2013 J/Fest Southwest Announcement

(Seabrook, Texas)- J/Fest Southwest gets better and better every year and provides a lot of bang for your entry dollar!  Once again the skippers packet is going to be chock full of coupons for Seabrook area businesses, and great products.  With great restaurants, and lots of activities for shore side guests there is something for everyone:  Kemah Boardwalk Amusement park, NASA-Discovery Center (worth an entire day), Shopping and Dining.  

Sailing from November 2nd to 3rd, the host Lakewood Yacht Club will have real-time race updates for those that want to hang out and see how their favorite sailors are fairing out on the water.  In addition there will be a spectator boat available to take those that want to get up close and personal with the racing action going on amongst 8 fleets!  

The newest J/Boat- the J/88 Hull #007 "It's a Thrill"- will be making her debut!  How will she do?  We'll find out soon!  Her skipper will be Rod Johnstone, J/Boats co-founder and Guest of Honor back for his fourth year!  And that means a 4th year of J/Boats trivia!  With all the fabulous prizes that come with the right answers!  Hint: "Mello Yellow" will NOT be an answer this year!  

After Saturday's racing the band will start and the music will be heard across the inner harbor as we put our boats away, swap stories, and share a beverage or two.  Back by popular demand comes the "Cajun Feast".  Enough food for three regatta's!  

Your skippers packet will include additional restaurant vouchers to be used at LYC for this incredible dining experience!  After dinner several TV's will be replaying the day's race tracks-this has been an awesome prop for the bench racing stories that tend to go long into the night! But really!  It's all about the racing!

All the usual One Designs will be there:  J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/105 and J/109!  With a record breaking early entry list topping 34 boats with two months to go this is shaping up to be a killer event!  The first year J/70 fleet will top 10 boats! Lots of fun and the J/70 Saturday post-race debrief by the leaders has been a real hit- everyone is welcome to attend!  

And for the real kicker- J/World Annapolis is bringing their talented instructors to Lakewood YC for a 2 day "J/Fest Southwest Racing Clinic" on October 31- November 1st to be run on J/70's and J/80's out of LYC!  It's the best deal in town, just $149/boat!

J/Fest Southwest always has great racing and great sponsors that provide us with a lot of valuable freebies!  Check out the regatta site at J/Fest Southwest and look at the list of sponsors to get an idea of the freebies, and listen to Seabrook Mayor Glenn Royals Welcome video!  Hook 'em up!  Head 'em out to J/Fest Southwest and Race, Dine, and Stay in Seabrook!  BTW ask for the J/Fest Southwest discount at any Seabrook hotel- check the website for a list of participating hotels!  For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

J/Teams High On Sierra Regatta

(Huntington Lake, California)- The 60th High Sierras Regatta took place, as always, on one of the most remote and scenic venues on the west coast - Huntington Lake in the High Sierras of California. Hosted and run by Fresno Yacht Club volunteers, the regatta spans two weekends, the first on July 6-7 and the second on July 13-14.  The first weekend was made up of Centerboard Classes, with the second featuring mostly larger keelboats. The number of boats each weekend is limited by the US Forest Service, so entries are always on a first-come first-serve basis.

Over the past six decades, the High Sierra Regatta has had more than its fair share of Olympic gold medalists and National champions sailing in the event. The consistent winds, sunny days and beautiful scenery attract sailors from all over the country; sailing on fresh water in Central California's biggest lake regatta is hard to beat!

The first day of racing on Saturday saw 100+ keel boats on the water.  Imagine that many boats of wildly different speeds and sizes sharing a lake that is only 2.25 square miles long-- an anxiety attack mid-course is not in the cards if you want to sail well in this regatta! Like clockwork, the breeze built in time for the races to start at 10:55am, nearly the same time every day.

Competitors saw gusts up to 19 kts towards the top of the lake and lows of 6-8 kts towards the bottom. The wind was very puffy and shifty and it typically favored the south shore breeze. Boats that were able to stay in phase on the south shore and play most of the shifts made out over the boats playing the middle or the north shore.

