GOOD VIBES Rocks J/24 Mexico Nationals

(Coporito, Mexico)- The Mexican J/24 Class continues to build on it strength and momentum with fleets continuing to improve and get strong in both Valle de Bravo as well as in Puerto Vallarta. Other fleets continue to develop nicely.  Coporito recently did a fabulous job of hosting the 2012 Mexican J/24 Nationals.

The weather was less than cooperative with only six races of at least eight that were scheduled for the event.  But, sailors are sailors-- the fleet still managed to have great fun!

Weather conditions were changing all the time.  The first day of competition started with 5-8 knots, then the wind died completely and then re-started again with little velocity.  As a result a second race was held but, unfortunately for most fleet, the wind died again before most boats could make to the finish line before the time limit.

The second day the wind began to blow a little early and the first race was held again with light winds of 5-7 knots. Then like what happened on Friday, the wind died for about an hour before returning with gusts of 8 at 11 knots with rain.

On Sunday the racing began an hour earlier and the first race was again run in light winds of 4-7 knots and the last race was run in rain!  In summary, it was fun sailing despite the challenging conditions.  A great turnout for the Mexican J/24 fleet and a special "Congratulations" to the "Good Vibes" team for showing great consistency in widely varying conditions-- winning 4 of 6 races!

Congratulations to Team GOOD VIBES- Jorge Murrieta, Julian Fernandez, Diego Fernandez, Jorge Ogarrio Ander Belausteguigoitia- for being crowned the 2012 Mexican J/24 Champions! Second place went to VENDETTA sailed by Mario Velasquez, with Margarita Pazos, Mario Velasquez Jr, and Walter Porter.  Third overall went to a family team on BESANGA sailed by Jerome, Diego, Paul, Philip and Gloria Cervantes. Fourth spot went to a familiar name often at the top of the leader-board- Ken Porter on COMEX.  And, finally in fifth was Javier Velasquez and crew.  For more Mexican J/24 Nationals sailing information

A J/24 Mastman Confessional- Dave Reed- Sailing World

When a longtime J/24 bowman gets put into mastman duty with a pro team, he gains new insight—and respect—for his neighbor on the rail.  Read more about SAILIG WORLD's Editor, Dave Reed, experience sailing in the recent J/24 Copa Mexico in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

"I’ve been racing on the same J/24 in Newport, RI, with the same fantastic skipper and core team for nearly 30 years. By nature of me being the whippersnapper teen when I joined the team way back when, I guess I’ve always been relegated to the bow. It’s my domain, a position I’ll relinquish only when they take the spinnaker pole from my cold, dead hands.

The funny thing about my career in the J/24 class, however, is that as long as I can remember, I’ve never actually sailed on anyone else’s J/24 for a full regatta.

It’s always been the same boat, same job. Forever.

You’d think, after all these years, I’d have a pretty good handle on what was going on behind me on our boat, one rail seat aft at the mastman’s position, but not really. I guess I’ve always been too busy looking forward, focusing on my own responsibilities on the foredeck. On our boat, this second-spot back is where we usually put newcomers and visitors. You know…where they can “contribute” by adjusting the twings while not really getting in the way.

After my experience last week at the Regata Copa Mexico, a must-do J/24 regatta in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico (just north of Puerto Vallarta), however, I’ve reconsidered the mastman cog in the J/24 crewing machine.

The thrown-together crew of which I was part of for this incredible regatta included Chris Snow, of North Sails San Diego, who, as a past national champion, was obviously most qualified to drive. Our talented trimmer was Rich Bowen, designer for North Sails. The tactical genius (and “funny stuff”) would come from the mind of Chuck Allen, who completed the North Sails back-of-the-bus brain trust. That left the front-half of the boat to me, and George Witter, pitman for the 2010 J/24 national champions 3 Big Dogs.

When I learned I’d been slotted into the mastman position, with George on the bow, I was sort of bummed and anxious.

“I’d be better off on the bow,” I thought to myself. “That’s what I know best . . . Maybe I should propose George and I switch.”

But the team roles had been professionally predetermined, so as we sailed out for our first day of practice, I started to mentally go through the mastman’s job list for every maneuver.

