Spectacular Sailing- Manhasset Series

J/105s and PHRF J/Sailors Love Sunny Conditions
(Manhasset, New York)- In its 34th year, 2012 featured terrific competition on the Sound and Manhasset Bay. Great weather on all four days, an unusual bonus. PRO Sue Miller even commented that she enjoyed only wearing a fleece on just one of the four days! MBFS is fortunate to attract the best sailors in the region, year after year, and the Club is honored to have received complimentary remarks from many racers about the job well done by our RC.

The weather was atypical but the competition was not. Sunny and warm conditions for all four days of racing were a bonus to the racers.

IRC Class saw the custom J/120 AVRA sailed by George Petrides from American YC sail to an excellent record of 2-1-2-1-1-4-4-4-3 for 18 pts to secure 2nd overall.  Third in class was the gorgeous J/122 GEORGETOWN III sailed George Marks with a 1-4-3-3-2-2-3-2-4 for 20 pts.

PHRF A had the largest handicap class with eleven boats and the J/111 ANDIAMO sailed by Paul Strauch sailing for the host Manhasset Bay YC managed to finish 3rd overall with a 3-1-(12/DNF)-2-2.5-7-5-7 score for 27.5 pts.  Fellow member Bob Schwartz sailed his J/109 NORDLYS to 8th in class and also Jon Flamm sailed his classic racer-cruiser, the J/37 SOUND WAVE to 10th in class.

In PHRF B, John & Tony Esposito’s J/29 HUSTLER won by a slight edge over UNO MAS, Ryan Walsh & Jon Desmond’s J/29 which travelled down from New Bedford YC.  UNO MAS nearly pulled off what many thought was impossible, beating the HUSTLER boys in their home waters.  Going into the second weekend, both boats were tied on points and record with 1-2-2-3, but having won the last race the weekend before, UNO MAS was technically in 1st place.  However, the old adage seemed to kick-in for the last weekend, "when the going get tough, the HUSTLER gets going"!  Sure enough, ripping off a 1-1-2-2 cemented the Esposito's imperial seat atop the podium with 11 pts.  Ryan and Jon on UNO MAS gave it their all, but in face of the furious pace and intensity of the HUSTLER gang, could only managed a 2-3-3-1 to close out the regatta in second with 14 pts.  As a result, the Ted Clark Trophy was won for the 6th year in a row by HUSTLER, John & Tony Esposito, Morris Yacht & Beach Club/City Island YC for best performance in PHRF.  Also sailing in this tough division was Todd Aven's J/92 THIN MAN, managing a 4th behind these crazy hombres.

The prestigious John B. Thomson Sr. Memorial Trophy was won by the J/105 KINCSEM, Joerg Esdorn/Duncan Hennes, NYYC/American YC for the best performance in a One-Design or IRC class.  With nine boats participating, the J/105 class enjoyed some great racing.  Capturing three firsts and three seconds, Kincsem sailed to a dominating eight point win over arch-rival Eclipse in the Manhasset Bay Fall Series.  The regatta featured eight races, including one distance race, on Long Island Sound over two beautiful October weekends. Kincsem also won the event in 2011; Eclipse was the winner in 2010.

Even with victory in the series assured, the Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes team seemed especially determined to take the final race.  They turned the bow of their green boat into the breeze for multiple wind-checks, snugged  the halyard on the jib in the freshening breeze, generally sailed around with much seriousness of purpose, and carved their favorite path through the fleet to line up for a start just a few boat lengths down from the committee boat.  For a moment, we even thought we saw tactician Fred Walters jot something down.

As the gun sounded, the usual cluster trying to grab the one good spot at the boat end all slowed each other as Kincsem shot off the line for a nice lead.  From there, all the Kincsem team had to do was stay in clear air, get the chute up and down cleanly, and cover the fleet. All went fine until the second beat, when the covering part became difficult. Boats trailing Kincsem split left and right in an oscillating breeze. What to do? Answer: Stay in the middle, hit the shifts and try to cover both sides. It worked, but Joerg-Duncan-Fred couldn’t have called it any closer.  (This writer is actually not 100% sure Walters was on the boat. Kincsem was too far behind in the first race and too far ahead in the second. If Fred wasn’t, his spirit surely was.)

As Kincsem reached the top mark on the second beat, Paul Beaudin’s loulou came barreling in on a lift from the left  and tacked just below and ahead of Kincsem at the mark.  Except…..oops….loulou couldn’t squeeze by the orange.  Kincsem was just short of layline, too.  But it had rights.  So it trapped loulou and forced Beaudin’s boat to sail just slightly beyond the mark.  (Much shouting could be heard down the weather leg.)  Kincsem then did a quick double tack and rounded. At that point, it was adios, sayonara , and ciao to loulou and the rest of the fleet.  And one last notch in Kincsem’s gunbelt.

