Inside the Storck Family's J/80 Success

Stuart Streuli of Sailing World magazine caught up with Kaity Storck at Acura Key West Race Week last week to learn more about the family's successful defense of the J/80 Midwinters aboard RUMOR, which also won Boat of the Day honors on Friday.

What's your job on the boat? We actually have a really cool thing. I sail with my dad (John, pictured with Kaity) and usually my two older brothers. We all sort of rotate through positions. This week I am the second most forward person and I'm pulling the spinnaker up, taking the spinnaker down, and helping call tactics. I'm also calling waves and puffs as we go upwind.

Give us the history of this team? My dad has sailed Key West I think probably six times in the J/80, maybe seven times. This is my fourth year in the J/80. We basically started sailing together as a family four years ago. My dad was sailing a PHRF boat, and then he realized that if he got a one-design boat, we would actually sail with him. So he did, and then we did. I also have a younger brother and we've sailed with all five of us once, and that was at Block Island Race Week two years ago and that was cool because I got to drive.

The J/80 is a tight one-design boat, but is there any one piece of equipment that is particularly valuable? Our personnel is our key tool. We have a new jib that seems to be working pretty well. We've had UK Halsey sails since we've gotten into the boat and they've always done really well. This one seems to have a little more shape at the bottom than our older jibs. This is our first time sailing with it, so we're just figuring it out.

Who would be the MVP of the team today? The one thing our team has always done really well, is that everyone focuses on doing their own job and just their job. I think that's a problem that a lot of boats have difficulty with, especially when you have a lot of really good sailors together. It's hard for everyone to focus on doing just their job. More often than not, it's not that you run into problems with people messing up their job, but people sort of overstepping boundaries. So everyone always does a really good job on our boat. But probably with the conditions being so shifty and up and down , we were seeing easily 10 knot ranges and the really big shifts, I think John, my brother, who was driving the boat, probably gets the MVP for keeping the boat moving.

What sort of advice would you give to another J/80 sailor looking to sail at Key West Race Week for the first time? Try to put together a team that has sailed together before so you can be really focus on going fast for the regatta, and everybody knows what they're doing. I will not hesitate to say our strongest point is our speed. If you have a good mix of all-stars and people who have sailed the boat before that's definitely better than all all-stars that maybe have never sailed before because things can get done a lot better. Like I said before, the most important thing on a boat is everybody doing their job. They've got to be good at their job, so they've got to be an all-star at that. But, yeah, speed is really important down here.

Sailing World KW Blog

Key West Shines in 2009

Key West's famous sailing conditions returned to form last week as sailors from across the planet congregated for the annual battle of the high seas at Acura Key West Race Week. Premiere Racing and their crack race committee teams ran the full compliment of 10 races over 5 days on three racing circles with seven one design classes and several IRC and PHRF classes participating. Racing conditions were as dynamic as ever with winds generally northerly, moderate (12-20) and shifty. Wind readings at the windward mark for Division 2 (J/105s) on Thursday ranged 70 degrees during the day's racing.

In one-design action, the J/80 fleet saw some great racing with John Storck Jr. and family (John III and Katie) aboard RUMOR repeating as Midwinter champions, and earning the Lewmar Boat of the Day on Thursday for the top performance in the most competitive class. RUMOR finished with 16 points followed by Bill Rose (League City, TX) on KICKS with 26 and Kristen Robinson (Annapolis, MD) on ANGRY CHAMELEON with 47 points. The J/80 Class sponsored KATTACK GPS tracking coverage during the event and competitors enjoyed nightly replays under the J Boats hospitality tent.

The J/105 Midwinters saw more lead changes than a NASCAR race with an incredibly tight battle down the stretch between Brian Keane's SAVASANA (Marion, MA), Damian Emery's ECLIPSE (Mount Sinai, NY), and Gerrit Schulze's MAX POWER (Cape May, NJ). Separated by one point after six races, ECLIPSE and SAVASANA proceeded to leapfrog each other nearly every race, with MAX POWER staying close enough to make it anyone’s series going into race 10. SAVASANA (seen at left) prevailed in the end, followed closely by ECLIPSE, MAX POWER and Pat Eudy’s BIG BOOTY (Charleston, SC) who came on strong over the last four races to secure 4th place and win Acura’s Boat of the Day on Friday for top performance in the most tightly contested class.

In handicap action, Robert Armstrong and his beautiful red J/100 GOOD GIRL (shown nailing yet another start) sailed a nearly flawless series to win PHRF B over the J/109 RUSH and the J/35 MAN-O-WAR. For Armstrong, along with J/24 World Champion Jens Hookansen as helmsman, and their seasoned Virgin Islands crew, it was a second Key West PHRF title in as many years.

