J/122 is RORC Yacht of the Year

Philippe Delaporte’s PEN AZEN was recently named the 2008 Yacht of the Year by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. Delaporte was recognized for his ‘outstanding racing achievement… and in particular for his sportsmanlike approach, Corinthian spirit and the support he has shown his fellow competitors.’ What a great way to cap off a second straight winning season.

Delaporte, a multiple J owner who helped launch the J/80 class in France, sent the following email report:

“This year was very good for us. We just finished the RORC season and we are more than happy with the results. We won the season’s overall, our class and a total of 6 annual RORC trophies:
- Best Overall IRC
- Best IRC 1
- Best Overseas Yacht
- Best Series-produced Yacht
- Special trophies for events 3 and 4

We raced 9 regattas including 2 long distance races from Cowes to Madeira and back that are 1,480 miles each. Both of them with strong winds. On the way to Madeira we got 30 knots upwind with gusts up to 46 knots during 3 days. 5 boats only arrived and we win overall. We won our class 7 times and finished second the 2 others. In short a full success. Pen Azen has now sailed 11,000 miles and we are very happy with her.” RORC site

J/122 Repeats at Rolex Big Boat Series

Dave Kirby of Manhattan Beach, CA sailed his J/122 TKO to a second straight win at the Rolex Big Boat Series hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Racing in IRC C division, TKO notched 5 bullets in 7 races, finishing 9 points clear of a custom Wylie 42, followed by a Sydney 38 and Tim Fuller’s J/122 RESOLUTE. The J/122 continues to demonstrate her racing versatility with impressive results in light air, heavy air, inshore and offshore venues.

On the heels of just hosting the 2008 J/105 North American Championship three weeks earlier, the J/105 fleet fielded another 30+ boat fleet and Phil Perkins aboard GOOD TIMIN’ took the title followed by Tim Russell's AQUAVIT (Belvedere, CA) and Scooter Simmons (Belvedere, CA) on BLACKHAWK. The SF Bay J/120 fleet also saw competitive one-design action with Barry Lewis (San Francisco) on CHANCE edging out Steve Madeira's MR. MAGOO for the victory.

At the closing ceremony it was announced that US-IRC selected St. Francis Yacht Club's Rolex Big Boat Series for 2009 IRC National Championship to be held September 11-14. Event website

New J/105 Champion Crowned

Scott Sellers and his crew on DONKEY JACK emerged victorious at the 2008 J/105 North American Championship held recently on San Francisco Bay. With 5 bullets, two 2nds, two 3rds, and a 7th, Sellers along with crewmembers Rolf Kaiser, Eric Ryan, Geoff McDonald, Cam Geer and Ted Conrads managed a 23 point victory over GOOD TIMIN (Dave Wilson/Chris Perkins) who finished 2nd. St. Francis Yacht Club played host for the highly competitive 36 boat fleet and managed 10 championship races over 4 memorable days. Even the I-flags and 2 mile beats couldn’t prevent the 15-20 boat simultaneous mark roundings seen in several of the races. San Francisco Bay delivered a glorious final day of racing with the starting line off the west face of Alcatraz and the fleet racing along the famous city front.

Rounding out the top five were Tim Russell on AQUAVIT followed by BLACKHAWK (Scooter Simmons) and RHYMENOCEROUS (John Horsch). For 2009, the North Americans moves east with the event scheduled for October 29-November 1 at the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY. Results

J/44 wins NORT honors

After finishing 2nd in class and 6th in fleet in the Stamford Vineyard Race last week, Lenny Sitar’s J-44 VAMP was named the overall winner of the 2008 Northern Ocean Racing Trophy presented by Stamford Yacht Club. VAMP is the first J Boat to win this prestigious trophy, based on a series of grueling races that has historically been dominated by larger boats with names like BLUE YANKEE, BRIGHT STAR, CARRERA, etc.

For 2008, the NOR Trophy was based on combined results under IRC in the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race, Newport-Bermuda Race, Around Long Island Race, Ida Lewis Distance Race and the Stamford Yacht Club’s Vineyard Race. VAMP won her class in the Block Island Race and Newport to Bermuda and was 2nd in class in each of the other events. With 20 years experience racing in the competitive J/44 class and the 2007 Long Island Sound Distance Racing trophy (Windigo Cup) under her belt, VAMP and her seasoned team were dialed in!

