Challenging, Cool Sailing Annapolis NOOD

Record J/Boats Turnout Enjoy Spring Sailing on Chesapeake
(Annapolis, MD)- With a virtual armada of 156 J/Teams attending the Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta (74% of the whole fleet of 211), the eight J one-design classes (J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109) all had their fair share of spectacular, sunny racing on Friday. From there it was only a matter of time that conditions would deteriorate on the notoriously fickle Chesapeake Bay.

For the most part the Annapolis NOOD weather conditions made for great fleet racing so long as sailors on the five division circles were well-behaved and the PRO's at each did a good job of managing the fleet and the racing.  Some were clearly better than others.  On Friday, the fleet was treated to a brisk ENE 10-20 kts with lots of choppy waters, a fast-flowing flood current and very shifty breezes with big puffs.  In such conditions, most fleets sailed four races.  By Saturday, the forecast was beginning to see diminishing winds and the sailor's confidence in the breeze fell along with those prognostications.  The forecast ENE was in fact 100% wrong, instead the fleet was treated to mostly NW-NE 6-14 kts, getting even shiftier and was full of holes, so much so that the third races for most fleets saw their last leg or two become a matter of rolling the dice.  Sadly, Sunday's forecast was even more wrong.  The forecast easterlies never materialized until late afternoon with a gorgeous sunny day.  Instead, the fleets were treated to an even crazier NW to E breeze blowing 0-10 kts with holes everywhere- a one race "craps shoot" for most, or none for others!

Debuting as the largest class at the event, the J/70s simply had an epic first day of sailing on Friday.  Spending about 80% of the time in planing-mode downwind, the fleet had big grins plastered across their faces as they enjoyed some serious sparring at double-digit speeds.  While Saturday's and Sunday's racing was mostly in displacement mode, the need to find the edge even in "soak-mode" meant that teams were learning the fine-edge of how to maximize apparent wind speed for optimum downwind VMG.  Avoiding the pitfalls more than most was Bennet Greenwald's team from California that sailed PERSEVERANCE.  They not only won the J/70 class, but also were awarded the "STSW NOOD Overall Performance Awards" for the 15 fleets sailing the regatta (they get to sail the NOOD World Championships in the Caribbean in fall 2013!).  Continuing their streak of finishing in the top five was Joel Ronning's crew on CATAPULT finishing 2nd followed by Tim Healy's rapid ascent up the ladder to snag 3rd overall sailing Team HELLY HANSEN.  Fourth was the Newport/ Marblehead team of Henry Brauer/ Will Welles on RASCAL and in fifth was Brian Elliott's B-SQUARED (the only team to win 3 races).  A strong indicator of the strength and wealth of talent in the J/70 fleet was the fact that 15 teams managed top five finishes over the eight races sailed.  And, this regatta produced the highest average score for the winner- at 6.1 pts per race and the highest average to get a top 10 finish- 13.9 pts per race.  Also of note were the fact that the two youngest skippers in the regatta, Willy Comerford (14 yrs old) on NORTHERLY and Dylan Flack (8 yrs old) on TORQEEDO were seen either leading the fleet, winning races OR finishing in the top 10!

Local hero Allan "Albie" Terhune on DAZZLER started out strong in the J/22 class series and managed to hold on towards the end for the win by three points.  Conversely, Brad Julian on JULIAN ASSOCIATES started slowly and finished with two 1sts to nearly take the class as the DAZZLER crew faltered in their last four races.  Third was Alon Finkelstein on TEAM SHOWUSYOURSHLOZZA, beating Lee Sackett's USA 1574 on a tie-break.  Fifth was Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY.

With the third largest J fleet, the J/80's sailing with 23 boats had a very competitive fleet, especially as some teams were using it as part of their J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France. For the first six races, it looked like the Crump Family (Will & Marie) and Marie's brother Tom Klok sailing R80 would have a "runaway" on their hands, easily leading the fleet by a significant margin.  However, a serious brain fade in the 7th race upset their chances at a comfortable win.  Consequently, Brian Keane's SAVASANA team jumped at the opportunity to take over the lead, sailing well to win the last race as well as the series win for J/80s.  The R80 team settled for second overall.  Third was a new name at the top, John White sailing USA 1162.  Fourth was Kristen Robinson's familiar ANGRY CHAMELEON and fifth was another veteran J/80 team, Chris & Liz Chadwick's CHURCH KEY.

