J/24 Europeans Start Sailing in Stormy Weather

(Bay of Souda, Crete, Greece)-  With twenty eight entrants from all over Europe, racing started on Tuesday for the J/24 Europeans.  Competitors came from six different European countries, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, United Kingdom and Greece.

The first day of racing had three races completed in difficult weather conditions. Despite the changeable winds, the crew of the HELLENIC POLICE (be careful with them!) with skipper Alexandros Tagaropoulos managed to finish first in the first race of the day with good sailing choices and very good boat speed.  The German boat GUNNI, with Matthias Garzmann on the helm won the second race and the English boat RELOADED with Gavin Watson and his crew, won the last race of the day.

On Wednesday, the crews didn’t manage to finish even one race because of the lack of wind and the very strong rain. The Race Committee tried to start a race but the big wind change made the accomplishment impossible. Then the rain started again.  For the evening the Organizing Committee honored its Sponsors with a Party in the restaurant-bar "Cozmo", at the old port of Chania.

More news on the race, the party, the venue and the incredible Greek hospitality later.  For complete sailing results and regatta information: http://www.j24euro2009.iox.gr/

Garmin Hamble Winter Sailing Series – Week 4

The Garmin Hamble Winter Series, run by Hamble River Sailing Club, remains on track after delivering another full programme and excellent day’s racing in the Solent on Sunday. The fourth day of racing of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series 2009 took place on Sunday, October 25th.  The 16 boat fleet saw 17-25 knots from the south west and the sun was quite warm whilst you were in it, giving perfect conditions for a longer course to be set. 

In contrast to last weekend’s drifting conditions in bright sunshine, Sunday delivered typical Winter Series conditions above forecast with a constant 20 to 25 knot south Westerly across both Black and White fleet courses.  Amongst the Black fleet one-designs ‘JOURNEYMAKER 5’ scored a win in the J/105 fleet.

Within the J/109 fleet it was business as usual as ‘J-DREAM’ scored a fourth race win with ‘SHIVA’, making her first outing in the series, coming home second.  At the start J-DREAM (David & Kirsty Apthorp) saw off the challenge of SHIVA (Matthew Boyle) but was held out left waiting for JUMPING JELLYFISH (David Richards) and JUST SO (David & Mary McGough) to tack right, to stay on the plateau and in less tide.  East Bramble was the first windward mark and then the fleet had an excellent run back to Hamble Yacht Services before a shorter 2 lap windward/leeward course between Air Canada and Hamble Yacht Services.  At the first windward mark, J-DREAM led from SHIVA, a position which she extended for the remainder of the race, winning by nearly 4 minutes.  At the halfway stage of the event,  J-DREAM has 4 points, ARIA 12 points and OUTRAJEOUS 17 points, while places 5th to 8th are only separated by 4 points.

Over on the White fleet course all three races went off as programed, despite gusts up to 28 knots. A few competitors headed for home before but the start of the third race, but most seemed to relish the tough conditions. ‘Oi!!’ scored a consistent 2, 1, 2 in the J/80 fleet maintaining her overall series lead.
Out for the first time in a J/80 was Robin Fielder and his crew. Paul Fuller, who was part of Robin’s crew had this to say;

‘Well, what a weekend for a test sail !  We were slightly apprehensive about the challenges of three races on a breezy Sunday – a new crew and an owner who hasn’t sailed competitively for two years.  However, with some expert tuition from Paul Heys, we quickly got up to speed and by the last race were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, finishing with a win.   The J/80 was excellent fun to sail in a breeze and very stable downwind.  We found it relatively easy to sail and as test sails go, to come away with a 3, 2, 1 was fantastic.  It says much for the layout and the handling characteristics of this great little sportsboat that a new crew can jump onboard and race competitively.’


For more regatta sailing results and information click here.

J/97 Chicago Demos

Rich Stearns reports they've had a number of excellent days for demonstrating the J/97's extraordinary performance in a wide variety of conditions.  For those of you in the Great Lakes region, now's a great time to get down to Chicago to get a chance to take a demo sail on a terrific, comfortable, easy-to-sail boat-- customer reactions are similar to what's been heard in Newport and Annapolis- "amazing interior", "great cockpit", "feels like a 40 footer"!  Please email Richie Stearns at "rich@stearnsboating.com."

