JAMAICA Victorious in Trofeo Nino Menchelli

(Marina di Carrara, Italy)- Despite the adverse weather and after having completed six races, the mighty JAMAICA team skippered by Pietro Diamanti from CNMC Club won the coveted Trofeo Nino Menchelli.  His crew consisted of Gianluca Caridi, Joseph Garofalo, Paul Ginesi and Fabrizio Ginesi.

Sixteen J/24 crews in the world's most popular one-design showed once again all the grit and determination that is needed to sail well in the spectacular and aggressive races that are characteristic of J/24 class racing.

"This event was blessed with good fortune as the storm that has shocked the French Riviera has blown away from Marina di Carrara overnight Sunday,” said the President of the Italian J/24 Class, Pietro Diamanti.  “As a result, we were able to have six beautiful races and a good party of sailors during dinner on the terrace of the Yacht Club."

Taking second place was DIKE- BLUE FLAMES skippered by Fabio Delicate with crew of tactician Marco Vincenti, Joseph Incatasciato, the pitman Francis Maglioccola and the bowman Roberto Ballant.  While they won the last three races, it was not enough to win the regatta.  Nevertheless, from a distant mid-fleet performance in the first three races, they leapt into the silver with astonishing ease.

Sailing well and, in fact, winning the regatta after the first three races was J-OC’s skipper Fabio Apollonio from Trieste.  However, a nasty last set of three races dropped them into third for the regatta.

The rest of the top five included Luca Macchiarini’s TALLY-HO in 4th and Riccardo Marini’s SEI UNIKA in 5th place.   For more Italian J/24 sailing information

J/111 CHALLWA Wins COPA SIN FRONTERAS

(Callao, Peru)- Every three years, the Copa Sin Fronteras (“No Borders Cup”) is held in locations between Perú and Ecuador. This year, the regatta was held in Callao (near Lima- Peru's capital) and the surrounding islands.

According to German Fuchs, the skipper of the J/111 CHALLWA, “The races are held in ORC Handicap and divided in two categories- ORC A (GPH 500 to 599 sec/nm) and ORC B (GPH 600 to 699 sec/nm).  It was an incredibly competitive fleet and in ORC A, we had boats like a Sydney 47R, Swan 45, Soto 42R, Soto 39R, Grand Soleil 42R, Dufour 44 and Mumm 36- none too shabby boats!

The first two races were windward-leeward Courses, four legs total 8nm, in Callao Port Bay.  The third race was a 120nm offshore race.  The fourth and fifth races were also offshore of 32nm and 24nm, respectively. The sixth and seventh races where W/L four legs, total 8nm, in Chorrillos Bay.  The average wind was 10 to 15 knots from 170 to 200 degrees for the five days of sailing.

The leader board changed every race and there was no clear winner until the last day of racing!  In ORC A class, we posted a 1-3 to take second in class, tied on points and losing the tie-breaker with the Soto 42 Allegro.  But, on overall standings for the fleet, our 1-4 on the last day was good enough to win the entire Copa Sin Fronteras Regatta overall! Another great win for J/111s around the world! The CHALLWA crew enjoyed the celebrations and cheers to J/Boats for such a fun boat to sail!”   For more Copa Sin Fronteras sailing information

J’s Eclipse Greenport Ocean Race

(Greenport, New York)- Over the Columbus Day Weekend, the Chinese Yacht Club and Old Cove Yacht Club, with additional support from The Village of Greenport, Shelter Island YC, and the Orient YC, held their end-of-season offshore yacht race known as the Greenport Ocean Race, a 90nm navigation around the buoys and islands that comprise the eastern end of Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound.  Simultaneously, they also ran the Greenport Bay Race of about 32nm for smaller boats.

J/Teams simply smoked the Greenport Ocean Race while other teams struggled in the Bay Race.  Winning PHRF Spin 1 Division was Sedgwick Ward’s J/111 BRAVO from Shelter Island YC.  Then, in PHRF Spin 2 Division, it was an all J/Boats affair; with J teams taking the entire top five.  Winning that division was Steve Marenakos’ J/105 RECKLESS. Second was Stephen Guyer’s J/105 ALLIANCE and third was Carter Holliday’s J/40 MISTY.

