Friday, July 22, 2016

J/111 JELVIS- Perspectives Sailing Round Island Race

J/111 JELVIS sailing Round Island Race- skipper Martin Dent (Cowes, England)- J/111 owner, Martin Dent from the United Kingdom, was sailing his boat JELVIS in the JP Morgan Round Island Race last weekend.  Here is his commentary on that epic ride around the famous 60nm race track:

“On this year’s Round the Island, we discovered a whole new level of love for the J/111.  The beat to the Needles was good, sending it at 15–20 knots under the A3 from the Needles to St Cats was better, and then being fully arced up under the A4 at 20+ knots, from St Cats was orgasmic!  I did wonder a few times what was going to happen next, like when one second we’d be doing a steady 18 knots and then we’d suddenly accelerate to 23 knots. Or, when we’d be properly launched off the top of a wave and there was nowhere to go except piling the bow into the next one, I wondered would the bow actually come back up?  Or, on the several occasions when we did wipe out I was just waiting for the inevitable gear failure. And yet, every time, she answered the question with the right answer.  She’d get back on her feet and start ripping again!  We had a great team together on the boat.  As we begin our preparations for the Worlds in August in Cowes, everybody sailed well.  There was nothing but smiles the whole way round the island, and as we arrived back in Cowes Yacht Haven to a virtually empty marina it capped off a great day! What a great boat!”