The J/105's strong showing of an "all Naptown" fleet of eighteen boats provided the teams excellent racing.  The Lewis/ Salvesen team on MIRAGE were the only team to post all top ten finishes and took the overall prize with scores that included two 1sts and two 2nds.  Second was the MBE Syndicate team on VELOCE, starting super fast out of the gates with a 1-1-3-4, but fading dramatically in the end with a 12-11-3-10 (was that a rum-storm that hit them?).  Third was Jim Konigsberg's INIGO, fourth Bob Reeves on A-TRAIN and fifth Scott Gitchell on TENACIOUS.  The "hard luck" story of the regatta must go to Jack Biddle on the infamous RUM PUPPY, getting holed in the 2nd race and having to borrow a friend's boat to finish the series.

With fifteen competitive J/24 teams, it was not immediately clear that anyone would sweep the regatta. However, that's exactly what happened, by the oldest skipper in the bunch! Tony Parker sailed his famous BANGOR PACKET to a well deserved win, taking six 1sts out of eight races!  Basically, he left all the scraps to be fought for second and third overall by three other teams.  Emerging from the dog-fight in second overall was Peter Rich's USA 4006, just one point ahead of Mike Marshall's USA 5362 in third.  Just one point further back despite a fast-closing rush of three 2nds in a row was Pat Fitzgerald's RUSH HOUR in fourth.  Fifth overall, watching the dogfight from the bleacher seats, was Paul van Ravensway's MILLENNIUM FALCON, sailing a solid series in the top five for most of the regatta.

The seven boat J/109 fleet celebrated the win of class veteran Bill Sweetser's RUSH, crowned the new Mid-Atlantic Champions! No wonder, seven 1sts and a 2nd in eight races is tantamount to a "clean sweep" or a "schooling" in how to race J/109s fast!  Often not far behind Sweetser was Eric Gordon's TROUBLEMAKER, snagging four 2nds and two 3rds to easily finish second overall.  The battle for the bronze medal on the podium was far from settled and took the last race to determine the next four places!  In the hunt all series were Matt Baker's RELIANT, Rick Hanson's ROSALITA, Bob Schwartz's NORDLYS and Craig Wright's AFTERTHOUGHT.  By finishing in the top five in the last race, Baker's RELIANT took third overall, edging out Hanson's ROSALITA by one point!  In turn, Schwartz's NORDLYS was just 2 pts back grabbed fifth overall by winning the last race, just beating by one point Wright's AFTERTHOUGHT who had to settle for sixth.  Great racing amongst these evenly matched boats.

Amongst the J/35 class, it was clear that AUNT JEAN (Sagerholm/ Christofel) were prepared in the breeze on Friday to make a statement for the fleet lead.   And, indeed they did, amassing a 3-1-1 to start out in first after the first day of sailing, never to relinquish their lead to win overall.  Second was Chuck Kohlerman's MEDICINE MAN, just edging out Peter Scheidt's MAGGIE in third by only one point.  Fourth was the BAD COMPANY gang and fifth were Ken and Lisa Karsten on BZING.

The J/30s had some excellent racing amongst their ten boat fleet, a great turnout for this "classic yacht"!  Showing them all how it's done were past class winners Bob Rutsch & Mike Costello on BEPOP, taking the class with three 1sts and three 2nds in their 7 race scoreline to win by 3 pts.  Second was David Moss's THE WHITE BOAT (yeah, it is white) followed by Ron Anderson's INSATIABLE in third overall.  Taking fourth was George Watson's AVITA and fifth was Mike & Kathleen McGill's MARY LOU.  Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com.  For more Sperry Topsider NOOD Sailing Regatta sailing information

J/70 Sailing Tips & Tricks - By Tim Healy

(Newport, RI)- Recently, the Key West and Charleston Race Week winner, Tim Healy from North Sails, offered to all J/70 sailors the latest know-how, go-fast ideas that have propelled him to two significant class wins in the two largest fleets of J/70s assembled to date.  As Tim describes,

"I just returned from beautiful Charleston, South Carolina after completing another fantastic Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week! The entire event was so impressive and the organization on every level was impeccable, from the race committee work to the hospitality on shore, the event was well run, welcoming, and fun. The food was fantastic, and even though the sheer number of boats and sailors must have been a huge logistical challenge, the Charleston event team pulled it off seamlessly which made for an incredibly enjoyable regatta.

