J-Cup Back To Hamble!

(Hamble, England)- The J-Cup 2014 will be hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble, the heart of sailing on the Solent. Racing takes place from Thursday 24th until Saturday 26th July, with registration on Wednesday 23rd.

The J-Cup is the only regatta in the U.K. exclusively for J-Boats and all models are eligible to compete. One-design racing will be available for almost everybody, including the exciting new J/70 class, and a rapidly expanding J/97 fleet. Fans of the brand will also be delighted to see a small number of J/88s out for the first time, following the model's launch at the end of last year. The vast J/109 fleet will no doubt be looking for another close competition after 2013's nail-biting series.

With the event returning to its home turf, competitor numbers are expected to exceed 400. The teams will sail eight races across the three days, with live music and themed suppers available in the event marquee each night. New for 2014, the Club will host a “party on the pier” each afternoon, offering a cash bar and hot snacks for sailors as they come off the water. The final prize-giving will take place in the marquee, with live music keeping the revellers entertained until the wee hours.

As ever we are thrilled to have the support of a number of fantastic sponsors this year, including SLAM, North Sails, Grapefruit Graphics, Lombard, Peters & May and Solent Marine Surveys. Harken have also joined us as official hardware supplier of the event. This support means some of the best value entertainment on offer, as well as a mountain of prizes!   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com   For more J/Cup Regatta information, please contact Gemma Dunn at email- Gemma@keyyachting.com.  J/Boat owners can enter online here.

The B&G J-Cup Enjoys Dramatic Finale

(Plymouth, England)- With gusts close to 20 knots ripping through the race area in Plymouth Sound, the final day of the B&G J-Cup 2013, produced some ballistic action for the forty-five J/Teams that were in attendance. Hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club, the J-Cup was also the venue for the Lifedge J/109 UK National Championship and the 2013 edition produced the closest finish in the 10 year history of the event. It was a fitting end to another fabulous weekend of sailing-- the sailors enjoyed near-perfect sailing conditions for most of the regatta, closing with an epic final day of sailing.

Day One Report:
The first day of racing could best be described as the "Champagne Opener".  A building sea breeze, topping out at 15 knots provided great sailing for the 300+ sailors that competed in four races, inside and outside of the Plymouth Breakwater. With several one designs taking to the race course, there was plenty of thrilling boat-on-boat action.

Tony Mack's McFly produced the goods on the first day, scoring three bullets in the J/111 fleet but Jamie Arnell's J/111, Jeez-Louise, which won the J/111 Class at Cowes Week, led IRC 1 at the J-Cup.

“We weren't very consistent today but we were bloody determined and we made up very well from poor positions, especially downwind.” said Jamie Arnell. “The crew work today was excellent, typified by the penultimate mark in the last race. It was a spinnaker drop to harden up with a lot of tide and the maneuver went like clockwork, super-fast, that gave us that few vital seconds but tomorrow we will need to improve if we are to succeed. Well done to Tony (Mack), he has had a bit of bad luck at Cowes Week and the European Championship, so it was great to see him score so well today.”

Day Two Report:
Day two was perhaps the trickiest day for sailing on Plymouth Sound. In stark contrast to the previous day's sublime sailing conditions, racing was delayed by lack of breeze.  Eventually, everyone got underway in the early afternoon, once a light and just race-able breeze stabilized. All classes got one good race in but the second was abandoned, as light rain killed off the gradient wind completely.

Jamie Arnell's J/111, Jeez-Louise continued to excel in IRC One, winning the day's race to open up a three point margin at the top of the leader board. Tony Mack's J/111, McFly wasn't far behind and with one more day to go, McFly could still catch Jeez-Louise. IRC Class One is likely to be won by one of these two yachts. However, there was a close battle for third place. David & Kirsty Apthorp's J/111, J Dream was lying third but four other J-Boats were still in the hunt for third place; Martin Miller's J/111, Velvet Elvis, Ian Dewhurst's J/133, Jump, Richard Barnes' J/111, Biela Munkenbeck and Jackie & Robert Dobson's J/133, Jeronimo.

Day Three Report:
The final day of racing was filled with drama, with lots of anxiety faced by tacticians on how best to handle their blood-thirsty competitors in the 15-20+ kts of big breeze and big seas.

In IRC One, Jamie Arnell's J/111, Jeez-Louise finished the regatta in style, winning the last race to take the class title from Tony Mack 's, J/111, McFly. Jackie and Robert Dobson's J/133, Jeronimo reveled in the big breeze winning race seven and finished third in class.

The official prize-giving was held at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth with a fine buffet supper celebrating the B&G J-Cup 2013. Surrounded by the UK's biggest collection of marine life, the regatta came to a close and the organisers are not aware of anyone ending up in the shark pool!  The organisers would like to thank the principle sponsors of the regatta; B&G, Fusion, North Sails, Fastnet, and Grapefruit Graphics. Thanks also to our supporting sponsors SLAM, Peters & May, Lombard, RS Divers, Ocean Safety, Lifedge and Harken.  Thanks for story contribution from Louay Habib.  J/Cup sailing video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9obIieub90w    Sailing photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com    For more B&G J/Cup Regatta 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