CHECKMATE CROWNED J/24 VICTORIA STATE CHAMPIONS

(Victoria, Australia)- Recently the Sandringham Yacht Club hosted their annual Victoria States J/24 Championship. The fleet was blessed with gorgeous sunny weather, winds ranging from 4 to 18 kts, the breeze starting northwest and shifting to the southwest on both days. Choppy seas made for difficult steering conditions upwind, with teams making the hard choice of which jib to use in the upper wind ranges- the 150% genoa or the 100% jib. The fleet was unusually over-eager and aggressive on the starting line, with lots of general recalls, restarts, U-flags and even several U-flag DSQs! 

After an eight-race series, it was Brendan Lee's CHECKMATE that consistently powered their way to victory, winning four races and counting only podium finishes to win by a significant margin. Taking the silver was Warren Campbell's J-FORCE, posting all top five finishes for a cumulative score of 22 pts.  The bronze went to Adam Keyes-Tilley's BAILE DE LUNA with 28 pts total. Rounding out the top five were Hugo Ottoway's BRUSCHETTA VI and Warren Slater's JAB in fourth and fifth, respectively.


Winning the PHS handicap division was Darren Cuttsy's JOYRIDE, followed by Richard Taylor's HAYWIRE in second and Chris Ravesi's PANAREA in third position. 

A big thank you to Sandringham YC Race Management and PRO Warren Campbell and the Committee for putting on a fabulous event. Plus, thanks to our contributors, Carina Tomietto, Craig Wiley, Adam Keyes-Tilley. More posts, video and info on the Victoria J/24 Facebook page.  For more Australia J/24 class sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.

J/111 BRISBANE TO GLADSTONE RACE REPORT

(Brisbane, Australia)- The past Easter Weekend, the J/111 BLACK DOG sailed the Brisbane to Gladstone Race in near gale sailing conditions. Here is their report from owner/skipper Rodger Vinton.   

"The 73rd Brisbane to Gladstone (B2G) yacht race started on Good Friday 2 April at midday. The course is 308.0nm long and starts in Brisbane (Queensland) in Moreton Bay, going to a turning mark off Redcliffe pier; before heading across the bay to Moreton Island then exiting the bay through the NW shipping channel. The course then runs past the Sunshine Coast, keeping Fraser Island to port, leaving Lady Elliot Island to port and then going across what is affectionately known as “the paddock” to Gladstone. The last 15.0nm is a trip up the shipping channel to finish off at the Gladstone Yacht Club.

There are many divisions in this race, including Vintage through to Modern yachts, competing in cruising and/or racing divisions. The boats range from 10.3 to the 30.48 metres Black Jack (100 ft Maxi). There were 37 boats that started the 2021 race, including the J/111 Black Dog with 7 crew skippered by Rodger Vinton.

The forecast was for southeasterly winds of 25-30 knots for the start and then building as the day went on with expected gusts of up to 35 knots and large confused seas off Breaksea at the northern tip of Fraser Island.  We started with full main and 3.5 jib and ended up a few minutes late for the start re-running reef lines.

Just after the start we put up the A3 kite but it was too shy, so we changed down to the 3.5 jib and then we were off passing the fleet. The upside of a slow start was that we did get to see most of the other boats.

Once in the shipping channel we were able to hoist the A3 kite again and in the bigger gusts we hit 20 knots boat speed. At NW4 beacon we were going to drop the kite but a gust of 30+knots hit and we broached. It took a while to get the kite back onboard and then up went the 3.5 jib again. 

At dusk we put the first reef in and sailed at about 150 AWA running down the large quartering swells. Dark rain clouds would come through and the wind speed would increase, occasionally hitting 40 knots. After Breaksea we jibed onto port to our next mark Lady Elliot Island and then after we reached Lady Elliot Island the wind dropped slightly with top gusts of only 25 knots. We put the A3 up again. This lasted about half an hour before the wind speed built and the A3 was reduced to tapes. 

We carried on under reefed main and the 3.5 jib until the finish. The top boat speed we recorded was 24 knots under reefed main and 3.5 jib as we surfed down big seas and we also saw a top wind speed of 41 knots. During the night we were smashed by a big wave and it hit one of the crew with such force that her PFD auto inflated with a bang and set the strobe light off. The look of shock on her face was priceless and we then had to use one of the spare PFDs for the rest of the race. Now we know what happens to an auto PFD and why you need to carry spares.

Our experience with our first B2G race in 2018 was that in heavy weather no one eats much, so we took a lot of finger-food that could be eaten on the rail. We ate things like salad rolls, BBQ sausages, home-made pies, fruit, biscuits, lollies, trail mix, chocolate, and Doc’s rice pudding. Seasickness impacted a few crew, but was managed with the appropriate meds. All of our crew finished the race in one piece and our mascot toy dog SALTY survived, too – just a bit wet. Other boats and crew were not so lucky – there were 11 DNF’s including most of the favorites for line honours and IRC, with a couple of crew injuries including one needing to be air-lifted off in a medical evacuation.

We crossed the line in 6th place after 32 hours and 12 mins, we won the line honors trophy for a yacht under 37 feet and came 2nd in Division Two on both IRC and PHRF. A great result for our J/111!

The boat went very well, with all three people on helm enjoying the challenge of the ride. The only boat damage sustained was one A3 kite and the broken toilet lid. If only we’d not been a few minutes late for the start. Oh well, next time!"Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/133 PATRIOT Sailing Again Down Under

We received an update from J/133 owner of PATRIOT from Sydney, Australia- Jason Close:

"We have had little sailing since Sydney- Hobart due to our state Victoria’s unbelievably harsh restrictions due to Covid 19 (which we are still in lockdown after 6 months!)

