J/109 VAMOS Tops Sydney Offshore Series

(Sydney, Australia)- Like their counterparts in the recent Chicago-Mac Race in America, the J/109s Down Under continue to also throw a few curving boomerangs at their competitors in the offshore series off Sydney.

Tim Ryan, who rarely has time to race and complete a full race series due to work and other commitments, skippered his 10 year old J/109  VAMOS to a superb division win in Sydney Harbour's prestigious CYCA’s Offshore Winter Series.   Apparently, Ryan's J/109 is in as immaculate a condition as the day it was launched in 2002!

The diverse, large and many say most competitive division sailing in the series is Class D; with 23 boats racing comprised of Beneteau 35’s, 40.7, Matt 1010, Summit 35, OD 35, Northshore 369, & 5 x Sydney 36’s to name a few.

There was a variety of conditions ranging from 5 kt westerlies to a 50 kt gear-buster, causing racing to be abandoned for the day.  The boat went well across the spectrum, performing particularly well downwind under the enormous spinnaker designed by Ian Short.

Ryan commented on their recent sailing experiences, "In one race early in the series races I sailed around the wrong mark and had to retire so we had a lot to make up."

He goes on to say, "I am delighted with boat and how it’s performed against much newer designed craft available today proving just how good the J/109 is to start with.  We had a new crew ranging in age from a 17 year old rookie bowman, to some more experienced crew sailing in the back of the boat.  We even had 2 of our sons, Calvin and Ethan sailing during the series.  Another reason to celebrate our win.

With a score-line of 1-2-3-5-5-5, the closest boat finished 4 points behind VAMOS despite our self-inflicted retirement.   We had to sail well in the last race, as we were one point behind, and luckily sailed a near perfect race."  To learn more about the J/109 offshore cruiser-racer.

J/70 Regatta Updates

(Newport, RI)- After a strong showing at recent summer regattas, J/70 sailors along the eastern seaboard of America should consider the J/70 New England Championship in Marblehead, MA as well as the Fall Fling Regatta in Hampton, VA held after the J/70 North Americans in Annapolis, MD.

J/70 East Coast sailors should have a wonderful time sailing in the Sperry Topsider Marblehead NOOD Regatta, as they're simultaneously hosting the J/70 New England Championship over the July 26-28 (Friday-Sunday) weekend.  Over a dozen boats are already registered including a German team.  So if you're are looking for a chance to get in a good weekend of racing at the end of July, head on up to Marblehead for one of the true Mid-Summer classics.  Plus, the J/70 teams will be able to launch their boats at Eastern Yacht Club at no cost and should be able to either raft up on the Pleon Yacht Club floats or share moorings that will be available through the Eastern Yacht Club.

Later in the fall, Hampton Yacht Club is hosting the J/70 class in their Fall Fling Regatta held from November 16th to 17th.  One of the best fall regattas you can participate anywhere on the East Coast-- the water is still warm, the southern hospitality even warmer and gracious and it has to be one of the most fun regattas socially for those who have ever experienced what it's like to sail in the southern Chesapeake Bay area.  Furthermore, a "best practices/ tuning /what-we-have-learned" clinic will be provided to J/70 sailors as part of the regatta held the day before the regatta on Friday, November 15th.  Please be sure to contact Steve Taylor at email- Steve.Taylor@wartsiladefense.com.  For more J/70 one-design regatta information, please visit the J70 class site

J/Teams Dominate Mac Race Top 20

J/122 Five-Peats Slow Mac 
(Chicago, IL) – The 105th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, presented by Veuve Clicquot, proved beyond any reasonable doubt to be the slowest Mac Race on record for the 301 boats and 2,472 crew participating. Nevertheless, making the most of the conditions and finishing in reasonably fast times on Monday were a cadre of well-sailed J/111s, J/109s, J/145s and J/122-- all leaders in their divisions and one winning overall!  Congratulations to Mitch Padnos and his team on the J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON for winning Section 4 and the Overall Mackinac Trophy, the second year in a row J/Teams have won the race overall (last year was the J/111 KASHMIR) and the fifth time in a row (when it sailed) this particular J/122 has won her section!

