J/Net Brokerage Special- J/109 Netherlands!

* J/Net Brokerage Specials! Check out our exciting new site for lovingly-owned J/Boats from around the world.


In Europe, the J/109s are legendary as the ultimate cruiser-racer.  In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the boats have enjoyed such tremendous popularity that in major offshore events or race weeks they create one-design classes.  There is not a major trophy event offshore in the RORC and in Europe that does not have a J/109 winning team emblazoned on the silverware. 

Here is another example of a well-maintained J/109 lying in the Netherlands that is "ready to race" or cruise for family and friend’s enjoyment. Learn more about this Netherland-based J/109 here

WSV Giesbeek Win Dutch J/70 Sailing League

(Muiden, The Netherlands)- In the first weekend of October, Jachtclub Veere and the Royal Dutch Sailing & Rowing Association (KNZ & RV) organized the Eredivisie Sailing 2019. In total, seventeen sailing club teams competed for qualification for the SAILING Champions League 2020 on the Ilsjmeer in front of the port of Muiden!

In three days, 15 flights were run for an amazing 45 short races! Under challenging wind conditions, all races were sailed off the coast of Muiden this weekend. Until the last set of races, there were seven teams that claimed the podium. It was the youth team of WSV Giesbeek that finally won the title. The other tickets for the Sailing Champions League were for Almere Centraal in second, WV de Meeuwen in third and the KNZ & RV in fourth.

Chairman Michiel Dis about this weekend: “We are very happy that we have been able to host the Eredivisie and that it has been so successful. Strongly changing circumstances made it very tactical for the teams trying to maintain consistent performances. The level of competition was very high and the differences in points were very tight. I think we have demonstrated that we can give the Eredivisie Sailing as associations an excellent follow-up. The continuity of this format therefore appears to be guaranteed. We are most happy with that!”

Hard training pays off
WSV Giesbeek was the team that had by far the most hours training and racing in the J/70; and that effort paid off big time! WSV Giesbeek had a young and very talented team. Last year, they were the 2018 Dutch J/70 National Champions. Now, they can add to their trophy case the Dutch J/70 Sailing League award!

Team member Koen Sibbel commented on this weekend, “we sailed extremely hard and well all weekend. The teams are very close together. We have trained a lot in the past year and that paid off. The tactic was to stay out of trouble and to limit the damage with bad starts. We did not have to do any penalty turns the entire weekend and that, of course, made a big difference. At the end, we made it a bit difficult for ourselves by sailing an OCS (too early start, ed.). But, then picked up the pace again and closed with the win. We are very happy that we succeeded!”

Great fight
The other two teams on the podium also agreed on the fun, the sportiness and the excitement of the competitions.

Gosse de Boer from WV de Meeuwen explained, “what a pleasure to sail such a wonderful event! It was a great battle on the water with strong teams and good organization. We are happy with our qualification for the Champions League and look forward to a continuation of the Eredivisie next year.”  For more Dutch J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/80 Frostbite Cup Series Preview

(Gooimeer, The Netherlands)- Started in the fall of 2015, the Frostbite Cup was the creation of a few J/80 sailors from R&ZV Naarden to start a winter series competition. It soon turned out there was a lot of enthusiasm for the idea and fifteen J/80s participated in that first year. As the popularity soared over the years, it was clear that racing on perfectly flat water on the Gooimeer Lake was a “cool” idea.  For the 2019/ 2020 Frostbite Cup, a record 27 boats from four nations across Europe (The Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, and Belgium).

Sailing takes place on Sundays only and up to three races can be sailed in a short-course format of 30 to 45 minutes each. The first start is at 1100 hours.  At the end of the day are daily prize-givings and an open bar! Hot rum toddy’s are quite popular!

This year, the first Act started on October 5th, the second was November 3rd and the rest are distributed over December, January, February, and March (for the overall prize-giving on Sunday the 15th).

Currently leading the series are all Dutch teams. Leading is Jilko & Sybren’s OANT ST JEN with a 5-2-8-2-1-2 scorecard for 20 pts. Second is Nick Elsink’s J’ZUSTER with a 2-1-5-1-11-7 tally for 27 pts. And, sitting third is Bob Jansens’s FUN-J with a 4-3-2-10-5-11 roller-coaster ride for 35 pts.  Sailing photo credits- Twirre Bogaard   For more J/80 Frostbite Cup sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

WSV Giesbeek Win Dutch J/70 League Finals

(Muiden, The Netherlands)- Under strongly changing circumstances, all 45 races of the Eredivisie Sailing were sailed off the coast of Muiden this weekend. Until the last races on Sunday, there were seven teams that had mathematical possibilities of making the podium. In the end, it was the youthful team from WSV Giesbeek that finally won the title. Rounding out the podium in second and third, respectively, were Almere Centraal and WV de Meeuwen.