Damian Emery’s Eclipse finished second in the regatta despite failing to win a single race.  It’s a bit unusual for Emery not to win at least won race in an event (though he didn’t win any races in the MFS in 2011, either), but that outcome also may say something about the competitiveness of the Manhasset fleet.  The race winnings got spread around nicely and included third place Revelation, fourth place Gumption, fifth place Planet Claire (YEA!) and sixth place Peregrina (which built up a huge lead on race one on Sunday by hitting the left corner hard on the first beat).

Revelation, owned by George and Alex Wilbanks, actually won two races in the series and looked poised to challenge Kincsem.  But the Wilbanks’s had trouble getting clean starts in the last three races and had to settle for finishes of 6-5-7, dropping them into a points tie with Kevin Grainger’s Gumption3, which went 2-7-3 in the final three races.

The battle for fifth place between John Koten’s Planet Claire and Josh Burak’s Peregrina also came down to the last leg, with Planet Claire just managing to cover Peregrina down the course on the final leg of the final race of the final day of the final weekend of the final regatta of the season.  Sailing photo credits- www.manhassetbayyc.org  For more Manhasset Bay Fall Series sailing information

J/97 Eclipses L.I. Sound Sailing Circuit

(Rye, New York)- The first of the new J/97s arrived this summer to race on the Long Island Sound sailing circuit.  After several events, the J/97 proved herself capable to deliver on the promise of a fun, fast, family-friendly cruiser racer-- equally adept at handling the demanding needs of the family weekender as well as being competitive offshore.

The J/97 has proven itself in Europe having won IRC class in SPI OUEST France off La Trinite sur Mer, France; Scottish Race Week off Tarbert, Scotland; Cowes Sailing Week off Cowes, Isle of Wight, England; both Hamble Winter Series and Warsash Spring Series on the Solent, England; as well as countless offshore races during the RORC sailing season.  Like her counterparts in Europe, the J/97 on Long Island Sound has demonstrated she is quite capable of winning PHRF Handicap as well.

For an appointment to see the new J/97 in Annapolis, MD, please be sure to contact Ken Comerford at North Point Yacht Sales at ph- 410-280-2138 or email- ken@northpointyachtsales.com   For more J/97 family cruiser racer sailing information

SAVASANA Dominates J/80 East Coasts

(Annapolis, MD)-  Eastport YC hosted the J/80 East Coast Championship over the October 13-14 weekend, providing a great seven-race series.  The twenty-four boat fleet was deeply laden with talent as many boats were using the event as a warm-up for the J/80 North Americans being held Eagle Mountain Lake in Forth Worth, hosted by the Fort Worth Boat Club.  In the end, top J/80 and J/105 sailor Brian Keane sailed SAVASANA to a solid series with scores of 1-2-4-1-3-1-2 for 14 pts to win the regatta 19 pts clear of the rest of the fleet.  Brian's team was never really challenged for the lead as their erstwhile competitors could only muster short runs of races to even stay close.

Perhaps the biggest battle of the regatta took place for the balance of the podium in the silver and bronze spots.  Vying for silver were John White, Will Crump, Bruno Pasquinelli, Daniel Wittig and Kirsten Robinson.  All of their teams experienced quite the "roller-coaster" rides as they fought hard to stay in contention and avoid the one disastrous race.  At the end of the day, everyone in this drop had a least one bad race, destroying any chance to even consider catching Keane's sharp sailing team on SAVASANA.

The last two races provided the deciding factor amongst these half-dozen boats.  John White's crew managed to avoid some of the difficulties other teams had avoiding the nasty race, managing to hammer home a scoreline of 11-3-5-4-1-4-7 for a total of 35 pts to secure second overall.  Third was Will Crump, demonstrating that his team could sail fast and smart at times with a scoreline of 2-8-16-9-2-2-1 for 40 pts.  Fourth was Bruno Pasquinelli's team, they started strong and were vying for the lead, but faded hard towards the end, accumulating a 3-5-2-2-5-20-5 record for 42 pts.  Fifth saw Daniel Witting finish with a flourish in the last two races, but not enough to overcome some bomber races earlier, tallying a 6-6-14-3-15-3-3 for a total of 50 pts.

Thanks must go to the sponsors, West Marine Rigging, Annapolis Sailing School, APS, SpinSheet, Bacons, Tom's Shoes & Sunglasses, Eastport YC, J World, and North Point Yacht Sales.   Sailing photo credits- Tom Hasbrouck   For more J/80 East Coast Championship sailing results

MASQUERADE Wins J/105 NA's

(San Diego, CA)- The action promised to be fast, furious, fun and challenging.  And it was. That's San Diego sailing for you in the fall as California transitions from "dry/earthquake/fire" summer season to "wet/earthquake/mudslide" fall/winter season.  As expected, the fleet of 25 boats provided incredibly competitive racing.  The conditions were certainly challenging and nowhere near what many of the locals were expecting; especially since Hurricane Paul to the south passed over Mexico's Cabo San Lucas and simply wrecked havoc on the weather forecasts.  In the end, Chris Perkins led his MASQUERADE team to victory at the J/105 North American Championship with the remarkably consistent scoreline of 1-2-2-1-3-2-4-4-4 for 23 total points.  Not even local legends like Dennis Conner and Chuck Driscoll could match their wizardry and speed across the race course.