This is when I realized I wasn’t exactly sure what the mastman does on other J/24s other than pull the twings and move from side-to-side. On our boat back home, the jobs in the middle of the boat are, for the most part, divided as such: our genoa trimmer trims upwind, then moves to the middle of the boat downwind. The mastman, who helps call puffs upwind, slides to the cockpit to trim the spinnaker. Our tactician handles the twings during the jibes works the pit, and the bowman, of course, handles everything forward of the mast, including halyards. This is, generally, how we’ve always done things.

But after an educational week in the mastman’s seat—a position, I grew to love—I’m convinced we need to change the way we do things back home. And, strangely enough, it all boils down to empowering our mastman. Here’s how things were divided on Bogus:

The trimmer trimmed the jib and the spinnaker. He never stepped forward of the companionway, which eliminated any position shuffles.

The tactician focused on tactics, fleet management, boat balance (weight fore and aft, side to side), parked in the companionway downwind, rolled the boat from the inside, and stuffed the kite in the takedown.

As the mastman, I looked up the course in the pre-start, looking for wind and surprises, called out time aloud in the pre-start, counting every second after 30 seconds. Upwind and down, I called puffs, lulls, and waves and aggressively rolled the boat in tacks and jibes, hiking off the twing line on the jibe roll. I served as human guy and then gathered the foot of the spinnaker before hitting the rail. And when the manure was hitting the fan on the foredeck, I was on halyard backup. I reset sail controls (outhaul and vang) before and after the mark roundings, and moved my weight all over the place to help balance the boat. Now that’s a lot more than just pulling the twings and staying out of the way."  For more SAILING WORLD Mastman sailing experience perspectives.

A Mexican Sailing Extravaganza

(Riviera Nayarit, Mexico)- For two-time Copa Mexico regatta participant, Chris Snow from North Sails San Diego, this past week of sailing provided him and his team a lot of fun memories, great racing and some great lessons on J/24 racing in general.  Here's an account of Chris's epic journey into parts unknown "south of the border":

"On my way home now from the 2012 Copa De Mexico regatta held this last week on Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. What week it was both on and off the water!

The Copa de Mexico is a two and half week long sailing extravaganza that combines three events. First is the finish of the 1200 mile long San Diego to Puerto Vallarta race. Second is the event J/24 event which I participated in which is a World Championship style event sailed over 5 days (10 races) on Banderas Bay. The third event is MEXORC which is a big boat event also over 5 days that  combines closed course racing and medium distance races around the bay.

The venue, Banderas Bay, is the largest bay in the world and combines stunning mountain backdrops with warm water and good wind. The event is staged from the new Marina Rivera Nayarit in a small village on the north side of the bay called La Cruz. All crews are housed at the Marival Resort a short bus ride away in Nuevo Vallarta which is large development of resorts with good security and all the amenities.

The event is heavily subsidized by the state of Nayarit, the Mexican federal government and the Mexican Tourism board. This helps to make it quite affordable for more crews, and creates a whole fleet of ambassadors for Mexico and the region. 52 J/24s participated in this edition with crews coming from the U.S., Sweden, Monaco, Italy, Chile, Germany, France, Brazil, and of course Mexico. Charter boats are provided for all out of country sailors.

I was fortunate to have a great crew (pictured here) who sailed with me for the week. We had a great time, made some great new friends and renewed friendships with many others. For the week I had doing bow, George Witter from Santa Barbara, CA. George normally sails with recent NA Champions THREE BIG DOGS. Doing  the mast, calling the wind and providing Spanish translation was Dave Reed from Newport, Rhode Island.  Dave is the editor of Sailing World and will hopefully be doing a feature story on the event.  Doing tactics and lightening the mood onboard was Chuck “El Chucko” Allen.  Rich Bowen trimmed sails and helped a lot with boat speed.

Sailing conditions for the regatta were varied from a full day of 18 plus knots on the practice day to races sailed in 5-6 knots-- Sunny skies and warm temps were the rule each day. Some of us put on spray tops but only very briefly.

With a large fleet, the starting line was quite long placing a real premium on starting at the correct end. With fairly shifty conditions it was important to be in phase right away with clear air, if you could do this big gains could be made if not it was very difficult to break out of the pack.

On board our boat our strategy was to be conservative, get good starts and let our speed work to our advantage over the long time.  My rusty starting skills were a challenge in the beginning of the regatta but got better as the event went on. Also we unfortunately were OCS on the “Z Flag” start which cost us a few extra unneeded points. In the end we were pleased to finish a solid third and look forward to the Spring and Summer season coming up.