J/80 Tour Update

Word on the street is that upwards of a dozen J/80s have been bought  for competing in this years' upcoming J/80 Tour that starts with the Nautica Key West Race Week in Key West, Florida and ends with the J/80 World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.  J/80 Class leaders at the recent J/80 North American Championships in Houston, Texas have seen strong enthusiasm for the J/80 Tour.  For more information on this circuit, please contact J/80 Class reps at the J/80 Class Association- http://www.j80.org

New J/111 Speedboat Info

For more details regarding J's latest 36 footer, please check out the J/111 webpage.  You'll find an Interior layout depicting the comfortable weekending accommodations, navigation station, galley and spacious dining/ living area.  The deck and cockpit plan give you an idea of how we've integrated some of the better features of past J's to give you excellent comfort for day sailing as well as enough ergonomic elbow-room to race a boat of this size.  Finally, the profile and baseline technical specifications for DSPL/ Length and SA/ DSPL Upwind and Downwind provide insight as to the horsepower and upside speed potential of the J/111.  No question, this will be a fun, easy-to-sail boat that has an extraordinary turn-of-speed when you want it to-- planing off the wind in with finger-tip control on a 60" wheel will make the J/111 a joy to sail.  For more information, please contact J/Boats at Ph- +1-401-846-8410 or email - info@jboats.com.

J/111 Enthusiam Growing Fast

Global Interest Strong in J's Latest Speedboat
(Newport, RI)- Since the announcement during the Annapolis Show, over 9,000 unique visitors worldwide have gone to the J/111 web page to learn more about this exciting new design from J/Boats. It appears evident the newly announced J/111 is striking a sensitive chord amongst sailors who are looking for that next-generation 36 footer. Breaking new ground in its looks, layout and performance, sailors are looking forward to the J/111's introduction next year. No wonder, the J/111 is a sleek, modern one-design, with a large day-sailing cockpit, easy-to-handle sail plan, and 6' headroom below for weekending.

J/95 Annapolis Show Interview with Rod Johnstone

(Annapolis, MD)- Alan Block from Sailing Anarchy was covering the Annapolis Boatshow for SA enthusiasts.  Alan and Jeff Johnstone participated in the forum regarding "Saving Sailing/ Growing Sailing"- one of the many activities where J/Boats continues to support the community of sailing and grow the sport.  Alan also had an opportunity to discuss with Rod J the insights and concepts that hatched the ground-breaking, highly innovative J/95 shoal-draft cruiser-- the nearly perfect boat for those who love to sail ANYWHERE weather and draft limitations permit them (e.g. a beach or the most secluded anchorage inaccessible to no one but yourself!).  For a great perspective, take a look at Alan's exclusive SA Innerview- here's the link.

J/97 Introduced to Great Lakes!

(Chicago, IL- October 19)- The J/97 has officially arrived in Chicago after having started its world tour from the its builder, J/Europe in France back in May.  After a terrific reception at the Newport and Annapolis Boatshows on the East Coast, the J/97 will be available for demos in Chicago starting Monday next week (pictured here at Chicago YC).  After sailing the J/97 for a few days on the spectacular waters off Chicago's renowned waterfront, Richie Stearns had this to say about the J/97s performance and handling: "Wow, what a fun boat to sail!  Everyone's impressed by the boat's speed in almost no air and even in the eighteen knots we had today it performs really great!  In today's good breeze (Wednesday) the boat easily hit 8.0+ knots off the wind while surfing down the waves. It looks like we've got a winner for our sailors here on Lake Michigan!".  To schedule a demo, please be sure to contact Rich Stearns at Cell# 847-404-2209 or email him at  rich@stearnsboating.com.

College J/FEST

University Michigan Wins Highly Competitive J/109 Class in ICSA Offshore Championshihps
(Larchmont, NY- Oct. 10-11)- Here are the facts- forty boat fleet, thirty four (34) of them are J/Boats (85% of the fleet)- one-design classes of seven J/44s, ten J/109s and thirteen J/105s and the balance of J's distributed amongst the only two handicap classes- IRC40- J/122s and J/120 and IRC35- J/35.  The ICSA might as well have called it "J/FEST Intercollegiate Championships"!  The ICSA has been hosting the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta in cooperation with Storm Trysail and Larchmont YC for the past nine years, once again introducing the joys of big-boat racing to boatloads of college sailors.  Interestingly, the event has become the largest college regatta in America, with 31 schools and 327 sailors racing 40 boats ranging from J/105s to J/44s. 



