Wednesday, December 19, 2007

2007 – A Look Back @ A Record Year

It’s been a record year for J/Boat owners with major offshore racing wins across the US and Europe. The introduction of the new J/122 built by J/Europe has taken the IRC circuit in France, the UK, the Netherlands and the USA by storm achieving several overall wins both inshore and offshore. J/Boat owners were class and overall champions of numerous offshore events including Ft. Lauderdale-Key West Race, Pineapple Cup, Bayview Mac Race, Annapolis-Newport Race, Charleston Bermuda Race, Transpac (overall winner J/125 Reinrag II pictured here), Chicago Mac, and several RORC offshore races. J/133 was awarded “Best Series Produced Yacht” and the J/122 won IRC 1 class overall for the entire season in the 2007 RORC series. J/80 production raced by the 1,000 hull milestone now with over 1050 boats built. A record 120 J/80s sailed at the World Championships in La Trinite France. The J/105 Class set attendance records on both US coasts culminating in a 69 boat fleet at the North American Champs in Annapolis. J/105 also won the RORC 2-handed season trophy. J/109 class activity is thriving in the US and UK. Clay Burkhalter successfully sailed his Rod Johnstone designed Mini 6.5 ‘Acadia’ across the Atlantic from France to Brazil finishing 12th overall out of 89 entries. The J/80 debuted at the Asian Sportboat Championship placing 1st and 2nd overall. J/Europe increased factory capacity by 40% thanks to increasing demand worldwide for new J/Boats. Then several more J/Owners are actively engaged cruising their boats through the oceans of the world. That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Congratulations to J/Owners for an incredible year!