J/24 Harbor School Regatta

(New York, NY)-  The second annual Harbor School Regatta at Governors Island had Manhattan Sailing Club J/24 sailboats competing near and around Governors Island as schooners and other sailing yachts host hundreds of spectators in New York Harbor for a delightful afternoon of cocktails, light bites and commentary by sailing experts and media luminaries including MSNBC’s Willie Geist.

Following the Regatta, sailors, spectators and Harbor School supporters from New York’s finance, media, technology, fashion, entertainment and philanthropic industries convened at Governors Beach Club on Governors Island for the Post–Regatta Bash, complete with live reggae music from "Aljam & the Reggaelution Band", cocktails and specialties from New York’s best eateries. Regatta proceeds benefitted the New York Harbor Foundation to fund career & technical education, after school programs, college readiness and summer programs for New York Harbor School students. New York Harbor School is only New York City public high school that provides a rigorous college preparatory education built upon New York’s maritime experience.

It's not often that New Yorkers spend an afternoon sailing or cruising on the water then head to a beach party in the city -- but that's exactly what nearly 600 supporters of maritime education and a New York Harbor revival did.  For the past 10 years, local inner-city kids have been spending time in and on the waters of New York Harbor learning marine science, building boats, regenerating the local oyster population and learning to sail as students of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School on Governors Island, the only New York City public high school that provides a college preparatory education built on New York's maritime experience. Harbor School students choose New York Harbor School because they are intrigued by the concept of using the Harbor as a classroom and are interested in becoming experts in a skill or technology related to the Harbor. What better way to showcase what a dynamic place the Harbor is for teaching and learning than a multi-class Regatta that captivates hundreds of adults and at the same time legitimizes the students' choice of schools?

Nearly 200 sailors participated in the Harbor School Regatta at Governors Island with 24 J/24s. The event had Harbor School students sail New York Harbor alongside expert sailors from the Olympics, racing teams and maritime academies and industries, putting them in close and meaningful contact with people who have reached the peak in fields Harbor School students have chosen for high school.  With NBC's Willie Geist commentating on the Hornblower Hybrid spectator Boat and several Olympic sailors skippering the J/24 races aboard Manhattan Sailing Club J/24s, the buzz from the event helped remind New Yorkers they live on a Harbor, that the city was founded here because of the Harbor, has depended on the Harbor for hundreds of years, and must continue to depend on the Harbor for commerce, food and recreation, as well as a sense of freedom and connections to the rest of the world.

After the race, nearly 600 people gathered on Governors Island, where they got a personalized tour of the Harbor School by the students, then danced the night away to live reggae music at Governors Beach Club as they enjoyed Goslings' Dark n' Stormies, Brooklyn Brewery favorites, Fishers Island Oysters, Luke's Lobster and other specialties. Dozens of sailing, maritime, financial, fashion and food and wine companies supported the event, including Chelsea Clock, Gaastra Pro, Nautica, Keeper Springs, Mast Brothers Chocolate, Virgin Atlantic and Conde Nast.

One Regatta team member offered a sentiment shared by fellow Harbor School supporters, saying that his racing team was made up of "life-long sailors passionate about sharing the life experience of being on the water with others. The Harbor School offers us the opportunity to align this passion with a practical and innovative educational program for kids in the the City of New York. We are proud to be able to support this school, its programs, and the opportunity it gives city kids to develop their own passion for the water, along with the career opportunities that passion and education may provide."  For more Harbor School Regatta sailing information

J/Fest Southwest Success!

J/70s Debut, Enormous Showing for J/22s, J/24s(Houston, Texas)- Lakewood YC hosted the third annual J/Fest Southwest Regatta for sixty-two boats! Awesome atmosphere! Great band and free beer waiting for all the crews as they came off the water! Everyone is in party mode!

The focus of the J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a Regatta venue that is extra fun for J/Boat owners, their family, and friends. While the racers are on the water, their spouses, children, family, and friends can enjoyed a myriad of activities and tourist attractions in the Bay Area.