The largest sailboats in the regatta were the J/44s sailed by teams from the service academies and St. Mary's, which have offshore teams. These boats are large, fast and demand experienced crew. All the J/44s used class-owned one-design sails, which made the seven boats a very tight one-design group. Maine Maritime won the J/44 Class by sailing STC Commodore Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER-- they crushed the rest of the fleet and beat the second-place team from the Naval Academy by nine points, garnering a 1-1-1-5-1-4 record.  Behind them in second was  J/44 RESOLUTE, also sailed by the US Naval Academy with owner Don Rave,  getting finishes of 3-2-5-3-2-6.  The J/44 MAXINE sailed by USMMA and owner Bill Ketcham was third with a 2-5-3-2-3-7 record.

In the IRC 40 Class, Navy found its pace sailing George Petrides' modified J/120 AVRA to a 1-3-1-2-1-1 record. They eclipsed the second place team from Georgetown University, sailing Steve Furnary's J/122 PATRIOT, by nine points as well who had a 2-1-3-3-5-4 record.  Rounding out the top three was Tufts racing the J/122 GEORGETOWN owned by George Marks to a respectable 5-4-4-1-2-5 tally.

In the 10-boat J/109 class the teams from the University of Michigan and Webb Institute tied for first.  But the tie only existed because Michigan did not finish the third race due to blowing up a chute and losing the wind instruments off the top of the mast in a broach that occurred when a 30 knot-gust hit a majority of the J/109 fleet halfway through the race.  Michigan, sailing Andrew Berdon's STRIDER, had to count the 11-point DNF (did not finish) since the regatta had no throw-outs. On the water, the team out-sailed the other J/109 teams upwind and downwind.  No kidding!  With finishes of 1-1-11-1-1-3 it's apparent the "scuttlebutt" on the dock was the "GO BLUE" Michigan team were THE team to beat and should be headed to Marseilles to rep the ICSA in the Student Worlds.  Oh well, better luck next time guys.  Trailing them on the tie-breaker was the J/109 RELENTLESS raced by Webb Institute and owner AL Minella with a record of 3-3-2-2-4-4.  Just off the pace was LOKI sailed by the crew from Cornell and owner David Rosow with respectably consistent scores of 2-2-6-6-3-2.

The biggest fleet was the 13-boat J/105 class. The team from Bowdoin, a regular at the event, sailed Carl Olsson's J/105 MORNING GLORY to a slim two-point victory over the second team from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy sailing Kevin Grainger's J/105 GUMPTION 3. First-time participant Trinity College from Hartford, Conn., finished third with three firsts in their score line racing Barry Gold's J/105 WARHORSE.

"This regatta could not happen without the generosity of the boat owners who not only lend their boats but lend their expertise onboard," said Regatta Chair Adam Loory. "These guys come because we work hard to convince them that the regatta is a chance to give something back to the sport, but they return because they have so much fun with the kids learning from them and, at times, they learn from the kids. 



Dr. Dan Herron, owner of the J/105 LIQUID COURAGE, a first time participant, said after the regatta, "Thanks again for the opportunity to participate. Watching the expression on the skipper's face as he surfed LIQUID COURAGE downwind on Saturday was priceless!"
For complete results and pictures, go here.  Regatta Photos credit- Photoboat.com
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RICHARDSON CUP 2009

J/22 Fleet Hosts Icy-Hot Match Race
(Lake Minnetonka, MN)-  It was June 18th, 1924 when English mountain climbers George Mallory & Andrew Irvine looked at the path before them. Climb the coldest place on earth: Mt. Everest. Five times they had tried to climb Everest and five times they had
failed.

It was October 8th, 2009 when Dutch sailors Chris and John VanTol and Irish veteran, Michael B. Hoey, looked at the path before them. Sail in the coldest place on earth for the 2009 Great Lakes Match Racing Championship: Minnetonka, MN. Five times they came within close reach of the summit and five times they had failed.

The winner of the event would be awarded the coveted Richardson Cup. The Richardson Trophy was established in 1912 by Commodore S. O. Richardson, Jr., of the Toledo Yacht Club, Toledo, Ohio. It is a Sterling Silver Trophy (created by Tiffany & Co) which is the second oldest sailing trophy in US history. The 2009 event was the 70th running of the Richardson Cup.

On Friday, Wayzata Yacht Club and Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota greeted 11 different teams with brisk winds and 45-50 degree temperatures. By Saturday, temperatures had plunged into the 20's and the forecast was for a high of 34. Winds were 15-25 mph with a wind-chill of 18 and a layer of steam blowing from shore to shore. The J/22s were covered with about an inch or so of snow.  At the end of this "ice match", Chris Van Tol and team prevail with a 14:1 record over Steve Lowery with a 13-2 match race tally.  Thanks to Mike Hoey for the story.   For more info.