The weather forecast for the race was better than early forecasts indicated, with moderate southeasterly winds positioning most of the fleet in the middle of Lake Michigan Saturday night. While winds picked up Saturday for some time, Sunday proved much less promising. In fact, many boats reported the deterioration of onboard comfort, with the heat rising below deck and carnivorous flies arriving above deck for most of Sunday's and early Monday's routine of sailing through wind-holes while heading north.

For most of the fleet, the strategy as outlined by the weather forecaster/ routers and even software like Expedition, indicated optimized routes that took a northerly course up the Illinois / Wisconsin shoreline up as far north as Sheboygan, WI-- that seemed to be the "play of the day" in ENE to ESE winds.  Then, in the dawn hours cutting across the lake to the Michigan shoreline in veering ESE to S winds to catch the localized sea breezes blowing onto the Michigan shoreline due to the massive thermal effect caused by giant mountains of hot sand dunes on the eastern shore of the lake would enable boats to continue to head north into the first major turning point at Pt Betsie.  Thereafter, it was "anything goes" in the Manitou Straits and the long stretch to Greys Reef 50nm away.

Race commentator Winn Soldani said this year’s race is similar to that of 2009, which also brought very slow wind conditions. "It is years like these that show us how hard the final miles can be. Several boats I saw or spoke to took hours - as many as 6, and perhaps a few even spent more - between the bridge and the finish (it's a leg of only 5nm)," Soldani said. "But for what was sort of an ‘ugly’ race, the ending could not have been prettier with the boats coming in under spinnaker, going fast under clear blue skies."

Race Chairman Lou Sandoval said the 105th Race to Mackinac goes down in the history books as a memorable race for all. "Each Mac holds memories for all contestants, and it speaks to the special nature of the race and is one of the reasons why sailors return year after year," Sandoval said. "This one particular Mac will be more memorable than most as the slowest ever recorded."

In the end, a duel ensued between the top J/111s and the J/122 in the evening Saturday night and on into all of Sunday and Monday.  With all hell breaking loose midday Sunday with the southerly flow breaking down late in the afternoon, this group faced an unusual ENE breeze flowing offshore that swung into the southeast overnight, full of holes in the Manitou Straits and into Greys Reef.  By late morning on Monday the forecasted southerly flow swung in and the J/122's "play" to the right of rhumbline proved propitious as they sailed away from the wolf-pack of J/111s further west of rhumbline to win on corrected by over 3 hours and take the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy for overall division honors!

From an overall perspective, J/Teams did quite well taking 12 of the top 20 spots in the prestigious 124 boat Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Division!  It was nearly a repeat of the 2012 Chicago-Mac Race results with J/Teams also taking more than 50% of the top 20 overall!  With the J/122 taking 1st overall, second was the J/109 REALT NA MARA sailed by the Tom & Joe Londrigan, 7th was the J/145  VORTICES sailed by Chris Saxton, 9th was the J/111 HOBGOBLIN sailed by Dick Hobbs, 10th was the J/145 MAIN STREET sailed by Bill Schanen, 11th was the J/111 NO SURPRISE sailed by multiple Mac Champion Dave Irish, 13th was Bill Smith's J/111 WOOTON, 14th was Henry Brauer's East Coast team from Marblehead/ Newport on the J/111 FLEETWING, 16th was the J/111 LUCKY DUBIE sailed by multiple Mac Champion Len Segal, 17th was recent short-handed race winner Tom & Caroll McIntosh on MISTY, 18th was the J/109 VANDA III sailed by Jim & Jack Toliver and 20th was the J/111 IMPULSE sailed by the trio of Dr George Miz, Mark Hatfield and Peter Dreher.

