Spectacular Sailing- Quantum Key West- Day 4

TEAMWORK & RUSH Lead PHRF Fleets
(Key West, Florida)-- With four days of racing complete, it is not difficult to identify the stars of Quantum Key West 2013: The sun and the wind!  Even the most veteran sailors have been amazed by the fact every day of the regatta has brought spectacular conditions with warm temperatures and solid breezes. Wednesday brought 18-22 knot winds and Thursday’s breeze held steady between 14-18 knots.

“We’ve had an incredible string of great sailing days. I think that is really the story,” said Jonathan McKee, a tactician from Seattle, Washington. “We keep waiting for a crappy day and it just hasn’t happened. We’ve just been really lucky that each day has been spectacular.”  That good fortune is expected to continue on Friday as George Caras of Commanders’ Weather is forecasting winds in the 12-18 knot range and more sunny skies. George Collins was once a regular competitor at Key West, but hasn’t attended for many years. The 72-year-old skipper was equally amazed by the caliber of sailing throughout the week.  “What another beautiful day of racing,” Collins said upon returning to the dock in front of the Half Shell Raw Bar. “I can’t remember a week that had such consistently good breeze. There are usually one or two light days, but not this week. The Key West Chamber of Commerce gets five stars.”

Event chairman Peter Craig and his Premiere Racing team take pride in giving sailors a full week of action. Over the past 20 years, the annual regatta off the Florida Keys has lost just six days of racing. For any regatta organizer, that's an astonishing statistic! Barring some unforeseen situation, this will be another year that Premiere Racing has completed the target number of 10 races. More remarkable is that Division 2, under the direction of principal race officer Dave Brennan, is likely to get in 12 races for the J/70 fleet.

In PHRF A, J/Teams are leading a complete sweep of the class by some incredibly competitive teams.  Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK from Lexington, NC continues to lead a very competitive division.  In second is Jim Bishop's J/44 WHITE GOLD from Jamestown, RI and in third is Bob Hesse's J/111 LAKE EFFECT from Youngstown, New York.

Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal and Tim Wilkes.com


More aweome J sailing photos, please see these galleries:
Tuesday photos- Onne Vanderwal
Wednesday photos- Onne Vanderwal
Thursday photos- Onne Vanderwal

For more results and sailing information on Key West Race Week- please see all information here.

Moving @ Quantum Key West- Day Three

Lead Changes on Heavy Air Day
(Key West, Florida)- Wednesday has always been critical at this annual race week off the Florida Keys. By the time Wednesday is complete, the racing is usually more than half over. Event veterans have even given it the moniker of "moving day."  This year, Wednesday brought what is predicted to be the strongest winds of the five-day regatta, challenging crews to really ramp up their performance. There were some sail and gear failures in the heavy air, which held steady between 18 and 22 knots.

Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal

More J sailing photos here in these galleries:
Tuesday photos- Onne Vanderwal
Wednesday photos- Onne Vanderwal

For more results and sailing information on Key West Race Week- please see all information here.

Awesome Sailing Key West- Day Two

TEAMWORK and RUSH Atop PHRF
(Key West, Florida)- This year's Quantum Key West Race Week may be one for the history books, with epic wind conditions forecast for the rest of the week- winds ranging from 15-25 kts with partly cloudy days- the sailors will be challenged with getting in a full compliment of 10-12 races, depending on their fleets, for the entire week of sailing.  Tuesday's racing saw shifty, streaky NNE winds in the 12-18 knot range.  For most courses, it was yet another classic tactical day on the azure blue Caribbean-like waters off Key West.  With the wind direction moving over a range of 25 degrees with a mean of 15 degrees, the teams had to figure out the cycling of the wind direction and try to stay in phase.  For the most part, those who favored the left side of the course and made it work more often than not led their fleets.  On rare occasions could boats go to the right and make it work. 

After the long day of racing of three races, there were a lot of weary bones, aching muscles and exhausted bodies over at The Galleon Dock and Truman Annex on Tuesday afternoon. The J/70 sailors especially so since they had sailed three races and didn't get into the docks at the end of the day until 1630 hrs!  Advil, beer and massages were the order of the day to keep bodies race-tuned and on the knife-edge of preparedness for an even windier day on Wednesday-- forecast to be the windiest day of the week with 18-25 kts winds out of the northeast.

On the Division 3 course, both PHRF A and PHRF B fleets were having excellent racing.  The J/122 TEAMWORK posted two bullets and two seconds in building a four-point lead in PHRF 1. Skipper Robin Team only does three regattas per year, but always has his J/122 well prepared and sailed by a well-oiled team. “We’re fast and the crew work has been impeccable. We’re going really well both upwind and downwind,” said Teamwork tactician Jonathan Bartlett, a North Sails pro. “Robin is quite amazing for someone who doesn’t get a lot of practice with starts and mark roundings. He’s just incredibly skilled considering the small amount of time he races.”  Behind them is Jim Bishop's J/44 WHITE GOLD in second with a 3-1-5-1 for 10 pts and third is Bob Hesse's J/111 LAKE EFFECT with a 2-3-2-4 for 11 pts. 

For more results and sailing information on Key West Race Week- please see all information here.

Classic First Day Sailing @ Key West

(Key West, Florida)- The first day of sailing could not have turned out nicer for the start of Key West Race Week.  For many, its why the sailors come back for more every year to this corner of the far western Caribbean.  With gorgeous aquamarine waters punctuated by white, torn cotton cumulus scudding across sunlit skies, it's not hard to imagine the sailing is second to none.  Today's weather forecasts of lightish N/NE winds of 4-8 kts for Monday and building late in the afternoon to 8-13 kts from the NW meant the fleet was going to be in for some unusual strategies going around the race course.  Would the sailors follow the classic tactics of going into the island, or go left and pray the weather forecasters were wrong?!  The "chutes & ladders" results in the J/70 class were certainly an indicator that ideas ranged across the board.

