Blue Water Medal to Scott Piper

The Cruising Club of America has selected William (Scott) Piper III, M.D. to receive its prestigious 2008 Blue Water Medal for 12 years of adventurous cruising and voyaging in two boats, Pipe Dream VI, a J/40, and Pipe Dream IX, a 52’ J/160, aboard which he has logged over 132,000 miles, for a total of 180,000 miles. The medal was recently presented at the club’s annual Awards Dinner in New York by CCA Commodore Ross Sherbrooke, of Boston, Mass.

Dr. Piper has crossed the Atlantic eight times and the Indian and Pacific Oceans four times each. His routes have varied substantially, including high latitude crossings of the North Pacific and Southern Oceans. His voyages have included roundings of three of the world’s great capes, Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Leeuwin on the southwest tip of Australia. Full article

Fisher Captures J/22 Midwinters

Tampa, Florida, USA ....... Greg Fisher of Annapolis, MD prevailed as the 2009 J/22 Midwinter Champion at Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, FL. With a total score of 17 points, Fisher edged out a fellow Annapolis racer, Jeffrey Todd, who finished with 19 points. Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY rounded out the top three with 30 points.

Sailing with Jeff Eiber and Todd Hiller, Fisher used consistent scores in the top four, dropping his lowest score of nine. The winners for Friday’s races were Todd, Kelson Elam of TX and Daniel Ramsay of LA. Temperatures cooled on the final day of racing, but winds in the low- to mid-teens allowed the Race Committee to complete 3 races. Phil Wehrheim of NY and Terry Flynn of TX close out the top five overall. Visit www.diyc.org for complete results.

2009 J/122 North Americans

The inaugural J/122 North American Championship will take place June 21-26, 2009 in Block Island, RI as part of Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex. J/122 teams from all over the country are invited to participate in the first national championship of the class. Early indications point to strong attendance with two J/122s coming from Texas, two from Annapolis and one possibly from California in addition to the already strong New England fleet. Event website

One-Design Open House Feb 28th

J sailors are invited to attend the Waterline Systems One Design Open House, Saturday February 28th in Portsmouth, RI. Waterline Systems (US Watercraft) is the USA builder and leading service provider for the J/22, J/24 and J/105 classes as well as several other well known one-designs.

Attendees will be in for a treat, as the day is packed with seminars with go-fast tips from one-design experts, a new 2009 Racing Rules update, as well as keynote presentations by World Champions Brad Read and Terry Hutchinson. Several boats will be in the build process (J/24 and J/105) and several in various states of optimization.

This will be a fun day to shake off the winter cobwebs and start getting prepared for the coming season. Bring your jeans, boat shoes and your questions. All J sailors welcome! more info