Event website

Key West 2009 Preview

With most of the country in a deep freeze, J sailors are trekking south for next week's Acura Key West Race Week hosted by Premiere Racing. J Boats represents 27% of the total fleet. Among the one-designs, the J/105 and J/80 classes will be hosting their annual Midwinter Championships. Each J/80 will be fitted with Kattack GPS transponders for the week, with all the racing able to be tracked (played and replayed) by folks back home on the Kattack website. Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's J/44 GOLD DIGGER are back to compete for IRC honors, and the PHRF competition looks very strong with two of the top J/120s in the country (EMOCEAN and EL OCASO) , Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH and Robert Armstrong's J/100 GOOD GIRL, all seen as pre-event favorites. J Boats will be hosting evening gatherings for the owners with video action and Kattack coverage of the J/80 fleet. Event site

J’s on Display in January

If your New Year's resolution includes spending more quality time with family and friends, there's no better place to start than by sailing a J in 2009. J Sailing delivers max performance with minimal effort in models from 22 to 65 ft to fit all sailing styles and budgets. Check out J's on display at the upcoming January boatshows including the J/122 at the San Diego Show (Jan 8-11); the J/109 and J/97 at the London Boat Show (Jan 9-18); the J/105 at the Toronto Boat Show (Jan 10-18), the J109 at the Seattle Boat Show (Jan 23-Feb 1), and the J/100, J/105 and J/109 at Strictly Sail Chicago (Jan 29-Feb 1).

New J/97 Previews at Paris Show

With the launching date of hull #1 slated for Feb/Mar 2009, J/Europe pulled out all the stops to create a J/97 “Preview” display at the Paris Boat Show. The sleek navy hull with finished deck (sans interior) was displayed alongside the J/109 and J/122. The preview party continues in January at the London Show while production of the new design gets into full swing in Olonne Sur Mer, France. website

J Boats Leadership Award

At the annual J/44 awards party held at New York Yacht Club last month, Jim Bishop of New York, NY was presented the 2008 J Boats Leadership Award by Jeff Johnstone, president of J Boats.

“Behind every successful one-design there's a person that's the glue, the visionary, the life of the party,” said Johnstone. “Since 1989, Jim Bishop has been that person for the J/44 Class.”

Under Bishop’s presidency, the J/44 class achieved an unprecedented one-design start for the 1994 Bermuda Race and has continued the streak of continuous class starts through 2008. In the mid 90's, the J/44 class introduced an innovative sail-rotation program where the fleet buys class sails in bulk and rotates them between boats for the inshore buoy events, in order to reduce overall ownership costs and provide for very competitive racing.

“It’s been a real team effort,” said Bishop while accepting the award. “We have a great group of owners who are fully committed to the class. It doesn’t seem like a lot of work when you’re having as much fun as we do.”

The J/44 Class turns 20 in 2009.

Testimonial - Buying a New J/105

Chris & Carolyn Groobey have been racing their J/105 JAVA in the very competitive Annapolis fleet on Chesapeake Bay for over 10 years. Last summer, after reviewing all of their potential boat options, the Groobeys decided to trade in hull #58 for a new J/105. Sailing writer Carol Cronin recently spoke with Chris to get his take on the new boat and the continuing success and appeal of the J/105 class.

JB: What was the original inspiration for buying your first J/105?
Chris: I owned a Tripp 26 with a co-owner. We each got married and wanted a one design race boat that was dual purpose. Over the years the J/105 has turned into more of a full-on racing program for us, and now we travel with the boat to Key West and Block Island Race Week.

JB: What is it about the class and boat that you like most?
Chris: We’ve made friends around the country as a result of this boat. That’s why we chose to stay with the J/105 when it was time for a new boat. We looked at the Melges 32, but it was too pro heavy. We appreciate the sail limitations and limitations on pros in the J/105 class and really like that we don’t have to travel, as we have one design racing every weekend. For our season-ending regatta this weekend in Annapolis we have 22 boats signed up. The fleet’s still very strong, which is really amazing. Best of all, there’s a great bunch of people in the fleet and we all like each other.

JB: Why buy a new J/105?
Chris: It’s our old boat with a new car smell. Our old boat was built in 1993, and it was time to move to a new boat anyway. J/Boats started talking about a new boat from a new builder, and they asked current owners for ideas about what options should be standard, etc. I was involved from the beginning, and we were certainly aware of US Watercraft’s reputation and confident we were going to get a great boat. So even though we’d never seen one, we were confident enough to make the commitment. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the high build quality.