The shorter Greenport Bay Race has a mixed bag of J’s sailing in PHRF Spinnaker class. Top dog was Gary Senft’s J/24 BACK BEAT, taking third in the PHRF Non-spinnaker division.  The others simply had a rough day.  Check out their Greenport Ocean Race Facebook page here   For more Greenport Ocean Race sailing information

J’s Sweep UK Double-Handed Nationals

(Hamble, England)- Organized by the Royal Southampton YC, in conjunction with the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the second edition of the IRC DoubleHanded UK National Championship took place in the Solent this past weekend. A huge variety of keelboats entered with about 40 teams taking part. Three races are scheduled with no discard, but only two races were sailed. The variety of courses were designed to test all the elements of Double-Handed racing with a laid marks course, a round the cans race and a long passage race.

Race Director Robert Lamb, sets the scene for the championship. "With high pressure dominating the south coast of England, racing was delayed on Friday until a southwesterly settled in after 4pm. Two races were then run: a laid marks 'sausage/triangle' followed by a 'round the cans' race. Wind eventually strengthened to 10-12 knots to provide good racing. Saturday was disappointing with not enough wind to run the scheduled three-hour passage race. So two races only were completed for the championship. All competitors were invited to the RORC Cowes Clubhouse for supper, which had a terrific atmosphere."

The largest class racing, IRC 2 Class, had 15 yachts vying for the class and five yachts took podium positions. Race One was won by the defending champion, Paul Griffith's J/109, JAGERBOMB, crewed by his son Mark. William Gough's J/109 JUST SO crewed by Christian Jeffries was second and William Newton's J/105 JELLY BABY crewed by Bill Darley was third. The winner of Race Two was Andrew Roberts' J/105 JIN TONIC crewed by Bill Edgerley.

In the end, it was the J/105 JIN TONIC that took the class championship by a single point over the J/109 JAGERBOMB.  Fourth was the J/105 JELLY BABY (Bill Newton & Bill Darley). Sixth was the J/105 VOADOR (Alex Adams & Robert Smith).  Eighth was the J/109 JUST SO (Bill McGough & Christian Jeffries). Ninth was the J/97 HIGH JINKS (Blair Forsyth & Alex Gardner). And, tenth was the J/105 MOSTLY HARMLESS (Tom Hayhoe & Natalie Jobling)!  Not a bad performance for these J crews!  70% of the top ten!

"The Royal Lymington Yacht Club organized a series of double handed races back in 2011, and we decided to give it a go and much to my surprise I enjoyed the challenge of adapting a boat that is normally raced with a crew of 7 to one that 2 can handle,” commented Andy Roberts, skipper of JIN TONIC. "I quickly learnt that every maneuver took more time and more effort and they should be kept to a minimum.  Racing short-handed means you are utterly dependent on your partner, their skills and input both tactical and navigational, as well as the sail handling. The boat needs to be prepared differently, simplify everything, so there was no umming and arring about sail calls, we just use what we have got, remembering that not having an extra 450 kilos of crew weight on the rail meant that the boat was tuned differently so that we could de-power much earlier than usual to keep the boat on it's feet and footing rather than crabbing sideways.

I think one of the things that helped us get a good result was having a clear strategy on the route we were going to take around the course so that we had no last minute panic moves to make, for example, dropping the spinnaker on the correct side for the next hoist. Spinning the kit when going upwind is seriously slow, losing at least half a knot of boat speed for 5 or 10 minutes.

We did not chose a J/105 for any other reason than there were three others in Lymington, yet we have found it to be a super boat for both short-handed and fully-crewed racing; easy to handle and always feels safe even when surfing along at 14 knots. (Editors note- a J/105 won the Rolex Fastnet Race IRC Double-handed Division!).

To summarize, we felt we did well by keeping it simple, so we had time to focus on the race. A big thank you to everyone at the Royal Southampton YC, for all their hard work to give us such an enjoyable regatta."