We did manage to race in the Sail Peninsula regatta in February and won the overall measurement rating division out of 21 entrants (which included a new J/121, which we had some great racing with). This was a good result for us after our solid Hobart campaign.

Here are photos of us on the water in the passing Tasman Island and entering Storm Bay in the final stages of the Sydney Hobart Race. The other photo is our team shot on the dock at Hobart.

We are yet to make immediate future racing plans due to our restrictions, but hopefully, we can finalize things in the upcoming weeks, fingers crossed!" (Editor's Note- we mistakenly attributed Jason's PATRIOT class win in the 2019 Sydney Hobart to another colleague's J/133. Apologies to all). :)

VELOCE Crowned 2020 Australian J/111 Champion

(Geelong, Australia)- The 2020 Australian J/111 Championships were held over the ‘Australia Day’ long weekend as part of Festival of Sails in Geelong, Victoria. The Festival of Sails is the largest annual keel boat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere with over 300 yacht entries and 3,000 competitors annually taking part in the event. First held in 1844, the Festival of Sails Regatta is one of the nation’s oldest sporting events and has evolved over many years culminating in its current format as Australia’s foremost keelboat regatta.

The program consisted of a 30.0nm passage race on Saturday 25th January, followed by five windward-leeward races in Geelong’s inner harbour on Sunday and Monday. Here is the report from Rob Date, owner/ skipper of SCARLET RUNNER, from the Victorian J/111 fleet.

"The passage race from St Kilda to Geelong was won by SCARLET RUNNER, again showing her skills in the light and variable conditions, finishing a few minutes ahead of Matt Powell’s PLAYLIST. Stu Lyon’s JAKE showed moments of brilliance but fell away towards the latter stages.


Sunday’s racing was a variable affair with the pressure up and down and left and right, but mostly in the 12-15 knot range. Racing was very close with fractions of seconds deciding one result. Phil Simpendorfer’s VELOCE proved superior on the day.

The final result would be decided on Monday, the last day of racing, with both Rod Warren’s JOUST and SCARLET RUNNER capable of winning the Championship.

Light winds greeted us at the start of the day, but many shifts and pressure changes saw Simpendorfer’s VELOCE the eventual winner from Warren's JOUST in second, with SCARLET RUNNER third.

Reflecting on the weekend, it was a great close regatta and an enjoyable sail home back to Sandringham (a 30-mile power reach home in 20 knots of pressure!)." For more J/111 One-Design Class association information.    For more J/111 one-design sailboat information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/121 Wins @ Festival of Sails!

JOUST Tops Australian J/111 Champs
(Geelong, NSW, Australia)- As many as 200,000 people are believed to have enjoyed the festivities of the Geelong Waterfront this past weekend as the city played host to two major events – the historic Festival of Sails and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

The Festival of Sails is the largest annual keelboat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere with over 300 yacht entries and 3,000 competitors annually taking part in the event. First held in 1844, the Festival of Sails Regatta (held over the Australia Day Long Weekend) is one of the nation’s oldest sporting events, and has evolved over many years culminating in its current format as Australia’s foremost keelboat regatta.

Festival of Sails Chairman Stuart Dickson said beautiful weather, exciting racing on Corio Bay and Port Phillip Bay and a smorgasbord of entertainment combined for a terrific event. He explained, “this weekend, the Royal Geelong Yacht Club welcomed hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors, including participants from overseas and every state and territory, to our city. This is fantastic for the event and for Geelong.”

JOUST Tops Australian J/111 Nationals
The Festival of Sails concurrently hosted the 2019 J/111 Australian Nationals, sailing in gorgeous Corio Bay. From the very beginning, Rod Warren’s very talented team aboard JOUST threw down the gauntlet by winning the first race.  They never looked back, winning four more races over the three days and having to toss a 2nd place to win with a perfect score of 5 pts in 5 races!

Meanwhile, there was a real battle for the balance of the podium with everything going down to the wire on the last day for the two contenders- Phil Simpfendorfer’s VELOCE and Rob Date’s SCARLET RUNNER. After the dust cleared from the battlefield, it was evident Team VELOCE’s crew were up to the task, posting a 3-2-4-2-1-4 for 12 pts net to take the silver.  Rounding out the podium to take the bronze was SCARLET RUNNER with a 2-3-2-5-5-3 tally for 15 pts net.

J/121 Wins AMS Cruising Division
Meanwhile, sailing in the offshore, random-leg, AMS Cruising Division was the new J/121 JAVELIN. The crew has been on a roll since winning the ORCV 2018 Winter Series. Skipper/ owner Mark Nicholson and team took on many of Australia’s best offshore teams, sailing the biggest and most competitive division in the entire Geelong Festival of Sails.  Starting off with a 6th place on the first day, JAVELIN took off on their fleet, posting a 2-4-1 to finish with 13 pts and convincingly win their division six points clear of the next boat- a pro’d up Soto 30! Here is their report.

For the J/121 JAVELIN, the event kicked off with a 32nm passage race from St Kilda in Melbourne, across Port Philip Bay to Geelong.  Two start lines of 230+ boats set off at 9.30am in light 4-5 knot southeast winds.  J/121 JAVELIN was in the first start of 100+ yachts of all shapes and sizes, including 32 yachts in the AMS 1 division. This division featured yachts from a Soto 30, through a Caprice 40 (2nd in its IRC division in the recent Sydney/Hobart) all the way up to a Reichel Pugh 63 (3rd IRC overall in the Sydney/Hobart).

