J/Class @ Key West Race Week

(Key West, FL)- The 2013 Quantum Key West Race Week running from January 20th to 25th, 2013 will again feature the popular PHRF J/Class for enthusiastic J/109, J/111, J/120, J/122, J/124, J/125 and J/133 owners.  This past year's edition proved to be a fun, competitive class.  The unique feature of the J/Class is having Rod Johnstone and a knowledgeable PHRF rating committee ensure that Time-on-Time handicaps are applied fairly, ensuring that all J/Owners have an equitable shot at placing well in any given race and for the overall regatta.

In fact, in the 2012 PHRF J/Class the top three boats, the J/122 TEAMWORK, the J/109 RUSH and the J/111 MENTAL all won races over the course of ten races in five days! It was awesome sailing and it emphasized near one-design sailing consistency to finish in the top five-- incredibly fun sailing in conditions that ranged from 17-23 kts on the first day to 5-8 kts towards the end of the week.  Long-time Key West veterans Robin Team and Bill Sweetser both agreed it was the best handicap fleet sailing they've ever experienced!  “We come down here to Key West to get the best competition we can find and boy did we this year,” Team said. “We could not believe how close the racing was in this class. Tres Hombres, Mental and Rush were all very well-sailed and pushed us from start to finish.” It was a particularly special experience for Robin since he had brother Adam and two sons Alston and Coleman aboard!

Come on down, bring the family and friends and join the fun! The J/70 sailed by Kerry Klingler and Rick Lyall from Connecticut (for J/70 One-Designs) and the J/124 STILL MESSIN, Adam Esselman from Charlevoix, Michigan (for the J/Class) are already entered and can't wait to go! Many of the same J/109s, J/111s and J/122s will be returning again for more fun in the Florida winter sun! State your intentions now, just enter your boat-- no need to send in the entry fee until December!   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com  For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

J's Sail Fast, Epic Swiftsure Race

J/109s Crush Juan de Fuca, J/80s Win Inshore
(Victoria, BC)-  This year's running of the "Swiftsure" was another epic, challenging race, with all types of weather thrown at the sailors as they criss-crossed the Straits of Juan de Fuca seeking advantage over their fellow competitors.  For many the race really starts once they past "Race Rocks", a symbolic, but not official mark of the course. The iconic black and white stripped lighthouse is the divide between the Juan de Fuca strait and the coastal waters off Victoria and it’s where the true strategy and tactics of Swiftsure begin. The sailors then face open ocean swells, stronger currents, and hopefully, more wind. On the return trip back to Victoria, Race Rocks is the “almost there” point when the city lights of Victoria come into view.

Unusually, the weather conditions were close to what the Canadian weather services were predicting-- a steady wind filling in from the West with a high-wind warning for the Strait of Juan de Fuca with winds in excess of 25-35 knots overnight.  Remarkably, they got this forecast and more, some sailors reporting gusts to 40 knots and breaking waves.

The race started off nicely enough, sunny, light winds, with the current pushing the fleet towards the first turning point, Race Rocks.  Thereafter, with a strong ebb, the top teams sailed upwind into the Northwesterly breeze playing large shifts and staying in the middle of the Straits to take advantage of a strong ebb current pushing the fleet to their faraway turning marks.  Most of the fleet ended up on the western shore about halfway up the Olympic Peninsula (that wild place where the famous "Sasquatch" man/animal lives).  By midnight, most of the fleet in the Straits were sailing in 20+ knots of breeze and by morning many were sailing downwind under spinnakers flying down the waves and trying to avoid a massive broach or "sending it down the mine" in a submariner's dive into the trough ahead.

In the classic Swiftsure Race division that goes out of the Straits of Juan de Fuca for 139 nm- the 24 boats participating from the start to Swiftsure Bank and return had to beat the "wind shutdown" that often happens at the opening of the Straits.  The big boats made it, the small boats didn't.  In the end, the gorgeous J/160 JAM sailed by John McPhail finished 5th in Class I and 6th overall.  And the speedy lightweight flyer, the J/125 WARRIOR skippered by Greg Constable finished 2nd in Class 2 and 8th overall!

The popular Cape Flattery Race division that goes for 103 nm had 75 boats going from the start to Neah Bay and return.  In the Unlimited Class, the J/145 DOUBLE TAKE sailed by Tom Huseby (his second J/145!) finished 3rd in class and was not far behind the leaders for the top of the podium.