The hosts on the Muiden for the weekend were KNZ & RV. Chairman Michiel Dis said this about the weekend of racing, “We are very happy that we have been able to host the Eredivisie and that it has been so successful. The level was very high and the differences in points very small. I think we have demonstrated that we can give the Eredivisie Sailing teams an excellent regatta. The continuity of this format therefore appears to be guaranteed. We are most happy with that."

Hard Training Paid Off Big
WSV Giesbeek was the team that had by far the most hours in the J/70, and that effort paid off big time. Last year they were the Dutch J/70 National Champions, now they also won the Dutch J/70 Sailing League overall, an amazing performance!

Team member Koen Sibbel commented on their efforts over the weekend, “We sailed extremely hard and well all weekend. The teams are very close together. We have trained a lot in the past year and that paid off. The tactic was to stay out of trouble and to limit the damage with bad starts. We did not have to run a penalty round this entire weekend and, that of course, makes a big difference. At the end, we made it a bit difficult for ourselves by sailing an OCS. We are very happy that we succeeded!”

Tough Competition At Top of the Leaderboard
The other two teams on the podium also agree on the fun, sportiness and excitement of the competitions. Gosse de Boer from WV de Meeuwen commented, “what a pleasure to sail such a wonderful event! It was a great battle on the water with strong teams and good organization. We are happy with our qualification for the Champions League and look forward to a continuation of the Eredivisie next year.”  Follow the Dutch J/70 Sailing League on Facebook here  For more Dutch J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Dutch J/22 Championship Preview

(Medemblik, The Netherlands)- The 17th edition of the Open Dutch Sailing Championships, hosted off Medemblik, The Netherlands, will see an enormous flotilla of dinghies (29ers, 49ers, Contenders, Finns, F18s, Lasers) and keelboats such as the J/22, Star, and Yngling.

The event also marks the Open Dutch J/22 Championship for 2019. The lone German team is Thomas Loesch’s GER 1640 with crew of Emmanuoela Filippidi and Lenskaya Ektaerina.  The top Netherlands crews include Suzanne van Iterson’s NED 1223 with crew of Anne Rietveld and Frans Dijcksmeester; Dirk Naj Verdoorn’s NED 1295 with crew of Anneloes Krikhaar, Rosemary & Liselotte Verdoorn; and Merlin Rutten’s NED 1500 with crew of Alexandra Siebels, Floor de Boer, and Janine de Groot.  For more Dutch J/22 Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Extremely Light Delta Race Weekend

(Colijnsplaat, The Netherlands)- The 49th Delta Race Weekend opened with a lot of promise on Friday. Sun and wind saw the fleet leave the port of Colijnsplaat with the hope of having multiple races for around the cans racing offshore. The moderate northeast wind slowly died off from its promising 10 kts morning breeze to the point where all afternoon races were canceled.  That “movie” was repeated for the rest of the weekend.  Morning winds that veered into the east, then southeast, quadrants looked good early, but would die off in the afternoons.  Consequently, it was difficult to get in the full repertoire of racing for all fleets.

In the ORC 2 Class, Arjen van Leeuwen’s J/109 JOULE took the bronze in class.

In the Sportboat Class, Bart van Gemert’s J/80 JIVE won, followed by Paul Kersten’s J/80 BABY J in second, and David van de Plasse’s J/70 DRV in third.  Rounding out the top five was Jan-Marien Nijsse’s J/80 VERDER SCIENTIFIC in fourth and Gijs Golverdingen’s J/80 JACHTING in fifth place.  Follow Delta Race Weekend on Instagram here  Follow Delta Race Weekend on Facebook here  For more Delta Race Weekend sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/122s Crush Fast & Furious RORC North Sea Race

J/Domination in ORC 1, IRC 2 and ORC/IRC Doublehanded Classes!
(Harwich, England)- Fine weather and solid breeze provided fast downwind and reaching conditions for the fifth race of the RORC Season's Points Championship. The 180.0nm race from Harwichport, England to Scheveningen, The Netherlands was a very closely fought race as there were not many places to hide, just set it and forget it and go like hell!

The seventy-nine-boat fleet started at 1100 BST on Friday 31 May. Hosted by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, the North Sea Race started outside Harwich and meandered around the Galloper wind farm before heading north to Smith’s Knoll Buoy and across English Channel to the famous sailing city of The Hague and the Scheveningen Yacht Club.

Close to a dozen J/teams are participating in ORC/ IRC and the Doublehanded divisions in the race, including most of the top Dutch and Belgian teams that won their Benelux doublehanded championships in 2018. Many of them reveled in the fast-sailing conditions.

