Rob Mundle's new release: BLIGH- Master Mariner

* Australian J/24 sailor and writer Rob Mundle has just released a new book called, simply, "Bligh".  With his previous book, "Fatal Storm", Rob took nearly 200,000 readers from all around the world into the eye of the storm and the heart of bravery as the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race faltered. In "Bligh", Rob goes back to sea, this time it’s the eighteenth century, the era when brave mariners took their ships beyond the horizon in search of an unknown world. Those chosen to lead these expeditions were exceptional navigators, men who had shown brilliance as they ascended the ranks in the Royal Navy. They were also bloody good sailors. From ship’s boy to Vice-Admiral, discover how much more there is to Captain Bligh than his infamous bad temper. Rob Mundle’s "Bligh" is about bravery and brilliance, endurance and integrity, great battles and victories!

Join Rob as he puts you:
· On a beach in Hawaii as 22-year-old Bligh witnesses the death of his captain and mentor, James Cook.
· Aboard HMS Bounty on its voyage into the South Pacific that led to the famous mutiny.
· In an open long boat with 18 of his crew,cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific by the mutinous Fletcher Christian.
· On survival rations and on the incredible 47-day, 3618 nautical mile open boat voyage from Tonga and Timor: to this day,an unbeaten feat of survival and precision navigation.
· In the company of a young Matthew Flinders, as the 37-year-old Captain Bligh takes HMS Providence on a voyage around the world.

All this before he was 40! You’ll never think Bligh a villain again. This is the story of one of our greatest master mariners. Rob Mundle is an international bestselling author, journalist, event organiser and competitive yachtsman. His "Fatal Storm", the story of the tragic Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race gone wrong – remains one of the world’s seminal ocean racing books. Australia’s premier maritime journalist and author, Rob Mundle’s Bligh is his tenth book. He lives in Queensland. For publicity enquiries please contact Alexandra Barlow- alexandra.barlow@hachette.com.au.  Or, just go to Amazon.com, you're sure to find it there.  Great Holiday gift!!
  

The Australian J/24 Legends Regatta- Part II

(New South Wales, Australia)- Gotta hand it to our friends from Down Under.  The boys from OZ clearly have a lot of fun sailing.  And the Legends Regatta was no exception.  Simon Grain has provided a tremendous follow-up to the coverage in the past week:

"The Legends Regatta was born out of an idea from Peter Stevens early last year and it was decided to run it in NSW due to the larger amount of boats and Legends residing there and last weekend saw the culmination of a massive amount of work to make this event happen.

The Gosford weekend was a huge success for the class and I want to thank the members of the NSW Association that put in such a huge effort to make this all happen. The result is a real credit to the vision and hard work of Terry Wise, Arthur Crothers and Paula Shires-Clarke who were the main drivers of this event, I know personally that Paula has lived and breathed this event for the last 6 months, working tirelessly to make it all a success. Many others were involved and I wish to thank them for their effort also especially Tim Briggs for his support in offering sponsorship and help with the legends venue. Thanks must go to all the sponsors small and large that offered their help with the regatta, with around $50,000 worth of sponsorship this surely rank as the most amazing event of recent times within the class and indeed within yachting in Australia.  Thanks to Gosford Sailing Club for running the regatta and to Graeme Watt and his wife Margo who came from Melbourne to bring their considerable experience as international fleet race officers to run the racing. And finally a huge thank you to all the competitors and Legends who came and made this the most exciting J24 event in recent Australian sailing history.

Sailing on the flat waters of Brisbane Water was a delight (being used to Port Phillip chop), but it was tough with varying wind strengths and directions and the hottest and largest ‘national’ fleet seen in Australia for many years. The quality of the fleet was impressive and I know that there were a few that found and the level and the workload difficult if not scary. It does however remind us that there are levels of sailing competition far above even this weekend – just ask anyone who has done a worlds!

I asked the race winners (and others) to comment on the NSW States and Legends Regatta for the benefit of those who didn’t go or were just wondering how they did it. Here are comments from them on their perspective."  Go to this link and read on-- some great and really, really funny stories.  Lotsa comments and every word is a gem.  Especially Peter Steven's story of grit and determination to simply get there!

Read more about the J/24 Australian Legends sailing stories here.
  

No Saving Sailing Needed?

Try Fleets of J/22s, J/24s or J/80s

(Lake Minnetonka, MN)-  Dallas Johnson submitted a letter to Sailing World/ Scuttlebutt where he commented that while everyone is talking these days about "Saving Sailing", there are still sailing areas - such as his home waters of Lake Minnetonka - that are doing just fine.  As current Commodore of Wayzata Yacht Club, Dallas provides some insight into what’s going right on their lake in Minnesota (note- they were home to J/24 and J/22 Fleets #1).  Dallas' comments are an honest, simple and incredibly straightforward program to keep sailors coming to their programs and having FUN:

"There's no magic bullet or super genius running our programs, but there are some basics:

First, we focus on having a well rounded board of directors who are focused on our club mission statement of being "a dedicated, passionate sailboat racing club", and it's a working board where everyone is expected to be energetic and do more than contribute their opinions. They take their jobs seriously.

