J/92 Wins Australian Equinox/ Solstice Series

(Sydney, Australia)- The Australian sailing season is off to a gang-busters start for J's sailing Down Under.  The Sydney-based J/92 SELKIE skippered and owned by Chris Antico, Tony Booth and Evan Lewis   begins the Australian spring racing calendar on a high after a successful winter series. Racing out of Royal Australian Naval Sailing Association based on Sydney Harbour, the J/92 SELKIE won both the Equinox & Solstice series cementing the overall point score win.

The racing was held over varied wind conditions from 3 to 30 knots and comprised of 16 to 18 competitive boats in each fleet.  Chris commented, "We had the rig refined and some new sails from Ian Short who is becoming somewhat of a local guru on J boat rigs and never looked back.  We are on form and looking forward to the new season including Royal Prince Edward summer series,  Monday twilights and  some of the offshore SOPS series."  For more Australian sailing info.
  

J/122 JACKPOT Wins Down Under

(Sydney, Australia)- The opening race of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore Series held on 2nd October provided a challenge for the 18 boats who took to the water.

A spectacular rain and wind squall gave the fleet a wake-up call with boats reporting wind speeds of 25-26 knots from the 6 knot east nor’easterly breeze that marked the start.

Ray Entwistle’s J/122 JACKPOT, last year’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean IRC Pointscore winner, started the season where he left off – taking the IRC Division 1 win with David Forbes’ Kaiko 52 Merlin taking line honours. Tim Cox’s DK43 Minerva finished second in IRC Division 1 with Merlin third.

"I'm over the moon with today's win," said Ray Entwistle, owner of JACKPOT. "After a fickle start, we relished the challenging course and despite getting wet through had a great day out for the first race of the season.  The wind varied from 5 knots to 26 knots, with a massive rain squall which came through mid race, reducing visibility to 50m, with 30degree wind shifts.  On the final downwind leg heading back into Sydney Harbour, we were surfing at 14-15 knots, with the 155sq.m kite."  For more Australian sailing info
  

Sunny Start To Hamble Winter Series

J/109s Have Strong Turnout

(Hamble, England)-  What a great start to the Garmin Hamble Winter Series – clear blue skies, warm sunshine and a north-easterly wind ranging between 11 and 22 knots!  These were perfect conditions for the J/109 Class as they called for choices to be made regarding the appropriate headsail and kept navigators on their toes.  As always, no two races are ever the same in the Solent with the tide flooding for the first and ebbing for the second race, with the courses cascading across the Hill Head plateau.

Eleven J/109s made it to the start near Royal London where they waited patiently for others to start, with many caught out by the flooding tide resulting in a general recall.  The first race comprised two windward beats across to the mainland shore with corresponding downwind return legs and a short beat to finish.

The J/109 is the largest one-design yacht racing fleet in the UK and the camaraderie in the class is second to none.  This was demonstrated by the kindness of Matt Boyle, owner of SHIVA, who came to the rescue of David & Kirsty Apthorp and the J-DREAM team, as he leant them his J/209 SHIVA for this first weekend as J-DREAM was not back in the water.  J-DREAM (David & Kirsty Apthorp) had a clear start and by the windward mark she had established a lead which saw them untroubled for the rest of the two laps.  Meanwhile ARIA (Luca Rubinelli) and AUDAJIOUS (David Jobson) had benefitted from the mainland lift and JAMBHALA (Richard Sainsbury & Gill Ross) and OUTRAJEOUS (Richard & Valerie Griffith) were in hot pursuit.  The downwind leg saw little changing of places but the final beat gave JAMBHALA an opportunity to pass AUDAJIOUS to claim 3rd by 8 seconds.  Meanwhile ME JULIE (Dom Monkhouse) and OFFBEAT (David McLeman) were battling for 8th and 9th with ME JULIE pipping OFFBEAT on the line by 1 second.

