J/24 North Americans Preview

(Newport, RI)- Forty one J/24s are entered from six countries across North and South America to compete in the upcoming J/24 North American Championships hosted by SAIL NEWPORT in Newport, RI from September 19th to 22nd.  Renown for their pro-active race management, the J/24 sailors should be treated to superior racing by SAIL NEWPORT's Race Committee team on either Narragansett Bay or outside on Rhode Island Sound, depending on wind and weather conditions.  For America's Cup history buffs, the J/24 NA's are being sailed at about the same time as past Newport-based America's Cup had been sailed for several decades; with promise of cooler weather conditions and generally reliable sea-breezes from the south/southwest.

The largest number of teams hail from the USA, however, eight Canadian teams are sailing and a very competitive group of seven teams are participating from the South American countries of Chile, Peru and Argentina.  What's readily apparent is that many of the J/24 sailors are looking at this year's event as a "warm-up" for the 2014 J/24 Worlds also being sailed in Newport and hosted by SAIL NEWPORT in late September 2014.

The top US teams include Mike Ingham from Rochester, NY; Peter Bream on Team TARHEEL from Florida; John Mollicone on HELLY HANSEN from Newport, RI; Taylor Neff on BUBBLES from Lake Minnetonka, MN; Pat Toole on THREE BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara, CA; and Travis Odenbach sailing HONEY BADGER from Rochester, NY, amongst many other good teams.  Some of these teams have been sailing quite a lot lately, including recent J/24 World's participants Ingham, Odenbach and Mollicone (the cockpit/ tactician for Tim Healy's recent J/24 Worlds win in Howth, Ireland).

Eight Canadian teams from the Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia provinces include Greg Blunden on ADRENALIN RUSH; John Whynacht on STICKY FINGERS; Mike Howarth on MISTER H and Rossi Milev on CLEAR AIR.  Some of these teams are well-practiced having just competed in the Chester Race Week regatta in Nova Scotia.

The South American contingent all have tremendous experience at the top of the J/24 class, including a few with world-class experience.  The top Argentinean crews are Mario Cubria on ELVIS, Sergio Pendola and Guillermo de Martis on TWIN.  The Chilean teams include Matias Seguel sailing GURU and Robert Vernon on GRINGA.  And, the Peruvean teams include Lucas Peschiera on TIAMAT and Javier Arribas on WAYRA.

The lone ranger from Japan is Sumio Shimoyama sailing aboard SOKOKUMARU. Sumio is no stranger to top flight J/24 competition, having been a top Japanese J/24 team for years and is always a factor in the J/24 Worlds in recent years.   Sailing photo credits- Carter White   For more J/24 North Americans sailing information

BMW J/24 Worlds Update

(Howth, Ireland)- The 2013 BMW J/24 World Championship is underway on the capricious waters off Howth, Ireland.  While not known for light airs ever, that's what the fleet of forty competitors from ten countries are currently experiencing.  The regatta was officially opened by the Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Kieran Dennison at a ceremony on Saturday evening attended by 200 sailors who were led by a piper on to the club forecourt in front of the podium.  Organising Committee Chairman Derek Bothwell introduced the speakers - John Ives (Managing Director, BMW Ireland), Berchmans Gannon (on behalf of ISA President Niamh McCutcheon) and the Mayor of Howth, before welcoming individually each skipper by name.

A practice race on the waters' between Lambay Island and Ireland's Eye in light northerly/north-westerly winds saw half the fleet fail to complete the course, as is customary, while former Irish Champion JP McCaldin from Lough Erne took line honours ahead of Japanese entry Koji Matsumoto and Ignacio Bonanno of Italy.

After the first days of racing, many of the favourites for the World title, including defending champion Mauricio Santa Cruz (Brazil), are amongst the top of the leaderboard.  American crews led the way in both races on the first day.

After a two-hour delay for wind, the fleet finally got away for the first race in a light but testing easterly breeze. First blood went to Tony Parker and his BANGOR PACKET crew from Annapolis who experienced the Howth waters a week earlier at the Irish National Championship.  Fellow American Keith Whittemore from Seattle, who also sailed in the Irish event, followed him home in second place while Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil finished third, ahead of leading UK entry Ian Southworth.

American crews again led the way in the second race, with line honours going to former North American Champion Travis Odenbach from Rochester, with Whittemore second again and Santa Cruz taking another third spot. Newport’s Tim Healy took fifth to make it three US boats in the top five.

After the first day, Whittemore led the overall rankings by two points from the Brazilians, with Britain’s Ian Southworth (with a 4th and 7th) in third position. Leading Irish boat is ‘Stouche’ (Darrer/Murphy) from the host club, whose 10th and 8th place finishes have put them 7th overall.

Sadly, the second day of racing had to be uncharacteristically abandoned.  Lack of wind and strong tides played havoc on the sailors and the regatta's PRO David Lovegrove.  A 6-knot north-westerly breeze allowed the third race of the series to be started eventually but once the boats rounded the windward mark, the wind dropped away and a north-flowing flood tide meant the entire fleet was left motionless, with no chance of a finish.  After a delay of almost three hours, continued windless conditions forced abandonment for the day.

