Australian J/122 Dominates IRC1

JACKPOT Cleans House In Sydney Offshore Series

(Sydney, Australia- Feb. 22)- It seems to be a recurring theme Down Under.  Anytime a group of experienced amateur yachtsmen get together and race a J off the famous Sydney Harbour Heads, "magical" things seem to happen.  And, this year's winner's circle throughout the summer offshore series off Sydney included the J/35 SOUNDTRACK, the J/109 MAJIKAL and the J/122 JACKPOT.

Ray and Sandra Entwistle’s J/122 JACKPOT won the 2009/10 Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Short Ocean Pointscore Series on IRC.  The SOPS is an 11 race series which runs from October to February, and is a combination of both windward / leeward courses and short passage races, held on the waters offshore from Sydney. JACKPOT has also collected a 1st in the Gascoigne Cup, 1st in the David Burke Memorial Trophy and a 3rd in the Morna Cup, held throughout the series.

JACKPOT finished 3 points ahead of her nearest rival Ed Salter in his famous AFR Midnight Rambler, completing the series on 17 points.  JACKPOT's worst result was a 5th, which they were able to drop.  Other than that, JACKPOT finished in the top 3 places for all other races.  The top class fleet is a mixture of yachts in the 38-60 foot range with everything from a Swan 60, TP52’s, Cookson 12’s, new Beneteau 40’s, 47.7’s, 44.7’s, Sydney 38s and others.  The season comprised of a variety of wind, sea and weather conditions but JACKPOT and her crew remained consistent throughout.

Ray had this to say about sailing the J/122- "We have a fairly small sail wardrobe from Ian Short Sails which has proved to be incredibly effective, consisting of a carbon main, #1 light carbon jib, #1 Medium Heavy carbon jib, #4 Kevlar jib.  The kites we fly are asymmetric, being a 140 sq.m reacher and 155 sq.m runner.  The J/122 is designed to carry non-overlapping jibs so tacking is quick and easy, and the kites fly from a fully retractable carbon sprit making the hoists, drops and gybes simple and efficient.

The J/122 is a joy to sail, she doesn’t slam in rough conditions, her hull shape allows her to ride up the waves and surf back down, in the light winds she simply glides along. In one race gusting over 30 knots and waves peaking at 15 feet we hit a speed of 18.6 knots and averaged 14.4 knots on a leg from Botany Bay to Sydney Heads.

As a result of the resin infused construction, the J’s are light but extremely strong, so you don’t have the excessive sheet loading you get with some other brands.  This also means you don’t need to have a crew of rugby players on board – in fact 40-50% of Jackpots crew are women.  The J/122 really epitomizes what sailing should be about.  We can race her hard and win a prominent and competitive series, but then load her up with food and water and head up the coast cruising.  She truly is a dual-purpose yacht.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our crew Ian, Hedgey, Emmy, Cassandra, Kate, Caroline, Darren and James for making this series not only a ‘winner’, but also a lot of fun.  Our congratulations and respects to all our competitors for their sportsmanship throughout this highly competitive series."  Good on ya mates!  We hope you get a few more enthusiastic J sailors Down Under to play with soon!  Share

J/122 Winning RORC Caribbean 600 Race

Glimcher's J/122 CATAPULTs To The Front

(Antigua- Feb. 23)- This latest bluewater classic is both a navigational and tactical challenge.  First, imagine that you are in blue waters sailing up and down an island chain in the Caribbean that spans about 250 miles.  Start and finish a race of about 600 miles from none other than the infamous and renowned English Harbour on Antigua.  Wake up one morning with a mild hangover realizing that for a few days you will experience extraordinary sunrises, sunsets, spectacular cloud formations, gorgeous island backdrops and have to sail in t-shirts and shorts heading first NW downwind towards St. Maarten, round a few marks then head back upwind through the middle of the chain up and around Guadeloupe, leaving it to port and head back downwind to the finish off Antigua.  Yes, life doesn't suck if this is all you had to work for this past week.

