not quite, but close! Most of the big boats did the same as Craigie while Mead was first of the smaller boats to tack back towards Bembridge and he held a small lead over Curwen at the mark.

It was then a case of diving to leeward of the rhumb line to get out of the building adverse tide which the two J105’s did aggressively. Round the Ryde bank and headed for home Mead went to his Code 0 while Curwen had his fractional chute up and was closing. Most of the leading pack were flying chutes down this leg and most held up off the lee-shore accepting the negative tidal effect in the middle of the Solent.

Curwen, never one to give up without a fight kept his bow down, going fast and skirting along the shallows and Mead followed suit peeling to his full size spinnaker as he did so. This all looked good until a gentle build in pressure and a small header as the Cowes finish line came into view meant that neither could lay round the point….depth kept dropping and they both kept chutes up until Mead finally blinked first and went into a drop sequence.  He had a Code 0 hoisted and ready to unfurl immediately and although he was losing ground after he had dropped he looked secure for the 800 metres to the finish, and that secure lead over Curwen became rock solid when Curwen finally ran out of depth and had to drop his chute, which he did, only to see it trawl out astern in the process.

The little boats weren’t in sight behind but a combination of better tide round the track and more wind down the last reach saw Class 3 boats take the top 4 overall places (ahead of the 2 J105’s in 5th and 6th) and 7 of the top ten overall.  None of the Class 1 boats had ever looked like getting enough of a lead to beat the class 2’s and that was how it finished.

A great race though enjoyed by all. Winners and Grinners were Will Sayer, Richard Breese and Chris Flewitt who took the podium places in their Sigma 33, Hunter Sonata 23 and Contessa 28 respectively.  IRC handicaps may have some quirks but it does deliver great racing for all shapes and sizes!!!

The week after the 2-handers get their shot at it and many of the same boats will be on the race course again!”  We wish we were there, too!

J/111 ANDIAMO Wins AYC Spring Series

In IRC I Class, the J/133 ANTIDOTE sailed by Ron Richman had a terrific series and managed to finish second against a fleet of basically completely custom, tricked-out forty footers, included in this fleet were a Ker 40, Farr 40s, X41, King 40, Farr 400 and Ker 11.3.  Great to see a “family cruiser-racer” come out on top over outright racing machines.

In IRC 2 Class, the J/122′s were fighting hard for the top five.  In the end, third was Steve Furnary’s PATRIOT followed by WINGS sailed by Mike Bruno, Tom Boyle and Jim Callahan in fifth.

The J/44s continued to have a wonderful time racing.  This time, Jim Bishop’s GOLD DIGGER team proved themselves as one of the class leaders.  Finishing the series with 1sts, 2nds and 3rds enabled them to climb up the ladder fast and win the regatta overall in the J/44 One-Design Class.  Second with three 1sts and a 2nd on the last weekend was Phil Gutin’s BEAGLE.  Third was Bill Ketcham’s MAXINE, fourth Jeff Willis’ CHALLENGE IV and fifth Don & Rick Rave’s RESOLUTE.

The J/105 one-designs were having yet another epic battle for “top dog” on Long Island Sound.  But the second weekend proved to be the real testing ground for this fleet. KINCSEM took the lead in the AYC Springs Series on Saturday and narrowly held on on Sunday to win the regatta over Sean Doyle’s KESTREL. The Joerg Esdorn/Duncan Hennes team on KINCSEM finished the regatta with a scant 25 points over 11 races. But KESTREL also ended with 25 points, thanks to a 2-3 finish on Sunday versus a 1-6 for KINCSEM. The tiebreaker went to KINCSEM. Over the 11 races, KINCSEM finished ahead of KESTREL 6 times, while KESTREL had the better finish 5 times. KINCSEM won four races; KESTREL three. Both teams threw out a 6 as their worst finish (KINCSEM had two 6s). Doesn’t get much tighter than that. Paul Beaudin’s LOULOU finished the regatta in third, followed by Kevin Grainger’s GUMPTION3 in fourth, and George and Alex Wilbanks’s REVELATION in fifth.

In PHRF 1 Class, the J/111 ANDIAMO sailed by Paul Strauch rattled off a few more 1sts to win PHRF 1 by 15 pts. J/109s took 3 out of the top five.  Third was Bob Schwartz’s NORDLYS, fourth was John Pearson’s BLUE SKY and fifth was Mike Sleightholme’s APSARA.

Finally, in PHRF 4, the Esposito gang on the J/29 HUSTLER prevailed to win their class, but on a squeaker– winning on a tie-breaker.  Third overall in class was Matheus Hovers’ J/29 KATOENDRA, a result of a strong performance over this past weekend.   For more AYC Spring Series sailing information

J/120 EL OCASO Wins Antigua’s Lord Nelson Trophy

Antigua Sailing Week is the Caribbean’s longest running and most prestigious sailing regatta and the 46th edition was an absolute cracker. Sailors come to Antigua Sailing Week from all over the world and this year was no exception with crew from over 20 nations coming to enjoy Caribbean racing at its very best.

The week of racing kicked off with a solid 20-25 knots of trade winds providing exhilarating sailing and no shortage of drama. In CSA1 class, the Race Committee elected to send the race boats to the Half Moon mark. The long beat into big seas offshore was rewarded with a downwind sleigh ride back.  Big breeze provided spectacular surfing conditions for the second day of Antigua Sailing Week.  The breeze kept up above 20 knots for the third consecutive day of the regatta. However the Ocean mark laid on Day Three for the big boats was a new addition.  It took over 300 feet of line to lay the mark four miles off the leeward coast of Antigua. The sizable yachts in CSA 1 class were an awesome sight, smashing through the start line to windward through the Caribbean surf and after rounding the Ocean mark, the yachts squared off downwind, bow up, accelerating off big waves to surf at speeds of 20 knots plus.

Racing always comes first at Antigua Sailing Week but ashore there was some truly memorable entertainment and the highlight of this year’s live music entertainment was “The son of Bob”– Ky-Mani Marley played to over 2,000 people in the party venue of Antigua Sailing Week, Nelson’s Dockyard.  Ky-Mani judged the mood of the crowd to perfection, concentrating on renditions of his father’s biggest hits with the crowd fully getting into anthems: Jamming, Could you be loved, Is this love, Three Little Birds and the thought provoking hits, No woman no cry and Redemption Song. Marley played for over two hours and the massive crowd left the Dockyard buoyed by a fantastic experience.

After three days of scintillating race action, well over a thousand people gathered at Pigeon Beach for Lay Day. The quarter-mile of white sand was brimming with local vendors barbequing chicken, lobster and fish and a fair amount of Carib Beer and English Harbour 5 year old rum was consumed during the day and into the evening. Pigeon Beach was the perfect place to unwind and go for a swim. For the more energetic, stand up paddle boarding, rowing with the Sea Cadets and dinghy racing with Antigua’s National Sailing Academy were all on offer.  Beach cricket was a very popular pastime and was highlighted by the participation of famous Antiguan cricketers Sir Vivian Richards, Curtly Ambrose and Kenny Benjamin.  The gorgeous Carib girls also joined in the fun.  Music from DJs Purist and Stiffla played into the evening ensuring a great night was had by all.

The last two days of racing at Antigua Sailing Week were held in slightly more moderate breeze and it was a thrilling return to action after Lay Day.

At the Final Awards Ceremony in Nelson’s Dockyard, Richard Wesslund’s J/120 El Ocaso was awarded the Lord Nelson Trophy for the best overall performance of any yacht during Antigua Sailing Week 2012.  El Ocaso scored seven straight wins in CSA 4 Class but it was far from easy.  Most of the races were decided by less than a minute and on several occasions by just a few seconds. El Ocaso has had a fantastic Caribbean season winning regattas in St. Maarten, BVI and finally Antigua Sailing Week.

“It has been our best season ever and winning the Lord Nelson Trophy really caps it off,” said El Ocaso’s Richard Wesslund. “This has been the most competitive regatta by far, we have been pushed hard in every race, often winning by just a fraction of a second.  Every year the crew votes on the events we will compete in and Antigua Sailing Week was top of the list.  The race management and shoreside have been absolutely first class which is so important. I would like to offer my congratulations to the management team of Antigua Sailing Week – they have put on a fantastic event.”  Thanks to Louay Habib for this contribution.

In CSA 4 Class, “hats off” to Jonty Layfield and crew on the J/39 SLEEPER VIII, a boat that has won innumerable events in its home waters of the Solent and England.  Their 3rd place finish is one of their best performances at Antigua and, apparently, hope to come back next year and finish at the top of the podium!

In CSA 5 Class, the J/30 BLUE PETER sailed by Tanner Jones and his local Antiguan team managed to pull off another great result, snagging third place and getting yet another podium finish over the few decades he’s raced the boat.  How many ARW’s is it now, Peter?  Finishing off their Caribbean racing season as well was the J/95 SHAMROCK VII sailed by Tom Mullen from New Hampshire, finishing 5th in class and thankfully beating out one of their competitors called “Girls4Sail”.  Hmmmm.   Sailing photo credits: Ted Martin, Paul Wyeth- pwpictures.com, Tim Wright- photoaction.com, Jason Pickering.   Antigua Race Week YouTube summary.  For more Antigua Sailing Week sailing information

J/Teams Love Island Double Race

The course was East about round Isle of Wight and with the 07.05 to 07.45 starts the boats had to contend with initial choppy conditions in the Solent although tide was flowing with them through the forts. The RLYC line was used and because of the fast tide across the line, most were line shy apart from Class 2 which saw 3 boats return.

The early starters had a fast reach to Bembridge where they met some of the biggest seas of the day. Some chose to stay offshore, others to gybe into Sandown Bay but neither route seemed to give a significant advantage. Some tried kites as they ran down to Dunnose in the foul tide and 20 knots of true but many opted for the more cautions option of poling out the headsail. Once round Dunnose, boats slowly hardened up for the Needles in relatively smooth seas with the tide now under them.

At the Needles Channel and Hurst the NE wind and initial foul tides were challenging with boats trying to tack in the shallows out of the tide. Inevitably a few pushed their luck a bit too far with 4 grounding on the falling tide, being left high and dry but still managing to get off some hours later. Once out of the Needles Channel, the shallower waters of the Mainland side were favoured by most for a hard beat up the western Solent to the Beaulieu before a final welcome fetch to the finish line and a welcome rest.

On handicap, in Class 1 the J/Teams took five of the top ten spots!  Third was Paul and Mark Griffith’s J/109 JAGERBOMB.  Fifth was Bill West and Steve Counsel sailing their J/109 JO JO GUNNE. Sixth was a J/1059, Richard Cashmore and Tom Barker’s SLINGSHOT.  Eighth was the J/109 JUMUNU sailed by Elliot Wishlade and Julian Sutherland.  Ninth was the J/122 JBELLINO, the OSTAR Class winner sailed by Rob Craigie and Deb Fish.

In Class 2 the small boats came through on the tide with the J/97 JIKA JIKA sailed by Mike and Jamie Holmes  finishing in tenth.  Just behind them in 11th was the J/92s HULLABALOO with Andrew Dallas skippering.  In Class 3, the J/80 ALAMARA B sailed by Adam and Paul Charlesworth finished fourth in class.
For more Royal Southern YC Island Double Race sailing information

“Naples Navy” Blitzes J/24 Trofeo Academia Navale

The Trofeo Academia Navale has become one of the “must do” spring events for Italian (and European) sailors in the spring sailing calendar.  After all, the city of Livorno and the Italian Naval Academy put out the “red carpet” and throw a fabulous show for all participants, all welcome from all parts of the world.  In the “what’s not to like about this” regatta category, it may not be a bad idea to put this on your “bucket list” of regattas to sail– lots of fun, with extraordinary pageantry and style, and few do it as well as the Italians.  This year’s 29th TAN, as they call it, was no exception.

On the Opening Day, “It was the day of the embrace between Livorno and the world. Along Via Grande, decorated with the colors of the city and the 29th Trofeo Accademia Navale of Livorno and the City, are paraded the flags of the 20 marine-fairing nations from all over the world participating in the races of TAN.”  Indeed, it was an impressive site. Ninety-five athletes (men & women) from naval academies of Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Great Britain, India, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and Turkey. Also present was a Chief Naval Officer from Qatar who was sent as an observer– he was so enraptured and fascinated by the atmosphere that he announced that next year, for the first time in thirty years, Qatar will be among the participants.  Where were the Americans and the famous US Naval Academy sailing team?  Or, their friendly Russian Navy Sailing Team?  Maybe next year?

From the steps of City Hall, the Mayor of Livorno, Alessandro Cosimi, gave the foreign sailors welcome on behalf of the entire city.  The applause and the enthusiasm of Livorno’s citizens and elementary school children accompanied the parade along the way. It was quite a display of passion for the event and their embrace of this significant sailing event.  At the end, a parade of local historical “tall ships” participated in the festivities, including “Capricia”, “Corsair II” and “Ursa Major”.  Some people even won rides to sail and sleep aboard the sailing ships (count me in, too!).  To cap it all off, a significant cultural attraction was the collaboration between the TAN and the “Fondazione Teatro Goldoni,” which presents the concert of “Tchaikovsky’s Trio” in the picturesque scenery of the Goldoni Theatre in Livorno– a breathtaking visual extravaganza.

Back to the sailing stuff.  The first day of racing was excellent, if not challenging.  The uncertain weather, rain in the morning and mostly cloudy skies for the day, did not affect the performance of the sailing competitions for the seven classes of racing.  After three races, Ignazio Bonanno’s “Naples Navy” team on board LA SUPERBA was leading with a 1-2-1.  Second was Claudio Buiatti’s JACK OF DIAMONDS with a 2-11-2 and third was Pietro Diamanti’s JAMAICA NAVY with a 5-1-11.

Perhaps the most notable cultural/ sailing event of the day starred the famous Italian circumnavigator of Planet Earth- the Florentine sailor Amerigo Vespucci.  Captain Vespucci’s 500th Anniversary was featured and was dedicated to his works at home in Tuscany and Livorno (his main port).

The next day of sailing saw a mix of “partly cloudy” conditions, really good wind, rain and clouds flying across the race course.  Nevertheless, despite the rain, the J/24 teams saw LA SUPERBA continue their dominance of the class.  Ignazio Bonanno’s team finished the day with a three 1sts and two 2nds.  Spanking anyone?  Ouch.  Iganzio’s team laid down the law and made sure no other team was going to beat them.  The German sailor Stefan Karsunine and Marco Vincenti, were in 2nd and 3rd overall, respectively.  They passed the Monaco team of Dennis Frederiksen.

The last day of sailing was almost anti-climactic for the J/24 teams.  After getting a good-ole-fashioned, military-like, “blitzkrieg” the J/24 competitors simply saw the “Naples Navy” on LA SUPERBA, led by skipper Ignazio Bonanno, walk off with a near flawless victory with four 1sts, two 2nds and a ninth. The silver medal was won by German Stefan Karsunine sailing MAX BAHR.  Bronze on the podium was taken by Marco Vincenti and Fabio Delicati of the POLIZIA PENITENZARIA.  Fourth was top J/24 Monaco Team sailor Dennis Frederiksen on YC MONACO and fifth was Litikey Farmas on NAVISCON from Hungary.

At the end of the day, here are some compelling facts.  Despite economic distress in various parts of Europe, indeed the world, this year’s 29th edition of TAN saw record numbers with 16 classes of racing with 281 boats and 1,099 sailors from 20 nations.  Again, sailing, sports and the sea continue to prove to be sources of union among the peoples and cultures of the world!!

Interest in the TAN is also demonstrated by the approximately 100,000 visitors who visited the port of Tuttovela Medici during the event (just 3 days)– and the J/24 class is the “premiere media sailing class” at the event.  Yes, that is an amazing figure.  Similar to what is seen in Newport, RI for “Tall Ships” events and far, far beyond anything ever touted (or ever seen) in the America’s Cup!.  Italian sailing media are considered (alongside their French, German, Spanish and UK counterparts) to be amongst the best in the world– TAN were accredited to more than 100 media professionals; Radio Flash Livorno broadcast live on TAN for five hours a day; and the agency ITALPRESS was print media partner for TAN– collectively providing greater visibility and enormous “presence” to the event on radio, TV, print and Internet (social media).

As pointed out in the closing ceremony of the TAN from an Italian Navy Admiral, the success of the event is the result of the enthusiasm of the organizers and the synergies between all “actors” that participate in TAN– institutions that range from military and civil associations, to government agencies, sailing clubs, sponsors and all those who still believe in the values ​​of sailing for the trophy. Trusting in the same enthusiasm and passion for the future, the event can look with optimism and ambition for the next edition of the TAN, the thirtieth.  Perhaps their American and the Russian counterparts might join, too?
Please visit the Trofeo Accademia Navale sailing website for more information

Under a greyish, overcast morning sky the first boats away were IRC 3 & 4. The tide was beginning to run west, favouring the Royal Yacht Squadron end of the line. Although most boats were slightly line-shy, most all boats quickly hoisted their kites and flew down the Solent.  The first leg took the fleet downwind to Anvil Point and the DZB Buoy. The run was quick, seeing boat speeds exceeding 10 knots even for the smaller boats. The slight differing angles between the wind and a fast flowing tide posed a tactical challenge, keeping the navigators on their toes working the angles.

This run, however, couldn’t last forever. On the way back from DZB to a virtual mark just south of Freshwater Bay, the competitors got a first taste of what was waiting further ahead. A close reach spilled some cold water over the deck, and wind over tide pounded the hulls.

One of the first victims to the weather became Nikki Curwen’s J/105 VOADOR, who had to retire when they were still two-handed but only three-footed (not having literary lost a foot, Nikki was relatively relaxed about it). Nikki told us that she felt it best not to take any risks with a leg injury in the dark and bailed out just short of Waypoint 1.