The weather conditions across the four days played a major role in upsetting the proverbial "apple cart" for many of the local San Diego teams.  They're generally accustomed to reasonably steady sea-breezes that fill in by midday from the WNW, pulled in and around Point Loma and across the crescent-shaped beaches along the San Diego waterfront by the mountain range to the ESE across south-eastern San Diego and northern Tijuana, Mexico-- the local sailors would only see one day of anywhere near those conditions on the second day of the regatta.  As it was, Hurricane Paul had a massive influence on Day one- Thursday- with the remnants of Paul kicking up a nasty 4-7 ft SSW swell with chop on top with winds from the SSE to SSW.  It was windy, rainy, misty in the morning with 20-25 kts winds at 8 am subsiding to 10-15 kts for the first start at 1130 am.  By the 2nd start the wind dropped to 4-8 kts and, ultimately, the wind died at end of second race and went variable.  By Friday, the forecast breeze filled in as a wind-line from N-NW and blew 6-13 kts with a light SW swell and light chop on top-- a beautiful day for sailing with tactical shift and wind-lanes forming all day long.  Saturday saw SSW breezes at 6-12 kts with light SW swell and light chop, just a grey day with few rays of sunshine anywhere.  For "Championship Sunday", dawn was grey again and the forecasted low trough offshore swung in affecting both races with rain, mist and sunshine all rolled into one!  Breezes were SSW going to WNW 5-13 kts with confused seas- SW and NW swell with chop on top.

The first day of sailing proved to be a prophetic one.  Chris Perkins sailed MASQUERADE to the top of the leader-board with a first in the first race and a second in the second race for just 3 points on the day. Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 stood in second place with 8 points, and new J/105 owner Dennis Conner on DC's PHOLLY was one point back at 9 points. Trailing MASQUERADE in Race 1 was Conner's DC's PHOLLY and Mozer's CO2. In Race 2, Steve Howell's BLINK! took top honors, followed by Perkin's MASQUERADE and Bruce Stone's ARBITRAGE.

On the second day, three races were held and it was in these conditions that Perkins' team on MASQUERADE began to establish a strong lead over the fleet with an impressive tally of 1-2-2-1-3 for just 9 pts overall.  Mozer's CO2 maintained his second-place spot with 23 points. Tom Fisher and Joe Dagostino on VIGGEN put together a consistent regatta with all top-six tallies for 26 points. In the day's first contest, Rick Goebel's SANITY took top honors, with Perkins on MASQUERADE in second and Dennis Case's WINGS in third.  MASQUERADE ran away with the next race, trailed by Case's WINGS and Chuck Driscoll and Tom Hurlburt on BLOW BOAT. In the day's final battle, Mozer's CO2 claimed first, with BLOW BOAT and MASQUERADE behind them.

The third day saw MASQUERADE hold onto their lead with a 15-point advantage over second-place Gary Mozer's CO2.  However, a tight battle was brewing over the next three places with Bruce Stone's ARBITRAGE in third with 41 points, trailed closely by Dennis Conner's DC's PHOLLY at 42 points and Chuck Driscoll and Tom Hurlburt's BLOW BOAT at 45 points. In Saturday's first race, DC's PHOLLY won, with MASQUERADE in second and ARBITRAGE in third. In the day's other contest, the BLOW BOAT snared the victory, followed by CO2 and DC's PHOLLY.

For the fourth and final day, all the MASQUERADE team had to do was stay out of trouble and finish both races in the top eight, presuming even their closest competitor won both races.  In fact, compared to the previous three days racing, perhaps Sunday's racing was one of the most difficult to avoid any major pitfalls. In the end, the MASQUERADE team proved yet again they were not to be denied, scoring a 4-4 to close out the regatta with 23 pts.  The team consisted of Perkins, Steve Marsh, Tom Purdy, Mark Chandler, Larry Swift and Rose Eberhard. This triumph marks MASQUERADE's third North American Championship, after winning in 2006 and 2007 with Tom Coates. Perkins, Marsh and Chandler were part of those crews. Perkins praised MASQUERADE (hull #17) and the teams' familiarity with it. "We know this boat intimately. It's well prepared in its set-up with a nice new set of North Sails," he stated. He also applauded his crew for their flawless efforts, saying "There were no crew mistakes, despite the fact that we're all very busy and we had little practice. That's where luck comes in sometimes." It was easy to notice that MASQUERADE quickly launched to the front of the 25-boat fleet at the starts. "We had consistent starts where we got the nose out and didn't have to play ping pong," Perkins explained. "Some regattas go your way, and this one did for us. We were in the right place for the shifts."

Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 finished as runner-up with 37 points, and new J/105 owner Dennis Connor placed third on DC's PHOLLY (pictured here) with 45 points. Sunday's first race was won by DC's PHOLLY, with CO2 and BLOW BOAT behind. Dennis Case's WINGS closed out the regatta's final contest successfully, trailed by DC's PHOLLY and Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE.  The final top 10 were: 1st- Chris Perkins- Masquerade (23 points), 2nd- Gary Mozer- Current Obsession 2 (37), 3rd- Dennis Conner- DC's Pholly (45), 4th- Chuck Driscoll/Tom Hurlburt- Blow Boat (57), 5th- Bruce Stone- Arbitrage (58), 6th- Dennis Case- Wings (73), 7th- Tom Fisher/Joe Dagostino- Viggen (74), 8th- Bennet Greenwald- Perseverance (84), 9th- Rick Goebel- Sanity (93) and 10th- Dave Vieregg- Triple Play (99).

The J/105 Fall Series Chairman, Jeff Brown, commented: "we're very proud of our San Diego YC and the host team.  We had a great regatta on the water and off! We had over 70 volunteers from in and outside the Yacht Club who helped run events! As they say it "takes an army" and a great one we did have. With Joanne O'Dea as our Coordinator, she was largely responsible for making sure everyone was doing what they had signed up to do!  We had several very successful social events that literally took over the entire Yacht Club and involved the club membership and over 400 sailors and families participating in the regatta. Julie Servais was the Chair of the very popular "Taste of Point Loma" that saw over 17 local Restaurants and wineries and brewer's  participate with samples of their delicious food and drink. The club was transformed with lounging areas and jazz bands and everyone had a great time.  The other big social event was run by Marnie Buddo, she had a wonderful "Beach Luau" with a great band and a wonderful California Beach lifestyle party with "The Blonde Brothers Band".  One of the highlights of entire regatta was her "Yolo Paddle Board Competition" that allowed all sailors to compete right in front of SDYC's Front Dock in a course that challenged the best and worst paddle borders in attendance! The winner won a custom surfboard that matched the North Americas Champions take home trophy!  Finally, we had great help from the following volunteers: Chris and Julie Howell- J/105 Class Officials,  Marilyn Foster- SDYC Jury/Protest, Jim Person/Bruce Green- PROs, Joe Colling- Class Racing Official, Lynnlee Slater- Green Regatta, Carolann Dekker- Merchandise, Jon Dekker- Measurement, Karen Brown- Budget, Jeff Johnson/Jared Wohlgemuth- Racing Office, Amy Snyder- Catering, Chuck Driscoll- Charter,  Jackie Kohls- SDYC Staff, Joni Geis- Sponsorship and all of our Great Sponsors."   Sailing Photo credits- by Bronny Daniels/ JoySailing.com    Sailing photo credits- by Outside Images/ Bob Grieser    San Diego YC sailing photo credits- Cynthia Sinclair & Bob Bentancourt   For more J/105 North American Championship sailing information

Stunning Solent Sailing

J/122 Leading IRC0, J/97 Leads IRC3, JITTERBUG Tops 111s, JAGERBOMB Tops 109s
(Hamble, England)-  As fall sailing continues unabated in the south of England, cooler air is beginning to make its presence felt on the Solent.  However, this past weekend saw the weather Gods provide another stunner for the sailing teams in the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and MDL Hamble Big Boat Series.

Big Boat Championship
Saturday saw the start of the final MDL Hamble Big Boat Championship weekend. The forecast was appalling, with a mirror calm greeting the race committee as they motored out to the race course, and no-one really expected to get any racing in. But competitors couldn’t believe their luck as 4-5 knots of southeasterly filled in after an hour’s postponement, allowing the race team to get four races in from a start-line near Wight Vodka.

On Sunday, a good NorthEasterly 10-15 knots was forecast, and, unlike Saturday, that was exactly what the weather gods served up. Racing started from the vicinity of Sunsail Racing buoy at low tide, with courses cascading down the East Solent in a sluicing flood tide. The MDL Hamble Big Boat Championships fleet raced alongside the main Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet, with two races for all classes.

In the J/111 class on Saturday, David & Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM won the first race, but couldn’t hold off Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBUG, who took first in the remaining three races.  Then on Sunday, JITTERBUG took two seconds on Sunday, but that was enough to keep them nine points clear at the top of the fleet – an impressive showing for their first regatta.  With JITTERBUG winning the Big Boat Championships, J-DREAM managed to hang in for second place overall with a 3-3 showing.  Third was Alfred Munkenbeck's MUNKENBECK with 21 pts.  Finally, it was good to see Tony Mack's crew closing out the series after a slow start by winning the last two races.

IN IRC 0, Neil Kipling's J/122 JOOPSTER continued her winning ways and stayed at the top of the leader board, closing out the regatta with a 1-2 on Sunday for a total of just 21 pts.  Her classmate JAMMY DODGER, the J/133 sailed by Neil Martin managed a 5th in the very competitive class.