A whopping fifty-five J70’s were entered, making it the largest class of the nearly 300 boats that competed. As with the two other J/70 regattas our team has sailed in 2013, our learning curve was steep. Here are our thoughts, lessons learned, and the adjustments we made to our boat in conditions that ranged from 8-30 knots and water that could be flat one minute and extremely choppy the next."  Please read-on here-- lots of good info from a past J/24 World Champion!  Click here to read more about tuning a J/70 for hyper-space mode.

J/70 Hits 20 knots Sailing French Offshore Race!

(Morlaix, Brittany, France)-  And wins IRC!! You have got to be kidding.  Not if you're Nicolas Troussel, a very famous French Figaro racer and Tour de France a'La Voile winner, who recently broke the 20 kts barrier several times while racing offshore in his new J/70 off the coast of Brittany!

You might ask, what is Troussel doing sailing a J/70?  Well, he loves sailing, loves one-design racing, and loves sailing hot sportboats with friends.  J/70 is the answer!  Over this past weekend, J/70s were sailing in the 2013 CCI Trophy in Morlaix (North Britanny). Here's the report from Fred Bouvier at J/Composites in France:

"On Saturday, the coastal race was started with a starting line in the vicinity of the Castel "Du Taureau".  The weather conditions were simply epic-- 22-27 kts of Northerly breeze with massive, steep waves for the boats to surf the downwind run offshore to the "Méloine" sea-buoy.

Troussel's J/70 managed to stay in the race for most of the initial long upwind leg against optimized 38 to 40 foot IRC handicap racers.  Indeed, sailing well enough to be able to use his downwind ability to recover his handicap time deficit while managing to beat the 20 kts speed record several times!

Unfortunately, Sunday's sailing saw very light and tricky winds, so the PRO had to cancel racing for the day.

In the end Nicolas Troussel and his J/70 team were crowned the victorious champions of the 2013 CCI Trophy in Morlaix!!  An astounding, earth-shattering performance!  Plenty of enthusiasm was shown around the J/70 and, in particular, Troussel's ability to sail easily and fast as a rocket downwind in rough conditions!"  Cool.  Troussel would've loved the Friday afternoon in Charleston Race Week when it blew 15-30 kts in flat water, too!  Next time. :)

Nations' Cup- Hong Kong Wins J/80s

(Hong Kong, China)- 78 boats representing 23 nations were on the start line earlier today for the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's most fun regatta, the Nation's Cup which is as much about the activities on land as it is about those on the water.  Race Officer Sofia Mascia started the fleet in an easterly wind ranging from 15 to 20kts from Hung Hom and sent them eastwards through the Lei Yue Mun gap and then on to Shek O. The race course saw boats then head to Cape Collinson where they rounded a mark (TCS4) before going back to Shek O and then it was a dash through the harbour to the finish line back at the Club.

J/80 had very close sailing for all the national participants.  With six nations represented amongst the eleven teams, it was pretty clear it was going to be a tough, closely fought race.  With concentration and opportunistic use of wind lines and passing lanes being the order of the day, whomever was making the best of the wind holes and breeze was going to top the podium.  In the end, after three-plus hours of sailing, the top five all finished with five minutes of each other with mere seconds separating most of them!  Local Hong Kong sailor David Fan on SEA BISCUIT hung in to the bitter end, winning by a mere 30 seconds!  Just behind was the Canadian team lead by Rob Tanner on EPEKWIT'K that took second.  50 seconds back in third was the Danish Team on J-CHI led by Inge Strompf-Jepsen.  Rounding out the international top five were the Netherlands team on FOOTLOOSE led by the Dijkhuizen/ Sonnemans team taking fourth and in fifth was the Swedish team on HAKAWATI skippered by Dan Tullberg.

