(Valle de Braco, Mexico)- Here is a nice "Welcome"
video from the Mexican J/70 Class and Club de Vela La Pena to the women
sailing in the International Women's Keelboat Championship in Valle de
Bravo, Mexico. 
(Harwich, United Kingdom)- Here is the report from Sébastien de
Liedekerke, owner of the J/111 DJINNN about their recent experience
sailing the RORC East Coast Race:
As
wind conditions stabilized, we started catching up on them and by
midnight we were in the lead again. With light Westerlies of 5-13kt,
flat water and a 100% reaching and broad-reaching course, the conditions
were ideal for DJINN and her crew to build progressively a significant
gap with key competitors and to finish largely ahead of the pack in
Oostende after 20 hours and 26 minutes of racing and despite dying winds
again...
Fellow
J/Boats crew in the Race included the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram, 7th
overall) sailing two-handed and the J/120 JAMEERAH (Simon Ruffles, 8th
overall) sailing fully crewed and preparing for Rolex Fastnet Race as
well.
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(Newport, RI)- Over the past fortnight or so, a small fleet of intrepid
adventurers partook in the 635nm Bermuda One-Two Race, an event that
starts in Newport off Fort Adams, finishes off St David’s Head
Lighthouse in Bermuda, then returns to Newport. The first leg out to
Bermuda is singlehanded and the return trip is doublehanded.
Starting
Friday night, we sailed bare-headed for twenty hours after wrapping our
chute tight around the genoa. We used all our spare halyards to wrap up
all the air bubbles in 20 knot winds and big choppy seas. We were Main
only for twenty hours, it was too dangerous to fix the problem sooner.
Then, we ran under barepoles downwind for over half an hour late
Saturday afternoon, while I hoisted Clay aloft to retrieve the halyard
off the top of the wrapped A-sail. The YB tracker shows how slow we were
going bare-headed. I figured we lost over two knots on average when we
only had the main up. That would be about fifty miles or more counting
the final three hours of the race where we probably lost more. Would
that have been enough to win our class, fleet, and the whole thing?
Maybe not, but it would have been close.|
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(San Francisco, CA)- The famous Farallones Islands Race, the often
brutal 58nm course that goes from inside San Francisco Bay, out around
the Farallones Island to port and back to the finish line on the San
Francisco city waterfront saw some great performances by J/Crews this
past weekend. This year there were seventy keelboat teams
participating, fifteen of which were J/crews (21% of the fleet)! |
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(Sandefjord, Norway)- There was a hard fight for the top of the
leaderboard in Sandefjord this past weekend. But in the end,
Bundefjorden SF had to be beat by Risør SF in the final race to win the
regatta. In the end, it was hard to overcome the formidable team from
Risor, they also won in Oslo. There were fourteen teams participating
with a total of 42 races between the 15 teams.|
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(Algarrobo, Chile)- The third and final leg of the Chile J/70 Class
qualifiers for the 2017 J/70 South American Championship that will be
taking place from October 27th to November 1st was just completed. Host
for both events was Cofradía Nautica in Algarrobo. The conditions for
the weekend event were excellent, with moderate breezes on Saturday and
12-17 kts on Sunday in reasonably cool fall sailing conditions on the
Pacific Ocean in Algarrobo Bay. While there has been great skiing this
fall just 150 miles away in the Andes Mountains, a group of fifteen
boats were having an excellent time racing. The courses were long, cold
and choppy, so the crews need to manage the wave patterns, especially
on port tack getting to the weather mark. The wind was sometimes
shifting right and sometimes shifting left at the very end of the course
in the left corner, mostly close to the shore- very challenging for all
crews, to say the least!|
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(Brejning, Denmark)- The Yacht Club Furesøen’s “Red Stars” took the
competition by storm and came from a 14th place in the first regatta to
become the winner of Brejning event! The wind was very varied and at
times it was difficult for the sailors (and event leader) to see the
exact wind conditions. It blew up late for the finale on Sunday, and it
gave the last few races a little extra thrill to the public.
