J/109 ‘Sweet Chariot’ Wins Series

Report from Owner’s Ray & Sandra Entwistle, Hull 264, Sweet Chariot:

“After racing for the past 11 Sundays in Australia’s premier winter racing series (CYCA Audi Winter Series) we are delighted to inform you we have won the event.

We competed in one of the largest divisions giving between 5 and 25 minutes head start to the fleet. Our division comprised of 19 yachts in the 34 to 42 foot range. Although racing under PHS we were giving time to boats we know are rated similar and in many cases quicker than the J109 under IRC. In pursuit style racing we started last in every race and posted 7 fastest elapsed times over a wide range of conditions ranging from drifters to 35 knots.

The J109 continues to impress us, our colleagues, crew and competition. The elapsed times prove we have chosen the right boat as yet again this 35 footer shows she can mix it with many larger yachts on the race course continuing to show the competition her racing pedigree. The real secret of this boat however is the fact all we have to do to go cruising is top up the water tanks and fridge then decide north or south at Sydney Heads. Last Christmas in our two week leave we clocked over 460 nautical miles two up and no autopilot. Sailing from Sydney to Jervis Bay, Pittwater, Newcastle, Port Stephens, returned to Newcastle for the first twilight of the New Year and finally back to Sydney and reluctantly prized ourselves off our comfortable Chariot. We believe the J109 has the best interior in its class. Many who have viewed the boat during the winter series have been surprised how comfortable she is below decks which certainly belie her race winning performance. She is a delight to race and very easy to sail two handed. Her powerful asymmetric rig making her a flyer downwind even when short handed cruising.”

J/65 Makes East Coast Debut

Newport, RI…..The J/65 BRAND NEW DAY recently arrived from California and is soon to launch in Newport, RI for peak sailing season. Designed as the ultimate offshore performance cruiser, the J/65 features a carbon/vinylester infused hull and deck, Hall autoclaved carbon rig and a luxuriously appointed interior. If cruising at nearly the speed of the wind with minimal effort sounds appealing, we invite you to take a closer look at the J/65. More info...

Ole! Spanish Armada takes on J/80 Worlds

First a great showing at the America’s Cup, both as host country and a leading challenger, and now Spain has shown its stuff at the top of the one-design world with 3 out of the top 4 placings in the 2007 J/80 World Championship. Spain is the newest country to adopt the J/80 as its one-design keelboat of choice (100 new boats delivered in the past 14 months with another 30 on order) but you wouldn’t know it by the way they handled the windy conditions and a record 124 boat fleet off of La Trinite, France last week. Spanish skippers Jose Maria Torcida Seghers and Ignacio Camino battled against each other until the last and decisive 11th race. Torcida Seghers aboard ECC VIVIENDAS emerged as the new J/80 World Champion with an impressive 5 wins in 11 races.

"We came here with very limited objectives knowing we would face the word's best. We've only been sailing seriously and competitively in the J/80 since last October. We decided to train as a team with the entire 30 boat fleet gathered in Santander. All that hard work has paid off."

Germany's Ulrich Muenker's third place overall prevents the Spaniards from heading home with a unique grand slam in the J/80's World history. For the very first time, the Worlds winner did not come from the organizing country. The 2008 Worlds will take place in mid-July in Kiel, Germany.

Overall top six (results...)
1. Jose Maria Torcida Seghers, ESP, 29 points
2. Ignacio Camino, ESP, 46
3. Ulrich Muenker, GER, 57
4. Rayco Tabares, ESP, 61
5. Sylvain Pellissier, FRA, 65
6. Glenn Darden, USA, 66

J/105 Perseverance Wins @ LBRW

Ben Greenwald's J/105 Perseverance of San Diego topped the largest and most competitive fleet @ Acura's presentation of Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week in LONG BEACH, CA earning him a bonus Boat of the Week award. Gary Mozer's Current Obsession won by tiebreaker in the J/109 class, Roland Fournier with Blue Moon 2 took the J/80s and Steve Aichele’s Cherry Bomb took honors for the J/29 group. On the handicap circle it was Dr. Laura Schlessinger aboard her new J/145 The Doc winning the Fast 40 class with a near perfect score and Dick Velthoen & Paul Defrietas’ J/35 Rival dominating PHRF 4. Weather was light to moderate over three days of racing.