Near the head of the pack in this cool and very challenging ocean race is Marc Glimcher's J/122 CATAPULT, leading IRC 1 and potential for a podium finish Overall.  Marc and his crew are all from the East Coast of the United States and compete in many regattas; often in a fleet of J/122s. Marc and his crew are having a great race and are currently amongst the leaders in the RORC Caribbean 600 overall on IRC handicap. Currently, they are making a critical rounding Wednesday evening of Guadeloupe in light, shifty, very spotty winds.  If they escape, it's likely they can be one of the winners on the podium.

CATAPULT crewman, Brock Callen took a few minutes to talk about the ride: "It's freezing cold back home in Massachusetts right now and I am wondering why my sailing buddies at home aren't doing this race? The sailing conditions are just gorgeous. Last night as we were on deck, just in t-shirts, a Humpback whale came right up to the boat. Watching the sun go down with the spinnaker up and surf under the hull is a great experience.  We have a good spirit on board and we all have specific jobs, especially on maneuvers. At Barbuda we gybe peeled from the 3A to the 2A and it was a smooth operation. It paid off, as we passed several boats shortly after the rounding. Things have been going really well and the skipper and the crew are enjoying this race, so much.  The next leg looks like it will be a beat, possibly all the way to Guadeloupe and the wind may go lighter. We will be trying not to get too frustrated and concentrate on sailing the boat to the best of our ability."

The majority of the fleet are entering another stage in this tactical race. At the moment light headwinds are forecast for the boats on the leg to Guadeloupe. After spending a long period with little rest, the sailors will begin to feel the effects. It is often easier to concentrate when the boat is flying along. In light airs, tiredness can become a big problem.

You can track the yachts and read the messages that are coming in by accessing the Tracker Page or the Boat Blogs page on the official RORC Caribbean 600 web site.  Share

J/122 Northeast Circuit

(Newport, RI)- The J/122 Class is pleased to announce its 2010 J/122 Northeast Circuit.  J/122 WINGS co-owner, Mike Bruno, said "We encourage all J/122 owners to join us in a wonderful series of J/122 one-design class events this summer that includes the highlight, the J/122 North Americans held in conjunction with the Rolex New York Yacht Club Race Week."  Here are the events all J/122s are invited to:

April 24-25   American Yacht Club Spring Series-  Rye, NY
May 1-2        American Yacht Club Spring Series-  Rye, NY
May 28         Storm Trysail Block Island Race- Stamford, CT
June 11-13    NYYC Spring Regatta- Newport, RI
July 16-19     J/122 North Americans at Rolex NYYC Race Week- Newport, RI
Sept 11-12    Larchmont SW NOOD Regatta- Larchmont, NY
Sept 25-26    American Yacht Club Fall Series- Rye, NY
Oct 2-3         American Yacht Club Fall Series- Rye, NY

For J/122 Class information- please contact info@jboats.com   Share

Beautiful Key West Race Week

(Key West, FL- Jan. 18-22)-  This year's Key West Race Week was sponsored by Nautica Watches along with popular supporter Mt. Gay Rum.  It was a great cocktail and recipe for success, making for many happy winners celebrating with drinks plus a new watch!  Check out the photos of all the J's racing on the J/Boats Facebook page! (email us if you want high-resolution photos- contact us at J/Boats).

The weather was nearly postcard perfect, hard to go wrong sailing on aquamarine seas, sunny, with gentle breezes and 70 degree temperatures during the day.  The fleet was treated to a typical cold front scenario where the incoming front pulls in SSW breezes and over the course of several days veers from NNW to SE.  The fleet of 134 boats saw J/Boats having the largest total fleet of boats at the event- over one-third were J's ranging in size from the "classic" J/24 upwards through the range including J/29, J/80, J/105, J/109, J/122, J/125 and J/44.  The races generally got off without a hitch due to the seasoned expert PROs like Ken Legler and others who stayed on top of the shifty, streaky breezes.  Races started on time at 10:30 am and most fleets generally completed two races and were heading home by 2:00 pm.