VAMP tactician A.J. Evans attributed their success to great crew chemistry as well as little things, like “no freeze dried meals….breakfast served all day!”

We’re pleased to congratulate the entire VAMP team of: Lenny Sitar, A. J. Evans, Skip Smith, Lynden Kibler, Tom Colucci, Doug Lanthier, Brian Purdy, Jason Braunstein, Neil McLaughlin, Nate Fast, Bill Sitar as well as Bjorn Johnson, Adolf Haffenreffer, Kit Will, Gary Martin, and Alex DeWitt for a job well done!

Fisher wins 2008 J/22 Worlds

Rochester, New York . . . . Greg Fisher of Annapolis, MD prevailed over 103 other J/22 teams from around the globe at the J/22 World Championship in Rochester, NY. Sailing with wife JoAnn, Jeff Eiber and Sarah Paisley, Fisher finished 17 points ahead of Anthony Kotoun of the Virgin Islands and 30 points ahead of Phil Wehrheim of Rochester, NY who finished third. Fisher was also the victor at last year’s J/22 North American Championship.

“It was such a thrill to be able to win a huge regatta with 104 boats and great sailors from other countries,” Fisher beamed. Multiple nations were represented at the championship, including the Netherlands, South Africa, France, the Virgin Islands, Canada and the United States.

Racing began on August 20 and concluded Sunday with variable breezes of 5 to 10 knots. The Rochester Yacht Club did a stellar job of getting 10 races completed over a five day period, and all this with 104 boats starting together on one line. Rounding out the top ten were: 1) Greg Fisher, 2) Anthony Kotoun, 3) Phil Wehrheim, 4) Chris Doyle, 5) Bill Hardesty, 6) Peter McChesney, 7) Jim Barnash, 8) Todd Hiller, 9) Rob Johnston and 10) Allan Terhune, Jr.

Visit www.myyc.org/j22worlds for complete results.

104 J/22s on One Starting Line

The J/22 Class celebrates its 25th birthday this week at the Ultimate Marine Group J/22 World Championship, taking place in Rochester, New York, USA from August 20-24. 105 teams are competing, representing sailors from across the United States, nearby Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, France, the Virgin Islands and other countries. Host Rochester Yacht Club plans to start the fleet on one line with 2007 champion Mark Sadler of South Africa given the near impossible task of defending his title.

Visit www.myyc.org/j22worlds for daily updates and results.

2008 Skandia Cowes Week

J owners were out in force (accounting for 10% of the 900+ entries) at 2008 Skandia Cowes Week, the pinnacle event of the UK sailing season. Most impressive was the record 39 boat turnout in the J/109 class, the third consecutive year that the J/109s have sailed as a class. Add to that the 23 boat J/80 class, the “J/Sprit” class loaded with J/92s and J/105s, and the various J’s sailing IRC, and Cowes Week was like a J owner rendezvous!

In J/109 action it was former UK National Champ, ZELDA (Ben Richards & Michael Ewart-Smith) who put on the show, winning 5 of 7 races to capture the title over Matt Boyle’s SHIVA, last year’s Cowes Week winner. The J/80 class made a splash with two major awards received. First, Chris & Liz Savage of SAVAGE SAILING TEAM won the J/80 class and were additionally awarded the Overall White Group Trophy for most outstanding performance (200+ boats). The Skandia Young Skipper's Trophy for the top performing yacht skippered by a young person under the age of 25 was presented to 21-year-old Sebastian Ripard sailing his J/80 AGAINST MALARIA.COM.

Six J/122s sailed within in the 42 boat IRC-2 fleet. The J/122 JOLLY JOKER (pictured above), skippered by Rodolphe Marchais of France, topped the J/122 fleet and finished 3rd overall in class. J/122s took 5 of the top 12 spots. In more J Sprit action, Duncan McDonald on his J/90 JOE showed jets with five bullets to capture the J Sprit class over the J/92 J’RONIMO and J/105 JEOPARDY. Cowes Results Pictures by Rick Tomlinson

