Local J/24 Knowledge Pays Dividends in Mexico’s Yucatan!

(Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico)- “Until the 1950’s and 60’s when Yucatán was linked by rail and road, respectively, with the rest of Mexico, it traded by sea more with the USA, Cuba, Caribbean, and even Europe. It is home to one of the largest indigenous populations in Mexico, the Mayan people. Mérida is its capital city, and it is part of the Yucatán peninsula. This is all to say yes, Yucatán is part of Mexico, but it is a world unto its own.

I made my way back to Yucatán Friday for my second year documenting (and sailing with) this enthusiastic new fleet which began just a few years ago, when El Capitan Jorge Ojeda convinced his friends to start racing one-design. They have captured my imagination for their casual determination to grow a fleet without scholastic programming or access to competitors. New to the fleet this year was Janko, a club boat named in memory of Jacobo Sosa, an active fleet member who died this spring. She was crewed by school-aged kids representing the youngest group of Yucatán sailors. The fleet is looking to add another club boat in 2019.

Current J/24 US class president Chip Till flew in to lead a rules and tuning clinic preceding the regatta. In its second year, the format consists of a clinic on Saturday, a Christmas boat parade of lights, and the regatta on Sunday.

With average December temperatures of 82°/ 69° F, it makes for a very good J/24 winter weekend. While Till stayed closer to the front of the pack and one of the fleets leaders Tomás Dutton, I sailed with the crew of X’kau (Mayan for blackbird), who kept yelling “perro” to my confusion as I connected the associated following action.

They later explained they took this term from the Hobie class that once thrived there, who used it because a cam cleat “bites” like a dog. Applied linguistics will never stop being the most fun part of intercultural sailing to me. When he wasn’t expertly trimming, Till had fun with it, too.

My other favorite part outside of the sailing is the food.

Homemade horchata is one of the million gastronomic perks of Yucatan casual dining. No better way to put back a fresh cochinita roll for a pre-regatta breakfast of champions. I also ate grasshopper doused in hot sauce and lime from a beach vendor bought by one of our hosts- Ignacio “Nacho” Ponce Manzanilla, the man behind Yucatán’s yachting growth, although Nacho said grasshopper wasn’t local. On a weekend with shifty, often low, and challenging winds, it was great to enjoy the delicious local cuisine.

Sailing took place off Progreso, a port originally planned for fishing and tourism and now the largest exporter of octopus and scaled fish in Mexico.  As a result, the J/24 Yucatán class is geographically isolated from the nation’s only other J/24 fleet, the established and skilled sailors in Valle de Bravo. The J/24 sailors of Yucatán could just as easily reach Miami to compete, which is to say they can’t reach either place easily. This creates national level friction as they work to create competitive opportunities outside themselves. J/24 Yucatán cannot easily come to its competitors, but urge its competitors to come enjoy racing in Yucatán.

After 25 years of a yacht club with no facility, Club de Yates de Yucatán has a home a block from the beach now, surrounded by marinas, and is at work to secure a hoist and ideal water access. The world’s longest pier creates an artificial harbor for their course, buffering prevailing northeast winds to create year round ideal conditions. That’s not to say it never blows from the northwest. Once a month or so, including this weekend for the final in the annual Regata de Amigos series, a “chikinic” (Mayan for “northwestern wind”) blows in and challenges the sailors on the race course.

J/24 Yucatán are organizing a team for 2019 Charleston Race Week, and planning other efforts to connect with the international J/24 community. Proof that being isolated does not have to mean being alone.” Thanks for contribution from SailingAnarchy.com- Anarchist Heather.  Learn more about J/24 Yucatan here Add to Flipboard Magazine.

SC Mattsee Wins J/70 SAILING Champions League- St Moritz

(St Moritz, Switzerland)- This year the best European Clubs sailed the SAILING Champions League in two different events (Act 1 - St. Petersburg (August) and Act 2 - St. Moritz (September)) to snatch one of the much sought-after starts for the grand finale in Porto Cervo (September) where Europe´s best sailing club will be crowned. The races take place in fleet-race-mode on one-design-J/70 class sailboats.