The second race again saw a clean start for all.  ARIA led at the windward mark closely followed by OUTRAJEOUS and J-DREAM.  The second beat saw J-DREAM take the lead a position they held from ARIA until the last mark rounding which was to be a starboard rounding.  With a lead of 1 minute 40 seconds J-DREAM rounded to port only realising her mistake when she passed ARIA during the beat to the finish and had to turn round to unwind herself and round correctly.  Meanwhile OFFBEAT (David McLeman) had passed OUTRAJEOUS on the run and these boats together with J2EAU (Steve & Jody Maine) rounded the mark before J-DREAM completed her manoeuvre.  The short beat to the finish saw J-DREAM recover some of the lost distance to finish 3rd from J2EAU by 7 seconds whilst ARIA had held off OFFBEAT to take the win.  Only 35 seconds separated the first four boats.

The boat of the day was ARIA who was grateful to receive the bottle donated by Garmin.  Prize-giving, good grub and cheap beer back at Hamble River Sailing Club rounded of a perfect day’s racing.  Second was J-DREAM with a 1-3.  And, third was AUDAJIOUS with a 4-6.

Next weekend the J/109 Class will be holding their Autumn Championships as part of the Premier Marinas Autumn Championships run by Hamble River Sailing Club.  The Class together with other competitors will also be attending the party on Saturday evening sponsored by Key Yachting and in aid of Toe in the Water.

In IRC 3 Class, Mike and Jamie Holmes J/97 JIKA-JIKA is currently in a three-way tie for first with a 1-4.  Ed Holton's J/110 SHADES OF BLUE is also tied with a 3-2.  Just one point off the pace is Mike Flood's J/97 INDULJENCE with a 2-5.

Amongst the nine J/80s entered with it's John Cooper on OI! dominating the start to the Winter Series with a 1-1-1!  Terry Palmer on JUST DO IT is second with a 4-2-2.  One point behind him is Patrick Liardet on AQUA-J  with a 2-4-3.

For the J/Class, the fleet remained tight throughout the first race and with very little difference in handicaps the results mirrored the finishing sequence with JAMMIN first, BLACKJACK second and WIZARD third. The increased wind for race 2 meant that JAMMIN had to change down to a #3 losing the advantage that she gained in race 1 with the #1 headsail. JUNGLE FEVER rounded the first mark just ahead of JAMMIN with BLACKJACK close behind. Positions didn’t change until the last leg when JAMMIN'S short crew numbers couldn’t hold the kite anymore and changing down to whites allowed BLACKJACK through into second place just before the finish line.

Everyone hopes that next week will see more boats joining the fleet the make the racing even closer.  For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series results and sailing information.
  

Scott Young J/80 Worlds Interview

For those of you who sailed the J/80 Worlds, Scott Young provides some interesting insights regards the fun, excitement and challenges of racing a World Championship against a stellar fleet.  For those who wished they were there, Scot Spurlin's interview from Austin, TX provides entertaining and educational perspectives on what it's like to sail a J/80 in the extraordinary conditions the fleet experienced over the week long event.  As an interesting aside, many people asked "who" Scott was as many J/80 sailors had never heard of him before.  In short, he was a two-time College All-American at the University of Texas- Austin, is a US Mallory Cup Champion (emblematic of the US Men's National Championship in keelboats) and is also a Laser Masters Champion.  Enough said.  Watch Scott Young Video Interview here.
  

Pichu Torcida Wins 2nd J/80 Worlds

Epic, Wild, Wet, Sunny Finale

(Newport, RI- October 8th)- The final races for the J/80 Worlds in Newport were truly epic. No one could've predicted what was in store for the fleet and the top five leaders. The NOAA weather forecasters got one thing right, it was going to be a sunny day. And, to emphasize the fact that we were all sailing a World Championship, the PRO Tom Duggan and his brain trust that included Brad Read from SailNewport, felt that it was going to be important to ensure that everyone had a fair and level playing field on which to determine a true World Champion. The decision was to go offshore on what seemed to be a gorgeous day, somewhat benign in its initial stages with a nice 10-15 knot wind blowing from the West. The course was set just 2 nm SE of Beavertail Point at the end of Jamestown and about 2.5 nm ESE of Whale Rock in Rhode Island Sound.