J/121 JAVELIN was buried on the start but set to the task of reeling in the competition, with the strategy to keep slightly left of the course to take advantage of a forecast wind shift.  JAVELIN flew their Code Zero most of the way (albeit it was hoisted and dropped half a dozen times along the way!). The last stretch passed through the tight shipping channel with the wind peaking at 16 knots, and JAVELIN sailing on a close reach. Their strategy worked and they finished 6th in their division in the passage race. Plenty of celebratory drinks accompanied the Australia Day fireworks display held at the Regatta Village.

3 further races were held over days 2 and 3, with 2 of those races having to race back through the shipping channel to open waters. This made for some spectacularly close racing where water rights dominated sailing rights.  The fleet of 70+ yachts (up to 65 footers and including some big cats) worked together to get through relatively unscathed (though a few boats ventured a few metres outside the channel and ran aground). JAVELIN successfully tried a wing-on-wing strategy for a short while with the A2, managing to both gain clear air and separation from competitors. Conditions were pleasant once past the channel with flat water and breeze ranging 12-14 knots.  JAVELIN finished 2nd in race 2.

A twilight race was also held to take advantage of the stronger afternoon breeze, building to mid-20’s, though quite shifty.  After a general recall, JAVELIN had a clean (and conservative) start, and powered over 10-12 yachts on a tight 2 sail reach.  The A3 kite was hoisted at the top mark for what looked to be a beam reach.  However, the wind shifted just after the hoist and the A2 would have been a better choice. JAVELIN maintained their position finishing 4th in Race 3.

Going into the final day of racing, JAVELIN was in the lead position, with only a few points separating the first six yachts.  She sailed a clean covering race in perfect sailing conditions- sunny, flat waters and 12-14 knot breeze.  The results came in and JAVELIN finished 1st in Race 4 and, therefore was declared the overall winner in her AMS 1 class!

J/24s Love Corio Bay Sailing
The Passage & Twilight Series was sailed under the EHC handicap rule.  A gaggle of J/24s enjoyed tight racing with each other, with just 2.5 pts separating them in the final tally.  Top J/24s, sitting in 4th handicap was Simon Grain’s JET.  Just behind them in 5th was Miles Hurrell’s SCRUMPY, and only a half point back was Pauliina Mattila’s BRUSCHETTA VI.

Like their sisterships, Jeff Harris’ J/24 FUN enjoyed the Corio Bay series, taking a 4th for their weekend of fun-loving experiences on sunny Geelong Bay.

Watch the highlights video, including several interviews of the J/111 Class owners.  Sailing photo credits- Salty Dingo/ Melbourne, Australia  Follow the Festival of Sails on Facebook here  For more Festival of Sails sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/111 VELOCE Triumphs @ Festival of Sails Regatta

111s Sweep Podium in Super 11s Class Too!
(Geelong, Australia)- It is always on everyone’s calendars in eastern Australia to make sure that you have enough time with family and friends to enjoy the “Festival of Sails” off Geelong, an amazing event hosted by the Royal Geelong YC. More importantly, it was the 175th annual celebration of sailing in this beautiful corner of Australia on the long holiday weekend known as “Australia Day”!

Participating in this year’s regatta was the Super 11s class and the J/111 one-design class.  After a seven-race series, there was no question who was the dominant team in the J/111 class- Phil Simpfendorfer’s VELOCE with a 4-2-2-1-1-2-1 tally for 9 pts net (after toss race).  Keeping pace most of the time was Rob Date’s SCARLET RUNNER 11 with their tally of 1-3-3-2-2-1-2 for 11 pts net.  Then, rounding out the top three in class was Rod Warren’s team on JOUST with a 3-1-1-3-3-4-3 record for 14 pts net. 

What is remarkable about these results is the fact that top Australian sailors on J/111s are advancing the ball quite rapidly in terms of overall performance.  Why?  Because, JOUST’s crew recently sailed the J/111 World Championship in San Francisco, CA and finished 3rd, just 2 pts off the lead!  Good news for the Australian J/111 contingent!

While the J/111s were competing for one-design honours, they were also competing for handicap honours in their “Super 11s” handicap class.  Guess what?  The J/111s swept the podium as well!  Same cast of characters- 1-2-3 in handicap class as well, with Simpfendorfer’s crew on VELOCE collecting all the silverware. 

J/111 & Super 11 honours to VELOCE
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2028022773891614/
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2027874367239788/

Sports boats class on last day- “a glam day”
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/videos/2028166730543885/

Festival of Sails FB page
https://www.facebook.com/Festival.of.Sails/?ref=stream

For more Festival of Sails sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Ottoway Clinches Australian J/24 Nationals!

(Melbourne, New South Wales, Australia)- Congratulations to Hugo Ottaway and his crew, Paulina Mattila, Gareth Evans, James Tarode and Megan Aulich sailing BRUSCHETTA VI, the new Australian National J/24 Class Champions for 2018.  Here is a great play-by-play account of how it wall went down in the waters of Sandringham Bay off Melbourne, hosted by the Royal Sandringham YC.

DAY ONE- "Glam" Conditions
Racing got underway in “glam” conditions, sunshine and light southerlies. Race’s one and two were light and then in a building, but shifty breeze.  The fleet sailed another two races, making it four total for the day, with the last race sailed in a perfect 15 -16-knot breeze.

Dave West sailing Arthur Crothers’ KAOTIC jumped out of the box in race one for a win from local sailor Simon Grain in JET, with Jeanette Syme in WILDFIRE from the South Sydney Fleet taking out third.

Race two saw Sandringham’s “Mr J24” Hugo Ottaway in BRUSCHETTA VI take the gun from JET again, with Ron Thomson in KICKING third.

As the breeze built in the race, the placings started to change around. Local class President, John Neville, put in a solid performance to take the gun from Jordan Sunkel-Lozell and Kirsty Harris in HYPERACTIVE. Jordan was sailing the Sandringham J/24 Fleet Youth boat SIDETRACKED like a champ.