Last year's IRC Class 1 winner, Paul & Mark Griffiths' J/109 JAGERBOMB was hoping to defend their title; they nearly pulled it off!  JAGERBOMB has been competing in the Two-Handed class for this year's RORC Season's Points Championship, including the Rolex Fastnet Race.  Prophetically, this is what Paul had to say before the regatta started, "I am sure that we will be making more tacks and gybes this weekend than we did for the whole of the Fastnet.  Full on- would be an apt description, especially with the two races on Friday. Racing Double-Handed on a short course is very different to offshore. You don't have the time and the space and you are trying to make maneuvers that you would normally do with nine people not two, which is just crazy but the secret is to avoid getting into problems and to do that you have to be thinking ahead all the time."  Sailing photo credits- Luke Shears/ RORC   For more information about the RORC Double Handed UK National Championship

Sailing the Barcolana- a Cultural Experience!

(Trieste, Italy)- The 47th edition of the Barcolana is basically a mass celebration of the end of the sailing season on the Adriatic.  It’s hard to describe it as a race since the highlight of the Barcolana is always the mass start with around 1,700 boats starting on the same line to begin the 13 nm course. For any sailing enthusiasts and for those who do not want to miss a unique show in the world, this crazy event takes place in Trieste, every year, on the second Sunday of October.  The event is more sailing festival than a regatta, it’s a magical mixture of pro’s and amateurs, cruisers and racers, and every imaginable thing that floats that can justify putting up something that looks like a sail.  Near bathtubs have “sailed” the event, taking hours to complete the 13nm race, only to cross the line to wild cheerleading and singing from the massive throngs of people gathered along the waterfront (it is a party, after all, and 1,700 boats means well over 5,000 people enjoying the celebration).

This year, the course was closer to the shore and the finishing line was just off Piazza Unità d'Italia, which forms a spectacular backdrop to finish the “bay tour”.  The starting line was just off the seafront in Barcola and the first buoy was closer than before, making the first stretch shorter. The offset mark of the second buoy was repositioned, and the third buoy was placed close to Miramare Castle, thus modifying the position of the third stretch and reducing its length.

In short, the “regatta” (if you could call it that) was run as parallel as possible to the seafront giving spectators the opportunity to watch the race from both the seafront in Barcola and the Karst plateau, as if they were sitting on the stands of a natural stadium. Spectators were also be able to enjoy the event from other places on land, from the Miramare Castle to Piazza Unità d'Italia or the San Giusto Castle, as well as along the Napoleonica walking path or Strada del Friuli.

The weekend started with the typical fall “Bora”.  It blew a full gale for over 24 hours on the eve of the Barcolana; gusts reached over 60 kts!  In fact, it was blowing so hard that all racing and events on Saturday in the open plazas were cancelled due to “flying objects” (chairs, tables, tents, skirts, etc).  Nevertheless, by delaying the start until 12:30pm on Sunday, the Barcolana set off without too many collisions and less than 10 protests (that are never filed anyways).  The fleet took off on a slow reach to start and as they got offshore, the winds increased enough for hundreds of spinnakers to be deployed and create a magnificent parade to the offshore mark with Trieste’s striking city and mountain range forming a spectacular backdrop.

Overall, despite the complete insanity of the starting line, e.g. you try to cross it without getting hit from five directions, many J/teams sailed quite well.  Starting with Class 1, the J/120 J-ONE MILLIGOR sailed by Lorenzo Simeoni took 18th in class of 250+ boats.  Then, the J/44 LULI owned by Riccardo Pujatti and skippered by Mirella Francheschini took 23rd.  In Class 2, the J/39 CHARLIE VICTOR owned by Matteo Ranza and skippered by Nicoletta Santi took 15th. In the enormous Class 3, the J/109 SAGOLA owned by Fedrigo Perisutti and skippered by Massimo Minozzi was 3rd in class followed by the J/105 NEMBO SPEED sailed by Piero Fornasaro de Manzini that took 6th place.

With such a massive start and a lot of boats over 35 feet, the small boats tend to suffer a bit- lots of wind shadows by big clunkers that are just fast enough to roll you can be a painful experience.  Nevertheless, in Class 5, the J/92 JOLE sailed by Mariolina Murianni placed 10th. Then, in Class 6, the J/80 ANTIGRAFFIO sailed by Renzo Bezzan took 5th place!

