J's Enjoy Gorgeous Sailing At Charleston Race Week

J Sailors Love Southern Hospitality!

(Charleston, SC- Apr 9-11)- After the first two days at 2010 Charleston Race Week brought winds of up to 20 knots, the final day of racing eased up to just 8-12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor. For the 184 teams competing, not a frown was seen on the hundreds of faces at the awards ceremony on Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina's sandy beach. "The city, the weather and the event organizers couldn't have presented this town any better," said local sailing coach Ryan Hamm, whose J/24 PIGS FLY TOO finished in 6th place. "The competition is stiff, and it's great to see so many sailors learn to love Charleston.

Chilly temperatures greeted the record fleet of racing sailboats on Friday. Braving 55 degree-morning temperatures and a wind-chill driven by the 20-knot breeze made the racing "a serious adrenalin rush", as competitor Peter Crawford put it. Temperatures reached the 70s by noon, providing picture perfect sailing conditions to start race week off with a bang. "I don't know if conditions could be any more perfect than today," said Christof Wieland, who traveled all the way from Germany to compete in his second Charleston Race Week.  By Saturday morning, more nice wind, warm sun and waves graced Charleston with picture-perfect conditions. For the second straight day, winds up to 20 knots propelled the J fleets across all four courses.  Sunday dawned with a big change to the previous two extreme sailing days, with just 8 - 12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor.

In the first ever IRC fleet at this race week, the J/122 TEAMWORK that won last year's handicap class sailed nicely to finish third overall.  Seemingly, the crazy currents, tide lines and wave conditions conspired to favor the larger boats, the winner was a custom IRC RP52 called VINCITORRE with straight firsts.

For more regatta/ sailing information on Charleston Race Week.  Share

Warsash Spring Series Week 4

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- Back after an Easter break, the Warsash Spring Series continued on April 11 with the entries topping 200. There were challenging conditions for Week 4 with the wind ranging between 9-14 knots. The general mean direction was from the northeast, but local conditions prevailed on the three separate race tracks.  Jon Spencer, in charge of the White Group J/80s was closest inshore and reported the wind moving to the east each time it faded. In the middle of the Solent at ‘Flying Fish’ buoy, Black Group CRO David Greenway found the wind sufficiently stable to set the same basic course for all the keelboat classes, with only a minor adjustment for the smaller boats. The only interruption to a smooth start sequence came between the J/109 and IRC3 starts, when a second outer distance mark was laid to achieve a square line.

IRC1 got away on time and JINJA, Ian Matthews’ J/122, took a flyer from the pin end of the line and established a winning lead within the first 10 minutes of the race.   JINJA is the fourth different winner in IRC 1 so the class is wide open with two races to go. Another J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH has sailed consistently well to remain second overall in the series standings.

Full sailing results on the Warsash Website   Sailing Photos by Eddie Mays  Share

SNIM Enjoys Spectacular Mistral

J/122 J Lance IV Excels

(Marseilles, France)- It was a grandiose final in Marseilles to round off the SNIM (International Nautical Mediterranean Week), where a series of races were launched in the northern harbour in a steady 20-25 knots of NW wind and a big swell after two days of Mistral. And when the Mistral comes into play, the spectacle is well worth a look: surfing, broaches to windward and leeward and a lot of boats heeling a bit too much!  It has to be said that the tough conditions have forged the SNIM's reputation over the years, to the extent that today it has become a real trademark of the competition.

For a lot of crews the SNIM marks the end of the winter and the weather really threw everything at the competitors. With Southerly wind, Easterly wind and then a steady Northerly, followed by a powerful Mistral, there really was something for everyone. “That’s what the SNIM is all about: blue, white and wind” resumed the President of the Société Nautique, Bernard Amiel.

In IRC Class 2 with twelve boats, the J/122 J LANCE IV sailed by George Asperti and crew reveled in the windy conditions to sail a nice series and finish third in a very competitive class. 
   
