Slow Start to Epic Key West Race Week

(Key West, FL)- The prognosticator “extraordinaires” of all things weather were, for one of those rare moments, remarkably accurate in their predictions for a light air day with next to no wind or just enough wind to make it happen.  As it turns out, the light southerlies driven by a “pancake flat” mini-High shadowing the Florida Keys and into the Straits of Florida that border Cuba to the south were enough to get two of the three race courses racing on the first day.

While Division 1 managed to sail two races on super-shortened courses (with breezes fluctuating wildly from 3.2 to 4.4 kts and swinging from 220 to 270 degrees), the other fleets on Division 2 and 3 had even less to contend with.  Neither the gradient breeze nor the sea-breeze  along the coast fully developed during the day.  The J/70 fleet with 62 boats strong sat around for 5+ hours on the water and the RC PRO wisely canceled racing for the day.  Nevertheless, there’s a fun blog being written by UK J/70 sailor Ian Atkins sailing “boats.com” with a number of his mates who’ve raced with him on the Solent off Cowes (read more here)

In the J/PHRF handicap world, it was the J/111s that were the class leaders in PHRF A, with Kirsten’s Robinson’s gang on TEAM FIREBALL from Annapolis/ Edgartown taking top honors followed by Rob & Ryan Ruhlman’s SPACEMAN SPIFF from Cleveland, OH.  Third was Jim Madden’s J/125 STARK RAVING MAD IV, a past Key West champion multiple times.  Last year’s class winners, Robin Team’s J/122 TEAMWORK took fifth overall (watch Robin’s pre-regatta interview here about sailing in “the J/Class fleet”).

For the rest of the week, most weather models are in agreement that Tuesday will see a building breeze for the rest of the week with plenty of sunshine.

Sailing photo credits- Ken Stanke/ kenstanek.com

For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

Another Epic Key West Sailing Forecast!

(Key West, FL)- This year’s Quantum Key West Race Week is gearing up for its trademark week of racing on the aquamarine waters off the coast of the Conch Republic. As the sailors make their way down the Florida Keys by air, water and land over the weekend, it looks like they will be greeted by either the tail feathers of another “polar vortex” spinning madly across America or they’ll be hammered by a “clipper system” ripping SSE across the continent spinning up all kinds of winds.  By Monday, the “good word” from the colorful Key West Chamber of Commerce is that sunny, benign weather will caress the fleet with near-perfect Caribbean-like conditions all week— some forecast!  Realistically, various weather forecast models (GFS, NAM, ECUWF) show 8-12 kts from NW to NE quadrants for Monday, Tuesday followed by increasing winds from the NW to NE in the 10 to 20 kts plus range from Wednesday to Friday’s closing day.

There will be nearly 130 boats sailing, but what’s different, like a lot different, about this year’s Key West is that J/Teams comprise two-thirds (66.0%) of the fleet with 85 J’s sailing.  In other words, Key West is now the de-facto “Winter J/Fest”!  That’s a good thing since the new regatta HQ at Kelly’s Caribbean Bar & Grill, situated on Caroline St between Whitehead St and the infamous Duval St will be over-run by members of the J/Tribe sailing J/70s, J/80s, J/88, J/109s, J/111s, J/122s, and J/125!

The PHRF fleets 1 & 2 will be sailing with a variation of Rod Johnstone’s J/PHRF ratings, meaning all J’s will be rated quite fairly against one another.  Robin Team (Lexington, N.C.) and the boys aboard the J/122 TEAMWORK will look to repeat in PHRF 1 while going against another J/122 and four J/111 designs in this incredibly competitive eight boat class.  In fact, the TEAMWORK gang may be in for the fight of their lives against the “rogue’s gallery” of J teams in the class, many whom have won Key West Divisions in the past.  For starters, Jim Madden’s J/125 STARK RAVING MAD will have an all-star team from San Diego, CA ensuring he’s going fast in the right direction.  Challenging them will be Rick Wesslund’s “new” EL OCASO, a J/122 that’s quite fast and no question will include many of his past Key West winning teams.

Joining the PHRF 1 class will be four J/111s, any one of which are capable of winning.  Consequently, they’re also the hardest to handicap as everyone continues to improve significantly.  FIREBALL’s crew will be led by tactician Kristen Robinson from Annapolis. Rob & Ryan Ruhlman from Cleveland, OH are back in Key West with their new SPACEMAN SPIFF (watch out, they improved dramatically at the J/111 NA’s in Chicago after taking delivery of the boat just 3 days beforehand!).  Brad Farber’s UTAH from Macatawa Bay YC has several Chicago-Mac winning crew aboard. And, three-time Key West participant and multiple podium finisher, Doug Curtiss, has the colorful WICKED 2.0 sailing with his champion Buzzards Bay crew aboard.

Rick Wesslund was a regular at Key West from 2004 to 2010 with his J/120 EL OCASO program and returns after a three-year hiatus with his newly-purchased J/122. "This is our debut regatta and we are really eager to put our best foot forward. We are cautiously optimistic, but know this will be a real good performance test for the boat. Robin has a terrific team and that is always a well-sailed boat so we will have to be on top of our game in order to win," said Wesslund, who earned the PHRF Boat of the Week honor in 2006.   Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal Photos and Tim Wilkes.com Photos.

For Key West sailing video entertainment, look at this beautifully produced summary from Chris Odom @ Chris Odom Photos- nice sequences of J/70s, J/80s, J/109, J/111, J/44, J/122 in the 3-minute clip.   For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

J/111 Sleighride Down To Key West

(Ft Lauderdale, FL)- This year's Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race certainly lived up to the pre-race caveat of "Be Prepared."  The light VMG running of the past couple of years was a distant memory, as a stout northwesterly that built overnight and brought the fleet down and around the curve in rapid fashion, but made them work hard for the quick trip. When they reached the island, a slew of familiar names graced the top of the leader board.

