J/24 Champion Ed Baird Skippering LUNA ROSSA

* Ed Baird - Back on the helm with LUNA ROSSA for AC34? Like the Ken Read's, Terry Hutchinson's, Chris Larson's, Dave Curtis', Maurizio Santa Cruz's of the world, winning the World Championship in a one-design class like the J/24 is terrific training for sailors wishing to succeed at world-class levels offshore and around the cans.  There is NO substitute for starting with world-class one-design dinghy sailing, then jumping into world-class one-design keelboat sailing to learn what it takes to prepare boats, fine-tune the sails, practice perfect boat-handling and motivate the crew to work as a cohesive team with the ultimate goal in mind of sailing to win.  Few practicioners know how to do it well consistently.  Ben Ainslie comes to mind as a good example of a next generation sailor that is learning the art and science of it quite well.  Amongst the "old guard", Ed Baird is certainly amongst the best.  Ed was at the helm when the Alinghi team won the 32nd America's Cup in 2007, which led to him being honored that year as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Last week it was announced that the Italian fashion house PRADA was returning to the America's Cup scene, where team owner Patrizio Bertelli - a three-time America's Cup campaigner - had reassembled the LUNA ROSSA team for the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia next month.  Read more about Ed's interview and current sailing plans on Scuttlebutt.  

J/133 Wins Singlehanded Guadalupe Island Race

(Marina del Rey, CA)- Gil Maguire sailed his J/133 TENACITY singlehanded on the 600 mile Guadalupe Island Race.  Here is a good long look at one man's perspective on some shorthanded offshore racing...

"The Guadalupe Island Race is run every other year in late March by the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association, and has both single and doublehanded classes. The race is about 600 miles long and goes from Marina del Rey, past Catalina Island, past San Clemente Island, 300 miles due south to and around Mexico’s Guadalupe Island which is about 125 miles west of the Baja peninsula, and then back, 300 miles uphill, slogging to windward, to the finish line at Catalina Harbor on Catalina Island. Guadalupe Island is about 22 miles long and quite high (4500 feet or so). It is known for its elephant seal colonies and as a breeding ground for great white sharks. Most of the great white footage you see on TV is shot off of Guadalupe’s eastern shore.

The race is mostly outside the protection of the Southern California bight so it can get very windy with gales and very large seas not unusual at this time of the year. So you can have a great run down to the island but a brutal beat back. Unlike the other, longer Mexico races, the Guadalupe Island race requires participants to race back, against the wind and swells. To that extent, it is a more complete test of a boat and its crew’s seamanship skills, requiring vessels and crews to demonstrate their ability to windward as well as their downwind sled capabilities. While the slog back can be uncomfortable, it is tactically and physically challenging and has the advantage of finishing the race at or near one’s home port without the need to feed and house crew in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta, or pay for a delivery crew to get the boat home, often several weeks later.

I tried to do the race singlehanded two years ago in Tenacity, our J/133, but had to drop out when I lost my autopilot and electronics about halfway down to the island. I was looking forward to doing it this year before my advancing age began to take a bigger toll."  Read more about Gil's sailing experience on Sailing Anarchy.  

Bermuda Race Week Blustery & Fun!

Snyder Dominates J/24s, Williams Repeats in J/105s

(April 25, 2010) - This year's Bermuda International Race Week was not without its dramas and extraordinary weather.  With enormous fronts blowing across from the North American continent, sweeping across the North Atlantic, it seems that Bermuda fortunately only gets the "tail feathers" of most of them and not the brunt of the huge Lows whistling across to their North.  Race Week this year had its fair share of light to moderate winds as well as partly cloudy, very blustery days blowing 20-30 knots plus.  In the heavier conditions, it's interesting to see how well IODs, J/24s, J/105s, Lasers and what not handle the conditions.  Some handle it better than others, some not so well.  Every try hoisting a spinnaker in 30 knots with an inexperienced crew?  Not recommended.

