J/105 Perseverance Wins @ LBRW

Ben Greenwald's J/105 Perseverance of San Diego topped the largest and most competitive fleet @ Acura's presentation of Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week in LONG BEACH, CA earning him a bonus Boat of the Week award. Gary Mozer's Current Obsession won by tiebreaker in the J/109 class, Roland Fournier with Blue Moon 2 took the J/80s and Steve Aichele’s Cherry Bomb took honors for the J/29 group. On the handicap circle it was Dr. Laura Schlessinger aboard her new J/145 The Doc winning the Fast 40 class with a near perfect score and Dick Velthoen & Paul Defrietas’ J/35 Rival dominating PHRF 4. Weather was light to moderate over three days of racing.

The new Kattack system was employed by most of the J’s in the fleet for this event. Kattack is a web-based software application that collects position data via GPS from boats in a race. Data is collected and uploaded to the web and can then be replayed with performance data to indicate which elements can be improved: starting, boat handling, and strategy, etc... Those who have studied the replays from LBRW have called it an essential learning tool. It’s your own virtual race record… check it out.

J/Fest @ BI Race Week

J Owners turned out in force last week at the 22nd running of Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex. 40% of the total fleet were J’s including five one-design classes (J/29, J/120, J/109, J/105 and J/44) and numerous other Js sailing in PHRF and IRC. The new J/122 made its Block Island debut with George Shaw’s TUMBLEWEED and Andrew Weiss’ CHRISTOPHER DRAGON finishing 1, 2 in IRC 4. Two of the three overall Rolex watch awards went to J owners: Overall PHRF winner was John Storck's (Huntington, N.Y.) J/80 RUMOR, skippered by his college All-American daughter Kaity, while Stephen Tedeschi's TASTES LIKE CHICKEN (St. Petersburg, Fla.) took overall honors in One-Design racing, sailing in the 19-boat J/109 class. Brian Keane on SAVASANA topped the highly competitive J/105 class (24 boats). Other class winners included John Esposito’s HUSTLER (J/29), David & Sandra Askew’s FLYING JENNY V (J/120), Jeff Willis' CHALLENGER IV (J/44) and Kel Weber’s J/34c RASCAL in Non-Spinnaker. complete results

J’s Win @ Annapolis-Newport Race

Newport, RI - J/Owners recently finished first in three of six classes at the 2007 Annapolis Newport Race... USCG J/44 Glory & Scott Dinhofer's J/44 Brown-Eyed Girl finished first and second in IRC class II while David Askew’s J/120 Flying Jenny V won PHRF I (with J/120s placing four of the top five places in this class). Henry Morgan’s J/42 Dolphin finished first in PHRF Class II and won the PHRF overall award with the best corrected time. In all a great showing for the J/Owners... With the fleet facing a stormy offshore weather forecast, due to remnants of a tropical depression blowing through, several boats in the 56 boat fleet chose to retire from the race early. High winds and seas eventually caught up to those who continued on with this 473-mile offshore passage from Annapolis, MD to Newport, RI with some seeing as much as 40 knots and 10-foot seas…

Other notable J finishes included Tom Carroll's J/133 SirenSong who finished 2nd in the big boat class and James Wilson’s J/42 Ceol Mor finishing 2nd in the Double Handed class. complete news & results.

J/122 & 124 Top Class at NYYC Annual

J/122 RAGTIME, skippered by J Boats’ president Jeff Johnstone and the new J/124 WAR BRIDE sailed by Pete Dupont, sailed to a 1-2 overall in IRC 4 at New York Yacht Club’s 153rd Annual Regatta June 9-10. Both boats excelled in the generally light and shifty conditions that prevailed on Rhode Island Sound. Acceleration out of the tacks, keeping pace through an awkward chop, and pointing the boat in the right direction were the keys to staying ahead of the pack. The J/105 class had the best one-design turnout, and the series came down to the final race. Class veteran Brian Keane of Beverly, MA aboard SAVASANA took the bullet and the overall victory, finishing ahead of Phil & Wendy Lotz on INDEFATIGIBLE and Ken Colburn on GHOST. The northeast J fleets head next to Block Island Race Week. This will also continue the J/122’s string of debut events, only this time with three sisterships competing for IRC honors. NYYC results...

J/120 Class Crowns NA Champion

California Yacht Club is no stranger to big events, and their annual June classic, Cal Race Week, certainly lived up to expectation in 2007. A well-honed event that’s designed around the afternoon seabreeze (Noon starts), Cal Race Week featured three racing circles for 130 boats and CYC managed five races over the two day event June 2-3. Headlining the J fleets was the J/120 Class, hosting their 10th North American Championship. In a tightly fought series, Chuck Nichols of San Diego Yacht Club aboard CC RIDER emerged victorious over Peter Zarcades on MELTEMI and John Laun of CAPER.

Division 2 looked like J-central with the J/80, J/105 and J/109 classes all competing. The J/105 class saw an excellent out-of-town turnout (30% of the boats came from San Diego), and local CYC sailor Jeff Janov on INVISIBLE captured race week honors by edging out San Diegan Rick Goebel of SANITY. Reigning J/109 Midwinter Champion, Gary Mozer, and his crew aboard CURRENT OBSESSION took J/109 class honors on the strength of five top 3 finishes, while John Steen of San Diego aboard UNDERDOG, topped the J/80 fleet.