Second, we own our club property: year after year that Board of Directors has made the commitment to invest in our club (often against the wishes of vocal club members) and provided us with a substantial base of operations. We do not live like a bird on a wire with rented or borrowed property smiling at how little we spent to get there.

Third, we have two-tiered mooring rates. By far our biggest asset has been to provide "owner" mooring rates to boats that race at least 15 races per year. All other boats pay about double for a slip rate which is equivalent to commercial marinas on the lake. This gets rid of the dead wood.

Fourth, we got strong One-Design racing fed by handicap fleets: We love the simplicity and comradeship of one design, and we structure our fleets to have different flavors of non-competing one design fleets so that even the casual/family racer has a one design fleet to join. It's not an accident that we are home to J/24 and J/22 fleet #1.

Fifth, our great RC pays off: We spend copious amounts of money on our RC equipment and paid RC staff. They provide us with what many visitors tell me is the best staff  in the country.

Sixth, lotsa Seminars: I've lost count of how many seminars we do each year. All of them are inexpensive and mostly volunteer run.

Seventh, inexpensive Crew Membership levels help participation: All those people who don't own boats can join or club for a measly $100 per year, and it creates commitment.

Eighth, the "Crew Needing A Ride" Table gets lotsa takers: Before every race we have a table on the patio reserved for anyone who wants to pick up a ride (member or not). Excellent recruiting tool.

Ninth, Women and more women: Specifically, women sailors. We court them, encourage them, train them. Women are half the population, it's a big market, and they are really, really fun to sail with and somehow (magically) they bring in more men to the club. I am told that many clubs are not female friendly, too bad, we're having a ball!

Tenth, Free Beer: Another obvious thing. Along with free soda we provide a free keg after most races. (note: the women are not free, anything but!)

Eleventh, more kids.  Here's a simple formula.  Women + beer = kids and families. And nothing kills sailing more than an uncooperative family. So we focus very hard on trying to make our club family friendly, and we strongly support our youth sailing center and its programs.

Here are the things we don't do: We don't have a bar, a restaurant, a "model room" of our past glories, blue blazers, and anyone who suggests getting a pool is thrown off the dock. We are not a country club with a sailing program, and our lack of "ancillary revenue sources" like a bar or restaurant means that we are free to throw some great parties after the race and make everyone feel welcome.

In short, we focus our energy on providing a solid base for excellent racing programs, and we try to keep it simple, friendly, and fun.  For more on Saving Sailing, please refer to various articles at:   http://www.sailingworld.com  or  http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com
  

Community Sailing- Sodus Bay using J/24s

Community Sailing- doing the right thing at Sailing Anarchy for youth sailing- SA Editor Scot Tempesta has been a strong supporter of sailing at the grass roots.  He recently featured Sodus Bay's junior program (another program that uses J/24s as their keelboat), "Here's a community sailing/ youth sailing group that all SA readers should be aware of. Sodus Bay Junior Sailing Association (SBJSA) has been teaching kids and adults sailing, swimming and environmental awareness on the south shore of Lake Ontario since 1956. SBJSA is a not-for-profit, educational, community based sailing school based on Great Sodus Bay in upstate New York. SBJSA teaches kids from ~ 8 to adult beginning and advanced sailing. All the students are also encouraged to move on to the learn to race (LTR) programs both on Great Sodus Bay and at interclub and regional regattas. All our students are also taught all 7 levels of American Red Cross certified swimming.

The SBJSA fleet is made up of Optis, Lasers, 420s, Lightnings and J/24s. The fleet currently has over 60 boats and 130 - 150 students actively sailing for the multiple session, season each summer. Above all our goal is to instill "Teamwork, Sportsmanship, Responsibility, Leadership and Environmental Awareness" in all our students. Our motto is , "Sailing is Fun! It builds self-reliance, physical strength, quick thinking and a love for the environment".

SBJSA offers scholarship assistance to students through the generosity of many local families and organizations. The school is run by a volunteer board and volunteer help from parents. This bunch of "misfit, do gooders" volunteers their time and energy just to see the smiles on kids faces the first time they figure out how to control wind, waves and fiberglass, and are truly in command of their own vessel.

The Sodus Bay Junior Sailing Association alumni have moved on in all aspects of sailing and water safety. There are SBJSA alumni who have sailed and raced in regional, collegiate and national campaigns. Others have raced internationally and even sailed on Americas Cup campaigns. Students have also gone on to careers in ocean research and naval architecture.

Three years ago SBJSA built a new 3500 sq. ft. teaching facility through the help of a multitude of contributors and volunteers. Many donated money. Some donated material and several donated their time as a labor of love of sailing. Sodus Bay Junior Sailing owes them and all the volunteers over the past 53 years a great debt of gratitude. We have high hopes that through all their efforts we will be teaching kids sailing and swimming well past our 100th anniversary in 2056."  For more community sailing stories, read about them or send them into Sailing Anarchy.
  

