J/Teams Win IRC Double Class- Vuurschepen/ North Sea Races

(The Hague, Netherlands)- The start of the offshore sailing season in the Netherlands has been good to J/Teams!  With the combination of the Netherlands's Vuurschepen Race and the RORC's North Sea Race, two top J/Teams are on top of the offshore double-handed world! Many of the top teams from both sides of the "ditch" enter into the criss-cross races over the English Channel in May to not only get a head-start on the season, but ensure they're competitive for the overall RORC Season offshore championship series in both the UK and in the Netherlands.

The long weekend started with the Vuurschepenrace, part of the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta, a 100nm blast across the Channel from the Netherlands to Harwich, England.  After a day of rest in Harwich, England, the classes sail back across the English Channel in the 180 nm race from Harwich to the Smith's Knoll Buoy off the North Norfolk Coast then across the eastern parts of the North Sea to Scheveningen.

On the initial leg across to Harwich, the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER, sailed by the strong offshore duo of John van de Starre and Robin Verhoef from the Netherlands, managed a 4th overall in IRC Class, taking 2nd in the Double-handed Division.  Just behind them was the J/122 JUNIQUE sailed by Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker.

On the return leg to Scheveningen, it was a completely different story for all of the teams entered. The 210 nm race from Harwich to Scheveningen looked like it could be a fast sleigh ride across the North Sea. Fresh southwesterly winds with gusty rain squalls were predicted, which could produce an ideal angle for an exhilarating race.  Gusting over 25 knots with rain squalls, the early part of the race was not a comfortable one, but more settled weather in the latter part of the race with glimpse of sunshine coming through the cloud cover was welcomed by the 75 yachts that entered the race.

In the Two-Handed class the Dutch team of Chris Revelman and Pascal Bakker retained the class title racing J/122 JUNIQUE.  Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker's Dutch J/122 won the IRC Two Handed Class last year and the duo are back to defend their win. "It is looking like we will have a fast race," commented Chris Revelman. "However, we are not making any special changes because of the conditions. We will have a good meal tonight and plenty of rest, as during the race we will get little sleep and eat simple bread and soup. Our objective will be to win the race and it will be a big part of our build up for the highlight of the season, the Rolex Fastnet Race."  Their words could not have been more prophetic before the start of the race from Harwich back across the Channel to Scheveningen, the top two teams flip-flopped. This time the J/122 JUNIQUE took top honors and the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER was second in the IRC Double class. Remarkably, in IRC Two Class (including fully crewed boats), the J/122 was 5th overall and the J/111 6th!    For more Vuurschepen/ North Sea Race sailing information

J/111 SEGLING Test

(Marstrand, Sweden)- Recently, the largest Swedish sailing magazine, SEGLING, published a full-on test/ review of the J/111 with a team of experienced sailors led by Curt Gelin.

As reported by Peter Gustafsson, owner of J/11 BLUR.SE, "We had the test team out on a windy day last August and managed to put some smiles on their faces! Curt wrote the book "700 Tested Sailboats" - and I've never read such a passionate review!! They loved the boat."

Some quotable quotes:
- "Do you love speed and have 2 million kronor left over. Then, the J/111 might be the boat for you."
- "The lines are swanky, the speed amazing, and control direct and distinct."
- "The long sprit was introduced by J/Boats on the J/105 in 1991 (the world's first modern sprit production boat) and it offers fabulous control. We managed to broach anyway, because we laughed too much and trimmed to little, when the boat thundered away at 15-16 knots of boat speed!"

Please read more about the J/111 SEGLING Test here.   And, you may have fun checking out the SEGLING J/111 YouTube sailing video here.

