J/24s Love Hot Rum Class 4

(San Diego, CA)- The last major San Diego YC racing event came to a close on the first day of December with the final of three races in the Hot Rum Series. The fleet of 130 boats in 6 classes enjoyed gorgeous sunny, warm "winter" sailing conditions on the 11.9 nm  pursuit race course located off the majestic Point Loma.

Race 1 was simple enough with nice sun and a great wind, and the usual inquisitions and opinions over ratings.  The conditions favored the smaller sport boats and the early finish line looked a little like a J/105 regatta. But you know what they say about the Hot Rum, one "nice day", one "light day".

And so, the fleet experienced "the light day" for Race 2.  Sunny, yes, but very light winds.  There was enough breeze (6+ knots) to whisk everyone out to the half-way mark in the Roads, but the wind evaporated from there. The larger boats, that have 50+ feet of mast and sail up in the air, managed to make enough breeze to ghost to the finish.  A last little puff of wind just before the 1600 deadline brought the front of the other five fleets to the finish, but in total, only 57 of the registered 130 boats finished.  Several boats received ratings adjustments that reduced their handicaps (estimated their speed faster) at the start of Race 2, and after a protest hearing, those boats were given redress (RDG) of a time credit for that race and their ratings were returned to those posted for Race 1. The redress did not change any of the results.

And the last part of the saying about the weather for the Hot Rum says "one stormy day".  But despite the low clouds and rain through the night, a really nice day popped out of the clouds around 10 am.  At noon, fluffy white clouds with 10+ knots of wind got the race going in perfect Hot Rum conditions.

Class 5 had several of the J/Classics sailing.  Getting third overall was Mark Clements' J/24 BRIGADOON with a 4-3-6 record for 13 pts.  Finishing behind them was the J/22 GOOD ONE! sailed by Shala Lawrence and the J/24 IRIE sailed by Jeremy Miller.

Many thanks to Mount Gay Rum and San Diego Yacht Club and the Race Committee for their support of this hallmark event.  Mark you calendars now for next year's Hot Rum (Nov. 9, 23, Dec. 7)!  Sailing photo credits- Bob Betancourt and Bronny Daniels/ JOY Sailing.   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information

J/70s Love Hot Rum Race #1

J/105 Masters Crush Fleet, J/120 Wins Too!(San Diego, CA)- This past weekend marked the first of the infamous three weekend series of "pursuit" races sailed off San Diego's Point Loma.  An annual fall right of passage in the southernmost part of California, over 120 boats participated in near picture perfect conditions with winds blowing from the NNW at 10-15 kts.  As the little, slower rating boats took off in sunny, breezy conditions on a long starboard tack reach out the Pt Loma shipping channel on a SW course to the first mark under spinnakers, you could practically hear the J/Teams smacking their chops knowing the first two legs would be fast spinnaker reaches before the long beat home to Pt Loma with a quick port tack reach home to the finish line just off Shelter Island.

Leading the entire fleet home were the J/105s, most of whom were participating in the J/105 Masters Regatta. First boat home sailing an amazing race was Bruce Munro's team from St Francis YC, however, as they finished they discovered they were OCS'd by the RC.  As a result, the first official finisher was John Andron's team, also from StFYC; they were followed by the famous yacht designer Ron Holland from Ireland in 2nd; local hero, World Star champion and SDYC benefactor Malin Burnham finished in 3rd; fourth was yet another famous sailmaker, World Soling Champion, Hans Fogh from Denmark and Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and in 6th was local champion Rick Goebel on SANITY.

Class 2 was won by John Laun's J/120 CAPER with fellow J/120 sailor Chuck Nichols sailing his famous CC RIDER in 5th. Peter Zarcades J/120 MELTEMI ended up 9th.

Class 4 saw the debut of the J/70s.  And, what a debut it was with the group of four J/70s having a very close start and taking off in the first giant puff like a Navy F-18 getting shot off the catapult on an aircraft carrier!  Taking off with foam hissing in their wake, the J/70s quickly overhauled all their competitors in front of them.  In the end, the J/70s took 1st and 3rd.  Leading them home was J/70 ULLMAN SAILS in 1st with the J/70 QUANTUM SAILS team taking 3rd.  The J/70 NORTH SAILS team was 2nd across the line but suffered a similar fate as their J/105 counterparts (the Munro team) by having to take an OCS.  For more Hot Rum Series sailing information

San Diego & Santa Barbara Epic Opening Days

J/105's Smoke the Fleets
(California, USA)- The tradition has been a long-standing one for yacht clubs around the world to have an "opening day", symbolic of the start of a new year, a new sailing season, re-affirmation of belonging to the "local tribe", participating in various "tribal rites of passage" with lots of pomp, circumstance, dressy stuff and good-natured bantering fueled for the most part by good food, drink and friends.