After reaching Waypoint 1, the boats were sent south towards the shipping lanes. To hold a kite, or not to hold a kite was the question on that leg. One competitor jokingly asked following the race, “When does the British winter actually end?!”  There were lots of kites blown-up and lots of gear failures across the fleet.

Said one of the sailors about the “virtual marks (waypoints), “It was very entertaining approaching the second of the waypoints, watching the yachts in front of them acting exactly as if they were rounding a physical object but with nothing there. There were even some last minute gybes as yachts realized the tide was carrying them past the point, if only I had filmed it! Unfortunately we were very busy at the time!”

Had all competitors known what lay ahead of them now, we might have seen a few more cancellations– a tough and cold 30-mile beat to Owers Buoy followed waypoint 2. With a tide of nearly 4 knots reported by some at Owers, it became the deciding factor to which class took the overall win.  Luckily, as the pain dulls, we tend to quickly forget. So Competitors will hopefully only remember an exciting course and a great start to RORC’s domestic offshore season; there is plenty to get excited about with IRC 1, 2 and 3 being won by GBR Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup trialists.

In the end, the J/122 JOOPSTER skippered by Neil Kipling got a 10th overall IRC and 2nd IRC Class 2 just 8 minutes off the mark.  Behind them were the J/109 YEOMAN OF WIGHT sailed by David Aisher, attaining a 24th overall IRC and 4th in IRC Class 3.  Finally, in the Double-handed division, the J/105 DIABLO-J sailed by Nick Martin did well considering the conditions and managed a 6th in class.  For more RORC Morgan Cup sailing information

A Media-Gasmic J/24 Easterns!

With a third place in the opening race being his worst result in the six-race series, JP McCaldin in JAMAIS ENCORE from Lough Erne YC was an impressive winner of the Mediagasmic-sponsored J/24 Eastern Championships at Howth over the weekend.

Even National Champion Flor O’Driscoll on HARD ON PORT couldn’t match the level of consistency that the northern visitors demonstrated while another feature of the weekend was the steadily-improving performance of the HYC K25 Team on KILCULLEN EURO CAR PARKS who finished 5th overall.

Discarding an 11th in the first race, the crew – led by John Blake and with Cillian Dickson on the helm – clearly learned a lot as the days went on, culminating in top notch 2nd and 3rd finishes on the second day.

The Championship started on Saturday with four races in fresh north-easterlies and first blood was drawn by Howth’s JIBBERISH (Fergus O’Kelly & others) whose gamble of a left-side long tack paid off handsomely for a sweet victory ahead of O’Driscoll and McCaldin.

Race two, three and four saw NYAH (Hyde & Deasy, RCYC/RStGYC) and JAMAIS ENCORE take turns to head the fleet, with NYAH winning two to head the fleet overnight. The fourth race highlighted just how competitive the fleet was, with 12 boats finishing within five minutes.

Fortunes were reversed on Sunday when NYAH had a disastrous 9th in the opening race and then a 4th while major rival McCaldin by comparison, had a dream day on the water. The fifth race in the series saw the Lough Erne crew win by a massive margin and while they only had to sail safely in the last race, second behind HARD ON PORT was more than enough to secure the Eastern Championship trophy with a margin of four points.

The Mediagasmic-sponsored event attracted visiting boats from Malahide, Lough Erne, Lough Ree, Lough Swilly, Royal Cork and Carrickfergus and was considered an outstanding success by the 13 crews, with much praise heaped on PRO David Lovegrove and his team for the quality of the racing.  For more MediaGasmic J/24 Irish Eastern Championships Sailing information

Behind Vroon’s JALAPENO team, who by the way had straight 1sts as counters, second went to Holsboer’s JUUL, third went to Everwijn’s ELF, fourth was Spaan’s J-STRING and fifth was Elsink’s J’ZUS.   For more J/80 Almere Regatta Sailing information

After two races sailed on Saturday, the race committee decided cancel races for Sunday due to strong wind.  On the third day, there was  glorious weather, but the wind remained nearly dead.  When wind conditions were still weak, the RC managed to sail only two races, and the right side of the track was heavily favored on all legs upwind and downwind.

In the evening the J/80 teams got together for a barbecue on the beach at the Yacht Club.  After plenty of cold beer and hot sausages (bratwurst), there was plenty of laughter about the past days of sailing, recognizing how difficult it was to sail in the weather conditions presented to the race committee.

The last day dawned with great expectations for a fun day or sailing, thanks to a fresh breeze blowing 20-25 knots!  In a few hours, the PRO managed to fire off four great races, much to the satisfaction of the now very, very tired skippers and crews!

In summary, we can say that the MAIOR in 2012 demanded a lot of the crews. Strength, endurance and good tactics.  The light winds demanded tremendous concentration to sail fast and smart.

For the final results, PROCEDES DIVA with skipper Bjorn Beilken (SKWB) topped the field quite convincingly.  Second was ANEGADA sailed by Thomas Dehler (GYC), followed closely in third by CAMPAIGN guided by helmsman Sven Vagt (SKWB).  Next up are the J/80 Worlds in Plymouth, England for many of our teams. Until then, “boom-and Schotbruch”!   For more J/80 Maior Cup sailing information

J/80 Spain Sailing Summary

On May 6th and 13th, the J/80 Bilbao fleet has two days of training with the collaboration of J/80 World Champion, Ignacio Camino. These training sessions are a prelude to the forthcoming J/80 Spain Cup, which will start May 31 and go to June 3.

On April 14, in the waters of Lanzarote, Canary Islands off the coast of northern Africa, the local J/80 fleet sailed the J/80 Island League Championships.  After two weekends of sailing (five weekends total are scheduled), MARINA RUBICON II sailed by Rafael Lorenzo Lasso is first.  HOTEL PRINCESSA YAIZA sailed by Rayco Tabarez is currently second followed in third by MARINA RUBICON I sailed by Quintana Aythami Marrero.  For more Spanish J/80 sailing information

SERCO Wins J/24 Spring Cup

With the mixed weather conditions, the sailors were tested across the weekend and managed to get in all seven races scheduled.  Starting out with a 3-1-2, the team on SERCO helmed by Bob Turner put in a solid performance and ended winning the regatta with 13 pts.  Duncan McCarthy sailed MADELINE to second overall, posting some good scores in the top two but couldn’t maintain consistency to take the gold.  Sailing a similar “roller coaster” scoreline was Darren Stansbury on the redoubtable HEDGEHOG, managing to win two races but not steady enough crack the top, hanging on for a well-deserved third on the podium.  Rounding out the top five were Matt Hardy on NIKATA in fourth and Nick McDonald on LEGAL ALIEN in fifth.   For more J/24 Spring Cup sailing information

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

* J/145 RADIO FLYER Update-  one of the crew aboard Carolyn Parks’ J/145 RADIO FLYER, Jeff Mueller, kindly provided us an update on how Carolyn’s team came together, sailed the boat and nearly won the entire Newport 2 Ensenada Race, having to settle for 3rd overall and 1st in PHRF A Class (the first woman to win it ever!).  Here’s Jeff’s report-

“Going into the 2012 Newport to Ensenada Race the Radio Flyer philosophy boiled down to two main things:  bring a team that could keep the boat moving through the night and choose a route that would keep us in at least modest pressure without sailing too far.  Led by Owner/Skipper Carolyn Parks the dedicated amateurs on board included a strong sailor for each key position on both watches.  Half the crew had never sailed together, but the mellow personalities blended well from the start.

Having sailed the 2011 race in great pressure but too many miles offshore we were determined to get it right this time.  Although it’s a blast to be on the 145 in 15-20 knots, it’s a marvelous boat even in 5-9 knots.  Seeing a wind hole along the coast as likely we knew it would need to be an outside course, the question was how far out?  To find the best route we culled through numerous weather sources until we lost cell service a little after 3 PM on Friday, from there, seeing that the winds were a bit more moderate than the forecast, we interpolated and focused on sailing a VMG course that would keep us in pressure.

Off the line with the light 1 up Radio Flyer moved well.  While a few boats turned in, most of the fleet near us stuck with starboard and hoisted Code Zeros.  Sometimes it’s good not to have too many options.  We don’t have a Code Zero and the breeze wasn’t strong enough to hoist the Jib Top, so we opted to go to the 1A rather early, dropping our course much deeper (and more towards Ensenada) than the boats with the Zeros up.  We were happy living there on starboard until 4:30 Saturday morning when the wind went right and built to about 14 knots.  The watch on deck pulled off a sweet gybe without any assistance and we barreled along for about half an hour before it pooped on us.  That started the focus game, keeping the boat moving in very light air while bone tired is essential to any successful Ensenada campaign.  After a gybe back looking for pressure we continued to the Ensenada layline, placing us nearly 50 miles offshore.

Daylight found the big red J all alone in the ocean.  Was that good or bad?  Was there pressure all along the coast all night and had all the boats that went inside already finished?  As land was coming into sight we caught a glimpse of the very distinct spinnaker of a maxi that we know well.  It was about 5 miles behind us!  Our confidence rose and adrenaline kicked in as the crew squeezed max speed out of Radio Flyer in a dying breeze.  Our team could now see a few Cruz and Maxi boats along the shore and even though the gybe angle looked nasty we decided to go back out rather than risk being becalmed under the cliffs.  As we turned the wind backed and built gliding our big red wagon directly to the finish at a healthy clip.

All in all it was a beautiful race.  We never saw less than 3-4 knots of pressure and the J/145 never stopped moving – generally in the right direction.  The team work was excellent and cooperative and everyone ended up doing just about every position at one point or another, which we credit with relieving fatigue.  Clearly the J/145 is a phenomenal boat for this type of race.  Not to mention awfully comfy down below.”

* Volvo 70s Ocean Race- congratulations to Ken Read and crew on PUMA Mar Mostro for winning Leg 6 and pulling into a virtual tie for the lead with three other teams- TELEFONICA the current leader with an 11 point lead over PUMA with two boats sandwiched in between- CAMPER and GROUPAMA.  It’s close boys and girls!  Just three legs to go, the last long leg (Leg 7 from Miami, FL to Lisbon, Portugal) will be the toughest tactically.  From there it’s just two “wind sprints” along the European coastline to finish in Galway, Ireland in early June!   You can follow the teams on http://www.volvooceanrace.com

* The turbo’d Volvo 70 MASERATI (ex-Ericsson) is attempting to break the trans-Atlantic monohull sailing record starting at 3:20 AM on Wednesday, May 9th, ahead of a massive Low off the East Coast.  Johnstone cousin, Brad Van Liew, is aboard as Chief Navigator and Watch Captain.  Here’s their initial update-

Team Maserati Set Sail This Morning to Conquer a Daunting World Record Across the Atlantic. The extreme challenge will take them into the North Atlantic facing strong winds and icebergs.  Starting in front of the Ambrose lighthouse in New York Harbor, the Maserati racing yacht crossed the starting line at 3:20 AM and set off to conquer the New York-Cape Lizard (UK) record under a cloudy sky and looming thunderstorms. The international crew of eight men will sail 2,925 miles in the North Atlantic Ocean, dangerously close to icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland. The latest data  shows several icebergs as far south as 44 degrees North. Maserati is currently at 40 degrees North and headed northeast at 22 knots. The time to beat is 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds, a world record set in 2003 by British sailor Robert Miller’s monohull Mari Cha IV.

“We have waited for so long, but it was worth it,” explained Soldini before leaving the dock. “This low pressure seems to be the right one to try and break a speed record as challenging as the North Atlantic one. We will try to ride the tides and the winds the best we can and reach Great Britain achieving the record. We are confident and in high spirits.”

Giovanni Soldini and his crew face complex challenges. The route is demanding and often treacherous with strong winds, rough seas, icebergs, and water temperatures below 2-4 degrees Celsius. The arduous circumstances are compounded by the constant need to analyze the weather forecasts and make the best strategic choices.

On board Maserati is an international crew of skilled sailors: Giovanni Soldini (skipper), American Brad Van Liew (navigator and watch leader), Spaniard Javier de la Plaza (helm, pit), Frenchmen Sebastien Audigane (helm, trimmer) and Ronan Le Goff (helm, bowman), Italians Guido Broggi (boat captain), Corrado Rossignoli (bowman), and Brit Tom Gall (second bowman).

The differences between Maserati and the world record holder Mari Cha IV are staggering. Mari Cha IV is a maxi yacht with a length of 140 feet (double Maserati’s 70 foot hull) and built to beat the most important speed records throughout the world. While Maserati is high tech and also built for extreme speed, she boasts one-third the displacement of Mari Cha IV and a single mast in contrast to Mari Cha IV’s two towering masts stretching 160 feet high. Only the current race against time will tell if the feisty and determined crew on board Maserati can break the amazing standard set by Mari Cha IV in 2003. Despite what may appear to be an underdog position, it is important to consider that the sister-ship to Maserati (Ericsson 4) currently holds the world speed record covering 596.6 nautical miles in 24 hours.

The record attempt can be followed live on Giovanni Soldini and Maserati’s website (www.maserati.soldini.it). The site contains news, videos and photos of the lifestyle of crew members on board, and provides continuous monitoring of the marine weather conditions, as well as online tracking to check the position and speed of Maserati in real time. Continuous updates are also available on Facebook (through Giovanni Soldini’s official page) and Twitter (@giovannisoldini and Brad Van Liew @BradVanLiew).

The latest report from Brad Van Liew, navigator and watch leader-  “Life on board is getting chilly and it is wet, but nothing like when we will sail through the North Atlantic cocktail in a couple days.”

YouTube video- updated at 1200 hrs EST (1800 hrs UTC)- hauling the mail at 20-22 knots and as of 2200 hrs UTC, they were just five miles off the pace of a 140 foot massive ketch on a “baby 70″.  Cool.  Just keep up that 18.5+ knot pace, boys!   Brad Van Liew’s Ocean Racing.org website sailing information For more Maserati Sailing information Live real-time record tracking of Maserati

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

* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years.  Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker.  The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com.  Search for “SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing” by Bill Stellin or William Stellin.”  UPDATE-  Just a short note to update from Bill- “Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, “Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III,” can be found at www.blurb.com.  Thanks, Bill and Judy”

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world’s oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they’ve gotten to New Zealand- “Avante Cruises the Pacific”.

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet–she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending.  As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/

“Sgrech” Screams to Double Win in Race 2

16 boats came to the start line in Dunlaoghaire where Race Officer, Larry Power, sent the fleet beating towards the M2 buoy in a 15-20 knot north-easterly wind. The tide at the start was flooding pushing the fleet up towards the M2 but constantly shifting winds, both in direction and strength, made rounding the M2 difficult.

First around the M2 was “English Mick” followed by the J/109 “Sgrech”. This order remained to the finish line in Holyhead. While the last leg was a fetch, the approach into Holyhead was tricky with the strong tides. Boats that went south with the ebbing tide after the M2 were rewarded with being swept in Holyhead Bay by the following flood tide. The three J/109s crossed the line one after the other but “ Joker 2” and “Jedi” could not catch “Sgrech”.

“Sgrech” won Overall and Class 1 while “Adelie” won Class 2. “Lancastrian” won Class 1 Silver Fleet. Five boats retired.

The next race is the 100 mile Round Ireland qualifier from Conwy to Howth on the 19th May.

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J/70 Sailing Annapolis II
(Annapolis, MD)- With fabulous spring sailing and summer just around the corner, interest in the J/70 continues to grow at a considerable pace.  Due to the strong response on the Chesapeake and its central location on the mid-Atlantic coast for sailors within a 3-5 hour drive inland, J/70 will stay in the Bay for another three weeks.  Please be sure to swing by and see the J/70 speedster sailing out of Back Creek at Northpoint Yacht Sales in Eastport (Annapolis), next to J/World Sailing School.  For sailing demo’s be sure to contact Ken Comerford at ph- 410-280-2038 or email- ken@northpointyachtsales.com

J/70 Sailing in Newport- will commence this weekend.  J/70 will be based in Newport Harbor for the duration of the summer- already we’ve had demo’s for customers (plus dealers) from the Middle East, Chile, Sweden, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, France, and Switzerland.  For sailing demo’s be sure to contact J/Boats at ph- 401-846-8410 or email- info@jboats.com

NEW! J/70 Winter Circuit- plans are in place for an awesome five regatta program starting in January at Key West Race Week and ending up in Annapolis for the spring SW NOOD Regatta.  Most importantly, several boats will be available for charter/purchase for this event (contact J/Boats, please).  Concierge services will be available for owners for storage/ transport, too.  The J/70 Winter Circuit will be the following:
- Jan- Quantum Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
- Feb- Sperry Topsider St Petersburg NOOD Regatta- St Petersburg, FL
- Mar- Bacardi Miami Sailing Week- Coconut Grove, FL
- Apr- Sperry Topsider Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC
- May- Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta- Annapolis, MD

For more J/70 speedster sailing information

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Annapolis NOOD Preview
NEW J/111 One-Design Class Debuts
(Annapolis, MD)- While the Sperry Topsider crew can’t guarantee awesome sailing, they certainly can make sure the sailors are happy with their togs and clogs and make life ashore festive and fun.  With a forecast of light to moderate winds for Thursday/ Friday out of the south and a weak front switching the winds into the northerly quadrants at a robust 4-7 knots for Saturday/ Sunday, the PRO’s will be on their toes to get some decent sailing in for the madding crowds.  How many teams will be in attendance?  With nearly 200 boats registered, there will be over 1,100+ J sailors crewing on 141 J’s (that’s 72% of the fleet!).

