J/111 BLAST Nova Scotia Update

(Halifax, Nova Scotia)- After a remarkable season of sailing in the Nova Scotia offshore circuit, the BLAST team from Halifax are still celebrating.  We also got a nice update from BLAST owner Mark Surrette-

"BLAST started the 2012 season with the objective of having a winning season while having a lot of fun. We put together a crew that was a composite of youth and veterans. We decided that having a pedigree in dinghy sailing was critical if one was to sail the J/111 to its potential. We put one of Canada's best Finn sailors on the helm and beside him an outstanding Laser/Byte sailor trimming main.  In the cockpit we had a couple of veteran big boat sailors along with a strapping 20 year old for power and the panel.  On the bow we had a veteran of dozens of big boat campaigns matched with an outstanding mastman from a Swan 56.  Navigation and tactics were handled by a couple of old veterans and we added in guests from Farr 40's and Soto 33's when we needed extra talent.  Without a doubt the crew was the highlight of the year and they galvanized into a cohesive group with great mutual respect very quickly.

The entire crew loved sailing the 111.  Responsive, quick, nimble with lots of gears and potential. Not much more to ask for.  One big learning we had was our ability to tweak the rig far more than we had thought.  We found a significant number of gears through rig tune and were able to turbo the boat for most any wind condition.

Our competitors during the season included another J/111, Soto 40, Farr 40, Farr 11, Mumm 30's, ID 35, C&C 115's, Tripp 40, J/120's, J/109, and a variety of other boats.  On each occasion we either won the race or had the ability to win.  The boat always performed. If we lost a race it was usually due to tactical decisions.

Our year unfolded much better than we had even hoped. BLAST won the RNSYS Opening Regatta, Chester Race Week and most importantly the Prince of Wales Regatta.  The Prince of Wales is the oldest trophy in North America--- even older than the America's Cup!

As our season grows to a close we are looking at what's next...?  Maybe Key West, Charleston, Block Island?  For sure the Halifax Race is on the agenda.  Alas, the winter planning begins as we look forward to some exciting J/111 class racing!

Sailing Shootout @ IRC Champs

J/122 & J/35 Win Class, J/105 Wins PHRF Classic
(Greenwich, CT)- The sailors on Long Island Sound were blessed by remarkably spectacular sailing conditions this past weekend.  With the passage of a monster front, the backside of the Low produced two straight days of North-Northwest winds in the 5-20 kts range with mostly flat waters and just local motorboat chop to contend with across the course.  With temps in the low 70s, puffy white clouds scudding across the skies, there was a lot to be grateful for amongst the hardened veterans of Western Long Island Sound sailing.  Why?  Pure & simple.  The twin developments of global warming and lots of concrete and real estate development along both shores of Long Island, New York along the south and NY/CT on the north means that Long Island Sound often turns into a "parking lot" for sailboats having to deal with the dual, competing sea breezes trying to form on both shores! That's a lot of roof-tops and black-topped roads to compete with for wind!  In the last decade, Long Island Sound sailors have been suffering the same fate as their friends in the Chesapeake Bay and Tampa Bay far to the south.

The thirty-three boats that showed up for the US-IRC Championship of Long Island Sound and PHRF Fall Classic hosted by Riverside YC were incredibly appreciate of what Mother Nature had to offer for their weekend of sailing.  In the PHRF Classic Racing Division, the J/105 STRANGE BREW sailed by Randy Bourne walked away with class and overall honors with a 1-1 for just 2.0 pts!  That's a clean sweep, eh?  Ken Hall's J/100 NEVERMORE sailed well to grab 5th and fellow J Sailor Brian Warner raced his J/35 IMPROMPTU to 6th in class.

Over in IRC 4 Class a true "storm" was brewing.  In the end, Mark Parry's & Lawrence McGrath's J/35 BLUE MOUSE sailed a solid series and won class with three 1sts and two 2nds for a total of 7 pts.  However, arch-rival Rick Lyall and crew on the champion J/109 STORM was badly damaged by an out-of-control Express 37 DRACO that lost steerage while ducking and slammed into the port quarter, creating a massive hole, taking out the stern pulpit and damaging the wheel.  Fortunately, no one was hurt other than some bruised egos.

In IRC 2 Jim Bishop's J/44 IRC Modified speedster sailed a very strong series but suffered a somewhat similar fate as their classmate in IRC 4- STORM.  After compiling a 2-2-3-3 and easily in contention for 2nd, Jim's team managed to foul (or get fouled) by a competitor in their class at the start of the last race and, as a result of boat damage, had to take an RAF immediately after the start.  As a result, they finished third in class, still respectable considering the consequences.