For more information on SNIM Sailing results.   Photo credits by Gilles Martin-Raget  Share

J/CUP 2010 France

(Hyeres, France)- This year's fourth edition of the J/CUP in the Mediterranean will be sailed from June 4th to 6th off the island of Ill de Porquerolles, just south off the coast of Hyeres, France.  The island of Porquerolles will, again, be dressed in all her finery to host this year's event. The sailing is beautiful, if not spectacular, and the hosts are looking forward to welcoming J sailors from all over Europe.  A fleet of twenty-five J/24s, J/92s, J/100s, J/109s, J/122s and J/133s participated in last year's event.  We hope the defending champions from Yacht Club de Monaco (the J/24 "TOPP TOO" sailed by the Rodelato Brothers) and their friends show up again along the J/122 KAYA and the J/109 MAJOR TOM who joined them on the podium.  Great sailing and, most fun of all, fantastic food and wine will be part of the weekend's festivities at the vineyards and waterfront restaurants on this wonderful island. Will the popular band "KASHMIR" show up for this year's event?  Come join us and find out!  For more J/Cup Med Regatta information, please contact Pierre DUCHEIN at K-YACHTING/ J-BOATS Méditerranée.  Email- pierre@k-yachting.com or Call +33(0)498 003 846 or web http://www.k-yachting.com

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Australian J/122 Sails Maiden Voyage off Sydney

Australian J/122 MARTA JEAN Sailed Her Maiden Voyage recently from Sydney to Newcastle.  Here's a report from Ray Entwistle - "For the start of this story we’ve borrowed the tune from an old Billy Joel song– see if you can pick it..... Its 9am on a Saturday, the south-easterly breeze is kicking in, We’re sailing up to Newcastle, the maiden voyage of the J/122 - ‘Marta Jean’.  Lah de dah, de de da’ah..........  That’s the extent of our combined creative talent, so it’s back to our usual narrative.  The Rae family’s pride and joy ‘Marta Jean’, a new J/122, left Greenwich Flying Squadron, west of Sydney Harbour Bridge with water and fuel tanks half full and the dockbox fitted holding the inflatable, for her maiden voyage up to her new home base, Newcastle, about 70nm north of Sydney.  She had spent her first couple of months at Greenwich, nestled close by to 2 other J/122’s, Lithium and Jackpot.

We motored under Sydney Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House and hoisted the mainsail in the lee of Watsons Bay.  After a quick radio check reporting into Sydney Marine Rescue, 3 on board, destination Newcastle, zeroed the speedo and a few minutes later we sailed through Sydney Harbour Heads. A couple of 44 footers were half a mile ahead also heading north. Good, something to chase, even though we were in full cruising mode.  ‘Marta Jean’ dipped her bows into the Tasman Sea swell and with the wind now at 16 knots over the starboard beam  we surfed down the first big wave and hit 12.4 knots, with the owner Steve on the helm grinning from ear to ear and commenting “it really does what it says on the label“. We knew it was going to be a nice days sailing. Manly and Dee Why beaches soon slid past and within the hour we were clearing Long Reef  - the other two larger yachts we had passed were already specks in the rear view. Twenty five miles further north we radioed to Gosford Marine Rescue, it was almost midday and we were making great time. We tested the auto pilot in the two metre swell but not for long, we were having too good a time surfing down the waves at the wheel.

Averaging over eight knots, we soon found ourselves checking in with the chirpy Swansea Marine Rescue on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie, as we continued to surge north. We were already 75% through our journey.  We were now sailing through all the gigantic coal ships which were at anchor waiting for their turn to be called into port to take their precious loads to all parts of Asia.  We were also pushing 2 knots of the Australian eastern current but with the wind dropping to 12 knots and swinging a little more south we hoisted the spinnaker and sped towards Nobby’s Head beach.  Nobby’s Head was made famous when the giant coal carrier “Pasha Bulker “made global news when she grounded on the beach in a huge winter storm in June 2007. After gybing a few angles we dropped the spinnaker and sailed into Newcastle Harbour on a twenty knot squall hitting 12.3 knots and being amused by the fact that we had finished as we started. We found ‘Marta Jeans’ new pen and checked our watch and instruments. We covered the 70.8 n.miles in eight and a half hours averaging 8.35 knots. Ten minutes later we were sat in the new Newcastle Yacht Club with a well earned beer in hand and watched a rain squall cover the harbour, wondering how far back the other two boats were that started their journey just ahead of us from Sydney.   Share