The PHRF Racers had some incredibly tight racing on the Division Three course.  In PHRF 1, a familiar name as at the top of the heap, with Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK sailing to a 1-2 and holds a narrow edge over Jim Bishops J/44 WHITE GOLD with a 3-1 and Bob Hesse's J/111 LAKE EFFECT in third with a 2-3.

For more results and sailing information on Key West Race Week- please see all information here.



Robin Team Interview- as a perennial J/122 campaigner, Robin's team on TEAMWORK have been veterans  of Key West Race Week for years and are a top team.
http://youtu.be/AgUmolo_lyQ

J Teams Sailing Rolex Fastnet Race

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)-  The infamous Fastnet Rock off Ireland has its fanatical, passionate followers.  It's a bit like British mountaineer George Mallory's famous quote about why he climbed the ginormous, challenging Mount Everest in Tibet (29,029 ft or about 5.5 miles above sea-level)-- he said, "because it's there"!  J/Teams love, even thrive, on the "call of the running tide" and the challenge of weather that often confronts the fleet in this 608nm classic.  Its reputation as the most grueling and tactically challenging of the classic offshore races is due to its course along England's southwestern coastline and criss-crossing the southern Irish Sea twice-- the boats go from the start line off Cowes, Isles of Wight, sail towards the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland (rounding it to port), then sail back around the outside of the Scilly Isles off southwest England (leaving them to port) and on to the finish line in Plymouth, facing massive current gates and gigantic whirlpools (literally) along the way.

For this year's 2013 edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, all 300 yachts "registered" in an astonishing 24 hours! The good news, is that a bunch of hot J sailors are in the mix, including the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER from The Netherlands.  Looks like "the boys" are going to chase the Double-handed crown, again.  John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef are not to be denied.  Who can blame them??  For most of the Fastnet Race in 2011, they were winning the Double-handed Division by days (OK, maybe hours), and were one of the top boats overall in ALL IRC Divisions.  However, the RIPPER couldn't make it through the final wind/current gate literally a "stone's throw" from the finish-- having to wait nearly seven hours for the winds/current to re-build for their finish.  Imagine that!! Hard to believe they didn't go simply, stark, raving, mad!  Kudos to them for hanging tough knowing they'd be back for another go of it all.  Watch out, the RIPPER is much, much faster this time around having learned a lot about the best wind/ sail/ angle combinations.

Along with them will be a fair number of fellow J/Colleagues racing everything from J/133s and J/122s down to J/109s, J/105s and J/97s.  And at both ends of the spectrum these teams are known to be tough competitors, having fun while collecting silverware on the podium!  For more RORC Fastnet Race sailing information

J/122 Sailing Fast- Wins Hamble Series!

J/111 J-DREAM & J/109 JAGERBOMB Take OD's
(Hamble, England)- Despite the combined efforts of a pessimistic forecast and ABP, who helpfully removed nearly all the racing marks in the Solent last week, boats racing in the final day of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series managed to squeeze in a race before the wind shut off completely.

Early morning saw 7-9 knots at the Bramble Bank and thick ice on decks. A short postponement accompanied a temporary lull in the breeze, but the race team was able to get all classes away in a 5-7 knot North-Westerly breeze and spring tide.  The flood tide meant that many classes were line shy in the light airs. After the start crews needed to keep their eyes out of the boat to locate areas of breeze - and to identify the large shifts, especially up the right hand side of the course.

Using inflatable marks instead of the missing racing marks, the race team set a series of windward-leeward courses, but were forced to shorten at the first leeward mark as the wind threatened to disappear completely. Nonetheless, some extremely close racing could be witnessed, even if it was in nerve-jangling slow motion. All in all, it was a beautiful day on the water, even if there was a lack of wind.

IRC 0 saw a closely fought series throughout the Winter Series and Dr Ivan Trotman's crew aboard their J/122 JOULOU hung on to their lead despite tallying a 5-4 in the last two races.  Their wonderful performance was attributed to good, solid sailing and avoiding enormous mistakes, something that plagued many of their competitors.  In the end, the JOLOU gang finished with just 13 pts total for the series, sufficient to win by four points!

Nick & Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE started out the series very strong, leading the event until the last three races.  At that point, the INDULJENCE team was having a tough go of it, collecting a 4-6-4 at the end to finish second overall in the competitive IRC 3 Class by just five points.  Their J class peers were two J/92s, neither of whom managed to sail the entire series.  However, when the J/92s were sailing, it was clear that David & John Taylor's J-RONIMO and Andy Howe's BLACKJACK were able to fire off top five finishes and give the leaders a run for the money.

Tony Mack's McFLY won the last race in the J/111 class, but it was David and Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM that took the top spot overall with just 13 pts.  Cornel Riklin's JITTERBUG from France sailed an excellent series to finish second overall with 15 pts-- they will be a tough team to beat come spring-time when the French host their famous SPI OUEST France Regatta in April!  In the end, Tony's McFLY sailed incredibly well whenever they showed up on the race track and took third in class.  For having sailed just 6 of 10 races, Tony and the gang averaged just 1.5 pts per race- three 1sts and three 2nds.

In the J/109s, Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX beat Paul Griffith's JAGERBOMB to take the day prize, but JAGERBOMB ended up taking the overall series by three points. Their nemesis all series long was Owain's team on JYNANN TONNYX, ultimately finishing second with 17 pts.  Finishing comfortably in third was David McLeman's OFFBEAT with 22 pts.  

Event Sailing Photographer Paul Wyeth took some brilliant photos of the entire Garmin Hamble Winter Series and many evocative images can be found on his website.   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

J/122 Leads Hamble Series

J/111 J-DREAM & J/109 JAGERBOMB OD Leaders
(Hamble, England)- If last week's lack of wind was anything to go by, this year's Garmin Hamble Winter Series looked set to be one of the lightest in memory. And then Sunday came along. In a brief gap between two ginormous Lows that came screaming up the Channel in quick succession, all classes fitted in a race on a windy, wet and cold day.  In fact, the weather was so ferocious, some crews faced logistical nightmares in making the start via a flooded and storm-battered countryside, which was reflected in slightly lower entries this week.

