RORC Myth Of Maltham Trophy

J/133 Batfish III Dominates the Offshore Channel Classic

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 230 mile race from Cowes around the Eddystone Lighthouse and back proved to be a very demanding race for the 130 boats competing for the RORC Myth of Malham Trophy. Light airs and strong tides conspired to produce a tactical conundrum that was an ever changing picture.

In IRC Zero there was an outstanding performance by Bill Blain's J/133, Batfish III, winning class by nearly three hours and claiming third in IRC overall and Neil Martin's J/133, Jammy Dodger was third in class. In IRC Class Two, Simon Curwen, sailing two handed, was second in J/105, Voador and Robin Taunt's J/109, Jibe, corrected out to third. There were 24 entries for the Two Handed Class and honours went to Simon Curwen's J/105, Voador. For more info.

Oregon Offshore Race

J's Take Four of Top Five in a Spring NW classic

(Portland, OR- May 15-16)- Every May, the Corinthian Yacht Club of Portland sponsors the Oregon Offshore Yacht Race from Astoria, OR to Victoria, BC. The conditions in the Northwest at this time of year can range from tempestuous to downright placid and billiard table flat. This years edition served up good winds in the first part of the race diminishing towards the end nearly thirty-plus hours later for most boats.

Twenty boats started this years race and it was pretty clear the J's were going to do very well indeed. At the end of it all, Scott Campbell's J/46 Riva was first in class and first overall. She was followed in close succession by the J/122 Anam Cara raced by owner Tom Kelley, getting a second in class and second overall. Just off the pace was Bob and Barb Brunius's J/120 Time Bandit picking off fourth in class and fourth overall. A cruiser/racer classic, Tom Keffer's J/42 Velocity followed her larger, faster stablemates into the finish to get a respectable fifth in class and sixth overall.

In addition to Scott Campbell on the J/46 Riva, the crew included local North Sails Rep Kerry Poe, Steve Ackerman, Davis Moran, Charles Turner, Nelson Rolens, Bob Martin, Dale Diets and Ray McCormack. The J/122 Anam Cara, Gaelic for "Soul Friend", is Tom Kelly's 5th boat in over 30 years of racing. Tom says she is his "dream boat". He is a long-time competitor in the Oregon Offshore and plans to do the Swiftsure Race in 2 weeks and then do the Van Isle Race, a race around Vancouver Island this summer. The crew has been described as "geriatric" by Tom, but it contains a number of excellent sailors with many sea miles. The crew includes John Copper from West Marine, local Portland sailors Brian Marske and Jim Madden. Out of town sailors include Bob Ross, the broker and Manager of Whidby Island Race Week for many years and Scott Boys and Sally Hawkins from Friday Harbor. Other members of the crew are Lane Brown and Patrick Cummings. The J/42 Velocity's skipper is Tom Keffer. Assisting Tom as crew are Bill and Kathy Cuffel, Robert Henry, Gil MacGregor and Carl Hosticka. The J/120 Time Bandit from the Seattle area, carries a crew of 10. Skipper Bob Brunius and his wife Barb, John Sheppard, Tim Cleary, Tom O'Hara, Bob Conrad, Mark Lincoln, Troy Donaldson, Joshua Siegel and James Doane. For more commentary, visit the Oregon Offshore Blog.

Stone Cup Invitational

Competitive J/105 and J/120 One-Design Classes on San Francisco Bay

(San Francisco, CA- May 15-17) The St. Francis Yacht Club again provided solid race management to get off a nice series of races for this annual weekend classic to start off the summer season on the Bay. There were five classes in the event with two of them representing the J/105s (23 boats) and the J/120 (8 boats).

Racing was as competitive as ever in the two J classes. For the J/105s, Scooter Simmons racing Blackhawk took two bullets to win by six points over Rolf Kaiser on Donkey Jack. Bruce Stone sailing Arbirage commented, "the Bay served up its usual heavy tidal conditions and strong afternoon winds. Saturday had a late start with a three hour postponement due to no wind and oppressive heat in the Valley (over 100 degrees). So, all the boats had to contend with a strong ebb changing to the flood late in the day. Conversely, Sunday was a lopsided day of racing with everyone diving off into ebb in deepwater, leaving no lanes or opportunities to pass if you got stuck behind after the start."