Nowhere is the tradition more laid-back than it is on the West Coast of America.  After all, watching sunsets on the beach is a right of passage, as is surfing to Hawaii on massively fast "sleds", and blasting down the Cal/Mex coastline to some destination called La Paz, Ensenada, Cabo or PV.  This year, two of those opening days were in for a treat, atypical conditions that challenged the best of the best in San Diego and Santa Barbara.

San Diego YC's opening day was an eye-opener.  "Fresh to frightening" or "epic" may have been adjectives assigned to massive chop, 18-30 knot winds and a bit thrill ride of for some.  Of course, the J/105 teams were simply licking their chops, knowing their erstwhile competitors might be doing the wrong kind of "pole dance" as they spun around in broaches all day long!  The SDYC opening day event is an incredibly fun "pursuit race", where slowest start first and fastest last.  In fact, J/22s started first and TP 52s were last!

After the fleet crashed and bashed, surfed and broached their way home, it was the J/105s that swept the fleet- WINGS (Dennis & Sharon Case) that finished first, followed by AIRBOSS and TRIPLE PLAY in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.  As was commented by one of their crew- " Surfing and planing on the downwind leg and having control in the beats were the keys to success and how much fun was THAT!"  Awesome stuff.

On the Santa Barbara YC opening day side of things, their classic "WNW" breeze blew in fresh and fast making for a spectacular afternoon of sailing.  With J/105s, J/29, J/92, J/100, J/145, J/22 and J/24s all making a go of it, it was the J/105s that had a spectacular showing.  Leading the fleet home were SHORT SKIRT followed by Ken Kieding's new ADVANCE (the old ROCK'N'ROLL) and ESCAPADE.

For more SDYC (http://www.sdyc.org) and SBYC (http://www.sbyc.org) sailing information.

J Sailors Enjoy Last Hot Rum Race III

(San Diego, CA)- This year's San Diego YC's Hot Rum Series could be deemed a "classic" Hot Rum Series, sun, fun, gentle sea-breezes and laid-back sailing.  Basically, you just start off the Piers near SDYC, beat out in a lightish Southwest 5-8 knot breeze, tacking up under the Point Loma shoreline, making sure to not run over any incredibly curious sea-lions, avoiding the US Navy submarine pen tucked under the Loma cliffs (currently nurturing an old "boomer"--one of those monsters of the deep that lurk beneath the surface of the world's oceans for a century armed to the teeth with a gazillion MIRV'd nuclear warheads), turning left to go offshore to a marker way south of Coronado Island, then reach/fetch back to the finish and head home.  Easy.  Simple to follow the directions.  And, hundreds of sailors love to do it as their fall (or early winter) right of passage just before the Christmas holiday shopping spree often lubricated with a bit of "cinnamon-spiced hot rum cider"!

This year's event seemed to be skewed to the much larger boats- the 50 to 70-plus footers that were roaring around the course with their towering rigs.  Nevertheless, amongst the J/125s in PHRF 1, Jim Madden's crew on STARK RAVING MAD led the pack of J/125s and ended up 9th in class.  From there, the standings flip-flopped for the other three 125s. Second J/125 in the class was Viggo Torbenson's TIMESHAVER with the unusual paint job (white topsides with a PINK bottom paint!).  Third was Tim Fuller's RESOLUTE and fourth in the 125s was Mark Surber's DERIVATIVE.

Because of throw-outs, the PHRF 2 Class also saw a complete jumbling of their standings.  Local ring-leader Chuck Nicholl sailing his famous J/120 CC RIDER dropped to 4th in class and first in the J/120s.  John Laun's J/120 CAPER was next, finishing 5th in class and 2nd J/120.  Third J/120 was Mike Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY sitting 9th in class.   Top J/109 was Daylen Teren's GREAT BALLS OF FIRE, lying 12th in class.  And, top J/124 was Seth Hall's MARISOL in 18th class, just ahead of Tom Barker's  J/124 GOOD CALL finishing 19th in class.  This was a huge class, with 38 boats sailing on ONE starting line!