Finally, the J/24s were dueling fiercely for wind (gasping for it, in fact) and for class honors in Class 7.  The top J/24 was ANONIMA sailed by Tullio Ranni in 27th. Classmate BRIGANTE TIBURZI sailed by Francesco Feri was 2nd J/24 and 30th in class.  The third J/24 was SKIZZO sailed by Dario Radin, taking 33rd place.  The 4th J/24 was MR WILLY skippered by Flavio Vassallo in 35th place.  Then, the 5th J/24 was LAMU sailed by Paolo Ciacchi and Marina Planet landing in the 48th spot. Apparently, they all had a fantastic time, survived to tell the story and had a whale of a celebration back on land after the finish.  What a great way to end the season!  Perhaps Newport should do the same after the boat show, start between Rose Island and Conanicut YC dock and go north around Halfway Rock and back to the finish between Fort Adams and the green can off Goat Island!  Then celebrate at Candy Store/ Clarke Cooke House- the new, new “Candy Store Cup”!!  To see some Facebook posts of the Barcolana Regatta
For more Barcolana Regatta sailing information

HAMMERTIME Pounds J/80 NA’s!

(Seabrook, TX)- Like their J/88 colleagues in the north, the J/80 sailors enjoyed most excellent sailing on Galveston Bay for their 2016 North American Championship.  As usual, the Lakewood Yacht Club rolled out the red carpet for the visiting J/80 crews and welcomed them with good’ole southern hospitality.  Even better, the LYC RC Committee and PRO also threw in 10 races to keep the crews happy and most thirsty!

What no one could have predicted was the dozen-boat fleet would have insanely closely fought racing between a trio of boats to ultimately determine the final outcome. Plus, the middle of the fleet was also just as tough to gain a toehold in the top five!

Winning by holding on tight in their last two races was Steven Hammerman’s HAMMERTIME from the host Lakewood YC.  Counting four 1sts and two 2nds in their scoreline was barely enough to win with 19 pts.  Past champion Kerry Klingler was hot on their tail the entire regatta but didn’t have enough in the tank to catch the winners, settling for 2nd place with KICKS only one point back.  Taking third yet only one more point back was Forbes Durdin’s MOJITO also from the host club.

After sitting in mid-fleet most of the regatta, it was quite apparent that Paul Parsons’ PARSONS PROJECT from the Galveston Bay Cruising Association must’ve bought (or drank) a can of “whupass” on Sunday!  After closing the regatta with double bullets, Parsons leapt into 4th place!  Fifth was Gary Panariello’s COURAGEOUS from North Shore YC.   For more J/80 North American Championship sailing information

Lovin’ Honky Tonk J/Fest

(Seabrook, TX)- The 6th Annual J/Fest Southwest was hosted by Lakewood Yacht Club off beautiful, sunny, Seabrook, Texas.  The sailors had a blast and there was no lack of shore-side entertainment all weekend.  That’s just how it is in the humongous state of Texas.  Everything is bigger down there- parties, people, sailing, honky tonks, trucks, mechanical bulls.  Did I mention sailing?

Can you imagine some old cow pokes looking out over Galveston Bay for the first time in their life? Bet it would be an amusing conversation.  Well, to most cow-pokes, sailing is truly an “alien” subject matter, much less understood than the subtleties of why Old Milwaukee vs Schlitz vs Pabst Bleu Ribbon vs Bud vs Miller is not any different than comparing Perrier bubbles to San Pellegrino bubbles.  The former they know a lot about.  The latter they know ’nutin!

Sailing one-design and havin’ a ball were fleets of J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/105s and J/109s. Additionally, a J/PHRF fleet sailed some random-leg courses and had a scream.

Natalie Penner’s GIGGLES team from Austin YC vanquished the 15 strong J/24 class again; in fact, she blew them away with four bullets in six races!  Second was Jim Freedman’s MISS CONDUCT from Dallas Corinthian YC and third was more “girl-power”- Kelly Holmes-Moon’s BAD MOON.  Fourth was another women’s boat, Tonja Holmes-Moon’s SIREN and rounding out the top five was Stu Juengst’s VANG GO.  Three of the top five are women’s teams?  You go girls, fantastic work!