The new Kattack system was employed by most of the J’s in the fleet for this event. Kattack is a web-based software application that collects position data via GPS from boats in a race. Data is collected and uploaded to the web and can then be replayed with performance data to indicate which elements can be improved: starting, boat handling, and strategy, etc... Those who have studied the replays from LBRW have called it an essential learning tool. It’s your own virtual race record… check it out.

J/Fest @ BI Race Week

J Owners turned out in force last week at the 22nd running of Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex. 40% of the total fleet were J’s including five one-design classes (J/29, J/120, J/109, J/105 and J/44) and numerous other Js sailing in PHRF and IRC. The new J/122 made its Block Island debut with George Shaw’s TUMBLEWEED and Andrew Weiss’ CHRISTOPHER DRAGON finishing 1, 2 in IRC 4. Two of the three overall Rolex watch awards went to J owners: Overall PHRF winner was John Storck's (Huntington, N.Y.) J/80 RUMOR, skippered by his college All-American daughter Kaity, while Stephen Tedeschi's TASTES LIKE CHICKEN (St. Petersburg, Fla.) took overall honors in One-Design racing, sailing in the 19-boat J/109 class. Brian Keane on SAVASANA topped the highly competitive J/105 class (24 boats). Other class winners included John Esposito’s HUSTLER (J/29), David & Sandra Askew’s FLYING JENNY V (J/120), Jeff Willis' CHALLENGER IV (J/44) and Kel Weber’s J/34c RASCAL in Non-Spinnaker. complete results

J’s Win @ Annapolis-Newport Race

Newport, RI - J/Owners recently finished first in three of six classes at the 2007 Annapolis Newport Race... USCG J/44 Glory & Scott Dinhofer's J/44 Brown-Eyed Girl finished first and second in IRC class II while David Askew’s J/120 Flying Jenny V won PHRF I (with J/120s placing four of the top five places in this class). Henry Morgan’s J/42 Dolphin finished first in PHRF Class II and won the PHRF overall award with the best corrected time. In all a great showing for the J/Owners... With the fleet facing a stormy offshore weather forecast, due to remnants of a tropical depression blowing through, several boats in the 56 boat fleet chose to retire from the race early. High winds and seas eventually caught up to those who continued on with this 473-mile offshore passage from Annapolis, MD to Newport, RI with some seeing as much as 40 knots and 10-foot seas…

Other notable J finishes included Tom Carroll's J/133 SirenSong who finished 2nd in the big boat class and James Wilson’s J/42 Ceol Mor finishing 2nd in the Double Handed class. complete news & results.

J/122 & 124 Top Class at NYYC Annual

J/122 RAGTIME, skippered by J Boats’ president Jeff Johnstone and the new J/124 WAR BRIDE sailed by Pete Dupont, sailed to a 1-2 overall in IRC 4 at New York Yacht Club’s 153rd Annual Regatta June 9-10. Both boats excelled in the generally light and shifty conditions that prevailed on Rhode Island Sound. Acceleration out of the tacks, keeping pace through an awkward chop, and pointing the boat in the right direction were the keys to staying ahead of the pack. The J/105 class had the best one-design turnout, and the series came down to the final race. Class veteran Brian Keane of Beverly, MA aboard SAVASANA took the bullet and the overall victory, finishing ahead of Phil & Wendy Lotz on INDEFATIGIBLE and Ken Colburn on GHOST. The northeast J fleets head next to Block Island Race Week. This will also continue the J/122’s string of debut events, only this time with three sisterships competing for IRC honors. NYYC results...