The J/105s sailed very well in PHRF Class 3, with Dennis and Sharon Case's WINGS leading the pack, finishing 2nd in class and top J/105.  Jumping up into 3rd in class, 2nd J/105 was Dave Vieregg's TRIPLE PLAY with a second on the last race.  Third J/105 was Team Fisher/ Dagostino on VIGGEN, also sailing well on the last day grabbing a third, but not enough to win the tie-breaker over their classmate TRIPLE PLAY.  A good performance was turned in by Herb Zoehrer's J/35 Z-FORCE, finishing 9th in class.

PHRF 4 Class had David Cattle's J/27 BLACKADDER hanging tough to finish 9th in class ahead of J/classmate Steve Worcester's J/32 RHAPSODY at 14th class.

The epic battle for Hot Rum braggin rights in PHRF 5 resulted in a few of the J "classics" melting down while others soared like Phoenix's rising from the ashes.  Mary Snow's J/24 BOGUS secured third overall by virtue of their 1-3 in the first two races, not even sailing the last race and tossing her DNC!  Amazingly, by doing so she lost a three-wayY tie for second-- huge bummer.  Bob Noe's J/30 MAD HATTER was the third leg of that stool, losing the three-way tie and ending up fourth despite having the overall best record of the three boats-- sailing a solid 2-2-4 for the series!  Next time, Bob, next time you'll get that keg of hot rum! Shala Lawrence's cute J/22 NOTHING DRIVES LIKE A RENTAL sadly didn't sail the last race, so had to score a 5-DNF to slide into 7th.   Sailing photo credits- the infamous Sir DA-Woody (a.k.a. Dennis St Onge).  For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing information

SRM, CO2, CAPER, AVET, HP Win LBRW

A J/125, J/105, J/120, J/80, J/24 Enjoy Long Beach
(Long Beach, CA)- As the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta, Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week on June 24-26 hosted 148 boats in 15 classes.  Two J fleets were resolved on tie-breaker count-backs: Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 over David Gould's AIR BOSS in J/105s and John Laun's CAPER over Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER in J/120s. And, Jim Madden's J/125 STARK RAVING MAD walked off with their class.

Long Beach has long had the reputation of being the home of the notorious summer sea breeze that roars down the San Pedro Channel like an express train. So what was with the wimpy six to seven knots that greeted 150 boats in 15 classes for the first day of competition in Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week? Michael Johnson towed his J/24 HOT PURSUIT down from Seattle expecting something more than the wimpy six to seven knots he saw Friday.  Johnson (1-3), despite sharing the J/24 lead with David Klatt's JADED (2-2) from Ventura, said, 'We were hoping to have more wind---and more sun, too, actually. That's why we came down from Seattle.'  After winning the J/24 Western Regionals, he had hoped to use the event to prepare for the class worlds at Buenos Aries in November.

On Day two it didn't look much different.  When Jim Madden and his Newport Harbor Yacht Club crew on the J/125 STARK RAVING MAD arrived at their boat Saturday morning for the second day of racing they ditched the dismal forecast for continuing light wind and proceeded to pack heavier sails.  'We saw the sun was out,' Madden said, knowing that in Southern California rising inland desert temperatures tend to suck in offshore sea breeze for sailing like a vacuum cleaner.  True to form, after fourth and third place finishes Friday, their J/125 sprang to life to sweep its three races Saturday and jump into a tie for the lead in the PHRF-2 class. Most impressive was that as the scratch boat in the class, STARK RAVING MAD, with a plus-3 rating, owes from 12 to 33 seconds per mile to its six rivals but finished far enough ahead in all three races to correct out on handicap time.  Of the wonderful wind, Madden said, 'We were reading 15 and 16 knots and a couple of puffs to 17' - about double the forecasts which, incidentally, call for 9 knots from the west-southwest Sunday after the sun breaks through for the two races remaining starting at noon.

The final days racing saw many scores settled amongst the fleet leaders in all classes.  In PHRF 2, Jim's SRM crew on the J/125 simply dominated their class, garnering a 4-3-1-1-1-2-1 for 13 points to win their class with ease.