The J One-Design fleets are all well-represented and are broken down into five J/111s, a dozen J/109s, aye-teen J/105s, ocho J/35s, move J/30s, thirty-four J/80s, nineteen J/24s and thirty-six J/22s.  In fact, it’s quite a significant turn-out of the 35 foot J-Designs- J/35s from the 80s, J/105s from the 90s and the new J/111s.

On that score, the J/111 fleet is shaping up to be a good test of how crews adopt to the flatter, choppier, shiftier waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  Three of the 111 teams all sailed in Charleston, having to cope with massive easterly swells from an offshore storm in NW to NE winds, making for a roll-polly ride upwind and downwind.  Past champion VELOCITY sailed by Marty Roesch will surely be on the comeback trail and CRW Champion RAGIN led by Bob Moran and 3rd place finisher Henry Brauer on FLEETWING will be challenging for the top of the pack.  With those three as a benchmark, it will be interesting to see how quickly the other two boats, Jim Whited’s BAD CAT and Anthony Culotta’s CUORE DI LEONE fair against some of their well-practiced compatriots.

With three dozen teams showing up on the starting line, the J/22s continue to demonstrate that a bit of chutzpah, fun and camaraderie go a long way for long-term fleet success.  There are many familiar faces in this crowd as well as some new ones.  The event may yet turn into another donnybrook between the Rochester crowd versus the Annapolis gang.  Leading the Rochester crew will be Chris Doyle on THE JUG 41 and Vic Snyder on MO’MONEY.  The local Naptown crews are pretty formidable, amongst them will be Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY, Al Terhune on DAZZLER, Sandy Adzick on HOT TICKET and Todd Hiller on LEADING EDGE, just to name a few.

After nearly 35 years of racing, you’d think the J/24 teams would have an established pecking order amongst the top teams.  NOT!  As has been atypical of many top international one-design classes, the J/24 is so easy to pick up fast by good sailors that just about anyone can be competitive in a short period of time.  Same holds true now as it did back in 1977.  However, octogenarian Tony Parker on the storied BANGOR PACKET XXX is the local Maine/DC boy who’s been keeping all the latest boys and girls in check.  After all, many a J/24 World Champion has crossed swords with Tony and lost– he’s still sharp as a tack after all those years of “ultimate fighting” in the J/24 class.  Making sure they learned a thing or two and hope to stay in front of Tony are recent J/24 World Champ Tim Healey on 11TH HORU RACING from Newport, Robby Brown from St Pete on USA 799, Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER and Pete Kassal on SPACEMAN SPIFF.

An excellent turnout of thirty-four J/80s re-affirms their class strength after good fleets at Key West, Bacardi Sailing Week and Charleston Race Week– all events on the J/80 Winter Circuit.  J/80 sailors are having a lot of fun racing their fast, closely-matched A-sail boats.  Teams that could be factors are changing as some teams improve their capabilities on boat-speed, boat-handling and tactics.  Showing great improvements recently has been Kristen Robinson and team aboard ANGRY CHAMELEON.  Others in the hunt will include Andy Burton on GROMIT from Newport, Chris Chadwick’s CHURCH KEY, Bruno Pasquinelli’s TIAMO, Mike Sudofsky’s BOB DYLAN, Ramzi Bannura’s STACKED DECK, Will Crump & Tom Klok’s R80, Brian Keane’s SAVASANA and Erik Storck’s NA Champion RUMOR.

The J/30 sailors continue to enjoy the first cruiser-racer ever built by the J/Boats Team.  And, many “classics” of this genre abound.  These teams have a scream, no doubt about it. So, making any predictions about an outcome are certainly beyond the comprehension of even the J/30 sailors themselves.  Has something to do with rum, beer, sun, fun and varying degrees of that combination over three days of sailing.  So, working on past performance, we can at least look for Pam Morri’s BUMP, Ron Anderson’s INSATIABLE, George Watson’s AVITA and Bob Rutsch & Mike Costello’s BEPOP to be hunting around the front of the pack most times this weekend.

The eighteen boat J/105 fleet will be as competitive as ever.  Chesapeake locals such as Peter McChesney on the now famous MYSTERY MACHINE, Chris & Carolyn Groobey on JAVA, Andrew Kennedy on BAT IV, Bob Reeves on A-TRAIN, the Gitchell’s on TENACIOUS and Jack Biddle on RUM PUPPY will certainly be factors in the top five.  Toss in top three J/105 NA’s sailor Jim Rathbun on HEY JUDE from Toronto, ONT, Canada and some US Naval Academy Sailing Team college sailors and you’re certain to see a running gun battle taking place on the waters just off Easton’s Point.

J/35 sailors continue to enjoy one of the most successful 35 footers ever built as racer-cruisers.  Love the boat names, some of the old classics and some new variations.  T-BONE, AUNT JEAN, DAKOTA GIRL, BAD COMPANY, MEDICINE MAN, REBEL YELL.  Hell, might as well be at a Harley Davidson reunion in the Badlands of North Dakota, don’t ya think?  Free tattoos go with this gang (although the J/30 guys might argue this point).  And, they love it, working those grinders on the massive kevlar/carbon genoas and monster masthead spinnakers to go faster and faster.  Cool boat.  Cooler crews.  Predictions here?  None.  Teams change, teams get hungover. Bless’em all, they will certainly have fun and one may guess it would be a dead heat with their J/30 friends for the highest “fun quotient” amongst the J/Clan.

At a dozen strong, the J/109s have amongst their fleet three past J/109 North American Champions in the form of Bill Sweetser’s RUSH (the Local) versus Rick Lyall’s STORM (the Outsider- just a Long Island Sound guy), all contending with that silver fox from Buzzards Bay/Cape, Ted Herlihy on GUT FEELING (the Foreigner- so far East the Earth ends in a cliff).  In the end, way too hard to call this one with some many other strong teams tossed into the mix.  For more Sperry Topsider Sailing World NOOD Annapolis sailing information

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J/80s Royal Thames Cumberland Cup Preview
(Heathrow Airport, Queen Mary Reservoir, a.k.a. London, England)-  The Royal Thames Yacht Club, in the heart of London’s West End, is bracing itself to welcome an influx of sailors from across the world, all eager to begin the competition to win the Cumberland Cup, the only international yachting event to be held in the capital of the United Kingdom. The Cumberland Cup is once again supported by the Royal Thames YC’s corporate partner, Audemars Piguet (an exotic Swiss watch company).

Although only launched in 2008, the Cumberland Cup, now raced in J/80s, has rapidly come to be regarded as the most important two-boat team racing event in the World and, with the cream of the World’s yacht clubs eager to compete, the Club has been forced to select the challengers on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

The eight confirmed teams for the 2012 event present a worthy sample of the World’s best team racers: Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), New York YC (New York, NY & Newport, RI), Seawahnaka Corinthian YC (Long Island, NY), Southern YC (New Orleans, LA near the French Quarter), Royal Northern & Clyde YC (Scotland), Royal Perth YC (Perth, Western Australia), Island Royals (a combined team from Royal London YC, Royal Corinthian YC and Royal Yacht Squadron) and the Royal Thames YC (somewhere near great shopping in downtown London on the Brompton Road and a stone’s throw from Hyde Park– e.g. Knightsbridge!). The Event is a four-day celebration of sailing, both ashore and afloat.

There is a full social program including a Reception at St James’s Palace in the presence of the RTYC Commodore, HRH The Duke of York, and a Regatta Dinner at the Royal Thames YC’s Clubhouse at 60 Knightsbridge (Harrod’s, by the way, is just around the corner).

Racing, which starts on Friday 11th May, with Thursday 10th scheduled as a practice day, runs virtually non-stop with each two-boat team competing against every other team. With such high quality sailing the Cumberland Cup is very exciting and yet relatively easy for spectators to understand – the winner in each case is the team that avoids having the last boat across the line.

All the sailing will be taking place at the home of the RTYC J/80s, the fabulous Queen Mary Reservoir. The fantastic shore-side premises ensure visitors are able to have a great view of all the on the water action.  Please note the bookies present will place bets on every mark-rounding.  And, if RTYC isn’t leading, the House of Lords will undoubtedly be in revolt!

The artifact for which the Royal Thames Cumberland Cup international yacht club contest is raced has an iconic significance not just within the Club itself, but in the wider context of the sport we now call “yacht racing”.  The name “Cumberland” is central to the whole history and, indeed, very existence of what today is called the Royal Thames Yacht Club. In 1775 Henry, Duke of Cumberland, who was both the brother of the King (George III) and himself a keen sailor gathered together the gentlemen yachtsmen who had been sailing and occasionally racing on the River Thames since half-way through the Previous Century and bade them to organise a race for which HE would Give a Cup. This was the very first Cumberland Cup, sailed for on July 13th 1775, and in honor of the occasion the gathering of yachts was called the “Cumberland Fleet”.   For humble “Colonialists” in America, please note this was a good YEAR before George W The First took his rowboat across Delaware River to declare victory over the “taxation without representation” zealots.

At the time of that regatta, there was no organization in the country – nor indeed so far as we know in the World – engaged in the organization of regular yacht racing. There had been earlier races and indeed earlier gatherings of yachtsmen – the Water Club of Cork and its “maneuvers” being the best known – but by 1775 they had come and gone. After that July 1775 Regatta, the yachtsmen who had formed the Cumberland Fleet met in a coffee room in London and formed what they called “The Cumberland Sailing Society”. That society still exists, known today by its more modern name of Royal Thames Yacht Club and each year in June at their Annual Regatta (in Cowes, IOW, of course), they hold the Cumberland Sailing Society dinner.

Each year after 1775 The Duke gave another cup – always until 1786 known as the “Cumberland Cup”– to be raced for by the Cumberland Fleet. After 1786 the Cups had varying names but the Cumberland Sailing Society continued, changing its name very briefly in 1823 to the Coronation Society before becoming, just a few months later, the Thames Yacht Club.

The 1781 Cup was originally made by London’s famous silversmiths Garrard’s.  MUCH later, the Garrard silversmiths were the makers of the rather LATER America’s Cup- an old piece of silver known as the 100 Guinea Cup). Silver-gilt, and topped by a figure of a sailor holding a scroll bearing the names of the winning yachts of all the previous cups— the Cumberland Cup has just a “bit of history”-  you can read more about it here (cool stuff if you like sailing & yachting history)!
For more Royal Thames YC Cumberland Cup sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J’s Sailing Worldwide

In the sport of sailing one can never anticipate the outcome of a series or how an ocean race will ever effect its participants. Both happened this past week around the world.  In one of California’s most significant spring offshore sailing events, the Newport to Ensenada Race had both triumph and tragedy, read below for more.  On the American side of things, the American YC Spring Series got rolling with some surprising performances.  Over in Europe, the SORC (Solo Offshore Racing Club) had its first major offshore event, the ever popular Round Island Race (yes, same as the first ever America’s Cup Course for 65 nm around the Isle of Wight) and it had something like the J/105 stealing some silverware to make life interesting.  In the same teeming, raging, cauldron of waters known as “THE Solent”, the Warsash Spring finale came to a conclusion with strong performances from some well-deserving J/Teams.  Across La Manche, in the “Valley of Fools”, the J/80s sailed the Interface Cup in Vallee des Fous, France.  Finally, a raft of J/Crews were having a fun time sailing that classic, ever so classic Caribbean regatta- Antigua Sailing Week.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below 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:

Apr 22-May 1- J/24 Trofeo Accademia Navale- http://www.trofeoaccademianavale.eu/
May 4-6- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 4-6- J/22 East Coasts- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 15-28- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands- http://www.nsr.nl/
May 18-20- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 25-Jun 3- J/24 Italian/European Championships- Sardinia, Italy
May 26-28- Swiftsure Offshore Race- Victoria, BC, Canada- http://2012.swiftsure.org/
Jun 1-3- J/22 Canadians- Vancouver, BC- http://www.j24can.com/
Jun 1-4- J/24 UK Nationals- Poole, England- http://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/
Jun 8-10- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL- http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp
Jun 9-15- J/80 Worlds- Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com/
Jun 15- Newport-Bermuda Race- Newport, RI- http://www.bermudarace.com/
Jun 16-23- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany- http://www.kielerwoche.de/
Jun 24-30- J/24 US Nationals- Dillon, CO- http://www.dillonyachtclub.com/
Jun 26-29- J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- http://www.j22-france.com/world%202012/index.htm

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

J’s Smoke Newport-Ensenada Race!

The sailing itself was nearly as close as the weathermen predicted.  Light to moderate breezes with big decisions being made about whether to go further offshore or stay inshore.  In the end, the J/Teams faired well overall.  And, in particular one yacht club seemed to fair better than most- Santa Barbara YC’s offshore teams took two Firsts in Class!

According to the weather forecast, light swirling eddy effects following moderate rainstorms Thursday were to be most noticeable near Newport Beach. They would become less pronounced farther down the coast, especially south of San Diego, and from the Coronado Islands south the northwesterly gradient component reattaches to the coast. From there, other than morning coastal cloud north of San Diego, mainly clear conditions were expected to prevail, with seas of less than a 1m. swell near Newport Beach, increasing to 1-2m. south of San Diego.

How would the strategists deal with all this? Artie Means, a San Diegan who has been doing the race for nearly two decades, said, “I think some of the guys are a bit optimistic that we’re going to have 18 knots [of wind],” Means said earlier. “With the pressure building on the backside of the front [that came through] Thursday it’s going to have the eddy effect and keep the big breeze offshore and keep it fairly light on our course. Unless that breaks up we’re not going to see much above 11 knots.”

So where does one go from the start—offshore or along the coast?   “It depends on the [wind] angle,” Means said. “If you have the angle fully south to get offshore then it’s a no-brainer. But if you get too much west component, it’s too expensive to go offshore. Nobody in their right mind’s going to do that, and it turns into pretty much a rhumb line drag race until the breeze starts to come around [from behind].”

Then, is it inside our outside the Coronado Islands at the border? The direct (rhumb) line to Todos Santos Bay is inside, but . . . “I’ve always felt that if you’re within five miles of the Coronados you have a pretty big problem with a wind shadow,” Means said, “so with a 6- or 7-knot race I’d say you want to be just outside and sailing as short a distance as possible without getting stuck in the lee [of the islands].”

Finally, the finish line has been moved to the north side of the bay offshore from the Hotel Coral and Marina, the new Ensenada headquarters for the race.   “Finishing at the Coral takes a lot of stress out of our jobs this year,” Means said. “It’s inside the harbor but all the way to the north side, so you don’t have to dig as far into the bay [where] there are a lot of big hills.”

Sailing in Sprit A Class the ten J/120s had a helluva race.  In what many see as a conspiracy, the POLE DANCER gang led by partners in crime Tom & Terri Manok took 1st in class and 14th overall (what are they doing we don’t know about?).  Second in class and 15th overall was Mike Hatch’s silver-collecting J-ALMIGHTY.  And, third was Jim Barber’s HOT TAMALE.

In Sprit B Class an army of J/105s made the assault across the border, and managed as a fleet to take three of the top five.  Not a bad showing for the world’s “first a-sailed sprit boat”!!  Tom Bollay’s ARMIDA from Santa Barbara YC took 2nd and 5th Overall in fleet.  Bill Moore’s KESTREL was 4th and Mark Wyland’s LUCKY STAR was 5th.

In the big boat PHRF A division the “big boys & girls” had an amazing race.  Yet another Santa Barbara YC team took all the silverware- Carolyn Park’s J/145 RADIO FLYER- sailed an amazing race and proved all the pundits wrong that another “girl” from SBYC had the gumption to beat the “big boys” at their own game (“good on ya Carol!”).  Just off the pace and perhaps a few gybes the wrong direction from victory were the crew on Viggo Torbenson’s J/125 TIMESHAVER, settling for 8th in class.

In PHRF B class Seth Hall on his J/124 MARISOL managed to hang in there despite the challenging conditions to bring home a 5th place.

PHRF D did, in fact, produce the “sleeper winner” in the event.  Larry Leveille’s incredibly well-sailed J/29 RUSH STREET from Santa Barbara YC proved again how fast a masthead J/29 can catch you in the craziest of conditions.  And, these guys know how to do it.  They not only won PHRF D, but finished 20th overall in fleet!    Sailing photo credits- JOY Sailing For more Lexus Newport-Ensenada Race sailing information

Windy Warsash Springs Finale

Four races were scheduled for Black Group on Saturday- Day 3. The breeze came mainly from the northeast but with frequent minor oscillations.  The committee boat set up station between North Ryde Middle and Mackley buoys with a finish at Goodacre. Races 1 and 2 were windward/leeward courses, two rounds totaling just under eight miles, with a half-mile spreader at the windward end to take boats up tide for an accurate run. Races 3 and 4 were shorter and as the tide had slackened, were simple windward/leewards. The final race included a starboard leeward rounding – just to keep crews on their toes! The breeze started around 11/12 knots for the first two races, increasing to 14/15 knots in the afternoon.

This year all boats in IRC1 and IRC2 were eligible for the Spring Championships. As no discards are allowed, consistency often paid. But, all efforts for the most part were for naught as Sunday’s gale was the spoiler. After a successful Saturday’s racing, everyone hoped that the worst of the gale would go through the Solent overnight. There did seem to be the possibility of a lull during the middle of Sunday although a significant wind veer was also forecast. Beaulieu Boat Jumble was cancelled and the high speed Southampton/Isle of Wight ferries were suspended until lunch time. All racing for White Group was cancelled early on whilst Black Group was told to stay ashore as racing, if it were possible, would not commence before 1130. In the event, Black Group too was abandoned at 1000. Spring Series Chairman Peter Bateson said: “We were hoping to achieve a race for Black Group but it was still blowing Force 6 with gusts above 30 knots by mid morning. An expected wind shift from northeast to southeast meant we would not have guaranteed a good course for competitors, even if the wind had abated in time.”