Race four, the race management team sensibly got ahead of the program with a questionable weather forecast for Saturday. The local J/24 Worlds aspirant Brendan Lee, sailing BY THE LEE, took the gun from Hugo and Steve Wright sailing TINTO, the latest addition to the Australian fleet from Germany.

So, the top five crews after day one were all basically tied!  Leading was Ottoway’s BRUSCHETTA VI with a 2-7-1-10 for 20 pts.  Behind on the tie-breaker was Wright’s TINTO with a 3-4-8-5 on 20 pts.  Then, third was a tie-break on 21 pts with Simon Grain’s JET with a 6-11-2-2 with Harris’ HYPERACITVE with a 9-3-5-4.  One point back in fifth was West’s KAOTIC with a 4-13-4-1 for 22 pts.

That’s what the results say, so what really happened??

JET looked great after the first two races, then faded. But, in a gentlemen’s agreement with John Neville, is one jug up!

Ottoway started badly with a 10th, but won the day, on a count back from Steve Wright– not exactly creaming the day but 1 point ahead of JET and HYPERACTIVE. And, KAOTIC with mixed performances is a further point back.

Looks like Simon likes the light, but Hugo likes the mid-breezes.

Back in the fleet, Chris Ravesi in SANGUINE had an altercation with newcomer Patricio Sepulveda in BAILE de LUNA. Jordan in SIDETRACKED busted a lower shroud when doing rather well near the top mark.

DAY TWO- It's Never Like This!
Yes, It’s Melbourne and, as always, it is never like this!  But, friends, it is what it was!

The day’s weather was an even better re-run of Day One.  Warm sunny and with 7-12 knot southerly breezes and flat water, the stay at homers will be wishing they weren’t.

A little point to note from John Neville’s briefing – he/she who wins the first race of the day commits them and their crew to cooking the evening BBQ at the Ken King Centre.

Yesterday’s problems are all fixed, SIDETRACKED got new lower shrouds, SANGUINE had its bow fixed and BAILE De LUNA was replaced with SCRUMPY, thanks to our very generous Leigh MacLeod.

So it was in Race 5 today that Brendan Lee put his hand up to cook the BBQ with a good win from Steve Wright in TINTO and John Neville in VICE VERSA.

Race Six and Sandy’s ex-President, Newsletter Editor in Chief, resident Scotsman and all round keenest skipper, yelled ‘Och aye the noo’, freely translated this means ‘just now I won me first Nationals race’ and let me tell you folks if it wasn’t for being a Scotsman, the credit card would be out and the bartender shouted “free drinks” on Doug! Well done, Doug!

In a race of upsets, Jeanette Syme in WILDFIRE had a well-deserved second and Warren Campbell screamed into third. Wow!

An amazing thing so far is that no boat is a stand out, every boat in the top half of the fleet has had a shocker and with only one drop in this 12 race series, some of these are going to count. Consistency is the key.

Speaking of that. Brendan Lee has now had two wins and a few shockers– here is one of them, ouch!

But, it could be any one of us trying just a bit too hard. Brendan spent the race outside the course looking at this very same video immediately placed on the Vic J/24 FB site by the amazing Craig Wiley on the start boat. I’m told he looked at it over 20 times just to make sure. What I haven’t told you is that we are all under ‘U’ flag in this start. Bye Bye!

Race Seven and ‘Mr J24’ Hugo Ottaway sailed away from the fleet – and John Neville in second to lead around every mark, Dave West in KAOTIC took third in a long battle from Simon Grain in JET.

In the almost as important Thommo Cup, Jeanette is creaming Ron by 4 points. Jack Fullerton, Sandy’s ‘replaced with new’ man is finally putting it together with a solid 10th place – nice shirts too, Jack. Dave McKay from the South Sydney Fleet is back in 11th, but here and sailing, he tells me he left Sydney with just one crew and put the rest together on the drive down! Well done Dave! By the way, has he told you he was World Moth Champion and Australian Sailor of the Year in 1969– buy him two beers and he will tell you about it! We love you in the class Magoo!

So, you would think that Hugo would be looking pretty good at the end of Day Two. And, he is, but not quite as good as John Neville, sitting just one point above him on 23 points. Dave West is third on 25 points and Simon Grain is fourth on 29 points, clearly the results are close and with 5 races still to go, the result is far from settled.

Well how does it all look? Lets ask Brendan.

Back in the pack, the new members of our Sandy group are finding out what bigger one design fleet racing is all about. It’s hard racing, but it’s fun and everyone is thrilled you guys have joined us! Stick with it, we are better for your participation by far. Robin and Jim Townsend from SA have made the trip over and are, as ever, ardent supporters of the class and the regatta circuit. Next year is your turn and we’ll be there.

DAY 3- Shifty, Hot & Nuking!
Day three turned most things right around. Gone is the light to medium Southerly, in is the 42 C degree (HOT!) and a 20–25 knot Northerly. Jibs for everyone and for the first time in years, code flag  – life jackets today!

Initially felt with some foreboding by some, the hot Northerly belted the fleet all day. But, it wasn’t the boat and crew crusher some expected.

Kirsty Harris sailing HYPERACTIVE cleaned up the first two races.  They had a very, very close win from Simon Grain in JET and Brendan Lee in BY THE LEE in the first race.  Then, they had a convincing win in the second from Hugo Ottaway in BRUSCHETTA VI and Ron Thomson in KICKING.

A little further back, places 5-8 finished in line abreast with a spread of only 5 seconds (on the score sheet – I would have thought it was less than that). It was another great example of the close racing the class is providing. Thanks Craig!

