J/111 JATO Enjoying SoCal Midwinter Breezes

(Marina del Rey, CA)- As one of the first racing series of the Southern California midwinter sailing events, the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey starts off the New Year  with their Berger Series for PHRF racing in SoCal.  It is a five-race event and is the premier distance, day-time series in Marina del Rey, culminating with a race to their Catalina Island Harbor facility and returning to Marina del Rey (yes, that beautiful, massive 10,000+ boat marina just north of LAX airport.

So far, several J/Teams are loving the sunshine and moderate breezes (if not a bit light) and are leading their divisions.  The PHRF A divisions sees three J's all in a row together in the top ten with the J/125 TIMESHAVER sailed by Viggo Torbenson in 8th, followed by the J/111 JATO skippered by the Webster & Moorehead team in 9th and Joe Simpkin's J/124 FORGIVENESS in 10th.

The next two events are the Santa Monica Bay Race- Saturday, March 2nd and then the finale, the Pt Dume Race- Saturday, May 4th.  For more Del Rey YC Berger Series sailing information

J/111 in Capetown Mid-Summer Fling!

(Capetown, South Africa)- While those north of the Equator are still fighting old Mother Winter, the intrepid sailors of Capetown are having a ball sailing in balmy breezes and slightly "cool" waters-- the stuff Great White Sharks love to swim in chasing yummy brown seals!  Yikes!  Even though the infamous Shark Island is just offshore with various Great Whites leaping 10-15 ft into the air while vying for their "aerial shark world chumping-ship", the sailors are blissfully ignorant about it and go their separate ways, planing down massively long slopes of fast-moving South Atlantic storm swells at a zillion miles per hour!

Having great fun in the Royal Cape YC's Mid-Summer Fling Regatta was the new J/111 TENACITY sailed by Erol Stern and Rob Meek.  With their magnificent "purple people eater" asymmetric spinnaker straining hard at the end of its dyneema "leash", the TENACITY gang certainly had their fair share of full-on screaming planes down the huge swells in the high teens!  In the end, their team managed to pull off a third overall in IRC Division I!  A bit off the pace but having just as much fun was the J/105 PANTS ON FIRE sailed by Dwayne Assis and Paul Thompson, managed a third in the final and extremely windy last race-- gusts over 30 kts!!

If you're ever down in the South African region, be sure to stop by the Royal Cape YC in the shadows of the enchanting Table Mountain.  The Club hosts important sailing events including South Africa's premier keelboat regattas. The Cape to Rio and South Atlantic Races have been hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club since inception in 1971. Other international events have included the Whitbread Race, the BT Global Challenge, The BOC Around Alone Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Hong Kong Challenge, to name but a few. Down the centuries, the Southern tip of the African continent, has extended a welcome to seafarers, gaining for the city and the RCYC the soubriquet- "The Tavern of the Seas"!!  Sailing Photo Credits- Onne Vanderal.com.    For more Capetown Mid-Summer Fling sailing information

J/111s Enjoy Windy Primo Cup Monaco

(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- “It’s been a long time since I had so much fun on the water” said a competitor at the Primo Cup – Trophée Credit Suisse about their full weekend of racing on the water in "fresh to frightening" breeze conditions, rather epic 4-8 ft Mediterranean seas sweeping into the bay and the mountainous principality swept by a combination of snow flurries and sun-kissed by the soft winter Mediterranean sun.

Monaco’s bay again delivered a varied regatta full of surprises. From bright blue skies on Friday to the scattering of snow on Saturday, not to mention the tail end of a Mistral, the weather conditions delighted the IRCs and the one-design fleets.

Even though conditions were not quite good enough to race on the Sunday, due to the centre of a depression in the Gulf of Genoa changing tack, five very enjoyable races were started over this second weekend compared to six last weekend.  With fourteen nationalities present and a high level of competition, the Primo Cup – Trophée Credit Suisse confirmed its demanding reputation and quality for all yachts and hundreds of sailors.

A special note must also be made that makes the Primo Cup – Trophée Credit Suisse unique in its prize-giving for regattas around the world-- Credit Suisse Bank, appropriately enough, offers a 24 carat 99.999% Gold 1 oz. ingot to the winner of a drawing amongst the winners (a 1 in 6 chance)!!  Plus, Slam Advanced Technology Sportswear is awarded to the top three in IRC Class.

The first day of sailing was fabulous.  It started with a steady 10 knots south-westerly wind, with beaming sunshine and calm sea, reaching 30 knots by the end of the day.  Three races were started for the J/70s while the IRC class sailed two races.

For the second day of the regattas, the early starts of the morning saw spring sailing conditions.  Then the weather Gods got a bit chaotic!  Later races were replaced by snow falls and wind gusts reaching up to 20 - 25 knots of wind towards the end of the races, challenging the nerves and physical skills of the racing crews on their last legs.  Two races were completed Saturday, allowing the Race Committee to count five races in total for the J/70 one-designs and four for the IRCs.

In the IRCs, the J/111s were sailing against 14 boats in a massively competitive fleet. Loving the conditions was the J/111 ESPRIT SUD sailed by Thierry Bouchard, finishing a well-deserved 4th place overall with a 7-5-3-3 scoreline and only missing the podium bronze by just two points.  The other J/111, MERLIN sailed by Michel Buffet and Gilles Conte, finished in the top ten by gathering a record of 9-6-10-8 to finish 8th overall.

In the meantime, the YCM will soon host from 8th to 10th March 2013, a new Team Racing event in J/24s as well as the J/24 European Championship, organized from the 6th to 12th October 2013.

Sailing photo credits- YCM/ Carlo Borlenghi.  For more Yacht Club Monaco and Primo Cup- Credit Suisse sailing information

J/111 Owners Simply Love Their Boats!