The biggest battle for the weekend happened to be in the IRC 3 class with a bunch of "hot" boats sailing for honors of "big dog on campus" in the mud-puddle known as Long Island Sound- it consisted of two J/122s, a J/111, a Summit 35 and two well-sailed Farr 30s.  From the beginning, it was clear the two J/122s were going for class supremacy from the starting gun of the first race.  Imagine this, two J/122 Champion teams dueling "mano-a-mano" for LIS IRC Champion.  One is the Bermuda Race Champion, Block Island Champion, Vineyard Race Champion (CHRISTOPHER DRAGON) and the other is J/122 North American Champion, Block Island Race Week Champion, and New York YC Annual Regatta Champion (WINGS).  It was a battle of the gladiators of offshore and course-racing in the J/122 world.  On WINGS was Tom Boyle and Mark Ploch and on CHRISTOPHER DRAGON was Andrew Weiss and Butch Ulmer-- an all-time classic match-up.  Then, as spoiler was the J/111 PARTNERSHIP sailed by yet another champion J/122 team (offshore champions, too) led by David & Maryellen Tortorello and David Hirsch.  The sailing results don't spell-out how close the actual racing was amongst these three boats.  In short, the first day's sailing in 12-19 kts of NNW breeze was much to the liking of the J/122s.  But, a miscalculated bottom mark rounding by the J/111 PARTNERSHIP in Race #3 could easily have changed the results-- since PARTNERSHIP rounded the mark in first boat-for-boat but hit the mark and performed a poor penalty turn.  Sunday's racing was full of drama, starting with the J/111 winning the first race on elapsed and IRC handicap, then nearly pulling it off again with a dramatic comeback to win  on elapsed again but losing IRC handicap by mere boat-lengths. Kudos to Tom Boyle and the WINGS team for winning with a steady 1-1-2-2-2 for 8 pts total. Second was Andrew Weiss's veteran campaigners on CHRIS DRAGON with a 2-2-1-4-1 tally for 10 pts.  And, third was the Tortorello's PARTNERSHIP with a 4-3-3-1-3 score to complete the J/Team's sweep of IRC 3.  For more Long Island IRC Championship & PHRF Classic sailing information

J/111 BLAST Wins Sailing Tri-fecta

(Halifax, Nova Scotia)- Hat's off to Mark Surrette's J/111 "Blast" for their remarkable season sailing in Nova Scotia's major offshore regattas this summer.  BLAST completed the perfect "tri-fecta" by winning the Prince of Wales trophy on Saturday at Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (this trophy is older than the America's Cup trophy) and by placing second on Sunday they won the weekend.

Some of their competition included Farr 11's, a Soto 40, a J/120, 3 C&C 115's, a J/109 and 2 Mumm 30's.  All well-sailed boats and tough competition for the J/111.

Of note, Mark's team on BLAST also won Chester Race Week Alpha 1 class and the RNSYS Opener in June!

J/111 Dutch IRC 2 Champion!

J/33 QUANTUM RACING Wins IRC 3
(The Hague, The Netherlands)- It was a banner year for the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER sailing in a combination of RORC Offshore events in the RORC season series as well as sailing the top IRC events in the Netherlands.  In the end, the hard work and effort paid off in a victory for the J/111 in the IRC Dutch Championships.  Here's the report from the J/Benelux Team that included Robin Verhoff and the tactician John van der Starre:

"It is supposed to be the top-regatta of the year and so we looked very much forward  to it. The ONK  (open Dutch Championship)  IRC, also the final race for the overall Dutch Championship of the year in IRC 2. After winning the same series with our J/109 Xcentric Ripper in 2010 and a third place with our new J/111 last year, we were very keen on revenge  and victory.

During our preparations we did everything to avoid unpleasant mistakes. So after the Commodores’ Cup, the boat went straight on its cradle in order to improve some details as fairing the keel and super polishing the hull, keel and rudder. Some sails needed adaption and experience picked up during the Commodores’ was applied.

Being a tactician, you try to get a full picture of depth, current and possible courses. So I have been putting all possible buoys in our tactical program Expedition and I made a mini plastic current view of the region “Vlakte van de Raan”  so we could use it during the race on deck. The weather predictions showed various conditions, neither one was to be sure. Sure, in the previous week we had a look at the weather forecast every day and had a look at the entries. We were happy that two other J/ 111’s  enlisted. This could become a small one design race.