Here are some thing I learned over the week that might help you in your J/24 Sailing:
- Always set the rig up for conditions at the start, don’t worry about the rest of the race speed off the line is essential
- When starting allow plenty of time coming back on port to find a hole. Keep going on port until you find one. Starting with a boat directly to leeward is practically impossible
- If in doubt set the boat up for the lulls
- In choppy conditions always sail the boat flat-- even if it feels slow-- The boat does not sideslip when flat.
- Downwind in choppy rolling seas spread crew weight as far as you can side to side. This helps a lot of stabilize the boat.
- If port tack jibe is favored and you are towards the front of the fleet be careful about jibing under all the starboard boats approaching the weather mark-- Better to go a short distance and jibe in clear air.
- At downwind gates-- If they are evenly favored go to one the one that will have less downwind traffic"
For more Mexican J/24 sailing information

BRUSCHETTA Two-Peats J/24 Copa Mexico

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)-  The second edition of the J/24 Copa Mexico Olympic Edition was yet another resounding success.  With fifty J/24s competing from over a dozen countries, the sailing was both competitive and a lot of fun for all those participating.  In fact, with the support of Mexico's Presidente Felipe Calderon helping to award special trophies and roll-out the "red carpet", the province of Riviera Nayarit, NEXTEL, DELL, MICROSOFT and others, it would be hard not to have fun in this extravaganza sailed on Bahia de Banderas on Mexico's "Riviera".

To say competition was strong would be an understatement.  With three multiple J/24 World Champions and North American Champions present, the top three boats would surely be no "push-overs" in the realm of international one-design competition.  As anticipated, the top five was made up of World Champions, NA Champions and Mexican Champions-- ouch, that racing must've been hot, hot, hot!  Winning his second Copa Mexico in a row was none other than 2010 J/24 World Champion Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil on his famous NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA.  Second was the previous year's 2009 J/24 World Champion Tim Healey from Newport, Rhode Island on 11TH HOUR RACING/ SAILORS FOR THE SEA.  Third was a J/24 North American and National Champion, Chris Snow from San Diego, California on his familiar blue boat BOGUS.  Fourth was past J/24 World Champion Mike Ingham from Rochester, New York on BLUE DEMON.  And, fifth was Mexican Champion Ken Porter on COMEX.  Incredibly, everyone in the top five won at least one race out of the total of ten races, including Robert Vernon on JOYITA from Chile.

The opening day of racing began to establish a pecking order very quickly for the top of the podium.  After just two races, Mauricio's NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA had two 1sts and Tim Healey's 11TH HOUR RACING/ SAILORS FOR THE SEA had two 2nds!  It was a decent day of sailing marked by several large shifts, one even forcing an abandonment and restart of the second race of the day.

The next day saw very little wind between 6 and 8 knots, causing both courses to be shortened, with Tim Healey winning the first race and Robert Vernon from Chile winning the other-- proof the South American teams are getting stronger every year!

The third day of racing started with 8 knots of breeze, it went up to 12 and in the second race it went back down to 4 knots, so the course had to be shortened again.  Some boats did not finish due to the wind conditions.  This time, there were two new race winners-  Kenneth Porter (MEX) on board COMEX and Mike Ingham (USA) on board BLUE DEMON.

On the fourth day, the fleet was blessed with fabulous, picture-perfect sailing conditions.  The fleet  started late due to wind changes, but ended up winds of 16 knots with gusts of 18 and 20 kts.  Winners on this day were Mauricio's NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA and Tim Healey's 11TH HOUR RACING, losing the first to an SCP (scoring penalty).

In the end, Mauricio's crew did not have to sail the last race on the fifth and final day, enabling Chris Snow and team on BOGUS to grab their first race win of the regatta.  Congratulations to Mauricio's NEXTEL BRUSCHETTA team on a job well done, same to Tim Healy, Chris Snow, Mike Ingham and Ken Porter to round out the top five, respectively.   Sailing photo credits- Jen Edney   For more J/24 Copa Mexico Regatta sailing information

El Presidente de Mexico LOVES Sailing!

Yes, it's true.  President Felipe Calderon is a big supporter of sailing in Mexico.  Felipe sailed J/24s for years in Valle de Bravo just west of Mexico City-- an absolutely spectacular lake high up in the mountains.  Through El Presidente, Mexican sailing has blossomed and Felipe has supported the Mexican Navy sail-training programs- mostly on existing J/24s around Mexico, including Opti's and Laser's for local, public kids and adults.  They're all public access sailing programs!  More on other such public/ private sailing program partnerships in Mexico next week!