IRC Two and IRC Double Handed was won by the J/122E AJETO, sailed by Robin Verhoef (NED) & John Van Der Starre (NED). The Dutch duo scored a memorable victory in IRC Two finishing ahead of the fully-crewed, all-pro, JPK 11.80 Courrier Recommande, sailed by the famous French offshore champion- Gery Trentesaux (FRA). Third was yet another J/122 duo on JUNIQUE/ RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM, also sailed Two-Handed by Chris Revelman (NED) & Pascal Bakker (NED). AJETO also scored a notable win over one of the Netherland's top short-handed sailors, Erik van Vuuren (NED) racing the new W36 Hubo.  Fifth in IRC 2 was Wim van Slooten’s J/109 FIRESTORM.

“Gery Trentesaux and Erik van Vuuren are two of the world's best. However, that will not stop me telling my grandchildren about this victory,” smiled AJETO’s John Van Der Starre. “As always, we pushed AJETO really hard together. It is wonderful to race with Robin; the atmosphere when we sail together is just fantastic. We will be racing in our fifth Fastnet later this year. It will be a really tough competition, but win or lose I know we will both enjoy the challenge.”

In the ORC Doublehanded Class, the J/teams nearly swept the class. Winning was the J/122E AJETO, followed by the J/122 JUNIQUE/ RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM in 3rd, Michel Hof’s J/122 AMBITION in 4th and the J/109 FIRESTORM in 5th. In the ORC 1 Class (both full-crew and doublehanders), the J/122E AJETO took 2nd, the J/122 JUNIQUE 3rd, the J/122 AMBITION 5th. In ORC 2 Class, the J/109 FIRESTORM was 2nd and Rutger Krijger’s J/109 JACK RABBIT was 4th.  Then, in ORC Overall, the finished in the same order, but taking 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th, respectively.  For more RORC North Sea Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Beautiful, but Light Almere Regatta

(Almere, The Netherlands)- The 9th Almere Regatta was a great sailing challenge for the teams that had assembled in Almere, The Netherlands.  Like many other places in Europe, a big High pressure system meant there was not much “gradient winds” flowing down around it, with isobars spread out so far it was a wonder there was any wind for the weekend.  On Saturday, that was certainly the case, with gorgeous sunny weather, but little to no wind.  Sunday improved bit with winds hitting 8 kts, wonder of wonders!  In the end, the J/80 and J/109 fleets both managed to sail six races.

The ten-boat J/80 class had tight racing for all three spots on the podium.  Naturally, for the first major regatta of the season, some teams start out hot and fade, others do the reverse.  As a result, there were many anxious moments taking place on the last three races on the second day. Starting hot, but losing their edge on Sunday was Bob Jansen’s FUN-J, posting a 2-1-2-3-3-7 tally for 11 pts net. The balance of the podium was determined by a tie-breaker at 13 pts each. On countback, it was Bram Adema’s NJORD record of 7-2-3-5-1-2 that overcame Bernard Holsboer’s JUUL scores of 3-3-1-4-2-8! That was close racing!  Rounding out the top five were JOYRIDE in 4th and OANT SJEN in 5th place.

Winning the nine-boat J/109 one-design class was Roy Heiner’s TEAM HEINER 4 with an outstanding record of 2-1-1-3-3-1 for 8 pts net.  Magically taking the silver was Arnout Jorrtisma’s MAJIC with a 4-2-3-4-1-2 tally for 12 pts net.  Just one point back to snag the bronze was the 2018 winner of the class, Arjen van Leeuwen’s JOULE with a 5-3-4-1-2-3 scoreline for 13 pts net.   Sailing photo credits- Hans Knapper  For more Almere Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Almere Central Three-Peat Dutch J/70 Sailing League

(Veere, The Netherlands)- For the third time in a row, Almere Centraal became the Dutch champion of the Eredivisie Sailing. The pretty Veerse Meer in Zeeland was the playing field of a three-day battle for the coveted national title. WV De Meeuwen (Leeuwarden) was able to take a surprisingly fast start to the 2nd place thanks to the nice and constant results this weekend. With only 3 points away, RR & ZV Maas & Roer (Roermond) took third place.

This last round was an important moment for many teams and it was a weekend where nothing turned out to be certain. This year, the sailors were treated to wind speeds varying from 2 to 16 knots over the weekend. On Friday, the spectacle on the water was very easy to follow from the quay in Veere; thanks to the wind direction, there was literally a front seat on the harbor to watch the action.