Enjoying, if not reveling, in the blustery conditions were the experienced crew aboard Allan Williams' J/105 NOT MINE, co-skippered with Glenn Astwood.  For the fourth consecutive year, Williams' NOT MINE won the J/105 One-Design class at Race Week.  However, for the first time Williams had a strong challenge from former Sunfish North American and World Champion Chuck Millican (back in the old days, remember?) sailing ELUSIVE into a tie-breaker with Williams' NOT MINE, but sadly losing on the tie-breaker to finish second. Jim MacDonald finished five points back from the leaders to finish third.

The J/24s had a very eventful regatta this year.  For starters, a bunch of "colonialists from America" showed up and stole the show.    Scott Snyder from Colorado was the only international winner in all five classes. He and his crew from Colorado and New York took first place in the J/24 Class to win the "Wetty Gripper Trophy".  Snyder got off to an amazing start with five firsts in the first five races. Then on Thursday he got a 2,4,3 score. He and his crew computed the possibilities of anyone beating them if they dropped two DNS 12 point scores, so they didn’t have to race on Friday to win first place. Snyder’s team had 14 points.  Trevor Boyce also had two 12-point scores from earlier races in which he retired after finishing. With his dropped scores he moved back into second place with 18 points. Peter Rich finished third one point back with 19 points.  The big event of the week was the death-roll, sinking (temporarily) of Tim Lynch's J/24 ERIN on the last leg of Race 5. ERIN was flying downwind under spinnaker in 30+ knots of wind on Bermuda’s Great Sound when she took a knockdown and stuck her mast in the water.  Within hours, ERIN was floating again, and like a "Phoenix from the ashes," was ready to race the next day, ultimately finishing sixth in the closely fought J/24 class!   For more sailing information, videos and photos of Bermuda Race Week.  

J/122 Wins Antigua Sailing Week

J/122 CATAPULT Wins Racing 3

(English Harbour, Antigua)- The classic down island regatta to end all Caribbean regattas.  As one owner commented: “Fantastic weather, good breeze, good waves and tough competition is what Antigua Sailing Week is all about."  The two J/122 owners that participated in Racing 3 Division couldn't agree more.

Marc Glimcher and his team on the J/122 CATAPULT secured an overall win of Racing 3 by winning the final race. CATAPULT also finished third overall in Division A behind the R/P 75 TITAN.  Not to be outdone by their sistership, local hero from Antigua, Jim Dobbs, sailed his J/122 LOST HORIZON to a well-deserved third overall.  LOST HORIZON managed to work out some good local knowledge "plays" to finish amongst the leaders.  In fact, had they maintained their pace in the first three races they might've giving the CATAPULT boys a run for the money.  For more Antigua sailing info      Photo credits- Tim Wright  

J/133 Wins American YC Spring Series

J/133 SIREN SONG Victory Chorus!

(Rye, NY)- The AYC Spring Series concluded with a fairly light and streaky weekend of winds with sunny skies and unseasonably warm weather (must be that volcanic cloud circling the Earth again).   The American YC Race Committees and PRO's provided the sailors with  great racing in challenging conditions over the two weekends of sailing.

The J/122 One-Design class saw Tom Boyle and Mike Callahan aboard WINGS continue their leading ways from the previous weekend to win this tightly fought class, with a 1-2-2-1-1-2-2-3-1 record for 12 points to win by three points over Andrew Weiss' family racing CHRISTOPHER DRAGON to a 3-1-1-3-2-1-3-1-3 tally for 15 points.  Barry Gold and Jamie Anderson sailing SUNDARI stepped up their game this weekend to punctuate their previous finishes with a 1-2-2, but not enough to move them up the standings from the previous weekend.  So SUNDARI's scores of 2-3-4-2-3-5-1-2-2 for 19 points kept them on the podium, finishing third for the series.