Race Ten was taken out in grand and exciting style by class National President, Ron Thomson, skippering KICKING.

Filling the minor placings in Race Ten were Brendan Lee and Simon Grain.

In any windy day, there are things that just happen. Three people that I know of went into the water, but hung on to be pulled back on board. Steve Wright in TINTO had his bowman and kite pole go over– the pole didn’t come back!

Starting in the strong winds, where you might expect things to get a bit more ragged, it was quite the opposite for most competitors (not all) with no U flag today.

So, what happened on the result sheet? Well, quite a few changes. Sadly for John Neville, yesterday’s regatta leader, a less than a glam day, resulting in a fall from first to third behind new leader Hugo Ottaway and in second place Simon Grain. Still wide open, the first 6 places cover only 10 points and tomorrow sees some serious work still to be done for the title of National Champion 2018.

By the way, what a fantastic job the whole race management team is doing. The racing has been handled brilliantly with fair start lines and a mix of course length and structure. The protest committee has been busy with a few meetings over the last few days. From us to you– well done!! Thanks Guys and Girls of the Sandy team!!

DAY FOUR- Battle of the Century!
Day four was a battle for first between Hugo and Simon right to the very end, with both finishing the last race in the same order as they finished the regatta.

HYPERACTIVE and VICE VERSA both finished on 58 points for fourth and fifth, respectively, an indication of the close racing throughout the regatta.

The last day started slowly with a 12-15 knot southerly, cloudy skies and much cooler temperatures (to everyone’s relief after the very draining 42 degree Saturday). With a shifty wind, a couple of generals and an exemplary attitude from the race committee, after one and a half hours and seven start sequences we finally got away. Jordan, skippering the Sandy Youth boat SIDETRACKED, had an absolute blinder of a race, finishing out front only to suffer the pain of finding he was OCS on a black flag race.

Steve Wright in TINTO took the gun, with JET just pipping BRUSCHETTA VI right on the line. Race 12 had BRUSCHETTA VI taking out the race from JET and HYPERACTIVE.

The Performance Handicap was won by Robin Townsend in WITCHES THIMBLE from Jack Fullerton in TWO DOGS and Ron Thomson in KICKING.

In the very popular Thommo Cup, once again Ron took the honours from Jeanette 7 – 5. Although, he tells me he got a real scare in the middle of the regatta when it was 4 all!

There are stories too many to mention from the fleet. The standard of racing is awesome, it doesn’t matter where in the fleet, from front to back the competition is full on. And everyone is loving it.

Our Sandy Race Management Team did a fantastic job in sometimes trying conditions. I heard no grumbles, only praise for their very professional work.

A comment from Peter Edwards from Cronulla regarding the Race Committee, “For the next three days I got to experience the most proficient, organized, and skilled Race Committee I have ever been involved with. From the top, Graeme Watt and Peter Taylor empower all their team with a cool calm and sense of importance that make you proud to be involved with them.  My thanks go to all the team for allowing me to be part of your team.
Sandringham Race Committee are as good as it gets, if not better, and I had so much enjoyment in being part of it, I really didn’t want to leave!!”

The Vic J/24 fleet did a fantastic job organizing the regatta. President John Neville and the committee put in huge hours, effort and energy into making these Nationals one of the best anyone can remember.

The presentation was held in the Sandy Harbourview restaurant, another very successful evening with El Presidente, master MC and funnyman John Neville.  He lamented that the regatta had not ended when he was winning, but doing a sterling job presenting trophies, cracking jokes and keeping us all in laughter.

Sailing photo credits- Luis Ferreiro- contact him- PH: 0439 353 865 or website- http://www.luisferreiro.com.  And, you can see more fantastic pics of the action here- http://www.sportsnap.com.au    For more Australian J/24 Nationals sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

“Mr J/24” Wins Australia Winter Regatta

(Melbourne, Australia)- The June long weekend saw the running of the Cronulla Sailing Club J/24 Short Course Regatta in cold though fine (almost) conditions with wind ranging from 18-30 kts over the 2 days of sailing.

Competitors arrived from as far afield as Sandringham Yacht Club, the southern home of J/24 yacht racing in Australia, with one boat JET (Simon Grain) and another crew lead by ‘Mr J24’ Hugo Ottaway, both J/24 supporters of the Cronulla event for many years, also WILDFIRE (Janette Syme) and Marc Van Dinther (PINOT) made the journey from the Harbour and Botany Bay, to sail in the challenging inshore conditions of Bate Bay, Cronulla.

Our focus this year was to welcome new J/24 crews to the Cronulla family. SAILMATES (Steve Arnold) competed in their first regatta after purchasing their J/24 locally, also BOUDICCA (John Zagame) an offshore crewmember and now a proud J/24 owner, enthusiastically listening and improving as the weekend progressed. Wes Batty, another local from Cronulla bringing out PANDAMONIUM, the ever-popular mooring minder to race and be involved again.

So, to the results! Hugo “Mr J/24” Ottaway, again, proved too good on scratch scoring just 12 pts with many bullets and second places. Second for the regatta was VERTIGO (Clinton Hood), the current South Australian J/24 State Champion.  Third on the podium was RENAISSANCE (Stephen Wright), the current Jubilee Champion and Cronulla campaigner.

Performance Handicap saw VERTIGO pop up one place to first, STOCKCAR with the forever young David Mckay in second and RENAISSANCE in third place.