(Chester, Nova Scotia)- Recently, we received a wonderful note from a long-time Canadian J/24 sailor from the past- Dave Connolly.  He just started sailing his new J/111 STAMPEDER this past 2012 summer in Chester, Nova Scotia at Chester Yacht Club.  Dave had this to say,

"We sailed a J/24 out of Toronto in the early 80's and I ran the Canadian J/24 Class association for several years. In 1986, I was moved to Calgary where there is really no water so we sold the boat and essentially gave up sailing!  When I decided to retire early last year, one of the first things I did was order a boat through Jim Snair to get back into racing at our summer home in Nova Scotia.  We love the boat!  Our only complaint is that there aren't more J/111's in Nova Scotia.  It's great competitive sailing though with PHRF."  Here's a picture of them sailing and their happy, young crew!

J/111 One-Design @ Cowes Week

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, the world’s best-known sailing regatta, taking place from 3rd to 10th August have announced a radical departure with the traditional Cowes Week racing- cool one-design racing in really fun boats!

In the "Monty Python tradition", upsetting and calling into question the status quo is nothing new for the "J" Team.  Two new J classes have been introduced to this year’s Cowes Week regatta. The rapidly growing J/70 fleet will have its own start this year and will have a race format of two races a day for the first four days.  There will also be a dedicated class for the increasing number of J/111s coming to Cowes, allowing the exciting 36ft performance boats to enjoy some close one-design racing during the Week. The event concludes the J/111 European Circuit that will have commenced with the SPI OUEST France Regatta in the famous Brittany seaport of La Trinite sur Mer in April.   For more Cowes Week sailing information

LAKE EFFECT Leads J/111s @ Key West

(Key West, FL)- While there were lots of little boats blazing around like busy bees on the waters off Key West, the majestic beauty of the "big boats" was quite a sight to behold. This year, the big J's all sailed on the Division 3 course, the easternmost course for Quantum Key West and perhaps one of the best sailing areas due to less current and flatter waters with minimal boat traffic to worry about.

For the to four places, it might as well have been watching the local Key West roosters engaging in a classic "cock fight" on the street.  As a veteran Key West sailor, it was clear a few feathers certainly got ruffled by the J/111 debut of Bob Hesse and gang on LAKE EFFECT.  A native Youngstown/ Rochester sailor, Hesse and his crew are no strangers to the waters of Key West, having sailed competitively in the past in the pro-based Melges 32 class.  It all came down to the last three races for the top five.  In the end, Hesse's crew managed a 1-4-4 to grab second overall, sneaking past Jim Bishop's modded J/44 WHITE GOLD who posted a 3-5-6 to finish third.  Getting the short end of the stick in the shoot-out was Bishop's WHITE GOLD, having to settle for the bronze on the podium after scoring a 3-5-6.  Sailing ever more consistently, faster and smarter, was Doug Curtiss on the famous J/111 WICKED 2.0, sailing to a 2-3-3 to tie WHITE GOLD, but lose the tie-breaker.  Another notable performance towards the end of the regatta was the J/111 FIREBALL sailed by Team Fireball, a very recent class newcomer.  With its blazing sunset orange paint job, it was a spectacular-looking boat and in the end, fired-off a 2-2 on the last day to show they had learned a thing or two from their comrades-in-arms!  Good on ya, mates!  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal   and Tim Wilkes.   For more Quantum Key West PHRF sailing information

Spectacular Sailing- Quantum Key West- Day 4

TEAMWORK & RUSH Lead PHRF Fleets
(Key West, Florida)-- With four days of racing complete, it is not difficult to identify the stars of Quantum Key West 2013: The sun and the wind!  Even the most veteran sailors have been amazed by the fact every day of the regatta has brought spectacular conditions with warm temperatures and solid breezes. Wednesday brought 18-22 knot winds and Thursday’s breeze held steady between 14-18 knots.

“We’ve had an incredible string of great sailing days. I think that is really the story,” said Jonathan McKee, a tactician from Seattle, Washington. “We keep waiting for a crappy day and it just hasn’t happened. We’ve just been really lucky that each day has been spectacular.”  That good fortune is expected to continue on Friday as George Caras of Commanders’ Weather is forecasting winds in the 12-18 knot range and more sunny skies. George Collins was once a regular competitor at Key West, but hasn’t attended for many years. The 72-year-old skipper was equally amazed by the caliber of sailing throughout the week.  “What another beautiful day of racing,” Collins said upon returning to the dock in front of the Half Shell Raw Bar. “I can’t remember a week that had such consistently good breeze. There are usually one or two light days, but not this week. The Key West Chamber of Commerce gets five stars.”

Event chairman Peter Craig and his Premiere Racing team take pride in giving sailors a full week of action. Over the past 20 years, the annual regatta off the Florida Keys has lost just six days of racing. For any regatta organizer, that's an astonishing statistic! Barring some unforeseen situation, this will be another year that Premiere Racing has completed the target number of 10 races. More remarkable is that Division 2, under the direction of principal race officer Dave Brennan, is likely to get in 12 races for the J/70 fleet.

In PHRF A, J/Teams are leading a complete sweep of the class by some incredibly competitive teams.  Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK from Lexington, NC continues to lead a very competitive division.  In second is Jim Bishop's J/44 WHITE GOLD from Jamestown, RI and in third is Bob Hesse's J/111 LAKE EFFECT from Youngstown, New York.

Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal and Tim Wilkes.com


More aweome J sailing photos, please see these galleries:
Tuesday photos- Onne Vanderwal
Wednesday photos- Onne Vanderwal
Thursday photos- Onne Vanderwal

For more results and sailing information on Key West Race Week- please see all information here.