Bill Ketcham and his team aboard the J/44 MAXINE, held off the hard-charging crew on Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER to win the J/44 One-Design class.  GOLD DIGGER's 1-1-2 this past weekend was not enough to overcome the remarkably consistent scores of MAXINE.  After a strong start the previous weekend, Jeff Willis on CHALLENGE IV fell off the pace a bit, garnering a 6-2-3 to drop down to third place for the series.  All in all, it was a good showing and start of the year for both MAXINE and CHALLENGE IV to give the GOLD DIGGER gang a run for the money.  The J/44 One-Design Class continue to enjoy fantastic racing with their "class matched/supplied" one-design sails.  Draw each sail out of a hat and off you go!  It's been a terrific formula for success.  Look out for another large J/44 class for this year's Storm Trysail Club Bermuda Race.

The J/105 One-Design class continued their very competitive racing and, as usual, it all came down to the last day to determine who would be the top three on the leader-board.  The anxiety level was high as anxious skippers and crews sought to get good clean starts, avoid the corners and get in three solid races on the last day.  The weather conditions sure didn't cooperate since anyone shooting the corners could flip-flop the standings rapidly.  Despite the difficult conditions, Bruce Stone's and Scott DeWeese's POWERPLAY prevailed over their seventeen competitors, just winning by three points over Damian Emery's ECLIPSE.  In fact, both boats must've spent a lot of time watching each other on the same side of the race track as both had their worst daily scores for the series- POWERPLAY sailing to a riveting 3-7-4 record and ECLIPSE matching them with a mind-blowing 11-13-7 score, uncharacteristic for both well-sailed J/105s to drop that far down the standings. Redeeming themselves nicely after the first weekend were Kevin Grainger on GUMPTION 3, getting on to the podium for third overall with a late charge of 2-5-3-3 in the last four races to bring them into contention.  Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson CONUNDRUM started off well the first weekend, but a 9-15 in the last two  races hurt their chances to a podium finish to finish fourth.  In fifth was George and Alex Wilbanks REVELATION.

The IRC 40 Class appeared to be a playground for the J/133s these past two weekends.  The class was dominated by Thomas Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG with seven bullets in nine races- clearly they were singing their own tune and marching to a different drummer!  Their 4-1-1-6-1-1-1-1-1 tally for 11 points was the most dominant performance of any boat in the AYC Spring Series, winning by 13 points.  Finishing third was Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE, coming on strong in the final weekend to just miss out second overall by one point.  Fourth was George Petrides' J/120 AVRA.

The J/109s racing IRC35 Class saw two of the leading J/109s not participate this past weekend.  One of them, Rick Lyall's STORM sailed in the SW NOOD Annapolis for the J/109 Mid-Atlantic Championship and the start of the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy.  Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN sailed a nice series, getting a 5-5-4-1-3-5-6-3-3-7-1 score for 36 points, just missing out third overall by one point due to their forgettable second to last race 7th place finish.

True to form, the J/29 HUSTLER sailed by John and Tony Esposito simply walked off with PHRF Division honors.  Again, their performance in light airs and flat water with a lump is pretty devastating with their powerful masthead rig and chutes.  The Esposito's managed to dash off a 3-3-1-1-1-3-1-1-1-1 record for 13 points for a thirteen point lead over the next boat.   Photo credits- Alan Clark/ Photoboat   For more race and sailing information on the American YC Spring Series.  

J/120 CC RIDER Wins SDYC YACHTING CUP

Nichols J/120 CC RIDER Wins! Big J's Sweep PHRF2!

(San Diego, CA- May 1-2) – Ninety-seven keelboats and over 700 sailors participated in San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup this weekend. The J Fleet was well represented with 37 boats competing  (38% of the fleet)  spread across the one-design and PHRF classes.  The winner of the Yachting Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the most competitive fleet, went to Chuck Nichols and his J/120 team on CC RIDER. Said Nichols, "It was a difficult weekend because we rarely have a southerly on sunny days and we had it both days. The only way to win is with outstanding crew work and that’s what we have."