In the J/120s, it was clear that the top three boats were going to have a closely fought competition for the lead between John Laun's CAPER, Charles Nichols' CC RIDER and John Snook's JIM.  After the dust settled on the last day, CAPER's record of 1-5-1-4-1 for  30 pts won the tie-break over CC RIDER's tally of 3-1-2-3-3 for 30 pts.  Just 4 pts back was JIM snagging a 4-2-7-1-2 for 34 pts.  Fourth was Peter Zarcades on MELTEMI with a 6-4-4-2-5 for 39 pts and fifth was Mike Hatch on J ALMIGHTY with a 2-8-3-5-4 for 40 pts.

Like the 120s, the highly competitive J/105 class also needed a tie-breaker to determine the ultimate winner.  Sailing a strong last day was the eventual winner, Gary Mozer on CURRENT OBSESSION 2 counting a 4-2-10-2-4-1-2 for 25 points.  Second was David Gould on AIR BOSS with a 3-6-3-4-3-5-1 for 25 points.  Third only one point back was Ed Sanford on CREATIVE with a  5-3-4-5-2-2-5 for 26 points.  And just 2 points back from them in 5th were past LBRW winners Steve and Lucy Howell on BLINK! with a strong start, but slow finish, collecting a 1-4-5-3-7-8-7 for 35 points.

PHRF 4 Division was dominated by a "classic" J, Dick Velthoen's J/35 RIVAL.  Their 3-1-2.5-5-1-1-2 for 15.5 points simply smoked their class, winning by 7.5 points.  Second was a J/33, John Messenger's NITRO getting a 1-3-5-2-3-6-3 for 23 points.  Just behind in 4th and 5th place, respectively, were two well-sailed J/109s, Alice Leahy's GRACE O'MALLEY and Tom Brott's ELECTRA.

For the J/80s, it was Curt Johnson yet again taking their class with all firsts and seconds on board his well-sailed machine AVET.  8 points back was Steve Wyman sailing NUHUNU to get second and in third was Dan Gribble skippering MONKEY SHOULDER.

The J/24s had a strong showing with a dozen entries for this year's LBRW.  Leading the pack home over some big dogs was Mike Johnson's HOT PURSUIT from Seattle with a 1-3-1-3-1-1-3 for 13 points.  Second was Pat Toole's team from Santa Barbara, past J/24 North American Champion, sailing their renowned 3 BIG DOGS to a 8-1-2-1-2-3-1 finishes for 18 pts.  Dave Klatt's team on JADED finished third with a scoreline of 2-2-3-2-4-4-2 for 19 points, losing his second place position on the last day of the regatta.  For more Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week sailing information.

  

J/95 Dominates BVI Spring Regatta!

Luck of the Irish For SHAMROCK
(Tortola, British Virgin Islands)- What defines a magnificent regatta? Ask anyone who sailed in the 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (March 28-April 3, 2011), and you’ll hear the same thing: red-hot racing, professionally run courses, a family friendly regatta village, and—of course—killer parties--- exactly what sailors on 122 different competing yachts experienced at Nanny Cay—the regatta’s base this past weekend.

Forty boats congregated on the Sir Francis Drake Channel on the first morning, just off of Tortola’s Nanny Cay Resort, for the start of the Bitter End Cup.  This 21-mile Corinthian-spirited race to Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) marks the official kick-off for the regatta.  Lucky sailors in four classes enjoyed 10-15 knots, flat seas, and clean starts as the fleet of cats, cruisers, bareboats and serious race-boats pointed towards their fairy-tale destination. Once there, sailors enjoyed the club’s well-populated dinghy and beach-cat fleet and unwind before Thursday’s reverse-course Nanny Cay Cup.

A glance at the final standings underscores exactly how competitive this event has become.  In the tightly contested   Racing C, Rick Wesslund's J/120 EL OCASO from Miami, FL was in one of the weekend’s more entertaining dogfights, getting the short-end of the stick to finish 2nd overall even after posting mostly 2nds and 1sts!  In Racing A, Jordan Mindich's J/125 AUNT JESSIE sailed mostly mid-fleet and finished fifth-- they may have been suffering a bit sailing against mostly 60 to 80 footers!  In Racing D, the J/27 MAG 7 sailed by Bill Davis from Puerto Rico finished second and just behind in fourth was Julio Requero's J/105 UMAKUA from Puerto Rico.  In Racing E class, the J/33 SISTERSHIP SAILING SCHOOL sailed by a few fair maidens ended up fourth overall and beat some other gals sailing LUXURY GIRL and GIRLS-FOR-SAIL!  Apparently, it was quite a cat fight in this class, all in good nature of course.  In the Performance Cruising Class, Tony Sanpere's crew on the J/36 CAYENITTA GRANDE nearly pulled off another win in class, but after counting two fourths, had to settle for third overall.  Just off the pace and always having fun was Bob Read's J/40 NEPENTHE.  Finally, in their first big regatta victory on the Caribbean Circuit, Tom Mullen's J/95 SHAMROCK strutted to victory in Racing Jib & Main class, lucky leprechauns they were getting a 1-2-1-1-3 record to simply crush their competition.