24 sailing teams from 12 nations defied freezing temperatures and weak wind conditions in 24 exciting races in front of the fabulous alpine backdrop of St Moritz and the Engadin valley. On the third and last day of the SAILING Champions League Act 2, Segelclub Mattsee from Austria defended its lead to finish at top of the regatta. Second was Hellerup Sejlklub of Denmark, followed by the Seglerhaus am Wannsee from Germany in third place.

In light and shifty winds, the team from Mattsee upheld good rankings over the entire weekend on the Lake of St. Moritz. In particular, the relatively low weight of this crew of four (Stefan Scharnagl, Anna Scharnagl, Lisa Leimgruber and Hanna Ziegler) paid off under such wind conditions.

"We are overjoyed to have defended our lead from yesterday. We certainly didn't expect this victory, and are, of course, very happy about it“, says helmsman Stefan Scharnagl. The coveted trophy from the presenting partner JUVIA was handed over by Judith Dommermuth, founder and proprietor of the renowned fashion brand.

With this overall win in Act 2 of the SAILING Champions League in St. Moritz, Red Bull Youth-America’s Cup helmsman Stefan Scharnagl and his team demonstrated their potential. At the Grand Finale in Porto Cervo on September 22-24, they aim to confirm it by winning the "Best Sailing Club“ trophy.

Hellerup Sejlklub from Denmark again put pressure on the club from Mattsee on the last day with three wins out of four races. But, that was still not enough to overtake the Austrians. In the end, this team had to make do with second place. Runner-up in third place after a wonderful third day of racing was the German team, Seglerhaus am Wannsee, who won two of the last three races to gain a place on the podium.

In these short close-to-the-shore “stadium races”, held in front of the fabulous alpine backdrop on the St. Moritzersee, the 24 teams rotated into eight J/70 one-design class keelboats over the three days.  It was classic “mountain lake sailing”, with very streaky, shifty winds- putting a premium on boat-handling and acceleration in the fickle breezes.

As a result of the completion of this event in St Moritz, the top sixteen teams are qualified to sail in the SAILING Champions League finale hosted by YC Costa Smeralda, in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy. They include two German teams (Seglerhaus am Wannsee and Lindauer Segelclub) and a Swiss team (Societe Nautique de Geneve).  The SAP Sailing results can be found here   For more SAILING Champions League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

CARISMA Tops J/24 Yucatan “Regata de Amigos”

(Cancun, Mexico)- Jorge Ojeda and friends continue to have a great time sailing in their local fleet of J/24s on that spectacular peninsula in the northeastern part of Mexico- the Yucatan- a region famous for its enormous Mayan cities (ruins), like Chichen Itza and Tulum’s spectacular fortress along the eastern shoreline.  The beaches are fabulously white (made from shells and coral) with baby blue waves crashing on the shoreline, and the waters offshore are just 2-3nm max from the famous cobalt blue Gulf Stream- teeming with wildlife that is beyond belief- like giant bluefin tuna, huge sailfish capable of swimming in 60 kt bursts, monster sunfish 12 ft across, gazillions of flying fish attempting suicide on various boat decks and, of course, a wide variety of sharks looking to munch on something tasty (hopefully, not your toes while you hike on the weather rail!).

The “Regatta of Friends 2017”, hosted by the J/24 Yucatan Fleet, was lots and lots of fun.  It was a good weekend for sailing with changing winds and unusual wind directions.  The fleet started off racing with 10 kts of breeze, but soon it grew fast to 20-30 kts.  For the fleet of nine boats, it was extremely exciting racing offshore!

Congratulations to the team of CARISMA, skippered by Tomas Dutton that sailed to a 1-4-1 for 6 pts.  Taking second were their friends on FILIBUSTERO just one point behind them!  Third was the VENDAVAL crew with 12 pts based on a 2-5-5 tally.  For more Yucatan J/24 Fleet sailing information