Garmin Hamble Winter Series
The Garmin Hamble Winter Series ran as usual on Sunday, this time from the same start-line as the Big Boats in ideal conditions. The day sponsor was Southern Ropes, who provided prizes at the clubhouse after racing. All classes sailed two races, with the smaller boats finishing on the Hill Head plateau, and the bigger boats finishing near Browndown.

In IRC Class 0, Dr Ivan Trotman's crew on the J/122 JOLOU are now leading their division with a 1-2-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.  They are currently on top of a rogue's gallery of IRC special purpose boats like the Grand Soleil 46, Mills 43 and Arcona 430.

The IRC Class 3 saw the J/97 INDULJENCE sailed by Nick & Adam Munday tied on points for the lead with a 3-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.

The J/111s, whose results also counted for the MDL Hamble Big Boat Championships, were led by Tony Mack’s McFly, who took two bullets ahead of JITTERBUG.  Consequently, JITTERBUG is still leading with 9 pts followed by J-DREAM then McFLY in third.

Similarly, Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB posted two firsts in the J/109 class and is currently leading their class with a comfortable lead due to an impressive scoreline of 1-3-1-1-1 for 6 pts.  Second lies David McLeman's OFFBEAT with a 4-1-2-6 record for 13 pts.  Just one point back is Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX with a 3-4-4-3 tally for 14 pts.  The balance of the top five has Paul Coward's JACOBI in 4th and Roger Phillips' DESIGNSTAR 2 in 5th.

So, looking ahead, there’s one more weekend of racing before the mid-series break. Next weekend is the final Lewmar Hamble One Design Championship weekend, as well as the fourth Garmin Hamble Winter Series race day, for which the day sponsor is Andark.  Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth   For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Get Ready For Sailing Key West!

Calling All J/70, J/80, J/105 & J/PHRF Teams! (Key West, FL)- The 25th Anniversary edition of Key West Race Week was by all accounts a great success and your Key West hosts are looking forward to building on the enthusiasm that was generated last year and delivering another memorable Key West Race Week 2013 for the one-design J/80 and J/105 classes, for the popular J/PHRF class and for the new J/70 class!  The competition is world-class and the evening socials at the Kelly’s Caribbean shoreside venue have proven to be very popular for skippers and crews.

For the 26th edition of this winter classic, ten races over five days are planned for J/One-Design classes and the J/PHRF classes.  A Key West hallmark has been strong class racing and we are hoping to grow those fleets that have supported Key West for years.  Positive news from all four J/Classes point to another year featuring great competition- so far 35 J's are signed up, about 42% of the 84 boats planning to participate already.  Come one, come all, let's make J's 50% of the fleet!  The more the merrier!

For J/105s, the big news is that one of the class's newest owners, Dennis Conner (recently honored as "America's Greatest Sailor" by US Sailing/ Sailing World Magazine) will be sailing USA 3- DC's PHOLLY, one of the oldest J/105s in existence.  DC just finished sailing the J/105 SoCal Championships and the J/105 North American Championships in San Diego and has proven to be a competitive J/105 sailor-- DC and crew are looking forward to sailing Key West and invite all J/105 sailors to join them for some "phun and phrolic with PHOLLY!"  To date, Damien Emery's champion ECLIPSE from New York has taken up the invitation as has Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE traveling cross-country like DC from San Diego, California!  What an opportunity to say you "crossed-tacks with DC (the America's Cup most famous sailor) and lived to tell the story"!  Join DC and crew for the J/105 2013 Midwinter Championship!

The J/80s have a quartet from Annapolis showing up with Kristen Beery, Bert Carp, Jeff Jordan's WILLY T and J-World's ANIMAL HOUSE looking forward to some rocking & rolling in the crystal blue-waters off Key West.  Joining them are Gary Panariello's COURAGEOUS from New York and Ron Buzil's VAYU 2 from Chicago, Illinois.  The J/80s will again be hosting their 2013 J/80 Midwinter Championship in conjunction with the Key West regatta-- it's a great way to have "your cake & eat it, too"!  Win class prizes, daily fleet prizes, door prizes and take a well-deserved break from the freezing grip of winter to work on that tan and catch up with sailing friends from around the world!

The J/70s debuts at Key West 2013 for its first J/70 Midwinter Championship on a special circle just west of Sunset Key (Tank Island), past the NW Passage.  The racing promises to be fun, fast and challenging for what may be the first time many of the teams will be racing one-design. So far, with 18 boats registered and over 30 expected to participate the fleet is beginning to look like a "Woodstock" sailing festival with many legendary J/Sailors from the past participating as well as some of the latest rockstars. Known participants include Mark Ploch (winner of first J/24 Midwinters in 1978), David Ullman, Don Trask, Tim Healy, Rod/Jeff Johnstone, Heather Gregg-Earl, Don Finkle, Jimmie Allsopp & son Cole, Kerry Klingler/ Rick Lyall, Henry Brauer/ Will Welles, Mike Sudofsky, John Gottwald, Bruno Pasquinelli, Chris Snow and Blake Kimbrough, amongst many others.