From a section perspective, the one-design classes again proved to have relentless pressure on all the teams to be vigilant, taking advantage of every puff and breeze line or veering breezes to gain leverage on their competitors.

The J/111 class again repeated their stellar overall division performance as a result of their constant real-time one-design positioning versus one another; made especially more frenetic due to the extremely fast-reaching capabilities of J/111's using Code Zero's.  This year's winner, however, while no "newbies" to the actual Mac Race, were first year J/111 owners.  Dick Hobbs's team on HOBGOBLIN from Milwaukee, WI showed their fellow classmates what it takes to win a wild and woolly, hit the corners "run for the roses" to that lovely paradise that smells of horse manure, chocolate fudge and fragrant pine forests and ringed with crystal-clear azure blue waters.  Winning by only 15 minute over NO SURPRISE sailed by Dave Irish from Harbor Springs, MI, the "goblin gang" sailed smartly, making less mistakes than everyone else to take the crown for the J/111 class.  Bill Smith's WOOTON from Chicago had been winning for over half the race but the changing of the guard took place in the classic Manitou Passage "waltz"-- where everything changes as it can and will!  As a result, they took third in class.  Fourth was Mac "newbies" (or virgins) Henry Brauer and crew on FLEETWING from Marblehead, MA.  Finally, fifth was taken by Mac veteran and wily Mac goat Len Siegal on the renowned LUCKY DUBIE from Chicago.

The J/105s had the largest J/One-Design fleet with sixteen boats participating.  Familiar names managed to finish at the top of the heap after all the flies were cleared from the fogged up sunglasses.  Topping the fleet was the 2012 Bayview Mac winner, Mary Symond's PTERODACTYL from Grosse Point YC.  Top local Chicago boat was Mike Tuman's STRIKING in second followed by Clark Pellett's team on SEALARK in third, Mark Gurney's BUZZ in fourth and John Moore's HERE"S JOHNNY in fifth.

With multiple Mac class champions participating, the J/109 class proved yet again they have a strong fleet of sailors.  Leading the fleet home was REALT NA MARA (sailed by long-time International Star class champions Tom & Joe Londrigan), followed by VANDA III (Jim & Jack Toliver) in second, NORTHSTAR (David Gustman) in third, DRIVEN 2 (Jim Milliken from Traverse City, MI) in fourth and CERTAINLY (Don Meyer from Marco Island, FL) in fifth.

While not one-design, the Level 35 class was dominated by the J/35s, again!  Leading all them home this year was BOZOS CIRCUS (Bruce Metcalf), followed by BAD DOG (Larry Taunt) in second and Larry Schell's TOUCH OF GREY in fourth.

In Section 2, the J/145 VORTICES sailed by Chris Saxton took fourth overall and the other J/145 MAIN STREET sailed by Bill Schanen (family publisher of SALING Magazine fame) took sixth overall.

In Section 3, the SCIRROCO III (Bob Clairmont from Lake Forest, IL) finished sixth in class.

In Section 4, behind the overall winner- the J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON- was Matt Songer's J/120 PERSEVERANCE sailing a very strong race to be a contender in the class and take third overall.

Section 6 had an assortment of J/Teams from 30 to 35 feet. Sailing their hearts out was the J/110 LADY K skippered by Mike Stewart from Muskegon, MI to take first overall!  Third was J/33 RETRIEVER (Matt Beer from Wilmette, IL), followed in fourth by the J/92 CYCLONE (John Madey from Chicago, IL).

Finally, in Double-handed division the J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS sailed by the dynamic duo of George & Scott Petritz took second overall in their class in what to do be an awfully tough race on just two people managing all the sail changes required to get up the track fast.   Sailing photo credits- Miste Photography  For more Chicago Mackinac Race sailing results

J/88 BLUR.se Review

(Marstrand, Sweden)- Peter Gustafsson from Sweden recently had a chance to sail the new J/88 one-design family speedster.  After postponing sailing on the first day due to massive thunderstorms headed for Rhode Island, Peter was game for a sail on what appeared to be a misty, foggy Tuesday morning for his BLUR.se test sail on the J/88.  After a quick photo session and review on board, we headed out into Narragansett Bay with about 100 yards visibility in what was going to be a quick test in "pea soup" fog.