As
something new, the audience was treated to a famous local personality
who has been active at the Brejning Båtklub since the 1970s. Wearing
his straw hat and standing in the small gazebo on the end of the pier,
Steffen Bøllund provided live commentary over the local radio and
loudspeakers so that people could understand what was going on out on
the water.|
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(Southampton, England)- Over the June 17-18 weekend, the Royal Southern
Yacht Club, in conjunction with the UK J/80 Class Association, welcomed
nineteen teams for their U.K. J/80 Nationals. The event was good
training program to tune up boats, sails, and teamwork in preparation
for the J/80 World Championship the second week of July that will be
held at the same venue
(http://www.royal-southern.co.uk/J80-Worlds-2017).
For
the balance of the podium, it was a battle for 2nd place with just one
point separating the two teams. Starting out slowly, but closing with
three bullets in a row in the last three races was Luke Patience’s RYOKO
MEKA. However, that was still not enough to overcome the more
consistent Jon Powell on the famous BETTY that took the silver.
Rounding out the top five were Chris Body’s MOCKING JAY in 4th place and
Nick Haigh’s SLIGHTLY STEAM in 5th position. For more UK J/80 Nationals sailing information
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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(Kiel, Germany)- After a slow start in the first event and beginning to
pick up steam after their second event in the J/70 Deutsche
Segel-Bundesliga, the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) team with the
former Olympic sailor Tobias Schadewaldt on board managed to hang on to
win their first event of the 2017 season! Their team of Tobias
Schadewaldt, Daniel Reichart, Florian Weser, and Klaas Höpcke sailed
constantly to the front of the fleet in different wind conditions. But,
not everything was perfect with the NRV team. "Although we made too many
mistakes at the start, we were able to make good use of our chances in
the race course," explained a visibly pleased Tobias Schadewaldt.
There’s was not an easy win over the fleet.
The
second place team was Segelkameradschaft “Wappen von Bremen” (SWB) that
consisted of Gordon Nickel, Thomas Dehler, Klaas Simon, and Morten
Nickel. There were just 2.6 points back from the NRV all-stars.
According to Morten Nickel, "We had hoped for a podium spot on the Kiel
Fjord. It was a big surprise for us to take second place!”|
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MO’MONEY Tops J/22 Great Lakes Championship
The
eleven-boat J/22 fleet from across five states in the northeast and
midwest saw Victor Snyder and Kevin Doyle on MO’ MONEY out of Youngstown
Yacht Club take the overall title, winning four of six races. Second
was Mark Stuhlmiller’s EUDAIMONIA with 19 pts, third was John
Huebschmann’s ESCAPE with 23 pts, fourth was David McBrier’s VAMANOS/
HARDWARECHIMP.COM with 26 pts, and fifth was Scott Gelo’s VENTUS with 28
pts.|
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(Vancouver, BC, Canada)- Taking place from June 10th to 24th has been
the famous Pacific Northwest truly massive “Round Island Race”, one of
the world’s longest at 600nm+ (only Round Britain & Ireland is
longer!). In this year’s event, there have been thirty keelboats
participating in the infamous race, of which seven of them are J/teams
(23% of the fleet!). There are nine individual point-to-point races
that comprise the entire score for the Van Isle 360, your basic
circumnavigation of Vancouver Island! Here is the breakdown for each
leg:
“Day
6 - Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy: Winds up to 40 knots, 10 foot rolling
waves, hail and rain, multiple blown spinnakers, round ups, a blown
main, a lost rudder, broken spreaders, bent spinnaker poles... and a
quick trip to Port Hardy for most! It was sketchy out there to say the
least, but everyone made it back to port safe! Resting in Port Hardy
till tomorrow's race to Winter Harbour!