On Sunday the wind was pretty similar to Saturday, very puffy and shifty, favoring the south shore again. With most boats short-tacking up the south shore and the breeze dissipating as you go up the lake, there was a lot of disturbed air. This was where "heroes became zeroes" and were shot out the back. The boats that could stay out of  disturbed air and avoid the holes along the shore were able to minimize their losses.  Some boats played it conservatively and found large, shifting breeze lanes going out across the lake in breeze.

PHRF B fleet saw the J/24 and J/22 do battle with a cast of Olson 25s and Merit 25s.  When all was said and done, Pat Bradley's J/24 OLD AND IN THE WAY took 2nd overall and Greg Greenlee's J/22 TEKEELA took third overall in class.

Bob Crooks J/80 WASAABI enjoyed their weekend on the lake and took 7th in PHRF A fleet.  They just nipped out classmate Jim Powell sailing his J/27 LEVITY, who took 8th in class.   Sailing photo credits- Eric Zamora- The Fresno Bee   For more High Sierras Regatta sailing information

J/22s & J/24s Love Rocky Mountain Highs!

(Dillon, Colorado)-  Billed as the world’s highest regatta at 9,017 ft above sea level, racing for the Dillon Open Regatta takes place on beautiful Dillon Reservoir in Dillon, Colorado, where sailors enjoy mostly sunny days and spectacular views of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains.  The regatta is hosted by the Dillon Yacht Club, the nation’s highest yacht club at 9,017 feet above sea level, located near the Continental Divide, a 70 mile drive west on I-70 from downtown Denver.

As Scott Spurlin from J/Boats Southwest once said, “It's been called the "Most dangerous Regatta in America", the "Highest Regatta in America", and the "Largest In-Land Lake Regatta West of the Mississippi". No matter what the claim-- the Dillon Open Regatta is a lot of fun!”

Think you're good at reading the wind? Lake Dillon would certainly test your skills! Mountains and valleys with rapidly changing weather again kept the tacticians on their toes this year!  With winds rolling down the steep mountain sides along the lakefront (or the occasional micro-burst blowing down vertically out of clear blue sky), the faster (and sometimes luckier) crews had a field day picking up windshifts and breeze lines to work themselves to the front of the fleet.

For well over 25 years, the J/24s from around the Midwest (as well as refugees from the heat in the Deep South) have made their annual migration to sail in the warm and friendly confines of Lake Dillon, nestled cozily in the Rocky Mountains.  Eight J/24 teams made the starting line this year.  It just so happened to be a good "vintage" year for the crew on Greg & Susan Johnson's PINOTAGE, posting three 1sts in their scoreline on their way to winning the J/24 class with a 5-1-3-1-1-2-3 record for 16 pts.  Alan Dille's crew on SEPTILLION made a valiant effort to remain in contention, but two 4ths in races 4 & 6 hurt their chances for a comeback.  Instead, SEPTILLION's 2-3-2-4-24.5-2 for 19.5 pts snagged them a second overall.  Taking two 1sts but not staying at all consistent was Frank Kelble's team on USA 1966, amassing a 1-5-4-5-4-1-4 for 24 pts to take third on the podium.  The balance of the top five was taken by Doug Pierini on COLD SMOKE in fourth and Stephen Bergman on EVENT HORIZON in fifth.

The Dillon Open has also bee quite popular with the J/22 class, this year fielding the largest one-design fleet in the regatta with twelve participants.  Sailing fast out of the starting blocks on the first day was Mike Kline's NAUTI-MOOSE, taking a 1-1-2-1 to never relinquish the lead for the rest of the regatta.  However, victory clearly did not come easy for this team.  After what appeared to have been premature celebrations taking place on Saturday night, the "Nauti-Boys" on NAUTI-MOOSE could only muster a 6-5-2 on the last day to barely hang onto their lead to take class honors!  David Baker's UP FOR AIR started slowly but closed the regatta with a 1-1-4 to take second overall.  Third was Robin Jackson & Kristin Zagray's BIG BUTT BOAT, closing with a 3-2-1 to show rapid improvement in the standings to take the silverware for third.  Fourth was Stan Strathman's SCREAMIN J and the "long-distance award" goes to fifth place finisher Richard Hallagan from Canandaigua YC on New York's Canandaigua Lake.   Sailing photo credits- Greg Schertz   For more Dillon Open Regatta sailing information

J/Teams Love Bacardi Newport Regatta

J/70 CATAPULT, J/24 HELLY HANSEN, J/22 JULIAN ASSOCIATES Winners
(Newport, RI)- As has been the tradition for years, the Sail Newport team led by Brad Read and a select group of PRO's provided excellent race management over the course of the two-day Bacardi Newport Regatta to ensure most classes had four good races.