This left the standings for the Spring Series as of last week. After six races in IRC 1 Class, Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU finished 4th overall.

The J/Sprit class was new this year and attracted a selection of J/92, J/97 and J/105 designs. Again there was keen competition for the top spot, the class winner being the J/92 J’RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) followed by Nick and Adam Munday’s J/97 INDULJENCE.  Third was Andy Howe’s J/92 BLACKJACK, fourth Chris Jones’ J/105 JOURNEYMAKER 5 and fifth Charles Ivill’s J/97 BLACK MAGIC.

The J/109 class saw Mike & Sarah Wallis’ JAHMALI lead the entire series to win comfortably.  They were followed in 2nd by David Mcleman’s OFFBEAT with David & Mary McGough’s JUST SO in third.

The J/80s saw Rob Larke’s J2X win by a landslide.  Second was Stew Hawthorn’s J’AI DEUX AMOURS and this was Nick and Anni Haigh’s SLIGHTLY STEAMY.  Just off the pace were Ian Atkins’ team on BOATS.COM in fourth and Patrick Liardet’s crew on AQUA-J.   Sailing photo credits- Eddie Mays For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information

J’s Sailing AYC Spring Series

In IRC I Class, the J/133 ANTIDOTE sailed by Ron Richman is hanging tough after six races sailed over two days.  They’re lying second in class in a very tough fleet of experienced offshore racers and new-fangled boats like a Farr 400, Ker 40, Ker 11.3, X-41, King 40, Farr 40, Swan 42 and a Tripp 41– talk about bringing a cruiser-racer to a gun-fight!  Great to see a family-sailed boat fairing well against some all-star professionally sailed boats!

In IRC 2 Class, the J/122 WINGS sailed by Mike Bruno, Tom Boyle and Jim Callahan is leading their fleet against fellow J/122s and Farr 395s.  Third is Steve Furnary’s J/122 PATRIOT and just off the pace is George Marks’ J/122 GEORGETOWN III.

The J/44s are having a wonderful time, as always, sailing in what may be the “most one-design” of large offshore one-design sailboats.  With the vision of Jim Bishop, the J/44s have endured the test of time and J/44 teams continue to have a long-time love-affair with their beautiful sailboats.  With such evenly matched boats, it’s always hard to tell how well each team will perform over the course of a series  At the moment, Don and Rick Rave on RESOLUTE are enjoying a slim lead over second place Bill Ketcham on MAXINE.  Tied with Bill but losing on a tie-break is Jeff Willis on CHALLENGE IV.  Fourth is the ubiquitous Jim Bishop on GOLD DIGGER just one point back and fifth is Phil Gutin on BEAGLE.  More to come next weekend from this fun-loving, competitive group.

The J/105 one-designs are having yet another epic battle for “top dog” on Long Island Sound.  Having found a 5th gear, Sean Doyle’s team on KESTREL have been fast out-of-the-blocks like a top-fueled dragster, starting off the first weekend in 1st with 11 pts.  But, chasing them hard as a group are the balance of the top five.  In that group are some formidable champions in the J/105 class, including Paul Beaudin on LOULOU in second tied with Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes in third on KINCSEM followed in fourth by another familiar name, Kevin Grainger on GUMPTION 3.  Fifth are George and Alex Wilbanks on REVELATION.

In PHRF 1 Class, the J/111 ANDIAMO sailed by Paul Strauch managed to pull off four 1sts to lead their fleet.  Third and fourth are two J/109s, John Pearson’s BLUE SKY and Bob Schwartz’s NORDLYS, respectively.

Finally, in PHRF 4, the “money guys”, the Esposito gang on the J/29 HUSTLER are at it again.  Three 1sts and three 2nds are sufficient to keep them in the lead in their class.  Matheus Hovers’ J/29 KATOENDRA is hanging in there for 5th overall and hoping that some good J/29 “karma” rubs off on them from the Espo team!   For more AYC Spring Series sailing information

J/120 EL OCASO Crushing
Antigua Week

For five days crews are challenged with a variety of coastal race courses, encouraging tacking duels around the buoys – all set on the deep blue Caribbean Sea with the ever-present trade winds. It’s a picture perfect setting that is enhanced as the evening colours brighten the western sky and the sun-burnt, salt-encrusted, weary sailors make their way to the barbecues, steel bands and rum punches. While hundreds of locals and visitors carry on partying well into the evening, many of the yacht crews know there is another day of racing out there and so they leave the late night revelry for the others to finish.

Amongst the J/Teams sailing this year are the following: CSA 3- the J/120 EL OCASO sailed by Rick Wesslund and the J/125 Aunt Jessie helmed by Jordan Mindich.  In CSA 4 is the famous and redoubtable J/39 SLEEPER VIII sailed by Jonty Layfield’s family team.  In CSA 5 are a raft of characters where anyone can win, including the J/30 BLUE PETER sailed by local sailor Tanner Jones from Jolly Harbour, Antigua; the J/95 SHAMROCK VII sailed by Tom Mullen from New Hampshire and the J/105 NO FACE 2 FACE sailed by J. Hin from the Netherlands.

There was drama right from the start- squally conditions intensified the trade winds to churn up the swell into a foaming powerful sea state with rogue waves reaching over three metres. The feisty conditions caused at least two retirements due to gear failure. In CSA 3 two Antiguan yachts came to the fore, but Tanner Jones’ J/30 BLUE PETER raced with great aplomb in difficult conditions to claim second.

After two days of big breeze, day three of Antigua Sailing Week saw similar conditions for the competitors.  However the Ocean mark laid for today’s big boats was a new addition.  It took over 300 feet of line to lay the mark four miles off the leeward coast of Antigua. The sizeable yachts in CSA 1 were an awesome sight today, smashing through the start line to windward through the Caribbean surf and after coming off the wind at the Ocean mark, the yachts speared off downwind, bow up, accelerating off big waves to surf at speeds of 20 knots plus.  In CSA 3, Rick’s team on the J/120 EL OCASO was unstoppable, taking its fourth straight bullet of the regatta by some distance.

Wednesday night, Ky-Mani Marley will play to a full house in the historic setting of Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour. Thousands of fans of the reggae artist are expected to pack-out the Antigua Sailing Week venue for the live concert performed by Bob Marley’s son.

Sailing photo credits: Ted Martin, Paul Wyeth- pwpictures.com, Tim Wright- photoaction.com, Jason Pickering.     For more Antigua Sailing Week sailing information

ATLANTIS Wins J/80 Interface Cup France

Despite the tough sailing, the French crews were determined to race, not only as part of their training and J/80 France Cup but as part of getting ready for the impending J/80 Worlds in Dartmouth, England.

At the top of the pack after a strong SPI Ouest France showing was Laurent Sambron on ATLANTIS with a 2-6-1-3-1-6 for 13 pts.  Laurent was in a “horse-race” for the top of the podium with the next two teams.  Second was Herve Leduc on J’ILE DE RE with a 5-2-2-2-3-12 for 14 pts.  Third was Simon Moriceau on INTERFACE CONCEPT with a 4-1-5-5-8-1 for 16 pts.  A bit further behind was Vincent Vandekerkhove sailing DUNKERQUE PLAISANCE in fourth with 24 pts and fifth was Nicolas Lunven skippering GENERALI with 31 pts.   For more Club de La Vallee Des Fous Interface Cup J/80 sailing information For more French J/80 sailing information

J/105 JUNEAU Wins SORC Round Island Race

A quickie report comes in across the transom from friends living in Hong Kong but doing occasional racing in the UK as well. Laurence Mead reports the following- “I took JUNEAU back from Oscar this last weekend and got first in Class 2 in the Solo Round the Isle of Wight race. Class 3 won it on a tidal gain somewhere but we had 3 J/105′s in the first 10 overall.   Good show for 105s!!”

For more information on the Solo Offshore Racing Club

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

* J/80 video “Best of Spi Ouest France”- for some fun, take a look at some of these amusing video sequences of J/80s surfing/ planing downwind off La Trinite sur Mer, France on the Bay of Quiberon.  And, some great crashes of other boats that aren’t so easy to keep upright!  Have Fun and Enjoy the ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELMVzNt6euw

* From The Back of the Room, It Looks A Bit Like This– J/24 Victorian Championships – Story courtesy of Doug MacGregor.  The Editor nearly died of laughter recalling how often such scenarios were encountered by numerous friends over the course of time!

“Day one, race one; the wind vanished faster than a Scotsman’s wallet.  Four boats not only didn’t finish, they didn’t even get to see the finishing line as it was lifted and moved…with the flag for this being flown from some boat other than the committee boat.  We’ve just got to introduce (at least) one drop in this series now that it involves 7 races.  That’s what we huffily suggested amongst my crew.

For the next three races the wind couldn’t have been better. To give a clearer picture, we  race at the back of what we, on Crackerjack, call the pelaton.  The learned amongst you will know this makes the first top mark (before the pack has thinned out a bit) very interesting to say the least.   You are holding your line to the mark, the mob arrive in front of you and then…you don’t have the line.  You have to make more tacks than Santa Claus makes roof top visits on Christmas Eve.  And we made the same mistake over and over and over again.  We thought we’d beat that gang of bullying sails to the mark, and never did.  Some of the first top marks made stock car racing look like synchronised swimming.  All of that aside this was our third time that all five of my crew had been on the water together since May last year.  So really, we were “training”…I told my crew it’s called “competition training”…for the nationals. (ahem).  We were in awe of the speed and sheer precocious talent the younger crews showed.  All along I had been saying to my crew that sailing Js is a whole other ball game.  Tell that to the youth posse.  Whilst in my modest opinion they were in the most part sailing their J24s way too heeled over…still they made us feel as if we were sailing backwards.  So, day one…frustrated, humiliated, depressed, impressed, puzzled and our pants down around our ankles.  Strangely “all is not lost” was our battle cry.  To be honest I had one hand on my “Boat for Sale” sign.

A feisty wind presented itself to the fleet on day two.  “Bring it on” was our new battle cry…we do slogans well, don’t we??…Our belief is the heavy air really finds out the crews who aren’t as well oiled as they could be.  That turned out to be us!  Race one was touch and go genoa weather…we changed gear more times than Barry Humphries has changed stage costumes.  We were please with our speed but completely bemused by our position in the field…er, that would be near back.  Race two…I’ll not even get into it that much except to say that jibs became the order of the day (gusts of 28kts)….  We rounded the first top mark and popped the kite…with the vang on(!!!)..A broach, up again, then another broach straight into a Chinese gybe…a very, very, long Chinese gybe.  Very long.  Waaaaay long.  (funny that, the photographer was there too – Ed) An injury to take care of; a jarred neck, then another one; a cut through an eyebrow. Life jackets on folks.  No more kite on that run.  Uphill again we toiled and we popped the kite again for the second downhill run…back in the saddle as they say. It was beyond our skills to hold the spinnaker in those gusts so down it came and we opted for safety.  The final race we decided, for the hell of it, to mix it with the big boys.  We crossed the line at the pin end just behind the incredible (and ultimately victorious) Ben Lamb and basically spent the whole of that first leg copying everything he did…steering, trim, tacking…as much as we could anyway.  All of which gave us our crowning moment…eighth to the top mark.  Felt like we’d won the trophy.

Before I sign off I want to thank my crew.  Brave and loyal and tough. They never give up, they never stop trying to be better, they are never casual.  Battered and bruised and still they are there, looking at the nationals and knowing we are capable of much, much more.  I am lucky to have them.”

For more fun, entertainment, amusement and simple fun sailing, check out what these guys are doing Down Under.

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

* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years.  Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker.  The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com.  Search for “SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing” by Bill Stellin or William Stellin.”  UPDATE-  Just a short note to update from Bill- “Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, “Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III,” can be found at www.blurb.com.  Thanks, Bill and Judy”

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world’s oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they’ve gotten to New Zealand- “Avante Cruises the Pacific”.

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet–she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending.  As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/

The final gathering for the Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship took place over 28th/29th April 2012 and was sponsored by SLAM. Earlier in the season, conditions had been bright, sunny and light, but this was all set to change. After a very damp week, the rain looked like continuing and more importantly forecasts highlighted gusts to 50 knots over the Solent on late Saturday/early Sunday. The race officers kept their collective fingers crossed, hoping the worst of the weather would blow through overnight but in the event all classes were cancelled on the final day.

Saturday 28th April – Warsash Spring Championship Day 3, powered by SLAM

Four races were scheduled for Black Group on Day 3. The breeze came mainly from the northeast but with frequent minor oscillations.  The committee boat set up station between North Ryde Middle and Mackley buoys with a finish at Goodacre. Races 1 and 2 were windward/leeward courses, two rounds totalling just under eight miles, with a half-mile spreader at the windward end to take boats up tide for an accurate run. Races 3 and 4 were shorter, except for the Farr 45s, and as the tide had slackened, were simple windward/leewards. The final race included a starboard leeward rounding – just to keep crews on their toes! The breeze started around 11/12 knots for the first two races, increasing to 14/15 knots in the afternoon. In the Farr 45s, RAN put in a good performance with five points from four races, but having not competed on the previous weekend was not to feature on the overall leaderboard. The closest finish came for second and third places in Race 1, with three seconds separating Kolga (British Keelboat Academy) and Werewolf.

This year all boats in IRC1 and IRC2 were eligible for the Spring Championships. As no discards are allowed, consistency often paid. In IRC1 both Tokoloshe and Brevity scored no lower than 5th place but with four wins, Tokoloshe took a six point lead to repeat their success as class winner in 2011.  Similarly in IRC2, two boats headed the pack with Winston and Tarka II separated by two points after nine races. There was a close tussle in the J/109s headed by Jahmali (Mike and Sarah Wallis) two points ahead of Outrajeous (Richard and Valerie Griffiths). Returning to the J/80 class Stewart Hawthorn headed the fleet in J’ai Deux Amours with J2x (Rob Larke) second. The turnout in the Laser SB3 class was patchy but the Russian entry from Oleg Zherebstov improved to first place from his fifth position in 2011. The Quarter Ton class knotched up 11 races after which the Irish entry Anchor Challenge was tied on points with Espada, but four bullets gave Diarmuid the trophy.

J/80s on the start line

Photo by Eddie Mays 2012

Michael Lewis’ J/80 Jester

Photo by Eddie Mays 2012

Photo by Eddie Mays 2012

Sunday 29th April – Warsash Spring Series Day 5, Warsash Spring Championship Day 4

After a successful Saturday’s racing, everyone hoped that the worst of the gale would go through the Solent overnight. There did seem to be the possibility of a lull during the middle of Sunday although a significant wind veer was also forecast. Beaulieu Boat Jumble was cancelled and the high speed Southampton/Isle of Wight ferries were suspended until lunch time. All racing for White Group was cancelled early on whilst Black Group was told to stay ashore as racing, if it were possible, would not commence before 1130. In the event, Black Group too was abandoned at 1000. Spring Series Chairman Peter Bateson said: “We were hoping to achieve a race for Black Group but it was still blowing Force 6 with gusts above 30 knots by mid morning. An expected wind shift from northeast to southeast meant we would not have guaranteed a good course for competitors, even if the wind had abated in time.”

This left the standings for the Spring Series as at last week. After six races in IRC1 no one could catch Magnum III, discarding an 11th place and scoring no lower than fourth. Having enjoyed some close racing at Spi Ouest France over Easter, the team on Archambault A35 Eaujet triumphed in IRC2. Some of the top runners in IRC3 were the victims of over-eagerness on the start line leaving Starspray (Dehler 36), to gain the class win. IRC4 had a different winner each week – a close finish was to be expected. Seasoned Solent sailor Bernard Fyans (Erik the Red) and Allan Fraser (Prospero of Hamble) both gained nine points and this was a tie that could not be broken by countback . So, first places to both of them with Imptish just two points behind. The J/Sprit class was new this year and attracted a selection of J/92, J/97 and J/105 designs. Again there was keen competition for the top spot, J’Ronimo (John Taylor and David Greenhalgh) gaining the all-important one point lead over Induljence (Nick and Adam Munday). Jahmali was the runaway leader in the J/109s and Mefisto in the Sigma 38s, although further down the results Pavlova III, With Alacrity and Light finished on level points.

Photo by Eddie Mays 2012

Warsash Sailing Club now looks forward to the prizegiving for the Spring Series and Spring Championship, at Shore House, Warsash, on Friday 18th May. All competitors and crew will be welcome.

Provisional Overall Results: Warsash Spring Championship 2012

CC1
Keronimo
Ker 40
Jonathan Goring

CC2
Premier Flair
Elan 410
Jim Macgregor

CC combined
Premier Flair
Elan 410
Jim Macgregor

Farr 45
Alice 2
Farr 45
Simon Henning

IRC1
Tokoloshe
King 40
Michael Bartholomew

IRC2
Winston
First 40
Winston First 40 Charters

J/109
Jahmali

Mike & Sarah Wallis

J/80
J’ai Deux Amours

Stewart Hawthorn

Laser SB3
Team Russia

Oleg Zherebtsov

Quarter Ton
Anchor Challenge

Diarmuid Foley

Provisional Overall results: Warsash Spring Series 2012

IRC1
Magnum III
Ker 40
Andrew Pearce

IRC2
Eaujet
Archambault A35
Mike West

IRC3
Starspray
Dehler 36
Bateson family & friends

IRC4 (joint winners)
Erik the Red

Prospero of Hamble
Mustang 30

Sigma 33
Bernard Fyans

Allan Fraser

J/Sprit
J’Ronimo
J/92
Jon Taylor and David Greenhalgh

J/109
Jahmali

Mike & Sarah Wallis

Sigma 38
Mefisto

Kevin Sussmilch

J/80
J2x

Rob Larke

Laser SB3
Robina

Jo Lloyd

To celebrate the opening of our new office at James Watt Dock Marina in Greenock, Scotland, Key Yachting are holding an open day on Saturday 5th May between 9am and 4pm.