A deceptively light 10 knot breeze wafted boats to the start line, before a line squall heralded the arrival of 20-28 knots of Southwesterly wind - and frequent showers of icy rain, which persisted throughout the day. The blustery conditions heralded some impressive broaches and saw some shredded spinnakers. But luckily, the advancing Low held off just long enough for the assembled crews to enjoy the spectacle from the comfort of the HRSC clubhouse as it whistled in across the Solent.

Out on the water, IRC 0 was first away and Dr Ivan Trotman's crew aboard their J/122 JOULOU had a rough go of the conditions, managing a 5th place, sufficient to hang onto their lead for the series by two points.

For Nick & Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE the conditions were generally to their liking but again managed to hang on tenuously to their position in second overall, hoping for a good last race next weekend!  The "feel good" story of the day had to be Andy Howe's J/92s BLACKJACK that sailed a good race to snag a 2nd!

Of the J/111s on the water, Cornel Riklin's JITTERBUG finished first in what amounted to a match race for the top of the class.  At this stage, David & Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM has a 3 pt lead on the class and short of a crushing last race or two, they hope to hang onto the lead for the Winter Series win.  JITTERBUG can mathematically have a shot, but it's at pretty long odds that J-DREAM will be displaced at the top of the leader board.

In the J/109s, Paul Griffiths' JAGERBOMB was first of the two J/109s that completed the race, further tightening their grip on first place overall and pulling into a 6 pts lead in the class.  Like their former J/109 competitors, J-DREAM, the Griffiths' JAGERBOMB team look set to take home the crown for the J/109 class next weekend barring an apocalyptic race of sorts.  Second is Owain Franks' JYNANN TONNYX with 16 pts and in third is David McLeman's OFFBEAT.

Event Photographer Paul Wyeth took some brilliant photos of the day's racing and more evocative images can be found on his website - http://www.pwpictures.com.

Thanks to Force 4 Chandlery, who, as Day Sponsors provided prizes in the clubhouse after racing.  One race remains - and crews wait to see what the weather gods have in store!   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

J/122 JOULU & J/111 JDREAM Lead Winter Series

(Hamble, England)- The Garmin Hamble Winter Series entered its second half of the series on Sunday with thick fog drifting down the Hamble River in the early morning. But competitors expecting wintry conditions were surprised by bright sunshine and a fluctuating, light and shifty breeze that offered big gains for those who kept in phase with the shifts.

A strong west-going tide at the start made time-on-distance calls important as the classes got clean away to beat their way from near Universal Marina buoy towards Hill Head and South Coast Sailing. As the tide turned, boats rounded their leeward marks and began a long beat against the tide and in a fickle breeze up the Hill Head shoreline towards the finish at Coronation.  Gains were there for the taking for those with the confidence to stand on inshore and cheat the tide – and for those with well-calibrated depth sounders.

In IRC 0, Dr Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU continues to lead the fleet overall with an impressive scoreline of 1-2-1-3-2-1-1-2 for a total of 8 pts over a host of top British IRC boats like a Grand Soleil 46, Mills 43 and and Arcona 430.

The IRC 2 class has two J/105s sailing against a thicket of IRC optimized beasts and at the end of the day, the J/105 guys are having fun, taking their good races with the difficult ones (e.g. all beating against tides).  Currently, Chris Jones' JOURNEYMAKER 5 is sailing well and lies 5th.

The largest IRC class has traditionally been the toughest one to win.  This fall's IRC 3 class sailing the Winter Series is no different.  A J/97 and J/92 are racing against formidable competition.  At this stage, Nick & Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE has a steady record of 3-1-3-2-6-2-4, dropping out of the lead due to their last three races, but lying second with 11 pts just 4 pts back.  The J/92 J-RONIMO sailed by David John Taylor has sailed consistently in the top five when they are actually out sailing on the race course.  To date J-RONIMO lies 8th but is only 12 pts out of 5th with a long shot at even a 3rd place given their excellent sailing performance to date and taking into account some strategic drop races (like DNC's they don't want to count).

The J/109s were topped this week by a newcomer to this year’s series, Richard Hinde-Smith’s TIGH SOLIUS, which beat David McLeman's OFFBEAT in 2nd and Paul Griffith's JAGERBOMB in third.  So far, JAGERBOMB continues to lead their standings with a string of top five finishes, counting a 1-3-1-1-4-6-3 for a total of only 9 pts.  David's OFFBEAT and Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX are tied for second with 14 pts apiece.  Fourth is Todd Wells on JE VANTE with 18 pts and fifth is Roger Phillips on DESIGNSTAR.

David & Kirsty Apthorp's JDREAM won another race in the J/111 class to now lead her class by just four pts, with a 2-1-2-3-3-1-1-1 scoreline for 8 pts total.  French J/111 owner Cornell Riklin has been sailing like a madman, his team onboard JITTERBUG are sailing very well and have amassed  a steady 1-3-1-2-2-3-3-3 for 12 pts to be within striking distance of the lead.  Tony Mack's team on McFLY have sailed to a 1-1-2-2-2 in their last five races to get within striking distance of the two leaders just one point back from the French team.  What is abundantly clear is that the J/111 teams are pushing each other so hard that had they been IRC handicap racing, their elapsed time finish positions would put them at or near the top of the heap in their IRC class.  As usual, one-design racing forces teams to sail better, smarter, faster and make fewer mistakes than others they race against-- the results speak for themselves.

The day's sponsor was Andark, who provided prizes to the assembled crews in the HRSC clubhouse after racing. Sailors will be keeping an eye on the long-range forecast for next week to see if the warm, dry weather will put in another appearance, although the consensus in the clubhouse concluded that a little more wind would be nice.   Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth- PWPictures.com  For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

J/109 VENTO SOLARE Wins STC One-Design

(Annapolis, MD)- The Storm Trysail Club hosted their IRC East Coast Championship and One-Design Regatta this past weekend in Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay.  Sailing were a combination of one-design fleets and IRC fleets.  In the IRC 2 Class were two J/111s sailing.  The J/109s sailed as a one-design class.