Finally, the J/PHRF Time-on-time handicap class is shaping up to be yet another great fleet of boats.  Last year, past winners Bill Sweetser on the J/109 RUSH and Robin Team on the J/122 TEAMWORK both said it was some of the best handicap racing they've ever sailed at Key West.  With Rod J handling the PHRF TOT handicaps, the racing was fair, fun and extremely competitive with the outcome of the entire week coming down to the last race.  This year promises to be just as much fun.  So far, two top J/109s are sailing, Sweetser's RUSH and Gary Wesiberg's HEAT WAVE; four J/111s are expected to sail including Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 and class newcomer Bob Hese's LAKE EFFECT from Youngstown, NY.  Also sailing are Glenn Gault's J/120 REBECCA from Texas, Adam Esselman's J/124 STILL MESSIN from Michigan and David Alldian's J/95 CYMOPOLEIA from New Jersey.

REMINDER! NOTE TO SELF- be sure to enter NOW (no cost obligation) if you believe that you will be racing with us next January 2013 – here are the links to the online entry and the current entry list – it is easy to do and the entry fee is not due until later in December.  To enter Key Race Race Week, please click here   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes

Newport Harbor "Try A J/70"!

(Newport Beach, CA)- JK3 Yachts is proud to present the new J/70 to greater Los Angeles Basin sailors down in Newport Beach this coming weekend! JK3 Yachts will be providing a boat to Newport Harbor YC for a "J/70 Day" on Saturday, October 27th, and will be on site to answer any questions and take members and their guests on test sails throughout the day. Please be sure to make an appointment to schedule your test sail by contacting Joanne at J/Concierge- joanne@jk3yachts.com.   For more information on sailing the J/70 at Newport Harbor YC

Benelux "Try A J" Sailing Day!

Twin J/70s Featured with Five Other Big J's
(Port Zelande, Netherlands)- J/Benelux will have the annual “Try a J” demo sailing day on Saturday 27th October in Marina Port Zelande in Ouddorp, The Netherlands.  Featured at this sailing event will be twin brand-new J/70s along with the International J/80, the J/108 shoal-draft performance cruiser, the J/109 one-design cruiser racer, the J/111 offshore one-design speedster and the J/122 offshore cruiser racer.  Of note, you will get to experience the J/70 as a European Yacht of the Year Overall Nominee for 2012/ 2013!

To schedule a demo, please be sure to go to www.jboats.nl for registration.  You may also contact Robin or Angelique Verhoef at email- "info@jboats.nl" or telephone- +31 (0)78 6305505.

J/120 Night Moves Sailing Adventures

(Detroit, MI)- J/120 NIGHT MOVES chronicled their sailing adventures in the summer of 2012 sailing around the Great Lakes- going from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan and back.  These boys put on some SERIOUS miles on their boat this past summer.  They experienced everything from dead calm to wild squalls, from cloudy washed out grey days to spectacular wind-swept days with winds blowing across Mediterranean-like deep azure blue seas with windswept frothy white tops on breaking waves.   J/120 one-design class association   Watch their sailing video on YouTube- the J/120 NIGHT MOVES

J/109 Sails China Coast Regatta

(Hong Kong, China)- Over the weekend of October 12th to 14th the Royal Hong Kong YC hosted the China Coast Regatta.  The event is three days of Big Boat racing in the best sailing conditions that Hong Kong has to offer.  The China Coast Regatta is staged in the waters on the southern side of Hong Kong with the backdrop of the enormous mountain ridges that form the backbone of the Island as the backdrop.  With 15 to 20 knots of north-easterly breeze in shorts, shades and t-shirt weather is your sort of sailing, then it's pretty darn hard to come by more spectacular sailing anywhere in the world.

In IRC 2 Racing class, the J/109 WHISKEY JACK sailed by Nick Southward managed to sail to three 4ths and two 5ths to finish 4th overall in the regatta.  For more China Coast Regatta sailing information

J/24 Harbor School Regatta

(New York, NY)-  The second annual Harbor School Regatta at Governors Island had Manhattan Sailing Club J/24 sailboats competing near and around Governors Island as schooners and other sailing yachts host hundreds of spectators in New York Harbor for a delightful afternoon of cocktails, light bites and commentary by sailing experts and media luminaries including MSNBC’s Willie Geist.

Following the Regatta, sailors, spectators and Harbor School supporters from New York’s finance, media, technology, fashion, entertainment and philanthropic industries convened at Governors Beach Club on Governors Island for the Post–Regatta Bash, complete with live reggae music from "Aljam & the Reggaelution Band", cocktails and specialties from New York’s best eateries. Regatta proceeds benefitted the New York Harbor Foundation to fund career & technical education, after school programs, college readiness and summer programs for New York Harbor School students. New York Harbor School is only New York City public high school that provides a rigorous college preparatory education built upon New York’s maritime experience.

