(Halifax, Nova Scotia)- The J/111 speedster has now been tested in a number of different venues and is proving to live up to its billing as a fun, fast, easy-to-sail boat by all types of sailors- experienced offshore sailors, to local club racers, to shorthanded sailors wishing to sail single or double-handed. The 111s successes across a variety of handicapping systems in a wide-range of weather comes as a pleasant surprise, again proving that a good all-round design that can sail upwind, reaching and downwind should do well in the hands of both the world's best as well as the local club sailor. Recent events run under PHRF, IRC, ORR have proven the 111 to be competitive, a comforting factor to know that "beer-can" racing will always be fun locally while one-design sailing events grow regionally, nationally and internationally.
To date, 111s have managed to win Key West Race Week PHRF 1 Class with a J/105 crew from Ohio steering it for the first time in their lives in light to medium conditions; place 2nd in the BMW Auckland Regatta against highly modified, monster-garaged Kiwi boats under PHRF-NZ TOT system; cruise into 2nd in class and 3rd overall in the renowned Cabo Race from Newport Beach, CA to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a 600nm romp down the coastline sailing ORR handicap; and this winter prove in both the Solent, England and in San Francisco, CA that under IRC at 1.093 the J/111 is capable of being competitive and grab its fair share of silverware- from the Three Bridge Fiasco to the Solent's Winter/Spring Series.
J/111s are not only demonstrating they're fun and fast to sail, they've got the comfortable cockpit, sweet accommodations and standing headroom to fulfill the needs of the most demanding weekend club racers- your friends and family. Yet, for the thrill-seekers who appreciate extraordinary performance and the strength and robustness to qualify for ISAF Offshore Certification specifications for offshore sailboats (the first sailboat to do so globally), it's nice to know it can go around the cans or fly offshore against some of the world's best sailboats. Read more about what sailors in Nova Scotia, Canada discovered when they test sailed the J/111 for the first time off Halifax, NS- it's an article in Nova Scotia's Atlantic Boating News. For more information on the J/111 one-design speedster sailing review and boat test.