The J/80 Sportsboat will be available to see and sail ahead of the World Championship in Dartmouth in June of this year. The 36 foot IRC winner and one-design star, the J/109 will also be on show as will Jackaroo, the J/97 which won the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series overall in 2011. For those more interested in motor cruising we are excited to showcase the new Princess P42 for the very first time in Scotland.

To register your interest or for more info contact Pete Cameron on 07903 762931.

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J/70 Sailing Annapolis
(Annapolis, MD)- After traveling south to Charleston this past week, the J/70 is headed north and will be sailing on the Chesapeake Bay for the next few weeks.  Be sure to swing by and see the J/70 speedster sailing out of Back Creek at Northpoint Yacht Sales in Eastport (Annapolis), next to J/World Sailing School.  For sailing demo’s be sure to contact Ken Comerford at ph- 410-280-2038 or email- ken@northpointyachtsales.com

Also, our J/Dealer in the Chicago area, Richie Stearns @ Stearns Boating, put together a nice sailing video “review” of the J/70 for you to enjoy on YouTube.  Enjoy the video, some entertaining sequences sailing the J/70 as well as practical descriptions of the various parts of the boat.

And, while you’re in the entertainment mode, don’t forget to check out the J/70 Sailing Music Video, a wonderful perspective on how easy it is to sail the J/70.  An oft-heard refrain coming from those who’ve sailed the J/70 in winds ranging from 5 to 25 knots is “man, that’s an easy boat to sail FAST, you always feel like you’re in complete control!”, commenting on it’s ability to hit 5.8 to 6.3 kts upwind across the wind range and how J/70 starts planing downwind in 8-10 kts of wind going as fast as the wind.  Enjoy!  For J/70 speedster sailing information

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J/111- “Ready, Set, Go”
(Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland)- Recently, the boats.com editorial staff took a little side-trip to a gorgeous mountain lake high in the Swiss Alps to experience super-fast flat-water sailing on the J/111 with J/Swiss dealer Peter Bangerter (current holder of the J/70 speed record of 16.8 kts).  Joining Peter was boats.com editor Michael Good for a fun, fast ride and day spent sailing on Lake Neuchatel.  Here’s Mike’s commentary:

“Excitingly fast, light, and handsome, the J/111 could turn into a top choice for racing sailors— we were about to run out of room on the lake, and beating into the breeze on the return trip would be quite a haul. The Swiss J/Boat dealer Peter Bangerter suggested turning back, and his words suddenly interrupted the helmsman’s flirtations with the thrill of speed. Reaching at up to 14 knots, the J/111 was motoring down Lake Neuchatel, running as if on tracks, fabulously well controlled and accelerating in the puffs like a sport boat – that’s terrific sailing and a lot of fun.”  Read the rest of Mike’s review of the J/111 here on boats.com.

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More SPI Ouest France J/111 Multi-Media
(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- Evidently, the J/111 one-design class that sailed recently in the famous SPI Ouest France Regatta touched a raw nerve in the European sailing media, some of the most fastidious, sharpest, insightful, fair & balanced sailing experts one may see anywhere in the sailing world.

For starters, here’s the latest J/111 sailing video from Blur.se providing a summary of the experience of sailing J/111s at SPI Ouest.  In one week Blur.se’s website saw 11,000 views on the videos on Vimeo and YouTube. Soon, there will be an interview in Swedish SEARCH Magazine and the Danish BAAD Magasinet is publishing a 5 page article on the J/111 boat test in Kappeln in their May issue.

So far, J/111 coverage on major sailing sites in BeNeLux, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden include the following:
Germany- Hübsches Schiff Segeln
Norway- «Blur» klarte seg fint i Spi Ouest debuten
Norway-  Blur.se i Spi Ouest
Denmark TV- Svensk J/111 sejler i Frankrig i Spi Ouest
Netherlands- Xcentric Ripper 3de op Spi Ouest-France regatta

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J/Teams Sailing Newport-Ensenada Race!
J/Sailors Relishing Fast Race South of the Border
(Newport Beach, CA)- This year the famous 125 nm drag race down the coastline, the proverbial “Border Run” from SoCal to Ensenada just south of Tijuana, Mexico has a new sponsor on-board- Lexus Cars.  Chuck Iverson, Commodore of the organizing Newport Ocean Sailing Association (NOSA), said, “Lexus’ presence elevates the race to a new level of esteem. NOSA is proud to have our two traditions of exceptional performance working together.” From the sailing community standpoint, it’s good to see like-minded business partners supporting the sport of sailing overall for friends, families and loved ones.

From the sailing perspective, it looks like the J/Clan is supporting the event in a big way as it often has over the years.  Here’s a quick breakdown of the J/Team entries.  There are twenty-one J’s sailing across six classes, representing about 10% of the fleet overall and nearly 35% of the “racing boat” fleet.

Sailing in Sprit A Class will be a raft of TEN J/120s in what amounts to be a J/120 one-design class.  Promising to be a big factor will be incredibly well-sailed J/120s over the years, including Jim Barber’s HOT TAMALE, Gary Winton’s SHENANIGANS, Tom and Terri Manok’s avidly-campaigned POLE DANCER, John Laun’s champion CAPER, and perhaps Mike Hatch’s silver-collecting J-ALMIGHTY– please note, all of these J/120 teams are capable of podium finishes, so all outcomes will ride on that “road not taken” from point A to point B.

In Sprit B Class will be an army of J/105s making an assault across the border, including Bill Moore’s KESTREL, Juan Lois’s ROCINANTE, Mark Wyland’s LUCKY STAR, Tom Bollay’s ARMIDA.  Giving them a run-for-the-money will be John Shulze’s J/109 LINSTAR.

In the big boat PHRF division will be a cast of characters many of you will be familiar with in SoCal offshore sailing circles.  In PHRF A, the “big boys & girls”, will be Viggo Torbenson’s J/125 TIMESHAVER, fresh off a successful assault on the Puerto Vallarta Race recently.  Giving them a run for the podium will be a hot team from Santa Barbara YC led by Carolyn Parks on the J/145 RADIO FLYER, a known awesomely fast offshore boat with lots of silverware for her sisterships.  Not to be taken lightly is a “fast cruiser”, the J/160 INDIGO sailed by Paul Margis, that can run amok with the racing boats given the right reaching conditions.

In PHRF B class are some more offshore J/Teams that have a similar “laid back”, but serious approach to their sailing style— generally a successful approach to SoCal sailing, with many to show shelves of silverware for their efforts.  Recently, Seth Hall on his J/124 MARISOL has been winning, so we expect good things from his team.  Twin J/46s, Jorge Morales’ gorgeous BOLERO and Bob Pace’s equally beautiful ANDIAMO will be challenging Seth for honors in their division.

While the big boats may have a fast, comfortable passage, perhaps the “sleeper” in this fleet is Larry Leveille’s incredibly well-sailed J/29 RUSH STREET from Santa Barbara YC that will be sailing in PHRF D.  Never discount how fast a masthead J/29 can catch you in the craziest of conditions.  And, these guys know how to do it.  Compatriots in crime in the 30 footers will be Steve Cole’s J/30 LOVE & WAR sailing PHRF F from Alamitos Bay YC, equally as capable as RUSH STREET to surprise the fleet.  What many forget is how fast the J/29 and J/30 are at reaching like hell once everyone is sailing with cracked sheets under white sails or sailing with chutes on reaching angles.

How do you sail the Ensenada Race?  Lots of wisdom is offered by many.  But, one of the renown experts on the race is Andy Rose– this guy’s done a LOT of offshore races, but most especially the Ensenada Race.   What Andy likes about the Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race is that “it’s a very challenging race.” Although it’s only 125 nautical miles from the Balboa Pier to the new finish line off the new race headquarters at the Hotel Coral and Marina, it presents important strategic decisions, along with unsurpassed pre- and post-race fun.

“You see a lot of conditions that you sometimes wouldn’t get unless it was a longer race. It’s fun sailing after dark. If the race doesn’t have some very light squirrely stuff in the night we don’t do very well. We’re the smallest boat in the maxi class so we need something weird to happen and, happily, it happens at night. Last year we were fortunate to do the right thing and we ended up within a few lengths of the boats that had been four or five miles ahead of us at sundown.”

On Thursday evening, Rose discussed three points in the race that are key: (i) whether to go offshore at the start or stick to the coast; (ii) whether to go inside or outside the Coronado Islands at the border, and (iii) when to jibe to the finish inside Todos Santos Bay, where races have been won and lost in the tricky breeze.

“I don’t think anyone can tell you they know all the ins and outs,” Rose said. “None of us do. But there are some things we look for and try to act accordingly.”   However it goes, Rose said, “You get to a fun place at the end with the town filled up with people who have just raced down.”

Some of the boats, anxious to return home, don’t dock after finishing but just head for home—”turn and burn,” it’s called. “That’ll be part of my talk,” Rose said. “We stay until Monday morning because we love Ensenada and we always have a great time. The shoreside stuff for us is just as much fun as the race.”  For more Lexus Newport-Ensenada Race sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J’s Sailing Worldwide

It was another busy week of spring sailing in April around the globe.  J/24s happened to be racing just about everywhere East and West.  J/24s had excellent competition in Australia’s Victoria State Championships sailed on Sandringham Bay just south of Melbourne.  They’re fellow J/24 enthusiasts in America were bashing and crashing around the track in Charleston Race Week with some great competition and scores to settle, as were their buddies way out West participating in J/Fest San Francisco on a gorgeous weekend of sailing off the waterfront on San Francisco Bay.  On the European circuits, J/80s and a J/145 were sailing the fabulously beautiful event called Mapfre PalmaVela on that magical little island off the Spanish coast called Palma Mallorca.  Criss-crossing across the Mediterranean were two J/122s, one racing the St Tropez 900 Race, a 900nm tour of the Med and the other sailed the Corsica Race, another epic event that also uses Corsica as a marker in a 600nm tour up and down the Italian coast and offshore islands (sisterships were doing the same in both Charleston, SC and in Warsash, England!).  On the far side of continental Europe, the Warsash Sailing Club in England continued their Spring Series and Spring Championships in fun but demanding sailing conditions for J/80 and J/109 one-design classes and a raft of J/92s, J/97s, J/105s, J/111s, J/122s and J/133s racing IRC handicap classes.  In America, two events enjoyed huge turnouts of J/Sailors, including the enormous Charleston Race Week sailed off Charleston, SC (J/22, J/24, J/80 one-designs and J/111, J/122, J/120, J/109, J/92 and J/29 teams all sailing offshore under PHRF handicap) and out west in San Francisco the St Francis YC hosted J/Fest for one-design fleets of J/24s, J/105s and J/120s.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below 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:

Mar 18-Apr 29- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England- http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk
Apr 22-May 1- J/24 Trofeo Accademia Navale- http://www.trofeoaccademianavale.eu/
Apr 26-29- Oslo Sailboat Show (J108)- Oslo, Norway- http://www.osloboatshow.no/
May 4-6- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 4-6- J/22 East Coasts- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 15-28- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands- http://www.nsr.nl/
May 18-20- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 25-Jun 3- J/24 Italian/European Championships- Sardinia, Italy
May 26-28- Swiftsure Offshore Race- Victoria, BC, Canada- http://2012.swiftsure.org/
Jun 1-3- J/22 Canadians- Vancouver, BC- http://www.j24can.com/
Jun 1-4- J/24 UK Nationals- Poole, England- http://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/
Jun 8-10- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL- http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp
Jun 9-15- J/80 Worlds- Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com/
Jun 15- Newport-Bermuda Race- Newport, RI- http://www.bermudarace.com/
Jun 16-23- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany- http://www.kielerwoche.de/
Jun 24-30- J/24 US Nationals- Dillon, CO- http://www.dillonyachtclub.com/
Jun 26-29- J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- http://www.j22-france.com/world%202012/index.htm

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

J/80 PRO-RIGGING Wins PalmaVela

The nineteen teams sailing in the J/80 fleet had excellent competition.  However, this time a new team took the honors at the top of the podium, local hotshot sailor Javier Sanz racing for Real Club Nautico Palma on PRO-RIGGING won the event easily.  Second was the “sponsor’s” team, MAPFRE sailed by Carlos Martinez and third was past Spanish Olympic Gold Medalist, Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg racing NILFISK.  The American team on FIRED UP sailed a charter boat and managed a credible 7th, led by Gary Kamins and crew (Jay Lutz) from California YC and Houston, TX.

In the ORC fleet the J/145 ACE sailed by Fred Stelle with guest star Rod Johnstone had a fabulous time sailing and managed to grab a third overall in their division.

On the first day or racing, the forecast was for Westerly winds of around 15 knots all day, reaching 16-17 knots at 12:00, when the start of races is scheduled. The nice westerly breeze and clear sunny skies brought another great day of sailing for the season`s first event.  Of note, in the Soto 40 class the series favorite Iberdrola, with J/80 World Champion Pichu Torcida at the helm, showed they are in form and finished the day in the first position after the three races held today.  In the ORC 0 Class, Fred Stelle’s J/145 ACE managed a 3-4.

On the second day of sailing, Southerly winds of 8 to 10 knots in the early afternoon cooperated to give almost all classes three races, although the breeze didn`t settle until later in the afternoon, 15:00 hours, when the clear sunny skies and 15 knots delivered picture-perfect conditions.  In the J80 class Javier Sanz`s Pro-Rigging skippered by David Madrazo clawed their way up to first after a great performance notching two first and a second place, leaving Jose María Van der Ploeg`s Nilfisk as runner up. The Spanish Olympic medallist posted a sixth, an eleventh – discarded- and a first.  In ORC 0, Fred Stelle’s J/145 team on ACE repeated their performance from the day before, scoring a 4-3.

The third and last day of races started in tactically demanding conditions of 6 to 8 knots of Northeasterly wind and light overcast skies which prevented the breeze from pushing through until 14:00 hours, when a nice Southerly breeze stablished in the bay of Palma.  The J-80 class was a cause for joy at the RCNP for its President Javier Sanz`s PRO-RIGGING clinched the Mapfre PalmaVela Trophy in the One-Design class which gathered nineteen boats for this seventh edition. Carlos Martinez`s MAPFRE was second, whereas Olympic medallist Jose María Van der Ploeg`s NILFISK was third.  On the last day, Stelle’s J/145 ACE in ORC 0 class managed a 3rd to clinch 3rd overall for the division.   Sailing photo credits- Martinez Studio For more PalmaVela sailing information

J/Teams Shine @ Charleston

In the end, it was good competition across the range of fleets both offshore for the big boats and inshore for the one-design fleets.  The PRO’s at CRW should be commended for their remarkable adroitness at managing their respective fleets and getting off as many races as they did in such challenging weather conditions.  As a result of their efforts, several epic battles ensued in both the offshore handicap fleets and the inshore one-design fleets.

For the offshore gang, the J’s were sailing in PHRF B and PHRC C on the north course and in PHRF F on the south course.  Sailing in one of the most competitive offshore fleets, PHRF B, the J/111 RAGIN sailed by Bob Moran and crew from Annapolis, MD raced a great series to pull off a well-deserved win, posting a 2-7-5-3-1-2-1-1 scoreline to take the series with 15 pts.  Giving them a tough battle all weekend long was early class leader, the J/122 TEAMWORK sailed by Robin Team’s crew from North Carolina.  Their 1-3-4-5-6-4-4-2 score for 23 pts was just good enough to maintain second place.  It was self-evident by Sunday that the top five teams in this class were going to settle their scores on the last race.  Steadily climbing up that ladder was Doug Curtiss’s J/111 WICKED 2.0, earning a hard-fought third place with a 7-4-7-1-2-1-3-13 for 25 pts.  Fifth in PHRF B was Henry Brauer’s J/111 FLEETWING with a score of 6-8-2-4-4-6-2-4 for 28 pts.  As anyone can tell you that saw the racing on Sunday, anyone could have won on the last day, it was the luck of the draw on several occasions with regards to wind shifts and massive holes magically showing up across the race course.  In the J/111 One-Design scoring, it was RAGIN 1st followed by WICKED 2.0 in 2nd and FLEETWING in 3rd.  Of note, the J/111 RAGIN won the “Palmetto Cup” for Best Offshore Performance Award for top offshore team in the most competitive class!  Kudos to Bob Moran and team winning such a prestigious award in their first major regatta on the J/111!

In PHRF C, the J/120s were a big factor in the overall results despite having two very fast and smart teams aboard some 35 foot J’s from across the decades.  In the end, it was local favorites Bill Hanckel on the J/120 EMOCEAN that swept the fleet, scoring a 3-1-1-1-1.5-1-1-5 for a grand total of just 9.5 points for first place.  Were it not for one bad race, Gary Weisberg’s crew on the J/109 HEAT WAVE were just one heartbeat away from giving the EMOCEAN crew serious anxiety attacks.  HEAT WAVE’s 4-8-3-2-1.5-2-2-1 for 15 pts was a solid score to earn them a silver on the podium.