The J/111 MOJITO- Simon Blore from England Team finished 7th in the Big Boat Division behind some TP52s and larger racing boats.  For more Royal Hong Kong YC Nations' Cup sailing information

How to Safely Rename Your Sailboat

(Rye, NY)- As the American Yacht Club prepares for its venerable Spring Series to be held in Long Island Sound on the weekends of April 27/28 and May 4/5, the competitors are getting ready too. One team in particular is making sure to avoid any mistakes that could plague their event.

Robert Siegel of the Stamford YC acquired last October the J/109 previously known as Tastes Like Chicken, and intends to campaign the boat this season renamed as PAX3. But recognizing that renaming a boat is serious business, here is the procedure Robert followed to avert problems:

"Since re-naming a boat is considered to be very unlucky, an abbreviated De-naming Ceremony was conducted to purge the Tastes Like Chicken name from the Ledger of the Deep, and from Poseidon’s memory. This was then followed by a Re-naming Ceremony, imploring Poseidon and Neptune to take PAX3 into their records, guarding her with a mighty arm and ensuring her of safe and rapid passage through her journeys within your realm.

The re-naming ceremony was followed by a ceremony to appease the winds, flinging champagne to the north, west, east and south, followed up by sailing backwards, “backing over” the old name. It should be noted that some of the champagne was also imbibed (an important element of the proceedings!).

A lengthy re-naming protocol by Hal Burchard was published in Scuttlebutt on April 11, 2007, who also approved of the consumption of the remaining champagne. Here Hal provides his final advice:

Once the ceremony has been completed, you may bring aboard any and all items bearing the new name of your vessel. If you must schedule the painting of the new name on the transom before the ceremony, be sure the name is not revealed before the ceremony is finished. It may be covered with bunting or some other suitable material."  Read more here on Scuttlebutt News- Click here for the complete procedure.

Grand Finale For Warsash Spring Series!

Fabulous competition for J/70, J/80, J/109 and J/111 Fleets
(Warsash, England)- The final gathering for the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship took place over 27th/28th April 2013. Having had no cancellations due to gales and flat calms, the event has been a great success all round. Over the eight race days race officers have run over 170 separate races and even if the early spring was unseasonably cold, there was a warm and convivial atmosphere in the clubhouse for post-race banter and where the weekly class winners received their champagne and one lucky winner each week a SLAM jacket.

Saturday:
Four races were scheduled for Black Group on Day 3. The committee boat anchored near Sunsail buoy and set up windward/leeward courses with the addition of a windward spreader mark. The second round for IRC3, IRC4 and J/109s used a shorter windward leg. IRC1 was first to go and over enthusiasm led to a general recall. Their restart used for the first time the new “U” flag as a preparatory signal, indicating anyone over the line would be disqualified. Sadly, one boat was caught out and there are no discards in the Spring Championship. There was keen competition everywhere, especially with Sardonyx IX (William Edwards) topping the J/109s.

For the remaining races the committee boat moved west to Flying Fish buoy for less effect from the strong spring tide. This time a leeward spreader was introduced. As grey clouds gathered during the day there were short 27 knot gusts and the brief arrival of hailstones. IRC3 and IRC4 called it a day after three races and Sardonyx IX made it a clean sweep in the J/109s.

White Group raced near the North Channel with the tide pushing boats along the line. Starts went generally to plan with a couple of general recalls. The J/70s got away cleanly. For the J/80s the start line was moved and a large fender marked the anchor chain! The wind here coming from the north was shifty and sometimes reaching 25 knots. It was during one such gust in the last race of the day that an SB20 became caught on one of the buoys forming the leeward gate, reducing the gap just as the J/80 class arrived. Those in the lead were sufficiently spread out to negotiate the reduced space, but a bunch came as the race committee RIB was trying to lift the mark. The race had to be abandoned but was quickly re-sailed. The strong tide had an impact on the runs, particularly in the gusts, with many boats from all classes being seen to white sail to the gate having been carried too deep. North Sails (Ruairidh Scott) took three wins in the J/70s, with Boats.com taking one race. Stewart Hawthorn in J’ai Deux Amours posted two firsts in the J/80s with Betty (Jon Powell) and Aqua-J (Patrick Liardet) taking one each.