In addition to the individual rounds of play earlier this year, the winner of the general classification was also determined in Veere. Gaining a top 4 place in the general classification means a coveted start ticket for the semi-finals of the international Sailing Champions League in 2019. In the 2018 SCL Finals in September, three Dutch teams sailed on the mountain lake St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Hat Trick for Almere Centraal
Almere Centraal won the national championship for the 3rd time with a total of only 105 points.  The winning team captain, John den Engelsman, commented, ”we have actually done everything we always do; good preparation, neatly mastered, do not take too many risks. As a result, we have been able to further expand our lead. The circumstances were not easy, but by paying attention to our opponents and the wind shifts, we were able to make it happen. We just have a good and reliable team that wants to train. In addition, we have often sailed the Champions League, where you learn a lot. If we can form a permanent crew, we participate and we go for a podium place". In Veere, Almere Central managed to win 11 of 15 races in the regatta!

WV De Meeuwen won the silver. Their team captain explained, “despite the tension, we have managed to perform well. Actually, we climbed up the leaderboard the whole year, from eighth place after the first round to the second in the last one. Yesterday, we had a small dip and we had a backlog on our competitors. But, fortunately we knew how to recover and on Sunday we started very motivated. This was reflected in our good performance and we have been able to realize our main goal; participate in the Sailing Champions League! That we also could also get silver is, of course, absolutely fantastic. Next year we will go for gold!"  For more Dutch J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

“The Joy of Sailing a J”- by Gaston Moonen

Gaston Moonen- is a current owner of a J/27 and J/145 in The Netherlands and his family has a J/120, too. 

Enjoy Gaston’s story about how they fell in love with sailing a long line of J’s over time.

“If there is anything that got my family and me into fast cruising it is J/Boats. I started sailing at the age of nine when my father, an agricultural entrepreneur in the most land-locked province in the Netherlands, took his family– with five children- on a two-week sailing course. A few weeks after, he purchased two dinghies and the subsequent winter he ordered his first yacht, a Van der Stadt Design.

My mother, not feeling comfortable on any boat, showed greatness in allowing this, something she has continued doing until the present day, including never lacking interest in the tales of sailing adventures we bring home.

I got to know J/Boats when I was studying at the University of Minnesota and saw J/22s competing against each other on Lake Minnetonka in 1990. I have never lost that image!

That same summer of 1990, my father, my brother Martien and I test-sailed several sailing boats of different makes in the Netherlands. This included the J/35, which a dealer had just brought to Dutch waters as an example of J/Boats’ bigger models.

It did not take us too long to decide in favour of a brand new J/35, Then, and actually for every subsequent boat purchase, we used three main selection criteria: first, the boat had to be fast - no speed, no fun. Second, it had to be rock solid, both in build and equipment. And third: when, after a weekend’s sailing, you took a last look at the boat, the boat should make you think, each and every time: ‘What a beauty!’ Although we did not know it then, this last criteria is very much in line with what I once heard in person from Rodney Johnstone, saying: ‘Half the joy of owning a boat is looking at it.’

Fast cruising is what we mainly did with our J/35 Jam Session. This ranged from trips to Normandy, including the Channel Islands, to fjords in Norway and also doing a ’Round Britain,’ but then in cruising mode, enjoying the shore’s great beauty. Most often we shared, meaning that one crew would do the first half of the trip, another crew the other half, always with at least a few family members on board. We truly loved our J/35, and not only because we were overtaking boats that were much bigger. We loved it also because it was such a comfortable boat to sail, which may come as a surprise to those who have only seen a J/35 and not sailed it. There was comfort in its stability, comfort in its straightforward set-up, also on the inside, and comfort in its ruggedness. While we pushed it hard occasionally, nothing broke, everything did what it was supposed to do. It had the finger-tip control in combination with thrilling responsiveness to wind and sea conditions that we knew from dinghy sailing.

While fast cruising was its main destiny, we occasionally raced. I really got to know how much fun this was when I studied and worked in Manhattan in the early nineties and was a crew member sailing in Long Island Sound with skipper Dominique. Great fun, on a J/35 in a one-design fleet of about 20 boats. That’s where I got hooked on one-design racing, truly boat-to-boat racing. On my return to the Netherlands, this translated into the purchase of a J/22 and taking part more and more often, together with my wife Anne Marie and two friends, in J/22 one-design races, culminating in joining the 1995 J/22 Worlds in the Netherlands. While our results were poor, the fun we had and our learning curve were steep.

