Southern Bay Race Week Preview

(Norfolk, VA)- The first week of June marks the opening of the summer season for the southern Chesapeake Bay offshore sailing season.  Hosted by Norfolk Yacht Club, the Southern Bay Race Week is enthusiastically supported by numerous J/Teams in the area for both PHRF Handicap racing and one-design classes.

The half-dozen J/70 class has crews like Arielle Darrow’s all-women’s team on LADY VORTEXES, Rob Gorman’s SURRENDER TO THE FLOE, Scott Dinse’s MARGARITAVILLE, and Mike Karn’s INCONCEIVABLE.

Sailing PHRF Super A Class is Ian Hill’s J/111 SITELLA.  In PHRF A1 Class are Craig Wright’s J/109 AFTERTHOUGHT and two J/36’s (Phil Briggs’ FEATHER and Will Roberts’ REMEDY.

In PHRF B1 Class is Ben Weeks & Michele Cochran’s J/29 RUMBLE from Hampton Yacht Club. In PHRF B2 Class is Rusty Burshell’s J/30 COOL CHANGE. Then, in PHRF C

In the Cruising B Division are John Wandling’s J/28 PISCES and Christian Johnson’s J/24 BLEU BUS from Virginia Beach, VA.  Sailing photo credits- Paul Todd/ Outsideimages.com.  For more Southern Bay Race Week sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Light Long Island Sound PHRF Championship

WINGS takes J/88s, STRANGE BREW led J/105s (Riverside, CT)- The Storm Trysail Club and the Riverside YC were the hosts of the 2018 PHRF/ J/88/ J/105 Long Island Sound Championship.

Like their colleagues in the Great Lakes sailing the J/70s on Lake St Clair, the Long Island Sound sailors are accustomed to having complete “glass outs” for an entire day, or even days at a time!  While Saturday was an overall non-starter for all fleets, Sunday at least produced two races to save the day for everyone.

In the seven-boat J/88 one-design class, it was Mike Bruno’s WINGS that took the title with a 2-1 tally for 3 pts total.  Second was Bill Purdy’s WHIRLWIND with a 1-3 score for 4 pts.  Third was class leader Iris Vogel and her New York crew on DEVIATION, posting a 3-2 for 5 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Justin Scagnelli’s ALBONDINGAS in 4th and Ken & Drew Hall’s NEVERMORE in 5th position.

The seven-boat J/105 one-design fleet saw a blitzkrieg from Randy Bourne’s STRANGE BREW, winning with two bullets. Similarly, second was taken by David Price’s TRIFECTA, posting a pair of deuces. Yet again, taking third with two “treys” was George Wilbanks’ REVELATION.  The balance of the top five included Max Kalehoff’s LAURA BEA in 4th and Richie Palmer’s TOLO in 5th.

In PHRF handicap world, the SUNY Maritime Sailing Team took 3rd in PHRF 1 on their J/44 CHARLIE V.  Then, in PHRF 2, Chris Ercole’s J/109 SWEET CAROLINE finished third.  For more Long Island Sound PHRF Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Marblehead ONE Regatta Preview

(Marblehead, MA)- As a relatively new regatta on the summer sailing calendar in Marblehead, the Mass Bay Sailing association in cooperation with the three principal yacht clubs in the harbor (Eastern, Boston, Corinthian), created the Marblehead ONE Championship- the Corinthian Yacht Club is the shore-side host this year and will provide an unparalleled post-race experience.

The regatta continues to grow strongly, with 88 participants in 11 classes looking forward to sail over the August 28th to 30th weekend! It features a diversity of boats and fleets, something for everyone and anything that floats and has a pulse!  The largest fleets are the two J/classes- the ten J/70s and sixteen J/105s.  The PHRF Racing fleets number six in total, plus two PHRF Cruz classes and the new addition this year, the PHRF Doublehanded class.

Within the J/70s, the usual suspects and cast of characters have made sure they cleared their end-of-summer calendars for their final round of competition in August.  Included in that fraternity are the RASCAL’s (Henry Brauer and Stew Neff), Ted Johnson’s VITAMIN J, Holly Fabyan’s ASTERIA, Marc Poirier’s HALF FULL and the Smith Family aboard AFRICA.