The icing on the cake for this year's 40th anniversary edition of the BVI Spring Regatta was, of course, the "Moka Jumbies" before the awards presentation and the decadent fireworks show that capped off the night. Ask anyone lucky enough to have been there—it was out of this world!   For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing information.   

Long Beach Race Week Update

(Long Beach, CA- June 25-27)- This West Coast classic is quite popular amongst the "left coast" advocates of "fun in the sun" all year long.  So far, there are 111 entries in 16 classes, approaching last year's turnout of 132 boats.  The J contingent will be quite significant, including J/120s, J/105s, J/109s, J/24s, J/29s and J/80s and an assortment of PHRFs (like the J/125 DERIVATIVE) racing buoy and random leg courses separately.  It's an amazing program--- all will enjoy free mooring or docking, courtesy of the City of Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine; nightly parties with complimentary hors d'oeuvres and free water taxi transportation between the sponsoring clubs.  The regatta is the climactic event of the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series, following the Ahmanson Cup at Newport Beach and Cal Race Week at Marina del Rey.  For more Long Beach Race Week sailing information
  

J's Shine at Cal Race Week

ELEKTRA Zaps J/109 Class

(Los Angeles, CA)- California Yacht Club plays host to one of the longest running race weeks on the West Coast and attracts, in particular, good one-design fleets from greater southern California.  The J/80s, J/105s and J/109s all had fun sailing around-the-cans with excellent courses set by CYC's PROs.

Tom Brott's ELEKTRA truly did zap the J/109 fleet, sailing to an extraordinarily consistent score of 1-2-2-1-1 to win their class by four points.  Chris Mewes sailed SHADOWFAX to second with a 3-1-3-2-2 tally followed by Bryce Benjamin in PERSISTENCE  with a 2-5-1-3-3 record.

Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 literally dominated the J/105 class winning with four firsts and not sailing the last race.  Second Steve and Lucy Howell sailing BLINK! into second with a 2-3-2-2-1 score.  Third overall was ROCK & ROLL, sailed by Don Poppe.

The J/80s also had a dominant performance from Curt Johnson racing AVET to four firsts and a 6th place.  The Mullen/ Witt team sailed an remarkably consistent score of 2-2-2-3-2 to grab second and third was Jeff Friedman's FIRED UP.

In the handicap fleets, Susan Taylor won PHRF4 division in her J/24 and Fred Cottrell finished second in the Sportboat division with his J/33 TIGGER.   For more Cal Race week sailing information.     Photo Credits- Sam Haythorn Photography
  

J/120 CC RIDER Wins SDYC YACHTING CUP

Nichols J/120 CC RIDER Wins! Big J's Sweep PHRF2!

(San Diego, CA- May 1-2) – Ninety-seven keelboats and over 700 sailors participated in San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup this weekend. The J Fleet was well represented with 37 boats competing  (38% of the fleet)  spread across the one-design and PHRF classes.  The winner of the Yachting Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the most competitive fleet, went to Chuck Nichols and his J/120 team on CC RIDER. Said Nichols, "It was a difficult weekend because we rarely have a southerly on sunny days and we had it both days. The only way to win is with outstanding crew work and that’s what we have."

Racing in the J one-design fleets was so close that it was commonplace to have overlapped boats cross the finish line throughout the weekend in which sailors experienced the Catalina eddy. Cold air coming down from the north deflects north of LA and hooks back into the San Diego area as a southerly. It wasn't until well into Sunday’s racing that the wind started to shift right as a light haze burned off. Said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 WINGS, "It was a chamber of commerce weekend."

The big boats on the West Ocean Course off of Point Loma and the J/120's and J/105's competitors on the "Roads course" off of Coronado experienced an 10-12 knot SSW, a large swell, sunshine, temperatures in the low 60’s throughout the weekend. Even rail meat had an important job this weekend – spotting kelp.