Perhaps the donnybrook of the event aside from these other two divisions outlined above were the famous, fabled “29s” in the J/Family of designs.  A modern J/92 versus the J/29 mastheads of old, wow was that a fight to the finish!  And, what great racing these teams had over the course of seven races.  Beaming from ear-to-ear after they crossed the finish line in the last race were Ira Perry’s crew on the J/29 SEEFEST, winning by the “hair on their chinny chin chin”.  One point!  SEEFEST’s 2-2-3-2-3-4-3 for 15 pts just squeaked by Dave Pritchard’s J/29 AMIGOS which had accumulated a 4-5-4-ocs-1-1-1 for 16 pts!  My goodness.  Plus, Jim Mackevich’s J/29 FOR SAIL held on tough to manage a 6-4-2-3-2-2-5 score for 18 pts to secure third.  Incredibly, past multiple Key West PHRF Champion, Steve Thurston’s J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN sailed to a consistent tally of 1-1-6-6-4-3-4 for 19 pts, only good enough for 4th place!  Yet another J/29, John Amyot’s BLITZ! from Canada not only won races, too, getting a 3-7-5-1-5-5.5-2 for 21.5 pts, but could only hang on for 5th place.  This group of five 29 ft J’s were a seriously tough group of hombres– fun sailing for all.

On the inshore side of things, there were epic battles and some dominating performances.  First, the epochal armageddons that always evolve in the closely fought J/24 class.  Amazing isn’t it?  After 35 years of sailing, the J/24s still produce some of the world’s best sailors and best class battles.  This time, some familiar faces were again at the front of the fleet.  While getting out of the starting blocks a bit slow on the first day, Mike Ingham and his Rochester Team of J/24 jockeys simply put themselves into cruise control and knocked out a steady 3-7-2-8-1-1-2-2-5 for 23 pts to become a repeat CRW J/24 Champions.  Second was Travis Odenbach, sailing the great yacht HONEY BADGER to a fast out-of-the-box 4-3-1-1-2-2 but fading to black with a 12-1-11 for 25 pts.  Third was Chip Till’s gang on the infamous MURDER INCORPORATED, talk about blasting out of the blocks in a track meet– their 1-1-4-dsq-6-3-1-13-7 was both heroic and tragic all at once- a Shakespearean play in the making.  What gives guys? Had to be the toxic “dark’n'stormies”.  Perhaps if they race the Annapolis NOODs they can fight for retribution rights.

On the domination game side of things, it’s pretty clear the J/22s had to contend with a multiple World Champion that hasn’t lost his touch over time and a newcomer in the J/80s had everyone scratching their heads and singing the blues in their beers.  In the J/22 world, Greg Fisher simply demonstrated to many that he’s been a class-act for a long time, winning with grace and style with a solid 2-2-1-1-4-8-3-1-4 for 18 pts to take the J/22s by a substantial margin.  Second was Jackson Benvenutti’s team starting fast, then hoping to hang in there and scoring a steady 1-3-5-4-3-5-1-5-6 for 27 pts.  Third was another Odenbach sailing, this was the “Jack” version sailing MKI to a 3-9-2-9-2-6-2-3-1 for 28 pts, just missing the silver on the podium.  Fourth was Todd Hiller with LEADING EDGE and fifth was Mike Marshall WHARF RAT.

The J/80s had fantastic, very competitive sailing on their circle– always challenging and not without its surprises.  Somehow divining the intricacies of this course better than most anyone else was Bill Rose on KICKS.  Screamingly fast and smart on the first day, they never let up on the fleet.  Their 1-1-2-4-1-3-4-5-3-dns for 24 pts was sufficient to win the J/80s by a lot!  Second was top J/105 sailor Brian Keane racing SAVASANA to a 3-2-5-1-5-11-2-6-4-5 for 33 pts.  Alex Kraus sailed COOL J to third overall with 44 pts total, just beating out class leader Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO with 46 pts in fourth.  Capturing fifth was Nizar Abuzzeni sailing ARROW.

How did it all pan out on a daily basis?  Here are summarized reports from Dan Dickinson, “media man” for the Sperry Topsider CRW.

DAY 1- Nature Shines On First Day Of Racing- Stronger-Than-Expected Wind and Waves Ignite Race Week— Charleston proved itself once again to be one of the world’s most reliable sailing destinations today, with mother nature unwilling to accept forecasts of a day with little breeze.

Offshore, around a hundred racing boats from 26 to 72 feet long set off into sporty conditions — an unexpected 12 to 16 knots of wind and large, choppy seas. The PHRF Class C is proving a true clash of the titans, with local legend Bill Hanckel’s J/120 EMOCEAN just a point ahead of 2011 Champ Tim Tucker’s C&C 115 Rock Star, while just one point separates the J/122 TEAMWORK, the X-41 Sarah, and the OD 35 Fearless, the top three boats in PHRF B.

On the inshore race courses, Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week’s biggest ever inshore fleet fought and scrapped for every inch on the course, sometimes taking it too far.  2011 Charleston Race Week champ and many-time J/24 North American, National, and European Champion Mike Ingham had a tough day on the water, though not as tough as he thought. “With the current flowing out, we got caught in a couple of bad spots during the starts and ended up over the line early twice,” Ingham explained. “When we got back and found out we were in second place, we couldn’t believe it.”

DAY 2- Mixed Conditions Tighten Up Fleets While America’s Cup Visits Charleston— Nearly two hundred sixty racing teams hit the docks this morning, ready to battle their opponents on the second day of racing. Instead of Charleston’s usually reliable sea breeze, the offshore courses faced unstable, patchy winds that allowed only two races over the course of the day.  A fierce battle has broken out in the B Fleet, with Greg Manning’s Rhode Island-based X-41 Sarah tied on points with Bob Moran’s Annapolis-based J/111 RAGIN’. Two-time Charleston Race Week champ Robin Team (J/122 TEAMWORK) had a disappointing day, dropping to third place, with another J/111, WICKED 2.0 from Dartmouth, Mass, breathing down his crew’s neck.“

Charleston Native Bill Hanckel’s team on board his J/120 EMOCEAN was nearly unbeatable in today’s shifty wind, though not quite: Gary Weisburg’s J/109 HEAT WAVE corrected to the identical time as Hanckel’s crew – down to the hundredth of a second in Race 5. “We thought we lost to Heat Wave in that race,” said Bill Hanckel. “Pretty amazing to see an hour-long race come down to a hundredth of a second, and it’s a sign of how tight the racing is out there.” Despite a recent leg injury, Hanckel is sailing hard, with son Will on the helm. “Surgery on my leg would’ve cost the same as getting the bottom of EMOCEAN into race shape. You can guess what I spent the money on!!”

The inshore courses saw consistently higher breeze than offshore, allowing another four races to be completed across all three circles. Considering the shifty conditions and unpredictable wind velocity, it was a surprise to see the leaders remain the same across the inshore classes. College of Charleston Sailing Director Greg Fisher continues his stranglehold on the J/22 fleet, Bill Rose aboard KICKS extended his lead over the J/80 Class to 8 points, and in the J/24 Class, Annapolis sailor Travis Odenbach’s HONEY BADGER holds a four-point lead over the surging Mike Ingham and his team on board US 4558, who won the day with a 1-1-2-2 scorecard.

The evening’s beach party had an extremely special guest on Saturday, and over 1,500 sailors crowded around the big stage to welcome the America’s Cup to South Carolina for the first time in its 161-year old history. Representatives of America’s Cup Defender Golden Gate Yacht Club flew the prestigious trophy to Charleston to share their vision for the 34th America’s Cup with the huge crowds of passionate sailors attending Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week. “What an unbelievable reception!” said GGYC Commodore Norbert Bajurin. “We really are bowled over by the welcome we’ve received here, and the level of interest from Charleston Race Week sailors in the next America’s Cup competition.” GGYC’s Vice Commodore is long-time Cup veteran Tom Ehman, who delivered an exciting multi-media presentation for the crowd. “We’re hugely grateful to Norbert and Tom for working so hard to get the Cup here, and to our sailors for turning out in such incredible numbers,” said Randy Draftz, Event Director. “We just hope they bring it back next year!”

DAY 3- A Wet Finale— The heavy weather forecast for Charleston failed to materialize on Sunday, and unsettled conditions meant different challenges throughout the three race areas. Within a 10-mile radius, both the offshore and inshore racing classes sailed between 0 and 3 races for the final, deciding day of the country’s largest keelboat regatta.

“These were some of the most challenging conditions we’ve seen ever at Race Week in Charleston, and it’s a credit to these race committee workers, the vast majority of them volunteers, that we got so many races in this week,” said Event Director Randy Draftz. “This event couldn’t be run without the nearly 300 volunteers that so generously donate their time, their energies, and their boats to this event, and we want to give all of them a special thanks for making Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week one of the best regattas anywhere.

A huge rivalry came down to the wire on Sunday in the J/24 class, where Travis Odenbach led Mike Ingham until the final race of the week. Both teams are from Rochester, NY, and both skippers are preparing for the huge J/24 World Championship in Rochester later this summer.  “We’ve been racing against each other for a decade, and we’ll probably be racing against each other for a decade more,” said Odenbach, whose HONEY BADGER took second place by a 2-point deficit.  “Going into the last race today we were down by a few points, and we got the start we needed,” explained Ingham. Odenbach didn’t stand a chance.  “Mike got ahead, and every tack, he slammed us back, just as he needed to,” he said. This is Ingham’s second consecutive victory at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week, and he says he’ll be back to go for the hat trick.  “Where else would I want to be in April?” he exclaimed.

Greg Fisher took the 15-boat J/22 class by nine points, earning the College of Charleston’s Sailing Director the Charleston Race Week Perpetual Trophy for top one-design performance. A huge cheer went out from the crowd for the adopted Charlestonian, who sailed with wife Jo-Ann, College of Charleston freshman and varsity sailor Allie Blumenthal and longtime crew Jeff Eiber. The regatta’s other perpetual award, The Palmetto Cup, which is given to the top performing boat in the PHRF classes, was awarded to Bob Moran and his crew on board the J/111 RAGIN’ out of Herndon, VA Moran and his talented crew competed in PHRF Class B, in which they also won class honors.

The J/80 class rounded out the J/Boat one designs, and Bill Rose on KICKS continued his dominant performance, clinching the victory with a race to spare. Brian Keane’s Massachusetts based SAVASA took second place.

The local favorites aboard the J/120 EMOCEAN were overjoyed at their victory in PHRF C.  “We put the band back together and everything just fell into place,” said helmsman Will Hanckel. “Eight of the original 11 EMOCEAN crew were with us this week and their skill and our communication level aboard made things almost easy.”  Sailing Photo Credits- Meredith Block/ BlockSail.com.  For more Charleston Race Week sailing information

J/122 Wins Corsica Race

When all the boats crossed the finishing line and the final tally’s were in for handicap scoring, the Winner in IRC, with all kind of weather conditions and with a record of top-Speed down wind of 18.8 knots, was the  J/122 CHRISTINA III sailed by Alessandro Brighenti.

In the same race, the J/111 J-STORM sailed their first major offshore race and crossed the line in fourth, missing the Podium by just a few minutes!  All in all, it was a great showing and result for both the J/122 and the J/111 in very demanding wind and sea conditions.  Thanks for this report from Paolo Boido in Italy.

Perfect J/Fest San Francisco

Like their counterparts way across the continental divide in Charleston, the San Francisco J/24 crews had a serious three-way battle for first place.  Perhaps it was more of a rugby scrum than anything else.  The regatta winner was determined on a tie-breaker while third place was only one point back!  Talk about suffering a bit of anxiety on the race-track.  Settling the score by virtue of having more firsts was Darren Cumming’s DOWNTOWN UPROAR, starting well and hanging tough to earn a 1-2-3-1-3 record for 10 pts.  Losing the tie-break and finishing second was Luther Strayer on LITTLE WING with a 2-3-2-2-1 tally also for 10 pts.  The only other double race-winner was Rich Jepsen’s RAIL TO RAIL, gathering a 4-1-1-3-2 tally for 11 pts.  Fun, tough competition amongst those J/24 crews.

The J/120s also saw a hard fought series amongst the top three with just three points separating the teams.  In the end, Barry Lewis’ CHANCE sailed consistently to garner a 4-1-3-1-2 record for 11 pts.  John Wimer on DESDEMONA sailed fast, but not fast and smart enough, to collect a 2-3-4-3-1 score for 13 pts.  Were it not for a third race scoring penalty, Steve Madeira’s MR MAGOO may have had a better shot at 1st or 2nd.  Instead, the “mean green fighting machine” that is the “MAGOO” managed a 1-4-scp(4)-2-3 for 14 pts to round out the podium.

The J/105s had a great turnout with a highly competitive fleet of twenty boats.  There were some familiar names again at the top of the fleet.  This time, it was Jeff Litfin and John Case on MOJO that simply had this weekend completely dialed-in and walked off with first place.  MOJO’s 2-4-2-4-2 record was blindingly consistent, winning no races, but sailing fast and conservatively smart to with with only 14 pts, 7 pts clear of the fleet.  Second was 2011 Rolex Big Boat Series Winner Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK, winning two races but having a tough time in the other three (7-6-6) to hang on to second place with 21 pts.  Third was another Rolex Big Boat Series winner, Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE, starting slowly then improving over the course of the weekend, scoring a 9-5-3-6-1 for a 24 pts total.  Bruce’s team just edged out Adam Spiegel’s team on JAM SESSION on a tie-breaker, Adam’s team accumulated a 5-10-4-2-3 for 24 pts to finish fourth.  Fifth was Tom Kennelly’s WONDER, sailing one of their best regattas in J/105s so far.   Sailing Photo Credits by Chris Ray For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information

Like their other famous J/122 sisterships in Malta and Italy, Olivier Parchet’s French team on his J/122 NOISY OYSTER finished third overall in IRC, just behind famous French Solo Champion Lionel Pean, in an elapsed time of 6 days, 20 hours and 58 minutes. Said Olivier, “It was a difficult finish for us since we were in first position for over 75% of the race after passing the Minorca turning mark!  A bit frustrating but nevertheless a fantastic race for us.  We’re happy with the outcome, not bad for a “comfort without compromise” 40 foot sailboat!  The J/122 is simply amazing, perfect for how we sail in the Med. By the way, NOISY OYSTER will participate to Giraglia in June, Copa del Rey in Palma in July and Middle sea Race in October in Malta!”  Best regards, Olivier

In addition to the J/122, the 2011 St Tropez Overall Winner, the J/109 ALBACOR IV sailed by Jena-Louis Pezin, managed to hang tough in this demanding race to score a sixth overall in an elapsed time of 7 days, 13 hour sand 12 minutes.   For St Tropez 900 Race sailing results For St Tropez 900 Race sailing information

Busy Warsash Spring Weekend

The forecast 5 knots on Saturday did not materialize in the morning and everyone waited for the wind until around 1130. When the breeze arrived it was in the 8/10 knot range west/southwesterly to westerly but shifty. Racing for Black Group got underway just before noon near Fastnet Insurance buoy with short windward/leeward courses set. In the afternoon the wind increased and dark clouds formed resulting in gusts to 20 knots in the showers. This enabled longer six mile courses to be set for the second and third races. It was a long day for competitors who were finishing the third race after 1600, so it was sensibly decided not to go for a fourth race. White Group racing under the lee of the northern shore had less stable conditions and there was an interval of two hours between the first and second races. Even so, three races were completed for the J/80s.

Conditions on Sunday morning were bright and sunny with a forecast for increasing wind and squally showers. In Black Group, IRC1, IRC2 and J/109s were scheduled for two races. Even with an adverse tide, the fleet pushed the line and were all recalled. Starting at Fastnet Insurance, the first leg was a long beat to Air Canada buoy by the Brambles Bank. Most tacticians decided to put in a long port tack across the tide towards Calshot shore. The restart of IRC1 was under the ‘Z’ flag penalty system. The J/109s were given a shorter first leg and by the time the leaders were round Flying Fish buoy, they were sailing back downwind in parallel with IRC1.

The remaining Black Group classes enjoyed one longer race using a combination of fixed and laid marks with a windward/leeward loop towards the finish. The J/Sprit class got away cleanly but in others there were several declared OCS, including some of the front runners for overall honours.

With the first races completed for the relevant classes the Black Group committee boat moved north and west for the start of the second and shorter race. The wind had by now swung towards the southwest which allowed the continued use of Air Canada as the first mark followed by a short series of runs and beats before finishing at East Knoll buoy. In the first fleet, the changed tidal conditions meant most boats cleared the start line and kept on their starboard tack all the way to the port layline. Judging that point was crucial. Some in all classes overstood the mark and lost places.

In the second race, the entire J/109 class was OCS and a general recall was signaled. They got away OK at the second attempt under a ‘Z’ flag preparatory signal. The afternoon conditions also suited the sportboat classes racing near the entrance to Southampton Water, although by the final race, conditions were brisk and even the front runners in each class were having difficulty gybing smoothly.

Now joined by the Spring Championship contenders, J/80s had increased in class size to 20 plus. With the J/80 World Championships being held at Dartmouth in June, there has been a steady increase in both quantity and quality. Rob Larke has been the man to beat but this weekend Stewart Hawthorn, returning to the class, has slowly been narrowing the gap. Although Rob holds a substantial lead in the main series, things are much tighter in the Spring Championship with Rob (J2X) and Stewart (J’ai Deux Amours) only a couple of points apart. Ian Atkins (boats.com) had a bad result in the first race of the day and trails slightly but in a 14 race series, with no discard, this could still prove a small setback.

In IRC 1 class, Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU is now lying in 4th overall for the series after a slow weekend.  And in 9th is Ken Lowe’s new J/111 GHOST.

The J/109 class continues to see Mike & Sarah Wallis’ JAHMALI leading the series with a 2-2-1-3-4-1 scoreline for 9 pts, followed in 2nd by David Mcleman’s OFFBEAT with a 4-1-3-4-6-4 tally for 16 pts.  Lying third is David & Mary McGough’s JUST SO with an 11-3-5-2-5-3 record for 18 pts.