The Cronulla Sailing Club would like to thank all our the events supporters: Wet Tech Rigging, Macquart Marine, Aussea Sailing School, Spot-A-Yacht Photography, Newton Real Estate, Short Marine, CJ Construction, Cronulla Marina and Ryan Short Marine Services for your ongoing support to this grass roots event. Hope to see you all again at Cronulla next June for the Mid-Winter Championships.  For more CSC WET-TECH J/24 Short Course Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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J/70 AUSTRALIA- A View From Down Under

(Sydney, Australia)- Andrew Kings, a J/70 Owner from Australia had this to say about his recent J/70 sailing experience-

“Greetings, from the bottom of the world. I am a very proud owner of J/70 hull 399. It provides me with a lot of pleasure. That said, I am not a typical J/70 owner, nor did I buy her for the typical reasons someone buys a one-design sport boat. I am 62, retired, and live in a small seaside village on Bass Strait. The yacht club has an eclectic fleet of 6 to 8 keelboats. Our sailing season is only 4 to 5 months and the boats are on swing moorings during the season and then removed. Generally, I sail alone, or with a guest, who is new to the boat. So, I was looking for a day sailor that was easy to handle alone, but, spirited enough to provide lots of fun. The added advantage of being trailerable and without an inboard engine also made the annual launch, removal, and servicing, simpler, and significantly cheaper. Not to mention a high boom for aged knees!

As we use a performance handicap system in our club, I am not bound by one design rules so I have replaced the winches with Harken 15 ST self tailers (which fitted the mounting step perfectly) which help considerably with tacking.  Handling multiple sails and the tiller without hitting a fellow sailor or the channel markers we use as buoys can be challenging at times! I originally fitted a top down furler to the asymmetric, however, it was problematic so if the winds are reasonable (10-15 knots) I put the tiller on the clutch run forward and hoist the kite alone. Dropping it single handed is always entertaining, especially for my competitors, and I don’t have any time to repack it if we have two downwind legs, but, it is all good fun.

For your amusement I have attached a short video of Hull 399 ‘Soixante Dix’ taken by one of my competitors on a very benign day. Sure I’ll never stand on a podium, or one design fleet race, but for me the J/70 is a perfect boat and is proof that the formula is successful across many spectrums. Well done!”  For a guy who is 62 years old— go figure!!!

PACEMAKER Trumps J/24 Vic States!

(Melbourne, Australia)- True to recent form, the real regatta results centered around who would come second.  Sad really, but the Black Prince is supreme, almost untouchable. I say ‘almost’ because he is, “Mr J/24”. Hugo Ottaway creamed one off him and ‘Stompin’ John Neville almost did.

In the challenging lighter conditions National Champion ‘Pacemaker’, skippered by David Suda (aka The Black Prince of Sandringham’), sailed what could be described as his best ever regatta. Despite an uncharacteristically larger number of average to poor starts, the Prince silently slipped through the fleet to record a perfect score after the drop. Many thought it would be game over from a position like that however, with great boat speed and excellent tactics it didn’t seem to matter. “Did you see him go past?”, asks my crew, “no, must have gone the other way up or down”, “which way was that?” they ask, “well not the way we went, that’s for sure”. We had a bad regatta.

So who did come second. Well he isn’t a J sailor, none of the crew are J sailors, but they are all bloody good, 49er and top dinghy sailors. Michah Shuwalow is the SYC club coach – seems he knows his stuff. Simon lent his spare boat ‘Make My Jay’ to get him on the water and told him to sail it like a dinghy– looks like that worked !  MMJ might be worth just that little bit more – better rewrite the ad !

And third, collecting the bronze medallions was a resurging Hugo Ottaway ‘Mr 24’, consistent across the regatta and absolutely blitzing Dave in race 3, could have made the Prince’s’ pedestal a bit wobbly right there Hugo.

This year’s 2016 Monjon Victorian State title saw 20 entries including two from South Australia and two from New South Wales. The depth of talent included past national champions and multiple runners up all vying for a top finish. In true J 24 spirit the regatta began with many boats not passing the maximum crew weight of 400 kgs, (the Jet crew lost 10kg in the last week before) of particular amusement was Brendan Lee running up and down Beach Road wrapped in a plastic garbage bag.

Day one and I was somewhat alarmed to see the measurer (Mr J24) walking down the marina armed with a pair of bolt cutters and blatantly cutting the life lines off an offending yacht– not as alarmed as the owner!  However, it was quickly fixed and then ready to sail, despite the concerns of the owner.

The weather range was from 0 to 15 knots with direction the full 360 degrees, fortunately this settled; however there was no consistent patterns making it a fresh challenge every race. With lighter winds, some awkward slop at times and an often tight 20 boat fleet, clear lanes were not easily found, so back in the pack quickly meant further back.

This year we saw new faces in the front pack with Micah Shallow second overall and Stephen Byrne in ‘Code Violation’ scoring a 2 & 4 in the last two heats. The race for the minor places was tight with one point between second and third and three points between fourth and sixth. Of special note was the performance of ‘Stompin’ John Neville and crew on Vice Versa, finishing 5th, who made a rush just to get to the start line after repairs from a major collision several weeks prior. They were a regular appearance at the front of the pack only losing one race to Suda on the line. John has become a class stalwart in Melbourne, always with a quip and a smile and soon to take on the running of the Vic Assn from ‘Wee Dougie’ who has done an immense and amazing job of running the association for the past 3 years. We will miss the briefing and presentation speeches from Doug.  But, as you all know, ‘Stompin’ John has his own brand of humor and presentation. Never a dull moment in Melbourne!

Who could have imagined a couple of hours waiting for wind on Sunday morning at the ‘Balmy Regatta’. Don’t know who started it but we have a new light weather sport – ‘Boat Ball’. With all the boats milling around a small ball is being thrown from boat to boat, some catch it and some don’t, which means a boat scramble to pick it up. Hours of aimless fun in the sun with many dipping into their attitude adjuster supplies – well what the hell, we may not even get to race. But we did.