Friday morning, this first day, all hell broke lose. The meteo predicted 40 kts + winds with 3.5 – 4 m swell outside in the starting area. Starting there would be no option. During the briefing at 09.00, Roy van Aller confirmed this and he choose for a middle long inshore course, 2 rounds around the Westerschelde banks. This would appear to be a sensible decision. Everybody could sail a nice race in heavy air, without too much chance on damage.

For us, the race developed very favorable, a good downwind start. We hoisted the A5 straight away and planed away from the field. A gennaker drop in a very narrow channel is very awkward, because you don’t have the space to go down, but we managed. Upwind and against the tide, we kept staying ahead by tacking in shallow waters close to the banks. By the time we got into the second round, our positions was so solid, we decided to go into a tactical safe mode. Tactics during a long distance race is always different to the normal up-wind  down-wind races. It is not distractible and gives more weight in points, so there is much more impact on the scoring. Very happy with our first place, we headed back to port.

On Saturday, the second day, it was a very different story. Expected winds 7-10 kts, so light settings on mast and rig trim. Though we were very excited, had most of us had a restless night, we realized that today was the day to make our point. Ok, boat handling is faultless, everybody is focused and we all want one thing and that is winning the race. The first race we had a reasonable start, we took no big risks. I preferred the right side of the course because of the current and the to the right veering wind. So after the start we tacked to the right. We had to go behind some starboard sailing boats, but deliberately took this loss to go to the right. This payed out well and went around the upwind mark in first position. Downwind we had to find gusts, pressure was everything! The lead on the French A35 “Dunquerke Plaissance” did not appear to be enough at the finish and we became 2 nd on corrected time by 11 seconds. Race 2 and 3 were excellent on boat handling, speed, tactics, all went as it should go.

Sometimes there are those days that everything matches, well; Saturday was one of those days. Two first places in these two races with more than 5 minutes left on corrected time, were the result.

On Sunday, the last day, Roy arranged some nice winds, 13/14 kts, so we got all condition on a plate this weekend. Mast and rigging were set on “base” and in a good spirit we went to the starting area. Our lead on number two, Dunquerke Plaissance, was 11 points with a second place as a worst. Normally spoken you cannot give victory away with only 2 races left. Maybe because of that, we started a bit reckless on the first race of the day. At the start we were not in the most optimal position and were forced to the starting line a bit too early. After the starting signal, we were not sure of having started too early together with the field. Were we too early or not? We decided to continue sailing and wait for the committee to call the early starters through the VHF. It took at least 45 seconds before the committee started this and finally after 6 boats being mentioned, we were the last one. A quick gibe and back to the starting line. This seemed to take ages against the current. Would this cost us the championship? Then a catching-up race. The field was half way the up-wind buoy. We decided for an extreme tack to the right to keep free winds and shallow waters and to get favored by the early tidal change. All or nothing! At the up-wind mark, we caught up some boats and looked for freedom after a gibe set. Eventually, we finished 3 rd, but became 10 th on corrected time. Pfff, nice unnecessary  set- back. Another one like that and we are dead.

In the final race we try to get our focus back and make no stupid mistakes. Fortunately for us, at the end of this up-wind down-wind race there was a nice desert for us, finishing at Breskens.  The course from the committee vessel to the finish looks like a nice reach course, ideal for a J/111. Here we can build distance to the field. For me the tactical aim is to go into this reach first and then take profit on the rest in minutes. Good start, nice tacks to the up-wind mark, getting around first.” Havoc” follows second and appeared to go very fast downwind today. With their symmetrical spinnaker they could go much deeper and had lots of advantage with the current. Near the bottom mark, being the committee boat Barracuda, they came very close. We could position ourselves as the inner yacht in the rounding and gibe, so we could go into the reach freely. Immediate we hoisted the stay-sail for more power. What we hoped for happened, the distance to “Havoc” became bigger, and our little boat went like hell!

Finally we had a 1.45 minute lead at the finish, enough for the first place. We could distract the sour 10 th place and became Dutch Champion. “Dunquerke Plaissance” became a very good 2nd and “Havoc” 3rd in our class, IRC 2.

Of note, the J/33 QUANTUM RACING sailed by Jeroen van der Velden took first place in IRC 3!  Congratulations to all.

J/111 "Turn'n'burn" Sweden Report

* J/111 friends in Scandinavia- the BLUR gang dial it up to 17.88 kts in 22 kts wind at 150 TWA-- not bad for a bunch of rookies in "the north" (a.k.a. "north of the Arctic Circle, that is)! 