Sunday:
The Black Group line was set near South Coast Sailing buoy. The initial windward leg went across the Bramble Bank, which the race committee brought clearly to the attention of all navigators by radio! IRC1 had a 16 mile course and the following classes slightly shorter courses of 13 and 11 miles. For all boats life was made interesting for tacticians and those watching the depth. The wind varied from the forecast later in the morning turning some of the runs into tight spinnaker reaches. With everyone back after two and a half to three hours’ racing, a very short second race was then held for the Spring Championship competitors only.

Tigh Soluis II (Iain MacKinnon) finished on a high in the J/109s. Mefisto was forced into the enviable position of having to discard a first place in her series results. Helmed by Kevin Sussmilch with Andy Budgen on main sheet and tactics, the remaining crew are locally-based students. Mefisto’s performance, whether in light or heavy conditions, has been outstanding throughout.

On White Group there was a total lack of wind when the committee boat set up station by the Meon shore but just before the start time a gentle breeze began to fill in from the south-west to give enough pressure for the first race to get underway after a short postponement. The wind continued to build through the three races to reach 15 knots by the end of the third race, causing a few broaches and “wineglasses”. North Sails continued in fine form in the J/70s taking all three races. In the J/80s Betty (Jon Powell), Aqua-J (Patrick Liardet) and Juicy (Allan Higgs and Cressida Robson) shared the honours.

Summary results:
As a result of the weekend sailing, the winners of the Spring Series and the Spring Championship have finally been determined.  For the J/70s the story of the day was simply the fact that Ruairidh Scott sailed NORTH SAILS very fast onto the comeback trail after a slow start to the season.  Trailing
BOATS.COM at the beginning of the Spring Series, NORTH SAILS climbed their way back into contention to ultimately take the series sailing to six straight firsts in the last six races to take Spring Series as well as the Spring Championship.  Blasting off to a fast start for the Spring Series, Ian Atkins' BOATS.COM sailed consistently well to finish second in both the month's long Spring Series as well as snag second in the Spring Championships.  The battle for third was different for each event.  In the Spring Series, it was Malcolm Jacques' DJANGO that took the bronze.  And, in the Spring Championships, it was Simon Ling's SPITFIRE POWERED BY SLAM that took the third spot.

The big dogs in the J/80's in terms of performance and consistency were Jon Powell's BETTY and Allan Higgs' JUICY, both finishing in the top three in each event with BETTY getting the upper-hand on JUICY both times.  For the Spring Series, Powell's BETTY won by a good margin by virtue of the fact they were sailing strong in the beginning of the series.  Like a freight train rolling down the hill, Higgs' JUICY had a tough go initially, but finally got the wheels back on their shopping trolley to collect some silverware for second overall!  Following them in third for the Series was Gillian Ross' ROCK & ROLL.  For the Spring Championship, it was Stew Hawthorn's J'AI DEXU AMOURS that convincingly won the event, displacing his other colleagues one spot down the ladder.  As a result, BETTY took 2nd and JUICY 3rd.

The J/109 fleet faced similar scenarios as the J/70s and J/80s, with two boats seemingly locked into a perpetual battle all spring for class domination!  In this case, it was Mike & Sarah Wallis' JAHMALI locking horns with Owain Franks & Jean Lockett's JYNNAN TONNYX. For the Spring Series, JAHMALI won with the JYNNAN TONNYX gang in second, third was Paul Griffith's JAGERBOMB.  For the Spring Championship, William Edwards' team sailing SARDONYX IX nearly ran the table, collecting nine 1sts in 11 races, to completely eclipse the 109 class and take the championship overall.  Second in the championship was Tony Dickin's JUBILEE with the JAHMALI gang in 3rd and JYNNAN TONNYX 4th.

