Coors Light Island Double

J/133 JAMMY DODGER Leads Fleet Home

(Southampton, England)- It's 30 years since Neil Cox of Solent Rigging organised the first Double Handed racing at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club. Since then the series has continued without a break and grown in popularity.  And, it has to be one of the most challenging of the famous "around island" races anywhere in the world, especially shorthanded.

The tides for this year's Coors light Island Double were more suited to the east-about circumnavigation of the Island instead of the more usual west-about course - If only the boats had enough wind to get over the line. The forecast, and the actual conditions were very light but the Race Committee made the right call by getting the boats away, some of whom were swept OCS by the tide. The fleet of over 100 boats flying spinnakers of all descriptions made a great sight as they ran, slowly, down towards the forts in the bright morning sunshine.

All tactics were used to get down to Bembridge with some boats following the mainland shore and taking a long, wide sweep east and others hugging the Island shore and sometimes getting caught in wind holes from where they watched others further north overtake them.

Once at Bembbridge the very light wind slowly picked up but immediately became so flukey that it was hard to know which sail to hoist or which tack to take. Eventually the conditions settled down with the earlier boats taking full advantage of the favourable tide to make the Needles in two tacks. The later boats were robbed of that option and had to take the inshore route but at least then found the tide in their favour in the Needles Channel.

The western Solent delivered winds that hadn't appeared on any of Friday's forecasts and strengthened the nearer the boats got to the finish where the Race Committee were on station to the south-east of Williams Shipping buoy, setting a line that was a near straight run from Sconce. From there the main question then became, if we raise the kite will we get it down again? The hardy souls that took that risk had an exhilarating, surfing run to line.

Here is Neil Martin's and Deb Fish's report from the J/133 JAMMY DODGER:  "With just over an hour of flood tide left, the race committee sent the fleet East down the Solent for a clockwise circumnavigation. Neil got us a good start at the Squadron end of the line, where we could stem the lighter tide until it was time to turn for the line. Seconds before the start we hoisted the light runner and set off in the forecast light NWly winds. We gybed all down the Solent, generally staying away from the lighter winds on the Island shore and gybing between mid channel and the mainland. The patchy wind became a bit steadier and we found ourselves leading the fleet by some margin by the time we reached the forts. We crept inside No Mans Land fort, deep inshore to get out of the foul tide, and the wind died before shifting dramatically. Fortunately the fleet of Redwings racing off Bembridge allowed Neil to anticipate the new wind, and we soon had the kite down and were beating to Bembridge Ledge.

The wind soon shifted to the SW and built to 17 knots, and we tacked along the middle of the course to Dunnose, trying to keep out of the bays and in the stronger tide, but stay right in anticipation of the wind veering. (At least, we think it was stronger tide - having tossed Winning Tides overboard in the spinnaker drop at Bembridge, we were relying on the tide atlases in the Almanac...) By St Cats the wind had veered and we could just lay the Needles on port tack. Visibility was amazing - halfway between St Cats and the Needles, both looked just a couple of miles away, and we could see Anvil Point and Portland Bill really clearly. The sea had built with wind over tide, so I was in for a soaking on the bow to clip the spinnaker on. I managed to cut my finger, covering the deck with blood - unbelievable how such a tiny cut can cause so much mess. We passed the wreck, bore away and hoisted the kite in 20 knots of breeze. Gybing the light runner on the J133 down the Needles Channel then the Solent double-handed was hard work, with the boat on the edge, but we managed to avoid wraps and stay in control somehow. We still led the fleet around the Needles, but the two multihulls that had been drawing ever closer finally overtook us in the Needles channel.

Conscious of stemming the strong tide in the middle of the Solent, we gybed in to the mainland shore, but I had failed to notice the shallow waters further along our gybe out on the small screen on the hand-held chart plotter and we held our breath as the depth decreased to 0.0m and we touched the bottom with full main and spinnaker up doing 10 knots. Mercifully we got through the shallow patch and out of the other side.

The final drama was finding the finish buoy just upwind of the Bramble bank and getting the kite down quickly (listening at the race committee's urgent calls to one of the following boats to beware the Bramble bank!)."

Besides winning elapsed time overall, JAMMY DODGER also managed to finish fourth in Class 1 on corrected time behind the two well-sailed J/109s.  Finishing second was the J/109 JAGERBOMB sailed by the team of Paul and Mark Griffiths, just missing first place by 52 seconds on corrected time!  Ouch, now how many places were there on the race you could make up 52 seconds?  Just off their pace was the J/109 JANGADA TOO, well-sailed by the team of Richard Palmer and Jeremy Waitt to get third in class.  Finishing ninth was the OSTAR class winner (and nearly overall), the J/122 JBELLINO, ably sailed by experienced offshore sailing veteran Rob Craigie with Charles Allen as part of his team.  For more Island Double sailing information.  Sailing Photo Credit- Paul Wyeth
  

Marblehead SW NOOD Regatta

STEELAWAY Wins J/105s

(Marblehead, MA)- The three clubs in Marblehead Harbor (Boston, Corinthian and Eastern) combined to put on yet another good event on their notoriously fickle summer sailing conditions.  While two good days of racing provided great competition, the last day proved to be a burn-out-- too much sun and no wind.  Nevertheless, the Sperry Topsider Marblehead NOOD event was lots of fun, especially because the local clubs roll-out the red carpet and ensure that all competitors in all fleets enjoy their social festivities after the racing.

