(Dana Point, CA)- Over the past few years we have been tracking how a
number of our J/125 owners have been doing with this “classic” offshore
sportsboat, if you could call a 40 ft boat a “sportsboat”. Created in a
time when the Farr 40s were all the rage, the J/125 was meant to be a
fun, lightweight, all-around fast offshore boat that could be sailed by
anyone with a broad cross-section of crew- be that fully-manned,
double-handed, or simply day-sailing with friends. The design largely
succeeded in its goals for an all-carbon, foam-cored, dagger-keeled, all
carbon-rig “racer-cruiser”. On the West Coast, a die-hard core of J/125 owners continue to have fun with their boats because they fit the “karma” of fast, downwind, reaching boats that are the stuff of legends out West (e.g. think Bill Lee/ Santa Cruz, Moore 24s, Express 27s and the like). Unlike other legendary West Coast “sleds”, the J/125 could also go upwind at a frenetic pace— witness the remarkable success of J/125s in the Rolex Big Boat Series sailed on San Francisco Bay.
We recently got another great report from Keith Magnussen at Ullman Sails Newport Beach, CA regards one of those J/125s. Here’s Keith’s report:
“Viggo Torbensen's J/125 "Timeshaver" has had a great run this year (2nd overall Newport to Ensenada & 1st in Class Yachting Cup) and we are still trying to come up with ways to make the boat faster (mostly more sails!).
Timeshaver's
home is Dana Point YC in Dana Point, CA. This city of Dana Point has a
lot of history (“Two Years Before The Mast”) and is also my home harbor
so any chance I get to sail there is always a bonus. One of the most
popular events for racing is the Dana Point Series that is comprised of 8
random leg and buoy courses. The random leg races take us around the
coastline close to Dana. We get the chance to sail up to picturesque
Laguna Beach and also south to San Onofre and the (in)famous Nuclear
Power Plant. In addition to the random, we also get the chance to test
ourselves in a few W/L races, making this a diverse series with a more
diverse boat selection. You will find almost every style of boat
represented from Newport 28's, J-24, FT-10s and a plethora of other
boats.Consistency wins this series and we started out strong. The wind seems to get lighter and lighter throughout the series so it is important for us to start in the front. It is never fun when the wind fills in later in the day and the "slower" boats get to catch up. But, hey this IS sailing!
In the end we were triumphant but it was very close with the uber-fast Carrera. I cannot say enough about Viggo and his program. J/Boats made one of the best boats and Viggo runs one of the most fun boats. We are looking forward to Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race and then pulling the boat out in preparation for the 2015 Transpac Race.... so stay tuned!” Thanks to K-Mag for the report. For more Dana Point YC sailing information
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