Watch out for a rematch of what happened in the earlier HELLY HANSEN Marblehead NOOD Regatta for the J/105 class.  All the contenders are back for another shoot-out at the O.K. Marblehead Corral— e.g. Mass Bay!  Amongst those top boats are Dave Nelson’s GOT QI, John Ready’s VMAX, Mark & Jolene Masur’s TWO FEATHERS, Fred de Napoli’s ALLEGRO SIMPLICITA, Jon Samel’s BLOWN AWAY, Charlie Garrard’s MERLIN and Ken Bowden’s KNOTLESS.

Over in PHRF handicap world, many J/Teams present should factor into their class podiums at the end of the regatta.  PHRF 2 will feature scorching hot competition between the three J/111s and a J/122.  Ed Kaye’s PRAVDA 2, Mike Williamson’s BRIGADOON and Gary Weisberg’s HEATWAVE will lead the J/111s while holding up the J/122 honors will be Tom Mager’s GIGI.  PHRF 3 Class features the brand new J/88 FREYJA skippered by Tomas Bergstrand.  The J/109 WILDTHANG skippered by Dan Boyd & Mitch Wiest will be tackling the PHRF 4 class.  A seriously quick J/33 skippered by Ward Blodgett is taking on the PHRF 5 fleet along with the J/29 IL CATTIVO helmed by Pat Cerundolo, they are up against “Sparkle Pony”- a boat of dubious vintage.  Rounding out PHRF Racing is PHRF 6 class with a trio J/24s gunning class annihilation- Erica Beck Spencer’s SEA BAGS WOMENS SAILING TEAM, John Denman’s AIRODOODLE, and John Wells’ SHELDON-J.  The lone wolf in PHRF Doublehanded class is Jeff Kent’s J/35 BLACK SEAL.
For more ONE Championship regatta sailing information

J/Teams Crush Buzzards Bay/ PHRF New Englands

(Dartmouth, MA)- The 43rd Buzzards Bay Regatta, was held August 7-9, 2015 at the New Bedford Yacht Club in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. As anticipated, Buzzards Bay delivered yet again on good conditions for the three-day weekend regatta.  Fair weather and plenty of breeze provided favorable conditions for top J teams to just about sweep all the top positions in the PHRF New England Championship, held in conjunction with the Buzzards Bay Regatta.

An extraordinary 16 of the 25 entrants for the PHRF New England Championship were J/Teams (64.0% of the fleet)!  In PHRF Race 1 class, Mark Verville’s J/120 ISURUS won, followed by Doug Curtiss’s J/111 WICKED 2.0 (a past BBR winner) in 2nd position, followed by another J/111, Sedgwick Ward’s BRAVO in 4th place. Jim Shachoy’s J/122 AUGUST WEST, the recent winner of the New York YC IRC East Coast Championship, took 6th overall.

In PHRF 2, Richard Fontaine’s J/105 GOOD TRADE from Mass Maritime led a sweep of the class.  Cory Eaves’ J/109 FREEDOM took 2nd in class, followed by local hotshot Ted Herlihy’s J/109 NA Championship winning GUT FEELING in 3rd.  Fourth was Ed Joyce’s J/105 DARK’N’STORMY and 5th was Doug Newhouse’s new J/88 YONDER from Sail Newport.

Then, in PHRF 3, Key Dyett’s J/30 JEROBOAM took 2nd in class followed by Diana & Tom Sutton’s J/35 LEADING EDGE from Houston YC in 3rd.  Fifth place was taken by yet another J/30- Ken van Colen’s MODDY BLUE from New Bedford YC.

In PHRC Cruise class, Al Signorella’s J/100 SUNDANCE from New Bedford YC placed 2nd while Steve Dahill’s J/35C RIVA from Beverly YC took 4th in class.  For more Buzzards Bay Regatta sailing information

“LIVE” Hot Rum Sailing Report

(San Diego, CA)- What fun!  You can watch a “live” pursuit race play out in real-time on the Internet courtesy of San Diego YC and the sailing teams that are participating in the famous SDYC Hot Rum Series— watch how they all did on Saturday November 8th here- http://raceqs.com/regattas/hot-rum-series.

There were dozens of J/sailors participating in the fleet of 134 boats, with 32 J/Teams (25% of the fleet!), all hoping to be the first boat to cross the finish line in this epic pursuit race format.  You never know how these things turn-out, but more than half the fun is participating and watching many of your sailing colleagues pass by (one way or another!).