Italians Sailing J24s in Copa Mexico

* Is the J/24 Italian Team Ready to Race J/24 Copa Mexico?  It looks like TEAM BERGAMO racing ITA 479 are getting ready to go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and try their hand against some of the best in the J/24 class.  This year John Fields, President of the Yacht Club Città dei Mille, will represent Italy.  They will be up against 64 J/24s teams from over 20 countries! The Italian J/24 representatives are counting on the support of Bergamo Filtes International - Technical Yarns, OSMI Sro - Oil & Gas and some other partners-- more information at http://www.ycbg.it. Among the sponsors of the 2012 Copa Mexico include Banamex, Coca Cola, Tag Heuer, Comex, Dell, Microsoft Office, Cerveza XX, Nyssen and Grey Goose Vodka.

BRAZIL Golden @ J/24 Pan Am Games

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- The final day of the sailing on the gorgeous Bahia de Banderas bay at the Pan American Games regatta saw each of the nine classes hold the double points medal race for the top five in each class to decide the medalists.

Emerging from the smoke on the battlefield, like an apparition out of the fog, was yet again Brazil's J/24 ace Mauricio Santa Cruz at the top of the leader-board.  Mauricio and crew took home the Gold by one point after a battle in the final race with the American team of John Mollicone.  Taking the Bronze Medal on the podium was Matias Sequel from Chile, fourth was Luis Alcese from Peru and fifth was Francisco Van Avermaete from Argentina.   Sixth from the host country Mexico was Jorge Murrietta.

Sailing onboard the American J/24 at the Pan Am Games in Puerto Vallarta was Dan Rabin.  Dan's amusing commentary about their Silver Medal winning experience was posted on Sailing World blogs:   "Security has increased significantly since we first arrived. Getting into the hotel or the yacht club is like going through security at the airport. In addition, the Mexican Navy is patrolling the coast of our hotel and the sailing area - wow!

I feel like karma should be on our side. The Canadian team's jib got lost in transport, so we gave them our practice jib which only has a few days on it. Otherwise, they would have been sailing with a jib that looks older than the kids I coach at Brown.

We had a nice cross-class dinner after the first day of sailing with the Lightning team and Clay Johnson. I learned that Farrah Hall, the U.S. boardsailor went for a run while waiting for her redress hearing. Boardsailing must be one of the most intense physical activities on the planet, and Farrah goes for a run to cool down! I explained to Jay Lutz that if I ran from our dinner table to the restaurant door I would probably go into cardiac arrest. I guess I'm getting old, or maybe I'm flat-out already there, but being on the water for 6 hours in 90+ degrees takes a lot out of me.

Another competition going on in the midst of the Pan Am Games is the country pins. All of the athletes are given about 20 pins which have a national team decal. The idea is that you exchange pins with athletes from other countries. I am failing miserably on this front. I imagine that the pin exchange is a great introduction to meet people if you are single. I am not single, and I'm a bit shy by nature. So far, I have a couple of Mexican pins that I got from one of their American coaches I was already friends with - pathetic, I know. I gave a pin to a waiter today just for getting me some parmesan cheese, and I gave another pin to a waiter with the promise of a Puerto Rican pin in exchange tomorrow.

What's the sailing like, you might ask?  Well, it looks like champagne sailing, but it's mighty hot on the water off Puerto Vallarta on Banderas Bay. And the pressure in only increasing as the medal race approaches.

We were rewarded with a day off on Thursday because the regatta is on schedule with six races completed. Wednesday was the lightest breeze of the regatta. The puffs were very narrow, making for some challenging racing. With the breeze so light, the heat felt even more extreme. Puerto Vallarta travel tip: no need to bring sailing gear here. If I wore a spray top, I would be unconscious by the leeward gate. We pulled a horizon job the first race and managed a 3rd in the next race. After beating the Brazilians both races, we are leading by 1 point with a throw out.

For our day off, we managed to find the only place hotter than a J/24 deck downwind: the beach volleyball court. The U.S. men's and women's teams had matches, so most of the sailors went down to cheer them on. During the men’s match, a group of 30 Mexican elementary school students were cheering “Los Estados Unidos”, so I’m thinking that NAFTA thing has worked out pretty well. The women faced off against Mexico, though, and the stadium was going crazy after every Mexican point. Unfortunately, both U.S. teams lost. I saw the women’s team at dinner and they were in good spirits. I’m glad we were on hand to be part of their small group of supporters in the stands.