On the “Outside Line”, the race committee attempted a J/105 start on Sunday in the early stages of the sea breeze but had to abandon mid-way through, leaving the standings as they were on Saturday. The no-race day left Peter and Doug Morgan’s J/105 STEELAWAY as the class winner over twenty-two other J/105s, a finish they were perfectly happy to take after having won four straight NOOD regattas before failing to do so last year.  “It’s good to be back,” says Doug Morgan. “These were not typical conditions this week, and local knowledge really helped. We are very fortunate to win, but the truth is we’ve got a great crew with five great guys that have sailed together now for a long time.”  Finishing second was Fred DeNapoli's ALLEGRO SIMPLICITA, just edging out by one point Kevin Colcord's CERCES CUP team for third. 

In the J/30s, Luke Buxton's EVELYN won with four firsts and a second, dominating their class.  Ken Deyett's JEROBOAM was second with four seconds and a first.  Third was John McArthur's SMILES.  The J/30 class are warming up for their J/30 North American Championship coming up later this summer.

J/24s as usual had a very competitive class with fourteen boats dueling it out with some of the top sailors in the J/24 class.  In the end, Tim Healy's WATERLINE SYSTEMS managed to pull off just three firsts and undoubtedly would've had more had they not been OCS's in the first race, winning by three points.  Second winning on a tie-breaker was John Denman sailing AIRODOODLE, they started off strongly with a 1-2-3 record, but fell off the cliff later in the series.  In third losing the tie-breaker was John Surguy sailing VANISHING ACT.

There was some interesting video shot at the event, you can check some of them out at the YouTube links below.
- A J/24 and Sonar sail into each other?
- J/30s at a breezy gybe mark.
- The J/105 Dark Horse celebrates winning a race.
  

USVI Sailor- John Holmberg- Caribbean Games Report

* A report from John Holmberg, St. Thomas, VI regards the Central American & Caribbean Games (CAC)- "On day four of the CAC being sailed in Boqueron (Puerto Rico), a full moon over the Western point of this usually quiet town brings us to another day of sailing. J/24s have a strong contingent of sailors racing for "island honors". The beaches are quiet as we leave for the tow out and packed to the brim when we return. Christmas in July ends today (Tuesday) and the crowds of well wishing party families will be missed tomorrow on our lay day. Winds had been consistent as they build on the daily thermal on the SW tip of Puerto Rico and Monday they teased us out to the water and away from the beach goers with their portable "reggaeton" blasters the size of a cooler and mounted on wheels... only to disappoint us by either not showing up or swinging all over the place. Lay day scheduled Wednesday and final day of racing on Thursday July 29."  For Central American & Caribbean Games sailing results
  

Stormy, Hot, Light SailNewport Regatta

EL TIGRE Eats SALSA, Wins The POWER PLAY

(Newport, RI)- J sailors all seemingly had an incredibly fun time participating in this year's Coastal Living SailNewport Regatta.  However, even with best laid plans, the weather Gods simply didn't cooperate, throwing huge swells with little wind offshore and flat waters and not enough wind up Narragansett Bay...a very rare occurrence.  Saturday saw a huge front pass over late in the afternoon that shifted the breeze from a light-moderate southerly to NW, canceling the last races of the day.  By Sunday, an enormous High pressure system overlaid the New England region combined with a Low offshore spinning up monster swells to make everyone feel a bit "green" on the offshore courses and wishing for more wind everywhere else.

Despite the daunting conditions the regatta manager, Brad Read (SailNewport Director), and the PROs on all three courses, including the redoubtable Robin Wallace and Kenny Legler, did an admirable job of pulling off a good set of races on Saturday, but had to live with canceled races on Sunday due to boiling hot conditions, billiard-table flat waters and a huge ebb tide flushing everyone out of the Bay and offshore.

Perhaps most impacted by the difficult conditions were the J/105s sailing the first of three events in their Narragansett Bay Championship Tour.  Only two races were conducted on Saturday with Bruce Stone and Scott DeWeese's champion POWER PLAY (pictured here) from San Francisco, CA and Wickford, RI winning with a 2-2 record.  Second was Chris and Carolyn Groobey's JAVA from Annapolis, MD with a 4-1 tally.  Winning third in a three-way tie-breaker was local hero Nelson Weiderman from Wakefield, RI sailing KIMA to a 6-3 record; they beat Harald Edegran and Jeremy Henderson on CONUNDRUM from Ossining, NY with a 3-6 record and Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes' KINSCEM from Katonah, NY with a 5-4 record for 4th and 5th, respectively.