Having started families of our own, we decided it was time for something bigger and time to join the J/sprit revolution that J/Boats triggered in the nineties. As a sailing family we looked for a boat with ease of sail handling downwind, while still applying the other three criteria mentioned above, the first one having become even more nuanced, i.e. we were not only seeking passage-making speed but also excellent performance in upwind conditions. Our experience had shown that when sailing on the North Sea, beating against the wind somehow occurred more often than sailing downwind, and that pointing high was so much fun when gaining on other boats while enabling you to keep your engine hours low. So early this century we roamed boat shows and all the family members involved came to the same conclusion: it had to be a J/120. To get a good idea of the details of our newly-ordered J/120 we visited the J/Composites shipyard in Les Sable d’Olonne in France, just as we had visited the TPI shipyard on Rhode Island for our J/35 in the nineties. Besides the warm welcome we received from the Johnstone’s and others, this gave us amazing insights into how J/Boats is able to blend innovative new techniques with solid craftsmanship.

What makes sailing on a "J "so typically "J"? A few reasons that leap to mind are:

• ‘Feeling’ the wind through your boat: every puff is translated into speed and/or higher pointing;
• Staying in touch with the elements: the low freeboard/topsides at cockpit level contribute tremendously to sailing, feeling close to the water, yet remaining dry;
• Walking on the deck of any J you feel the solid ‘build’ of the boat;
• The set-up of things, be it on the deck or inside, makes sense. One quickly relates to this ‘common sense,’ reflected in design and execution, built on experience. This common sense approach is also the stepping stone for innovation, the Johnstone family not only thinking about changing a product but how people relate to sailing, how that changes and what this requires to optimize the joy of sailing;
• Whenever I see a J it is a joy for the eye and it gives you a great feeling to sail on one of these gems yourself! After all, who wants to sail on an ugly boat?

Still today, our J/120 does what we bought it for: providing many enjoyable family sailing hours across generations, with my father at the age of 85 still sailing on it, or my brothers and sisters, and our children, cousins or the like-minded, joining in. And every trip is a new adventure.

Probably my wife and I are the worst infected by the J-fever, having bought a J/27, called Jiggy, in 2004. We use Jiggy both as ‘get away from work’ on a nearby lake and as a pocket racer in winter race series in the Netherlands, leading to pleasant podium ascents with a boat of 35 years in mint condition.

For a good two years now, my wife and I and our three children are also the proud owners of the J/145 Ilderim, the fifth J in the family of J/boats we have sailed extensively. While providing more space, more speed, and also more draft, our J/145 ticks by far all the boxes we are looking for in a sailing boat - and even more, providing a fast, robust and comfortable yacht of timeless and striking beauty that offers an excellent and safe basis for memorable family fun sailing adventures.

From the very beginning, the Johnstone family has understood what it takes to make this happen for our family, and many others. Enjoy your J!”

J/122 Podiums RORC Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 2018 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race started from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at noon on Sunday 12th August, immediately after Lendy Cowes Week. The 1,805 nautical mile race around Britain and Ireland was organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club every four years and will go down in history as one of the toughest races yet in the quadrennial event.

For the 2018 race, 29 teams with close to 200 professional and Corinthian sailors started the race.  Over a dozen dropped out over the course of time due to boat damage, human damage, or electronics failures.  In fact, the weather forecast was so rough, the RORC reversed the route to protect the fleet from a potential battering.  In layman’s terms, that meant that fast reaching/ running boats would enjoy an enormous advantage for 85% of the race.  The normal course is counter-clockwise, going around Britain first to the east, then around Ireland and back to the finish.  The clockwise course meant the fleet sailed in mostly southwesterlies due to a large depression northwest of Ireland- a fast reaching port gybe from southwest Ireland to the northernmost point of the course at Muckle Flugga.

Racing in the IRC 2 Class and the IRC Doublehanded Class was the Dutch duo on JUNIQUE RAYMARINE SAILING TEAM (Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker).  For most of the race, they lay in fourth place in both IRC Double and IRC 2.  However, as the race progressed, their perseverance produced gains on their much faster offwind competitors.  And, as things slowed down on the eastern shore of England, heading back down into the English Channel, they made enough gains to ultimately finish 3rd in IRC Doublehanded, 3rd in IRC 2 Division, and 5th IRC Overall!  Considering Revelman & Bakker were sailing a standard factory-built J/122, that is an extraordinary achievement against some of the world’s top professional sailors all in custom and semi-custom modified boats that beat them.  Congratulations to Revelman & Bakker’s tremendous achievement on their J/122 JUNIQUE RAYMARINE Sailing Team!  For more Round Britain & Ireland Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/111 World Championship Update

(Breskens, The Netherlands)- The 2018 J/111 World Championship is being hosted in conjunction with the Breskens Sailing Weekend in the Netherlands.  A dozen J/111 crews are participating from five nations (Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, & Switzerland). Racing will take place offshore, in the wide-open North Sea, along the fabled northern beaches of the Benelux seashore.  Hosting the event are Watersportvereniging Breskens, Royal Yacht Club of Belgium, Koninklijke Roei & Zeilvereniging De Maas, Koninklijke Nederlandse Roei en Zeilvereniging Muiden, Koninklijke Antwerpse Watersportverenging SRNA and the Royal Netherlands Yachting Union (RNYU).