J Rendezvous DownEast

The J Rendezvous DownEast in Camden ME was a great success with 24 boats participating from a J/28 to a J/46. Everyone got prizes. Gary Bennett was the first legal finisher, won the Masters Trophy for top skipper over 65 (among 7), the Top Dog trophy for the 150 lb. black Newfoundland named Miles aboard and was sailing the oldest boat, a 1985 J/35. Peter & Carol Willauer got the Far Horizon's Trophy for their live-aboard exploits over 43,000 miles in 8 years. Pete duPont's J/124 WARBRIDE was awarded the prize as being the most prolific with a family crew with 9 aboard. The Naturalist Award for the most eagles, ospreys, seals, and dolphins sighted was won by INDULJENCE with a score of 73. Eagles counted twice, but the big counter was a small island with 52 seals. And, to demonstrate that "rubber-necking" to spot wildlife was not a major hindrance to speed, Sandy Mackey drove the boat to the top Female award (among 4) as well. The skippers of the J/124 SEA LOFT and J/34c SAMVARO were at the helm in their first race ever. Frank & Libby Simon's J/100 took the prize for the most senior crew, rumored to be in their 80's. All goes to show you that you're never too old to fall in love and boats have a way of living up to their names. SMITTEN is right on! Spirit of the "relaxed nature" of the event goes to Heidi Welch in the J/28 AQUILO, who decided to kick back and enjoy the afternoon, after leading the fleet for half the race.

East Coast Yacht Sales, the J Boats dealer, sponsored the event with their Camden office head Tom Babbitt serving as host and Kendra Muenter of J Boats coordinating the overall event. A tent was pitched on the grounds of Wayfarer Marine for a cocktail reception on Friday night with boats rafted along the floats below. Designer Rod Johnstone cruised up from Newport in the first of the new J/105s. To underline the versatility of this tweaked creation, he and wife Lucia were off for two weeks of cruising aboard... complete with a rail-mounted charcoal grill and fiberglass Dyer sailing dinghy.

Saturday morning was foggy, gray and calm... not very promising for the planned afternoon sailing event. The morning seminar program included: John Gass of Wayfarer Marine, Ben Ellison (SAIL and Power & Motor Yacht electronics editor) and Nick DeMaria of Blue Maple Systems on electronics; Win Fowler of Maine Sailing Partners on seamanship and cruising sail design; and Scott Harris of East Coast Yacht Sales on "Keeping your J looking new."

A 13.3 mile pursuit race was scheduled for the afternoon. The idea of a pursuit race is that handicaps are assessed at the start with the fastest boats starting last so, in theory, all boats finish at the same time. The course was through Gilkey Harbor, leaving Seven Hundred Acre Island to port and return to Camden. 29 minutes separated the start between the slowest rated boat, Heidi Welch sailing the J/28 AQUILO and the fastest rated boat, Peter Van Alstine's J/44 STOLEN HOUR, complete with kayaks lashed to the deck. The start was in such light air that it took most of the boats about a minute to cross the line after their starting time, then 2 hours to do the 3.3 miles upwind to the harbor entrance bell. It's interesting to note that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishers had a start order of 4th, 16th, 10th and 21st respectively... pretty good random distribution.

Cruise Directors, Tom & Jane Babbitt showed the fleet how to get there fastest in their shoal draft J/42 BRAVO (with 3 bladed folding prop no less!). Gary Bennett in the oldest boat participating, his J/35 J'AI'TU, eventually passed Rod J sailing the newest boat in the race, his J/105 RAGTIME. What this demonstrates is the lasting value and undiminished performance of J Boats over time... in this case 23 years.

The Cruise Committee consisted of Bob and Drake Johnstone on one of his MJM 29z motorboats. With 3 hours elapsed time from the start approaching and the fleet still in Gilkey Harbor, Islesboro (about an hour from Camden even under power), Bob J. decided to shorten course, finishing BRAVO, J'AI'TU, RAGTIME, Pete duPont's J/124 WARBRIDE, and Kirk Brown's before lifting anchor and heading back down the course to give the remaining finishers a horn and finish place... allowing them all to turn around and power for the barn. Otherwise the tail enders would have missed the party. So, if you see this race management move put into practice anywhere else: Remember it first happened at the J Rendezvous.