As the largest fleet in the regatta, remarkable considering it's "the new kid on the block", the J/70s managed to put twenty-two boats on the line for a highly competitive and fun event. Perhaps most importantly, the fleet has demonstrated that newcomers to the fleet can be quite competitive against earlier season "veterans" and sail quite well.  Following on earlier season success, Joel Ronning's CATAPULT team from Lake Minnetonka, MN sailed well with a 1-7-7-1 series for 16 pts to just beat out Bruno Pasquinelli's STAMPEDE team that sported a 9-4-2-2 scoreline for 17 pts-- it all came down to who-beat-who in the last race.  Taking third was Bennet Greenwald with a 4-1-6-10 tally for 21 pts-- fresh off wins on the Pacific Coast at Cal Race Week and Long Beach Race Week.  Dave Franzel's SPRING sailed a solid series, capturing a consistent 6-8-5-4 for 23 pts for fourth and lying fifth was newcomers TOUCH 2 PLAY sailed by Martin Kullman with a 5-6-1-12 record for 24 pts (nearly pulling off an overall win in their first try were it not for the last race "bomber" race!).

For the sixteen J/24s, it was a double-whammy, a District 2 Championship World's Qualifier and US Adult Sailing Championship Qualifier. And, to no one's surprise, it was Tim Healy that ran the table with straight firsts on HELLY HANSEN to take the J/24 title.  Fresh from sailing over in Europe was Mike Ingham (world-traveler man!), taking the second spot with a 5-2-2-2 record for an easy second place.  Sailing yet another BANGOR PACKET was Tony Parker taking third.  Fourth was Steve Kirkpatrick on BUCKSHOT and fifth was Mike Marshall on PIPE DREAM.

Nine J/22s sailed gaining good practice for the upcoming J/22 Worlds sailing in Newport in October 2013. And, what a practice it was!  For THREE teams all ended up tied at 9 pts each for first place!  How often does that happen?  Never heard of it before in decades of sailing.  Surprising some of the teams was the excellent performance by Brad Julian and crew on JULIAN ASSOCIATES, winning with a 4-2-2-1 record based on having most 1sts and 2nds.  Second on the tie-break was Chris Doyle's JUG 4 1 with a 3-3-1-2 tally and third on the tie-break was Jim Bernash with a 2-1-3-3 record-- losing the tie-break because of last race placing!  How cool is that?!  CLose racing and fun for all.  Fourth was Dave Godin and fifth was FJ Ritt.  For more Bacardi Newport Sailing information

Fun Sailing North Sea Week

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J/22, J/24, J/109s Enjoy Close Racing
(The Hague, Netherlands)- The major summer regatta in the Netherlands, Delta Lloyd North Sea Week, saw some great competition, nice weather and one of their best turn-outs for participation in recent years.  Teams from all over Europe migrated down to the beautiful seashore off the Hague, including the J/22, J/24 and J/109 one-design classes.

The J/22s saw some new faces at the top of the podium this past week, a refreshing change in this ever evolving fun class in the Netherlands, Germany and France.  Sailing an amazing series and counting only top three finishes after ten races was the FRAPORITA team led by Jean-Michel Lautier, Giuseppe D'Aquino and Denis Neve-- 13 pts net for 10 races!  Showing flashes of brilliance with three bullets in their shoreline was the all-women XJE team led by Misja Adamczyk, Lilith Michaelis and Marion de Ha.  Starting out in the lead after four races, the girls faded in their last four, never finishing higher than fourth.  Nevertheless, they maintained their composure and with 22 net pts secured second overall.  Third overall on the podium was JABBADABBADOO sailed by Stan Heltzel, Nadine Fritz and Audrey Paterson with 23 net pts.  The balance of the top five was Sander Brinkhuis's DJINN in fourth and fifth was Ivo Jeaukens's DE KANTOORBUTLER.