J/120 Class Crowns NA Champion

California Yacht Club is no stranger to big events, and their annual June classic, Cal Race Week, certainly lived up to expectation in 2007. A well-honed event that’s designed around the afternoon seabreeze (Noon starts), Cal Race Week featured three racing circles for 130 boats and CYC managed five races over the two day event June 2-3. Headlining the J fleets was the J/120 Class, hosting their 10th North American Championship. In a tightly fought series, Chuck Nichols of San Diego Yacht Club aboard CC RIDER emerged victorious over Peter Zarcades on MELTEMI and John Laun of CAPER.

Division 2 looked like J-central with the J/80, J/105 and J/109 classes all competing. The J/105 class saw an excellent out-of-town turnout (30% of the boats came from San Diego), and local CYC sailor Jeff Janov on INVISIBLE captured race week honors by edging out San Diegan Rick Goebel of SANITY. Reigning J/109 Midwinter Champion, Gary Mozer, and his crew aboard CURRENT OBSESSION took J/109 class honors on the strength of five top 3 finishes, while John Steen of San Diego aboard UNDERDOG, topped the J/80 fleet.

Other notable performances include a nearly clean sweep of the FAST 40 fleet (four 1sts in 5 races) by THE DOC, a J/145 skippered by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and a victory in PHRF C by Susan Taylor on the J/24 TAKE FIVE. Results

Sprit Fest Regatta 2007 - Sag Harbor

35 J/Boats turned out for the inaugural Sprit Fest Regatta held June 2-3rd at the Breakwater Yacht Club, Sag Harbor, NY. The event originated as the J/80 Long Island Championship and was this year expanded to include the J/80, J/105, and J/109 owners. Each class sailed one-design for a championship trophy including the J/80 Long Island Championship, the J/105 Fleet 24 Championship and the J/109 East Coast Championship. A total of five races took place just off the bluffs of Sag Harbor on Noyack Bay. With rain in the forecast, the fleet was treated to blue skies with temperatures in the low 80s and winds blowing 6-12 knots through-out the day Saturday. After the first three races the competition was quite close in all classes. Saturday night festivities included a BBQ at the club with great food, fun people, and video of racing action.

Sunday brought gray skies and 8-12 knot conditions. Early in the day two races were sailed and then, with the remnants of a tropical storm system threatening, the RC called it a day and led the fleet back to port. At the awards presentation after a 5 race/one throw-out weekend Steve Tedeschi’s Tastes Like Chicken claimed the J/109 East Coast Championship hardware with 11 points. David Betts, Instant Karma won the J/105 Fleet 24 Championship trophy with a near perfect 5 points and Blake Fleetwood with USA 352 defended his J/80 Long Island Championship title with a low point score of 13. After the awards everyone departed but will not soon forget this fun weekend of sailing. A special thanks to David Jannetti, to Breakwater YC and to all the volunteers, competitors and sponsors… results.

J/120 Wins Charleston-Bermuda Race

Charleston, South Carolina — EmOcean, a J/120, recently won Overall Honors in 2007 Charleston to Bermuda Race. This 777-mile race began on May 18th with eight tall ships and hundreds of spectators looking on, and ended with a convivial evening of awards at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Saturday, May 26th. This year, overall honors were awarded to a skipper and crew who performed superbly—young Will Hanckel and his friends on board his father’s J/120 EmOcean. En route, they dealt deftly with a variety of conditions that ran the gamut from 25 to 30-knot northeasterly winds and confused, 10-foot seas, to light zephyrs and moderate swells. Hanckel is no stranger to victory, but those trophies are usually associated with around the-buoys contests, and until the last couple of years, his wins were limited to events staged in one-design dinghies. As Sutherland Madeiros, the Mayor of Hamilton, and Gregory W. Slayton U.S. Consul General stood by, along with all the dapperly attired flag officers of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Hanckel and his crew also received a large crystal bowl as the winners of the J/Boats Trophy for the best performing J/Boat in the fleet. All in all, not bad for a crew with no C2B veterans on its roster. Complete story.