(Melbourne, Australia)- The J/111 owner of JOUST in Melbourne, Australia- Dr Rod Warren- recently sent a nice note to J/HQ Newport this past week. According to Rod,“We just ordered a new J/70 for practice! We can’t wait to get out on her soon! We are also looking forward to San Francisco next year for the J/111 Worlds!
We also wanted to let you know that we had the pleasure of sailing with two of the Johnstone family at the recent J/111 Worlds in Cowes, England. As the Australian team, we needed to get some local knowledge of the tricky conditions on the Solent. We were surprised and delighted that Stu Johnstone was suggested, until we heard that he had lived there for five years while setting up J/Boats Europe and won many events! But, there was an even better bonus! We got Stu’s lovely wife Julia to come along, another brilliant sailor, and a huge help on organizing the pointy end of the boat!
From the get go we had a blast, from trying to fit an entire J/111 crew into a Jeep, to sharing a house in Cowes and, of course, the sailing. This was a windy regatta (about 15-25 kts, gusting 30) and we had great downwind speed, thanks to Stu’s planing lessons!
One of the great things about J/Boats has to be the family that makes the boats we love. Stu & Julia’s willingness to join our crew, sight unseen, and contribute so generously, and with such great humour, sets them apart. Stu’s stories about sailing with his friends Heather and Joe on their J/70 MUSE was inspirational. So, we just bought a J/70 as a practice boat for our J/111! We hope we can also help grow the J/70 fleet in Melbourne to sail against some of our Sydney friends, too!”
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