J/24 NSW State Championships

The Inmates Were Running the Asylum

(NSW, Australia)- Saturday was a great day on the water for Day 1 of the NSW State Championship 2010 –  a fleet of 27, with 5 boats from VIC and 2 from SA, a variable day with some rain – a generally light day from 3 – 12 knots – 4 races in testing conditions.Day 2 saw variable conditions  again, with breezes from around 5 -18 knots, a lot of rain and 4 close races! At times Jibs replaced Genoas and kite runs were close and top mark roundings busy.

Starting off strongly with two firsts and a second was Sean Wallis' team on the LUNATIC ASYLUM.  After a few bumps in the road, they managed to hang on to win the 2010 NSW States over Dave Suda's team on PACEMAKER.  Third was John Crawford sailing INNAMINCKA, fourth was Brett Lewis on WILDCARD and fifth Hugo Ottoway on VICE VERSA.  The appropriately named CONVICTS REVENGE sailed by Steve Girdis' crew finished sixth.  Rounding out the top ten were Sean Kirkjian on DEATH STAR 7th, Chris and Rachel Lee on VORTEX 8th, Neville Witty on SAILPAC 9th and Peter Stephens on CODE VIOLATION 10th.For more J/24 NSW State Champs sailing information.

  

J/24 Australia Legends Regatta

(NSW, Australia)- After a wonderful Legends Dinner, very well hosted by Rob Mundle, there were some lucky bidders that got some great deals on new sails and a tiller, thanks to our fantastic sponsors.  Also, there were many wonderful raffle prizes that were won.  Perhaps better yet, the "Legends" were faced with some breeze and even some blue skies on Monday with twenty-one Legends having a go at it for world domination!

The first race was for the Andrew Short Memorial Trophy. After a general recall the fleet saw some fairly consistent breezes and a fantastic victory by Victorian boat, MAKE MY J, skippered by our Association President, Simon Grain – well done to him and his crew for winning the Andrew Short Memorial Trophy.  Second was Neville Wittey's crew on SAILPAC and third was Sean Kirkjian on DEATHSTAR.The second race was for the Ian Bashford Memorial Trophy (long-time J/24 builder in Australia).  The race started with 2 more general recalls as the Legends were keen to cross the line first, but a black flag on attempt 3 saw a more conservative start with the race led almost all the way by Neville Wittey on SAILPAC, resulting in their crew taking out the Ian Bashford Memorial Trophy.  Just behind in second was Dave Suda on PACEMAKER and third was Sean Wallis on LUNATIC ASYLUM.Many thanks to all those who travelled to Gosford this weekend making for a wonderfully competitive fleets, and to all the Legends who returned to the class for a fantastic day on the water!  For more J/24 Legends sailing information.

  

J/24 Lake George Changing Of Colors Regatta

(Lake George, NY)- Who can possibly resist the notion of sailing on what has to be one of the world's more gorgeous fresh water lakes during the changing of the colors in the fall.  Situated in an almost impossibly beautiful setting, Lake George has drawn summer crowds from around the northeast for generations.  Perhaps the best kept secret is the "Changing of the Colors" Regatta held every fall that attracts dozens of J/24s from all points of the compass to enjoy great camaraderie, spectacular sailing in the strong fall breezes and scenery to die for.

Sixty J/24s showed up for this year's event and apparently no one was disappointed with the conditions.  After five races, the winner was Flip Wehrheim sailing BOMBA FLIPPER, sailing to a 1-1-3-4-1 score.  Mark Ingham sailed BRAIN CRAMP to a 3-2-2-2-6 record to secure second overall.  Long time J/24 sailor from the early 80s, Kirk Reynolds, sailed OLD CROW to an 11-5-1-1-4 record, showing that he's still got it to show the young bucks how to get around the race track!    For more COC sailing photos from Steve Armstrong.  For COC Regatta sailing results.

  

Laser Master! Scott Ferguson

Scott won it last year and we thought, ok, that’s a pretty good effort from someone who spends most of his life over a computer designing rigs for the world’s fastest boats. Then he won again this year, at a windy and enormous regatta in the chilly tides of the English Channel to defend his title as Laser Masters World Champion. For years Scott had raced J/24s in the famous Newport J/24 fleet and included his family as part of the crew, notably Kim Brown-Ferguson and their two lovely daughters.
  

The Moose Is Loose Again!

This time Moose McClintock was tactician aboard the winning Etchells in their recent US Nationals.  These were hosted by New York YC at Harbour Court in Newport, R.I. Oct 2-3 in conjunction with SailNewport. Thirty three boats made it to the start line, which after six races saw Hank Lammens, Dirk Kneulman, and Moose McClintock win the event with a four point margin over the second place team of Jeffrey Siegal, Jeff Madrigali, Willem Van Waay, and Cece Imbrie. All races were held inside Narragansett Bay north of the Newport Bridge above Gould Island.