Close Racing in Warsash Spring Series

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- The third week of Warsash Sailing Club's Spring Series saw the first south-westerly breeze of the season. The wind stayed true in direction with the strength varying from 10 to 14 knots, providing near ideal sailing conditions if still cold. Despite the clocks going forward, competitors were out early for practice with new entries joining the fleets.

The Black Group committee boat anchored near Hamble Yacht Services buoy and used Air Canada, close to the Bramble Bank, as the first windward mark with a finish at East Knoll. Adjustments were made to the lengths of the courses with IRC1 completing 15 miles and IRC3 12.5 miles. IRC4 used a White Group start line but also finished with the other Black Group boats at East Knoll after a course covering over 10 miles. High water occurred during the start sequence, so competitors had the favoured combination of beats with the current and runs against it. Tacticians kept careful watch of the depth to benefit from or dodge the tide.

The number of "Big Boats" competing in IRC1 has increased as their Spring Championship after Easter approaches. In IRC1 the J/122 JOLLY JELLYFISH sailed to an uncharacteristic 7th, but still remained in second overall in the standings.  the J/133 JAMMY DODGER raced by Neil Martin sailed a great race to get a third to move into fifth place overall.
  
Full results on the Warsash Website.  Photo by Eddie Mays- http://www.eddiemays.com.  Share

International Rolex Regatta- J/122 LOST HORIZON Wins!

J/122 LOST HORIZON Wins Spinnaker Racing Class

(St.Thomas, USVI- Mar 26-28)- The three-day event, hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, has a track record - spanning 37 years - for delivering the goods when it comes to racing and island-style hospitality.  This year, it delivered again.  With sixty-nine teams competing in four divisions (IRC, CSA, One-Design IC 24s and Beach Cats), the forecast of 12-17 knots over the three sunny days, and plenty of Caribbean parties, music and cuisine to fill any time not used up by racing, there's no question this year's International Rolex Regatta completely delivered a getaway to remember!

"This year we arranged for some races to snug up next to St. John, so competitors could expand their horizons and our sister island could share in some of the excitement of seeing the spectacle of the fleet racing," said Regatta Co-Chair John Sweeney. "For the same reasons, we had the IC-J/24s racing off the beachfront at the Ritz Hotel on Saturday, and later that night, hundreds of sailors, organizers, volunteers and townspeople took part in a giant reggae music concert and food festival at Yacht Haven Grande, where some of the event's larger boats are berthed. All to say, everyone really enjoyed getting around to different places on the island and out on the water."

Another winner of a Rolex timepiece was James Dobbs' (Antigua) J/122 LOST HORIZON in Spinnaker Racing/Cruising Class. "I knew which boats had a chance of winning before the race," he said, referring to a tight group at the top of the scoreboard that included second-place finisher Three Harkoms, a Beneteau 442 skippered by James Hudleston (Yarmouth, UK). "I've sailed against them before, and they are serious about racing, as we are."  Just behind them finishing third was Rick Wesslund's crew on EL OCASO, the very well sailed J/120 that has won Key West Race Week in the past.  Not to be missed was the beautiful J/46 MISS MAGIC, sailed by Jim Baus, finishing a well-deserved sixth overall.

In IRC class, Bill Coates' J/122 OTRA VEZ consistently sailed in top three handicap overall during the three days.  However, two bomber finishes in the fourth and sixth races hurt their opportunity to get a Rolex Submariner!  After sailing well enough to be second at one point, they fell off the podium to finish fifth overall.
 
For more Rolex Regatta sailing information
http://www.rolexcupregatta.com  Share