The J/111s had great sailing, especially on the last weekend of the Warsash championship.  Sailing IRC but scored as a sub-class, the J/111s saw yet another duel taking place for the lead.  It was James Arnell's JEEZ LOUISE battling with Duncan McDonald's SHMOKIN JOE, with Arnell's team holding the upper-hand in the beginning of the series only to see McDonald's team come on strong in the end to nearly take the gold!  Nevertheless, JEEZ LOUSIE hung on by a whisker to win by two points over SHMOKIN JOE.  Third was Richard Barnes & Alfred Munkenbeck's beautiful grey/black BIELA-MUNKENBECK.

Within the world of IRC handicap racing, the Spring Series had fairly light attendance in IRC1.  It wasn't until Spring Championship did a good fleet of boats jump in, perhaps due to the frigid temperatures earlier in the season!  For the Spring Championship, top J was McDonald's J/111 SHMOKIN JOE in 4th following by James Arnell's J/111 JEEZ LOUISE.  Just behind was Neil Martin's J/133 JAMMY DODGER in 6th, Barnes & Munkenbeck's J/111 BIELA-MUNKENBECK in 10th and Jackie & Robert Dobson's J/133 JERONIMO in 11th.

Finally, the J/97s were also setup up in another duel with one another with both vying for the lead with two other competitors in IRC3 Class.  Leading the fleet for the early part of the Spring Series, Chaz Ivill's J/97 JIGGERY POKERY had a rough time in her last two races, dropping to third just one point from 2nd and 4 pts from first!  Flip-flopping with them for the lead was Nick & Adam Munday's INDULJENCE.  Their rebound in the last three races nearly enabled them to win, instead having to settle for 2nd overall in one of the most competitive fleets on the Solent.   Sailing photo credits- Iain McLuckie   For more Warsash Spring Series sailing information

MADELEINE J/24 Fowey Trophy Champion

(Fowey, Cornwall, England)- As the J/24 class in the United Kingdom and Ireland prepare for the onslaught of "foreign" teams to invade the "islands" like the Vikings of old to plunder for J/24 Worlds silverware, the locals are not taking the challenge lying down.  Quite the contrary, in fact.  With Olympic medallists, World and European champions in their quiver, the UK/ Irish contingent are pulling out all the stops to ensure it's a "jolly good show" for all, not just as hosts, but as competitors, too.

This past weekend, Duncan McCarthy and the team of MADELEINE (GBR 4265) got their season off to a great start by claiming the 2013 Fowey Trophy by 3 pts from the HITCHHIKER team (GBR 4242).  Third was JIGGY 2, forth was JUMBA and fifth was JAWBREAKER.

Kudos to the Fowey Gallants Sailing Club for "just the job, well done mates" for a great weekend series.  Every step of the way to the Worlds in Howth will be paved by such efforts to ensure the "home team" provide a gallant defense to win the title for the British/ Irish isles, or is it-- "the Queen"!!  We will all soon find out!   For more J/24 Fowey Trophy sailing information

J/125s Love Fast, Epic Sleigh-ride to Ensenada

(Newport Beach, CA/ Ensenada, Mexico)- 202 entrants for Ensenada Race saw some of the most epic, "send it down the autobahn" sailing conditions in decades this past weekend.  While it was a mostly windy, classic off-the-wind sleigh-ride in 15-25 kts from the WNW (the outer edge of the Pacific High wobbled in close to the coast compressing a Low depression inshore to the east), the final turn into the finish line at Ensenada was anything but.  Said one hapless, somewhat frustrated sailor, "It took us four hours to sail the last two miles!"

Was this the same race? In the Lexus Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race it depended on what boat you were on. The fastest finished soon enough to seize the glory; the slowest suffered some agony of windless drifting, but only near the end. For most of the fleet, the wind held strong well past the border until entering Todos Santos Bay.

From the "driver's seat" on-board the renowned J/125 TIMESHAVER, we got one report from "KMag" (Keith Magnussen, tactician) from the first day/evening: "A beautiful day of sailing! This years N2E is in full swing right now as we pass Point Loma at 5:30pm on the TIMESHAVER.  We had a good start (avoided a certain boat in our class like the plague) and immediately went to our small laminate Code 0.  Horizon below us and the two Farr 40′s above us meant we had to hold our lane well and avoid any dirty air.  We managed that and now set up for the day.  We opted to be one of the further boats out and ended up switching to our 3A pretty quickly.