One-design fleets that participated this year include the J/22s, J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and a J/PHRF class.  In the J/22s a great class of fourteen boats sailed with the local host team, BLACKBURN MARINE RACING skippered by Casey Lambert, simply walking off with the overall honors with four straight firsts for 4 pts.  Second was Fred Lindsey's team CACTUS JACK with a record of three 2nds and a 3rd for 9 pts.  Third was RICH SKANK sailed by Brant Koepke's team from Galveston Bay Cruising Association with three 3rds and a 2nd for 11 pts.

The J/24s had an excellent showing with sixteen boats participating.  It was a knockdown, drag 'em out fight for the top three with Corey Harding's team on HAPPY DANCE taking the gold with a 1-3-2-2 record for 8 pts to win by one point.  Second was Bryan Dyer skippering RUMLINE from Fort Worth Boat Club with a 2-1-3-3 tally for 9 pts.  Third was Stu Lindlow on TROPICAL AGGRESSION with a 3-2-1-4 for 10 pts.  Great racing to the end for this trio of teams!

The J/70s had their first one-design racing on Galveston Bay.  It was fun racing for all as the teams were all learning how to get the most out of their new boats.  In the finale, it was Bruce McDonald sailing ROGUE WARRIOR 2 from Houston YC that managed to score four 1sts and a 2nd for 6 pts.  Second was Jimmy Mitchell on BOOMTOWN from Fort Worth Boat Club that managed to wind a count-back tie-breaker based on most 1sts, etc.  Jimmy's 3-1-3-2-3 was good enough for 12 pts, overcoming Dave Hinrichsen's #51 that had three 2nds and two 3rds for 12 pts, too.

The J/80s had a great cross-section of sailors amongst the eight teams, including a team from Dillon, Colorado- Kurt Vanderwal on HENDRIX.  In some respects, this regatta was a great practice warm-up for local sailors all participating in the upcoming J/80 North Americans being held in Fort Worth Boat Club later in October.  Topping out the fleet was local J/80 champion sailor Jay Lutz sailed USA 803 with four straight 1sts!  Jay's performance was all the more remarkable considering the fact that they were up against another J/80 NA and World Champion, Terry Flynn and David Whelan, who ultimately finished second.  The Flynn/Whelan team sailed QUANTUM SAILS/ GULF COAST RACING to four 2nds to easily finish behind their local, friendly competitors.  Third was Alfred Poindexter sailing ANDALE that managed to just secure their position with a consistent 4-5-5-4 for 18 pts.

After the Fort Worth Boat Club's One-Design weekend and racing seminar, it was clear the ten boat class was going to have some very competitive racing as many of the teams had stepped up their game and were sailing their boats much more effectively and faster around the race track.  In the end, local rock star Bill Zartler on SOLARIS again proved to be the "wiseman" of the class and managed to sail to four 1sts and a 5th for 9 pts, easily winning their class.  Behind them was Greg Turman's HORNY TOAD, a well-sailed team that featured some great local talent from the Houston area; their 4-2-4-2-2 record for 14 pts was good enough for 2nd place.  Bill Lakenmacher sailed his RADIANCE to a third place position overall with an 8-6-3-4-1 record for 22 pts, showing improvement every single race.

The J/109s had one of their best showing in years with six boats sailing with one of the local host sailors simply dominating the fleet.  It was the HAMBURG "show" as Albrecht Goethe's teams led the fleet with five straight 1sts for a 5 pts total to win by a landslide.  Behind them was a real donnybrook of a fight for second place with Tom Sutton sailing his LEADING EDGE to a 2-3-4-2-5 record for 16 pts, to win a count-back tie-break based on 1-2-3 tally.  Losing that tie-break battle was Dave Christensen racing AIRBORNE into third place with a consistent 4-2-2-4-4 record also for 16 pts.

Finally, in the PHRF division, Doug Shaffer's beautiful J/122 GAMBLER sailed well as the "big boat" in the division to win with yet another "picket fence" performance- garnering four straight bullets for 4 pts to win class.  Second was Chris Alk's J/27 FOOTLOOSE with 11 pts.  Third was Bob Crutchfield's J/120 BLUECHIP with 18 pts.   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

SAILPAC Wins Gosford J/24 Classic

(Gosford, NSW, Australia)- The Gosford J24 Classic Regatta was once again a great success with a fleet of 13 making the huge effort to sail and trailer to Gosford from Sydney and Lake Macquarie.  Saturday delivered very gusty westerlies with an average of 25 kts all day.  We saw some fantastic broaches, whole crews hanging off life lines up to their eyes in water which thankfully wasn’t as cold as Sydney, a man overboard, a few cautious kite hoists and someone with a very squeaky voice now!  Day two gave us a virtual glass out mixed with some nice 10 kts and at one point saw boats changing to a short-lived jib.