Going into to the first race of the day, it was truly anybody's guess as to who would end up crowned as the 2010 J/80 World Champion. The top three all had a strong chance of winning and, as you'll discover, all three in fact were winning at one point or another over the three races sailed on Friday. At one point, PERALEJA GOLF's Carlos Martinez had it in the bag and was ready to celebrate. After race ten, Scott Young's and Terry Flynn's team on QUANTUM RACING were ready to break out the champagne, as Pichu Torcida's crew on ECC VIVIENDAS had experienced a massive gybe broach (keel-waving anyone?) and had lost several boats in the process to get their worst race of the series- an 18th. After race eleven, it was anyone's guess how the standings finished as there were enough black flags, DSQs and Z flag penalties that it was next to impossible to compute 3-5 point differences in the standings for the top 25 finishers, forgetting the fact that the top five were racing for the title separated by only several points going into the first race of the day.

The first race of the day started off in a beautiful 10-18 knots Westerly swinging 10-15 degrees in the 270-290 range. After the four-legged 1.7 nm per leg windward-leeward course, it was clear that playing left of middle in the first 2/3 of the windward leg upwind was fast and top right 1/3 was good for right-handers just off the shore. The winners were a pretty happy bunch. Imagine Tom Klok, Will and Marie Crump and the invincible Vince Brun onboard GULDFAXE all wearing huge, cheshire cat grins on their face and you can only begin to appreciate the joy it meant to win a race in a World Championship against some very tough hombres in super-evenly matched one-design J/80s. Second in the race was Jeff Johnstone on LITTLE FEAT who's tactician Chuck Allen also had about as big (or bigger) grin on his face. Why? Because they'd beaten fair and square ECC VIVIENDAS' team sailed by Pichu Torcida who got a third in the race. Just behind them were Scott Young/ Terry Flynn's QUANTUM RACING in fourth and Alan Terhune with tactician Moose McClintock sailing US 221 in fifth. Carlos Martinez's PERALEJA GOLF, who was the regatta leader at the time, was now fighting for survival to stay in the top three after their worst race of the event, a 24th.

With the standings now jumbled a bit after the first race, it was still unclear if the PRO Tom Duggan and his SailNewport RC Team and the fleet themselves were capable of sailing just one more or two more races. Nevertheless, the SailNewport RC team managed to reset the course for the wind that had started to shift further SW and increase dramatically in velocity-- pushing 25 knots by the time of the second start. At this point, no one knew how crazy the world was going to get in the next 20 minutes. The wind started to increase more during the starting sequence and go even further left. Incredibly, on a black flag start, the wind shifted enough where half the fleet near the port end couldn't make the line and had to tack (or gybe) onto port to simply get across in the last 20 seconds. In turned into one of the most incredible races for anyone racing a J/80 in recent memory. 20-30 knot winds from 250-260 degrees, spectacularly sunny day with not a cloud in the sky, and increasingly bigger waves. The top American teams had figured out how to get around the course in the challenging conditions to get three of the top five, with Glenn Darden's LE TIGRE team leading the charge to get first, followed by Kerry Klingler on LIFTED, fifth was the fast-recovering Bruno Pasquinelli steering TIAMO (Bruno suffered a few stitches on Day three after having an argument with his boom). Not surprisingly, the top Spanish teams Rayco Tabares on HOTEL PRINCESSA CANARIAS finished third and fourth was countryman Carlos Martinez on PERALEJA GOLF. Barring any scoring issues like DSQs, Black Flags, DNSs or Z flag penalties, the QUANTUM RACING team with Scott Young skippering were winning the Worlds simply because Pichu Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS had their worst race of the series, an 18th.

