* J/Benelux in Lelystad, The Netherlands, held a fun J/Fest type event over the weekend of 23-24 October. Rod Johnstone
attended to help give local J enthusiasts pointers on how to have fun,
sail their boats fast and give some insights to potential new J/Owners
on some of the new boats in the line, like the J/95, J/97 and J/111.
In cooperation with Team HEINER
(they own 8 J/109’s in their sailing company) J/Benelux organised a
whole weekend with almost the whole J/Boats range of boats available
where people could have a demo sail with their favorite J/Boats model!
Although the weather was cloudy with strong winds we had more then 100
people participate. At the end of the weekend, every one came off the
boats with big smiles on the faces!
On Saturday the Dutch J/Club organization organised a sailing clinic with the Team HEINER instructors and, along with Rod J, helped the J sailors on their boat-handling and boat-speed techniques. Later that evening, Roy Heiner and Rod J spoke about their mutual passion for sailing and Rod spent some time describing the history of J/Boats and the development of the latest models. Also Rein Bakker, the founder of the Dutch J/109 one design class spoke about class development and activities for next year. J/Benelux's Angelique Verhoef said, "It was an evening many J owners won't forget! Rod, thanks a lot for your commitment during the whole event and for skippering many different boats with everyone during the demo sails! Hope to see you again next year!