J/80's and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. Said longtime J/80 fleet champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 AVET to a very close regatta victory; "We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water. We had really close racing among the top three boats," he emphasized, "within inches."

On the "Big Boat course", the big J's took a clean sweep of PHRF2.  Tom Holthus' J/145 BAD PAK continues on a roll, winning PHRF2 with a 2-2-1-1-2 record for 8 points over Fuller's J/125 RESOLUTE in second with 11 points and Mark Surber's DERIVATIVE in third with 14 points.

On the "Roads Course", Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER was low point in the 9-boat J/120 fleet on Saturday and Sunday. CC RIDER's victory in the most competitive fleet earned the team the 2010 Yachting Cup. John Snook's JIM and Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI were second and third overall. They were tied on points with 16.

The 15-boat J/105 fleet comprises the largest one-design fleet participating in Yachting Cup. Most of the fleet is from San Diego and they take no prisoners when they play. Three different boats won races during the regatta and Doug and Pam Werner's JAVELIN came out on top with 11 points. Everyone worked hard throughout the weekend and Hurlburt/Driscoll's BLOW BOAT moved into a solid second on Sunday. Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis and Sharon Case's WINGS and Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION2 finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with only four points separating them.

Over on the South Bay Course were the J/80s.  Curt Johnson's AVET won with a strong, consistent 1-2-2-1-1 record for 7 points.  Said J-World's Jeff Brown, whose team finished second overall, "Sailing on the flat water in the South Bay is fantastic. We have three J-World boats here and it is a lot of fun. We had very competitive sailing with second and third place finishes within boat lengths of one another." Bob Hayward and his crew on BLUE JAY were third in the regatta.

Finally, in the PHRF 4 division, Larry Leveille's J/29 Rush Street was third, with the last race determining their chances for a silver on the podium.  Another J/29, Greg Raines' MAC 5 finished fifth.   For more San Diego Yachting Cup sailing information  

J/Fest West 2010

Stormy, Grey Weather Thrashes the Bay

(San Francisco, CA)- The fleet of J's that gathered together for this year's J/Fest were greeted by stormier than normal weather and with breeze directions that were nowhere near the norm for San Francisco Bay.  Here's an account of what it was like to race in the J/105 fleet from the winner, Bruce Stone sailing his boat ARBITRAGE- "It rained and was cold and gusty, up to 25 knots, out of the southeast, so they put the starting line between Harding Rock Buoy near Angel Island and Alcatraz, and ran us to the south near Aquatic Park, a routing I have never done before, across the shipping lanes and across the tide...and the wind near the shore was in the 8-11 range so setting the rig tension was tricky.  Needless to say it was our kind of cockamamie race. We had a good start, duked it out with 4-5 boats who also sailed well, and ultimately won the race. It rained quite hard toward the finish, the front went through and they sent us home.  The wind died after we hit the dock!"  Photo Credit- Erik Simonson/ h2oshots.com

In the 22 boat strong J/105s it was a donnybrook as usual for the top five sailors.  Who won was determined by the finish of the last "cockamamie" race with St. Francis YC's ARBITRAGE avoiding a bad race and just beating Tiburon's Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK, getting a first to Scooter's ninth.  Bruce's team on ARBITRAGE won with a 1-6-3-1 1 tally, beating by four points Scooter Simmons sailing BLACKHAWK with a 4-1-1-9 record. Lying third was Phil Laby and Rick Pipkin's RACER-X from Alameda just two points back....again with a mathematical chance to win in the last race despite their 9th place in the third race.  Photo Credit- Erik Simonson/ h2oshots.com

The J/120 class also saw spirited competition with eight boats.  Racing with several "ringers" from the New England area was Northeast Harbor's Steve Madeira on MR MAGOO, winning by just two points over Harry Lewis' team on CHANCE from San Francisco (see the J/Calendar photo of them!).  Both boats had nearly identical records, MAGOO with a 1-3-1-1 record and CHANCE with 3-1-2-2!  Just off these two boats blistering pace was Don Payan's DAYENU from San Francisco with a 2-4-5-3 score to capture third on the podium with fourteen points.

The J/24s had a blast as usual amongst the seven boats.  Berkeley's Mike Whitfieldon aboard TMC RACING won with a strong 1-1-2-1 record, winning by five points over Darren Cummings' DOWNTOWN UPROAR from Treasure Island with a 2-2-3-3 score to garner second place and Don Taylor's ON BELAY from Brickyard Cove finishing with 4-4-1-2 to get third overall. 