For the past two days, nearly all J/111's have been practicing their skills during the J/111 Pre-Worlds Tune-Up Regatta. With close racing in continuously changing conditions, Martin Dent's British team on JELVIS took pole position with the Belgians on Sebastien de Liederke’s crew on DJINN following second and the Dutch team of Sjakk Haakman on RED HERRING in third place. Rounding out the top five were one of the regatta pre-favorites- Paul van Driel’s Dutch team on SWEENY- that took fourth place and Jorg Sigg’s LALLEKONIG was fifth.

On Thursday, the "real" work begins with a clean slate for all teams! Game on for the start of the 2018 J/111 World Championship!  For more J/111 World Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

VW De Twee Provincien Wins @ Aalsmeer

WV Almere Centraal Leads Dutch J/70 Sailing League Series
(Aalsmeer, Netherlands)- On the Westeinderplassen in Aalsmeer, the third act of the Eredivisie Sailing (the Dutch J/70 National Sailing League) took place over a gorgeous summer weekend of sailing on the lake for the fifteen teams from across the Netherlands. Mother nature did not make it easy for them; a variable wind forced the Race Committee to change the course in almost every race to make a fair race possible. And, that is how it went for the rest of the weekend.  Light and variable in the morning and hoping the afternoon seabreeze would kick in faster.

Leading after the first day with three straight bullets was WV Almere Centraal. Willem Jan van Dort, skipper of WV Almere Centraal explains, "These are difficult conditions today, with many unexpected wind shifts on the track. We realize that you could literally win or lose a race in the last few meters before the finish, because of the many williwaws on the track. We made reasonable good starts, but were not always the best. Then, it is a nice battle to continue to sail forward in the field. But, good defense is also important, because today the difference is made on a tactical level. Tomorrow will not be different, as they again predict light weather, so it will be exciting again!"

Day two was set to start on time at 0900 hours, however sailing was postponed due to a lack of wind.  By midday, the breeze filled in and the race committee managed to run twelve more races on Saturday, bringing the total number of races to twenty-one.

It was an exciting day on the water. For a long time WV Almere Centraal seemed to hold their lead firmly in their hands, but in the last race they finished last and eventually fell to second place on the leaderboard. Jachtclub Scheveningen managed to pass the reigning champion with a few victories and a second place.

Tom Kerkhof from Jachtclub Scheveningen explains their position enthusiastically, "We are happy to be in first place. We had a good start today with two first places. Then, we suddenly finished last, which shows that you should never think you are too confident. Fortunately, we were able to finish with a 2nd place in the last race and, thus, take the lead in the rankings. We look forward to tomorrow!"

Jachtclub Scheveningen battled hard and took over the lead from WV Almere Centraal, sitting atop the leaderboard with 15 points total. Behind them, three teams were tied on 16 pts each- WV Almere Centraal, RR&ZV Maas & Roer (Roermond), and the women’s SHE SAILS team sailing for the International Yacht Club Amsterdam.

The last day was epic, battles all over the race course and it was never clear until the last flight and set of races when the winner was determined.  And, to keep everyone breathless with anticipation until the end, the winners and the balance of the top five were determined on tie-breakers!  Talk about an anxiety-ridden day!  Every tack, every gybe, every spinnaker set and takedown was crucial to extract every millimeter of advantage to get consistent scores.

Sunday started just like the previous two days: a weak variable wind that forced the 15 sailing teams to wait for the side. Race leader Alex Hoeve had already put everything in position to be able to sail immediately as soon as the wind allowed. Around 11:30 the first race could be started and it soon became clear that the wind attracted a lot and a sailing spectacle could be expected. Nine races were squeezed out on Sunday, where sailing team VWDTP managed to win three times in a row in their races. The Amsterdam ladies were on the same course, but left precious points in their last race and thus lost the highest step on the podium. Almere Central managed to keep up after a restless Saturday with varying results and eventually became overall third.