Setting the stage for the last race was the fact that it was still anyone's ball-game to go win. The top three were now the top five-- any finish up or down the top ten in the last race would determine who would win between Young's QUANTUM RACING, Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS, Martinez' PERALEJA GOLF, Johnstone's LITTLE FEAT (who BTW had the best scores for the last two days, each day!) and Darden's LE TIGRE. By now, it was clear that the SailNewport RC team was marshaled together to get yet one more unbelievably epic race off in the spectacular conditions the fleet had enjoyed in race ten. Without hesitation at around 1:35 the signals were raised and the fleet sent off into the teeth of a "baby gale"- blowing a steady 25-30 knots, shifting 10-15 degrees, with large waves. It was apparent Carlos Martinez had enough "practice" in the first two races to simply show the rest of the world his transom by winning the last race in convincing fashion- planing across the finish line going 17+ knots, enshrouded in huge sheets of salt spray. Second was Javier Blanco from Real Club Nautico de Barcelona (Spain) sailing CROCS in his best race of the series. Third was Jeff Johnstone on LITTLE FEAT, despite sailing 80% of the last run wing-on-wing with main and jib after shrimping and shredding their spinnaker on the set at the last windward mark. Fourth was Glenn Darden on LE TIGRE and fifth Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS.

After the dust and salt-spray settled, Pichu's ECC VIVIENDAS team from Real Club Nautico Santander (Spain) were crowned the 2010 J/80 World Champions, winning by two points over Scott Young/ Terry Flynn's team from Austin Yacht Club on QUANTUM RACING that had 50 points. Third was Carlos Martinez's team from Santiago, Spain on PERALEJA GOLF, only four points back with 54 points. Fourth was Jeff Johnstone's team on LITTLE FEAT from Ida Lewis YC with 58 points, just one point ahead of Glenn Darden's LE TIGRE team from Fort Worth Boat Club with 59 points.

Congratulations to Sail Newport, Ida Lewis Yacht Club, the Newport Yachting Center and the worlds committee headed up by Jeff Johnstone and Kendra Muenter for conducting what had to be one of the best regattas ever in most sailor's recent memories. How can anyone beat the fact that for at least five straight days (six including practices on Sunday) that J/80s sailed in 15-30 knot winds nearly every day and over the course of the regatta were presented with some of the most challenging conditions anyone could ever imagine? From giant tropical depression induced waves from the East in a strong 15-30 Northeaster on Tuesday; to a 15-25 knot WNW in big chop offshore on Wednesday; to 10-30 knots WNW inside the Bay with flat water on Thursday; to yet another epic day offshore in 15-30 knot WSW breezes offshore in 4-6 foot waves for the Friday finale. Awesome. Cool. Incredible. All adjectives heard from sailors on the docks and at the Awards Dinner Friday.

Finally, many thanks to the sponsors who supported the J/80 Worlds 2010. In particular "Thanks" to the Gold Sponsors- West Marine, North Sails, Waterline Systems and V-Sport; the Silver Sponsors- New England Ropes, Harken, Henri Lloyd and Forte; and the Supporting Companies- Gowrie Group, Hall Spars, Sail 22, Sparcraft USA, Narragansett Beer, Harbor Town Vineyards, Photoboat.com, Z-Blok, Crystal Spring Water, Outside Images, Atlas Boat-Pads, Ronstan, Sailing World Magazine and Regatta Ginger Beer.

Sailing Photo Credits- Allen and Daniela Clark- Photoboat.com

  

J/80 Worlds- Wild Sailing Up The Bay- Day 3

PERALEJA GOLF Hanging to Lead by a Thread

(Newport, RI- October 7th)- The J/80 Worlds fleet was in for something special on their third day of sailing when PRO Tom Duggan hoisted "B" course area flag and sent the fleet up Narragansett Bay north of Gould Island. And, a special day it was, nearly post-card perfect winds and weather. The day dawned partly cloudy and cool blowing from the West, very shifty and extremely gusty. By the end, it was crystal clear skies with torn-cotton clouds blowing across the sky with winds fluctuating from 10 knots to upwards of 30 knots at times and shifting over 30 degrees from the WNW.
The course area presented a challenge regards how to stretch the course to the maximum possible length of 1.5nm. This meant the starting line had to be east of Halfway Rock in the shipping channel with the windward mark buried up under the Jamestown Island shore. It was a day that perhaps some of the "locals" might appreciate and have some fun with. That's exactly what happened.