The second largest class in the event was the J/70s. Not surprisingly, it was local hotshot Bruno Pasquinelli from Fort Worth Boat Club sailing STAMPEDE that won with five 1sts in their scoreline of seven races.  Second was Chris Lewis’ GB from the host Lakewood YC, third was Tim Molony’s JOUST from Southern YC, fourth Jay Lutz’s ZOUNDS HEARING from LYC and fifth was Al Poindexter.

In the J/105s, Mark & Jolene Masur from Forth Worth Boat Club sailed TWO FEATHERS won their class with four 1sts and three 2nds for 10 pts.  Second was John Barnett’s VICI from LYC, third was Uzi Ozeri’s INFINITY, fourth was JB Bednar’s STINGER and fifth was Bill Lakenmacher’s RADIANCE.

The J/109s saw Albrecht Goethe’s HAMBURG simply sail away with class honors, posting nearly all 1st places.  However, behind him it was a complete dogfight at the OK Corral! It was the “Thrilla from Manila”.  The “Rope a Dope” in Rhodesia! Virtually tied on points were the rest of the top five going into the last race!  In fact, the J/109s had all the drama in the regatta and no one knew who won until the finish line of the last race! David Christensen’s AIRBORNE took the silver with a 2nd in the finale while the LEADING EDGE duo (Alex Acensios/ Chris Dees) grabbed the bronze with a 3rd.  A tie-breaker determined the balance of the top five, with Barry Hoeffner’s POLE DANCER taking 4th and Andy Westcoat’s HARM’s WAY settling for 5th!

The J/22s also experienced another runaway in the form of Dov Kivlovitz on USA 951 starting off with two bullets in race one and closing with four bullets to win by a country furlong.  Second was Anne Lee’s HELMS A LEE with nearly all seconds.  And, third was Larry Blankenhagen’s PARROT TALES LIGHT.  The balance of the top five was Gary Thies’ STUDENT DRIVER in 4th and Rick Duste’s LOOSE CANNON in 5th.

The J/PHRF clan saw a pair of J/27s dominate the proceedings. Chris Alk’s FOOTLOOSE took first over Gary Trinklein’s TOCCATA.  Third was Glen Stromme’s J/29 rocketship- PRESS TO +MECO!   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

WINGS Flies @ J/88 New England’s!

(Greenwich, CT)- Eight boats entered the New England J/88 Championships at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, Ct. on Columbus Day weekend.

The event was held alongside the Gearbuster distance race, but the J/88s had their own Race Committee and starting area.

Saturday began with a shifty northerly breeze that diminished during the morning and changed to a southwesterly in the afternoon.  The race committee, with Jonathan Nye as PRO, did an outstanding job in very tough conditions, moving marks numerous times to keep up with the shifts, and managed to get three races in.

Sunday, the fleet was sent out an hour earlier and got five races in a 12-14 knot breeze from the southwest.  The racing was close, fast paced and exciting.  Some drama ensued in race seven, when Cloud9 lost a crew member overboard at the weather mark, but they managed to pick her up and hoisted their chute, all in less than a minute, well done!

After eight races, the winner with 8 points was the newest J/88 owner, Mike Bruno on WINGS, whose American YC team had an outstanding performance.  Second place with 16 points went to John Sommi on CLOUD9 and Kevin Marks’ VELOCITY from Noroton YC took third with 24 points.  Rounding out the top five were Iris Vogel’s VELOCITY from Huguenot YC in 4th and Doug Newhouse’s YONDER from SailNewport in 5th.

“It was a really fun event,” said Iris Vogel. “We had excellent racing and great hospitality at Indian Harbor Yacht Club, and hopefully there will be even more J/88s on the line next year!”

The winner, Mike Bruno, commented, “We had two nice race days. Great conditions Sunday, got in 5 races. Yesterday got in 3 races, some big shifts but all good races although on the lighter side. Sunday was about perfect with around 12 kts and pretty steady. Indian Harbor did outstanding race committee work. Our tactics and crew work were extraordinary, we’re lucky, virtually no crew mistakes the entire regatta! No joke. Absolutely love the boat!”  Sailing photo credits- Howie McMichael.  The event was co-sponsored by McMichael Yachts and J/Boats.   For more J/88 New England Championship sailing information

Leitner Wins J/24 Mallory Cup!