Skipper of the winning VWDTP team- Arthur Kluppel- said enthusiastically: "It feels fan-tas-tic to win this event! It has been a real reward for working. Friday we started too cautiously and at that moment were leaving points in the light weather. As a team, we then agreed to take more risks at the start and in the runway. From that moment on, we sailed no fewer than 6 first places! Laying down after a start is disastrous, you will no longer make up for that because of the high level of the sailing teams. In the results, you see that well back, the points are awfully close together. Until the last moment, it was the bottom pinching for us. The Amsterdam ladies could still pass us in the overall ranking if they had finished their last race just a bit better! "

The Groningers and Almere Centraal will sail the 2nd semi-final of the Sailing Champions League from 3 to 6 August against the best international teams from the comparable international competition. "We are curious how we can relate to this force field, we are going to see it! But winning this round of games in Aalsmeer on the way to the semi-finals gives a lot of confidence. We will train for another weekend and then do our utmost in Russia! "

Perhaps the most notable performance of the entire weekend was the women’s SHE SAILS team sailing for International Yacht Club Amsterdam.  The nailed four 1sts in a row and nearly pulled off the overall win, much to the delight of their wildly cheering fans!

“We were right there! But, it just did not turn out for us at the last minute! But, we finally succeeded in getting onto the podium! We had good boat handling and tactics this weekend and the team also managed to switch well and anticipate the circumstances. At the beginning of the weekend, our results were also somewhat variable, but we started to sail more consistently, with a few nice victories. Unfortunately, we did not cash in on the gold medal during the last race. We were in a huge fight with WV De Meeuwen on the water in the last race. If we had not had this battle, we might have ended up a place higher and won the regatta.  However, we are very happy with our 2nd place,” commented a happy and smiling Fettje Osinga.

The women’s SHE SAILS teams ended up tied on points at 21 pts each with VW De Twee Provincien, losing the tie-breaker on the countback based on most 1sts.  Third place went to the defending Dutch J/70 Sailing League champions- WV Almere Centraal with 22 points.  The balance of the top five was also determined on a tie-breaker on 23 pts each, with WV De Meeuwen (Leeuwarden) taking 4th and Jachtclub Scheveningen finishing 5th.

As a result of the Aalsmeer regatta, WV Almere Centraal continues to lead the overall standings after three events with a total of 56 pts (low point scoring, all races count).  Just one point back in 2nd is RR&ZV Maas & Roermond and sitting in 3rd is Jachtclub Scheveningen with 58 pts.  Never has one regatta and the overall standings been so close in the history of the Dutch J/70 Sailing League- it’s exciting, close racing as all the teams have raised their game to a much higher, and more consistent, level.   Watch the interview of the SHE SAILS Women’s team on Facebook here   Sailing photo credits- Jasper van Staveren
For more Dutch J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Offshore World Championship Preview

(The Hague, The Netherlands)- The Hague Offshore Sailing World Championship is in final preparation for the fleet of 90 yachts from 15 nations to start the event. The fleet represents a diverse cross section of teams from around the world comprised of seasoned champions, newcomers and older production cruiser/racers, as well as brand new custom racing designs being sailed by professional crews and Corinthian amateurs.

“It’s this rich diversity that makes this a truly World Championship that appeals to all offshore sailors,” said Bruno Finzi, a member of the International Jury for the event and Chairman of the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC). For the first time, both ORC’s rating system and IRC, the system used by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and its French counterpart UNCL, will be used for scoring in this event. As a result, all entries were required to be measured to have certificates from both systems. Use of these systems allows for boats of different types to race against each other under handicap in a week-long format of both offshore and inshore racing.

The first offshore race starts on Sunday, July 15th. The length of this race will vary depending on the weather, but the first teams are expected to finish on Monday 16 July.

On Tuesday 17 July, either offshore racing will resume, or the start of windward/leeward course racing will begin on two designated course areas off the beach at Scheveningen, with inshore racing to continue daily through Friday 20 July. A total of nine races are scheduled, two offshore and seven inshore. The teams with the lowest combined scores using ORC and IRC ratings in each of three classes (A, B, C) will be crowned the new 2018 World Champions, with prizes also awarded to teams with all Corinthian (amateur) crew.

Sailing in the twenty-seven boat Class B are primarily custom and semi-custom production boats.  Joining that fray will be a standard J/111 RED HERRING, sailed by Gerwin Janssen from The Netherlands- hopefully, his “home field” advantage will helpful through the course of nine races.
Class C has fifty-three boats from twelve nations across Europe; it’s by far the largest class in the event and starting so many big boats on one starting line will prove to be a formidable task! Some speculate the line will be from 1/4 to 1/3 nm in length!  Like the other classes, there are a number of new and current custom boats racing against standard production boats.  Leading the charge for the five J/Teams will be the current IRC European Champion- Fred Bouvier & Didier LeMoal’s J/112E J-LANCE 12.  Also, participating from Ireland is a past United Kingdom IRC Class Champion- the J/35 BENGAL MAGIC sailed by Jim Chalmers.  Finally, there are three J/109s hoping to get their shot at some silver as well; including MAJIC (Arnout Joorritsma), VRIJGEZEILIG (Michel Heidweiller), and JAI ALAI (Alain Bornet).  For more Offshore World Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/Doublehanded Crews Sweep North Sea Regatta!