Racing in the J one-design fleets was so close that it was commonplace to have overlapped boats cross the finish line throughout the weekend in which sailors experienced the Catalina eddy. Cold air coming down from the north deflects north of LA and hooks back into the San Diego area as a southerly. It wasn't until well into Sunday’s racing that the wind started to shift right as a light haze burned off. Said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 WINGS, "It was a chamber of commerce weekend."

The big boats on the West Ocean Course off of Point Loma and the J/120's and J/105's competitors on the "Roads course" off of Coronado experienced an 10-12 knot SSW, a large swell, sunshine, temperatures in the low 60’s throughout the weekend. Even rail meat had an important job this weekend – spotting kelp.

J/80's and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. Said longtime J/80 fleet champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 AVET to a very close regatta victory; "We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water. We had really close racing among the top three boats," he emphasized, "within inches."

On the "Big Boat course", the big J's took a clean sweep of PHRF2.  Tom Holthus' J/145 BAD PAK continues on a roll, winning PHRF2 with a 2-2-1-1-2 record for 8 points over Fuller's J/125 RESOLUTE in second with 11 points and Mark Surber's DERIVATIVE in third with 14 points.

On the "Roads Course", Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER was low point in the 9-boat J/120 fleet on Saturday and Sunday. CC RIDER's victory in the most competitive fleet earned the team the 2010 Yachting Cup. John Snook's JIM and Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI were second and third overall. They were tied on points with 16.

The 15-boat J/105 fleet comprises the largest one-design fleet participating in Yachting Cup. Most of the fleet is from San Diego and they take no prisoners when they play. Three different boats won races during the regatta and Doug and Pam Werner's JAVELIN came out on top with 11 points. Everyone worked hard throughout the weekend and Hurlburt/Driscoll's BLOW BOAT moved into a solid second on Sunday. Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis and Sharon Case's WINGS and Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION2 finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with only four points separating them.

Over on the South Bay Course were the J/80s.  Curt Johnson's AVET won with a strong, consistent 1-2-2-1-1 record for 7 points.  Said J-World's Jeff Brown, whose team finished second overall, "Sailing on the flat water in the South Bay is fantastic. We have three J-World boats here and it is a lot of fun. We had very competitive sailing with second and third place finishes within boat lengths of one another." Bob Hayward and his crew on BLUE JAY were third in the regatta.

Finally, in the PHRF 4 division, Larry Leveille's J/29 Rush Street was third, with the last race determining their chances for a silver on the podium.  Another J/29, Greg Raines' MAC 5 finished fifth.   For more San Diego Yachting Cup sailing information  

Record J Fleet @ SW NOOD Annapolis

Flynn's J/80 Overall NOOD Winner!

(Annapolis, MD)-   The enormous 120+ boat J Fleet (nearly 62% of the entire NOOD fleet) were met with better than expected weather conditions, soaking in the sunny skies and gentle warm breezes from the southerly quadrant for most of the weekend and even the partly cloudy, extremely shifty winds on Sunday did little to diminish sailors enthusiasm for this remarkably well-run event.

The J/22s saw Greg Fisher's WHAT KINDA GONE establish an early lead on the first day and sailed a solid, consistent series with scores of 2-1-1-9-4-5-2-5 for 29 points.  Jeff Todd racing HOT TODDY was also in the hunt on the first day just behind Greg Fisher and fired off two firsts in the last two races to finish  second just four points back with a 8-7-2-4-5-4-1-1 score for 32 points.  While these two Annapolis teams showed their tail feathers to the fleet, the outsiders led by Travis Odenbach from Rochester, NY sailing INSTIGATOR fought hard over the three days to climb into contention to finish third with a 1-8-5-16-2-2-3-6 for 43 points, beating David Kerr racing SHARK SANDWICH on a tie-breaker.