The five race series started with Friday’s 29.6-­‐mile tour of the central Chesapeake, with a light and shifty northeast breeze in the 1.5 point-­weighted race.  The remaining four inshore races of the series were sailed on Saturday in a format shortened by the approach of Hurricane Sandy to the mid-­Atlantic states, with organizers giving teams today to prepare for the hurricane-­force winds predicted for the area Monday and Tuesday.  The 13-­17 knot northeasterly conditions sailed against an ebb tide on Saturday tended to favor the bigger boats until the ebb turned to slack in the last race. This made the beats shorter and high-­speed runs longer, compressing the corrected times down to margins of mere seconds.

In IRC 2 Class, the two J/111s had some great racing against one another with new J/111 owner Kjell Dahlen sailing his newly acquired RAGIN to 3rd overall and 1st 111.  Marty Roesch's team on VELOCITY had their hands full with RAGIN's new team and managed to finish off the series with a flourish of 3-3 to finish just behind her classmate.

Paul Milo's J/109 VENTO SOLARE perhaps sailed one of the toughest, and best, series in the regatta.  Why?  Imagine having multiple J/109 champion sailor Bill Sweetser on RUSH to beat to the finish line.  In the end, it was the first race (the long distance race) that mattered in the final count. By winning the first race, Paul's VENTO SOLARE team managed to compile a score of 1.5-4-2-1-1- for 9.5 points to win by a half point!  Bill's tough RUSH team sailed very consistently and scored 3-1-1-2-3 for 10 pts to take the silver.  Third was Stephen McManus's team on SAYKADOO.  For more IRC East Coast sailing information

J.A.T. Wins J/80 Hamble One-Designs

J/122 JOULOU, J/109 J'TAIME, J/111 JET Lead Hamble Winter Series
(Hamble, England)- Winter finally showed its ugly, nasty teeth to the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships over the past weekend, to mark the halfway point of the series.  While nothing like what their American colonialist counterparts had to survive with an even nastier gal named "Sandy", the gangsters sailing around the Solent certainly had their fair share of bad stuff to contend with for weather.

Saturday was the first day of the final weekend of the Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships. But a ferocious forecast and bitingly cold northerly wind put paid to the plans of the J/80 class, whose racing was cancelled. Only the J/109s ventured out for one race, before racing was called off for the day. One boat lost their rig, which broke above the top spreader, and another two boats had already retired. Steve Maine’s J2EAU won the race, around a minute ahead of JYNNAN TONNYX and YEOMAN OF WIGHT.

Hopes were high for better conditions on Sunday, with competitors enjoying an extra hour in bed as the clocks went back. Despite the cold morning, competitors were greeted by a much more civilized 11-18 knots from the west. The race team set each class two races from up to Hill Head for the smaller boats, and East Knoll for the bigger boats, to laid gate and leeward marks downwind.  J/80s in the Lewmar Hamble One Design Championship fleet raced in the mouth of Southampton Water, sailing three races.

Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships
After the final three races of the two-weekend Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships on Sunday, Phil Taylor’s J.A.T won the J/80 class overall, three points clear of Jon Powell’s BETTY.

After the cancellation on Saturday losing 4 races, the final 3 races on Sunday were always going to set-up for a grand finale between the main protagonists at the top of the leader-board. 15 boats lined up just off from the Royal Southern race mark with a mixed forecast and strong tides set for the day.

Race 1 - saw Patrick Liardet 'Aqua-J' dominate from start to finish and the team of J.A.T for most of the race were not anywhere near the chocolates, getting the final mark with a strong tide proved the decider where Phil Taylor and Kevin Sproul's 'J.A.T' shot back up to 2nd place just beating John Powell's 'Betty'.

Race 2 - the J/80 class is always known for never backing down from a start, and on this occasion it was only a matter of time when the inevitable was going to happen. At 20 seconds (due to about 2 to 3 knots of tide taking the fleet over the line) to go pretty much the entire fleet where recalled and the the PRO decided to break out the Z-Flag... much talk went around the fleet as usually the black flag is usually pulled. 2nd time lucky and the fleet got away, from start to finish it was lead by the team of 'J.A.T' followed by the new Royal Southern YC Academy team 'Spitfire' in 2nd and 'Betty' in 3rd.

Race 3 - with everything still to play for and no outright winner just yet, race 3 was all about getting away at the start. Off the line 'J.A.T' got caught in the pack but the vast experience of the team shot them out towards the front of the fleet. The course now with very little tide was a game of getting the right shifts upwind and down and therefore the fleet remained incredibly tight. At the finish though it was Phil and Kevin's 'J.A.T' bringing the fleet home first with John Powell's 'Betty' snatching 2nd place from new UK Chairman Mark Baskerville's 'Mistral'.

So overall the team of 'J.A.T' won but it wasn't an easy task. The fleet would like to thank Hamble River SC for organising a great event and look forward to working with them in 2013 to develop this fantastic end of year championships.

The J/109s raced with the main Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet. Christopher Palmer’s J-TAIME posted two firsts on Sunday, but this wasn’t enough to beat Owain Franks’ JYNNAX TONNYX, whose 2 second places on Sunday, was enough put them two points clear overall.  In second is Richard & Valerie Griffith's OUTRAJEOUS with 25 pts.  This is Paul Griffiths' JAGERBOMB a scant one point back with 26 pts in third.  The balance of the top five is Steve Maine in J2EAU tied on points but in fourth on the tie-break with David Rolfe & Andy Johns' SHADOWFAX.

Garmin Hamble Winter Series
In the main series, the shifty, patchy breeze meant that large gains and losses were there for the taking, and in many classes the status quo was upset by some fantastic displays of tactical sailing. Andark was the day sponsor, and presented prizes to the winners in each class.