Overall, Sean Kirkjian's crew on SAILPAC walked off with all the marbles.  Second was John Crawford's crack crew aboard INNAMINKA.  Third was Brett Lewis sailing WILDCARD.

A big "Thanks goes out to Gosford Sailing Club for running good courses in touch conditions; to Terry Wise for bringing 6 Pacific Sailing School teams and introducing them to the fantastic world of J/24 Racing; to WATER HOUND for the huge effort to get their boat to their first regatta – they assure me they are now hooked (and we will be seeing more of them); to Waterborne Again for breaking away from club racing and joining the fleet; to all our usual loyal skippers who come back year after year for the fun; and to everyone for competing.  Many thanks to Kevin Phillips for his on water photos and for full results and some great photos.

We hope to see you all at Balmain Regatta on 28 October, and the NSW State Championships on 3 & 4 November at RPEYC.  Remember, we will be presenting a Travellers Award at the end of the season so the more you enter, the better your chance of being the best overall NSW J24!!!   For more J/24 Gosford sailing information.   For more J/24 Australia sailing information

Martha Stewart Loves Sailing!?

(New York, NY)-  Martha Stewart thinks sailing and boating is fun!?  Yes. Martha, the doyenne and fashionista of all things for home lifestyle, design, food, clothes and gardening also happens to be a lifelong boater, sailor herself.  When she heads up to Mt Desert Island for brief moments of respite to recharge her batteries, like many of us do, she relaxes in her beautiful home that overlooks Seal Harbor and the Eastern Way towards Little Cranberry Island (a.k.a. Islesford).  In fact, her self-professed "best lobster roll ever" happens to be at the Islesford Dock Restaurant, who's proprietors are Dan and Cynthia Lief (themselves refugees from the madness of working in New York City and working at Goldman Sachs).  How does she enjoy her time in Maine?  Martha often hops into her 36 ft Hinckley Picnic Boat with a pile of friends and dashes around the gorgeous Maine islands in Frenchman's, Blue Hill and Penobscot Bays, trying the lobster rolls in Islesford, Frenchboro, Stonington and Northeast Harbor-- all of them hard to beat since they're so delicious.  She also hops aboard various friend's beautiful sailboats to go out for daysails around the Cranberry Islands, the Ducks or simply for a picnic on the famous Marshall Island sandy beach or at the famous "Dancing Rocks" on Baker Island.

This past weekend found Martha down in New York city supporting the New York Harbor School.  There she found common ground with long-time J sailors Dawn Riley and local Newporter/ Jamestowner Hannah Swett-- both of whom have cut their teeth sailing J/22s and J/24s for decades as they grew into the talented, world-renown women sailors they are today.  Martha was in "good hands" with Hannah and Dawn and thoroughly enjoyed her weekend with these gals and, most importantly, supporting a wonderful program supporting dis-advantaged public high school kids from New York City's various burroughs- the Bronx, Manhattan, Harlem and so forth.  Here is Martha's account on her "Martha Blog" of her recent experience:

"I have become very interested in The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, a wonderful small public high school located on Governors Island (in Upper New York Bay just off the southern tip of Manhattan Island), founded by Murray Fisher.

The school partners with New York City's maritime community (such as sailing Manhattan YC's red J/24s) and uses New York Harbor's marine resources to create an extraordinary public high school experience that instills in its students the skills and ethic of environmental stewardship. Harbor School's mission is to graduate students prepared for success in college and who have earned a technical credential in one of the six marine fields: Aquaculture, Marine Biology Research, Marine Systems Technology, Ocean Engineering, Professional SCUBA diving, and Vessel Operations.

Last Thursday I had the thrilling opportunity of sailing in the second annual Harbor School Regatta to benefit the Harbor School. Hannah Swett, one of my Godchildren, who comes from a very famous sailing family in Rhode Island, invited me to sail with her and her mother, Ellie Burgess, upon the historic America's Cup 12-meter boat, Intrepid.