How did it all shake out for the first race of the series?  Overall, Chuck Nichols’ J/120 CC RIDER took a 1st in class and 5th overall sailing an amazing race (check out their track on RaceQs.com to see how they did it).  And, Karl Pomeroy’s J/70 ZERO TO 60 took 1st in class and 21st overall.  The winner boat-for-boat was an old Ericson 35 and 2nd was an STP 65!  As always, fun and games in San Diego “pursuit-style” racing in the Hot Rum Series.

On a class basis, the two J/125s in Class 1 were 6th and 7th, respectively, Jim Madden’s STARK RAVING MAD IV and Viggo Torbensen’s TIMESHAVER.  In Class 2, behind Nichols’ CC RIDER, classmate Mike Hatch on J-ALMIGHTY took 5th and Rudolph Hasl’s J/120 HASL FREE took 7th and the Brockmann/ Laun combo on the J/120 CAPER were 9th and Peter Zarcades on the J/120 MELTEMI was 10th.  A great showing overall for the J/120 fleet.

Class 3 was, as usual, a hound dog’s collection of stuff from across the IOR, IMS, PHRF spectrum of a century or so.  While taking 4 of the top 10, 35 ft class J’s were in the middle, with Dennis Case’s J/105 WINGS in 5th, with Ed Sanford’s J/105 CREATIVE in 6th, Herb Zoehrer’s J/35 Z-Force in 7th and Dag Fish’s J/105 VIGGEN in 8th.

Behind Pomeroy’s ZERO TO 60 in first for Class 4, Dave Vieregg’s J/70 SOGGY DOLLAR took a well-deserved 2nd in class, followed by Dave Cheresh’s J/70 FLARE at 7th in class.

Check back again soon to see how the fleet does “live” on RaceQs.com in their next Hot Rum Series #2 race on November 22nd!  Watch the action in real-time here.  For more SDYC Hot Rum Series sailing information

J/105 LOKI Tops Lauderdale- Key West Race

(Ft Lauderdale, FL)- This year's Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race certainly lived up to the pre-race caveat of "Be Prepared."  The light VMG running of the past couple of years was a distant memory, as a stout northwesterly that built overnight and brought the fleet down and around the curve in rapid fashion, but made them work hard for the quick trip. When they reached the island, a slew of familiar names graced the top of the leader board.

David Bond’s gorgeous maroon-colored J/105 LOKI from Miami, a past class winner, laid claim to the PHRF B class title. LOKI was right on the edge at the start, took control of the class at the beginning and never looked back.  LOKI beat the Tripp 33 Main Squeeze for the class win, missing the PHRF Overall fleet win by a just few minutes but taking 2nd Overall silver.

In PHRF A Class, the heralded duel between Robin Team’s J/122 TEAMWORK, a past class and overall champion in the race, and Eddie Frederick’s J/111 FIREBALL lived up to expectations.  Their class encountered fast-reaching conditions for the first half of the race and, after turning past the “elbow” of the Keys, the sailing turned into somewhat of a reach/ power-beat waterline adventure for the latter half.  Initially, the FIREBALL gang loved the fast reaching in the beginning, however, as the race wore on the experienced TEAMWORK crew ground away to finish just 13 minutes in front but not enough to beat their stablemates on FIREBALL on handicap.  Consequently, FIREBALL took corrected honors with this match-up by just 2+ minutes and grabbing the silverware for 3rd overall.  TEAMWORK settled for fourth in class.  Sailing Photo credits- John Payne.  For the SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West Facebook page   For more SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West sailing information

What Do Rolex Big Boat Winners Have In Common?

(San Francisco, CA)-  What do these Rolex Big Boat Series winners all have in common-- e.g. what does it take to win a Rolex Submariner Watch? 

Perhaps for the first time ever, most have sailed or owned a J/Boat over the course of time.  Starting from left:

• Terry Hutchinson- Melges 24 winner, also J/24 Worlds winner
• Andy Costello/ Peter Krueger- Double Trouble J/125 captain and owner
• Steve Madeiro- Mr Magoo J/120 owner
• Scooter Simmons- Blackhawk J/105 owner
• Sy Kleinman- Swiftsure S54 owner, J/105 sailor in past
• Jim Cascino- StFYC Commodore- J/70, J/105 and J/120 owner
• Jim Swartz- Vesper TP52, J/70 owner in Edgartown

Sailing photo credit- Rolex/ Daniel Forster

J/Teams Leaders @ Long Point/ Catalina Race Week

(Long Point, CA)- One of the classic end of summer events enjoyed by many sailors in the Los Angeles offshore circuit are the three point-to-point races that constitute Long Point Race Week.  The event is jointly hosted by Newport Harbor YC and Balboa YC and the three races that are run are 1) Newport Beach to Long Point , 2) the Ship Rock race, and 3) Long Point back to Newport Beach.