The J Handicap fleet had six boats.  The winner was definitely not determined until the closing minutes of their last race.  The J/22 called CHEESEBURGER became the giant-killer in this fleet.  The CHEESEBURGER gang led by Peter Lane from Paradise Cay won on a squeaker, and a tie-breaker, over Trig Liljestrand of Belvedere Cove on RAGTIME, the super-fast J/90- a downwind flyer in most conditions.  Third was Cam Lewis of Monterey, CA sailing his J/22 TRINITY.  Share For more J/Fest sailing information

J's Enjoy Gorgeous Sailing At Charleston Race Week

J Sailors Love Southern Hospitality!

(Charleston, SC- Apr 9-11)- After the first two days at 2010 Charleston Race Week brought winds of up to 20 knots, the final day of racing eased up to just 8-12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor. For the 184 teams competing, not a frown was seen on the hundreds of faces at the awards ceremony on Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina's sandy beach. "The city, the weather and the event organizers couldn't have presented this town any better," said local sailing coach Ryan Hamm, whose J/24 PIGS FLY TOO finished in 6th place. "The competition is stiff, and it's great to see so many sailors learn to love Charleston.

Chilly temperatures greeted the record fleet of racing sailboats on Friday. Braving 55 degree-morning temperatures and a wind-chill driven by the 20-knot breeze made the racing "a serious adrenalin rush", as competitor Peter Crawford put it. Temperatures reached the 70s by noon, providing picture perfect sailing conditions to start race week off with a bang. "I don't know if conditions could be any more perfect than today," said Christof Wieland, who traveled all the way from Germany to compete in his second Charleston Race Week.  By Saturday morning, more nice wind, warm sun and waves graced Charleston with picture-perfect conditions. For the second straight day, winds up to 20 knots propelled the J fleets across all four courses.  Sunday dawned with a big change to the previous two extreme sailing days, with just 8 - 12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor.

The J/80s had a tough twenty boat fleet, with many serious North American and Worlds contenders vying for the top spots.  After the smoke cleared, past World Champion Kerry Klingler skippering LIFTED just beat out the Roger/Welan team sailing B-TEAM on a tie-breaker, each finishing with 22 points, taking seven first places of the ten races between them.  Key West Race Week winners Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard finished third in LE TIGRE, fourth was Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO and fifth was Henry Brauer and Will Welles on RASCAL.

The seventeen boat strong J/24 fleet had a great turnout for this event and they certainly enjoyed the breezy conditions racing inside Charleston Harbor.  Chip Till on MURDER INCORPORATED managed to hang onto the lead on the last day to win by one point over Joe McDonald on REX.  Chris Jankowski finished third.  The top three were a tough bunch, garnering all ten first places distributed amongst them!

The J/105s had a small but highly competitive class of six boats.  The top three were trading off the fleet lead all three days, race to race.  At the end of their scrum, Jackson Benvenutti's LITTLE BOOTY prevailed on yet another tie-breaker over veteran J/105 campaigner, Damian Emery and the beautiful flag blue hulled ECLIPSE.  Bill Zartler and crew aboard SOLARIS sailed great on the last day, getting two bullets, but not enough to take on the fleet leaders, finishing just three points back in third. Like the J/24s, this tough bunch took all eight firsts places in the regatta.

In the first ever IRC fleet at this race week, the J/122 TEAMWORK that won last year's handicap class sailed nicely to finish third overall.  Seemingly, the crazy currents, tide lines and wave conditions conspired to favor the larger boats, the winner was a custom IRC RP52 called VINCITORRE with straight firsts.

In PHRF A, Will Hanckel's J/120 EMOCEAN sailed the offshore course, finishing just one point out of first.  On the last day, a soul-satisfying 2-1 got them into the hunt, but not enough to win the event, having to settle for second place.  In PHRF B, Willy Schwenzfeier's J/35 ARROW had fun sailing to a fourth overall.  In PHRF D, the three masthead J/29s were having a ball racing against each other.  At the end, Jim Mackevich's FOR SAIL beat out perennial Key West Race Week participant (and often winner) Steve Thurston's MIGHTY PUFFIN from Rhode Island.  Miles Martschink's MONGO didn't sail the first day but still managed a fourth in fleet.   For more regatta/ sailing information on Charleston Race Week.