However, within a half hour the fog burned off, with Castle Hill Inn basking in all her glory and the spectacular sunlit rocks at the opening of Jamestown's Mackerel Cove made for an extraordinarily picturesque sail.  After beating out into the Atlantic Ocean, we turned downwind and set the spinnaker for a "double-handed" test of the J/88's ability to set/ gybe/ takedown with the high-aspect asym chute.  In short, in 8-14 kts breeze, she planes quite readily in the 8-10 kts boat speed range. Here is some of Peter's commentary:

"The weather wasn’t cooperating when we left the slip at NYYC in Newport. Rain and fog, but at least some breeze. The J/88 looked really good, even from afar, and there were positive comments from the guys working at the dock.

It looked sleek, clean and fast even when it’s parked. Just like the J/111 that we race ourselves. I hate to admit it, but the J/88 actually look even better from some angles.

The first thing you notice is the cockpit. It’s huge. It feels like on the J/111, but without the wheel. Great access to mainsheet and fine tune, traveller and backstay.Only possible improvement would be to add more purchase to the backstay, since you really need it to de-power the main.

The layout works both with a dedicated mainsail trimmer or if the helmsman is doing everything. Shorthanded you have great access to the jib winches as well. I loved to be able to sit well forward to get the weight right in the light stuff."  To read more about Peter's BLUR.se J/88 sailing review.  For more J/88 family speedster sailing information

J/Teams Top Three Classes In Halifax Race

(Marblehead, MA)- The 35th Marblehead to Halifax race started in light airs for the 80 boats that were sailing the race and not much else changed for the balance of the blast across the Bay of Fundy/ Gulf of Maine to Halifax, Nova Scotia-- except add more fog.  The numerous J offshore teams performed well in the challenging conditions in the ORR, IRC and PHRF divisions.

In IRC 2 class, the famous J/105 team sailing the J/44 KINCSEM, Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes from New York YC and American YC, wished they had more wind or reaching.  Nevertheless, they managed to secure sixth in what was less than satisfactory conditions for J/44s.

The IRC 3 class saw Fred Allardyce's J/40 MISTY sailing a fantastic race to take third in her class.

Over half of PHRF 2 division were J/Teams and leading the way to the finish line was Jeff Eberle's J/130 CILISTA, winning by nearly two hours.  In third was sistership SAGA sailed by Kris Kristiansen followed by Glenn Gault's seasoned J/120 team on REBECCA.  They were followed by Mark Surrette's J/111 BLAST in sixth.

Five J's sailed PHRF 3 with a trio of sharp J/109 teams in the class, but it was a "classic J/35" that took home all the silverware! Ann Petley-Jones's J/35 HARRIER won her class by just 21 seconds corrected time!  In fifth was the first J/109, Paul Rafuse's WISC, and next was Gary Weisberg's HEAT WAVE.

Finally, the lone wolf in PHRF Cruising, Reggie Goodday's beautiful J/44 AKUBRA from Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, took top honors winning by an amazing 12 hours on corrected time!  For more Marblehead to Halifax Race sailing information

Bayview Mackinac Preview

(Port Huron, MI)- This coming weekend, the Bayview to Mackinac Island Race starts Saturday July 20th.  This year's event has 239 entries participating across the spectrum of double-handed and fully crewed divisions in PHRF or ORR handicap racing.  The race organizers offer the sailors two options for courses: the longer Cove Island course takes teams up onto the Canadian side of Lake Huron up north near a buoy to the entrance of the North Channel in Ontario, then head nearly due WNW to Mackinac Island for the finish.  The other course is a direct shot, mostly up the eastern Michigan shoreline right to Mackinac, generally a reaching course.

