A Tragic Whale Tale- -- J/120 Sunk by Moby Dick Clones. The Baja-Ha-Ha is an annual cruisers rally from San Diego, California to Cabo San Lucas, Mexcio. They began their 750-mile route this year on October 25th. Sadly, for one of the participants amid the 170 boat fleet, the trip ended much too early.
About 200 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and extraordinary turn of events confronted what is normally a fun, easygoing cruise from California to Mexico. Appropriately named, the Baja-Ha-Ha is an event many California cruising sailors look forward to after the course of a long sailing season. It's organized by a group of friends, including J-WORLD's Wayne Zittel. However, this year it was not a walk in the park for those aboard the J/120 J-WORLD. Here's the report from Wayne:
"Hey All - Thanks for all the good thoughts. Yes, the boat has sunk but everyone is safe and sound.
The boat was heading south in the Baja-Ha-Ha with two instructors (Eugenie and Barry) and three students on our annual cruise south to our Puerto Vallarta location. They put into Ensenada briefly for some minor repairs (a loose wire in the wiring harness seems to have been the culprit), then headed back out Tuesday morning. I got an email from them in the evening reporting that all was fine and they were making good time. They made the scheduled roll call in the AM.
Here is what I know from the brief conversations I have had with the crew: about 10am, they came across a pod of whales. Shortly after yesterday morning's Baja Ha-Ha check-in, the crew of J/WORLD, the J/120 skippered by former Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club commodore Eugenie Russell, experienced one of the highlights of the cruising life: They spotted a whale. Then they saw another. They quickly realized that they'd sailed into a pod of whales - big whales. That's when they felt a bang, then another and another. At least one whale was attacking J/WORLD's rudder!
Their behavior was described as 'erratic.' One or more of the whales struck the boat repeatedly, and the boat began taking on water at a rapid pace. It sounds like, not surprisingly, most of the damage was around the rudder. They made an attempt to bail the boat and get a distress call out on SSB, but it was clear that the boat was a loss. They activated the EPIRB, boarded the liferaft, and the boat was reportedly gone within 7 minutes of the strike. As I understand it, the boat did not capsize in any way.
I was in contact with the the USCG from the time the EPIRB went off. They did an absolutely stellar job. Within four hours, they reported that they had safely lifted all five sailors into the helicopter and were returning to San Diego. Eugenie has a bruised hand, but there were no other injuries. I personally am in shock... this is the stuff you read about but you think will never really happen to you. You can make all the preparations in the world, load boat with experienced sailors, and still have unexpected consequences. A bit humbling, to be sure. We all need to remember that when we go sailing, we really go to sea in every sense.
I know we will get a good debrief from the crew, and we'll be sure to post more info and some 'lessons learned,' but I am tremendously relieved that everyone is safe. All of us here at J-World are in deep gratitude to the folks of the USCG. Man, they run a great operation. Here's the video of the rescue.
Anyway, that's the latest report from here.... the J/120 J-WORLD was a great boat. She was hull #9, the ex-GANNET, ex-CROSSWAVE, now known simply as "J-WORLD." We sailed her some 10,000+ open ocean miles per year, including this year's TransPac and raced her in San Francisco and Mexico, not to mention subjecting her to all the abuses that students can dish out, and she took it in stride.
Anyway, thanks again to all of you out there for the support...
All the best,
Wayne Zittel
J-World Performance Sailing School
San Francisco Bay | Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Bancantabria Sailing Cup
(Santander, Spain- Oct. 14-26)- Hosted by the FCV (Federacion Cantabra de Vela) in Santander, Spain, the Bancantabria Sailing Cup had a strong turnout of thirty-one J/80s. The Cup is a series of races taking place over several weekends sailing in the spectacular waters off Santander in often warm, sunny conditions.
While the last weekend of the two week event was nearly a wash-out, the sailors had an enjoyable time racing for this past weekend's Fundestic Trophy. Pichu Torcida racing ECC HOMES managed to take home another win. Pushing him hard was Jaime Pris onboard FONESTAR to take second overall and coming in third place was Adrian Zamacona racing MABLE. Notable amongst the competitors in this year's even was the return, after months of absence from racing J/80s, of the 49er Olympic Sailing medalists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez. Iker and Xabi went sailing with friends aboard PROPERNOR-- looks like they'll need some practice after posting a twelfth in their first outing.
