(Hebe Haven YC, Hong Kong, China)- The sailing reports from some of our
J Sailors from across the world are always an entertaining, fun read.
Recently, Simon Blore sailed his J/92s MOJITO in the eight race Hebe
Haven YC Winter Series from late October to early December. Here's
Simon's report:"Rating at 0.994, the J/92S MOJITO was the lowest rated (slowest) boat in the IRC division, up against its main rival the X35 Vixen, plus a new lightweight GP26, with a rating at 1.053. At various times the Millennium 45 Surfdude joined the fray, as did the Holland 38 RB and King 40 Blondie. Recognizing the need for a bit more light air power, MOJITO added a larger light air #1 North 3DL sail in to their inventory in the autumn, with a new #2 3Di also included, to take over the headsail duties from 10 kts and above.
The
light air #1 was used for all of the first 6 races, with winds rarely
much above 10 kts, but the new grunt provided by the specialist light
air jib allowed some improved performances, and top 3 finishes to put
MOJITO one point ahead of the light air specialist boat the X35 with two
final races remaining.On the final day it was still all to play for, and with Vixen only a point behind, the X35 looked in supreme form pre-race with a good spinnaker run in 17-20 kts of breeze, meanwhile we were struggling to get our no3 headsail to work, and only just had our no2 ready for the start sequence.
In the race proper though, MOJITO was honking along in the strong winds with the new 3Di, and on the first run, Vixen unravelled with a botched gybe and a trapped kite making them retire, meanwhile the J/92S sailed a bit more conservatively with the smaller A2 kite to post a strong time.
In Race 2, again the pressure was on the X35, and with gusts regularly in the mid 20's, MOJITO was matching Vixen's pace upwind and down, and eventually on the second run, another bad gybe by Vixen saw her dropping her kite again, and MOJITO came through to just beat her on the line, and take the handicap win with ease. Also out on the final day was the new McConaghy 38 Tornado 2, with the factory works team, and this boat (rating at 1.260) lit up the race course with impressive pace, but at the final prize-giving, the little J92S crew were delighted to record two victories over the Mc38, and post a 1 and a 2 for the day, and so seal the series win by 4 pts!"