The first race winners were the RASCAL team of Henry Brauer and Will Welles, neither are strangers to "up the Bay" sailing, nor is their tactician Stuart Johnstone. Right from the start, it was clear the left was paying with huge left-handers in the top left of the course. After a closely fought race, the RASCAL team held off a late charge from the very well sailed QUANTUM RACING team skippered by Scott Young and Terry Flynn from Austin, TX, the two bright red spinnakers pulling hard as the two boats flew across the line together on a full-on screaming plane and spray flying everywhere in a 25 kt gust. Third in the race was Jose Maria Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS. Rounding out the top five were Carlos Martinez on PERALEJA GOLF in 4th and Jeff Johnstone on LITTLE FEAT in 5th.

Between the first and second race the wind kept clocking a bit further right, going from 255-265 to 260-275 and with enormous differences in pressure across the race track. It took a while for the committee to reset and after a general recall, Z-flag recall, a black flag start/postponement, the fleet finally took off on one of the crazier races of the day. The second race saw a tough battle ensue for domination of the left side of the course. In the end, Al "Albie" Terhune with Moose McClintock as his tactician were not going to let anyone get left of them after giving it up to RASCAL in the previous race! Lesson learned, they took the gun. Not far behind them was Jeff Johnstone sailing LITTLE FEAT to an excellent race for second. Nipping at their heels were the hard-charging team on-board HOTEL PRINCESA CANARIAS sailed by Rayco Tabares in third. Making a nice comeback in this race was Glenn Darden's team on LE TIGRE managing to salvage a 4th and fifth was Javier Aguado Blanco on CROCS.

The third race of the day was simply a stunner. Race two was spectacular enough with 15-25 kt breezes from the West. But, the last race could not have been a more beautiful one to sail. With the race track moved around yet again to compensate for a 290-305 direction, it was going to be interesting to see if the "lefties" in races 1 and 2 for the day would still pay. Not. It was pretty clear that middle-right was going to pay big. Sailing a very strong race was Glenn Darden on LE TIGRE, earning a well-deserved first (the actual race winner HOTEL PRINCESA CANARIAS was DSQ'd). Second was Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS. Sailing a very consistent day was QUANTUM RACING skippered by Scott Young/ Terry Flynn in 3rd. Fourth was Ben Schwartz skippering LUCKY FROG and fifth was Jeff Johnstone on LITTLE FEAT.

After the dust cleared, it was clear the shifty, gusty conditions would jumble the standings significantly. Sure enough, Carlos Martinez on PERALEJA GOLF (who got black-flagged in race 8) managed to avoid big mistakes and leads by one point. Lying second just one point back is the QUANTUM RACING team skippered by Scott and Terry. On the second place tie-breaker is Jose's ECC VIVIENDAS team lying in third. With throw-outs, the top three boats are only separated by one point. The last day promises to be a mind-bender for these top three teams. And, if they really slip-up, it's possible that Glenn's LE TIGRE and Jeff's LITTLE FEAT could be contenders for the top three-- with a roll of the dice, anything is possible!

Sailing Photo Credits- Allen Clark- Photoboat.com

  

J/111 Speedster At Annapolis Boatshow

(Annapolis, MD)- If you haven't made it down to the Annapolis Show, now is the time to enjoy some beautiful fall weather outdoors on Columbus Day weekend and head on down to the Annapolis waterfront to see the new J/111.  Take a peak at what is generating all the buzz at the Newport Show the previous week.

The order book has surpassed forty boats and is rapidly approaching fifty new boats looking forward to some fun, fast sailing next summer.  The two one-design fleets already formed in Chicago and Halifax, Nova Scotia continue to grow!  To arrange a demo and get more information on this exciting boat, please contact your local J Dealer or J/Boats at ph. 401-846-8410 or at info@jboats.com.

  

STC Intercollegiate Big Boat Regatta

A J/Fest for College Sailors

(Larchmont, NY- Oct 9-10)- As the sailing season stretches into fall in the northeastern US there is a wonderful event on the J sailing calendar that supports the growth of sailing at a grass roots level- the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta, hosted by Storm Trysail Foundation and Larchmont Yacht Club. There are numerous J owners and J classes, like the J/105s, J/109s, J/122s, J/44s that are proud to be associated with this event and have been regular participants for the last six years. This is the largest big boat collegiate regatta in the country with something approaching 40 teams from all over the US, last year's event saw J owners comprise nearly 80% of the boats participating!  It is considered one of college sailings "coolest" events!

