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.

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

Cowes Week Preview

(Cowes, IOW, England)- Since 1826 Cowes Week has played a key part in the British sporting summer calendar and is one of the UK's longest running and most successful sporting events. It now stages up to 40 daily races for around 1,000 boats and is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world.

This year, Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, as the event is now known, offers a great mix of competitive sailing and social activities from August 11th to 18th. The 8,500 competitors range from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors. In excess of 100,000 spectators come to watch the sailing, enjoy the parties and live entertainment, and to experience the unique atmosphere. It is genuinely a one-of-a-kind event.

Traditionally, Cowes Week takes place after Glorious Goodwood and before the Glorious Twelfth (the first day of the grouse shooting season) - occasionally the traditional dates are changed to ensure optimum racing, taking account of the tides. Over the years the event has attracted British and foreign royalty, and many famous faces.

The first race was for a Gold Cup of the Value of £100, held in 1826 for just seven yachts under the flag of the Royal Yacht Club (which later became the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1833). The next year King George IV indicated his approval of the event by presenting a cup (the King's Cup, presented at every subsequent event until 1939) to mark the occasion, and the event became known as Cowes Regatta. This was run as a three-day, then a four-day, event and quickly became part of the social calendar.

It was not until 1964 that, on the suggestion of HRH Prince Philip (a regular competitor and Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron), Cowes Combined Clubs was formed to run and organise the regatta. This body represented the seven clubs involved in managing the racing (Royal Yacht Squadron, Royal London Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Southampton Yacht Club, Royal Southern Yacht Club, Island Sailing Club and Royal Ocean Racing Club) and Cowes Town Regatta Committee. The Royal Yacht Squadron line became the universal start line and there was one set of sailing instructions and racing marks for the Week-- it was a brilliant suggestion by the Prince as since the regatta has mushroomed in popularity.

Over the course of time, J/Boats sailors have found the Cowes Week to their liking, enjoying the fabulous on-shore festivities along with the equally challenging sailing up and down the capricious tidal river known as "the Solent".  Participating in this year's events will be one-design fleets of J/109s and J/80s as well as fleets of J/111s, J/122s, J/97s sailing within various IRC classes.  Thirty-one of 180 IRC entries are J/Teams, about 17% of the fleet, quite a good show again and the dominant brand in IRC class sailing-- twice as many as Beneteau or X-Yachts participants in each brand!

Again leading the charge as biggest one-design keelboat fleet at Cowes are the twenty-five J/109s and what amounts to a changing of the guard amongst the top of the fleet will be in the making as last year's top boats are all gone.  Amongst the leaders could be ME JULIE (Dominique Monkhouse),  David Mcleman's OFFBEAT and the RAF Sailing Team on their familiar RED ARROW.  It will be an fascinating fleet to watch as the pecking order gets jumbled rapidly race to race!

The J/Sprit class may again include a selection of J/92, J/97 and J/105 designs. In 2011, there was keen competition for the top spot, the class winner being the J/92s J'RONIMO (David Greenhalgh & John Taylor) followed by Nick and Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE, third was Andy Howe & Annie Kelly's J/92 BLACKJACK.  All three competitors are sailing again and will have to contend with two top J/105s, NEILSON REDEYE (Pip & Pete Tyler) and KING LOUIE sailed by Fiona and Malcolm Thorpe.  Then, the rest of the fleet are no less intimidating, including several J/92s like WHO'S TO NO (Richard Sparrow), BOJANGLES (Richard Sainsbury), HULLABALOO (Andrew Dallas); and a gaggle of fast J/97s like MCFLY (Tony Mack), JACKAROO (Jim and Stephen Dick), JET (James Owen), the champion JIKA-JIKA (Mike & Jamie Holmes) and another champion FEVER GLENFIDDICH (Grant Gordon).

The J/80s recently had their J/80 Worlds in Dartmouth and, as expected, the run-up to that event would have an impact on the large twenty-four boat attendance the J/80s enjoyed last year.  This year it looks like there will be a competitive coterie of nine boats with some familiar top boats in the fray, including JAMMY DODGER, AQUA J and the RAF Sailors on SPITFIRE.

Sure to be a factor will be the six J/111s, starting with David & Kirsty Apthorp's new J/DREAM, winner of this year's IRC Class in the Round Island Race.  Then you have SHMOKING JOE (Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas- past IRC Class winners in the Round Island Race).  Newcomers include MOJITO from Hong Kong sailed by Simon & Michele Blore, previous owners of successful J/92s of the same name; DJINN from Belgium sailed by Sebastien de Liedekerke, a former J/109 owner; JEEZ LOUISE (James Arnell); and ICARUS sailed by Charles Rolls and Andrew Christie.  If the performance of the 111s in recent offshore events with any amount of breeze is indicative of the possible outcome in IRC2 Class, their friendly J competitors will have a tough time handling them.  Included in this group are the J/122s.

The four powerful J/122s JINJA (Ian Matthews), GHOST (Ken Lowes), THE SISTERHOOD (Susan Glenny), MINT JULEP and JOULOU (Ivan Trotman) will keep everyone honest and perhaps win a race or two and take a podium finish!

Two well-sailed J/133s- JUMP (Ian Dewhirst) and MADJUST (Richard Huges) have proven their capabilities to win races both around-the-cans and offshore may possibly end up in IRC1 or IRC2, in any event they will have their hands full as they strategize how to get around the Solent as cleverly as possible.  Sailing Photo Credits- Beken of Cowes/ Tim Wright-Photoaction.com. For more Cowes Week sailing information

The J-Cup 2012 Update

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- The J-Cup 2012 Driven by MIQ Logistics will be hosted at the Royal Southern Yacht Club, Hamble, Southampton from Thursday 26th July to Saturday 28th July. The regatta will also include the inaugural Lombard J/97 UK National Championship. Lombard’s continued support of the J/97 Class reflects their recognition of the fleet’s rapid growth in the UK and of the standard of competition within the class. The regatta will also welcome the return of the J/109 UK National Championship 2012 Supported by Sebago. Both Championships will be raced according to the One-Design Class Rules.

2012 will mark the eleventh J-Cup, an event that has grown in size beyond all reasonable expectation, both in terms of the number of competitors involved and also by reputation. All J Boat owners are invited to compete; the racing is first class and the shore-side socials are legendary. This year a SailRacer results service sponsored by Wight Vodka has been launched which will allow live race blogging and live results directly from the regatta committee. The service was used at the recent J/80 World Championship in Dartmouth and was a roaring success.

Competitors will arrive for registration on Wednesday with three races scheduled for both Thursday and Friday. The final two races will take place on Saturday, followed by an extravagant prize-giving evening at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton to mark the end of what will no doubt be another extremely successful few days of racing. Competitors will not only be racing to win their classes but there will also be special prizes on offer to recognize exceptional performances on the water.  For more J/Cup sailing information