J/105s Sweep Texas Offshore Circuit

(Galveston Bay, Texas)- The Texas Offshore Racing Circuit (TORC) concluded on July 26 with Galveston Bay Cruising Association's Texas Race Week (TRW) offshore of Galveston. In addition to TRW, the TORC consists of two offshore distance races each of approximately 90 miles. Winds ranged from 5-15 on Thursday to Saturday's 12-19. Surprisingly the weather was not as hot as usual so the sailing was fabulous.

The TRW spinnaker fleet included two J/105s, two J/109s, a Melges 32, an Olsen 30, a Navy 44, and an Express 37. After three full days of racing, Brian Uffelman's J/105 AVICI took first with a spectacular 2-1-1 followed by Bee Bednar's J/105 STINGER in third with 3-4-3. Having participated in the entire TORC, AVICI, STINGER and the J/109 AIRBORNE were the only boats competing for the Texas Navy Trophy. Brian Uffelman's AVICI finished first, Bee Bednar's STINGER second and Dave Christiansen's AIRBORNE third.  For more J/105 sailboat information

Chester Race Week Preview

(Chester, Nova Scotia)- This year's Chester Race Week is sailing from August 14th to 17th and will again have a large turn-out of J's ranging from the classic J/24s, J/29s, J/30s, J/35s and J/36 to the modern J/80, J/92s, J/109 and J/120s- a total of sixteen J's in all, about 38% of the fleet of forty-two handicap racers.

Yacht racing has been a major summer sport in Chester for well over 150 years. Its roots were planted in the mid-19th century when the fishermen raced each other to markets in Halifax or New England. As sailors and fishermen have done forever, they loved to get together and talk shop. Sailing races for pleasure and bragging rights was inevitable. As the gatherings and races occurred more regularly, the Annual Fishermen’s Regatta was born. The regatta was a show case for locally built boats of different designs, as well as for sailing skills.

Adding to the regatta's interesting history will be a special appearance by one of J/Boat's co-founders.  Says Chester Race Week Chairman John Curry, "The Alpha 2 White class looks like it’s going to be pretty interesting this year!  Rod Johnstone is going to be racing Gary Bennett’s J/35 J'AI TU on that course.  Rod is probably best known for inventing the J/24 in his garage.  The rest, as they say, is history.  All you J/35 owners, if you haven’t already registered, better get on the ball! In addition to sailing in the Regatta, Rod J. has consented to do a “How to Sail your J/Boat in Chester Race Week” session on the Yacht Club steps on Friday morning.  There will be a reception in his honour at the Yacht Club from 6 to 8 Friday evening (August 16th) surrounding the prize-giving."

The weather forecast of mostly southerly winds (SE to SW quadrant) of 8-15 kts from Wednesday to Saturday should make for good racing as the partly sunny days could enhance the onshore flow with local sea-breeze effects in the gorgeous bay ringed with islands. Nevertheless, the fleet may experience some showers and thunderstorms for part of the day on Saturday.

Leading the charge in the Alpha 1 Division are the J/35 J'AI TU as well as the J/36 VELOS-ITY (David Morgan from RKYC) against a trio of local Farr 30s.  In the Distance 1 class are the J/109 WISC (Paul Rafuse from RNSYS), the J/35 CRACKERJACK (Peter Traves from Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron) and two J/120's- GRAND CRU (Mike Kennedy from Chester YC) and BLACK PEARL (Ross Leighton from RNSYS).

In the Delta Distance Course are the famous J/92 POOHSTICKS (Colin Mann from Lunenburg YC) and the J/80 GOAT WHISPERER (Dale Robertson from RNSYS).

Finally, it looks like the five J/29s may all be sailing in the Bravo 1 course, including PARADIGM SHIFT (Williams/ Matthews), SILVER WOMAN (Andrew Childs), HAKUNA MATATA (J Wood from LYC), RUMBLEFISH (Scott Covey from LYC) and WINTER PROJECT (Brad Fleet/ Ivan Carey from LYC).  Also sailing in this class is the J/30 FLUX skippered by Jordan MacNeil from RNSYS).  Also sailing are two enthusiastic J/24 teams, WAVE RUNNER (Will Nauss/ Countway from CYC) and ADRENALINE RUSH (Greg Blunden from RNSYS).  Sailing photo credits- Heather McGuire    For more Chester Race Week sailing information

J/80 Class Elects Jose Maria "Pichu" Torcida As President!

(Newport, RI)- The Cantabrian double World Champion is looking forward to his tenure as leader of one of the world's elite international one-design classes with large fleets competing in the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Spain.