In the mixed J/Sprit class, the class leader continues to be the J/92 J’RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) with a 1-1-1-4-5-7 record for 7 pts.  Second is Nick and Adam Munday’s J/97 INDULJENCE with a 5-2-2-2-2 scoreline for 8 pts.  Third is Andy Howe’s J/92 BLACKJACK with a 3-3-3-6-6 score for 15 pts.  Fourth is Chris Jones’ J/105 JOURNEYMAKER 5 and fifth is Charles Ivill’s J/97 BLACK MAGIC.

Next weekend has the grand finale on 28th/29th April with a full schedule of racing over the weekend which sees the conclusion of both events in the Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship Powered by SLAM.   Sailing photo credits- Eddie Mays For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information

KAOTIC Wins J/24 Vic States

The MONJON Victorian Championship went along without a hitch last weekend, largely due to the huge amount of preparation from a dedicated team of volunteers, led by the Victorian Association’s own Sarah Thompson and Doug Macgregor.

The weather, race committee and eager owners and crews combined to provide exhilarating racing and spectacular viewing for those lucky enough to be out there. Throughout the fleet we could see the individual battles, all as important as the next.

Up front Ben Lamb hung in on a testing Saturday and then took control on Sunday in a performance as good as I have seen in a J24, to hold the Pacemaker and Convicts teams at bay. Kaotic’s win all the more important as they helped NSW get one back, after Pacemaker had taken out the NSW and National Titles earlier this summer.

I remember racing Ben Lamb in similar conditions at the 2006 Worlds when Kaotic won Race 7 and we finished third, and I can safely say they have lost none of their speed, particularly downwind.

The racing between Kaotic, Pacemaker and Convicts Revenge in the big breeze on Sunday was as tough as it gets, as we pushed each other to the limit. Stephen Girdis, a multiple National Champion and successful worlds campaigner has certainly regained his J24 mojo and would have probably taken the title, if not for two separate incidents with hyperactive which resulted in costly penalty turns.

The battle for top 5 honours was intense but Adam Evans and Hugo Ottoway showed cool heads on Sunday with solid performances in the strong northerly, enough to keep the chasing pack at bay, which was no easy task considering the improvement of the next bunch. Our first female skipper Kirsty Harris on Hyperactive was a very credible sixth, followed by Jumping Jack Flash who had fourth all but stitched up with consistently strong finishes, until their OCS in the final race. In eighth and sailing a chartered boat we had Dave West, followed by By the Lee and Make My Jay rounds out the top 10.

Normally a report might stop at the top ten but the next four boats need special mention, especially when 11th place is Joel Aulich helming Gridlock. Sailing with dad Steve on strings and sisters Megan and Kate keeping the front half in order with Steph Strong, this was their first regatta and I look forward to watching this crew cause headaches further up the order in the near future. Ron Thomson finished 12th to comfortably keep the ‘Thommo Cup’ in Victoria, followed by Michael Lewenhagen in Excite your Sense. This was a very solid result considering most of their energy went towards ensuring we had an awesome Saturday evening BBQ, which we did!  Thank you Mark Haughton (VIC Measurer) for your efforts getting the fleet measured, and in some cases painted, so we had another boat on the water.

Andrew Hunting and his youth team are new to the class and in finishing 14th they kept 6 boats behind them in their first regatta, despite carrying maximum points in the final two races following gear failure. Smart thinking from their team got the boat home safely and I must say it is great to see the rejuvenated “Sidetracked” being sailed by such a great bunch of guys.

The racing was very tough, and as we continue to tweak our equipment, Ben Lamb highlighted the value of perfecting the pin end start. At the pointy end, the crew work was super slick and the speeds were so even, that in most cases if you want to win races, it comes down to who gets off the line best. This is especially the case when the pin end is favored and the left side of the course is paying, as it has been in almost every race of both the Nationals and the Vic States. At the Nationals each race went to whoever won the battle at the pin end, and on Sunday Kaotic did it in every race for three wins!

So where to from here you ask? Well at the moment a Victorian boat holds the NSW Title, a NSW boat holds the Victorian Title and the Nationals went the way of the Victorians by a solitary point. VIC 2 lead NSW 1. Bring on the NSW Titles later this year! One Design all the way.  Thanks for the contribution by Dave Suda– more reports coming next week!  For more J/24 Australia and Vic States sailing information

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

* J/145 BAD PAK won the San Diego Yacht Club’s prestigious 2011 Yacht of the Year.  With an excellent racing record that included winning their class in the Transpac Race 2011, Tom Holthus and crew sailed hard and fast, earning their keep to be one of the top crews on the California offshore racing circuit.  Seen here is Tom and his family crew receiving the award at San Diego YC’s Opening Day Ceremonies.  Of note, this also marks the third time in five years that a J/Team has won SDYC’s prestigious Yacht of the Year Award, previous winners were a J/120 and J/125!

* Sequins and Pearls! All right. It is not about Mardi Gras or Carnivale, or even our impending Presentation Night, for then it would be sequins and pearls, after all.  What it is about is that you know that I just love a good sequence of images and our pal, who’s “Not the Oldest Bowman on the Bay”, Chris Furey, has supplied us with a “pearler”. We’ll just let him explain his pictures, then.  Said Chris, “I know that J/24s are often maligned as old-fashioned boats these days, but they still provide tight tactical racing in good sized fleets and at an affordable entry level. I sailed my first J/24 back in the late 70s and was the original Victorian dealer for the class, so I have a bit of a soft spot for the boats. We have a growing and very active fleet at Sandringham Yacht Club, with 18 boats now parked on the hardstand and prospective owners clamoring for space for more boats. A fantastic initiative from the local fleet has been to provide two fully-kitted J/24s for intermediate and youth sailors to charter and race for a season, as a stepping stone from the off-the-beach dinghy scene to keelboat racing.”

“Last Sunday, I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride with ISAF Judge, Rob Ware, on the Jury boat to observe and photograph the 20 boat J24 fleet fighting out the last three races on the final day of their 2012 Victorian State Championships, which were held off Sandringham. It’s a privileged position for a keen sailing observer and photographer to be in, as we were right up close and personal with the sailors as they raced hard on a gusty Port Phillip.”  For more great photos and the rest of this great sailing story.

* NEW! Around Jamestown Record Sailing Race sponsored by Mount Gay Rum & Double Cross Vodka with Café Zelda.  And, the outright Record Holder Awarded the Skipper’s Weight in Mount Gay Rum?!  Cool! Manuka Sports Event Management are excited to announce The Around Jamestown Record, a perpetual all out record for sailing around Conanicut Island (also known as Jamestown) in lower Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

Similar to other outright speed records, contenders will decide when they to make a record attempt and also the direction in which they will sail around Jamestown. This means contenders can choose the most advantageous weather conditions and tidal flow in which to attempt the record.

Four categories of sailing boats will be recognized to vie for divisional honors with the overall perpetual trophy going to the boat with the outright fastest time.

The four divisions recognized are:
- Monohull keelboats greater than or equal to 50 feet
- Monohull keelboats less than 50 feet
- Multihulls over 20 feet
- Other sailing craft

The record will be open during the summer months from Memorial Day, May 28th, 2012 until September 30th, 2012 during the hours of daylight. An Official Prize Giving Party will be held on the weekend immediately following September 30th and will be open to the local community as well as the contenders.  Double Cross Vodka and Mount Gay Rum will provide cocktails and prizes. The yacht that wins the outright record will be awarded Mount Gay Rum equal to the Skipper’s weight.

Additionally, a portion of each $500.00 USD entry fee (the cost for each record attempt) will go to benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation and their fight against Cystic Fibrosis and Newport’s community sailing center, Sail Newport.

Race Director, Hugh Piggin stated, “Being able to choose your weather window adds an interesting twist to an iconic sailing course here in Narragansett Bay. The Record will be a challenging way for the local boating community to vie for bragging rights and fun prizes while supporting two worthwhile causes.”  Please contact Julianna Barbieri @ Manuka Sports Event Management for more information- email- Julianna@ManukaSEM.com or work phone- 917-693-1656.  For more sailing information on the Around Jamestown Record

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

* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years.  Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker.  The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com.  Search for “SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing” by Bill Stellin or William Stellin.”  UPDATE-  Just a short note to update from Bill- “Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, “Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III,” can be found at www.blurb.com.  Thanks, Bill and Judy”

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world’s oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they’ve gotten to New Zealand- “Avante Cruises the Pacific”.

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet–she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending.  As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/

STEPPING UP THE PACE FOR WARSASH SPRING SERIES AND CHAMPIONSHIP

It was a busy weekend for Warsash Sailing Club on 21^st/22^nd April when Saturday racing for the Spring Championship was added to the penultimate gathering of the Spring Series the next day. New entries had also come in resulting in over 190 boats out on the water enjoying a range of weather conditions.

Saturday 21^st April – Warsash Spring Championship Day 1

The Warsash Spring Championship offers an intense schedule of four days’ racing for selected classes. This year all IRC1 and IRC2 boats are eligible as well as Farr 45 and J/109 one designs. Sportsboats include  J/80s and Quarter-ton classes. Sections are also included for Brewin Dolphin Commodore’s Cup triallists with an entry of 17 boats ranging from Cobra (Michael Blair) to Mike Moxley’s  Malice, well known on the Solent circuit, and the J/109s Yeoman of Wight and Diamond Jem. The planned programme aims at 12 races for Black Group and 14 for White Group. The results of every race count towards the final placings.

The forecast 5 knots did not materialise in the morning and everyone waited for the wind until around 1130. When the breeze arrived it was in the 8/10 knot range west/southwesterly to westerly but shifty. Racing for Black Group got underway just before noon near Fastnet Insurance buoy with short windward/leeward courses set. In the afternoon the wind increased and dark clouds formed resulting in gusts to 20 knots in the showers. This enabled longer six mile courses to be set for the second and third races. It was a long day for competitors who were finishing the third race after 1600, so it was sensibly decided not to go for a fourth race. White Group racing under the lee of the northern shore had less stable conditions and there was an interval of two hours between the first and second races. Even so, three races were completed except for the Quarter Tonners which just managed a short fourth race.

The Farr 45s enjoyed close tussles. Alice 2 (Simon Henning) beat Kolga (British Keelboat Academy) by seven seconds in Race 1 whilst Werewolf (Jerry Otter) was only a further five seconds adrift. Werewolf gained her revenge in Race 2 but missed out to Alice 2 by a slightly larger margin in Race 3.

IRC1 included a fair-sized entry from J/Boats but in the event Michael Bartholomew’s  Tokoloshe took two wins with Trustmarque Quokka (Grand Soleil 43 Peter Rutter) taking one. IRC2 had a smaller entry comprising First 40s and 40.7s, Elans and the Grand Soleil 39 Malaika. Winston (First 40) squeezed a three second lead over sistership Tarka II in Race 1 but Tarka II came back on form for the latter races. The CC class for Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup triallists produced three different winners: Eaujet, Philosophie IV and Magnum III. Jahmali gained two wins in the J/109s with Just So winning Race 2.

Sunday 22^nd April – Warsash Spring Series Day 5, Warsash Spring Championship Day 2

Conditions in the morning were bright and sunny with a forecast for increasing wind and squally showers. In Black Group, IRC1, IRC2 and J/109s were scheduled for two races. IRC1 was joined by the Farr 45s and Commodore’s Cup triallists which made for a lively start of 27 boats. Even with an adverse tide, the fleet pushed the line and were all recalled. IRC2 fared better with only four individual recalls. Starting at Fastnet Insurance, the first leg was a long beat to Air Canada buoy by the Brambles Bank. Most tacticians decided to put in a long port tack across the tide towards Calshot shore and by the mark Jim Macgregor’s Premier Flair had established a lead which was extended by over three minutes at the finish. The restart of IRC1 was under the ‘Z’ flag penalty system. Four boats were penalised including Peter Rutter’s Trustmarque Quokka which finished first but was downgraded seven points. Jerry Otter’s Werewolf won his second race of the weekend in the Farr 45s and Michael Blair on board Cobra did well to take line honours and a class win in the CC1 division from Andrew Mills’ Dignity.  This was Andrew’s third time as runner-up over the weekend. The J/109s were given a shorter first leg and by the time the leaders were round Flying Fish buoy, they were sailing back downwind in parallel with IRC1.

Charles Rolls and Andrew Christie's new J/111 Icarus enjoying the conditions

Photo by Eddie Mays 2012

The remaining Black Group classes enjoyed one longer race using a combination of fixed and laid marks with a windward/leeward loop towards the finish. The J/Sprit class got away cleanly but in others there were several declared OCS, including some of the front runners for overall honours. Again classes found themselves sailing alongside as the Sigma 38s caught IRC3 in the increasingly windy conditions. By this time the tide had turned. Conditions became uncomfortable and the last downwind leg was littered with broaching yachts. In the Sigma 38 class, the leaders were well bunched with Kindred Spirit (Rob and Julie Lee) having their bow just ahead. However, the eagle-eyed race team had spotted them starting early, enabling Mefisto to add another first to their tally with an unassailable lead. It was good to see Jamie Wilkinson and Philip Meakins out and enjoying the racing too. Both Mike Bridges (IRC3) and Tony Mack’s J/97 McFly (J/Sprit) recorded consecutive wins.

With the first races completed for the relevant classes the Black Group committee boat moved north and west for the start of the second and shorter race. The wind had by now swung towards the southwest which allowed the continued use of Air Canada as the first mark followed by a short series of runs and beats before finishing at East Knoll buoy. In the first fleet, the changed tidal conditions meant most boats cleared the start line and kept on their starboard tack all the way to the port layline. Judging that point was crucial. Some in all classes overstood the mark and lost places. Jeffrey Blair’s Farr 45 Espresso Martini, badged in the colours of Team Pindar, was first to the mark but only by a length or so. In the cluster of boats immediately behind,  Magnum III (Andrew Pearce) and Keronimo (Jonathon Goring) with Eddie Warden-Owen in the afterguard, went round side by side. Magnum III edged ahead but then Keronimo caught a gust and accelerated so quickly she could have been a 49er! They established enough of a lead to head CC1. One of the most interesting features of this year’s series has been watching how these two boats perform in a variety of conditions. When the breeze is up they certainly come into their own downwind.

Rob Larke's J2X Full Steam Ahead

In the second race, the entire J/109 class was OCS and a general recall was signalled. They got away OK at the second attempt under a ‘Z’ flag preparatory signal. The afternoon conditions also suited the two sportsboat classes racing near the entrance to Southampton Water, although by the final race, conditions were brisk and even the front runners in each class were having difficulty gybing smoothly. Now joined by the Spring Championship contenders, Laser SB3s and J/80s had increased in class size to 20 plus. With the MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championships being held at Dartmouth in June, there has been a steady increase in both quantity and quality. Rob Larke has been the man to beat but this weekend Stewart Hawthorn, returning to the class, has slowly been narrowing the gap. Although Rob holds a substantial lead in the main series, things are much tighter in the Spring Championship with Rob (J2x) and Stewart  only a couple of points apart. Ian Atkins (boats.com) had a bad result in the first race of the day and trails slightly but in a 14 race series, with no discard, this could still prove a small setback. Race honours in the SB3s have been more clearly divided, although Oleg Zherbtsov (Team Russia) has won half the races completed. Both Joe Llewellyn (Henri Lloyd) and Jerry Hill (3 Sad Old Blokes) have endured one poor result each, leaving a lot to do on the remaining two days.

Stewart Hawthorn's J/80, but where is Nikki??

Next weekend has the grand finale on 28^th/29^th April with a full schedule of racing over the weekend which sees the conclusion of both events in the Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship Powered by SLAM.

Warsash Spring Series, Provisional results Week 5, 22^nd April 2012

Warsash Spring Championship, Provisional overall results, Days 1 and 2

J/70 Southern-style Sailing
(Charleston, SC)- J/70 has completed its extensive sailing trials north of the “Mason-Dixon” line in the cool, windy, sunny climate of northern New England.  Time to blaze some smokin hot contrails down south.  This week, the J/70 travels south to the warm and comfortable confines of South Carolina for Charleston Race Week.  After a charming week on Lake Norman, the J/70 will be shaking off its recent fresh-water bath for the salty mid-Atlantic Ocean and running tides in Charleston Harbor.  Be sure to swing by and see the J/70 speedster at the Charleston Harbor & Marina (next to registration & walkway onto the docks).  For sailing demo’s be sure to contact Don Trask at cell# 510-385-4094 or email- djtboats@aol.com.

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J/111 SoCal Boatshow
(Newport Beach, CA)- J/111 will be on display at the April 19-22- Newport Beach Boatshow.  Learn more from Jeff Brown and crew at JK3 Yachting why this remarkable 36 footer has taken the world by storm over the past year.  With one-design activity growing in Europe and America, now’s the time to jump aboard and have some fun in 2012 and look forward to Key West in 2013!  Recently, the J/111 One-Design Class in SPI Ouest France saw fantastic racing from teams across Europe, expect more in the Solent and Cowes Race Week.  Next up in America are class racing events in Charleston, Annapolis, Newport, Chicago, Harbor Springs and San Francisco.  Contact Jeff Brown and crew at jeff@jk3yachts.com or cell#619-709-0697.  The boatshow information for the Newport Show.

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French J/22 Worlds Practice
(Nantes, France)- The French J/22 class invite all J/22 aficionados to participate in the French Open J/22 which takes place June 16-17, one week before the J/22 Worlds.  The sailing site is beautiful, an area famous for its gorgeous, seaside beauty (manors, pastures) and hosted by S.N.O Sailing Club http://www.snonantes.com.