We have four more races scheduled over the next two days, and then a medal race on Sunday for the top five boats. In the medal race, the points are double whatever the finish position is, and it cannot be discarded. It’s starting to look like it could come down to us and Brazil as there’s a bit of a gap to 3rd place, so there should be some interesting tactical situations and exciting face offs. A seven-boat regatta has a very different dynamic than the typical big-fleet racing events I sail. For instance, if you’re sailing a 40 boat event, you could round the leeward gate in 18th, and grind back to a top 10 over the next 2 legs. Here, if you round the gate in third, it’s incredibly difficult to pass even one boat. So while every point matters in a typical event, every point is absolutely precious here. If you lose them, it’s really hard to get them back.

Fun fact: I speak a little bit of broken Spanish but Jay Lutz speaks a little bit of fluent Spanish, mostly related to ordering food and beer (cervezas!)-- I'm learning fast!

I mentioned in my last post that the points were shaping up such that we could see some interesting scenarios, and that was certainly the case. On Thursday, we went after Brazil in the pre-start in race 8. Since we had a better drop race than them, we could extend our lead if we forced them into another bad race. We had a great start to windward of them and were able to pin them out to the un-favored side. At one point, we were winning while they were in 6th, but things change quite a bit over the length of a 6 leg, 80 minute race. We had to shift gears again and tack on them relentlessly up the last beat. We were successful, though, and after 8 races we had our biggest lead of the regatta— a whopping 3 points.

On Saturday we were in full match race mode with Brazil, so the pre-starts were pretty intense. We ended up even on the day, still with a 3-points lead, but we had one especially exciting exchange to maintain that lead. Going down the last run of the 2nd race were about 3 boat lengths behind Brazil. We soaked low on them and then jibed right on top of them.  We began to roll them and then jibed back at them with the starboard advantage. We pinned them past lay line and then jibed back with the pole on the head stay and went on for a hard-earned 2nd.

The medal races on Sunday were only half the length of the normal races for most of the fleets. The Lightnings started before us and we were able to watch their entire race before our start. The RC had to do this format because they had to use the same three umpire boats for each race. That’s right, medal races were umpired and if you got a penalty, you had to do a 360 immediately.

For our medal race, we became engaged with Brazil even before the 5-minute warning went off (is that legal? who knows, umpires didn't seem to care).  At less than a minute to the start, we gained an advantage and drew a windward-leeward foul. Brazil had to spin and we continued to slow them down after they came out of their penalty turn. Meanwhile, the other 3 boats were sailing off at least a minute in front of us, duking it out for the bronze. We had a few tacking exchanges with Brazil, and on the last one, they were able to draw a foul on us. We had to spin, but even though we were in last and Brazil was now fourth, it looked like we might have created enough of a gap to the fleet that they would not be able to put the boat in between us that they needed for the gold. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the first run, Peru and Argentina got in a luffing match and Brazil closed the gap. Up the 2nd beat, Brazil passed Argentina. We were just too far behind to do anything and we had to watch as Brazil crossed the finish in third. It was heartbreaking.

I ran into Jody Lutz from the Lightning team at out hotel and he was experiencing similar feelings. We both recognized the achievement of winning a silver medal here, but were very disappointed at coming so close to the gold and watching it slip away. The medal ceremony on the water in downtown Puerto Vallarta helped cushion the blow a bit—the typical awards banquet doesn’t come close to this experience. I’ll always remember Geoff posing for a picture with his two young boys holding his medal – they looked very proud of Dad.

The Pan American Games was like no other regatta I’ve ever sailed. An outsider might look at it and see there are only 7 boats, and think, "That can’t be nearly as hard as a Worlds or North Americans.”  The comparison is pointless. They’re so completely different that it’s not really the same game.

On behalf of USA 5235, I’d like to give a huge thanks to the US SAILING and U.S. Olympic Committee staff for all of their work here.  I hope you’ve enjoyed following along, and a few years from now, will consider lacing it up and competing in your class’s trials for a chance to represent the U.S. at this great event."  Courtesy of Dan Rabin and Sailing World- http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs   For more Pan Am Games sailing information.