"The J/80 class is definitely the best one-design sailboat in Spain, with over a hundred boats, and it involves many senior sailors. The fleets with significant activity include Catalonia, Baleares, Murcia, Andalusia, Canary Islands, Galicia, Cantabria and Basque Country. From a world perspective, Spain is third in the total number of boats after the USA and France, and in terms of results in international competitions is the first," declares Torcida.

The objectives for his next journey are clear: "Keep doing great with the J/80 class as each day new classes appear  and the competition is tough. Working with professionalism and with great enthusiasm, for boat owners and J/80 sailors, I am convinced that the class will have, internationally, many great  years ahead."

"Our work in Spain to promote the class has been a success, with over 100 boats on a regular basis battling with powerful fleets scattered around the Spanish coast."

The J/80 class, recognized by ISAF (International Sailing Federation) in 1995, has had in the last ten years impressive growth worldwide. These boats are easy to operate and high performance, designed for a crew of 4-5 people. Its sail plan, with a powerful 65 sqm gennaker, provides the J/80 exceptional performance at high speed, ideal for both professional and amateur sailors.

"The performance of the J/80 is very good and the boat as a whole works well for a lot of people--  size, number of crew, ease of handling, good surfing, and cost," said Jose Maria Torcida, "In Spain we follow the constant work and dedication of Alex Diaz, President of the J/80 Spanish Association. This year marks the seventh championship of the Santa María Cup VII in Hondarribia Spain!"

In Spain, despite being a young class, global successes was not expected from the outset. Since 2007 the J/80 Worlds have seen many good performances by Spanish sailors-- including Pichu Torcida (2007, 2010), Ignacio Camino (2008, 2011), Rayco Tabares (2009) and José María Van der Ploeg (2012).  Torcida hopes to expand on that success to help other nations build their J/80 class presence and improve the overall quality of sailing-- the J/80 class should anticipate having two years of exciting leadership by one of her great and enthusiastic champions!  Fotos de Jose María Torcida: ELENA TORCIDA. Fotos de J80: Pierick Jeannoutot.   For more J/80 International class sailing information

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION Ugotta Regatta Winner

J/111 NO SURPRISE Takes PHRF Overall
(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailboats from all over head to Harbor Springs each summer for one of the grand Great Lakes sailing traditions- the Little Traverse YC Ugotta Regatta.  Sponsored again by Credit Suisse, the Regatta brings together some of the best sailboat racers in the lakes to Little Traverse Bay in between the famous Chicago Mac or Bayview Mac Races.

The series begins with one-design racing on Friday followed a tour-of-the-bay course on Saturday and windward-leeward racing on Sunday. The weekend’s festivities kick off bright and early Friday morning with  a fun tradition: a long line of happy people beginning at sun up outside Irish Boat Shop to purchase the 2013 Ugotta Regatta t-shirt. Each year, the shirt design changes and with a limited production, the lines begin early to score a coveted shirt.

Friday night finds a "Welcome to Harbor Springs Celebration" at the Irish Boat Shop for racers only- an awesome cookout with excellent local beers and wines to savor for the masses of sailors-- always an incredibly popular event.

On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, the Club hosts the famous "Pancake Breakfast".  Open to the public and racers, the Pancake Breakfast is a delicious way for the boat teams to quickly fuel up before getting on the water. One highlights (and tradition) of the breakfast- the young Racers flip less-than-perfect pancakes over their shoulders to land on the roof of the sail shed behind them.

In this year's event, six J/105s competed. For the tour of bay on Saturday, the course was 18 miles under overcast skies with variable winds building to 18 knots over four hours. Mac/Bayview winner PTERODACTYL (Mark Symonds) participated. Why not do the 2 Mac races and finish buoy racing in Harbor Springs?  Little Traverse Sailors, a boat of primarily junior sailors came in second, showing that the J/105 is a great boat for juniors to compete in high-end regattas. Carter Williams' CREATIVE DESTRUCTION won the J/105 division, and was overall winner for regatta (beating out Windquest, J/111s, GL70s, etc.). This was the first time a J/105 won the entire regatta. Taking third overall in class was Mark Symond's J/105 PTERODACTYL-- the Mac Race winner!

The handicap honors in PHRF 3 Class went to the J/111 NO SURPRISE sailed by (remarkably enough), local host and hero David Irish!  Their dominant 3-1-1-1 record was, in fact, the best record in PHRF and for the overall regatta with just 6.0 pts to count.  Last year's winner, Dick Lehmann's WIND CZAR took 6th overall with a 1.5-3-12-15 tally.  Larry Taunt's J/35 BAD DOG was 9th, Larry Schell's J/35 TOUCH OF GREY was 11th and Brad Schell's newly-unwrapped J/111 UTAH was 12th.