On the Division 1 course, David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH sailed well in IRC-B Class. At one point they had a solid lead but a few slow starts, missed windshifts and streaks rapidly jumbled the standings over the last two days.  Nevertheless, David and crew managed to hang in there to get a podium finish- 3rd overall for the week.  Their good fortune was counter-weighted by the roller coast rides seemingly experienced by Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's beautifully repainted J/44 GOLD DIGGER.  Both sailed well in a couple of races but had difficulty maintaining any consistency due to the very shifty, streaky wind conditions on Division 1 course-  large black holes materialized frequently, swallowing up any unsuspecting boats and never let them go. 

For Key West Race Week regatta information and sailing results.  Share

J/122s Enjoy Gorgeous Key West Race Week

(Key West, FL- Jan. 18-22)-  This year's Key West Race Week was sponsored by Nautica Watches along with popular supporter Mt. Gay Rum.  It was a great cocktail and recipe for success, making for many happy winners celebrating with drinks plus a new watch!  Check out the photos of all the J's racing on the J/Boats Facebook page! (email us if you want high-resolution photos- contact us at J/Boats).

The weather was nearly postcard perfect, hard to go wrong sailing on aquamarine seas, sunny, with gentle breezes and 70 degree temperatures during the day.  The fleet was treated to a typical cold front scenario where the incoming front pulls in SSW breezes and over the course of several days veers from NNW to SE.  The fleet of 134 boats saw J/Boats having the largest total fleet of boats at the event- over one-third were J's ranging in size from the "classic" J/24 upwards through the range including J/29, J/80, J/105, J/109, J/122, J/125 and J/44.  The races generally got off without a hitch due to the seasoned expert PROs like Ken Legler and others who stayed on top of the shifty, streaky breezes.  Races started on time at 10:30 am and most fleets generally completed two races and were heading home by 2:00 pm.

On the Division 1 course, David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH sailed well in IRC-B Class. At one point they had a solid lead but a few slow starts, missed windshifts and streaks rapidly jumbled the standings over the last two days.  Nevertheless, David and crew managed to hang in there to get a podium finish- 3rd overall for the week.  Their good fortune was counter-weighted by the roller coast rides seemingly experienced by Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's beautifully repainted J/44 GOLD DIGGER.  Both sailed well in a couple of races but had difficulty maintaining any consistency due to the very shifty, streaky wind conditions on Division 1 course-  large black holes materialized frequently, swallowing up any unsuspecting boats and never let them go.

Key West Race Week- Day 5- Gorgeous Finale

(Key West, FL- Jan. 22)- This year's Key West Race Week was certainly one of the nicest sailing weeks in recent memory.  After the tropical downpours on Sunday, Monday dawned with gorgeous weather, nice winds that would prevail for the week.  Despite a gloomy Tuesday, the wind, sun and conditions provided competitors with a variety of shifty, streaky winds that would make it challenging for any sailor to get around the race track without making significant mistakes. 

On the Division 1 course,  David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH sailed well in IRC2 to finish third. The light air and large wind streaks wreaked havoc on the fleet on the last day.  If you got caught out on some of them upwind or downwind, the speed differences were simply too enormous to overcome any lost distance.  As a result, Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's J/44 GOLD DIGGER had unusually variable performances to finish out of the running.

For regatta information and sailing results, please go to:  http://www.premiere-racing.com/KW10_Results/kw10_results_reports.htm   Share

Key West Race Week- Day 4- Windy

(Key West, FL)- Today's forecast for the first time fulfilled the expectations for all sailing this year's regatta.  The prognostication of 15-20 knots early from SSE and fading towards afternoon were accurate with all courses having to watch what was happening on the right hand side of the course.

On the Division 1 course, regatta leader in IRC2, David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH is sailing  well but has dropped to second overall based on today's races.  Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK faired a little worse in the weeks' shifty, streaky wind conditions and have dropped to fifth overall with a reasonable shot at a third overall.  Jim Bishop's J/44 GOLD DIGGER has had an unusually variable week and lies seventh, but only six points out of third.  The tale of the tape on Friday will certainly flip-flop the standings yet again.

Stay tuned!  For regatta information and sailing results, please go to:  http://www.premiere-racing.com/KW10_Results/kw10_results_reports.htm   Share