In PHRF A Class, the heralded duel between Robin Team’s J/122 TEAMWORK, a past class and overall champion in the race, and Eddie Frederick’s J/111 FIREBALL lived up to expectations.  Their class encountered fast-reaching conditions for the first half of the race and, after turning past the “elbow” of the Keys, the sailing turned into somewhat of a reach/ power-beat waterline adventure for the latter half.

Initially, the FIREBALL gang loved the fast reaching in the beginning, however, as the race wore on the experienced TEAMWORK crew ground away to finish just 13 minutes in front but not enough to beat their stablemates on FIREBALL on handicap.  Consequently, FIREBALL took corrected honors with this match-up by just 2+ minutes and grabbing the silverware for 3rd overall.  TEAMWORK settled for fourth in class.  Sailing Photo credits- John Payne.  For the SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West Facebook page   For more SORC Ft Lauderdale Key West sailing information

Grevelingen Cup Report

(Marina Port Zelande, Netherlands)- This year’s Grevelingen Cup saw over 200 competitors participate across multiple classes in both ORC handicap racing as well as one-design classes.  Enjoying a strong turnout this year was the Benelux J/80 fleet sailing both in the Cup as well as sailing their J/80 Benelux Nationals.

The sailors were greeted with a real mixed bag of weather conditions that were very “un-fall like”.  Instead of fast-moving fronts bringing broken clouds, sun, plenty of wind and occasional rain showers (which is quite typical), the fleet was instead having to fight fog, gentle breezes and light air patches.  On Saturday the clouds did break up enough for a nice sea-breeze to fill in behind the fog.  Sunday was even more challenging as it was generally overcast and by later in the afternoon the wind simply quit.

The ORC world saw a number of Dutch offshore J/Teams sailing well.  GGPM Van Beers’s J/122 JAM SESSION took second overall while H Zwijnenburg’s J/111 SWEENY took fourth in their class.   For more Grevelingen Cup sailing information

J-DREAM Crowned J/111 Hamble Winter Series Champ!

(Hamble, England)-  For the last and final round of races for the Garmin Hamble Winter Series, the standings saw little change from the weekend before.  Some of the boats that had dominated throughout the series affirmed their overall leads and a few others that had their sights set on podium finishes actually managed to pull them off.

In IRC 0, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J/111 J-DREAM continued their consistent series and maintained their solid record with a 5th this past weekend to hang on to their third overall in class as well as their gold position in the J/111 one-design class overall.  Some of the spoilers to the party on the last weekend were the arrival of Cornell Riklin’s J/111 JITTERBUG and David Ballantyne’s J/122 JINGS!, each taking a 3rd and 4th respectively in the final race.

Finally, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM were leading the J/111 class after the halfway point and never looked back, taking top honors for the series.  By virtue of winning the last race, Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBUG leapt into second overall while  Andrew Christie’s ICARUS placed third overall in class.  For sailing photo credits-  Paul Wyeth Pictures.  For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

Hamble Winter Series- Weekend VII

(Hamble, England)-  The penultimate weekend of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series saw a chilly and gusty breeze that shifted regularly between 002 and 022 degrees, demanding frequent tacks and rewarding tacticians with their heads out of the boat. Despite only reaching 18 knots, the wind was gusty enough to keep trimmers on their toes.

In some classes, boats that have been dominant throughout the series consolidated their overall lead, despite not topping the fleet in Sunday’s race.  In IRC 0, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J/111 J-DREAM continued to sail a consistent series in their class and maintained their strong record with a 3rd this past weekend to hold on to their bronze podium position as well as their gold position in the J/111 one-design class overall.


Finally, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J-DREAM are leading the J/111 class, ahead of Andrew Christie’s ICARUS in second and Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBUG in third.

Prizes were generously provided by Driver’s Dry Berthing at a prize-giving back in the Hamble River Sailing Club club house. See you next week on the water for one more race! Thanks for the contributions from Ben Meakins.  For sailing photo credits-  Paul Wyeth Pictures   For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information

J/111 Worlds & European Circuit Announcement!

(Cowes, IOW, England)- The European J/111 circuit is shaping up to be an exciting season for 111 sailors from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean and from Italy to Ireland!  There are events taking place on the Mediterranean as well as in “classic” sailing ports along the North Sea and the Channel, all leading up to the first J/111 World Championships to take place in the famous waters of the Solent and hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron off Cowes, England from August 20th to 24th!

Teams from Northern Europe as well as the Mediterranean can look forward to early season warm-up regattas that include Vice Admirals Cup, North Sea Regatta, Normandy Week and Giraglia Rolex Cup prior to the J/111 Europeans being hosted in 2014 in conjunction with the massively popular Cowes Week event in early August.  The Europeans will serve as a “Pre-Worlds” for the 111 teams participating in J/111 Worlds two weeks later.  Below is the schedule for the major J/111 events in the 2014 J/111 European Circuit:

• May 9-12- Vice Admirals Cup- Cowes, England
• Jun 6-9- North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands
• Jun 9—15- Normandy Week- Le Havre, France
• Jun 14-22- Giraglia Rolex Cup- St Tropez, France & San Remo, Italy
• Aug 2-5- J/111 European Championships- Cowes, England
• Aug 20-24- J/111 World Championships- Royal Yacht Squadron- Cowes, England
• September- Benelux J/111 Regatta- Breskens, Netherlands
• October- Tour de Corse- Bonifacio, Italy

For more J/111 Class sailing information, charter boat information, please contact J/Composites (jcomposites.eu) or J/Boats- ph# 401-846-8410.