The
HAMACHI blog commented on their experiences so far: “we just crushed
Leg 5 of the Van Isle 360. Winds were 30 plus kts at the start and
averaged 15 to 25 with peak of 35 kts. We started under reefed main and
J4, and then set the A3. We covered 29 nm in 2.5 hours taking line
honors for the fleet (ahead of Smoke who split their main at the start)
and allegedly set a course record. We saw 20.5 kts of boat speed and
averaged high teens. The boat beautifully handled 4-6 ft seas. We could
do this every race! It was a great couple of days racing around the
north end of Vancouver Island and through the Johnstone Strait.
Beautiful vistas, fast currents (5-6 kts helping and hurting) and good
fleet. Its been all upwind so far in 4-20 kts and Hamachi has held her
own, although we don’t understand ORC scoring. Hamachi took division
line honors on Day 4.|
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(Long Beach, CA)- Co-hosted by Alamitos Bay YC and Long Beach YC, the
Long Beach Race Week encompasses a combination of One-design and around
the buoys/ random-leg racing in PHRF handicap classes all over San Pedro
Bay using fixed navigational points, providing a variety of beating,
reaching, and running.|
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(Pornic, France)- The third event of the J/80 Coupe de France will be
held in Pornic, France. Thirty boats are expected for the event, a
popular one for the French J/80 fleet since it is a beautiful summer
setting, the races are always perfectly run, and the hosts are
impeccably gracious and welcoming of all the sailors.|
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(Riva del Garda, Italy)- The second Lake Garda event for the ALCATEL
J/70 CUP takes place this weekend with a record-setting seventy-two
boats registered. The host club, Fraglia Vela Riva, is looking forward
to hosting the world championship caliber fleet; the Regatta Committee
is chaired by Fabrizio Donato with PRO Fausto Maroni.|
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(Melbourne, Australia)- The Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta (AWKR)
is an annual regatta hosted by Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron on Port
Phillip Bay, Melbourne Australia held on the long weekend in June. It is
the only “all women” regatta in Australia and this year attracted 25
boats. The regatta is run over three days and consists of six races that
form a series of mostly windward-leeward races. Here is the story from
Sally Crowley, she sailed the event as skipper on her J/122 JAVELIN
with an all-women’s crew:
June
8th saw our arrival for the regatta where we were greeted with light
winds that stayed for the whole regatta. Besides being my first regatta
as skipper, our biggest challenge was to keep the boat moving to compete
against many smaller and lighter boats. Out came our largest sails,
the number 2 headsail and the A3 spinnaker for the whole regatta. Day
one saw a call for 3 races from the RO placing us 1st overall on EHC
Div-1 and 3rd on IRC Div-1. Day 2 more light winds and a longer course
on Race 5, it was a long day but we managed to keep ‘Javelin’ moving by
keeping the crew forward and leeward on the downwind legs and bunched up
amidships and leeward on the windward legs. We finished the day 2nd
overall on EHC by 1 point and 3rd overall in IRC. Day 3 and a 10-15kts
westerly greeted us 20 minutes before the start and the boat livened up
ready for a great J/Boat day. This breeze was short lived and we then
faced a final 6th race with sub 5 kts and a need to make sure we
finished at least 2 places ahead of the Melges 32 ‘Envyus’. The final
downwind run saw the best crew work of the regatta with an almost 180
degree wind shift, a challenging spinnaker drop in 14 kts of breeze TWA
of 45 degrees to turn the downwind run to the finish into a shy 
reach.
Finally, ‘Javelin’ was able to come into her own, landing us in 1st
position to take out the EHC Div-1 trophy for the regatta and 3rd
overall on IRC Div-1!|
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(Chicago, IL)- “If there ever was a perfect weekend for sailing in the
world, it was in Chicago for the NOOD regatta! Nearly half the boats
entered were J/Boats. And, if there was a J/Boat in a section, the
J/Boat won. Day One saw shifting conditions with wind 6-12 kts, sunny,
warm, and a bit of fresh water spray just a bit refreshing. The
Southwest breeze shifted to North, but the timing on the shifts was such
that for many of the classes it came between races. Day Two was a windy
day, 20-30 kts out of the Southwest. The offshore, gusty breeze was
just fun to sail in. Then, Day Three, it was back to moderate Southwest
breezes of 8-14 kts on a perfectly sunny day on Lake Michigan,” reported
Richie Stearns.