A light SW came in and we got away to two smooth water races in the sun and warm conditions – purrfect sailing. Even yours truly put in a better one. He who chose to win banged off another two bullets, visiting ‘Other Dougie’ on the three legged donkey ‘El Fideldo’ and Dave ‘Westie’ West sailing local boat ‘Fly Away Jay’ cemented their 4th and 7th positions. Thanks for coming guys- always a better regatta with you here. Brendan Lee was in there at 6th after having just weighed in finally.

Back in the pack the normal fun loving, hard sailing J crews battled it out, better in some races and down in others – there have to be lots of stories that I don’t know about, I think there was a man overboard somewhere and I know there was plenty of mark yelling at times. Ron beat Janette on points, but Janette won the Thommo Cup – not sure how that one worked out, maybe it was done on PHS this time. Warren Campbell on ‘J Force’ was suddenly fast, blitzing the starts, seems he discovered a huge amount of ‘long time’ water in his forward buoyancy tanks – goes better without it. Nothing wrong with the boat now!

There’s the usual people who get in the same people’s way – you know who you are – there’s the little races within a race actions, the fight for second last place, the younger crews on youth boats and the older guys hanging in there. Once again the women sailing in our fleet is running at about 40% (a much prettier fleet than some), we have female skippers and crews with incredible talent enjoying competitive racing in the J24 fleet. Eat your heart out skinny boat class !

Massive thanks to the sponsor MONJON, SYC race officials who only flew one Black Flag and the interstate competitors who travel thousands of kilometres to make our regatta, of national standard. Thanks also to Luis Ferreiro for taking the most amazing pics out of a less than visually exciting regatta. I will be doing another article featuring more pics from Luis. To see his pics go to www.sportsnap.com.au

Here’s the final tally for the Victorian Stats Title: 1st Pacemaker (David Suda), 2nd Make My Jay (Michah Shuwalow), 3rd Bruschetta VI (Hugo Ottaway).

Handicap winners: 1st Vice Versa (‘Stompin’ John Neville), 2nd Code Violation (Stephen Byrne), 3rd Gridlock (Simon Pickett).  Thanks, as always, for this contribution from Simon Grain and Hugo Ottaway!  For more J/24 Vic States Regatta sailing information

J/111 JOUST Tops Super 11’s State Title

(Melbourne, Australia)- Rod Warren’s J/111 JOUST performed well at the recent state titles for the newly formed Super 11 group, which includes a Melges 32, Reichel-Pugh 36, McConaghy 31's and other light weight flyers.

After giving up 10 minutes in the 20 mile passage race by missing a mark and being forced to drop the kite and beat back to be in last position (never a good look) JOUST chewed up the fleet of nine to still win on corrected time! Proving you should never give up.

The following day two windward leewards were run in light breezes favoring the lighter boats. A second and third secured Second place in AMS Class and equal First in PHRF Class scoring.  The J/111 was not expected to perform in this company but once again this great boat proved its versatility and speed!  Thanks for the report from Yachtspot.

Australia Hopping Mad About J’s!

(Sydney, Australia)- It’s no secret that Australia has produced many good sailors over time, virtually all of them having grown out of strong one-design sailing programs- from dinghies to keelboats.  For decades, at the core of that development from dinghies into offshore boats has been the J/24. It is rare for a top sailor from Australia to not have cut his/her teeth on a J/24 in national or world competition.  In recent years, the J/24 class in Australia continues to provide that “next step” for kids and families in various clubs moving up from Opti’s and “4-twinkies”.

Building on that program of progression in recent years has been the introduction of the J/sprit line of boats. Remarkably, the first J/sprit design to hit the shores of Australia was the J/122 (not exactly a little sportboat)!  Since then, the J/111, J/97 and J/70 have begun to make their mark from Western Australia (Perth, Freemantle) to Eastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, etc).  Why? Simple.  Because J’s are fast upwind (an attribute not many boats in Australia are renown for) and they’re equally as fast flying downwind (a bit like RED ROO and YDRA combined with POLICE CAR’s legendary offshore performance with the tamed skittishness of COLOR 7’s Aussie 18 wildness).  Here’s the latest report on J’s in Australia’s summer.

Sydney J/70 Fleet
Sydney J/70’s are having a blast and finished the one-design summer series on a few highs. The Sydney-based J/70s sailed on stunning Sydney Harbour every 3rd weekend, commencing 12th Sept until 2nd April (only 8 months of idyllic sailing- bummer for all the surfer-dudes).  It does not suck, we can tell you.  We love our long summers. Sun. Fun. Wind. Over 33 races. We have challenging windward-leeward courses, often 3 races per day!

The weather was a real mix from gale force winds and heavy chop to drifter’s where the fleet really did finish on high, a high pressure forced the very last race to be abandoned as the harbour glassed out.

Finishing at the top of the leader board was Tim Ryan’s 007 JAMES on 29 points closely followed by the most improved boat of the series, Reg and Sally Lord’s JUNO on 35.5 points, in third spot was Steve and Sue Brady’s Y-KNOT. The place getters had this to say about the very first long term J/70 series in Australia.

“The sailing was fantastic,” said Tim Ryan, “so good to be in one design again and live or die by sailing well. We are quite experienced in the local J/70 fleet, but our friends and competitors certainly pushed us all the way in the variety of conditions we experienced. Well done to you all.”

Reg Lord on JUNO said, “We really enjoyed this regatta. It was a lot of fun for everyone sailing J/70s on Sydney harbor in summer with consistent planing conditions.”