Sailing in the Cove Island course in Division I are the highly competitive fleet of Great Lakes J/120s. The fleet of eight boats includes Frank Kern's famous CARINTHIA, Bill Bresser's FLYING IRISH,  Mike and Bob Kirkman's HOT TICKET, Gerald and Joanne Hines's IRRESISTIBLE TOO, Ed Vermet and John Hughes's NAUTI BOYS, Henry Mistele's NIGHT MOVES, Dennis Detmer's PERVERSION and Tom Lewin's SLEDGE HAMMER. Dueling with this gang will be two J/111s, including the Brummel/ Henderson/ Mayer trio on KASHMIR and Tim Clayson's UNPLUGGED, and the J/124 STILL MESSIN' sailed by Adam Messelman.

Sailing the Division II short course are the J/145 VORTICES sailed by Chris Saxton, the J/122 SUFFICIENT REASON led by Mitch Padnos and the crew that recently won Division 4 and the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Overall, J/44 SAGITTA sailed by past commodores Jon Somes and Larry Oswald, the J/33 SHENANIGANS helmed by Dick & Dan Synowiec, J/100 BLUE JAY skippered by Larry Soutar, the J/92 KOHATSU sailed by John Stromberg and the J/30 CONUNDRUM helmed by Don King,

The J/105's have a strong contingent of seven teams sailing, including BUZZ sailed by Mark Gurney, GOOD LOOKIN sailed by Dean and Lana Walsh, past race winner PTERODACTYL skippered by Mary Symonds, RAMPAGE led by Matt Haglund, SNAKE OIL skippered by Don Harthorn, TRINITY helmed by Tom O'Grady, and WINDSHADOW sailed by Jim Murphy.

The J/35's in the Great Lakes have turned out en'masse for this race with nine very competitive teams sailing, including DYNOMYTE sailed by Gary Warner, FALCON sailed by the trio of Bayer/ Bayer/ Barbes, GRIFFIN also skippered by a trio (Hayward/ Huneke/ Levin), MAJOR DETAIL skippered by Bill Vogan, past Bayview-Mac champion MR BILL's WILD RIDE sailed by Bill Wildner, RAGTIME led by Allan Schmidt, STEELIN GOLD helmed by the White/ Mosher team, TIME MACHINE sailed by Robert Gordenker, and WHIPLASH skippered by Gregg Whipple.  For more Bayview Mackinac Island sailing information

Fiesta Cup Regatta Preview

J/70s Debut, Strong J/105 Fleet Sailing
(Santa Barbara, CA)- J/70s will be making their debut in the Santa Barbara YC's 7th annual Fiesta Cup Regatta, one of the more renown West Coast events on the California summer sailing schedule.  The Fiesta Cup is a popular event for a number of reasons; the Santa Barbara YC provides excellent race management for the sailors and, perhaps most importantly, hosts the fabulously fun Fiesta Party on Saturday night.  Regatta Chairman Jane Watkins promises a celebration of all delicious things Mexican- margaritas, tacos, music and other deliciously tasty tidbits and beverages supplied by Fess Parker's Winery and Vineyard and Cerveza Pacifico.

With nine boats sailing, the J/70s should see fun, competitive sailing in the windy, wavy, sunny conditions Santa Barbara offers sailors.  With WNW breezes and often 4-6 foot storm-driven ocean swells running around the point, the J/70s should enjoy extended surfing and pretty wild "planing mode" rides when conditions permit-- hopefully, avoiding the monster kelp that often has a nasty habit of finding rudders and keels and wrapping themselves around your boat at the most inopportune time!  Sailing will be a combination of notable locals like Dave Ullman, Ken Kieding on SMOKE & MIRRORS, George Moll on DEVIANT, Eli Parker & Mike Drammer on ECLIPSE and John Coye on SLOOP JOHN B.  Visiting sailors include Craig Tallman on JAYA, Tom Jenkins & Eric Kownacki on DFZ and Dan Gribble & Kurt Wiese on GO-RILLA.