It's not often that New Yorkers spend an afternoon sailing or cruising on the water then head to a beach party in the city -- but that's exactly what nearly 600 supporters of maritime education and a New York Harbor revival did.  For the past 10 years, local inner-city kids have been spending time in and on the waters of New York Harbor learning marine science, building boats, regenerating the local oyster population and learning to sail as students of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School on Governors Island, the only New York City public high school that provides a college preparatory education built on New York's maritime experience. Harbor School students choose New York Harbor School because they are intrigued by the concept of using the Harbor as a classroom and are interested in becoming experts in a skill or technology related to the Harbor. What better way to showcase what a dynamic place the Harbor is for teaching and learning than a multi-class Regatta that captivates hundreds of adults and at the same time legitimizes the students' choice of schools?

Nearly 200 sailors participated in the Harbor School Regatta at Governors Island with 24 J/24s. The event had Harbor School students sail New York Harbor alongside expert sailors from the Olympics, racing teams and maritime academies and industries, putting them in close and meaningful contact with people who have reached the peak in fields Harbor School students have chosen for high school.  With NBC's Willie Geist commentating on the Hornblower Hybrid spectator Boat and several Olympic sailors skippering the J/24 races aboard Manhattan Sailing Club J/24s, the buzz from the event helped remind New Yorkers they live on a Harbor, that the city was founded here because of the Harbor, has depended on the Harbor for hundreds of years, and must continue to depend on the Harbor for commerce, food and recreation, as well as a sense of freedom and connections to the rest of the world.

After the race, nearly 600 people gathered on Governors Island, where they got a personalized tour of the Harbor School by the students, then danced the night away to live reggae music at Governors Beach Club as they enjoyed Goslings' Dark n' Stormies, Brooklyn Brewery favorites, Fishers Island Oysters, Luke's Lobster and other specialties. Dozens of sailing, maritime, financial, fashion and food and wine companies supported the event, including Chelsea Clock, Gaastra Pro, Nautica, Keeper Springs, Mast Brothers Chocolate, Virgin Atlantic and Conde Nast.

One Regatta team member offered a sentiment shared by fellow Harbor School supporters, saying that his racing team was made up of "life-long sailors passionate about sharing the life experience of being on the water with others. The Harbor School offers us the opportunity to align this passion with a practical and innovative educational program for kids in the the City of New York. We are proud to be able to support this school, its programs, and the opportunity it gives city kids to develop their own passion for the water, along with the career opportunities that passion and education may provide."  For more Harbor School Regatta sailing information

J/Fest Southwest Success!

J/70s Debut, Enormous Showing for J/22s, J/24s (Houston, Texas)- Lakewood YC hosted the third annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta for sixty-two boats! Awesome atmosphere! Great band and free beer waiting for all the crews as they came off the water! Everyone is in party mode!

The focus of the J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a Regatta venue that is extra fun for J/Boat owners, their family, and friends. While the racers are on the water, their spouses, children, family, and friends can enjoyed a myriad of activities and tourist attractions in the Bay Area.

One-design fleets that participated this year include the J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and a J/PHRF class.  In the J/22s a great class of fourteen boats sailed with the local host team, BLACKBURN MARINE RACING skippered by Casey Lambert, simply walking off with the overall honors with four straight firsts for 4 pts.  Second was Fred Lindsey's team CACTUS JACK with a record of three 2nds and a 3rd for 9 pts.  Third was RICH SKANK sailed by Brant Koepke's team from Galveston Bay Cruising Association with three 3rds and a 2nd for 11 pts.

The J/24s had an excellent showing with sixteen boats participating.  It was a knockdown, drag 'em out fight for the top three with Corey Harding's team on HAPPY DANCE taking the gold with a 1-3-2-2 record for 8 pts to win by one point.  Second was Bryan Dyer skippering RUMLINE from Fort Worth Boat Club with a 2-1-3-3 tally for 9 pts.  Third was Stu Lindlow on TROPICAL AGGRESSION with a 3-2-1-4 for 10 pts.  Great racing to the end for this trio of teams!

The J/70s had their first one-design racing on Galveston Bay.  It was fun racing for all as the teams were all learning how to get the most out of their new boats.  In the finale, it was Bruce McDonald sailing ROGUE WARRIOR 2 from Houston YC that managed to score four 1sts and a 2nd for 6 pts.  Second was Jimmy Mitchell on BOOMTOWN from Fort Worth Boat Club that managed to wind a count-back tie-breaker based on most 1sts, etc.  Jimmy's 3-1-3-2-3 was good enough for 12 pts, overcoming Dave Hinrichsen's #51 that had three 2nds and two 3rds for 12 pts, too.