Other than two tactical memory lapses in races 2 and 7 (yes, does happen when we all get older), Tony Parker's venerable J/24 BANGOR PACKET "schooled the kids" in the J/24 class.  Tony's 2-10-1-2-1-1-9-3 for 29 points were a strong performance from this experienced team, leading second place finisher Paul Van Ravenswaay on MILLENIUM FALCON by eight points.  Paul's 1-14-2-1-3-3-8-5 record put him in a tie for second with Tim Healy's 7-5-7-6-2-7-2-1 record.  Third on the tie-breaker was Tim Healy from SailNewport, fourth was Club Nautico de Olives' Ken Johnson from Buenos Aires, Argentina on TEAM OJOTA and fifth was Pat Fitzgerald on RUSH HOUR.

With thirty-six boats, the J/80 was not only the largest, but the most competitive class at this year's SW NOOD Annapolis- the fourth stop of the J/80 USA Tour leading to the J/80 Worlds in Newport.  There were significant swings in performance for all the leading teams in the top ten.  Fairing better than most was past World Champion Terry Flynn from Ft Worth Boat Club winning with a 9-3-3-2-1-6-6-2 record for 32 points to overcome J/80 class newcomer Brian Keane (past J/105 North American and Key West Champion).  Brian's SAVASANA sailed a 3-13-1-7-13-1-1-10 record to hang in for second with 49 points.  Third was past J/80 champion Jay Lutz and Gary Kamins sailing for California YC, overcoming a very slow start to finish with a flourish, garnering a 14-19-4-1-2-5-3-9 record for 57 points.  Fourth was Jason Balich/ Matt Allen from Jubilee YC, another Marion/Buzzards Bay sailor like Brian Keane and fifth was Henry Brauer from New York YC.  For their performance in this large, closely fought J/80 class, Terry Flynn also received the Best Overall Performance for the NOOD, qualifying him for the SW NOOD Nationals in the British Virgin Islands!

The J/30s had a great regatta with many closely contested finishes with boats overlapped and finishing within seconds of each other.  After the smoke cleared, Bob Rutsch/ Mike Costello sailed a remarkable series after their modest first day performance to post a 4-1-2-5-1-1-1-1 record for 16 points!  Not to be outdone, Lawrence Christy posted a 1-3-4-3-2-2-2-3 series to finish just four points off the pace.  Ron Anderson from AYC finished third, fourth was National YC's George Watson and fifth was Glenmar Sailing Association's Phil Heldrich.

The J/35s also had a fun and incredibly competitive series amongst the top four boats with a tie-breaker to end all tie-breakers determined in the eighth and final race!  Bill Wildner's MR BILLS WILD RIDE from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron took a 1-1-6-1-1-1-2-1 record to dominate the J/35 class, winning by 18 points! But, the real drama was taking place just behind them.  Chuck Kohlerman sailed MEDICINE MAN to a strong finish after a very slow start on Friday to win a THREE-WAY tie-breaker for second!  MEDICINE MAN's record of 8-2-4-9-2-4-1-2 was just enough to beat Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel's AUNT JEAN (5-6-1-4-7-3-3-3 scores) and Barry Moss's BAD COMPANY (3-5-9-2-3-2-4-4 scores) to finish second, third and fourth, respectively!  After starting off the regatta strong on the first day, Maury Niebur on BUMP IN THE NIGHT completed the series in fifth.

The J/105s saw local hotshot Peter McChesney from Annapolis YC lead the series starting the first day and never relinquish his lead, sailing to an unassailable 1-1-5-1-3-5-2-3 record for 21 points over Royal Canadian YC member Jim Rathbun sailing HEY JUDE (Jim finished 2nd in the 2009 J/105 North Americans at American YC).  Jim's tally (3-2-16-3-12-4-1-1) with two firsts in the last two races were not enough to overcome a forgettable third race and a 40% penalty in the fifth race to challenge Peter's fast team for the series lead.  Third is Jim Coningsberg from AYC, fourth Arthur Libby from AYC and fifth Will Crump from NYYC.