First day the teams raced 26 nm from Newport Beach to Whites Cove, Catalina island where all the racers were catered for by the superbly prepared chefs from Newport Harbor and Balboa Yacht Clubs. The event is by invitation only and features some of the best in SoCal racing.  Saturday's racing started super-light, the race committee decided to move the start up the coast closer to Ship Rock- the top mark of the race course.  The breeze kept building and the racers enjoyed a downwind finish in 15-16 kts with a dash of brilliant sunshine.  Then, it was back to the chefs and more culinary pleasures, all served on the beautiful sandy beach on Catalina Island! Sunday's race back to the mainland saw 8-15 knots of breeze from the west, making for a fast-paced race. 

Sailing "lights out" was Viggo Torbensen's Dana Point YC team on his J/125 TIMESHAVER-- the famous boat with the pink bottom!  Their 2-1-1 record for 4 pts gave them an enormous lead over the class rivals in Division Two.  Second to them was Myron Lyon's San Diego YC crew on the J/160 INNOCENT MERRIMENT, winning the first race and adding a 5-6 for 12 pts total.  Third was the other J/125 DERIVATIVE sailed by Mark Thurber's Coronado YC team, starting slow with a 9th, but closing fast with a 3-2 for 14 pts to snag the last spot on the podium.

The J/120 one-design class was tossed into a mixed fleet of boats in Division Three, perhaps much to their competitors collective dismay.  With all that one-design racing experience under their belts, the J/120s took four of the top five spots.  Leading the charge was Mike Hatch's San Diego YC crew on the infamous J-ALMIGHTY, taking second overall with a 4-2-1 for 7 pts.  Third was Gary Winton's Cabrillo Beach YC crew on SHENANIGANS, posting a 1-8-4 scoreline for 13 pts.  Fourth overall was Jim Barber's Los Angeles YC crew on HOT TAMALE, losing the tie-breaker to SHENANIGANS by virtue of their 6-4-3 record for 13 pts.  Fifth place was Tom & Teri Manok's Oceanside YC gang sailing POLE DANCER.

The two J/109s that sailed in Division Four ended up tied after three races!  Consequently, after the count-back, the top J/109 happened to be John Shulze's LINSTAR from host Balboa YC, taking 5th in the class.  The second J/109 was Rex Butler's JD from San Diego YC.   For more Long Point Race Week sailing information

Sixteen PHRF Sailboat Racers to Fit a Sailing Budget?!

(Middletown, RI)- SAILING WORLD Magazine recently published a handy article on sixteen PHRF racers that you can own and campaign on a moderate budget.  Written by the editorial crew of Bill Brockway, Kurt Hoehne, Tony Bessinger, they provide some insight on what might work for you, four of them are J/Boats (J/27, J/29, J/30, J/35)!  Here's their commentary:

"The cheapest way to race is on someone else's boat. But, if you have dreams of thrusting the silver urn aloft at the awards banquet while praising your crew, you'll have to buy your own ride. The one thing standing in the way, you say, is the expense. But with handicap racing, you don't have to spring for a big-ticket racer. There are many competitive older designs you can buy and campaign for the cost of a new sport utility vehicle.

The most popular rating rule in the USA is the Performance Handicap Rating Fleet. So, if you're interested in buying a used boat, and want plenty of opportunity to race, it not only makes sense to buy one that fits your budget but performs well under PHRF. You want a boat that rates well in your region, but you don't want to sail a dog. A simple, but effective way of measuring a boat's abilities without sailing it is to determine its sail-area-to-displacement ratio. On most boats, the SA/D ratio usually works out to be between 14 and 30, with higher numbers representing lighter, faster boats. Cruiser/racers have ratios between 16 to 20, racer/cruisers have ratios greater than 20, and high-performance racers have ratios 24 and above. A SA/D calculator can be found at http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__sad_ratio.htm

Thanks to the Internet, searching for a PHRF winner is more fun than work, but to narrow down your search we've tapped our resources to narrow down your search to find 16 gems that shouldn't be overlooked.  Please read more here on SAILING WORLD's website.