For more sailing information and regatta results, please visit J/80 Spain Class site.
J/24 East Coast Championships
(Annapolis, MD- Oct. 30-Nov 1)- Severn Sailing Association hosted the J/24 East Coast Championships in a wide variety of sailing conditions for a strong turnout of thirty-four J/24s. The indomitable and redoubtable Tony Parker shows that he's still got it after sixty+ years of sailing and racing in venues all over the world. Showing the young bucks how it's done, Tony rattled off two bullets, a second and third to win by five points over Ted Bartlewski in second and Mike Ingham in third.
Read more about the sailing, the regatta and the sailors here.
J/109 WHISKEY JACK Wins China Cup
Saturday was a washout. After a delayed start to the program, to allow Government officials to get to Opening Ceremony (taking place on the second day of the regatta - go figure), the breeze failed to cooperate and the fleet floated around from 1200 hrs to 1630 hrs when the RO signaled ‘AP over A’ and we all went ashore. In the interim, entertainment was provided by skinny-dipping Russians, a display of spreader-diving, and large numbers of water-fights – all good stuff as crews sat ‘on the grill’ in the uncharacteristically hot October sunshine right next to Daya Bay nuclear power station.
Sunday’ forecast was for more breeze – lots more breeze – and it was plum right. Nothing less that 10 kts, and a max of 17 kts, made for good racing on the flat water of Da Ya Wan. Once again, a class act from the Royal Hong Kong YC race management team, and all divisions completed two windward-leewards and a triangle-sausage-sausage geometric, thereby making back one of the races lost yesterday.
Star of the show all day was Nick Southward’s J/109 WHISKEY JACK, scoring 1-1-2 in IRC B, and leading the combined A and B fleets over the line in the second race of the day. 'The boys were on fire' said Southward later. 'They sailed their socks off today, it was hard work.' The program continues.....hope for the best for J-109 sailors Nick and crew!
For more sailing and regatta information, please go to Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
J/109 MAJIKAL Wins Port Hacking-Botany Bay Race
Keith Wilson's J/109 MAJIKAL finished first in his division in the Port Hacking to Botany Bay Short Ocean Race. He is delighted with the J/109’s performance in all conditions. Says Keith "this boat is bloody magical the way it sails in all conditions the southerlies can throw at us-- love it! Be great to have a few more down here to mess around with!"
Grant Thornton Ocean Pointscore Series
(Sydney, Australia- October 3rd)- Blustery southerly winds and squally rains greeted the fleet for Race One of the Grant Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore Series. The first race of the series was raced on Saturday, 3 October 2009, in wintery conditions and was conducted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club. In what is becoming a tradition for this race, the southerly winds and squally rains that greeted the sixteen intrepid and enthusiastic competitors appeared to be a re-run from previous year's events. Due to the 2-3 metre swells experienced off shore, the race committee was unable to lay the marks out past the "Sydney Harbor Heads", so they made the decision to send Division 1 yachts to Botany Bay and back.
For Ray Entwistle’s J/122 JACKPOT it was an exhilarating day’s racing. “We flew the 140sq.m asymmetric kite from the Shark Island start to the heads, turned the corner and the crew hit the rail for the beat down the coast to Botany Bay. The winds were averaging 25 knots, gusting over 30 knots at times, and the rain felt like small hail stones hitting our faces. The waves washed away the last of the red dust that remained from the dust storm, which had infiltrated every crevice of the boat. We lost some time when we missed a wind shift and that allowed the fleet to get away from us,” said Entwistle.
“Turning into Botany Bay, we had a few minutes respite from the weather. We rounded the mark and set the new heavy weather spinnaker off the bowsprit for what was a joyride back home. We hit a new top boat speed of 18.6knots in JACKPOT, averaging 14 knots. It felt like it only took 10 minutes to get to Bondi – the boat was flying and the crew were loving it,” concluded Entwistle.
JACKPOT finished third in IRC Division 2. Tim Cox’s J/35 SOUNDTRACK finished first in IRC Division 3, the course set in-harbour due to the rough sea conditions.