The first stop on the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy (also doubling as the Mid-Atlantic Coast Championships) saw the two class leaders dueling for the top of the leader-board throughout the series.  A potent combination of good speed, local knowledge plus a bit of luck enabled Bill Sweetser's RUSH, the local Annapolis YC boat, to sail to an incredibly consistent 1-1-2-1-1-3-1-3 score for thirteen points.  Second was Rick Lyall's Block Island-winning STORM from Cedar Point YC sailing to a 4-4-1-3-2-2-2-2 record for twenty points.  Just behind this duel of the class titans were Steve McManus sailing his SAYKADOO very well to third place, just nipping Craig Wright's AFTER THOUGHT in fourth.  Fifth was Tony Syme's LOGOS.   More NOOD sailing news at Sailing World's site.   Photo credits- Tim Wilkes  

J/133 Wins YCI Regate Pirelli

J/133 CHESTRESS 2 Wins Coppa Carlo Negri

(Portofino, Italy)- The Regate Pirelli - Coppa Carlo Negri, organised by the Yacht Club Italiano, in collaboration with the Circolo Velico di Santa Margherita Ligure ended on Sunday. The first round of racing took place in optimal weather conditions with Sirocco winds of 16 knots. The second round started with winds of 12 knots, decreasing throughout the day, causing the race committee to shorten the course.  After four days of racing in the Coppa Carlo Negri Perpetual Challenge the J/133 CHESTRESS 2, sailed by Giancarlo Ghislanzoni from Yacht Club Italiano took overall honours in the largest class (IRC A) that saw forty-seven yachts competing.  The J/109 FREMITO D'ARJA sailed by Marcello De Gasperi sailed very well to finish second in IRC B.

The event sees the creme'd'la'creme of Italian yachting participating since it honors one of Italy's most prominent yachtsmen, Beppe Croce, the historic president of the Yacht Club Italiano and the only President of the ISAF from a non-English speaking country, having held the post for 17 years.  It was created in memory of Beppe Croce's friend, the aviator Carlo Negri, the son of Margherita Pirelli, holder of the gold medal for military valour, who was killed in Albania on 24th September 1943 during a voluntary action, while taking part in a mission to rescue a group of Italian soldiers surrounded by German troops. Established in 1945 as a perpetual challenge trophy, the Coppa Carlo Negri was donated by Margherita Puri Negri in memory of her brother.

Participating in this year's Coppa Carlo Negri were members of the Loro Piana fashion house in Milan, Pierluigi Loro Piana, sailing his large sloop MY SONG.  Also competing was yet another Italian fashion house leader, Leonardo Ferragamo, owner of Nautor/Swan in Finland.  Leonard sailed his Swan 42 CUORDILENE into second place behind Giancarlo's J/133 CHESTRESS 2 in IRC A class.

In the forty-seven boat IRC Class A, there were three other J's competing, including Andreas Farber's J/122 NIKITA in 10th overall, Marco Fantini's J/133 JAM in 25th and Federico Piccini's J/122 SMIGOL.

The fourteen boat IRC Class B also had two other J's sailing, including Daniele Fogli's J/109 EL CHICO in ninth and the Gabbai-Cohen team sailing their J/92 DAJENU in twelfth.     More Yacht Club Italiano information      For more Regate Pirelli Coppa Carlo Negri sailing information  

StFYC Foundation Selects J/22s

Growing California's Team Racing/ Match Racing Talent

(San Francisco, CA)- The St. Francis Yacht Club Foundation, in partnership with St. Francis Yacht Club, has chosen the J/22 for its expanding match racing and team racing programs in California.  