Elsink Dominates J/80s, Holtrop Tops J/22s
(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- The North Sea Regatta completed the “inshore” portion of its ten-day long event.  Hosted by the Jachtclub Scheveningen, the North Sea Regatta is the largest event hosted in the Netherlands each year for a host of one-design classes (like J/22s and J/80s) and offshore ORC/IRC classes.

The event kicked off on May 8th with the Vuurschepen Race, a North Sea Regatta Feeder Race that goes from the starting line off The Hague (Scheveningen) and goes across the North Sea to Harwich in the United Kingdom.  After a two-day layover, the fleet raced back in the RORC North Sea Race from Harwich to The Hague.  After a short breather, all keelboats including the J/22 and J/80 classes sailed from May 18th to 20th, Friday to Sunday on all inshore, round-the-buoy courses.

Day One- May 18th
It was a nice first race day today. The wind was stable with 10 to 12 knots. Three beautiful races could be sailed. With 60 boats on course A divided into 4 classes and 60 boats on course B also divided into 4 classes, it was great racing for all.

Starting the 4 classes directly after each other, occasionally a general recall in between, the sailors had to pay attention not to miss their class’s turn to start. With a current that ran from North to South and the wind coming from the North, it was difficult to exactly time the starting line. In the first race of the event, all the teams had to get used to the circumstances. By the second race, you already notice that it was going a lot better, and the third it was like you had never done otherwise.

Day Two- May 19th
The starting boat for course A left the harbor early to get into position and to assess offshore conditions. The weather was a little gray and little wind, too little to start well and be able to lay out a good race course. The postponement flag (answering pennant) was hoisted. The first start was planned at 10:00. After a long hour of waiting, there was enough wind for to start. The IRC/ORC Two Handed Class started at 11:30 with a coastal race.

Day Three- May 20th
Waking up you had to check whether the boat next to you was still there because of the thick fog, usually a sign of little wind. The starting boat of course A quickly powered outside into the thick fog to assess whether the sailing yachts should go out for the races. Offshore it seemed good, but once all boats were out, it was difficult for the starting boat to find them. After an hour of waiting, a nice coastal course for the IRC/ORC Two-handed Class was laid out and their fleet started at 1100 hrs sharp.  Thereafter, it was impossible to start the other classes since you could not see the finish marks!  So, racing was canceled for the day.

In the ORC/IRC Two-handed Class, it was a sweep of the podium by the leading all-star J/crews!  Winning class was none other than the most famous Dutch two-handed team; Robin Verhoef & John van der Starre’s J/122E AJETO. Their sistership took the silver, Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker’s J/122 JUNIQUE/ RAYMARINE.  Completing the sweep in the bronze position was Wim van Slooten & Jochem Hamstra’s J/109 FIRESTORM!

Afterwards, Robin Verhoef from the J/122E AJETO commented, “A wonderful closure of two weeks great sailing in the North Sea Regatta! For us, it was the 3rd time in a row to win the Dutch Two-handed Championship! In spite of today's fog, we still managed to find all the marks and our fifth race in a row! AJETO is amazing, a great boat!”

In the ORC/IRC 2 Class, it was Alain Bornet’s J/109 JAI ALAI that took second place.  And, in the ORC Sportboats, Rikst Dijkstra’s J/70 NED 964 placed third in their fifteen-boat class.

In the world of one-designs, it was Auke Holtrop’s NED 1223 that won the J/22 class with crew of Lotte Brasser, Sipke de Man, and Janneke Kampherbeek.  Second was NED 1514, skippered by Jesper Overbeeke with crew of Christiaan Feij, and Michelle Koopmans; it was a struggle for them to overcome a DNF and DSQ.  Third, just one point back, was NED 1295, helmed by Dirk Jan Verdoorn with crew of Rosemarijn Verdoorn, Liselotte Verdoorn, and Kim Bos.

It was Nick Elsink’s J/80 NED 1137 that dominated their class with his crew of Jildau Horst, Pascal Meijer, and Wouter Toornstra.  Second place saw Otte Jan Golverdingen’s NED 838 crew of PP de Vries, Yves de Block, and Hans Edwin de Bruin win a tie-breaker on 17 pts each over Gerwin Jansen’s NED 8905 team of Douwe Broekens, Jolbert van Dijk, and Wouter Sonnema.  Sailing photo credits- Sander van der Borsch
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