The half-dozen J/24s sailing saw NED 49 take the silverware by a significant point margin. The team of Erik Jeuring, Calijn Muller, Jeroen Horts and Merk Meester ran away with the regatta counting straight firsts in eight races!  Second was NED 51- DE JANS sailed by Nils Jannichsen, Nina Hagoort and Peter Jannichsen followed by BED 68- AS IS helmed by Dirk de Brouwere.

With nine boats sailing, the J/109s had some awesome one-design racing.  Like some of his fellow J sailing colleagues in other fleets, Tom van der Vecht's EXPECTO nearly swept the class counting eight 1sts in ten races to be crowned North Sea Week J/109 Champion.  Second was A van Leeuwen's JOULE finishing second overall with 16 pts.  Third was Niels Groothuizen's TAXATION with 19 pts.  Fourth was BIG TIME (Rein Bakker) and fifth was the offshore veteran sailing team on YETI (Paul van der Pol).

In IRC Class, an initial contender was the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER sailed by John van de Starre and Robin Verhoef.  After flirting with the lead sailing a 2-2 on the first day, their hopes vanished for a podium finish after struggling to regain their "mojo" and momentum, ending up an uncharacteristic 5th in their class.  For more Delta Lloyd North Sea week sailing information

Annapolis NOOD J/Fest Preview!

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J/70 Debuts with Largest Fleet Ever!
(Annapolis, MD)- With 211 boats participating in this year's Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta, it promises to be quite the "class reunion" for many J sailors across eastern America.  Why? For the simple fact that 156 boats are J/Teams (74% of the whole fleet) competing in eight J one-design classes (J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109)!  In other words, for the few boats that comprise the six other classes (average of less than 10 boats per fleet) it may be a tad overwhelming to have nearly a thousand J Sailors criss-crossing the northern Chesapeake Bay and flooding the evening tent parties sponsored by Mt Gay Rum and other enthusiastic sponsors!

Leading the charge again are the J/70s-- setting a record fourth regatta debut as the largest one-design class. At forty-eight boats (Key West, St Pete NOOD and Charleston already in the books), the J/70 has completely eclipsed all attendance records for any sportboat worldwide in inaugural regattas since sprit-boats first exploded onto the sailing scene with the J/105 in 1991. The J/70 fleet is on a rapid learning curve and based on performances at past events, it's clear as mud who will be regatta leaders after the dust settles in the latest 70 battles.  Perhaps most importantly, it was self-evident, based on the huge "can't wipe the grin off my face" smiles after the epic first day at Charleston in 15-30 kts of breeze, all J/70 sailors were having a rip-roaring great time sailing their boats!

After four regattas, the betting will on a number of leading teams that will be seen somewhere at the top of the leader board for the 70s.  Included in that group may be Tim Healey's HELLY HANSEN, Joel Ronning's CATAPULT, Brian Elliott's B-SQUARED, Bob Hughes on MUSE/ HEARTBREAKER, Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE, Henry Brauer/ Will Welles' RASCAL, Jud Smith's RELATIVE OBSCURITY, Peter Vessella's RUNNING WILD, Bruno Pasquinelli's STAMPEDE, Henry Filter's WILD CHILD and a cast of local characters each of whom are capable of good performances, like Peter McChesney's TROUBLE, Tate Russack's DIESEL, and Cole Allsopp's MOXIE.

Next up are the J/22's with an excellent showing with twenty-eight boats (second largest J fleet).  They will be vying for class honors bragging rights, as well as getting great practice for their J/22 World Championships that will be taking place in Newport, RI later this summer.  For those familiar with teams that faired well in Charleston some weeks ago, it's clear that Chris Doyle and his "JUG 4 1" gang from Rochester, New York will be the ones to beat.  Giving them serious heartache will be a rogue's roost of J/22 veterans, including Allan "Albie" Terhune on DAZZLER, Kurt Swanson on SLINGSHOT, Vic Snyder on MO'MONEY, Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY, super hot sailor chick Sandy Adzick on HOT TICKET, Mark Hillman on HAROLD GOES SKA and perhaps newcomer "gurl-stud" Jen Gaffney on PIRATE PRINCESS RACING TEAM. Amongst this crowd, anything goes, as it always has been!