The J/105s promise to have spirited competition with nine teams sailing as well.  With a number of strong local teams, the "Santa Barbarians" expect to sweep the top three with some tough hombres like multiple Fiesta Cup winner Larry Harteck on REPEAT OFFENDER, Alex Rasmussen on FREE ENTERPRISE, and Dan Durbeck and Jon Ziskind sailing PERFECT TIMING 2.  Visiting sailors from San Diego YC should give the locals a run-for-the-money, including Steve Howell's BLINK and Rick Goebel's SANITY.  For more Santa Barbara YC Fiesta Cup sailing information

J/70 Newport Cup Experience

(Jamestown, RI)- Nick Johnstone (son of Peter J of Gunboats fame and varsity sailor on the College of Charleston Sailing Team) is interning at the J/Boats office for summer 2013, enjoying a wide variety of experiences regards business, boat building & design, sales, marketing, maintenance and so forth.  Recently, Nick and friends had a chance to do some demo sails and also participate in the famous IYAC Newport Cup Race-- the highly popular "around Jamestown Island" race of about 21nm.  Here's Nick's account as a "virgin round islander" sailing the J/70:
"The Newport Cup Around Jamestown Island race was put on and hosted with ease and incredible organization by IYAC and its sponsors. The weather couldn’t have been better and a nice light, but building southwesterly breeze filled the harbor for the start.

The J-70 was fortunate to get a handful of boats entered in the regatta. I put together a crew of friends all currently on the college sailing circuit and we were all excited sail together. None of them had prior experience in the boat, but with the simplicity offered by the J-70 deck plan, they were quickly able to figure out their roles and what was required of each other.

Before going out, I happened to make possibly the single biggest mistake before racing a keelboat regatta. I forgot to clean the bottom. The bottom hadn’t been cleaned in over 4 weeks, which is an incredibly long time for a non-drysailed keelboat with no bottom paint. My friend Bobby went over and tried to clean a bit of it off with an extra t-shirt we had before racing, but the scum had amassed to so much that he used up an entire T-shirt cleaning just an eighth of the bottom of the boat and we were running out of time. The bottom reminded me of what the bottom of the Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean must look like. It was very bad. So key advice to anyone racing, clean you’re bottom!

The second we cast off the mooring, I could feel the boat stick to the water and I knew right away this was going to be a long race. We got off the line and tacked out on a nice lane on port out to the right side of the course, but with the growth on the bottom of our boat in the light air and big chop, we might as well have thrown out an anchor. The entire fleet rolled us and a large lefty that rolled in didn’t help either.

We rounded the windward mark in DFL, or last place as some like to call it, but were determined to catch up even with our handicap. Soaking low on the downwind and playing the breeze better more intelligently than the rest of the fleet off of the western Jamestown shore, we caught back up right into the middle of the fleet. The breeze then shifted to a more due west direction, steadied out, and the fleet again pulled ahead of us. This was pretty discouraging, but it was too nice a day for us to be let down.

At this point we all switched off and took turns skippering and doing other positions in the boat and just enjoyed the rest of the race as more of a day sail. We ended up finished in dead last place and I can honestly say I can’t remember the last time I lost a regatta (never), but great weather, good friends, and a simple easy boat to sail made it all bearable!"

Marblehead-Halifax Race Preview

(Marblehead, MA)- Saturday was the start of the 35th Marblehead to Halifax race and although the wind was light, nearly 80 boats set off in the afternoon for the 360nm race. The boats cross the Gulf of Maine, pass Cape Sable, reach the Labrador Current and end up in Halifax sometime this week. The racing teams can be followed on Yellowbrick Tracker- http://www.marbleheadtohalifax.com/page/8927.