The successfully campaigned J/122 ANAM CARA (Tom Kelly- from Portland YC in Oregon) sailed an incredibly good Cape Flattery Race despite breaking their boom in a 40 knot gust and gybe-broach downwind in the Straits with all the laundry flying!  Reports Bob Ross who was a crew member aboard ANAM CARA, "we were winning our class boat-for-boat and on corrected time with about 40nm to go to the finish, when we tried to do an 'inside gybe' on the A3 spinnaker down big waves and a big puff.  Broke our boom and broached.  Not a good idea.  It took awhile to wrestle in the mainsail after taking down the chute.  We proceeded in under a smaller chute and jib to the finish-- quite an amazing and unexpected outcome to get 2nd in Class and 2nd Overall!"  Always a top contender in class, and past winner, was the J/120 TIME BANDIT (Robert Brunius), sailing a great race to finish 4th in class and 6th overall.  Sailing in their inaugural offshore race was the new J/111 ADALGISA (Lynn Adkins), sailing to a 5th in class and 11th overall!

In the Cape Flattery Heavy division, the J/46 RIVA sailed by Scott Campbell sailed a great race and managed to finish 2nd in class and 4th overall.  Just behind them was the J/37 FUTURE PRIMITIVE sailed by Ron Mackenszie getting a 4th in class and 6th in fleet.

The Juan de Fuca Race division that goes for 80 nm had 44 boats sailing from the start to Clallam Bay and return to the finish off Victoria's waterfront.  The J/109 teams simply cleaned house.  Winner in class and overall in the Juan de Fuca Heavy Division was DIVA (Jim Prentice) followed in second by TIPPY (Peter McComb) and 4th was JEOPARDY (Ed Pinkham).

In the Inshore Racing along the waterfront, the much vaunted battle between SWISH and JOYRIDE, a pair of J/80's, saw SWISH beating JOYRIDE by just under a minute on a 22 nm course with a wind ranging from 3 to 10 knots all day long.  Elapsed time for this pair was about 5 hours and 10 minutes.  As a result, in the Battle of the Sexes, Commodores (men) vs. Commodores Wives (women), the boys prevailed.  Congratulations to the Commodores from Royal Victoria Yacht Club (Jeremy Smith), Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (Guy Walters) and Seattle Yacht Club (Chuck Lowry) that raced SWISH.  And, "good on ya gals" to their wives- Tara Smith, Barbara Picton and Pam Lowry that raced JOYRIDE to a solid second in the large class of competitors!  For more Swiftsure Race sailing information on Facebook   For more Swiftsure Race sailing information

J's Double-Down Spinnaker Cup Race

J/125 & J/111 Surf To Victory
(Monterrey, CA)- Each year, the San Francisco YC and the Monterrey Point YC host what has turned out to be a fun, classic NoCal/SoCal style race.  This one has a twist since you gotta beat upwind out of the the Bay, out under the Golden Gate before you turn left and hopefully take a sleigh-ride downwind in mountainous Pacific swells rolling down the coast to Monterrey.

Friday’s annual kick-off to the Memorial Day Weekend started just about 11:00 AM off the Knox Point area of Angel Island. The 90 NM downhill jaunt to Monterey featured a fleet of 44 boats ranging from 24 to 78 footers. Cool and overcast at the start, the front which brought late season rain to the SF Bay Area exited just as the fleet exited the Bay and made their way south along Ocean Beach. Aided by the beginnings of an building ebb, and the clocking wind, switching from jibs to reachers and then chutes began just south of "Montara".  Winds continued to shift aft and by "Ano Nuevo" the pressure began to increase and the fun meters started pegging and the grins got bigger and bigger. As opposed to more recent Spinnaker Cups, the Ride across Monterey Bay was a fast one for the majority of the fleet with breeze on until just off the finish.

Andy Costello's J/125 DOUBLE TROUBLE doubled down and won the Spinnaker Cup Race to Monterrey- Overall and Class A. Frank Slootman's J/111 INVISIBLE HAND smoked down the course and won Class C and was 3rd overall-- not bad for their second offshore race!

Andy offers his insights sailing his J/125: "Well, we have been prepping the boat hard for Transpac so it was so nice just to go sailing. We went into SpinCup as more of a practice for big race in July. We may have compromised the over all win as we tested different sails working on cross overs so to come out with a Class win is awesome. The boat,electronics and crew all performed well.  We had a blast the last 30 miles and across Monterey Bay we really never dropped boat speed below 16 knots and had some blasts up to 20 knots!  The sea state was very flat with not much swell so no super high speeds, just good consistent bust speed.  Thanks to my crew for another awesome race. Trevor Baylis, Patrick Whitmarsh, Mark Breen, Gilles Combrusson from GC Marine and Peter King (who came along to dial in all the nV software and instruments).