In IRC 0 Class, Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU posted two firsts to take them four points clear at the top of the class.  Things were closer in the IRC 3 class with Nick & Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE having an "off-weekend", scoring a 6-2 to drop back to second in class just two points off the pace for 1st overall with 11 pts.

In the one-designs, David and Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM enjoyed similar success in the J/111 class taking two bullets for the weekend to be winning class with 10 pts.  Second is Cornel Riklin's tough French crew onboard JITTERBUG with a 3-3 to keep 2nd place and third is Tony Mack's McFLY with 16 pts total.

For the J/109s, Paul Griffiths' JAGERBOMB is leading with 10 pts followed by Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX in second with 14 pts and David McLeman's OFFBEAT in third with 18 pts.

Next week, there’s a break in the series, before it resumes on the 11th November. The next four weeks have one race per day to get competitors in before the light fades. Enjoy the break and see you in a fortnight!   For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Spectacular Sailing- Manhasset Series

J/105s and PHRF J/Sailors Love Sunny Conditions
(Manhasset, New York)- In its 34th year, 2012 featured terrific competition on the Sound and Manhasset Bay. Great weather on all four days, an unusual bonus. PRO Sue Miller even commented that she enjoyed only wearing a fleece on just one of the four days! MBFS is fortunate to attract the best sailors in the region, year after year, and the Club is honored to have received complimentary remarks from many racers about the job well done by our RC.

The weather was atypical but the competition was not. Sunny and warm conditions for all four days of racing were a bonus to the racers.

IRC Class saw the custom J/120 AVRA sailed by George Petrides from American YC sail to an excellent record of 2-1-2-1-1-4-4-4-3 for 18 pts to secure 2nd overall.  Third in class was the gorgeous J/122 GEORGETOWN III sailed George Marks with a 1-4-3-3-2-2-3-2-4 for 20 pts.

PHRF A had the largest handicap class with eleven boats and the J/111 ANDIAMO sailed by Paul Strauch sailing for the host Manhasset Bay YC managed to finish 3rd overall with a 3-1-(12/DNF)-2-2.5-7-5-7 score for 27.5 pts.  Fellow member Bob Schwartz sailed his J/109 NORDLYS to 8th in class and also Jon Flamm sailed his classic racer-cruiser, the J/37 SOUND WAVE to 10th in class.

In PHRF B, John & Tony Esposito’s J/29 HUSTLER won by a slight edge over UNO MAS, Ryan Walsh & Jon Desmond’s J/29 which travelled down from New Bedford YC.  UNO MAS nearly pulled off what many thought was impossible, beating the HUSTLER boys in their home waters.  Going into the second weekend, both boats were tied on points and record with 1-2-2-3, but having won the last race the weekend before, UNO MAS was technically in 1st place.  However, the old adage seemed to kick-in for the last weekend, "when the going get tough, the HUSTLER gets going"!  Sure enough, ripping off a 1-1-2-2 cemented the Esposito's imperial seat atop the podium with 11 pts.  Ryan and Jon on UNO MAS gave it their all, but in face of the furious pace and intensity of the HUSTLER gang, could only managed a 2-3-3-1 to close out the regatta in second with 14 pts.  As a result, the Ted Clark Trophy was won for the 6th year in a row by HUSTLER, John & Tony Esposito, Morris Yacht & Beach Club/City Island YC for best performance in PHRF.  Also sailing in this tough division was Todd Aven's J/92 THIN MAN, managing a 4th behind these crazy hombres.

The prestigious John B. Thomson Sr. Memorial Trophy was won by the J/105 KINCSEM, Joerg Esdorn/Duncan Hennes, NYYC/American YC for the best performance in a One-Design or IRC class.  With nine boats participating, the J/105 class enjoyed some great racing.  Capturing three firsts and three seconds, Kincsem sailed to a dominating eight point win over arch-rival Eclipse in the Manhasset Bay Fall Series.  The regatta featured eight races, including one distance race, on Long Island Sound over two beautiful October weekends. Kincsem also won the event in 2011; Eclipse was the winner in 2010.

Even with victory in the series assured, the Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes team seemed especially determined to take the final race.  They turned the bow of their green boat into the breeze for multiple wind-checks, snugged  the halyard on the jib in the freshening breeze, generally sailed around with much seriousness of purpose, and carved their favorite path through the fleet to line up for a start just a few boat lengths down from the committee boat.  For a moment, we even thought we saw tactician Fred Walters jot something down.

As the gun sounded, the usual cluster trying to grab the one good spot at the boat end all slowed each other as Kincsem shot off the line for a nice lead.  From there, all the Kincsem team had to do was stay in clear air, get the chute up and down cleanly, and cover the fleet. All went fine until the second beat, when the covering part became difficult. Boats trailing Kincsem split left and right in an oscillating breeze. What to do? Answer: Stay in the middle, hit the shifts and try to cover both sides. It worked, but Joerg-Duncan-Fred couldn’t have called it any closer.  (This writer is actually not 100% sure Walters was on the boat. Kincsem was too far behind in the first race and too far ahead in the second. If Fred wasn’t, his spirit surely was.)

As Kincsem reached the top mark on the second beat, Paul Beaudin’s loulou came barreling in on a lift from the left  and tacked just below and ahead of Kincsem at the mark.  Except…..oops….loulou couldn’t squeeze by the orange.  Kincsem was just short of layline, too.  But it had rights.  So it trapped loulou and forced Beaudin’s boat to sail just slightly beyond the mark.  (Much shouting could be heard down the weather leg.)  Kincsem then did a quick double tack and rounded. At that point, it was adios, sayonara , and ciao to loulou and the rest of the fleet.  And one last notch in Kincsem’s gunbelt.