A tent cocktail party and dinner followed, hosted by Kendra Muenter from J Boats and the East Coast Yacht Sales staff. For prizes and goodies, thanks go to our sponsors: Hall Spars, Harken, V Sport, Lewmar, Wayfarer Marine, Edson, Maine Sailing Partners, Mack Boring/Yanmar, Village Soup, and Broomfield Industries.

Herlihy wins J/109 NA’s at NYYC Rolex

It would be hard to find a tougher test of racing skill than at the 2008 New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex. 120 boats competed across 6 classes in this four day event that featured the J/109 North American Championship and both the J/122 and J/105 East Coast Championship. Thursday’s racing was wet and woolly with all fleets having to race inside the Bay due to the severe conditions. Friday and Saturday conditions eased enough to sail outside but with very lumpy seas. Then the T-Storms returned on Sunday with winds hitting 50 knots to shorten the day’s racing.

In J/109 action, Ted Herlihy (South Dartmouth, MA) and his mostly family crew aboard GUT FEELING sailed an impressive nine-race series to narrowly beat out GOSSIP (Steve Kenny & Greg Ames, Wainscott, NY), and CAMINOS (Donald Filippelli, Amagansett, NY) for the North American title. “Five of our eight crew are family,”said Herlihy, who came close to winning the North Americans two years ago. "We thought we'd do well but this feels great," he said about his victory.

"You know it's windy when everything is going sideways -- the wind, the rain, the boat," said Damian Emery on ECLIPSE (Shoreham, N.Y.), who won the J/105 East Coast Championship. Starting out with two bullets, Emery was able to hold off a strong charge by Brian Keane's SAVASANA. "Today we were definitely sailing against each other," said Emery, who finished second to Keane's fifth in what was to be the final race before a rapidly moving line of thunderstorms forced cancellation of the final race.

In the J/122 class, Andrew Weiss (Rye, N.Y.) on CHRISTOPHER DRAGON opened the series with 6 straight bullets, before being really tested by both FLYING JENNY VI (David Askew, Annapolis, MD) and GAMBLER (Doug Shaffer, Houston, TX). The J/122s raced around the Island on Sunday, and with a 3rd place finish (behind FLYING JENNY and GAMBLER), Weiss locked up the J/122 East Coast Championship by two points over FLYING JENNY VI and 10 points over GAMBLER. Event website

J/122 SKYE Wins in Mac Race Debut

Some call the Chicago-Mackinac Race one of the most difficult distance races to win. It’s a 333 mile sprint from the southern end to northern end of Lake Michigan and the rule of thumb is that no lead is a safe lead. Many a boat can claim to have been winning the Mac only to park in the final few miles and watch the rest of the fleet catch up. 2008 marked the 100th running of this Great Lakes classic, and J owners celebrated with some great performances.

In one-design action, the MVP award goes to Peter Fray’s PRONTO II who topped a record sized J/105 division (27 boats) which included many Mac Race veterans. Pre-race J/109 favorite Rob Zerban on ZEITGEIST continued his hot streak by winning the 14 boat J/109 division AND finishing 3rd overall for the Mackinac Cup behind two 70 footers! Frank Kern and his J/120 CARINTHIA have been one of the most traveled and successful J/120 programs of the past two years. This time the CARINTHIA team could enjoy a victory closer to home, as they narrowly beat Matthew Songer’s PERSEVERANCE by two minutes to win the 12 boat J/120 division

Bill Zeiler and his new J/122 SKYE have been on a tear since arriving in Lake Michigan earlier this year. Their 22 boat Section 3 division included a wide mix of performance boats (1D35 Heartbreaker, CM1200s, Sydney 41, GS 44, etc) as well as the J/124 SUFFICIENT REASON and the J/130 EDGE. SKYE and SUFFICIENT REASON outpaced their class to cross the line 1-2 with SUFFICIENT REASON winning the elapsed time battle by 3 minutes and SKYE correcting out under ORR handicap to secure the class win.

Other handicap highlights include the J/133's RENEGADE and HOT WATER sailing to a 2nd and 3rd place in the 25 boat Section 2 division; and a clean J/35 sweep of Section 6 with Bob Pethick’s BRETWALDA coming out on top. In the cruising divisions, former J/24 Class president Glenn Gustafason and his wife Elsa, aboard their J/46 WINDARA, showed just how well they’ve adapted to the cruising lifestyle by taking 2nd Overall in the Cruising Division. Event Website