The J/120s had some very tight racing at times. But, in the end, it was the team aboard Chance led by the capable Barry Lewis that took two bullets and beat out Steve Madeira's Mister Magoo. More information on StFYC site

Seattle SW NOOD

A bit of a drifter, but the tent party was HOT!

(Seattle, WA May 15-17) Leave it up to the locals in Seattle to make the most of seemingly nothing. On Puget Sound, when the wind is light and shifty, you don't hear a lot of complaining. Racers are used to variable conditions; with the Olympic Range towering to the west and the entire North American continent to the east, weather systems frequently lock horns over the Sound, resulting in confused wind patterns and Seattle's characteristic lingering rain. The regatta was characterized by light, variable winds. That's not to say the weather wasn't beautiful-- with clear skies and stunning views-- and it's certainly not to say that the racing wasn't tight. There were 17 classes racing, but only 8 classes got enough racing to generate any results- 3 of those fortunately enough were the J Classes- the J/80s, J/105s and J/109s.

The six boat J/109 class was won by Robert Arney on It's Only Rock & Roll with a first and second. The J/105s had Jerry Diercks on Delirium scream around the course to net a first and third to triumph over their nine boat class. And, perhaps the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, was the incredibly tight racing amongst the six boat J/80 class. There was a three-way tiebreaker with four points a piece that was broken in favor of Dave Schutte on Taj Majal, followed by Chris White on Crazy Ivan and Mike Brewis on Swish.

Gene Brown and Pete Bristow, who crewed aboard Edward Pinkham's J/109 Jeopardy, were pleased with their boathandling. "Any day we don't have trouble with our spinnaker sets and takedowns," said Brown, "that's a good day." Over a plate of tasty, local barbeque, SW columnist spoke with Jack Seznick, who grew up on the bluff behind the Corinthian YC and reckons he's been sailing these waters for thirty years. For the past three years, he's been working with the crew of the J/109 J-Tripper, co-skippered by Dave Dack and Rick Nordquist. Before purchasing their J/109, Dack and Nordquist were only occasional racers. Since Seznick hopped aboard, however, the team has made drastic improvements to their boathandling and their scoreline. Seznick finds the steep part of the learning curve extremely rewarding. "When I joined the team," he says, "I told the guys, 'I want to be a part of this crew, but we've got to keep it fun."

Strategy in the light air was critical and local talent certainly had their advantages. As in other tidal locales, the key to success is often deciding where to position oneself in relation to the fast-moving current in the middle of the Sound. At times, there is a "toilet bowl" effect, as the tide flowing out of Lake Union and through the locks moves through the marinas and swirls out along the shore, providing for a peculiar, near-shore lift. See Sailing World for more info/ results. Photo credits- Tim Wilkes

Elvstrom J/80 Summer Championships

Joystick at Full Throttle for the Summer Season

(Hamble, So'ton, England- May 16-17) The Elvstrom J/80 Summer Championship was hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble. This is the sixth year that Elvstrom have sponsored the event, which acts as a warm-up for the UK Nationals.

The fleet woke to howling gales on Saturday unfortunately, and after a postponement ashore, the Race Committee, under the careful guidance of the PRO Tony Lovell, decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valour and racing was cancelled for the day. The J/80 fleet were in agreement; much as the J/80 is a fabulous boat in a blow, no-one much fancied the 40 knot plus gusts which were battering the race area.

With everyone hoping for lighter airs on Sunday, but with forecasts differing in opinion, after an hour’s postponement ashore and once a 50 knot squall had blown past the Royal Southern pontoons and the readying fleet, the class set sail to do battle. Just two races were sailed, or perhaps ‘survived’ by the hardy J/80s, enough to constitute a series, and the eventual winner of the Elvstrom Champs, Rob Larke, who co-owns Joystick with Vicci Gregory. Behind them were Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper on Just Do It by three points and in third was Andrew Ashworth steering Jammy Dodger. More J/80 regatta news. For more UK/Euro J/News.

Sir Thomas Lipton Cup

On the Wings of Victory, Snatched From Almost Certain Defeat

(San Diego, CA- May 16-17)- . The racing on J/105s off the waters of San Diego for the Lipton Cup was some of the best and most challenging ever; with shifting winds; dead spots to steal victory from some; and defeat from others. It was a nail-biter to the end. The San Diego YC team skippered by Andy Ladow on-board the J/105 Wings looked as if they had bought the farm. But, with a bit of perseverance and luck (e.g. I'd rather be lucky than smart, as they say) Andy and crew managed to overcome the strong performance of Chris Nesbitt sailing Perseverance from Balboa YC. Not far off the pace were Rick Goebel hailing from Coronado on-board Sanity and Kenny Manzoni hailing from Southwestern YC on-board J-OK.