Damian Emery’s Eclipse finished second in the regatta despite failing to win a single race.  It’s a bit unusual for Emery not to win at least won race in an event (though he didn’t win any races in the MFS in 2011, either), but that outcome also may say something about the competitiveness of the Manhasset fleet.  The race winnings got spread around nicely and included third place Revelation, fourth place Gumption, fifth place Planet Claire (YEA!) and sixth place Peregrina (which built up a huge lead on race one on Sunday by hitting the left corner hard on the first beat).

Revelation, owned by George and Alex Wilbanks, actually won two races in the series and looked poised to challenge Kincsem.  But the Wilbanks’s had trouble getting clean starts in the last three races and had to settle for finishes of 6-5-7, dropping them into a points tie with Kevin Grainger’s Gumption3, which went 2-7-3 in the final three races.

The battle for fifth place between John Koten’s Planet Claire and Josh Burak’s Peregrina also came down to the last leg, with Planet Claire just managing to cover Peregrina down the course on the final leg of the final race of the final day of the final weekend of the final regatta of the season.  Sailing photo credits- www.manhassetbayyc.org  For more Manhasset Bay Fall Series sailing information

Stunning Solent Sailing

J/122 Leading IRC0, J/97 Leads IRC3, JITTERBUG Tops 111s, JAGERBOMB Tops 109s
(Hamble, England)-  As fall sailing continues unabated in the south of England, cooler air is beginning to make its presence felt on the Solent.  However, this past weekend saw the weather Gods provide another stunner for the sailing teams in the Garmin Hamble Winter Series and MDL Hamble Big Boat Series.

Big Boat Championship
Saturday saw the start of the final MDL Hamble Big Boat Championship weekend. The forecast was appalling, with a mirror calm greeting the race committee as they motored out to the race course, and no-one really expected to get any racing in. But competitors couldn’t believe their luck as 4-5 knots of southeasterly filled in after an hour’s postponement, allowing the race team to get four races in from a start-line near Wight Vodka.

On Sunday, a good NorthEasterly 10-15 knots was forecast, and, unlike Saturday, that was exactly what the weather gods served up. Racing started from the vicinity of Sunsail Racing buoy at low tide, with courses cascading down the East Solent in a sluicing flood tide. The MDL Hamble Big Boat Championships fleet raced alongside the main Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet, with two races for all classes.

In the J/111 class on Saturday, David & Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM won the first race, but couldn’t hold off Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBUG, who took first in the remaining three races.  Then on Sunday, JITTERBUG took two seconds on Sunday, but that was enough to keep them nine points clear at the top of the fleet – an impressive showing for their first regatta.  With JITTERBUG winning the Big Boat Championships, J-DREAM managed to hang in for second place overall with a 3-3 showing.  Third was Alfred Munkenbeck's MUNKENBECK with 21 pts.  Finally, it was good to see Tony Mack's crew closing out the series after a slow start by winning the last two races.

IN IRC 0, Neil Kipling's J/122 JOOPSTER continued her winning ways and stayed at the top of the leader board, closing out the regatta with a 1-2 on Sunday for a total of just 21 pts.  Her classmate JAMMY DODGER, the J/133 sailed by Neil Martin managed a 5th in the very competitive class.

Garmin Hamble Winter Series
The Garmin Hamble Winter Series ran as usual on Sunday, this time from the same start-line as the Big Boats in ideal conditions. The day sponsor was Southern Ropes, who provided prizes at the clubhouse after racing. All classes sailed two races, with the smaller boats finishing on the Hill Head plateau, and the bigger boats finishing near Browndown.

In IRC Class 0, Dr Ivan Trotman's crew on the J/122 JOLOU are now leading their division with a 1-2-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.  They are currently on top of a rogue's gallery of IRC special purpose boats like the Grand Soleil 46, Mills 43 and Arcona 430.

The IRC Class 3 saw the J/97 INDULJENCE sailed by Nick & Adam Munday tied on points for the lead with a 3-1-3-2 record for 9 pts.

The J/111s, whose results also counted for the MDL Hamble Big Boat Championships, were led by Tony Mack’s McFly, who took two bullets ahead of JITTERBUG.  Consequently, JITTERBUG is still leading with 9 pts followed by J-DREAM then McFLY in third.

Similarly, Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB posted two firsts in the J/109 class and is currently leading their class with a comfortable lead due to an impressive scoreline of 1-3-1-1-1 for 6 pts.  Second lies David McLeman's OFFBEAT with a 4-1-2-6 record for 13 pts.  Just one point back is Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX with a 3-4-4-3 tally for 14 pts.  The balance of the top five has Paul Coward's JACOBI in 4th and Roger Phillips' DESIGNSTAR 2 in 5th.

So, looking ahead, there’s one more weekend of racing before the mid-series break. Next weekend is the final Lewmar Hamble One Design Championship weekend, as well as the fourth Garmin Hamble Winter Series race day, for which the day sponsor is Andark.  Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth   For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Get Ready For Sailing Key West!

Calling All J/70, J/80, J/105 & J/PHRF Teams!(Key West, FL)- The 25th Anniversary edition of Key West Race Week was by all accounts a great success and your Key West hosts are looking forward to building on the enthusiasm that was generated last year and delivering another memorable Key West Race Week 2013 for the one-design J/80 and J/105 classes, for the popular J/PHRF class and for the new J/70 class!  The competition is world-class and the evening socials at the Kelly’s Caribbean shoreside venue have proven to be very popular for skippers and crews.

For the 26th edition of this winter classic, ten races over five days are planned for J/One-Design classes and the J/PHRF classes.  A Key West hallmark has been strong class racing and we are hoping to grow those fleets that have supported Key West for years.  Positive news from all four J/Classes point to another year featuring great competition- so far 35 J's are signed up, about 42% of the 84 boats planning to participate already.  Come one, come all, let's make J's 50% of the fleet!  The more the merrier!