I first met Ellie many years ago when were neighbors in New York City. I had many exciting sails with her and her family and learned what I know about sailing from them. Hannah's sailing credentials include Collegiate All-American, multiple World and National champion, Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, America's Cup Sailor, and was nominated for Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Please enjoy these sailing photos of the Regatta (MYC J/24s and the 12 Meters INTREPID and AMERICAN EAGLE) taken by photographer Lori Hawkins.

RAKE HELL Smokes Changing of Colors Regatta

(Lake George, New York)- As one of the sailors so succinctly described the weekend, "Great regatta!!  It helps to have wind, despite the cold and drizzle."  And so it was for this year's famous version of the J/24 Changing of Colors Regatta.  Coming off a record J/24 Worlds with nearly 100 boats in Rochester, New York, the local prognosticators at the Lake George Club were wondering if anyone would show up at all just weeks after the Worlds finished with hundreds of exhausted sailors dragging themselves home after an amazing event!  However, what one has to remember is that Lake George is well, simply, Lake George.  It's a bit like Mecca for J/24 sailors along the eastern parts of America-- the event often attracts nearly 100 boats in good years with fabulous weather; 2011 being a case in point with 72 teams sailing!!  In short, the Lake George Club does such an amazing job taking care of its J/24 as well as J/22 sailors that it's simply impossible to resist.

With thirty-eight teams showing up for this year's COC Regatta, it was apparent that the J/24 Worlds did nothing to diminish the competition for the top ten, nor did the weather. With good winds and a bit of a drizzle on, the sailors simply made the most of it and had fun not just on the water, but off the water as well.  The sailors weren't disappointed as the on-shore festivities with great food, drink and music are the magic ingredients that keep the J/24 teams coming back for more each year.

Despite one really bad race in race #3, John Enright and crew on RAKE HELL sailed one helluva regatta, showing the local boys how it's done with a 2-2-31-1-3-1-6 after seven races to win quite convincingly with 15 pts net.  After having a tough go of it at the J/24 Worlds, Travis Odenbach on HONEYBADGER dialed it up a few notches and sailed a  good series despite a slow start, amassing a 22-8-2-3-1-4-1 record for 19 pts net.  Third was Bill Fastiggi's gang aboard BEAUTY with the steadiest scoreline in the top five, getting 7-1-4-4-12-3-2 for 21 pts net.  Just behind them in the top five were Patrick Frisch on ZIA with 26 pts, beating Chris Morgan's team on a tie-breaker for fourth.  For more J/24 Changing of Colors Regatta sailing results

SA J/24 Worlds Sailing Report

(Rochester, NY)-  Collin Leon sailed with John Mollicone’s 11th Hour Racing (USA 5235) during last week’s 2012 J/24 Worlds at Rochester Yacht Club.  Finishing second overall in the largest J/24 Worlds fleet in the Class’s history, Colin gives us his perspective from his position on the "starboard sink".

"Responsibilities: Count down the start, hike your ass off, live in the starboard sink when it gets light, get yelled at about the vang, run the tapes, make sure the jib halyard isn’t knotted or kinked, call puffs and waves, pre-feed the guy, roll gybe the boat off twings, human pole, drink as many free drinks as possible before you’re too exhausted to stand (30 minutes after starting) and go swimming really early to clean the hull (yes, I swam a total of 6 days in the Rochester yacht club harbor… may or may not have mercury poisoning, MRSA infection, or something more exotic?).

Report, Day 1: Started out light at 4-8 knots out of the south/southeast, with a confused sea state and a race committee that was set on three races for the day, it was sure to be a mentally and physically draining day. After a mediocre start and good boat speed in both races, we didn’t seem to have a leg up as we did on previous regattas this season, as the conditions were so tricky. Conditions ranged from me spending half my time on deck and half down below (aka, in the starboard sink, or its counterpart on port, the battery box).  With 1.8nm upwind legs, the race came down to small gains or huge losses. On the downwind legs it was key to not only position yourself for the pressure, but with 96 boats in the race it was even more important to make sure you had enough space to pass boats to leeward. Although it was extremely hard to make perfect tactical calls as everyone was in different pressure and headings, we seemed to find a “safe” mode where we could finish around the top 15 in both races for the day. I couldn’t tell you much about the upwind beats as I was mostly down below, however downwind we had a speed edge playing angles and flawless gybes that didn’t slow us down at all. So although it’s impossible to win the regatta the first day of racing, we certainly didn’t lose it. Sitting in 10th after the first day we were determined to up our performance, keep consistent results, and press forward. As the last race ended at 4:45, we were sent in.