Other notable performances include a nearly clean sweep of the FAST 40 fleet (four 1sts in 5 races) by THE DOC, a J/145 skippered by Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and a victory in PHRF C by Susan Taylor on the J/24 TAKE FIVE. Results

Sprit Fest Regatta 2007 - Sag Harbor

35 J/Boats turned out for the inaugural Sprit Fest Regatta held June 2-3rd at the Breakwater Yacht Club, Sag Harbor, NY. The event originated as the J/80 Long Island Championship and was this year expanded to include the J/80, J/105, and J/109 owners. Each class sailed one-design for a championship trophy including the J/80 Long Island Championship, the J/105 Fleet 24 Championship and the J/109 East Coast Championship. A total of five races took place just off the bluffs of Sag Harbor on Noyack Bay. With rain in the forecast, the fleet was treated to blue skies with temperatures in the low 80s and winds blowing 6-12 knots through-out the day Saturday. After the first three races the competition was quite close in all classes. Saturday night festivities included a BBQ at the club with great food, fun people, and video of racing action.

Sunday brought gray skies and 8-12 knot conditions. Early in the day two races were sailed and then, with the remnants of a tropical storm system threatening, the RC called it a day and led the fleet back to port. At the awards presentation after a 5 race/one throw-out weekend Steve Tedeschi’s Tastes Like Chicken claimed the J/109 East Coast Championship hardware with 11 points. David Betts, Instant Karma won the J/105 Fleet 24 Championship trophy with a near perfect 5 points and Blake Fleetwood with USA 352 defended his J/80 Long Island Championship title with a low point score of 13. After the awards everyone departed but will not soon forget this fun weekend of sailing. A special thanks to David Jannetti, to Breakwater YC and to all the volunteers, competitors and sponsors… results.

J/120 Wins Charleston-Bermuda Race

Charleston, South Carolina — EmOcean, a J/120, recently won Overall Honors in 2007 Charleston to Bermuda Race. This 777-mile race began on May 18th with eight tall ships and hundreds of spectators looking on, and ended with a convivial evening of awards at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Saturday, May 26th. This year, overall honors were awarded to a skipper and crew who performed superbly—young Will Hanckel and his friends on board his father’s J/120 EmOcean. En route, they dealt deftly with a variety of conditions that ran the gamut from 25 to 30-knot northeasterly winds and confused, 10-foot seas, to light zephyrs and moderate swells. Hanckel is no stranger to victory, but those trophies are usually associated with around the-buoys contests, and until the last couple of years, his wins were limited to events staged in one-design dinghies. As Sutherland Madeiros, the Mayor of Hamilton, and Gregory W. Slayton U.S. Consul General stood by, along with all the dapperly attired flag officers of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Hanckel and his crew also received a large crystal bowl as the winners of the J/Boats Trophy for the best performing J/Boat in the fleet. All in all, not bad for a crew with no C2B veterans on its roster. Complete story.

J/133 & J/122 Post RORC Wins

The Cervantes Trophy Race, a 115nm race from Cowes to Le Havre and back, is the 3rd event on the RORC 2007 racing schedule and this year greeted the fleet with mostly medium to light conditions except for at the end when the small boats finished in a freshening breeze. Charles Ivill’s J/133 JB 3 won the 15 boat IRC 0 class earning them the Thalassa Cup with Martin Richmond-Coggan’s J/133 Jump finishing in second place.

Philippe Delaporte, owner of J/122 Pen Azen, topped the 25 boat class in IRC 1 taking home the Noryema VII Cup. He sent along this brief report:

“Cervantes trophy was a great race for us. The course was 115 miles long. After 2 hours of racing going to windward out of the Solent we were among Class O and super O, TP 52 and Farr 52 ahead of Farr 45, DK 46 & Ker 46. The wind was 11 knots. Then while crossing the Channel, the wind shifted and decreased to 2 knots during the afternoon. During the evening it went back to 5-6 knots and Pen Azen crossed the line at 3 o'clock in the morning. At that time we were hoping for an overall IRC win but the wind increased to 10 and later 15 knots and so the small classes finished very fast… frustrating us from the overall victory.”

Other notable J/Boat finishes were Nick Martin & Mike West each sailing their J/105s in the Two-Handed division and finishing 2nd & 3rd for the race. results

Attention All J/42 Owners…

Join us for the 2007 Marblehead to Halifax Race - Starts on July 8 - This is the legendary race from Marblehead, MA to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Currently there are 122 total entries! We would like as many J/42's to enter so that we can have our own fleet start like we had for the Newport-Bermuda race last year. It was our very own fleet start line and scoring....we had it all to ourselves. Racing against boats that were all the same type was much more enjoyable than regular handicap racing… So let's see if we can get a great turnout for the fleet again - this time for the Marblehead to Halifax Race starting July 8. The Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead is sponsoring the race and registration is now open so signup on the Marblehead to Halifax website today... J/42 Class site

2007 Spring One-Design Newsletters

J/105 and J/109 Class Association activity is happening on a weekly basis these days across the USA and in Europe. Already several US events have taken place including the recent American Spring Regatta on the East coast, the Yachting Cup in San Diego, J/Fest San Francisco, Puget Sound Spring Regatta, NOOD Regattas in St. Pete & San Diego, Charleston Race Week, Key West and more. The 2007 spring newsletters have just recently been sent to class members and we’ve included links to online .pdf versions here. There’s good information here for all J/105 & J/109 owners detailing recent class activity, 2007 regatta schedules, articles, tuning tips, contact info etc... click on one of the above & have a look…