In the PHRF White sails cruising division, the J/42 JAYWALKER sailed by Bill Stellin continued her fast cruising tradition to take 3rd overall in her class.  For more Ugotta Regatta sailing information

J/70 Great Lakes Preview

Jud Smith J/70 Clinic, too!
(Buffalo, New York)- The inaugural J/70 Great Lakes Championship, sponsored by Towne Auto BMW-Mini, is being held at the Buffalo Yacht Club from August 10th to 11th.  Located at the far eastern shores of Lake Erie, and just a stones throw from the famous Niagara Falls, the twenty-five plus J/70s already registered should have excellent sailing.

Renown for getting nice sea-breezes in the afternoon, the natural amphitheater formed by the geographical convergence of the northern shore of Canada merging with the southern shore of New York provides enough heating to give the sailors a reasonable chance of good winds each day from the WSW.  Because the race course is not far from the thundering mists of Niagara Falls, east-flowing current does come into play for the sailors on their windward laylines and approaches to the leeward gates-- should make for fun, challenging sailing!

The fleet will have great competition, especially with addition of more new owners who are on the fast, steep learning curve as well as some of the class veterans whom have won or placed well in a number of regatta in the busy 2013 season.  Top teams include Jud Smith, Joel Ronning on CATAPULT, Tate Russack (DIESEL), Jen Wulff (JOINT CUSTODY), Don Finkle (JUNIOR), Gary Tisdale & Adam Burns (PIG's EAR), JB Walsh (THING), Kyle Fast (TORQEEDO), Marty Kullman (TOUCH2PLAY), Joe Colling, Marty McKenna and a Canadian team sailing- Andy Papierz on DYNAMO from Toronto, Ontario.

Jud Smith will be running a J/70 speed/ tuning clinic on Friday August 9 and Marty Kullman will also be there assisting the sailors.  Please contact Tom Lewin at email- TLewin@roadrunner.com or ph# (716)-861-3700.   Sailing photo credits-  Bronny Daniels @ Joysailing.com. For more J/70 Great Lakes sailing information

QUARTIERE LAVINIO MARE Wins J/24 Palio di Anzio Regatta

(Anzio, Italy)- The second edition of the Palio di Anzio J/24 Regatta was won by Quartiere Lavinio Mare. The crew, skippered by Gianni Riccobono, wins for the second consecutive year.  In second place was from Anzio was Marco d'Aloisio sailing DON J and third was Massimo Noons at the helm of JULIO CAESAR with a local crew from Anzio's neighborhood sailing center.

It was a beautiful and historic sailing event blessed by good winds, good race management and organized by the non-profit organization Palio Anzio.  The event is a celebration of the history of the port of Anzio and the eight districts that make up the city surround the port.

For some historical perspective, it was in 1761 that Cardinal Antonio Pignatelli of Naples was planning on joining the Conclave in Rome sailing by water.  However, he was caught in a gale which forced him to take shelter in the Gulf of Anzio. Here the generous citizens of the town welcomed him for the time necessary to be able to return to the sea and reach Rome, carrying a promise that, if he became the Pope of the Catholic Church, that he would build the port of Anzio. That promise came true, as he was elected Pope Innocent XII. After a few months of living in Rome, he recalled the promise and returned to Anzio, this time by land, to lay the first stone of the new Port of Anzio near the ruins of the ancient port of Nero!  Today, the crew of Anzio Lavinio, by winning the trophy for the second time may have the opportunity for a three-peat performance next year!   For more J/24 Italy sailing information

Menzner Crushes Travemunde J/22 German Open

(Travemunde, Germany)- The 124th Travemunde Woche was a perfect rehearsal for the big anniversary in 2014, when the Travemunde Woche celebrates its 125th year. This year's event had ten fantastic days of sailing with great weather and lots of sun. The newly installed SAP Sail Cube, which enabled the public to watch the sailing action "live on-line", was an enormous asset this year.  Plus, the newly built seating facilities, which were provided by the town of Lübeck, turned the beach promenade into a real sailing theatre.  Dierk Faust, the Chairman of Travemunde Woche for the Lübeck Yacht Club said,  “Whereas the wind conditions created a few difficulties for us here and there, the onshore entertainment was fantastic.”

