Sailing aboard the J/122 in the Mac Race

Kimball Livingston, west coast editor of Sail Magazine, joined Bill Zeiler's aboard his J/122 SKYE for the Chicago Yacht Club's 100th Race to Mackinac. Read here for Kimball's fun perspective on the race, which ended in victory for the team.

J/122 SKYE Wins in Mac Race Debut

Some call the Chicago-Mackinac Race one of the most difficult distance races to win. It’s a 333 mile sprint from the southern end to northern end of Lake Michigan and the rule of thumb is that no lead is a safe lead. Many a boat has been winning the Mac, only to park in the final few miles and watch the rest of the fleet catch up. To win the event in your first try either means you are really good, or really lucky. Bill Zeiler, aboard his new J/122 SKYE was perhaps both. SKYE has been on a tear since arriving in Lake Michigan earlier this year with “preseason” wins notched at the Chicago-Waukegan Race and the Olympic Cup. Their Chicago-Mac race division, 22 boats strong, represented a wide mix of performance boats (1D35 Heartbreaker, CM1200s, Sydney 41, GS 44, etc) including the J/124 SUFFICIENT REASON and the J/130 EDGE. In the mostly reaching and running conditions of the race, both SKYE and SUFFICIENT REASON outpaced the fleet with SUFFICIENT REASON winning the elapsed time battle by 3 minutes and SKYE correcting out under ORR handicap to secure the class victory with the J/124 in 2nd and J/130 in 5th.

Next for SKYE and the Zeiler family is some cruising in northern Lake Michigan followed by the Harbor Springs Regatta, which will serve as the IRC-US Championship for 2008.

J/122s Excel in Bermuda Race

Think of 3 to 4 days of sailing upwind in big chop, shifty winds, large current eddies, and with fans back home second-guessing your every move via satellite tracking on the web, and you’ll have an inkling of what racing was like in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race. Many a nice meal was put on hold while crews acclimated to the bumpy conditions that greeted the 200+ fleet as they moved through the Gulf Stream along the 630 mile passage from Newport to Bermuda. J owners turned out in record numbers and represented 22% of the entire fleet - the first time J has surpassed Swan (14%) for most popular brand/design in a Bermuda Race. 2008 also marked the first appearance of the J/122 in the Bermuda Race, and five boats competed in the event, which was doubled scored under both IRC and ORR.

With several lead changes right down to the wire, David Askew and Ken Comerford on the J/122 FLYING JENNY VI were the first J/122 to finish by only 1 min 7 seconds over Marc Glimcher on CATAPULT and 35 minutes over Stephen Furnary on PATRIOT (pictured above), who had been the J/122 pace-setter for most of the race. After handicaps were applied, the top J122s in ORR (and finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in class) were CATAPULT, PATRIOT & FLYING JENNY VI. Under IRC, it was FLYING JENNY VI, CATAPULT then PATRIOT.

Askew and Comerford aboard J122 FLYING GENNY VI were also part of the team that won the overall Onion Patch Series, an event that included the NYYC Annual Regatta, the Bermuda Race and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta, all sailed under IRC.

J/122 Class at Greenwich Cup

The J/122 class sailed as Division 1 at the Greenwich Cup, a 4-race, two day series last weekend at Indian Harbor Yacht Club, in Greenwich, CT. Mike Bruno of WINGS emailed in the following report: “We had 3 races the first day in shifty northwest breezy conditions and Barry Gold on SUNDARI sailed superbly to two firsts and a second. WINGS was next with two seconds and a first and Andrew Weiss’ CHRISTOPHER DRAGON was third. DRAGON managed to get a large stick fouled between her rudder and keel and would likely have won the race she got a 4th in. WINGS managed to pull it out on day two (light dying conditions) getting the gun on the only race of the day and winning first overall in the regatta by 2 points over SUNDARI followed by CHRISTOPHER DRAGON and CATAPULT.”

The Long Island Sound fleet will be split up sailing in several events including Newport-Bermuda and Block Island, before regrouping as a class in July for the East Coast Championships in Newport, RI.

J/122 wins RORC Cervantes Trophy….Again

The class and overall prize for the 2008 RORC Cervantes Trophy Race to Le Havre, France was won by Phillipe Delaporte’s J/122 PEN AZEN by four seconds over John Shepherd’s Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII. What a fantastic start to the 2008 season for this formidable French racer who won his class in the 2007 event and was second only to Chaz Ivill’s J/133 in the series overall.

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