Many J offshore teams love to do this incredibly challenging race, despite somewhat difficult conditions like ships, ferries, "pea soup" fog, cold water, rain and overcast skies.  For many, it's the "means to an end", the end being the gorgeous harbor of Halifax and the wonderful cruising areas nearby that are a rare treat for those who've partaken in the more sybaritic pursuits in life-- cruising way, way "downeast" can be simply breath-taking!

Taking that baton and running with it in IRC 2 are the famous J/105 team, now turned "fast cruisers" on their J/44 KINCSEM, Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes from New York YC and American YC.  If there's a reach and a run, they will be awfully difficult to knock off the top spot on the podium.

Similarly, IRC 3 has some veteran champion offshore teams participating as well. Counted amongst them are Peter Rugg's famous J/105 JADED, Steve Berlack's J/42 ARROWHEAD and Fred Allardyce's J/40 MISTY.

Over half of PHRF 2 division are J/Teams.  Two J/130s lead the charge with Jeff Eberle's CILISTA and Kris Kristiansens's SAGA dueling for class bragging rights. Glenn Gault's very successful run in 2013 on his J/120 REBECCA could add another feather in their cap with a podium finish in this famous race; sistership BLACK PEARL skippered by Ross Leighton will give them a run for the money.  Plus, having proven they can sail their boat extremely quick and clean house last year in the Nova Scotia offshore circuit, Mark Surrette's team on the J/111 BLAST should also be in the hunt for silverware.

Five J's are sailing PHRF 3 with a trio of sharp J/109 teams dominating their class.  Gary Weisberg's HEAT WAVE, John Doub's RESOLVE and Paul Rafuse's WISC will be in the hunt. Chasing them will be Ann Petley-Jones's J/35 HARRIER and Paul Conrod's CASTANEA.

Finally, the lone J in PHRF Cruising will be Reggie Goodday's beautiful J/44 AKUBRA from Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.  For more Marblehead to Halifax Race sailing information

IL RICCIO J/24 UK Champs!

(Poole, England)- Twenty-five teams from the United Kingdom, Ireland and USA headed to Plymouth to contest the UK Nationals at the start of July.  With 10 races scheduled over 4 days the race committee wasted no time getting going with 3 rapid fire courses set on the first day to ensure the fleet completed a series given the patchy wind forecast.

The following 3 days settled into a pattern with competitors enjoying lazy mornings in the balmy conditions whilst waiting for the sea breeze to fill and then as the wind arrived reveling in the close quarters racing and tight calls at every start, mark rounding and finish. With a matter of boat lengths separating first to last on the water this was one design racing at its very best. Sail tracker units were carried on all the boats meaning friends and families could watch races unfold from shore and over 1,300 visitors logged in to check on the action across the 3 days of racing. You can still view the feed via the SailRacer site here.

With an all-star cast, including the 2010 and 2011 European Champions, 2013 US National Champions, as well as multiple UK and Irish National titles shared between the teams, racing was always going to be tight, with 6 different teams taking race wins from the 9 races contested and consistency being the key to establishing a good series. Masters of this were Chris McLaughlin / Ian Southworth and their IL RICCIO team who, with every result inside the top 5, put enough space between them and their closest rivals to be able to reclaim the UK National Championship crown last held by them in 2006.

The UK National Championship Title goes to Chris McLaughlin/Ian Southworth sailing IL RICCIO with Mike Ingham's HITCHHIKER from America taking 2nd place and Rob Clark of JUJU taking 3rd. The Westerly Trophy was also hotly contested and eventually went to the all girls team on NITRO skippered by Alison Young.  Next up is the summer regatta season with a number of J/24's intending on heading to Yarmouth, IOW to join in with the fun at the Tattinger Regatta at the end of the month.   Sailing photo credits- Tom Gruitt  For more J/24 UK Nationals sailing information