J/80’s 1-2 in Asian Sportboat Champs

The J/80 recently debuted in Asia at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Maersk Asian International Sportboat Championship, where two out-of-the-box J/80 yachts took the top two spots, finishing ahead of a mixed fleet of custom and production built sportboats from China, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Jeff Johnstone of J Boats and his all-Hong Kong crew edged out colleague Jeff Brown of San Diego to complete the one-two sweep. Brown, with partner Hudson Wang, recently opened the J Boats Asia dealership with an office in downtown Hong Kong and with plans for a mainland China office in 2008.

The Asian debut comes at a time when J/80 activity is booming worldwide. The recent J/80 World Championship in La Trinite-sur-Mer, France had 124 competing teams - a record for the Class, and momentum continues to build. "The J/80 is a solid all-around performer that’s really easy to sail," Johnstone said. "It's more stable than most sportboats, and so attracts and rewards sailors from a wider age and ability range."

Brown is equally enthusiastic about the J/80's Asian debut. "We see Hong Kong, China, and Asia as great opportunities for J/80 sailing and for the J/80 Class," said Brown. "There is no better small keelboat for new sailors - the J/80 combines the speed and responsiveness of a small boat with the comfort and stability of a larger yacht. With momentum so strong around the world, we're hoping to host the J/80 Pacific Rim Championship in a few years!"

The J/80 will be on display at the Shanghai International Boat Show next April.

J/80 2007 NA Championship

Kerry Klingler sailing his J/80 Lifted with crew including Doug Lynn, Neil Bresnan & John Bowden recently won his second consecutive J/80 North American Championship and third J80 NA title overall by winning the final show-down race where a single point separated the top three boats.

Just six weeks before the J/80 NA Championships the J/80 Class organization faced a terrible problem. Lake Norman, N.C., where the regatta was scheduled to take place was drying up because of the severe drought in the southeast USA. With too little water to launch boats and race it was panic time! The class’s first call was to Kristen Robinson to ask if Eastport YC, in Annapolis, could host the regatta. The club accepted and started organizing a first class event in record time. The class embraced the move and teams from as far away as California changed plans. The end result was a true championship regatta, raced by 33 competitors who love the boat… Complete wrap-up.

J/109s 1-2 @ IRC East Coast Champs

Bill Sweetser’s J/109 Rush dominated his IRC Class 4 followed by fellow J/109 owner Steve McManus sailing Saykadoo (thumbnail courtesy of wavelengthstudios.com) to second in the Storm Trysail Club 2007 IRC East Coast Championship recently held in Annapolis. With finishes of 1.5,2,1,1,2,1,1 for a total of 9.5 points after throw-out, Sweetser & crew achieved the lowest point total for all IRC classes at the event! While the overall IRC award somehow eluded Rush and the Class 4 group, overall it was a great showing for both the Rush & Saykadoo teams!

And speaking of teams, Robin Team’s brand new J/122 Teamwork sailing in her first out of the box event finished a respectable 2nd place in IRC Class 3. With no wind during the practice race to tune up and then breeze-on for day 1, the Teamwork crew put their new boat and team on a steep learning curve, improving each race and eventually taking at least one first and a couple of second place finishes for the series….next stop, Key West. In total 45 boats, divided into five classes competed in this the final event in the 2007 IRC Gulf Stream Series. Results.

Masquerade Repeats at J/105 NAs

A repeat win for a great team as Tom Coates and crew from San Francisco Bay aboard Masquerade topped the record 68 boat J/105 fleet in Annapolis earlier this month. With a slow start and a stellar finish these guys literally came out of nowhere to win again. As far as J/105 one-design events go, this was a milestone event and a culmination of 16 years of class development and growth. A record turnout of boats and some competitive racing and challenging conditions. During the buffet dinner party on Friday night, special recognition was given to long time J/Dealer Paul Mikulski by J/Boats President Jeff Johnstone for Paul’s un-tiring contribution to the success of the local J/105 class and his work promoting J/Boats on the Chesapeake over the past two decades. A special J/105 half hull model was awarded to Paul who now continues as broker with the new J/Dealer in Annapolis Ken Comerford of North Point Yacht Sales at J/Port.

Each J/105 competing at the North American event was GPS monitored by the folks at Kattack who recorded every race and through the magic of the web will allow anyone to play, rewind, and replay any race of the series. Go to kattack.com to download the player….it’s pretty cool stuff.

For complete reports and links to the daily commentary from the event as well as to online photos please visit the J/105 Class web site.

J/105 Class Draws Record Fleet

Annapolis, MD -- When the entry period officially closed on Wednesday, October 17, a record fleet of 69 J/105s from across North America were in the mix for the upcoming J/105 North American Championship, set for Thursday-Sunday, November 1-4. Among the entries are 40 boats that will be traveling from outside the Chesapeake Bay. Defending North American Champion Thomas Coates from San Francisco, CA, will be on hand with his Masquerade team, hoping to repeat his 2006 win. In addition, Steve Phillips of Arnold, MD, who earned the championship title in 2000 and again in 2002, will be among the 27 representatives of Annapolis’ Fleet 3, sailing Le Renard.