The J/80s had a great cross-section of sailors amongst the eight teams, including a team from Dillon, Colorado- Kurt Vanderwal on HENDRIX.  In some respects, this regatta was a great practice warm-up for local sailors all participating in the upcoming J/80 North Americans being held in Fort Worth Boat Club later in October.  Topping out the fleet was local J/80 champion sailor Jay Lutz sailed USA 803 with four straight 1sts!  Jay's performance was all the more remarkable considering the fact that they were up against another J/80 NA and World Champion, Terry Flynn and David Whelan, who ultimately finished second.  The Flynn/Whelan team sailed QUANTUM SAILS/ GULF COAST RACING to four 2nds to easily finish behind their local, friendly competitors.  Third was Alfred Poindexter sailing ANDALE that managed to just secure their position with a consistent 4-5-5-4 for 18 pts.

After the Fort Worth Boat Club's One-Design weekend and racing seminar, it was clear the ten boat class was going to have some very competitive racing as many of the teams had stepped up their game and were sailing their boats much more effectively and faster around the race track.  In the end, local rock star Bill Zartler on SOLARIS again proved to be the "wiseman" of the class and managed to sail to four 1sts and a 5th for 9 pts, easily winning their class.  Behind them was Greg Turman's HORNY TOAD, a well-sailed team that featured some great local talent from the Houston area; their 4-2-4-2-2 record for 14 pts was good enough for 2nd place.  Bill Lakenmacher sailed his RADIANCE to a third place position overall with an 8-6-3-4-1 record for 22 pts, showing improvement every single race.

The J/109s had one of their best showing in years with six boats sailing with one of the local host sailors simply dominating the fleet.  It was the HAMBURG "show" as Albrecht Goethe's teams led the fleet with five straight 1sts for a 5 pts total to win by a landslide.  Behind them was a real donnybrook of a fight for second place with Tom Sutton sailing his LEADING EDGE to a 2-3-4-2-5 record for 16 pts, to win a count-back tie-break based on 1-2-3 tally.  Losing that tie-break battle was Dave Christensen racing AIRBORNE into third place with a consistent 4-2-2-4-4 record also for 16 pts.

Finally, in the PHRF division, Doug Shaffer's beautiful J/122 GAMBLER sailed well as the "big boat" in the division to win with yet another "picket fence" performance- garnering four straight bullets for 4 pts to win class.  Second was Chris Alk's J/27 FOOTLOOSE with 11 pts.  Third was Bob Crutchfield's J/120 BLUECHIP with 18 pts.   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

J/105 DELIRIUM & J/29 SLICK Win Northwest PSSC

(Seattle, WA)-  CYC Seattle’s annual fall buoy regatta delivered grey skies and solid breeze for the Pacific-northwest Slipping Sliding and Crashing regatta (PSSC). DNF’s and DNC’s dominated the results as mainsails flogged apart, spinnakers shredded, rudders broke off, skippers went swimming and Melges crews waved to the spectators as they slipped along sideways with their keels in the air.

CYC set up two race courses with the smaller boats sailing off of Shilshole and the bigger boats sailing up North off of the Highlands. 37 boats made it out Saturday for the South course and the North course garnered 35 boats with 2 one design classes, including J/105s and 4 PHRF groupings. DNF’s and DNC’s were so wildly prevalent that nearly all classes had alphabet soup on their score card.

The first fronts of the year came through with power Saturday with winds on the South course hitting 25 knots and up in the North course reaching a little higher into the 30 knot realm. Waves built up for the North course, outside of the protection of West Point on the Southerly breeze, but the Sound remained relatively flat for the 37 smaller boats on the South course. The RC on the South course kept things moving with only minutes between races, no time for sail changes between races and with whatever rig tension they had. By the end of the day, after 7 races, the only thing the racers on the South course were complaining about was sore muscles, bruised arms & legs, and hungry bellies as they finally had some time for lunch while sailing into the marina.

Up on the North Course the big boat class was going at it.  By 3:30pm the RC had the big boats heading in to the marina, trying to leave enough time for the sailmakers to repair all the carnage on the course, getting everyone back out for Sunday’s 25 to 35 knot forecast. On the South course the RC sent everyone in to re-coup and get some much needed rest after the windy tough day.

By morning the forecast hadn’t changed and a strong front was still supposed to come through bringing with it winds into the 30 knot range. At start time, though, boats had their big jibs out and pulling, sailing along in a nice 10 to 12 knots of breeze out of the South. Things built as the day went on but barely into the 20 knot range, good sailing conditions without that survival feeling everyone knows and loves in tight buoy racing.

The J/105 DELIRIUM owned by Jerry Diercks was able to continue holding on to first against Lorenzo Migliorini’s ALLEGRO VIVACE who was consistently biting at their heels all weekend. Finishing just 2 points in front of ALLEGRO VIVACE, DELIRIUM was able to stand on top of the podium after a tough weekend of sailing.

Down on the South Course the PHRF class saw Bob Mayfield and Pat Nelson’s always dominating J/29 SLICK hold court over the fleet and sail away with first for the weekend through consistently placing in the top of the class in all of their 10 races.   Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson    For more Corinthian YC PSSC sailing information