According to Peter Gustafsson and his buddies sailing in one of their recent regattas,

"The plan was to go to south to Skagen, but when the wind topped 20 knots and the sea built we decided to pop the spinnaker and go north to Marstrand instead.  Why not?!

It was incredibly fun and a GREAT RIDE!!

For those of you who do NOT own a J/111, we hope you SOON appreciate this! And, for those who DO own a J/111, you'll LOVE this!!

"Turn & burn" may be our new motto! 

This boat flies upwind, it goes even FASTER off-the-wind.  WE LOVE IT!"  Don't believe it?  Call me, txt me, FB me, LinkedIn me, we'll guarantee you a "joy ride" that you'll never forget!"  My Scandinavian friends know how to contact me, just go to "blur.se".

Enjoy the YouTube video of Peter G's fun in the Scandinavian sun aboard the appropriately named BLUR

J/111 MENTAL Wins Tri-State

(Michigan City, Indiana)- The annual Tri state race has divided into the Tri-State and the Bi-State Race. The first leg of the race from Chicago to St. Joe (just over 50 miles) had 94 entries and J/Boat dominated when they were in a section.

Friday night saw the small boats start in a light SW wind then when the section 2 boats started a Northerly wind came through and blew around 12. A power reach to St Joe Michigan for a few hours then the wind started clocking finally turning into a light beat.

The J/111 MENTAL, sailed by Paul Stahlberg and crew, was the eventual winner and sailed all the way to the Michigan shore where within one mile of shore there was a reverse thermal breeze coming offshore into the lake. The sand dunes cool off and cause this to happen. MENTAL short tacked the shore to beat J/120 JAHAZI and J/111 NIGHT HAWK who sailed more of a straight line to St. Joe.

Returning to Chicago was a beautiful run in 12-15 kt winds with the J/111s MENTAL and NIGHTHAWK going 1-2 with the J/120 JAHAZI in third.   For more Tri-State sailing information

J's Love Dartmouth Week

J/70, J/97, J/109s All Winners!
(Dartmouth, England)- Earlier in the summer of 2012 the International J/80 One-Design Class felt it would be worthwhile to host a J/80 World Championship in one of the most picturesque sailing venues in all of the United Kingdom.  Such wisdom was not unfounded.  The sailing can be superb and simply mind-blowing-- Beatle's Yellow Submarine, Strawberry Fields eye-opening spectacular.  No wonder sailors in the UK don't ever mind taking a wander down with their trucks, campers and boats to this magical part of this island nation.  And so, there is this nice regatta that is held at the end of summer that perhaps could have a "Newport-like" Jazz Fest associated with it (like a mix of old Rolling Stones blues, Jimmie Hendrix, Stan Getz, early Led Zep, Beck, Davis and others) that bring additional cache and fun to what has to be one of the best end-of-season summer sailing regattas in the world.

Dartmouth Week is run by the Joint Regatta Sailing Committee that includes the River Dart SC, the Royal Dart YC and the Dartmouth YC.  Like their compatriots just a "bit East" of them in Cowes (e.g. Cowes Combined Clubs), the "Dart Team" are no "shrinking violets" when it comes to the ability to put on a world-class event.  And, with the pedigree of a few amazing regattas they continue to host on an annual basis, it's no wonder that "Dart Week" continues to grow apace.  With a growing contingent of J-Sailors who are amongst the world's cognoscenti of what are the best regattas to attend, it appears the "Dart Crew" are on the right track!

The J/109 teams seem to agree and have attended Dart Week with tremendous enthusiasm.  In the J/109 One-Design class one of the class leaders managed to walk off with all the marbles, with Paul Griffiths' JAGERBOMB winning with a  4-7-2-1-4-2-1 tally for 10 pts net.  Their erstwhile competitors, Liam Shanahan's RUTH sailed a solid series to compile a 5-1-1-5-6-3-5 record for 15 pts net.  Just one point back was Angus McPhie's WAVE WARRIOR in third with a 9-2-3-3-7-1-7 for 16 pts net.

In the much watched Sportsboat Class it was going to be clear that a "shoot-out" amongst the fast asym boats was going to be the order of the day with a "pecking order" established amongst the fastest sportboats in the UK.  So, far, almost a draw, but with the J/70 winning this latest battle amongst the J/80s, 1720 Sportboat and Laser SB3s.  It was the J/70 JENGA 8 sailed by Julian Cook that garnered a 1-1-1-1-3-13-2 for 6 pts net to win Sportsboat honors and bragging rights for this coming week.  2nd was the J/80 TEAM BALTIC that compiled a near equal record of 2-2-3-2-1-1-1 for 7 pts net to be just nipped in the end for class honors.  3rd was class compatriot, the J/80 CAPTAIN JACK sailed by Frank Roswell that managed a 4-3-2-3-2-3-4 for 13 pts net.