Day 2:  The first race started with a puffy southwest breeze and a race committee that was once again determined for three races. We started a few up from the pin after seeing consistent left shifts coming down before the start and battled it out with Travis Odenbach, holding our lane until a nice lefty came down the course. We tacked in the 15-degree shift and looked LAUNCHED on the fleet, finally a good shift going our way. Well it wasn’t to be!   A massive righty came down a couple of minutes later, and we rounded high 20’s. With impressive downwind boat speed and a solid tactical plan by Tim, we finished 18. Not a great race, but not a bad one. On race two we all decided that the left looked better and would work this time again so back to the pin it was. After one general recall, the I and Z flags went up. With the Argentinian defending world champion “Luca” below us as well as two others, we were sure to be careful not to be pushed over the line. Luckily the Argies couldn’t keep their speed back and were over early. Immediately as we heard general recall on the radio after the start gun and saw a recall flag go up, we dropped our genoa and headed back below the line to listen for numbers. Hearing we weren’t called over and Luca was, we were ecstatic as it was a very stressful start where we came away unscathed. The only problem was that the fleet was still racing… the other two RC boats had X flags up and we began to lose our cool a little. GENOA UP! WE’RE RACING. Tim hailed on the radio that the general flag was up on the pin boat and after holding Gordy back from verbally abusing the flag guy on the pin boat (and what seemed like potentially boarding their boat) for switching the flag from a general flag back to an X after we “informed them”, the RC called the fleet back. Phew, that could have been an ugly race. With a solid pin start on the next start, a great left shift, we rounded top 5 (Finally!) after narrowly missing a hole at the layline for first. A great run had us move up 2 positions and we held our position until the last run. Looking behind a curious black cloud was coming down the course. We decided to set ourselves up for the storm by putting ourselves in the best position to get the maximum anticipated left shift from the storm (that was moving left to right). Well, welcome to Rochester. Storms moving from left to right have a 30-degree right shift to them. In 25 knots, pouring rain, and a 30-degree right shift had us finishing in 4th. A top 5 race, finally. The best part, no 3rd race today and not one moment spent in the sink. A miracle.

Day 3: Day 3 had us motoring out in 15+ knots, our rig set at two settings above base, and a crew ready to post some top results and bounce into a better position. Race one started with us starting towards the pin end of the line with a good line going out left. However, after working the left hard, the right dominated, and we rounded in the top 25.  Working downwind and the rest of the race hard, we finished up 15th (at this stage we determined we’re VERY good at mid teen results). Needless to say, other top ten competitors were not as consistent, and we kept pushing for consistency, which we’ve been working for all year to win regattas. The following race, with similar conditions and a little sharper boat handling and tactics had us pass a bunch of boats and finish 9th in a dying SW’ly breeze. After finishing, the very determined race committee – at 4 PM – decided we needed a third race.

Exhausted more mentally than physically from the two previous races, we knew if we could out sail our competition in this race we would have a good chance in advancing on the leader board.  With the breeze dying, we dropped our rig settings to base and started with a clear lane above the midline boat after a general recall. We had great speed and after seeing Darby Smith roll top contenders of the fleet in what seemed like her own private lefty, we tried to make the left shift work and like everyone else, failed. She was launched. At this point the breeze dropped off to 5-6 knots and I found myself in a familiar place down below. Moving my body weight in and out to keep the boats heel consistent, we finally made it to the mark in the mid 20’s. After a great set, we went to work downwind, and once the kite was down I was back down below. Gaining another boat or two upwind (or so I was informed), we had an intensely slow battle downwind, passing another two boats, and were moving at a snail’s pace toward the upwind finish.  Halfway up the final leg, Gordy came down below to sit in front of the bulkhead.  No words were needed:  We’d hit a massive hole, 200 yards from the finish, and were parked.