JB: How long have you had it, and how much have you sailed it?
Chris: The boat was delivered in early September. We’ve been racing every weekend since then except the Annapolis Boat Show, where the boat was on display. The switch from the wheel to tiller has created a little bit of a learning curve, as I haven’t steered with a tiller for 10 years!

JB: Tell us a little about your team/crew.
Chris: The core crew is Carolyn and me and friends we’ve sailed with for years. Peter Scott and I have raced together for fifteen years. Linda Ambrose, another great friend, is a regular. In our local Fleet 3 we have a head count rule in addition to weight rule that allows for four men and two women. That’s an attractive family friendly rule that other fleets are considering. We’ve never sailed with pros.

JB: What was your best finish in the old boat?
Chris: Our goal at Key West was always the top ten, and we made it once. Usually we finish in the low teens. In recent years we’ve been sailing less since our lives have been crazy, and other programs have become more serious so they’ve passed us by. Goals with the new boat are similar: top five for local high point. We hope to sail Key West next year, and finish in the top third. One nice thing about the new boat is that it’s raised our excitement level again.

JB: Anything you’d like to add?
Chris: Please put in a good word for US Watercraft, and especially Ken Comerford of Northpoint Yacht Sales, the J dealer in Annapolis. Everyone was extraordinarily helpful in getting our boat up to speed, and it was a great buying experience.

J/105 website

J/80 One-Design Racing in China

Eight teams from eight countries participated last week in the first International J/80 Invitational Regatta in Xiamen, China hosted by J Boats Asia and J World Xiamen. This marked the first ever J/80 one-design event in the Pacific Rim.

Team Belgium captained by Barry Hayes and skippered by China’s Olympic Yngling skipper Song Xia Qun won the five race no-throw out series over Team Hong Kong, Team Singapore and Team USA. Other countries included Philippines, France, China, Taiwan, and Australia. Sailors enjoyed the use of brand new J/80s right off the production line of J Boats’ new Asian builder, Hudson Yacht Industries of Xiamen. Jeff Johnstone of J Boats was on hand to measure boats and run the sailors (most of whom were new to the J/80) through a pre-regatta speed clinic.

“We couldn’t be happier with the turnout and the high quality of the competition,” said Jeff Brown, president of J Boats Asia and the event chairman. “Xiamen is a beautiful sailing venue and the perfect location to launch a new J World sailing school (pictured to the right) and the J/80 Asian class. We look forward to welcoming new students when the school officially opens in 60 days and to hosting even bigger J/80 events in the future.” Results & Info

Chestress 2 Wins Middle Sea Race

Giancarlo Ghislanzoni and his J/133 team scored a victory in Class 3 and a second place Overall in the 2008 Rolex Middle Sea Race recently completed in Malta. This race around the Island of Sicily dealt ever changing conditions this year, including code 0 reaching, 3.5 knot head currents, light air running, 300nm beat upwind in a short chop with breeze and tons of thurderstorms... Giancarlo reports:

"We made it!... We raced every minute as if we were sailing around the cans, fighting for the overall podium and trying to defend from the rest of the class, who were recuperating under more favorable winds. In the end it is a result that we could only dream of. After the 4th overall at the 2006 Giraglia and first overall in the 2007 and 2008 Tre Golfi, the two other main off-shore regattas, our beloved J-133 and her blue asymmetrics are becoming quite known in the Med." results. Congratulations to the entire Chrestress crew for a great race and season!

Introducing Two New J/s for 2009!

The new J/95 (31.2') not only sails in as little as 3' of water, it will sail circles around other modern "pretty" retro-daysailors, all the while in complete comfort and control. Standard carbon mast, retracting centerboard, wheel steering, optional cockpit dodger, removable transom storage and many more unique features will set this new J/apart. It's a boat that solves the problem of draft for many waterfront home owners to extend immediate access to keelboat sailing and fun right from the backyard dock! We've posted some info here at the J/95 web site. For the most up to date information contact your J/dealer, or visit us at the Fall boatshows.

Across the Atlantic another new J/Boat is under development for debut at the 2008 Paris Boatshow. The J/97 (31.6') is the first J in over two decades under 32' to combine 6' headroom and family cruising accommodations in a high performance, easily driven hull. With the handling ease of an asymmetric spinnaker and non-overlapping headsails, the J/97 promises to be one of J Boats' most versatile designs yet under 35' to fit the needs of today's sailing families, both young and old alike. More info for the new J/97 is posted here and we'll have more to share at the boatshow as well.

With fuel prices through the roof and the unused family motor boat becoming more like a permanent extension of the dock, now is a great time to go J/sailing!