Enjoying every minute of the onshore festivities and excellent race management offshore were the seventeen J/22s participating in the German Open, hosted by Lubeck YC's Travemunde Week team.  Taking top honors was Martin Menzner's German crew that included Frank Lichte and Christian Drews, their six 1sts in eight races was a blitzkrieg of the J/22 competition.  Second was Reiner Brockherhoff's French team of Christoph Declerque and Charles Micahux with 16 pts.  With five 2nds, Frank Lammerskitten's German team of Sven Harder and Martin Hinrichsen could've finished second overall were it not for their inconsistent three 5ths they had to account for in their overall scoreline, settling for third place instead.  The rest of the top five included Svend Hartog's German team (Dirk Fischer, Anne Westfehling, Stefanie Schweder) in fourth and Nico van der Kolk's Netherlands team (Stephan Peulen and Julius Jansen) finishing fifth.

Visitors on shore were provided with a fine festival covering 80 thousand square metres with everything that makes life enjoyable. “A total of 200 stand operators of all sizes and with varied and very different offers made the TW a very successful event in Travemünde. Practically everyone was represented from young to old. The Holsten Beach Area had wonderful programmes for older generations, especially the ensemble with the SAP Sail Cube and the Pilot Stage for near-shore race viewing. "The international cuisine on offer to all the spectators, such as “Pfaffenglück” or organic burgers, as well as Italian delicacies, were very well received,” said Uwe Bergman at the end of the event. “We didn’t reach the one million mark of visitors because of the sweltering heat during the second half-– many people preferred to say on the beach!”   Sailing photo credits- Bilder von Christian Beeck   For more Travemunde Woche J/22 sailing information

BLUE MEANIE Crowned J/30 North American Champion

(Barrington, RI)- The Barrington Yacht Club and the Southern New England J/30 fleet hosted this year's near record breaking fleet of nineteen boats in the 2013 North American Championship held in northern Narragansett Bay.

Blessed with good weather and some good sea-breezes during the course of the regatta, the team of BLUE MEANIE skippered by Steve Buzbee and crew from Raritan YC in New Jersey managed to hold off the fast-closing team on EVELYN (sailed by Luke Buxton from Salem, MA) to take the championship.  While both boats started off slowly, they both learned the ropes of the Bay as well as how to handle their competitors tactically.  BLUE MEANIE's 5-4-2-1-1-3-4-5 for 20 net pts was enough to take the gold by just 3 pts!  EVELYN's scoreline of 3-6-3-6-14-1-1-3 for 23 net pts was ten clear of the third place boat-- Chuck Stoddard on FALCON from the host Barrington YC.

The battle for third was quite close, with just four points separating the next four boats!  Chuck's team were fast out of the gates the first day, as they should for being the "local hero's", but they couldn't keep up the pressure and managed to tally a 1-2-11-7-8-5-2-8 for 33 pts net.  Just behind them by one point was Clare McMillan's Barrington YC team on WICKED, taking 4th with 34 pts net.  Fifth was Carl Sherter's Cedar Point YC team on FAT CITY with 35 pts, sixth was Ken Deyett's Kittery Point YC (Maine) team on JEROBOAM with 35 pts (losing the tie-breaker) and seventh was Jon Burt's Hull YC (Massachusetts) team on MARGAY with 37 pts.  The balance of the top ten were Kevin Dakan on BLITZ in 8th, class leader Bill Kneller on RHAPSODY in 9th and Mark Rotsky on NEMESIS in 10th.   For more J/30 North Americans sailing information

Greenwald Tops J/70 New Englands

GHOST Smokes J/105s, AIRODOODLE Two-Peats J/24s @ NOOD
(Marblehead, MA)- The Sperry Topsider Marblehead NOOD regatta featured the inaugural J/70 New England Championship and fleets of J/105s and J/24s-- all co-hosted by the famous trio of yacht clubs in the harbor (Eastern YC, Boston YC and Corinthian YC).  Of the 150+ sailboats participating, the largest brand represented were J's with 42 boats (28% of the fleet) sailing in the waters off Marblehead. The sailors were treated to a wide variety of weather conditions and in the end, the J/70s had very close racing with just 15 pts separating the top six while the J/24 and J/105 fleets saw runaway leaders take top honors.

Continuing their string of 2013 regatta wins in J/70s was Bennet Greenwald's team on PERSEVERANCE, taking the top spot by the narrowest of margins over local Marbleheaders- Jud & Cindy Smith on USA 179.  In fact, both boats led the fleet from the very first day and after three days of racing ended up tied on total points, but after the toss race was factored in Greenwald's team won by just two points net.  Joel Ronning's CATAPULT team again managed to finish on the podium, taking third overall with 20 pts net.  Local hero Tyler Doyle (some of famous sailmaker in Marblehead, Robbie Doyle) sailed his best regatta so far, taking fourth in class.  Also sailing a strong series was the team of Heather Gregg-Earl & Joe Bardenheier on MUSE Powered by Atlantis Weathergear for 5th place.  Heather was also top women J/70 skipper, followed closely by Suzy Leech on JUNKANOO in 6th.