The lineup of competitors is not only challenging, but also diverse. Along with past champions and consistently strong performers from 15 J/105 fleets in North America, two teams of Naval Academy midshipmen also will compete. These collegians are not the youngest participants, however; that honor goes to the Storm Trysail Club’s Chessie Team, made up of five junior sailors and their coach. -- Full report

Burkhalter Finishes 12th in Transat 6.5

Congratulations to Clay Burkhalter of Stonington, CT who recently completed the grueling 4,200nm Atlantic crossing in the Transat 6.5 race (formerly the Mini Transat) in his Rod Johnstone designed 21 foot "mini" Acadia. By crossing the finish line at Salvador Bahia, Brazil on Oct. 25, Clay realized his goal to complete the race and placed a respectable 12th overall out of 86 boats and among the elite tier of European mini specialists... Here are a few bullets from his experience.

• Fastest speed: 17.5 knots in the first few days – during the first several days of the race when in squalls the wind would increase to as much as 50 knots.

• Scariest moments: Climbing the mast twice to untangle halyards. And, a few days into the race, when one of many squalls hit and Clay found himself moving so fast downwind that, as he put it, “All I could do was kneel in the cockpit, struggle to keep control of the rudders and hope it would pass before things started breaking all over the place.”

• During this year’s Transat 650, Acadia did not suffer a single crucial equipment failure that Clay was unable to fix enroute. His sails are intact, but for a small rip in one. However, plenty of hardware broke – from turnbuckles and blocks to a spinnaker pole, and by the end of the race, Clay was substituting hardware from one part of the boat to another. For more info, links to interviews and video clips please visit the Team Acadia web site.

Tedeschi’s Top J/109 NA Champs

LONG BEACH, Calif.---“We plan to keep sailing consistently. That is how we win regattas.” Those words as spoken by Stephen Tedeschi on Saturday now seem prophetic as he and co-skipper/father Brian did just that Sunday, sailing their boat Tastes Like Chicken, Newport, R.I., to win the second annual J/109 North American Championships in the waters off Long Beach.

Going into the day, Tedeschi knew there were only two or three boats they had to watch: Gary Mozer’s Current Obsession, Long Beach, John Shulze’s Linstar, Newport Beach, and Tony Wetherbee’s Commotion, Dana Point. In heavy winds of 14-16 knots, some boats had miscues and Current Obsession tore its jib. But the Tedeschi crew of Tony Tedeschi, Mark Ploch, Mark “Gonzo” Gonzales, Alex Millet, Melody Schleusner, and Peter Hamm persevered with fifth- and second-place finishes Sunday to clinch the crown for the championship. results

J/122 Wins Manhasset Fall Series 2007

Andrew Weiss and crew aboard J/122 Christopher Dragon recently capped off a great season on their new boat with another IRC win, this time at the Manhasset Bay YC Fall Series on Long Island Sound. Andrew reports:

“The Fall Series this year had conditions ranging from 5 to 23 Knots. Competition in the class included Tom Carroll’s J/133, an IMX45, two Farr 395s, a Ker 11.3 and a modified Beneteau 40.7. The first race was in very shifty westerly winds where we missed a shift and ended up in 6th place. Ultimately this would be our throw out race for the series. As the wind increased over the first weekend we were very fast upwind passing larger boats on the beats. Downwind we had little to no trouble with boat handling as many of the boats were wiping out.

The second Saturday we sailed three races in 17-23 knots placing 1,3,1. In the last race we were first to finish beating all the big boats on elapsed time. As the year has gone on we have been amazed how fast this boat goes upwind in big breeze. The last race on Sunday was a long seven leg race in shifty conditions. With the boat’s ability to tack faster and sail deeper angle's downwind we won both the race and series with finishes of 6,3,1,3,1,1. This regatta topped a year with Christopher Dragon where we finished first in every series entered except one where we finished second to another J/122. We couldn't be happier with the boat.”

complete results.

Venue Change! J/80 NA Championship

Due to the very low water levels in Lake Norman, NC the 2007 J/80 North American Championship regatta has recently been moved to Annapolis, MD. Eastport Yacht Club will now host the event. Dates for the regatta remain the same, Nov. 9-11, and if you have already registered, your registration fee and application will be transferred to the new race organizers. If you have not already registered, please do so now! Annapolis is the Sailing Capitol of the World and promises great race committee, great parties and a great atmosphere. Details, including a new NOR, schedule of events and information on visiting Annapolis, will be posted shortly. Please help Eastport Yacht Club, Fleet 18 and your J80 USA Executive Board in making this a great National Championship! for latest info www.j80.org

J-122 ‘J-DAY’ Wins Antwerp Race

J-122 'J-DAY', skippered by Robin Verhoef of J/Benelux, showed excellent performance at the recently concluded Antwerp Race in Belgium winning the 52 boat IRC class 1/2. This annual event is one of the largest of the year sailed from Breskens to Antwerp on the tidal ‘Westerschelde’. This year the entire 46 nm course was an upwind stretch with winds varying between 6 – 12 knots. The competition was fierce in the IRC 1/2 class including two Swan 45’s, two Club Swan 42s, an X 41, X 46, X 35, Grand Soleil 40 and 43 and a Bashford 36. By the end of the race J-Day corrected to a 6 minute lead over the second place boat. The light winds made it a long and exciting race which was only decided when the harbor of Antwerp was in sight. Once more – and again the J/122 proves to have great upwind speed. Congratulations to Robin and his all amateur crew! event website.