J's Dominate Gascoigne Cup
(Sydney, Australia- October 24th)- The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s historic Gascoigne Cup sailed into its second century today with victory on PHS going to prominent yachtsman Tim Cox in his J/35 SOUNDTRACK. Tim Cox, a retired senior RAN officer, is well known as Chairman of the Race Committee for the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and is also a member of the Sailing Committee of the RSYS.
Ray Entwistle’s J/122 JACKPOT won IRC Class, reveling in the light south-easterly breeze of 8-14 knots. “The J/122 just glided through the swell off the heads of Sydney, we had great height and excellent speed. Even though it was a windward / leeward course, we ran just as deep as the symmetrical rigged boats with our 155 sq.m running kite designed by Ian Short Sailmakers. The conditions were a far cry from the race 3 weeks ago when the winds were gusting over 30 knots with a 2-3 metre swell on which we were planing at over 18 knots at times. The J/122 excels in every condition the Sydney climate throws at us.”
SUBARU J/105 North Americans a Power Play
(Rye, NY- Nov 1) - Bruce Stone racing POWER PLAY secured victory at the Subaru J/105 North American Championship at American Yacht Club in Rye, NY. After stumbling out of the gate on the first day with a 6-15-10, the San Francisco-based team’s comeback hit overdrive on the third day when they won all three races to vault them to the top of the standings; garnering four firsts in a row since the last race the day before. A manageable 5-4 on the final day guaranteed their win.
The fleet was blessed by remarkably variable conditions over the four days of racing with plenty of wind from all four quadrants. Whomever prevailed was going to have overcome significant challenges to overcome a very strong and deep fleet of talented sailors racing in this year's North Americans.
It all started out on Thursday with light to medium breezes out of the ENE.; competitors were greeted with blue skies, temperatures in the 50s and winds between 8-12 knots that diminished throughout the three races. James Rathbun of Toronto, Ontario with world renowned World Champion Canadian sailor Terry McLaughlin in the afterguard calling tactics and boat speed led the 28 boat fleet after three races; their J/105 HEY JUDE finished with eight points for the day. A perennial J/105 Champion Brian Keane from Weston, MA sailing SAVASANA ended the day in second with eleven points. One point behind were New York Long Island Sound locals Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes on KINCSEM with twelve points.
On Friday, competitors enjoyed brisk fall conditions on Long Island Sound. Winds blew between SSE 10-14 knots, and temperatures remained in the 50. This day belonged to Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes on KINCSEM who scored a 1-1-3. After six total races, the Katonah, NY team sat with seventeen total points; an enormous twenty point lead over their closest competition. James Rathbun HEY JUDE didn't have such a great day and dropped to second place overall. Josh Burack on PEREGRINA (New Rochelle, NY) rounded out the top three with forty points. Following Esdorn/Hennes in Race 4 were Rob Marsh on BLOWBOAT and Bruce Stone on POWER PLAY. Foreshadowing what was to come the next day, the POWER PLAY team finally got off the starting line clean and led the fleet around the race track, trailed by HEY JUDE and KINCSEM.
Saturday's racing dawned grey and nasty. The forecast was equally as bad- rain, gusty winds 15-30 knots out of the SSW. It was also a day that produced dramatic and significant changes amongst the fleet leaders. In a remarkable display of consistency and outright boatspeed, POWERPLAY won all three races on day three--- a feat never achieved before- four consecutive victories in a row at a J/105 North American Championship. Following POWER PLAY in Race 7 were Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes on KINCSEM and Damian Emery on ECLIPSE. In second place in Race 8 was George Wilbanks racing REVELATION, then KINCSEM in third. Trailing POWER PLAY in the day’s final contest were Kevin Grainger on GUMPTION 3 and Paul Strauch on ANDIAMO.
The winning San Francisco-based team on POWER PLAY, consisting of skipper Bruce Stone, Stuart Johnstone, Nicole Breault, Bob Dearborn, Mark Lindquist and Dave Marshall, finished with 55 points over 11 races, beating their closest competitor by nine points overall. The J/105 NA's concluded a remarkable season for Bruce Stone's team-- having won the ROLEX Block Island Race Week and nearly won a second watch at the ROLEX Big Boat Series with a close second.
Complete daily and overall results for all four days of sailing, plus regatta reports.
Ice Cup Sailing in Sweden
2010 J/80 European Championship Sailing on Lake Garda
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