For J/105s, the big news is that one of the class's newest owners, Dennis Conner (recently honored as "America's Greatest Sailor" by US Sailing/ Sailing World Magazine) will be sailing USA 3- DC's PHOLLY, one of the oldest J/105s in existence.  DC just finished sailing the J/105 SoCal Championships and the J/105 North American Championships in San Diego and has proven to be a competitive J/105 sailor-- DC and crew are looking forward to sailing Key West and invite all J/105 sailors to join them for some "phun and phrolic with PHOLLY!"  To date, Damien Emery's champion ECLIPSE from New York has taken up the invitation as has Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE traveling cross-country like DC from San Diego, California!  What an opportunity to say you "crossed-tacks with DC (the America's Cup most famous sailor) and lived to tell the story"!  Join DC and crew for the J/105 2013 Midwinter Championship!

The J/80s have a quartet from Annapolis showing up with Kristen Beery, Bert Carp, Jeff Jordan's WILLY T and J-World's ANIMAL HOUSE looking forward to some rocking & rolling in the crystal blue-waters off Key West.  Joining them are Gary Panariello's COURAGEOUS from New York and Ron Buzil's VAYU 2 from Chicago, Illinois.  The J/80s will again be hosting their 2013 J/80 Midwinter Championship in conjunction with the Key West regatta-- it's a great way to have "your cake & eat it, too"!  Win class prizes, daily fleet prizes, door prizes and take a well-deserved break from the freezing grip of winter to work on that tan and catch up with sailing friends from around the world!

The J/70s debuts at Key West 2013 for its first J/70 Midwinter Championship on a special circle just west of Sunset Key (Tank Island), past the NW Passage.  The racing promises to be fun, fast and challenging for what may be the first time many of the teams will be racing one-design. So far, with 18 boats registered and over 30 expected to participate the fleet is beginning to look like a "Woodstock" sailing festival with many legendary J/Sailors from the past participating as well as some of the latest rockstars. Known participants include Mark Ploch (winner of first J/24 Midwinters in 1978), David Ullman, Don Trask, Tim Healy, Rod/Jeff Johnstone, Heather Gregg-Earl, Don Finkle, Jimmie Allsopp & son Cole, Kerry Klingler/ Rick Lyall, Henry Brauer/ Will Welles, Mike Sudofsky, John Gottwald, Bruno Pasquinelli, Chris Snow and Blake Kimbrough, amongst many others.

Finally, the J/PHRF Time-on-time handicap class is shaping up to be yet another great fleet of boats.  Last year, past winners Bill Sweetser on the J/109 RUSH and Robin Team on the J/122 TEAMWORK both said it was some of the best handicap racing they've ever sailed at Key West.  With Rod J handling the PHRF TOT handicaps, the racing was fair, fun and extremely competitive with the outcome of the entire week coming down to the last race.  This year promises to be just as much fun.  So far, two top J/109s are sailing, Sweetser's RUSH and Gary Wesiberg's HEAT WAVE; four J/111s are expected to sail including Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 and class newcomer Bob Hese's LAKE EFFECT from Youngstown, NY.  Also sailing are Glenn Gault's J/120 REBECCA from Texas, Adam Esselman's J/124 STILL MESSIN from Michigan and David Alldian's J/95 CYMOPOLEIA from New Jersey.

REMINDER! NOTE TO SELF- be sure to enter NOW (no cost obligation) if you believe that you will be racing with us next January 2013 – here are the links to the online entry and the current entry list – it is easy to do and the entry fee is not due until later in December.  To enter Key Race Race Week, please click here   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes

J's Enjoy Close Sailing- Solent's Winter Series

J/122 Leading IRC0, J/97 Leads IRC3
(Hamble, England)- The second weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, which incorporated the first weekend of the Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships, saw some champagne sailing conditions. Bright sunshine and 8-12 knots of breeze burned off the thick frost and eerie mist that started the day off, giving some stunning, if shifty, sailing conditions for all classes.

The race team got two races in on schedule on windward-leeward courses, with big shifts and a strong ebb tide giving competitors the chance to make big gains - and losses.

IRC 0 was first away. Dr Ivan Trotman’s J/122 JOLOU won her race and continues to lead IRC0 with a 1-2-1 scoreline for 4 pts.  Nick and Adam Munday’s J/97 INDULGENCE topped the IRC 3 class, with a 3rd and a 1st to be leading their series in IRC 3.

In the J/111 class things were close. Cornel Ridkin’s JITTERBUG and David and Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM are tied overall on 5 points, with a first each. Third lies Charles Rolls & Andrew Christie's ICARUS with 10 pts.  Similarly in the J/109s, Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB leads the class overall by a point, with a first and a third, ahead of David McLeman’s OFFBEAT and her score of a 4th and a 1st.  Third is Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX with a 3-4 tally for 7 pts.  A look at the full results shows some close battles lining up in all classes, which should prove fascinating to watch as the series unfolds.

Lewmar Hamble One Design Championships
The weekend also hosted the first of two Lewmar Hamble One-Design Championships weekends. This popular event had 48 entries, and featured racing for J/80 and J/109 classes on both Saturday and Sunday, kindly supported by Lewmar.

Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB tops the J/109 class with a good smattering of top 3 results, accumulating a formidable scoreline of 5-3-1-2-1-3 for 15 pts. They finish the weekend three points ahead of Richard and Valerie Griffith’s OUTRAJEOUS who have a 1-2-2-4-8-1 record for 18 pts and are sitting in 2nd place.  In third is David McGough's JUST SO with 3-1-8-1-5-5 scores for 23 pts.  Currently lying fourth is Owain Franks' JYNNAN TONNYX and fifth is David Rolfe & Andy Johns' SHADOWFAX.

The J/80s sailed 7 races over the weekend. Phil Taylor’s J.A.T leads the 13-strong class overall with fairly consistent low-point scores of three 1sts, three 2nds and one 8th for 17 pts.  Jon Powell’s BETTY from France has been sailing very fast and smart and could easily be leading were it not for an RET in Race 4.  As a result "the BETTY" scoreline is four 1sts, two 2nds and an RET for 21 pts!  Next up in third overall is Patrick Liardet’s AQUA-J with a 3-4-3-4-2-7-3 record for 26 pts.  Rounding out the top five are Yannig Loyer sailing J-OUT-OF-THE-BOX in fourth and Dr Ross skippering  ROCK & ROLL in fifth.