The 80s, too, only had two races and were suffering the "green" conditions offshore along with the J/24s.  Not unexpectedly, the winner of the twenty-three boat J/80 class was a past North American and World Champion Glenn Darden racing EL TIGRE (pictured above) with a 1-2.  Second was Kerry Klingler and Bob Miller sailing USA352 (another World Champion) with a 6-1.  And, third was Will Welles sailing RASCAL with a 5-3 record.   Rounding out the top five were Jeff Johnstone and Tom Kirk sailing LITTLE FEAT in fourth with a 3-7 and fifth was class aristocrat John Storck and family sailing RUMOR to a 7-4.

As predicted, sailing the J/24s is always a good test of going fast, mixed in with a bit of perseverance and a little lady-luck.  While class leaders like Peter Levesque on MOOKIE, Charlie Enright on WATERLINE SYSTEMS and Tim Healey on QUANTUM NEWPORT having their fair share of ups-and-downs, Jens Hookanson sailed SALSA to a consistent 4-1 record to lead the pack.  Staying out of trouble and getting second as their reward was Ted Winston sailing PASSAGE EAST to a 10-2 record, winning a tie-breaker with Mike Ingham on BRAIN CRAMP with an 8-4 tally.  For more Coastal Living SailNewport Regatta sailing info.
  

Costa Del Sol Cork

J/109 BLUEJAY Winning Nationals

(Cork, Ireland)- As if by magic, sublime, almost Mediterranean weather, arrived for the first day of Cork Week 2010. Sunshine and a moderate breeze of 10-15 knots from the southeast, gave competitors a day to remember. Racing for all classes commenced with few delays and there were some happy sailors returning to the dock this afternoon, having had a spectacular day on the water.

Eighteen J/109s are competing at Cork Week for the J/109 European Championship and they enjoyed some fantastic racing so far.  On the first day, Robert O'Leary, steering JEROBOAM, got a cracking start, right under Weavers Point, they went on to win the race by over two minutes. Steven Tapper's STALKER was second and Jonathan & Andrea Tithecott's JUDGEMENT DAY taking third.  To date, the top three is tight with Greg Burgess's BLUEJAY is winning with a 4-2-1 record, leading Rob O'Leary's JEROBOAM by just two points with a 1-3-5 tally and Brian Moreton's JUKE BOX by two more points with a 7-1-3 score.

IRC Class Zero has some exceptionally close racing and hanging out in the top ten are the two J/133s sailing the event against a hot class of IRC specialists.  Neil Martin's J/133 JAMMY DODGER and Jackie and Robert Dodson's JERONIMO are in contention with at least three races to go...and anything goes in this class so far with boats racing up and down the standings daily.

IRC Class One has a tight race for the top three and with a few good races left, Sheila and James Tyrerell's J/122 AQUELINA is in the hunt to garner a top five finish.

IRC Class Three has a donnybrook shaping up between two J/35s and an X332.  John Moorehead and Chris Ferres are racing their J/35 BENGAL MAGIC incredibly well and are leading the fleet with a fleet dominating three firsts!  Lying third at the moment a scant half point off second is the other J/35, Dermot Cronin's MUMBO.  With three races to go, perhaps BENGAL MAGIC will throw down the gauntlet, bet a few more pints of tasty Irish ale (or whiskey?) and see whether or not they can run the table with straight firsts!

IRC Class Six has the J/24s participating and Flor O'Driscoll's J/24 HARD ON PORT is currently second with a 2-2-3-2 record.

Catch up with us next week to get a summary of the results, see if the J/122s, J/133s or J/35s prevailed in the "new" Costa del Sol Cork Race Week and to figure out who rose above the ashes and wreckage of the battle field to be crowned J/109 European Champion.   For more CORK Week sailing results.        Sailing Photo credits: Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com
  

Large J Turnout for SailNewport Regatta

(Newport, RI)- A large contingent of J one-design sailors are showing up at the Coastal Living SailNewport Regatta for key events in their summer sailing "tours".

For the J/105s, this regatta marks the beginning of the three-event Narragansett Bay Championship Tour which culminates in the West Passage Regatta in Wickford on August 7-8.  Past J/105 class leaders and champions like Joerg Esdorn on KINCSEM, Damian Emery on ECLIPSE, and current J/105 NA Champion Bruce Stone on POWER PLAY will be vying for honor along with fifteen other boats.

In the twenty-three boat J/80 class, multiple North American and World Champions will be competing for the honors of winning the USA Tour, including Kerry Klingler, Jay Lutz on FIRED UP, Glenn Darden on EL TIGRE (pictured above winning at Key West), John Storck on RUMOR and class newcomer Brian Keane (J/105 NA Champ) on SAVASANA.  The event also provides an opportunity for many of the top USA boats to practice for the upcoming J/80 Worlds in Newport later in October.

Not to be outdone by anyone is the powerful Newport J/24 class, with eighteen boats showing up to fight tooth and nail for all the silverware.  Sprinkled amongst the fleet are several J/24 World and North American champions, including Charlie Enright on WATERLINE SYSTEMS, Tim Healey, Jens Hookanson on SALSA and Peter Levesque on MOOKIE (World Team Race Champion), to name a few veteran one-design gladiators.  Take that one-design sailors!  Still one of the strongest one-design classes in existence worldwide.  For more Coastal Living SailNewport Regatta sailing info.