J/111 Wins North Sea Regatta

(Scheveningen, Netherlands)- The Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta in Scheveningen had a brilliant start on Friday, May 25 under a clear blue sky with more than 250 yachts ready to go racing. The sailing conditions were perfect, although the strong, gusty northeasterly played many tricks on the sailors. With gusts up to 27 knots, there was a lot of damage to several boats-- sails torn, genakers and spinnakers blown out, big shots broke booms and blocks ripped off decks!  Yes, a lot of carnage on day one, but a lot of fun sailing for those who could handle the spectacular, sunny conditions.  However, the perfect conditions persisted for just one more day, with the last day being "fogged out" with little wind for any of the fleets.  In the end, John Van der Starre's J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER dominated IRC 2/3 Class.  In the J/22s, it was Kolleman Wouter's team that ran away with top honors.  And, in the J/24 class it was Erik Jeuring's team that also ran away with the gold.

For the first day on the IRC 2/3 course, the gang on the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER made it known they were going to be a factor in their twenty-one boat class, by far the largest and most competitive offshore class at the North Sea Regatta.  XCENTRIC's skipper John Van der Starre immediately led the team to two bullets today. Co-captain Robin Verhoef said, "We had some dangerous situations at times.  We hit 13-15 kts at times as we simply flew away from the rest of our fleet.  We practiced a lot in April at the SPI Ouest Regatta in La Trinite-sur-Mer and learned a lot. There we sailed one-design class and we learned how to be more competitive and much faster sailing against other J/111s.  We discovered the very subtle differences, e.g. in the settings of the mast and the boat and sails to extract maximum performance.  It helped us a lot!"

For the J/22 class, it was a day with more and less wind pressure across the course. In a field of eleven J/22's, Kolleman Wouter's team ran the table, getting two first places.  It was difficult sailing, especially because sometimes the waves came from all sides. "It was a sloshing wave," says Kolleman. "This increased the difficulty. We do like a lot of wind, so we had no problems. But because he always had massive changes in wind strength, you had a lot of pressure and then suddenly no pressure. Usually we sail on inland lakes, but we are quite used to power sailing."

After the first day of sailing, it was quite the festive closing.  Entertaining musical performances by the bands "Kissing the Girl" and the "Crazy Pianos" with great spinning of disks by "DJ Ruben" later in the evening.  The sailors played late into the night enjoying the beautiful weather and a festive atmosphere.

The second day of inshore races were characterized by nearly perfect sailing conditions.  There was less wind than the day before, so there was less damages too! During the day the wind averaged 5-15 kts and was very shifty.  For the offshore classes, the second day was traditionally an offshore course around the buoys.  But, with lighter wind conditions that could die-off, the RC decided to hold only inshore races around the buoys.

For IRC 2/3, the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER continued to dominate their class.  And in the one-designs, the J/22s saw Wouter's J/22 team rattle off a few more firsts to also consolidate their lead.  And, in the J/24 class, Erik Jeuring also posted some more firsts to extend their lead in their fleet.

One of the highlights of the second day was the J-Class RAINBOW visiting Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta.  This forty-meter classic sloop went sailing Sunday, May 27th with guests from the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta.

On the final day of sailing, the shores were dense with fog hanging over the Hague without a breath of wind, forcing the RC to cancel sailing for the day.  As a result, the regata results for the first two days that included seven races counted for the final results.  Congratulations go out to the J/22 team of Wouter and the J/24 team of Jeuring for near perfect scores, winning their classes by significant margins.  Congratulations also go out to a phenomenal performance by the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER team led by John Van de Starre and Robin Verhoef, winning the most competitive IRC division by a whopping 10.5 points, counting five 1sts in their scoreline.  Kudos also to the J/109 CAPTAIN JACK sailed by Bert Visser.  For more North Sea Regatta sailing information

J/111 Sailing Demo's

Oslo, Norway & Marstrand, Sweden
(Oslo, Norway)- From May through first part of June, the J/111 will be in Marstrand, Sweden for viewing and demos by Jan Nillson's Marstrand Yachts (and J/80s will be their for test sails, too).

On June 7 & 8, the J/111 will be on display for viewing in Oslo, Norway just prior to the start of the famous Ferder Race.

If you have an interest in seeing this remarkable offshore/ one-design speedster, please be sure to contact Jan at email- jan.nilsson@marstrandyachts.com.   For more J/111 sailing information