(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The J/111 Garmin World Championship is
less than a week away; fourteen teams from seven different countries
will be taking part. Forming a truly international fleet, the teams come
from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands,
Switzerland and the United States of America. Racing on tight Solent
courses the fleet will enjoy a five-day racing programme and a lively
social schedule, organized at the Island Sailing Club in the heart of
Cowes.“This is going to be a great championship with a strong international fleet,” commented JELVIS’ Scottish skipper, Martin Dent. “Besides the top European teams such as SWEENY and RED HERRING that came over earlier this year and have done well, we have an Aussie team, and then there are the two teams from the US. Last year we were amongst four UK teams (including the defending 2014 World Champion) that went to Newport for the 2015 Worlds. It was noticeable that the top US teams were a notch up on us all. This year, KASHMIR and SKELETON are the clear two form J/111’s in the US, which is awesome. KASHMIR has just won the 2016 North American Championship, and it’s hard to find anything other than a bullet amongst SKELETON KEY’s race results. As for JELVIS, as usual, we have a young team, barely old enough to drink coffee, 3 teenagers on board and with everyone besides myself and the mainsheet trimmer being 21 or under. We were delayed getting our J/111 programme started this year, since 6 of the 8 crew were still in school/university until July, but now it’s the summer holidays so we have been able to practice, and hopefully if we get some athletic conditions that favour youthful exuberance, we can be competitive."
Rod Warren campaigns his J/111 JOUST in Melbourne, Australia, and has chartered KESTREL from Simon Bamford for the championship.“The crew is an eclectic bunch,” explained KESTREL’s Rod Warren. “Aaron Cole is head of North Sails Melbourne and has experienced 13 Sydney-Hobart’s; Stephen Daniel is a tree surgeon, perfect for the foredeck- he can climb anything! Aaron Linton is a sugar cane farmer from far North Queensland, who is our wind whisperer. Stuart Johnstone and his wife Julia are from the USA and part of the J/Boat sailing family. Simon Bamford and his son Oscar are the owners of KESTREL, based in Hamble and brave enough to let us loose on their boat. And, I am a Cardiologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. I began sailing keelboats a couple of years ago and quickly wanted to chase speed, hence the J/111. We love one design racing and we did the Worlds in Newport last year and loved it. We are really looking forward to this year's competition, especially to sail in such a great venue as The Solent. Coming from Australia our goal is obvious!”
Mike
Mayer's American J/111 KASHMIR was runner up in last year's J/111 World
Championship. “We are very excited to come to the worlds,” commented
Kashmir's American skipper Mike Mayer from Chicago, Illinois. “A big
driver of our decision to come to Cowes was coming close at the Worlds
in Newport last year. We had a blast at that regatta and have enjoyed
travelling as a team, so here we come. Our team is the same as the
Worlds in 2015, except that my partner Karl had to miss last year's race
because his wife had a baby during the event, and he will be back on
board for this event (as he was for our recent North American
Championship win). We are all from around Lake Michigan, except our bow
man Fireball, who is a college kid from Florida. Most of us have never
sailed in the Solent and are looking forward to absorbing the sights and
sailing history there. Conditions in Chicago tend to be light, and
there are no meaningful tides and currents. That will be a major
difference and challenge for us. The logistics of racing across the pond
are daunting, and we want to thank J/Boats and J/Composites for working
with us to make our attendance possible. We look forward to seeing the
UK friends we made at last year's Worlds again, and making new ones at
this Worlds.” Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright / Photoaction.com Follow the J/111 Worlds on Facebook For more J/111 Garmin World Championship sailing information
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