Next weekend is the final MDL Hamble Big Boat Championship weekend, as well as the third race day of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. Everyone is hoping the fine weather continues.   Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth  For more Garmin Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Challenging Sailing- AYC Fall Series

(Rye, NY)- At some point, the streak of three beautiful weekends of sailing on Long Island Sound was going to break.  However, no one expected it to be such a demanding two days of sailing for the final weekend of racing in this year's AYC Fall Series.  With a combination of variable light winds Saturday and Sunday it was anybody's guess as to what was going to be a successful strategy for the weekend.  Nevertheless, some boats faired much better than others.

Some boats got HUSTLERED in PHRF 4, some were confounded by a CONUNDRUM in J/105s.  Yet others were a DRAGON working on a WING and a PATRIOTic prayer in IRC 3.  A GOLD DIGGER named MAXINE was up to the CHALLENGE, but a RESOLUTE VAMP named BEAGLE got all the GLORY in the J/44s.  ANDIAMO had to say "BRAVO" for an admirable, debut performance in PHRF 1.  In the J/109s, SKOOT was not so RELIANT on her STRATEGERY in every race; but NORDLY's BLUE SKY proposition to be the BIG BOAT was not received favorably by others. Then, in the J/105s it appears that CONUNDRUM was intent on confounding KINCSEM with an ECLIPSE.  But it was apparent the real REVELATION was that LOU LOU didn't have the GUMPTION during the MORNING GLORY of Sunday to SHAKEDOWN PLANET CLAIRE.  Perhaps the most JADED with their heads mostly in the STRATOSphere was GHOST DOG who was walking in CIRCLEs with BAD MEDICINE after having their eggs SUNNYSIDE UP!  All editorial lampooning and kidding aside, here's what did happen in these various fleets this past weekend. :)

The J Teams were well-represented across the spectrum of one-design sailing and IRC/ PHRF Handicap racing with a total of 102 boats sailing. In the one-design world were big fleets of nine J/44s, eight J/109s, twenty-one J/105s and six J/80s.  In the handicap arena, the J/122s, J/133 raced in IRC 3 while J/111s sailed PHRF A and the J/70, J/29s and J/92 sailed PHRF 4.  All in all, fifty-six J's were sailing or about 55% of the total fleet, the overwhelming brand leader in the regatta!

The competition in IRC 40 was closely fought, but in the end it was Andrew Weiss' family team aboard the J/122 CHRISTOPHER DRAGON that started in first and never relinquished their lead, winning with six 1sts and one 2nd for a net 6 pts overall!  Giving them run for the money but seemingly just off the pace tactically was the beautiful J/122 WINGS sailed by Mike Bruno, managing 16 pts net, sufficient for second place in class.  Fourth was Steve Furnary's PATRIOT with 24 pts net.  Sixth was Ron Richman's J/133 offshore champion ANTIDOTE with 28 pts net.

In PHRF A, the J/111s led all teams home with Paul Strauch's ANDIAMO winning with five 1sts and two 2nd for 7 pts net.  They were followed home by the vastly improved BRAVO team led by Sedgwick Ward with two 1sts and five 2nds for 10 pts net!

In PHRF 4, the J/Teams dominated.  The infamous J/29 HUSTLER sailed by the Esposito family with John and Tony led the charge to the top of the fleet on the first day and never looked back, accumulating eight 1sts and one 2nd to crush their class with a perfect counting scoreline of simply 1sts.  Second was the J/92 HOUND DOG sailed by Christian Uecker with a total of 17 pts net.

In the one-design world, the J/44's had great sailing amongst the eight boats participating.  Jim Bishop's GOLD DIGGER got their "mojo" together for the first regatta in quite some time and pulled off a well-deserved victory in a tough fight for the top three overall between the DIGGER, MAXINE and CHALLENGE.  Second was Bill Ketcham's MAXINE with 16 pts net, just one point back from DIGGER.  Third was Jeff Willis' CHALLENGE IV with 17 pts net, nearly pulling off an upset victory overall had they won the second to last race.  Len Sitar's and AJ Evans' VAMP finished fourth, beating Don & Dick Rave's RESOLUTE that finished fifth on a tie-breaker "count-back".

The J/109s had a "runaway" after the first weekend with Jim Vos' SKOOT team (pictured above) compiling an impressive record for the regatta to win with just 18 pts net.  Matt Baker's RELIANT hung on strongly to secure second place after the first weekend and won a tie-breaker over Jack Forehand's STRATEGERY with both teams scoring 23 pts each.  Fourth was Bob Schwartz's NORDLYS and fifth was John Pearson's BLUE SKY.

J/105s had a huge turn-out for the AYC Fall Series, one of their best in years with twenty-one boats participating!  It also marked a subtle "changing of the guard" as a new sheriff showed up in town and ultimately walked off with all the silverware.  Third after the first weekend, Harald Edegran's and Jeremy Henderson's CONUNDRUM sailed a fleet-leading 1-3 on the last weekend to sew up their first major regatta win on Long Island Sound in J/105s. Next on the scoreline were two long-time J/105 class veterans.  Second was Joerg Esdorn's and Duncan Hennes' KINCSEM with 30 pts, narrowly beating Damian Emery's ECLIPSE with 32 pts.  Fourth was George and Alex Wilbanks' REVELATION and fifth was Paul Beaudin's LOULOU.

Finally, the J/80s also had a runaway with Gary Panariello's team on COURAGEOUS finishing with 11 pts net as a result of five 1sts and four 2nds!  Second was Dan Goldberg's FRIVOLOUS with 19 pts net and third was Mike Zupon's JUGGERNAUT.   For more American YC Fall Series sailing information   For AYC Fall Series scores