Day Three dawned with a good breeze and heightened expectations by the sailors to go for two or more races.  After an awesome start to the day, PRO Lovegrove managed to squeeze in three solid races, resulting in significant, though not unexpected, wild swings in the overall standings as the fleet could not count a net score with a drop race.  Consistency pays and those practitioners of the art of exacting one-design tactics, starting and boat-speed are slowly being rewarded over the course of the regatta.  Not surprisingly, the roller coaster ride now sees the top five all within seven points after five races, including the toss race!  At this stage, the two most recent J/24 World Champions sit atop the standings-- leading is Mauricio Santa Cruz's Brazilian team on BRUSCHETTA with 11 pts net followed by Tim Healey's Newport, RI team on HELLY HANSEN in second two points back with 13 pts net.  Third is British skipper Ian Southworth on IL RICCIO sailing fast and smart despite a third race Black Flag to score 15 pts net with a 3-1 in the last two races.  Fourth is Travis Odenbach's HONEY BADGER from Rochester, NY with 17 pts net and in fifth was first day regatta leader Keith Whittemore and crew from Corinthian YC Seattle with 18 pts net!  Close?  Indeed, a tactician's nightmare.  More fun & games in the coming days.

Of note is the excellent performance from the leading Italian team, Ignacio Bonnano's LA SUPERBA team in sixth and the two German teams, ROTOMAN and JJ-ONE in 8th and 9th.  Plus, septuagenerian Tony Parker is, again, showing up the "Energizer Bunny", showing the four decades of J/24 sailing means you only got more experience to show "the kids"-- starting with a 1st in the first race and hanging tough in the top 10 at 10th overall.  Just two more days to go!    Watch the J/24 Worlds sailing video introduction
Sailing photos by David Branigan - Oceansport Gallery    For more J/24 World Championship 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

J/24 ACE Wins Class In Sydney Harbor Regatta

(Sydney Harbour, Australia)- Hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the Sydney Harbour Regatta is one of the largest, competitive keelboat regattas in Australia.  Over the weekend of March 9-10, over 200 keelboats raced in 26 divisions on 10 course areas on Sydney Harbour and Offshore.

For the second year running, the event was blessed with beautiful conditions, both days boasting winds of 8-10 knots early on and reaching 16-17 knots by late afternoon. Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather was a highly competitive J/24 class.  A good fleet of seven boats participated for the two day event.

Starting off by winning the first race, Dave West's team on ACE threw down the gauntlet and never let up on the fleet.  After two days of racing, Team ACE walked off with four 1sts and two 2nds to dominate the J/24 fleet with a total of 8 pts.  Giving them a run for the money by winning at least two races was the Scott and Adam Jamieson family team aboard JSPOT, amassing a 3-3-1-3-2-1 scoreline.  The JSPOT boys were clearly learning how to sail smarter, faster, cooler, more awesomely every race, as evidenced by their 1st in the last race.  Brett Hudson's WILDFIRE was hoping they would be "on fire", but a last race OCS was not helpful to their overall performance-- perhaps a bit too eager to put the spot on JSPOT for the last race!

The Sydney Harbour Regatta was sponsored by leading water sports and technical apparel supplier, HELLY HANSEN and supported by Sydney Ports, Robert Oatley Vineyards and Sydney City Marine.  Pictured here is a highly modified J/24 dinghy prototype sans keel, made of wood with Gougeon epoxy, with the J/Sprit concept employed circa 1926. Yes, the J/24 was waaaay ahead of its time. :)   For more Sydney Harbour Regatta sailing information

Mollicone Dominates J/24 Midwinters

Newport Fleet #50 Steamrolls Competition
(Tampa, FL)- John Mollicone's HELLY HANSEN team has seized the lead after five races on the opening day and never looked back.  Taking four 1sts and three 2nds in ten races, John Mollicone from Newport, RI and his HELLY HANSEN team were crowned 2013 J/24 Midwinter Champions. With Tim Healy, Geoff Becker, Dan Rabin and Gordon Borges, the group was able to spectate the last of the 10-race series to allow the other 19 teams to duke out the remaining places.

Will Welles, also from Newport Fleet #50, skippered COUGAR to an impressive series and 26 points for second place, starting off fast to lead the series after four races but dropping back in the end, collecting a 2-1-5-4-6-1-2-3-8-2.  Peter Bream’s TEAM TARHEEL accumulated 43 points for third overall but had to work very hard to three other teams that could have easily grabbed the last spot on the podium.  Dueling for the bronze and just 1 pt back with 44 pts was Mike Ingham's team on USA 5448 from Rochester, NY in 4th place; Tony Parker's "AI" team in 5th place just two points back with 47 pts; and in 6th was Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER tied with Tony Parker on points but losing the tie-breaker!  Close racing, indeed!

Conditions in sunny Tampa Bay remained gorgeous on Wednesday, with breeze between 14-16 knots and puffs to 18. Mollicone praised the “champagne sailing conditions” as the best he’s ever seen there. On the heels of winning last November’s J/24 North American Championship, Mollicone thanked his consistent team, saying “We’ve got a good team, but the biggest thing is we’ve got the same people all the time, and it makes a big difference in our crew mechanics and communication.” The group put in some practice time and training before the event which “helped a lot with getting comfortable again on the J/24 after taking some time off,” Mollicone explained. His dependable group will be heading to Howth, Ireland in August for the J/24 World Championship, but he’ll turn over the helm to Tim Healy. “We’ll just switch roles, and then next year I’ll drive in Newport (for the 2014 J/24 Worlds),” shared Mollicone. In Wednesday’s final two races, Mollicone and Tony Parker took the bullets.

The top ten J/24 teams overall were: 1st- John Mollicone (21 points), 2nd- Will Welles (26), 3rd- Peter Bream (43), 4th- Mike Ingham (44), 5th- Tony Parker (47), 6th- Travis Odenbach (47), 7th- Chris Jankowski (76), 8th- Robby Brown (77), 9th- Darby Smith (80) and 10th- John Poulson (84).   For more J/24 Midwinters sailing information and results
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