Frank Slootman offers his perspectives sailing the J/111: "It's about 90 nautical miles down the coast, but the first 3 hours are beating out the gate and then fetching with a head sail, gradually allowing for an hour or so of code zero up. Conditions all the while around 9-11 kts of breeze. Wind built gradually to mid teens and aft of the beam, and last 4 hours we had 20-24 kts of breeze, and we were gybing back and forth from Santa Cruz to Monterey.  Epic sailing down wind across Monterey Bay, mid-teen speeds, peaking at 17-18 with 20-24 kts of breeze.  Apparent wind pretty much right on the beam in these conditions. Before dark we switched from the A2 to the A4, which was very much needed. We were hitting sustained mid teens, peaks of 17 and 18 kts at the time.  We caught all boats ahead of us in our class those last 2-3 hours. The 111 lights-up pretty good in these conditions, just "nuking" down the course. Nothing broke, boat felt nice and stiff.  We did get to the edge of conditions where we can carry the big kite. This regatta is a classic in the Bay Area. Our division had half the boats in the entire fleet in it, so it sure raised some eye brows to see this boat in its first attempt grab a bullet. I think the boat is aptly named as other sailors kept saying "you guys were coming out of no where".

Of note was the fact that Bob Johnson's J/92 RAGTIME! sailed a nice race to get 7th in Class C and 15th overall behind Frank's J/111.  Also, special mention must be made of Jim Brainard's J/35c BRAINWAVE, winning not only the Double-handed IRC Class, but finishing 19th in fleet in a "cruising J", beating some famous offshore SoCal/ NoCal "sleds" and ULDB's along the way!! Thanks to contributions by Erik Simonson- http://www.pressure-drop.us.   Sailing photos by H2oshots.com- http://www.h2oshots.com
For Spinnaker Cup sailing results

  

Strong J Fleet Blasting to Ensenada

(Newport Beach, CA- April 15-17)- A West Coast classic, a 125.5 nm overnight race that provides the perfect mix of fun and adventure as racers decide whether to head off-shore for stronger winds or to sail the rhumb line towards the finish. With over 50 trophy categories and numerous classes the opportunity to "take home the silver" makes this race appealing to all levels of participants. Whether you are a first-time racer or an experienced pro, this one is for you.

The race is sandwiched between some really fun events – something that all sailors like. Enjoy the "Send-Off" Fiesta at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club the night before the race, a long-standing traditional that must be experienced to be believed. The post-race party atmosphere Saturday and Sunday at Race Headquarters, the Bahia Hotel in Ensenada, will definitely make you smile. Plus, a lucky raffle winner will get to ride around in the new Tesla Motors all-electric Roadster for the whole bloody weekend!! By Sunday afternoon, the city of Ensenada pulls out all of the stops and puts on a huge fiesta for racers, crew, family and friends. In the courtyard of the Bahia Hotel, the music rocks, food and drink flows and everyone parties to all hours of the night.  Most importantly, get your picture taken riding the burros! A Kodak moment to memorialize for your Facebook pals you actually went there to race, not to party.

Amongst the 175 entries is a large and strong contingent of J sailors.  Perhaps leading the charge down the coast for the J/Fleet will be the four "superfast" J's in Sprit A class.  Never to shy away from a fun challenge is perennial front-runner Tom Holthus on his well-campaigned, TransPac winning J/145 BAD PAK from San Diego YC.  Yet another J/145 vying for honors will be Santa Barbara YC's team of Poppe/ Parks sailing with a good crew aboard SEQUOYAH.  Nipping at their heels like a mad dog with a bone in its teeth will be Mark Surber's J/125 DERIVATIVE from CORYC.  Cruising in serious comfort and giving all these J "sleds" a case of anxiety attacks (depending on conditions, of course) will be Paul Marais's gorgeous J/160 INDIGO from SYC-LB.  And, just to keep these trophy-hunters honest will be a J/130 sailed by yet another good crew from Santa Barbara YC, Chuck Browning and gang aboard BEBE.

Leading the charge in Sprit B class will be two J/120s, BARAKA sailed by Janet Mostafa from Balboa YC and FEE EVENT raced by Chuck Wert from BCYC.  Along with them will be two J/105s, ROCINANTE's Juan Lois from SBYRC and LUCKY STAR's Mark Wyland from ALYC.  Spread across other parts of the PHRF classes are the following:  Seth Hall's J/124 MARISOL from CYA, Larry Leveille's J/29 RUSH STREET (last year's Kings Harbor Race Winner) from Santa Barbara YC and Tom Lehtonen's J/30 EGGEMOGIN from SBYRC.  Any one of these boats has the ability to upset the proverbial "apple cart" for the big boys-- won't be the first time a J/29 or J/30 has spoiled the party.   For more Ensenda Race sailing information