This region of France is renown for its spas and resorts.  So, take a moment to enjoy yourself in Nantes and rejuvenate the body, spirit, soul for some good sailing in the following week!  Check out the Nantes Tourism site at- http://en.nantes-tourisme.com/discover-3113.html or go a step ahead and join the place where the J/22 Worlds will take place and enjoy the wonderful seaside- http://www.crouesty.co.uk.

And, speaking of J/22 Worlds, the Netherlands J/22 fleet is getting busy!  Benelux sailors are working hard with less than two months to go to the worlds to get into full training to bring the J/22 World Cup back to Benelux.  Their regattas and training also include- April 28-29- Almere Regatta; May 12-13 Spring Cup; and May 25-28 Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta.   For more Netherlands/ Benelux J/22 sailing information.  For more France J/22 Worlds related sailing information.

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J/Teams Sailing PalmaVela
(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- 116 boats, 1,000 sailors, 16 represented countries and 15 divisions make up the impressive line-up of the 2012 Mapfre PalmaVela regatta, the principal opening event for the 2012 sailing season on the Mediterranean. During the four next days, 15 divisions will be competing on four race areas distributed throughout the bay of Palma, probably one of the world’s most famous sailing areas.

The J/80 fleet will have nineteen teams and will feature the participation of Olympic champion and winner of the last edition of the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre, José María van der Ploeg at the helm of GREAT SAILING as well as past winner of the PalmaVela, Carlos Martínez sailing MAPFRE.  Sure to give them a good-ole fashioned run-for-the-money will be Gary Kamins and crew (Jay Lutz) from California YC and Houston, TX.

In the ORC fleet will be the J/145 ACE sailed by Fred Stelle that has on-board a great crew, including J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone.  Since they’re the “small boat” in a big-boat class, life could be interesting chasing down the big-boys when the sea-breeze builds on a choppy, wavy bay off Palma.  For more PalmaVela sailing information

J/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J’s Sailing Worldwide

April continues to be a busy month for sailors in the northern hemisphere.  As their Down Under buddies are winding things down a bit and/or migrating “north” to join their friends as the weather warms up for a bit of sailing, a principal focus for many is to re-assemble their sailing friends to get the boat ready for the season, get it in the water to “float-test” it, and determine whether or not the team has a bit of rust to work out before they encounter top teams in their sailing areas.  Across continental Europe, the pace of “spring cleaning” has proceeded at a frenetic pace with varying degrees of success for some sailing teams. Evidence of this activity is fraught with anxiety in spots, with teams still getting out for the first time on J/80s in Italy’s Winter Championships, J/80 teams in Spain’s numerous winter/spring series and even in the United Kingdom with teams sailing the Warsash Spring Series on the Solent in J/80s, J/111s, J/122s, J/133s, J/105s and J/109s, to mention just a few.  Remarkably, the J/22 sailors in South Africa continue to attract a strong contingent of passionate sailors themselves, seems hard not to when you traverse southern Africa from spectacular lakes to Cape Town– can’t be more mind-blowing than that in terms of sailing experiences!  Shark Island offshore to “monster carp” inshore, plus some massive elephants, lions and wildebeest for simple travel entertainment in between going to regattas!  The wonders of sailing “J’s around-the-world” will never cease.  Then, on the “California Dreamin” side of things, some “opening day” yacht club events can be truly epic or just ordinary– between San Diego YC’s celebration with “a bit of breeze” or Santa Barbara YC’s “classic” party provide us that broad range of sailing fun and entertainment everyone seems to enjoy with family and friends.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below 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:

Mar 18-Apr 29- Warsash Spring Series- Warsash, England- http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk
Apr 19-22- Newport Beach Boatshow (J/111)- Newport Beach, CA- http://newportinwaterboatshow.com
Apr 19-22- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC- http://www.charlestonraceweek.com/
Apr 22-27- Bermuda Race Week- Bermuda- http://www.biirw.bm/
Apr 22-May 1- J/24 Trofeo Accademia Navale- http://www.trofeoaccademianavale.eu/
Apr 26-29- Oslo Sailboat Show (J108)- Oslo, Norway- http://www.osloboatshow.no/
May 4-6- Annapolis NOOD Regatta- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 4-6- J/22 East Coasts- Annapolis YC, Annapolis, MD- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 15-28- Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands- http://www.nsr.nl/
May 18-20- Seattle NOOD Regatta- Seattle, WA- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood_regatta.jsp
May 25-Jun 3- J/24 Italian/European Championships- Sardinia, Italy
May 26-28- Swiftsure Offshore Race- Victoria, BC, Canada- http://2012.swiftsure.org/
Jun 1-3- J/22 Canadians- Vancouver, BC- http://www.j24can.com/
Jun 1-4- J/24 UK Nationals- Poole, England- http://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/
Jun 8-10- Chicago NOOD Regatta- Chicago, IL- http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp
Jun 9-15- J/80 Worlds- Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com/
Jun 15- Newport-Bermuda Race- Newport, RI- http://www.bermudarace.com/
Jun 16-23- Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany- http://www.kielerwoche.de/
Jun 24-30- J/24 US Nationals- Dillon, CO- http://www.dillonyachtclub.com/
Jun 26-29- J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- http://www.j22-france.com/world%202012/index.htm

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

J’s Lovin’ Fresh to Frightening Warsash Sailing

The Black Group fleet raced from a start line on Ryde Middle bank on courses designed to include the occasional reach, interspersed with beats and runs. The start sequence stayed on schedule until an over eager IRC3 class forced a general recall. All classes shared common marks for the start and end of each race with the middle section of each course suitably adjusted to suit the different classes.  In IRC 1 class, the J/111 JEEZ LOUISE skippered by James Arnell sailed for the first time in the series and finished 3rd, just beating out Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU in 4th.

The J/109 class has a dozen entries this year and so far each race has produced a different winner. This week it was newcomer Jonnie Goodwin’s HARLEQUIN that was top boat. This was his first race in the series and the team put in a very strong performance to beat David & Mary McGough’s JUST SO by over four minutes. If HARLEQUIN competes similarly in the next two weeks, there could well be a shake up in the results. At this stage, Mike & Sarah Wallis’ JAHMALI are leading with a 2-2-1-3 scoreline for 8 pts, followed in 2nd by David Mcleman’s OFFBEAT with a 4-1-3-4 tally for 12 pts.  Lying third id Owain Franks & Jean Lockett’s JYNNAN TONNYX with a 5-6-2-6 with 19 pts.  Less than four points behind in 4th and 5th, respectively, are David & Mary McGough’s JUST SO and Paul Griffith’s JAGERBOMB.

In the mixed J/Sprit class, another newcomer had a good day. The J/105 JOURNEYMAKER V (Chris Jones), as the biggest boat in the class, reveled in the conditions to take line honours but three minutes behind him and less than a boat’s length apart Tony Mack’s MCFLY just beat the J/97 INDULJENCE (Nick & Adam Munday) to the line to take the class win on his first outing. Class leader J’RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) could only manage fourth in their slightly smaller J/92 for a 1-1-1-4 record for 7 pts.  Second is Nick and Adam Munday’s INDULJENCE with a 5-2-2-2 scoreline for 11 pts.  Third is Andy Howe’s J/92 BLACKJACK with a 3-3-3-6 score for 15 pts.  Fourth is John Cooper & Ian Townend’s J/92 JAMMIN and fifth is Chris Jones’ seasoned offshore campaigners on JOURNEYMAKER 5.

On the White Group sportsboat course, the J/80s were given a gate at the bottom of the course. In the first strong breeze of the year, for many of them the retrieval of gennakers proved to be a significant factor and some ended up having to sail longer windward legs than expected. In the first race it became apparent that boats sailing to the shifts made the most gains. Under the lee of the Meon shore the northerly wind was much more susceptible to shifting and the boats that chose to go for the laylines tended to lose out. Two boats dominated the J/80 class. Rob Larke (J2x) won all three races and he was followed home each time by Ian Atkins in boats.com.  After a series total of twelve races, J2X is leading by over 20 pts.  Lying second is Nick and Annie Haigh’s SLIGHTLY STEAMY with 43 pts, followed in third by Stew Hawthorn’s J’AI DEUX AMOURS with 62 pts.  Fourth is Patrick Liardet in AQUA-J with 64 pts and fifth is Ian’s boats.com with 75 pts.

Next weekend the pace hots up with racing on both days for the Warsash Spring Championship, including a section with trialists for the Dolphin Brewer’s Commodore’s Cup. The fifth week of the Warsash Spring Series continues on Sunday 22nd April.   Sailing photo credits- Eddie Mays For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information

Vela 2012 Show Report

In Trieste, the tradition lives on, one of the great sailing areas in Italy.  The weather conditions for sailing are great most of the time, with strong southerly sea-breezes flowing.  The typical Northern wind called “Bora” (a.k.a. “mistral”, “meltemi” in other parts of the world) can build up to incredible power, flowing down fast out of the Italian Alps at ferocious speeds in excess of 40-60 knots!  Here is a report from Paolo Boido regards the local sailboat show and the local sailing scene:

“Trieste has produced some of the best Italian sailors in recent years, all great friends of the “J/Family” and most of them successful sailors with various J/Boats models. Two J/24 Worlds Champions, Vasco Vascotto (as well America’s Cup driver) and Rufo Bressani (internationally famous in many different Classes), hail from Trieste.  Gabriele & Furio Benussi are also top drivers in J’s One-Design Classes. Roberto Vencato managing the Ullman Loft in Italy is also based in Trieste.

At the recent VELA Boat Show in Trieste, J/Boats Italy was displaying the gorgeous J/122 #78, an impressive site for many local sailors with its high-modulus black carbon fibre Hall Spars mast & boom– the J/122 truly dominated the local sailing scene.

Piero Santi, the happy owner of this great yacht, is a kind of veteran among J/Boats Owners. He has owned a J/92, then a J/105, next a J/109, and now sailing this lovely J/122 Grand Prix Edition form JB Composites France.  Mr Santi and crew won several races in the Trieste Gulf and North Adriatic Sea. Obviously now there is a great expectation waiting for impressive speed and results of this new J/122 on the local Trieste sailing scene.  The crew will begin practicing and discovering how to sail faster their new “racing machine”, getting ready for the next IRC/ RORC European Championship that will take place in July 2012.

The Vela Boat Show is in it’s fourth edition this year.  This show is open just to sail yachts and takes place in the private and modern marina of Porto San Rocco located in a very nice eastern part of the coast of the Trieste gulf.  The manager of the show, Roberto Sponza, is a great sailor in past 470 Olympic campaigns.  We look forward with Roberto’s help to have many more J-sailors in Trieste and the Adriatic Sea!”  Best regards, Paolo Boido.

MANDOVI Leads El Trofeo Primavera

In the Trofeo Primavera being sailed off Punta Galea near Algorta, Spain, the MANDOVI team is setting the pace, having won two races last weekends.  MANDOVI now sits in first place with only six points followed by JET SET and FREUS that are tied on ten points each.

Over in Santander, the J/80s are racing for the title of Champion of El Trofeo El Mundo Cantabria-  in short, “Champion of the Cantabrian World”.  A bit tongue-in-cheek, of course, but no less fun and serious for the top teams practicing for the upcoming worlds just under two months away in Dartmouth, England.

After last weekend’s racing, it is David Madrazo’s team on GO FIT that is leading with a strong, consistent performance of a 7-2-2-1-2-2 for only 9 total points.  Immediately behind him are two J/80 World Champions, with Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING with a 5-3-1-3-8-3 for 15 pts, good enough for second place, and Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS in third with a 1-20-5-7-4-1 for 18 pts.  Rounding out the top five are Jesus Gonzalez on RAITAN with a 6-17-7-2-6-5 for 26 pts in fourth and in fifth is Tonio Piris on the familiar YATES Y COSAS, starting out strong with a 3-1-4-5 but DNC’d the last two races for a total of 43 pts.  For sailing photo credits in Algorta- Patricia Merino Fotografía For J/80 Spain sailing results

Sailing near the top of their form were Graham Baker and crew of Shaun Gurnell and Barry Gurnell, just roasting the fleet on their J/22 US’N'J with an extremely consistent 2-3-2-5-2 score for a net of 9 pts, winning the regatta without ever winning a race.   They kindly left daily first trophies for all their friends!  Giving them a run-for-the-money was Ewald Sternhagel and team of Devon Matthews and Ron Gurnell taking that crazy-looking clear gelcoat “balsa patchwork” boat called HAKAHANA to a scoreline of 4-1-6-3-3 for a net of 11 pts, good enough for second place.  Were it not for some serious, serious “brain fades”, the team on SHAMBLES somewhat lived up to their namesake, with Shelly Nell and crew Anton Nel and Tyron Smith banging out a roller-coaster ride  of a 3-8-1-1-9 for a net of 13 pts!  Fourth was Luke Wagner and crew Steven Wagner and Tim Dugguid on BLUE JAY with a 1-11-7-10-4 for a net of 22 pts in fourth.  They beat out on a tie-breaker, the LAUGH A MINUTE team guided by John Bruckman and crew (Dave Martenson and Aysha Genloud) with a 16-4-4-2-12 tally for a net of 22 pts, too.  For more J/22 South Africa sailing information

San Diego & Santa Barbara Epic Opening Days

Nowhere is the tradition more laid-back than it is on the West Coast of America.  After all, watching sunsets on the beach is a right of passage, as is surfing to Hawaii on massively fast “sleds”, and blasting down the Cal/Mex coastline to some destination called La Paz, Ensenada, Cabo or PV.  This year, two of those opening days were in for a treat, atypical conditions that challenged the best of the best in San Diego and Santa Barbara.

San Diego YC’s opening day was an eye-opener.  “Fresh to frightening” or “epic” may have been adjectives assigned to massive chop, 18-30 knot winds and a bit thrill ride of for some.  Of course, the J/105 teams were simply licking their chops, knowing their erstwhile competitors might be doing the wrong kind of “pole dance” as they spun around in broaches all day long!  The SDYC opening day event is an incredibly fun “pursuit race”, where slowest start first and fastest last.  In fact, J/22s started first and TP 52s were last!

After the fleet crashed and bashed, surfed and broached their way home, it was the J/105s that swept the fleet- WINGS (Dennis & Sharon Case) that finished first, followed by AIRBOSS and TRIPLE PLAY in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.  As was commented by one of their crew- ” Surfing and planing on the downwind leg and having control in the beats were the keys to success and how much fun was THAT!”  Awesome stuff.

On the Santa Barbara YC opening day side of things, their classic “WNW” breeze blew in fresh and fast making for a spectacular afternoon of sailing.  With J/105s, J/29, J/92, J/100, J/145, J/22 and J/24s all making a go of it, it was the J/105s that had a spectacular showing.  Leading the fleet home were SHORT SKIRT followed by Ken Kieding’s new ADVANCE (the old ROCK’N'ROLL) and ESCAPADE.

For more SDYC (http://www.sdyc.org) and SBYC (http://www.sbyc.org) sailing information.

The regional J/80 fleet saw testing conditions over the course of the series, with relatively light breezes from the southern sea-breeze quadrants most of the time.  In the end, with eleven races sailed,
JOCONDA won the Winter Championship Trophy Miramare!

In second place in both rankings was JENIALE, which was lacking in consistency and good performance.  MONTPRES was sailing well and managed to sail to third place while J-BES managed a fourth.
For more J/80 Italian Sailing information

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

* In keeping with the influence of Italy on the sailing world, it’s somewhat coincidental that SAILING WORLD’s recent “50th Celebration” article from past J/24 World Champion and College Sailor of the Year Terry Hutchinson- “Recover from a bad start”- was published recently.  As Terry said, “Patience is a virtue when it comes to recovering from a bad start.”  In it, Terry Hutchinson explains how to get in the clear after a bad start: “You know you’ve had a bad start when you can’t execute the game plan determined before the race. Two critical things must happen if you wish to recover: the helmsman has to sail the boat as fast as possible while in dirty air, and you need to decide where to go to get clean air.”  Here’s the article- http://www.sailingworld.com/experts/recover-from-a-bad-start

But, what to do after a “bad spill”?  Don’t have that answer yet!  Take a look at this problem Terry recently encountered while racing an AC45 in the America’s Cup World Series off Naples, Italy–

http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Gallery/2012/4/AC-World-Series—Race-Day-One—News/

What’s the coincidence here??  Terry’s up against LUNA ROSSA that has Francesco De’Angelis as a principal part of their racing/management program.  LUNA ROSSA recently won the fleet racing, appropriately enough, in Naples, Italy in the same waters that Francesco won his 1987 J/24 World Championship off the famous island of Capri! Small world, eh?

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

* Prolific writers, Bill and Judy Stellin, sailed their J/42 JAYWALKER around the Mediterranean and Europe and back across the Atlantic for nearly three years.  Their blogs/journals can be found at- http://blog.mailasail.com/jaywalker.  The earlier journals have been compiled into two self published books which can be found at: http://www.blurb.com.  Search for “SEATREK: A Passion for Sailing” by Bill Stellin or William Stellin.”  UPDATE-  Just a short note to update from Bill- “Our cruise began in May of 2000 and ended in May of 2008, some 8 years later. I have just finished and published my third and final book covering the last three or so years including our double handed crossing in 16 days and one winter in the Caribbean. Like the others, “Sea Trek- A Passion for sailing- Book III,” can be found at www.blurb.com.  Thanks, Bill and Judy”

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world’s oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between.  Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins??  Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

-  SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

-  Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun).  Read about their latest adventures as they’ve gotten to New Zealand- “Avante Cruises the Pacific”.

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com.  Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand.  MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet–she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending.  As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever- http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/