With the wind at 260-270 we put the bow up and got on a low plane at about 140 degrees.  We were constantly in the mid teens as we scooted past Horizon, Blue Blazes and anyone else near us.  DERIVATIVE, the other J-125, went inside and he is now off our quarter stern to leeward about 2 miles behind us.  Horizon is to weather and behind about a mile.  We are now doing about 10 kts aimed about 1 mile outside the Coronado Islands. Hope this is the right call because Blue Blazes is looking their going inside the islands at this point. Ensenada by midnight??"

And, from TIMESHAVER's owner, Viggo Torbensen, we got this report: "We participated in the Ensenada race last Friday with my J/125 in the PHRF A class. We came up with a third in class and a fifth overall, this after having demolished the fleet all day long going down the California coast. Outside the Coronados at 6:30 pm we got caught in a small hole for about 20 minutes and the very well sailed "Horizon" a custom SC50, caught up and passed us. Around 10pm we both jibed in for the Ensenada bay, we were running our A2 in 13-15 knots of breeze, 140 apparent the boat speed was in the twelves, every time had a gust we were able to heat up just a bit and get the boat up to 14 knots and we pulled a boat length or two on the SC50 every time. The party was over when with hit an island of weed at 11:30, the boat went from 12 to 2 knots. We were lucky we were able to get out of the weed with just one full back down. We of course have kelp cutter systems on both the keel and rudder, but these are not really made to cut down a forest!! The back down cost us 10 minutes, running 12 knots of boat speed, we lost 2 miles or so to the SC 50, too much distance to recover with only 15 miles to the finish. The J/125 is a rocket ship-- love it, love it, love it!"

For a quickie video of their experience on "Vine" video, check this out little vignette from Keith Magnussen who was aboard TIMESHAVER:  http://bit.ly/11VtOhU

As for the rest of the fleet, similar conditions were seen by the bigger, faster J's.  In PHRF A, the J/145 RADIO FLYER finished 9th and were over an hour behind the J/125 on elapsed time-- indicative of how well sailed Viggo's team cranked on the fleet in the evening/ overnight hours.

In PHRF D, Larry Levielle's team from Santa Barbara YC on the J/29 RUSH STREET again proved they're more than capable competitors offshore, grabbing 2nd in class and just eight minutes off taking overall honors in class.

J/120s had a ball as a one-design offshore racing fleet.  As one might expect, some new faces in the 120 fleet upset the status quo.  While J-ALMIGHTY won by nearly 40 minutes over HASL FREE, the next five boats all finished less than five minutes apart!  Holy smokes, that's remarkably close after that many miles, finishing just about overlapped with one another after 125nm! Third was SHENANIGANS, fourth was FEE EVENT and fifth was ADIOS!   Sailing photo credits- Leslie Richter/ Rockskipper Photography   For more Newport To Ensenada sailing information

American YC Spring Series Update

(Rye, New York)- As a right of passage, it's hard to beat the opening of the Western Long Island Sound Spring series hosted by American YC.  With such gracious and accommodating hosts, it's hard not to have a fun time sailing in this eponymous regatta within sight of the famous New York City skyscrapers and skyline off to the West, not too mention the spectacular sunsets offered by such an extraordinary vista.

As many veterans know of this series, the weather can experience rather remarkable extremes.  Sometimes a frigid 45 degrees, blowing 15-25 kts NW with hammer-blow puff-lines in a classic "blowing dogs off chains" scenario or simply unbelievable "shorts & shades" late spring conditions in the 70s with a gentle sea-breeze wafting gently over Long Island in a metronomic shifting pattern with puffy white clouds, 6-12 kts of breeze and not a worry in the world about how you're going to sail the race because it's so outrageously beautiful.  Thankfully for many, this past weekend was the latter, not the former.  In fact, this coming weekend might have even better sailing, though the wind might be an issue with a weak offshore High pressure dominating the weather proceedings.