Division 2 IRC was a serious, tough class to win.  But, yet again the J/97 came up "spades" at the critical juncture to simply walk off with class silverware.  This time it was the J/97 JIKA-JIKA sailed by Mike Holmes that finished first in class.  They were followed by the J/97 JEOPARDY 2 skippered by Richard Watney that finished 5th in class and in 6th was the J/105 JACKPOT sailed by Vernon Bradley.  Sailing photo credits- James Walker  For more Royal Dart Yacht Club & Darmouth Week sailing information

J/Teams Hot In Annapolis!

(Annapolis, Maryland)- Annapolis Race Week (ARW) is a Mid-Atlantic Region annual event that occurs every year over Labor Day weekend off the famous shores of Annapolis (a.k.a. "Naptown"). The 3-day event offers a significant and unique opportunity for sailors to party and have fun on the city-front right in the city square where the enormous Annapolis Sailboat Show is held every year in October.  There were significant fleets of one-design J/Teams sailing, including J/24s, J/35s, J/30s, J/105s and J/80s.  Plus, J/111s sailed in PHRF class.

J/24s had six boats participating with Paul van Ravenswaay's team on MILLENIUM FALCON walking off with top honors with four 1sts, one 2nd and three 3rds for 15 pts total. Second was Paul Ford on WILDCARD with a 4-3-3-4-3-1-1-3 record for 22 pts.  Just one point back was Peter Rich on USA 4006 with a 1-5-4-1-4-2-4-2 tally for 23 pts.

In the J/35s, a strong contingent of seven boats sought the "holy grail", but in the end it was Masci McGonigle's WINDEPENDENT that just squeaked out a win with a 1-1-2-6 score for 10 pts.  Just behind them the score was settled on a tie-breaker with Pete Scheidt's MAGGIE beating out Chuck Kohlerman's MEDICINE MAN.  MAGGIE's 3-5-1-2 for 11 pts was better than the Med-MAN's 2-2-3-4 also for 11 pts.

The J/105s had the one of the large one-design racing division with seventeen boats participating.  Jack Biddle's RUM PUPPY was "alpha male dog" here with a fairly dominating 4-2-3-1-1-2 for 13 pts.  The next four boats had to fight it out amongst themselves for 2nd and 3rd on the podium.  Carl & Scott Gitchell's crew on TENACIOUS emerged from the smoke-filled field of battle as top of the pack with a 1-4-5-11-7-1 for 29 pts to snag second place.  They just managed to beat the VELOCE gang with 31 pts who finished 3rd.  Fourth was Andrew Kennedy's BAT IV with 32 pts and fifth was Carolyn & Chris Groobey's JAVA.

J/30s had a nice turnout with seven boats and it was quite clear the top three had an incredibly competitive series.  Setting the BETTER MOUSETRAP was Bob Putnan, sailing to a steady 1-3-1-4-2-2 for 13 pts.  One point back BEPOP'ing around was Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello with a 3-1-3-1-3-3 for 14 pts.  Then thirsting INSATIABLY for more was Ron Anderson's crew managing to smoke the fleet for two picket fences on the last day, but not enough to overcome his friends in 1-2.  So, Ron's 4-2-5-3-1-1 for 16 pts meant they had to settle for 3rd.

The largest one-design fleet sailing were the J/80s with eighteen boats on the starting line.  In the end, it was Kristen Robinson's much-improved team winning by a substantial margin- their 1-3-2-4-2-2 for 14 pts meant they had a 7 pt margin of victory.  Second was Ray Wulff on GORILLA PANIC! with a 3-7-3-2-1-5 for 21 pts.  Third was John White's team just one pt back.  Fourth was Todd Olds on TSUNAMI with 29 pts and fifth was Clarke McKinney sailing AUNT EDNA'S DEAD with 34 pts.

In handicap world of PHRF A-1, the J/111s had a dog-fight for top to the pack.  This time, it was Tony Culotta's CUORE DI LEONE overcoming the well-traveled VELOCITY for top banana.  Tony's crew managed to garner the identical score of 2-1-2-1 for 6 pts to Marty's 1-2-1-2 also for 6 pts, with the winner being who won the last race!  For more Annapolis Race Week sailing information