Now, if you’ve never sailed a J/24 before, you probably don’t know that there’s only one thing worse than contorting your body down below.  That’s having two people down there.  Because that only happens when there’s nothing to do but wait for breeze as you boil and marinate in your gear.  At the tune-up regatta in Oswego a few weeks back we practiced this situation:  Tiptoe up on deck to roll-tack the boat, stay on deck to leeward until the sails are full, then slither back downstairs.  We knew the drill…

We finally saw breeze coming down the lake, coming right toward us in fact!  But being in Rochester (and remembering George Costanza’s ‘Opposite’ episode) one must remember the mantra, “Right is wrong and wrong is right, down is up and up is down.”  Left side puff, righty shift, and we finished in 14th.  We survived, and continued keeping to our plan for consistency over all else.  Meanwhile, 3-time J/24 Worlds winner Mauricio Santa Cruz was putting on a clinic in his ancient chartered boat, taking his second bullet of the event.

Day 4: Day 4 showed us some great breeze, starting out with a 15-knot southerly building throughout the day to 25 knots, then settling in the mid teens. With three races left, we needed to post two top scores to be in contention for the title.  Okay, maybe not in contention, but at least close.  Since the event started, for the most part you had either be in the pressure, have a shift go your way, or just win your side no matter what happened on the other. With 1.8nm legs, a 5 degree shift could be the difference between first and 50th. We decided that the right looked pretty good at the start of the race and set off to win our side. Will Welles, Matias Pereira, Rossi Milev and Travis Odenbach had the same thought, and when the massive righty came down, it was a pack of old friends at the top mark, with 11th Hour Racing in the lead!  We held everyone off until the last quarter of the final leg, when Will and Matias split sides. This forced us to pick a shift, as we couldn’t cover both boats. As luck would have it, a righty came in when we were on the left. We lost Will but still beat Matias to take second:  A solid race in the end. With one race left we were postponed for half an hour until the wind became steady enough to start a race. The left kept filling in stronger and stronger and shifting towards more of a left number throughout the sequence. We had a little starting issue where the breeze shifted so hard left we couldn’t quite reach the line at go. The boats that had good starts immediately tacked in the large left shift and we had to continue further left before getting a lane. Once we tacked we looked way behind the fleet, however the breeze went harder left as the breeze increased. As we were the first to get the new higher velocity breeze being the most left boat, our deficit wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We rounded top 20 and went to work passing boats all over the course to finish 9th, a great comeback. However as great of a comeback as it may have been, Mauricio and team Bruschetta finished 3rd, winning the regatta without having to sail the last race.  Even better for those guys, they could sit out the entire final day.  It was an “ass caning” as John put it at the awards dinner…but we knew Day 5 would be intense for us regardless of the outcome, so we headed back to the hotel early after a few drinks.  And by ‘drinks’ I mean rocky mountain water, which was all we could handle.

Day 5:  With a light but building Southerly of around 5 knots at dockout, I was pretty sure I’d be finishing yet another 2012 regatta – the fourth of the year -- sitting in the sink. Imagine my surprise when enough breeze came in to pull me into the cockpit! We saw that the right had better pressure and we won the boat end of the line convincingly. Being 1 point out of third and 2 out of second, we determined our strategy would be to sail fast and leave the points to be determined by how well our competitors sailed. After being headed within 25 seconds of the start, we tacked and headed towards the right hoping the breeze would turn around during the 1.8nm leg. About half way up the beat we realized that the right wasn’t to be, but like the rest of the week we still had to win our side to have a chance. We pressed the right hard, but the harder we pressed the more left the breeze shifted. The bad news was there was no way we were going to break into the top pack, the good news was our closest competitors were right there with us (in the mid 50’s). Rounding around 50th, we had an issue with two slow boats on the first downwind where they were literally stuck to the water, but after rolling one to leeward and the other to windward, we set on pressing for the rest of the race. After a VERY few tense if not comical legs, we finished 37th, however our closest competition finished just far enough behind in the race to push us into second overall. Dropping the 37th and having our next worse race an 18th, we went on to finish 7 points ahead of third overall.  We felt the satisfaction of a hard-fought 2nd place at the 2012 J/24 Worlds.