The largest J/class, the eighteen J/105s, were treated to a bit of a "schooling" by another local Marblehead hero, Bob Slattery sailing the famous GHOST.  Counting six 1sts for the scoreline, Slattery's team won by a country furlong with six net pts for a 15 pt win, an unusual event to occur in the highly competitive J/105 class.  Behind them was the duel for second and third with five boats all having a clear shot at the podium.  Locals Fred deNapoli on ALLEGRO SIMPLICITA sailed a steady 3-3-2 in the last three races to seal the deal and grab second overall with 21 pts.  Having an excellent regatta was Charlie Garrard on MERLIN with 26 pts, also sailing a solid 2-4-4 to snag third overall.  The rest of the top five included Peter & Doug Morgan on STEELAWAY in fourth and fifth was Jon & Stuart Wales on BANTRY.

Last year's J/24 class winner, Jubilee YC's John Denman on AIRODOODLE, simply smoked everyone, counting seven 1sts in their tally for a total of 9 pts net, winning by 8 pts.  Second was Mike Taber's team on XINGU, taking the only two remaining 1sts, for a total of 17 pts.  A distant 3rd was John Wells on SHELDON J with 25 pts.  The remainder of the top five was Mike Lachmayr's BLACKFIN in fourth and Greg Williams GRACE UNDER PRESSURE in fifth.  Sailing Photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com.   For more J/70 New England's & Marblehead NOOD sailing information

J/Teams Enjoy Youngstown Level Regatta XL

(Youngstown, NY)- 181 boats raced on five circles in the 40th and Final Youngstown Level Regatta on the weekend of July 27-28.  For most of its history the Level has been the largest weekend keelboat regatta on Lake Ontario, at one time hitting a monstrous 466 boats!   Those were the days of 50 boat J/24 fleets and one design starts for most of the J designs popular at the time.  Since then things had settled down to a more manageable size but the Level still held a prominent place on the calendar for most racers within hundreds of miles.  Youngstown Yacht Club finally decided 40 years was enough and the organizers and volunteers deserved a break, so this was the last Level, to be replaced next year with a new event with details to be announced this fall.

Sailors did not want to miss out on the fun of the final event so attendance was up by almost 40 boats over 2012.  Conditions were generally favorable, light to moderate with the exception of a brief squall that came in Saturday afternoon that curtailed racing for the day.  Various J models were entered in 9 of the 26 divisions, and the largest division in the event was the J70 class with 17 boats.  In IRC 0 Bob Hesse and crew aboard the J111 Lake Effect lost the tie-breaker for first place, settling for second as they had done in Key West in January.  They have been dominating local PHRF racing this summer.  Stephen Trevitt in Crime Scene won the J35 class by two points over Mark DePaul in Remarkable.  In PHRF 1 the four J109s took the top four places, with Robert Eckersley's Blue Streak finishing ahead of Ed Werner in Moccasin and Murray Gainer in Lively.  Mark Bowman's J29 FROB Untamed was second in PHRF 3 and second and third places in PHRF 4 were taken by Mike Seitz in his J27 Northern Seitz over Dan Mather's very successful J30 Crusader.  The PHRF 7 division was made up of J22s and J24s, with Jack Doyle in his J22 winning over the J24s of Kevin McAuley and Tom Raes.  In non spinnaker racing Doug Clarke's J35C Rogue Wave was second in M&J 1.

The headline J70 fleet enjoyed their first major one design event on Lake Ontario with boats coming from Newport, the Chesapeake, Lake Erie, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ontario, Indiana, Florida and various NY ports.  In addition several borrowed boats were helmed by out of town sailors, including past J105 NA Champ Rolf Kaiser of San Francisco and long time J24 skipper Mark Pincus of Florida.  Competition was stiff with 5 different boats taking bullets over the 8 race series.  In the end Kerry Klinger edged out Marty Kullman by taking the final race, with Kris Werner finishing third.  This was Kris's first taste of real action in his new J70 and he had J24 hotshot Rossi Milev aboard to help him get up to speed.

The regatta was judged to be a terrific success with many fond memories being shared and praise was lavished on the volunteers for their years of hard work.  Everyone wants to know what YYC has our our sleeve for 2014 but we aren't quite ready to announce the sequel just yet. Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes @ TimWilkes.com.    For more Youngstown Level Regatta sailing information