The J/22 has become the preferred match racing boat for major events around the country.  The Santa Maria Cup, Ira Ross Match Race, Richardson Cup and many others are sailed in the J/22.  Sailors love them because they reward skill and technique.  Good club sailors can get up to speed quickly and they can be equally as well sailed by women and men in most weather conditions.  Regatta organizers and club fleet managers love the boat because it's affordable, rugged and is designed for ease-of-use and ease-of-maintenance.  For example SailNewport in Newport, RI has a fleet of twelve boats that have withstood daily sailing from June to October by SailNewport and New York YC members since 2005- at an average of 700+ hours per boat per season, or 8,400+ fleet hours per year-- greater than a lifetime of sailing on-the-water for most sailors!

The J/22s will first see action this year during the US Match Racing Area Semi-finals being held at the St. Francis YC on July 17-18, 2010.  In 2011, St Francis YC expects to have at least one event per month in Northern California, both at the developmental level  (to enable people to build their match racing experience) and at the intermediate/upper levels with a goal towards developing more sailors that can participate in ISAF/WMRF Grade 3 events. See this video on a mark trap J/22 Team Racing at St. Francis YC this spring (seen here).

The newly-formed California Dreamin' Match Race Circuit will hold its first Grade 3 event at St Francis YC during the last weekend of February 2011.  The CDMRC circuit continues the following weekend at Long Beach YC in Catalina 37's and the next weekend at San Diego YC, again in J-22s-- imagine that, three consecutive weekends of Grade 3 match racing on the West Coast!

For the rest of 2011, St Francis YC expects to have match racing events in the Bay Area during April, May, June and July, two of which will be the US Match Racing Area G Quarter-finals.  These events will be interspersed with team racing events both at the Regular and Masters levels to help further grow interest and participation in the exciting, spectator sport of team racing.  Some regattas will be held on the City Front and others on the Berkeley Circle or Richardson Bay.  For more information on St Francis YC's J/22 Match Racing/ Team Racing programs  

J/80 UK Nationals Preview

(Cardiff, England)- The Tacktick Suunto J/80 UK National Championship 2010 commences this week. The event will be hosted by the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club, racing will take place in the Bristol Channel under the watchful eye of PRO David Cairncross. The J/80 is the fastest selling sportsboat in Europe and the UK J/80 class is delighted that marine electronics specialists Tacktick Suunto are sponsoring the event.

The competition in Cardiff will be hotly fought; alongside the travellers there will be a strong local field of five J/80 teams. J/80 International Class Chairman, Steve Cooper, will be competing in JUNIOR HIGH. Steve sailed the J/80 Worlds in Santander last year. Another local, Scott Cole and his team on PURPLE HAZE, are known to be fast-- both these boats know the sailing area well.

Toe In The Water, a charity that aims to encourage and rehabilitate injured servicemen and women through the sport of sailing, have four boats entered in the regatta. The relationship between the charity and the UK J/80 Class has been established for over three years now. Whilst these crews don’t get to sail with each other as frequently as many of the others at the Nationals, in the past the Toe In The Water teams have proved tactically strong and have shown skilful boat handling as well as pace.

The British Keelboat Academy will be represented by Tom Phipps and Kelvin Matthews. These lads got really strong results at the championships in 2009 and will be well worth watching. The Britannia Royal Naval College will also be racing for the Championship title in J/80 WAVE WARRIOR skippered by Joe Henry.

From the Solent, Thor Askeland makes his J/80 National Championship debut, racing  ELLE S'APPELLE. Thor won the Autumn Champs in Hamble last year and has shown more than a few moments of brilliance throughout the spring season. Terry Palmer (J/80 UK Class Chairman) and Caroline Cooper slotted in a top three result in the 93 boat J/80 fleet at Spi Ouest earlier this year, racing JUST DO IT. Ian Atkins will also be making the trip to Cardiff; having won 5 of 7 races last weekend in the Warsash Spring Series, Ian and his crew on BOATS.COM will always be a force to be reckoned with.   For J/80 UK Nationals sailing info    Photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com