Steve & Sue Brady on Y-KNOT had a fun series. They started with a fresh crew so the drops and hoists were organized chaos initially, but they also improved leading around the top mark many times and managing to win a few races, including the very last one. On behalf of the J/70 fleet, Steve thanked Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for laying on a great series and looking after the J/70s, the other J/70 crews for the competition and great camaraderie.  He is also looking forward to seeing the even larger J/70 fleet that have all agreed to race in the West Harbour Bridge winter series respecting their decision to come visit him on his side of Sydney Harbour Bridge. The J/70s have secured their own J/70 class start in the expected mixed 180-boat fleet as the class goes from strength to strength.

J/122’s in West Australia
West Australian J/122s in both Doublehanded and Fully crewed racing came home with the silverware again!  Both boats sailed the challenging Halls Head Ocean Race - Fremantle to Mandurah, Western Australia.

The Halls Head Ocean Race sees yachts race the 62nm from Fremantle to Mandurah where they berth overnight, followed by the Point Robert Return race on the Sunday, and run by Fremantle Sailing Club.  With dark clouds and lightning looming in the northern sky for the pre-start, many crew members of the 34 yacht entrants would have been wondering if their heavy weight wet weather gear was in order.  With a light, shifting easterly breeze, the skippers contemplated which kite, if any, they would call upon after rounding the day buoy.

All Divisions hoisted spinnakers at the day buoy, and the run to Channel Marker C was a vision of battling spinnakers.  Considering the breeze was consistently shifting, there appeared to be minimal advantage from one spinnaker to another. The Southern Passage leg, after the Channel run, was exciting, kites were lost and a large portion of the fleet jostled for the best position to clear the passage and start the reach towards Mandurah keeping Coventry Reef to port. After clearing the reef, the yachts that held their course and waited for the southerly before tacking towards Mandurah generally faired better than those that tacked immediately after passing the reef.

With most yachts managing to get into the marina within an hour of each other, the scene was set for an entertaining evening. Sunday’s return race was sailed with a patchy and dropping breeze close to shore. Head to shore, stay out to sea or run the middle? Eventually the light-filling breeze was slightly stronger for the yachts further from the shore and the drag race home was uneventful but a very pleasant downwind ride back to Fremantle.

Amongst the fleets was JOSS, Ian Clynes J/122 in the fully crewed Division 2 competing against a pair of C&C 115s, Archambault 40’s, Elan 40s, Beneteaus 44.7, Farr 40, Farr 395, and Adams 13 to name a few.  JOSS enjoyed a superb race and finished 2nd on IRC and 1st on YAH handicap in this very competitive fleet.

In the seven boat two handed division Graeme Monkhouse’s J/122 LITHIUM powered home to be first across the line and finished 2nd on IRC by under two minutes.  These follow on from JOSS’ and LITHIUM’s recent wins in the Coventry Reef Offshore race.

J/97 in Sydney
The J/97 KNOCKABOUT again stood on the Podium in the prestigious Sydney Super 30 Gold Cup for the 4th consecutive year!  That is an amazing record for any boat in Sydney!

Jim Chambers and his trusty crew, with an average age on the high side of 60, yet again took a podium finish in Australia’s Sydney Harbour “Super 30 Gold Cup Series” on AMS (Australian Measurement System). The J/97 KNOCKABOUT scored an impressive seven 1st places, six 2nd places and three 3rds to finish second overall to a stripped out 35 ft sports boat. In a ‘what might have been’ PHS result, they finished one point behind 3rd place in the 17 strong fleet.

“The series is comprised of 19 races with 3 drops allowed,” explained Jim. “It’s quite a mixed fleet mainly made up of stripped out sportboat types from 26 to 35 feet. We are one of the few, fully fitted out boats in the fleet, so at least I have the opportunity to go cruising in comfort afterwards!  By the way, that is another reason why I love sailing our J/97!”

He continues to explain, “It’s been a lot of fun with very varied weather this season but the boat continuous to impress and look after her crew even though we don’t always do the right thing. We will take a break from racing over the winter but will be raring to go on our trusty J/97 again next season!”

J/111 in Melbourne
The crew on the J/111 JOUST takes first place again in Melbourne!  They added the Sandringham YC Summer series to an already incredible race record in Melbourne Australia.

In the 11 week summer series held out of Sandringham YC on Melbourne’s stunning Port Phillip Bay and against some of Melbourne’s top boats, including a trio of First 40’s, 47.7, First 45, HH42, Sydney 38s and Bavaria Match 42 to name a few, one of the smallest boats in this competitive fleet has triumphed once again.

Rod Warren’s J/111 JOUST compiled an impressive score line of a first, four 2nds, two 3rds and dropped a 5th and 6th. The won again on AMS (Australian Measurement System) with an impressive 10 clear points to the second boat.

The above adds to the already impressive results Rod has chalked up in his first ever keelboat. These results include:

• Winner of Lipton Cup on AMS and 3rd on IRC
• Club Marine Cup 2nd AMS and 3rd IRC
• Geelong Festival of Sails Super 11 series 3rd AMS
• SYC Peter Taylor Trophy 1st AMS and 2nd IRC
• Commodore In Chief Trophy 1st IRC
• Port Phillip Trophy 1st AMS and 1st IRC
• Tam O Shanter overnight race 1st AMS
• Winter Series 2015 1st AMS

“It was a lot of fun,” commented Rod, “the weather was real mix from light to heavy with the famous Port Phillip Bay steep chop also playing its tricks in some races. The J/111 was faultless and we are really enjoying the boat and don’t mind being one of the smallest in the fleet, it adds to the fun and challenge. I would like to thank all our competitors for some great racing and SYC and other local clubs for running great events.  We look forward to dueling with you all again soon when the winter series starts!”

For more Australian J/Boats sailing information- contact Ray Entwistle- Ph +612-9997-7158/ Mob +612-0406-562262/ info@yachtspot.com.au