  

J/24 Pan Am Games Update

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- USA team Manager Dave Johnson provided this recent update on the American sailing team and, specifically, the American J/24 Team.  By the way, the USA Pan Am Games team is packed with current/ former J/24 sailors, including Augie Diaz (Snipe), Lutz Brothers from Texas (Lightning), Foerster (Sunfish), so are the other Pan Am Teams!

Said Dave, "Today was a great start to the Pan Am Games for Team USA. All three courses sailed today in 6-12 kts breeze and lots of sun. On the far course Charlie (J/24, Lightning, Snipe) got the first race off with consistently more breeze. The J/24 team of Mollicone, Rabin, Becker, and Abdullah went 1-1 as their boat speed proved superior on the long course.

"We really used speed to our advantage," said John Mollicone, skipper for the J/24. "The races are really long, even longer than Worlds."  With a much smaller fleet of boats in the Pan Am Games, John pointed out that keeping your competition in check is critical in the long races.

And what John said makes sense because one boat going out on a flyer could be a hero or a zero, as they say. In their 7-boat fleet, one boat is nearly 15% of the fleet.

Our Lightning Team of the Lutz brothers (Jody - skipper, Jay - crew) and Greg Thomas also sailed a top performance today, going 1-3 and tied for the lead with Brazil. They too had long races today but their fleet was intense. With teams not leaving any good 'lanes' open, having clear air and a clean lane is important.

Other good performances include four-time Olympian, Paul Foerster, sitting atop the Sunfish fleet with a 1-2. Augie Diaz and Kathleen Tocke finished 2-4 in the Snipe class while Paige Railey went 5-1 in the Radial.

For more USA sailing team information:
USA team: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-Pan-Am-2011
Event website: http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/ENG/01_inicio
Results: http://tinyurl.com/PAG-2011-results

  

J/24 Pan Am Games

(Guadalajara, Mexico)- One week from today, hundreds of American athletes across the country will assemble in Houston en-route to the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Dan Rabin is a member of the US J/24 Team and had this early commentary before the event gets rolling:  "Sailing World is providing me with this forum to share my experience of being part of the U.S. Team as we compete in the J/24 Class in Puerto Vallarta.

It seems like ages ago that we won the U.S. Pan Am Games Trials at Davis Island YC last February. Our team for that regatta on Tampa Bay consisted of John Mollicone on the tiller, Tim Healy on tactics, Geoff Becker trimming, and me on the bow.

The Pan Am format for the J/24 is unique: the crew weight limit is trimmed from 882 pounds to 705 pounds, and the genoa is eliminated. The boat does feel remarkably better with the extra space on deck. As far as sailing with only a blade, the boat has plenty of power as soon as the breeze gets up to 8 knots or so.

The Trials was a battle between a group of class veterans including Robby Brown, Charlie Enright, Will Welles, and Flip Wehrheim. We were very fortunate to come out on top.  The imminence of the Games hit me one evening in mid-September when I found two representatives of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency standing on my porch. We've been subject to random drug testing since April 1, and sure enough, they finally paid each of us a visit in the span of a week. To the athletes who have to go through this ordeal on a regular basis, I salute you.

FORECAST: We recall it being a challenge to get updates from the 2007 Pan Am Games in Brazil. And it is always a challenge to get updates from Mexican regattas. Putting the two together and we could be in for some serious online silence. The Pan Am Games sailing events, which will include Men's Laser, Men's Windsurf, Women's Laser Radial, Women's Windsurf, Mixed Hobie 16, and Open J/24, Sunfish, Snipe, and Lightning, are scheduled for October 17-23."  Thanks for contributions from Dan Rabin/ Sailing World
For more Pan Am Sailing Games J/24 sailing information.   Sailing Photo Credits- Tim Wilkes.com

  

Mexican J/24 Sailor Lorenzo Berho 2nd Transpac!

* Lorenzo Berho- a Mexican J/24 and former J/145 owner sailed the 70 foot PELIGROSO in the Transpac Race this year.  Being the unflappable gentleman that he is as both a sailor, a person and as a competitive racer, it was more than amusing to hear about Lorenzo's spectacular finish off Diamond Head, Hawaii.  As described by Kimball Livingston who was present as it all happened---

"Another hundred yards and it would have been right out of the movies, the A4 spinnaker blowing up dead-on the finish line of an eight day race. But, she blew a hundred yards short, and PELIGROSO finished Transpac 2011 under the main that had been reefed since the night before, when that sail blew out in a gybe. Then, they blew big time, both of them-- at the finish!  We can honestly report there was no apparent dampening of spirits aboard.  Sorry, we don't have that shot, or at least, not yet.