Storm Trysail Foundation's 2010 Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta will be sailed October 9-10, 2010 at Larchmont Yacht Club on western Long Island Sound. Last year's regatta featured teams from 31 schools. The following schools competed in 2009: American University, Army, Bates University, Bowdoin, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, University of Connecticut, Cornell, Dartmouth, Drexel, Fordham, Georgetown, Hamilton, Johnson and Wales, Maine Maritime, Mass. Maritime, U MASS - Boston, Miami of Ohio, Michigan, Middlebury, U.S. Naval Academy, New York Maritime, Rochester Polytechnic Institute, Univ. of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, St. Marys, Trinity, Tufts, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Webb Institute, Western Michigan, Williams.  For more STC College Big Boat Regatta sailing information.

  

Great Sailing In American YC Fall Series

HUSTLER, MAXINE, KINCSEM, SIREN SONG Win Their Classes

(Rye, NY)- The American YC Fall Series concluded with some amazing weather conditions both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.  Sunday's racing in particular had some incredibly strong breezes out of the northeast, with "condo-jumping" waves blowing at least 15-25 knots.

For the one-design classes, the two weekend event was especially challenging as tight fleet racing often brought about large changes in positions at each mark rounding.  Nevertheless, in the twenty boat J/105 class, Joerg Esdorn's KINCSEM won with Damian Emery's ECLIPSE in second.  Lying third was a good performance by Paul Strauch's ANDIAMO. The eight boat strong J/44s had great competition, all boats sailing with class sails.  After eleven races, the cream was surely going to rise to the top in this class as no one boat can dominate with the boats being so even.  Even then, Bill Ketcham's MAXINE notched four 1sts in their scores to grab first place by just one point!  Giving Bill a serious run for the money was Jeff Willis' CHALLENGE IV with a hotshot crew aboard, some of them from Newport!  Jim Bishop's renowned veteran campaigner, GOLD DIGGER, finally did manage to dig themselves out of a hole from the first weekend's racing to grab 3rd overall.  Gotta hand it to Jim, his vision for one-design class sailing in big boats continues to be a formula for long-term success-- still the largest one-design class to sail to Bermuda for over 15 years!

Over in the IRC/ PHRF handicap world, Rick Lyall's very successful J/109 STORM finished third in IRC 35 Class.  In the IRC 45 Class, Tom Carroll's J/133 SIREN SONG won over Ron Richman's J/133 ANTIDOTE.  Finally, the extraordinary HUSTLER, John and Tony Esposito's masthead J/29, absolutely crushed their PHRF division, rattling off eight 1sts and just two 2nds in a total of ten races-- call it vaporization (or atomization?) of their competition.  For more American YC Fall Series Regatta sailing information.

  

The DRAGON Wins J/122 East Coasts

(Rye, NY)- In addition to the AYC Fall Series, American YC also hosted the J/122 East Coast Championship this past weekend in Western Long Island Sound.  Strong winds following the passage of a large tropical depression Friday made for excellent sailing conditions for this competitive group.

After the four races held over the two days, it was Andrew Weiss's family team racing CHRISTOPHER DRAGON that sailed a very good series to win the J/122 East Coast Championships with a consistent score of 1-1-1-4 for seven points.  Nipping at their heels all weekend was Mike Bruno's WINGS sailing to a 2-2-4-1 score for nine points.  Sailing perhaps one their better regattas in awhile was Steve Furnary's PATRIOT, racing to a 4-3-3-2 record for twelve points. It seems that Steve did, in fact, benefit from Sandy Weill's wonderful ability to "direct traffic" on board to keep them in the hunt!  Previous weekend's winner, Dave and Mary-Ellen Tortorello's PARTNERSHIP sailed to a respectable 3-5-5-3 score for sixteen points, just behind Dave Murhpy's PUGWASH with a 3-4-2-5 tally for fourteen points.   For more J/122 East Coasts sailing information.