In
the twenty-boat J/70 class, it was Oivind Lorentzen’s NINE team that
compiled an incredible record of 5 bullets in seven races to win by just
two points over Bob Hughes’ HEARTBREAKER team. Third place went to
Martin Johnsson’s crew on AQUAHOLIKS and they were first place as well
in the Corinthians Division. Rounding out the top five were John
Heaton’s EMPEIRIA in 4th and Mark Teborek’s NORBY in 5th position (and
2nd in Corinthians).
It
was epic racing for the fourteen crews in the J/111 class. For the
first time, an “outsider” from the Great Lakes won a regatta on Lake
Michigan! Kudos go to Martie Roesch’s fast crew from Annapolis, MD
sailing their familiar VELOCITY; posting a two bullets in their
seven-race tally to win with 16 pts. Not surprisingly, their battles
came from leading Chicago area teams in the form of Brad Faber’s UTHA
and the three musketeers on KASHMIR (Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson, Mike
Mayer). Faber’s crew sailed consistently, winning three races
themselves to post 24 pts and take the silver. Rounding out the podium
was KASHMIR, also winning two races, but suffering a DSQ in race two in a
tussle with SHAMROCK, to toss out the door their chances for the
overall lead. The balance of the top five was Jeff Davis’ SHAMROCK in
4th and John Kalanik’s PURA VIDA in 5th.
The J/88 Chicago fleet report contribution comes from Andy Graff on EXILE:
The
J/105 class saw near total domination take place in their fleet of
eight boats. In other words, a “schooling” on how to sail consistent,
fast, with few mistakes. That would be the SEALARK crew, skippered by
Clark Pellet, posting three bullets in a row and coasting to the class
win with 16 pts. Second was Mark Gurney’s BUZZ with 21 pts and third
was Chicago class stalwart Gyt Petkus on VYTIS. The rest of the top
five included Vanessa Gates’ STRIKING in 4th (a first for her crew to
finish in the top five!) and Robert Amos’ SOUTHBOUND in 5th.|
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(Le Havre, France)- After La Rochelle last year, it was Le Havre that
hosted, from 8 to 11 June, fourteen French clubs for the 2nd edition of
the National Sailing League. This unique event was created to determine
which French clubs would qualify for the Sailing Champions League
semi-final event that will be sailing J/70s in St Petersburg, Russia.
The top 50% of the teams at St Petersburg will qualify to participate in
the Sailing Champions League finals in Porto Cervo, Sardinia at YC
Costa Smeralda.
As
host of this year’s event, Société des Régates du Havre provided a
fleet of matched J/80 one-design class sailboats for the fourteen teams.
What distinguished the 2017 edition from last year is that eleven
different provinces in France were represented, from the “Maritimes” on
the north, west and south coasts as well as sailing clubs from the lakes
in the French Alps! It was truly the first national sailing club
championship ever held in the history of French sailing! The supporting
partners in the event included MARINEPOOL (the global clothing brand),
SAP (the global leader in enterprise technology) and the City of Le
Havre.
Other
top French Olympic sailors were also present. Sofian Bouvet sailed
with SR Antibes; he was European champion in 470s in 2013 and 2016 with
Jérémie Mion, bronze medalist in 470 at the 2016 World Championships and
7th at the Rio Olympic Games. In addition, Camille Lecointre sailed
with SR Brest; he was bronze medalist at the Rio Olympic Games in 470s!
Talk about hauling in “the ringers” to help your club sail fast! That
ain’t whistling Dixie! 
Day Three- Sunday|
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