J/111s Sailing SPI Ouest France

(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The 35th edition of the SPI OUEST-France Intermarché starts on March 28th and goes for four days of racing in the Bay of Quiberon off the famous seaport of La Trinite sur Mer.  SPI OUEST France is one of Europe's largest regattas, and certainly the premiere regatta of the spring sailing season, and over 150 volunteers from the Societe Nautique La Trinité-sur-Mer have been preparing for several weeks to host the 423 registered sailing teams and several thousand sailors. And among the skippers, some of the biggest names in French sailing will once again take part in SPI OUEST; including none other than Thomas Coville, Franck Cammas (Volvo Ocean Race winner on GROUPAMA), Vincent Riou, Michel Desjoyeaux, Nicolas Troussel Souben Daniel, Nicolas Lunven, Franck-Yves Escoffier and others.

The weather scenario is a bit uncertain as a huge depression in the North Atlantic is expected to arrive Monday in the late afternoon, but is preceded by a trough carrying winds. The path it will takes varies from hour to hour based on the various weather models.  Explained Christophe Gaumont (renowned meteorologist), "yesterday, we predicted 35 knots Friday and this morning, we did not expect more than 10 kts!  We should have a weekend with a wide range of conditions, sustained wind Friday and Monday and low to moderate Saturday and Sunday. The east, west, south, a little rain, a little sun. In short, an Easter weekend of varied, colorful and variable weather." Now that's a weather forecast all the sailors can rely upon, isn't it?

Of the 423 boats sailing, over 130 alone are J/Teams (31% of the entire fleet) which makes "J" the dominant sailboat brand at the biggest regatta hosted in France!


In the handicap world, SPI OUEST is sailed almost entirely under IRC handicap TCF rating system (as the French UNCL merged with the British CHS to form IRC).  In the "big boat" IRC 1 Class with 24 boats, there are two J/111s raced by top teams, including LE JOUET's Stephen Blanchard and past SPI OUEST winner J LANCE 8's Didier Le Moal.  Making life difficult for the 111's will be the J/122 MADE IN LOVE sailed by Jm. Patier.   For more SPI OUEST France Intermarche sailing information

J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER Wins GrevelingenCup!

(Grevelingen, The Netherlands)- The Netherlands offshore and one-design sailors, like their friends in Scandinavia, seem to have a habit of sailing all year-round despite the fact that some form of common sense means you should consider a break-- after all, when the mainsheet freezes in the blocks there's not much you can do to ease it out other than breathing on it! Nevertheless, tradition as it is, the winter series called the GrevelingenCup produces terrific competition and may help explain why young children in the Netherlands sailing with parents learn that you can sail in just about anything so long as you're well-prepared for the "elements".

After a rainy, autumnal, chilly winter, the sailors always look forward to those bright sunny, almost warm, days that seem to make it all worthwhile. In the end, it was the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER that won the GrevelingenCup ORC 1 Class with Pascal van Doornmalen, Giorgio Etty, Bart van pelt, Bart Van Pelt, Robin Verhoef and Berend-Jan Edens.  They managed to clinch their victory on a near-perfect day, with a nice steady wind of 18 knots and gusts of over 20 that created a procession of about 200 yachts from the start, down around the turning mark with a windward beat/ fetch back to the finish.  Their closest competitor, van der Velden's J/33 QUANTUM RACING could not pull off an upset victory in the end, settling for 2nd overall.  Fourth was Bert Visser's famous J/109 CAPTAIN JACK and 7th was another J/111, H Zwijnburg's SWEENY.  Rounding out the top ten was yet another J/111 with Koen Cleeren's J-BIE in 10th.   For more Grevelingencup sailing information