With the third largest J fleet, the J/80's sailing with 23 boats are fielding a very competitive fleet.  Like their J/22 sisters, for some American teams, the event provides great practice for J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France. Amongst those teams, look for Brian Keane's SAVASANA and the Danish family team- Thomas Klok and the Crumps (Will and Marie) on their boat R80 to be amongst the top teams.  Some other notable veterans in the mix will be Kristen Robinson's ANGRY CHAMELEON, Chris & Liz Chadwick's CHURCH KEY, Ken Mangano's MANGO and Ramzi Bannura's STACKED DECK.

The J/105's have a strong showing of an "all Naptown" fleet of eighteen boats and amongst them are some champion teams from past Chesapeake Bay and North American regattas.  Sure to figure in the running for overall honors will be a cross-section of the old guard and some new faces, including Bob Reeves on A-TRAIN, Andrew Kennedy on BAT IV, Gerritt Schulze on MAX POWER, Jack Biddle on the infamous RUM PUPPY, Donald Santa on SANTA's REIGN-DEAR (for real!) and Scott Gitchell on TENACIOUS.

At fifteen strong, the J/24's are probably now on their fifth generation of owners and the competition simply does not diminish as the next-gen teams hop in, learn fast from the veterans, and simply continue to advance the ball in one of the world's most evenly-matched and competitive ISAF one-design keelboat classes.  Remarkably, one of the most competitive veterans (now working on his 4th decade!) happens to be a highly respected, most knowledgeable local J/24 sailor- Tony Parker sailing BANGOR PACKET!  He will be challenged by some "newbies" and some old guard teams, amongst them could be Mike Marshall from Conanicut YC, Jack van Dalen's ARNOLD GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, Pat Fitzgerald's RUSH HOUR, Mike Hobson's SPACEMAN SPIFF, and Frank McNamara's ZOT.

For the J/109's seven boat class, the event represents their J/109 Mid-Atlantic Championship!  J/109 Fleet 4 provides great hospitality under the leadership of Fleet Captain Bill Sweetser and his gang aboard the famous RUSH!  Assisting him is 109 class leader Bob Schwartz on NORDLYS from Manhasset YC and the Western Long Island Sound fleet of J/109s.  With many new faces showing up in the 109 class, it's perhaps one of the most difficult classes for general prognostication, other than the obvious- Bill and Bob!  Yet, any omniscient observer of this class will tell you there's always some new surprises in store for these veterans.  More news soon on the outcome!

At ten boats, it's pretty clear the J/30s have not only achieved "classic" status, but perhaps "legendary" status, too.  The first quintessential cruiser-racer J built in the early 1980s (some might argue it was the J/24-- not!).  Nevertheless, the Chesapeake crew of 30s are having some fun, that's for sure.  And, the NOOD is an annual reunion of like-minded 30 owners who LOVE their boats and it shows-- some look better than new!  TEN BOATS!  Amazing.  Well, let's see if the "gurl-boats" have it this year (as owners or co-owners)!  Included amongst the girl teams are Pam Morris' BUMP, Michel's LEAPFROG, Kathleen's MARY LOU and Sheila's INFECTIOUS SMILE!  So guys, that's a "four-way" that may crush you this weekend, girls's may rule sooner than anyone imagines!

Finally, the J/35s.  Like their "classic" sisterships (at minimum the J/24 and J/30), they were the second derivative of another boat that was incredibly successful (the J/36) in the early 1980s.  With seven boats, the J/35s continue to show their offshore performance worldwide is not just legendary, but fun, too!  One of the more famous boats participating is AUNT JEAN sailed by the Sagerholm/ Christofel team. But, BAD COMPANY, MAGGIE and MEDICINE MAN won't be far from the limelight. Plus, like her J/30 sisturz' the 35s could be facing an insurrection from Stephanie Reuer on DAKOTA GIRL!  Watch out, some sparklers may be flying in this rather diverse group of sailors.  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal and  Meredith Block/ Charleston Race Week.  For more Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Sailing Regatta sailing information