While motoring in, we tried to pass as many boats as possible for the first-come, first-served haulout. On the way in, it came clear that, although we had little luck on our side for the event, having consistent results (averaging a little over an 11) was really the name of the game in such a large fleet on a huge course. On top of a great result, we also got to save a life and win some karma from nature after Tim noticed a duck with its leg stuck between two jagged edges of an old piling from one of the docks. It was one last swim for me to save the little quacker, and she was transported to the animal hospital to assess the injured leg. Volunteer quacks Sarah Enright and her mom reported from the vet that the duck would make it…

Overall, we were pretty stoked with the result as the race was really for second after the second day. Mauricio was in a world of his own, and really showed how to win the event (for a fourth time).  A big congrats to the organizers at RYC who put on a wonderful regatta.  The 11th Hour Racing Team of USA 5235 will be racing ECC’s in a few weeks and then down to Florida for NA’s in mid November."  Thanks for this contribution from Sailing Anarchy contributor Collin Leon.

J/Fest Southwest- Oct 13-14

(Houston, TX)- Lakewood YC on Galveston Bay in southern Texas along the Gulf of Mexico is again hosting the Third Annual J/Fest Southwest.  Open to all J/Owners, the focus of the J/Fest Southwest Regatta is to provide a Regatta venue that is extra fun for J/Boat owners, their family, and friends. While the racers are on the water, their spouses, children, family, and friends can enjoy a myriad of activities and tourist attractions in the Bay Area. Goodie bags for skippers will contain coupons for family fun.

One design fleets slated for the J/Fest Southwest Regatta include J/22, J/24, J/80, J/105 and the J/109’s. It will be a circuit stop for the J/22’s and the J/24’s. All J/Boats are welcome to race in the PHRF classes and in the J/Cruise class. Any J/Boat is eligible to participate, and the regatta organizers intend to offer several exciting formats for the non One Design racers. This year we expect to see a couple of hot J/70’s flying around as well!   For  more J/Fest SW sailing information

Santa Cruz Crushes J/24 Worlds

(Rochester, NY)-  From Day One, Mauricio Santa Cruz snatched the lead of the Quantum Loop Solutions J/24 World Championship and never looked back. He is now the reigning J/24 World Champion and has earned his fourth J/24 World title-- just one title shy of Ken Read's record five J/24 World Championships. BRUSCHETTA achieved a remarkably consistent performance of seven top-ten tallies, a 13 and 19 in the ten-race series (including one discard).  The team stacked up a 42-point advantage heading into Friday's final race and was able to stay ashore and let the others fight it out for the remaining podium spots among the 96-boat fleet.

American John Mollicone's 11th Hour Racing gained momentum throughout the week and seized second place with 101 points, followed by fellow American Tony Parker's Bangor Packet with 108 points. The 96 teams represented 12 countries-Argentina, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Peru and the United States.

"The venue was very shifty, and the team worked hard to stay on top of them. We had good sails and good speed," Santa Cruz summarized. "We used an old boat, but the old and new boats are fairly equal. The mast, keel and rudder have a good shape so we knew we would be fine. Our team has sailed together for eight years, and that is a big help. The Race Committee did a great job. Managing 100 boats is not an easy task." Hank Stuart served as PRO.

In Friday's race, three North American teams claimed the top places- Paul Scalisi's Rabit Cson Duck Cson of the USA, Darby Smith of the USA and Phillip Williamson's Roo of Canada. Winds on Lake Ontario shifted often and blew between 6-12 knots.  As a result of the last day, the balance of the top five saw local Mike Ingham in fourth place and Matias Pereira from Argentina in fifth place.  Americans only managed four of the top ten!  Top Canadians were Rossi Milev in seventh overall.  Top German team was Frithjof Schade in eighth place. Top Peruvian team was Luis Olcese in 10th place.

For amusement and perspective from the "crews view" from the "sink", please read Collin Leon's commentary below in the J/Community section.  Collin sailed with John Mollicone and Tim Healy on the second place finisher 11TH HOUR RACING.  Below are YouTube daily summaries and an interview with Mike Ingham.

Summary J/24 Worlds Racing  Day 1 Racing  Day 2 Racing  Day 3 Racing  Day 4 Racing   Day 5 Racing
Mike Ingham Interview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzOQiqY-3Ck  For more J/24 Worlds sailing information and results