(New York, NY)- The Manhattan skyline was the perfect, dramatic, backdrop for one of US Sailing’s most historic championships on October 10-12. Sailors from as far west as Hawaii and as far south as Florida raced over three days for the Clifford D. Mallory Trophy at the 2015 U.S. Adult Sailing Championship.

Fourteen teams comprised of both men and women ranging in age from 19 to 69 raced J/24 class sailboats in New York Harbor. First raced in 1952, the 2015 U.S. Adult Sailing Championship was hosted by Manhattan Yacht Club.

In what was described as a “miracle race” by Eric Leitner, the host club representative from the Manhattan Yacht Club, edged out a competitive field in the final race to win the regatta.

After three days of racing, Mark Hillman of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association, who was in the lead entering the 12th and final race, finished in second overall just two points behind Leitner.

“In the last race, we rounded the windward mark in sixth and were going to gybe, but the boats gybed inside of us, so we held off and all the boats passed us,” explained Leitner. “We went right and just hoped it played out. We were the furthest team right and when we came in we managed to squeeze in front of the two boats and the rest is history.”

Leitner’s crew included Adam Sandberg, Doug Witter, and Michael Ambrose, and Tom Sinatra. The come-from-behind win was capped off when Leitner’s team finished second and first in Monday’s two races. They were eight points behind Hillman when the day started. Hillman posted a pair of seventh place finishes on Monday.

Carter White of the Northeast Sailing Association also had a strong finish by placing first and second on the final day. The top three teams were separated by just five points.

“We probably had about three and a half knots of current out here, so it was pretty crazy,” mentioned White. “In only four or five knots of breeze, that made things difficult. We had some interesting mark roundings where you had to sail past the mark and pray you could get around it. It made it challenging but everyone had the same body of water to sail in.  It’s just great to get in equal boats with people of equal skill sets, which made for some close racing.  The nice part of this event is that it moves around the country each year. If we can do it, we’d love to race at this event again.”

Hillman’s team that took the silver was comprised of Jon Forst, Eric Reinke, and Ron Weed. White’s third place team consisted of Molly White, Michael Mcallister, Ben McAndrew, and Fiona Gordon.  Finishing fourth was North Jersey Yacht Racing Association’s team of Talbott Ingram, David Whittle, Carol Lee Ingram, Stuart Van Winkle, and Robert Slook.  Fifth place was Texas Sailing Association’s Bryan Dyer, Tony Waldon, Jeffrey Keller, and Marc Nilsson.   For more US Adult Sailing Championship/ Clifford D. Mallory Trophy sailing information

Quantum Key West Race Week Update

(Key West, FL)- The fleet continues building for the 2016 edition of Quantum Key West Race Week, organized by the Storm Trysail Club. 104 entries hailing from 10 countries have already signed up; 45 are J/Boats, nearly 45% of the fleet!  Come on down and join us!

In the handicap fleets, the IRC 2 Class has the famously fast J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE from San Francisco Bay racing with Peter Krueger from St Francis YC leading the charge.  Then, in ORC Class, the J/100 SKYFALL from Naples, Florida is participating from Naples YC with Peter Sulick at the helm.  Finally, Denise Imhoff’s J/22 FLEEBOFLAM from Thousand Oaks, California will be racing in Performance Cruising Class.

There are five one-design J classes in the mix with the largest fleets at Key West- J/70 (22 entries), J/80 (4 entries), J/88 (7 entries), J/111 (8 entries), and J/122 (2 entries). The high level of competitiveness and excellence in race management perennially attracts these classes to Key West.

Rod Johnstone of J/Boats fame has been coming regularly to Key West Race Week since its inception over two decades ago, and believes the advent of daily distance racing is a brilliant idea. J/Boats has been a loyal supporter and sponsor of the regatta, and thinks the Performance Cruising class can really take off.

“I think it’s an absolutely great idea. That’s the type of racing a lot of people like to do these days and there are so many boats out there that would fit perfectly into that class,” Johnstone said. He also thinks a well-appointed cruising boat would provide housing for its crew.  “I would think another good thing about this new class is that skippers don’t need to strip out their boats in order to do some distance racing.”  Sailing photo credits- Photoboat.com and Sharon Green /Ultimate Sailing.com.  For more STC Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information