After the first weekend of sailing, the thirteen strong J/105 class are having some great competition with some new faces amongst the leaderboard in the largest class at the AYC Spring Series.  Sean and Susan Doyle's KESTREL are currently winning, posting a solid 2-2-4-2-1-1 for a mere 8 pts.  Nipping at their heels are veteran J/105 sailors from Cedar Point, George and Alex Wilbanks, on board REVELATION. With a 6-1-3-1-2-2 tally they're only one point back! Kevin Grainger, winner of the third race on Saturday, stands in third with 14 points. Tied for fourth is the new AYC junior team sailing KINCSEM and Harald Edegran/Jeremey Henderson aboard CONUNDRUM.

Speaking of KINCSEM, there's a "new KINCSEM" on the block, a beautiful one-design J/44 that is the new project for that fabled sailing pair- Joerg Esdorn & Duncan Hennes- unaccustomed to being the "newbies on the block"!  They're learning fast from the many veterans of J/44 one-design racing.  Currently, the ring-leader of the lot, Jim Bishop on his famously sea foam green GOLD DIGGER is leading.  He's followed by RESOLUTE (Don & Rick Rave) in 2nd, VAMP (Len Sitar) in 3rd, MAXINE (Bill Ketcham) in 4th and BEAGLE (Phil Gutin) in 5th.  Looks like Joerg and Duncan have a bit of tweaking to go to penetrate this fortress of experience in front of them!

Further on the one-design activity going on at AYC Springs, the J/109s have been tossed into the IRC 3  Division with the J/122s.  Currently, the J/109 ranking sees SKOOT (Jim Vos) in 5th, STORM (Rick Lyall) in 6th, PAX 3 (Bob Siegel) in 7th and MELODY (Alan Tannous) in 8th.  The J/122s are lying 3rd and 4th in class, respectively, with Steve Furnary's PATRIOT leading the WINGS syndicate in 4th.

In the IRC 1 class, the province of the big, exotic boats from New York and Connecticut, the J/133 ANTIDOTE sailed by Ron Richman is hanging tough in 6th overall.

The weekend forecast looks unbelievably nice, with winds blowing in from the easterly quadrant for the most part-- a good and bad thing for Long Island Sound since the island can heat up so fast and so hot that it can prevent any form of easterly gradient flow from ever touching Long Island Sound!  Fingers crossed the PRO's can sneak in some good racing!   For more American YC Spring Series sailing information

LA SUPERBA Repeats J/24 TAN Regatta Win

(Livorno, Italy)-  The Trofeo Accademia Navale (TAN) is more and more a sailing festival for everyone, the  only sailing event in Italy that unites world-class athletes, thousands of lovers of the sea, the disabled and people in need, together in their passion for the sea and for solidarity with one another.  Included within the event is "The Regatta of Solidarity", organized by the Naval Academy and Retedeldono-- it's a charity fundraiser for the "Italian Union of Sailing Solidarity" (an organization founded in 2003 with 27 associations that has enabled over 20,000 people with disabilities to go sailing in the past ten years!).

"The idea that the sea is for the few, for the elite, has challenged the boating world; instead we have taken a road that will open the doors of the sea for all. It will be beneficial to the whole society and the boating industry." This is the message that comes from the rally being held in Livorno at the Tuttovela village to celebrate the 30th TAN. "The sea is not a luxury or a privilege for the few, but a resource for the whole society, a means to educate young people, to be inclusive, to tackle social disadvantage and disability."

The rally ended with Don Antonio Mazzi speaking about the importance and value of the sea, stating that: "Saint Peter was a fisherman, Noah made the Ark and saved the world, and Jesus on the Sea of ​​Galilee said to his disciples on the Ark: 'Do not be afraid I'm there on the Ark with you.' The sea is infinite, its power is its beauty: we must enjoy with our family and children and we will return home a better person."

Taking up the challenge to help others and educate them on the beauty and power of the sea was an entire flotilla of J/24s participating in the event to honor the "sailing solidarity" theme.  As they did last year, the team of Ignazio Bonanno and crew on LA SUPERBA sailed a good series to repeat their win in this 30th anniversary event, winning four of the races along the way.  Second was the top German team, Shade Frithjof sailing JJ-ONE to one of their best regatta performances in Italian waters.  Third was Fabio Delicati sailing DJKE, fourth was Pietro Diamanti on JAMAICA and fifth was Nicola Giovannini on OTTOBRE ROSSO.  For more TAN sailing information