The San Diego Sir Thomas Lipton Cup is steeped in rich tradition. It was created in 1903 and deeded to San Diego Yacht Club in 1913. It has been competed for every year since except for the war years and has become “The Holy Grail” of West Coast Yachting. See San Diego YC or Flickr for more.

J/Mediterranean Cup

Enjoy the best the Med has to offer racing your J

On June 6-7, J/Europe distributor K-Yachting is sponsoring its third annual J/Med Cup event. This regatta has a passionate following amongst those J sailors cruising and racing in the Mediterranean. The locations have been terrific and this year's event promises to be every bit as fun as they have been the past two years. Pierre Duchein at K-Yachting promises that it will another fantastic year. For more details, please visit the K-Yachting website or download the NOR.

J/95 Morning Light & Bluewater Sailor

Dawn Patrol off Sandy Point Shows Shoal-draft Picnic Boat Cruisability

A spectacular morning off Stonington's Sandy Point was the perfect time to shoot the J/95's capabilities to anchor in shallow waters off your favorite beach. Rod and Stu took Banjo for a cruise at dawn Thursday morning to get a few nice shots of the boat for you all to dream about sailing her in the shallow cruising areas around the world. Needles to say, the boat looked stunning and graceful. Please take a look at more of these beautiful photos on the J/95 site.

In addition, please read through Bluewater Sailor's review of the J/95. We hope you enjoy a fresh perspective on why we're so excited about this new shallow draft, performance day sailer. Download the Bluewater Sailor review

For those of you who can't make it to either Sarasota, FL or Stonington, CT for a demo sail, please note the following dealers will take delivery of their boats in June: Bob Sittel at Sittel Marine in Dallas, TX and also Bruce Tait at Bruce Tait & Associates in Sag Harbor, Long Island, NY. Please contact the dealers directly or J/Boats

J/122 Pen Azen Wins Grand Prix du Crouesty

The Grey-blue Rocketship Continues Domination of French '09 IRC Offshore

(Crouesty, France- May 30-June 1)- The third major event of the French UNCL/ FFV offshore sailing season had excellent representation from passionate J owners from France, in particular. The Yacht Club du Crouesty Arzo hosted a wonderful event; the J's represented 50% of the fleet of the Grand Prix du Crouesty where forty one J/80s were present to do battle; not far behind in attendance were the J/22 and J/24 classes.

In the J/80's, Sylvain Pelissier won in a highly competitive fleet. In IRC1, the J/122 Pen Azen again confirmed their supremacy, beating stablemate J/122 Damacle with the renowned Christine Briand on-board as tactician. Also doing well was the J/109 Poulico, 3rd in IRC2 (beating three very competitive Archambaut A35s). For more info.

J/100 One-Design Sailing!

For those J/100 owners who have a penchant for taking a run around the buoys every once in awhile, there are three opportunities in the New England region to get together and share your passion for this unique J design. Henry Brauer of Marblehead and Northeast Harbor has suggested the following events may be of interest to J/100 owners:

* The first is the new Mount Desert Island Summer Series which will be held July 18-19, in Northeast Harbor, ME. Day one is the traditional Maine Hospice Regatta and Day two is a regular MDI series race. They've put the two together to offer a 2 day series with both day trophies and overall regatta trophies. There is a lobster bake on Saturday night in Southwest Harbor and a Raft up Sunday after the racing. We have 4 active J/100's in Northeast and hope to attract some more to have offer a one-design division.

* The second opportunity for J/100 one-design is Downeast Race Week which is scheduled for August 7-9. Again, there already 3 J/100's registered for the event and a chance to attract several more boats will provide some great one-design competition. DERW has a new format this year and will be only 3 days long starting on a Friday and ending on Sunday so it is easy to plan for crew. More information is available on the DERW web site.

* The third opportunity is at the PHRF-New England Championship which is scheduled in Marblehead August 28-30. There are 10 J/100's in Mass Bay and with a commitment of 6 or more boats PHRF will provide a one-design start for the class.
For more insights on J/100 class sailing, please contact Henry Brauer.