J/122 wins Antigua Sailing Week

Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua– It was a week of great competition on the water and lively parties ashore - another fine edition of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, the 41st annual. 17 classes competed for several prestigious trophies with J owners coming away with much of the silver.
In the Racing IV, V and VI fleets, the overall winner in the combined rankings, for which they received the Global Bank of Commerce Cup, was James Dobbs' new J/122, LOST HORIZON. Dobbs was also presented with the Air Canada Cup for winning Racing V; the Beefeater Trophy as Best Caribbean Yacht in Division A; and the Hightide Trophy as the Best Antigua Yacht in Division A.

David Cullen’s J/109 POCKET ROCKET won the Chippy Fine Yacht Woodwork Cup for the top overall boat in the Performance Cruiser III and IV ranks, plus the British Airways Trophy for supremacy in the Performance Cruiser III division over the J/133 SOLNES III owned and raced by Herman Bergshaven.

And not to be outdone by the newer J models, Philippe Champion steering his J/120, PAULISTA, won the Antigua & Barbuda Investment Bank Trophy, for besting the Racing VI fleet. News & Results

J/122 Class debuts at AYC Spring Regatta

It was “spring” in name only at the American Yacht Club Spring Regatta as blustery, wet conditions forced sailors to keep out the winter frostbite gear for at least two more weekends. 100 boats in 12 one-design, IRC and PHRF classes did battle in the annual event that kicks off the big boat racing season in the Northeast. 51% of the entries were J’s, including one-design starts for the J/105, J/109, J/120, J/122 and J/44 classes.

In what was the first J/122 one-design event held in North America, American Yacht Club Commodore Michael Bruno and co-owner Tom Boyle skippered their new J/122 WINGS (pictured above doing 14.5 knots) to an impressive victory. Action was tight in the 7 boat class and is expected to ratchet up even further as more boats are slated to attend upcoming New England events including the East Coast Championship at NYYC Race Week in Newport in mid July.

“Having never sailed a sprit boat in the past, or competed in one design racing, it was particularly rewarding to do well in our Spring Series,” said Commodore Bruno. “The 122 is a superb boat with excellent build quality, awesome performance in all the conditions we have experienced to date, and great looks. The boat was totally in control on the days we saw 30kt gusts with steep seas, and was also very fast on the two light days. We already have three 122s at American and I suspect our fleet will grow quickly.”

Results

J/122 Video Action 2008

Check out the following video on J/122s racing around the course.

J/122 Wins Culebra Regatta

Jamie Dobbs and his new J/122 Lost Horizon II followed up their recent win at the St. Maarten Heineken regatta with another convincing win in the Racer-Cruiser class of the Culebra Heineken International Regatta in Culebra, PR. This is the second leg of the 2008 Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle (C.O.R.T.) and this year featured both round-the-buoy and round-the-island racing in a variety of conditions. J/100 Bad Girl, the Key West & US PHRF National Champion, also enjoyed a return to the award podium by placing third in class 1. results here (photo by Bob Grieser).

J/122 Video Reviews

As posted on the J-UK web site and on an earlier news item here on the J/122 site, below are fresh links to two online J/122 videos.

Sail.TV Video Review

Demo Sail the J/122

'Panacea' Wins Her First Two Races

The brand new J/122 Panacea, owned by John and Jill Patterson, turned heads and wowed the opposition on Sunday winning her first ever race, and her second race too. John Patterson, an experienced racing sailor helming his new boat, with an all new crew in her debut race, steered the J/122 to victory winning both races on the water and on corrected time.

Racing in the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series, in the first race of the day Panacea beat the Corby 35 Njos into second place by 1 minute 20 seconds on corrected time and the Mills 36 Prime Suspect into third place, by over 4 minutes. Elsewhere in the eighteen boat class were, amongst others, two X-332s, a First 44.7, a HOD 35 and an Elan 34.

In the second race of the day Panacea (now really finding her stride) took the race from the Beneteau 44.7 Koko Kai beating her on corrected time by one minute 23 seconds. Kirsty & David Apthorp’s J/109 J-Dream (also new this season) finished in third place.

Conditions were relatively benign, with a south-westerly breeze of between ten and twelve knots, but Panacea’s first outing is none the less impressive!

J/122 Makes Debut at Key West

Two J/122s made a successful debut at the 2008 Acura Key West Race Week. After 8 races over an abbreviated 2 1/2 day schedule (2 days cancelled to bad weather), Andrew Weiss’ CHRISTOPHER DRAGON (Long Island Sound) and Robin Team’s TEAMWORK (Beaufort, SC) led the rest of the 37-40' IRC racers to finish 3rd and 4th overall in the closely contested IRC-2 class. The top two boats (Swan 45 MURKA-2 and J/44 GOLDDIGGER) sailed well and thrived in the moderate to windy conditions seen for most of the racing. The highlight for the J/122s was on Thursday when CHRISTOPHER DRAGON took two 2nds to TEAMWORK’S 1st and 3rd, with TEAMWORK later awarded the Premiere Racing BOAT-OF-THE DAY for winning the most competitive handicap class.