The PELIGROSO crew was the second to arrive at Ala Wai Harbor and the first to tie up on Transpac Row-- the crew sang for the waiting crowd before they stepped ashore. According to navigator Ben Mitchell, they sang all the way across, 2,225 measured miles, from Los Angeles to Honolulu!

Once ashore and into the party tent, it was not long before young Eduardo Saenz - third generation sailor from the Club de Yates de Acapulco - fielded a bottle of rather fine tequila for the boat's owner, Lorenzo Berho, and that kicked off a round of 'put your head back, open, I'll do the pouring' celebration.

Lorenzo, grateful for his youth sailing and J/24 sailing in his early racing career, recognized the need to support youth sailing.  As part of his long-term interest in supporting youth sailing, Lorenzo bought PELIGROSO to bring big-boat racing to the talented youth of Mexico, and at second in Division One of the 46th Transpacific Yacht Race, it would appear he's moved the ball."  Sailing photo credits- Sharon Green/ Ultimate Sailing and Kimball Livingston/ Blue Planet Times.

  

Mollicone Wins J/24 Pan Am Games Trials

(Tampa, FL)- John Mollicone racing Team 11TH HOUR RACING/ SAILORS FOR THE SEA beat a "who's who" of recent J/24 Champions (National, North American and World) vying for the honors of heading south to an awesome place to sail the Pan Am Games 2011 off Vallarta Yacht Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the spectacular sailing venue, Bahia de Banderas.

After 7 races in winds ranging from 5 to 15 knots, John Mollicone and his team of have won the gold medal in the U.S. Pan Am Games Trials. The silver medal was won by the team helmed by Flip Wehrheim sailing ULTIMATE MARINE GROUP and the bronze went to Will Welles and his team sailing FAWN LIEBOWITZ.

10 boats sailed in the “Pan Am” configuration with teams of four and using 100% jibs only. Racing was incredibly tight with even the top sailors struggling at times to stay out of last place. The small fleet made for the perfect format for the trials as the Games in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in October will be limited to seven countries.  For more J/24 Pan Am Games Trials sailing information.   For more J/24 Pan Am Games Mexico sailing information.   

J/24 Pan Am Games Trials

(Tampa, FL)- This week, the Davis Island YC who bills themselves as "The Sailingest Yacht Club South of the Mason Dixon Line (actually, Southeast)" is playing host to three J regattas in a row!  First, they are hosting the J/24 Pan Am Games Trials, then the J/24 Midwinters, then the J/22 Midwinters-- they will be busy catering to the fun-loving, under-demanding needs of J/22 and J/24 sailors who always look forward to their time in the sun in midwinter Florida.

Starting this week, the J/24 Pan Am Games Trials has a "who's who" of recent J/24 Champions (National, North American and World) vying for the honors of heading south to an awesome place to sail the Pan Am Games 2011 off Vallarta Yacht Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the spectacular sailing venue, Bahia de Banderas.  Amongst the leaders will be Charlie Enright from Bristol, RI sailing MOOKIE, Will Welles from Portsmouth, RI skippering FAWN LIEBOWITZ and John Mollicone from Newport, RI racing 11TH HOUR RACING- "the green, environmental boat".

Sailing against the American representative will be Maurizio Santa Cruz from Brazil, a past J/24 World Champion, who will have just come off of some good practice sailing the J/24s at Monaco's Primo Cup last weekend as a qualifier for the J/24 Worlds in Montevideo, Uruguay in September of this year.  For more J/24 Pan Am Games Trials sailing information.   For more J/24 Pan Am Games Mexico sailing information.

Of note are the fact that J/80 and J/24 sailors from Texas have won the Lightning berth for the American team at the Pan Am Games. Jay and Jody Lutz along with foredeck crew Derek Gauger recently won the Lightning Class Pan Am Trial's dominating a very tough group of sailors-- Go get 'em guys!!   

Murrieta Wins J/24 Vela Pan-Americana

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico- Oct 20-24)- The Copa de Naciones Vela Panamericana was organized by the Mexican Sailing Federation and hosted by Vallarta Yacht Club in conjunction with Paradise Village Marina and Resort.  It was a preparatory event for the Pan American Games in October, 2011 and for many classes will serve as eliminatory for the 2011 Games.

As always, the sailors were not disappointed with the beautiful Riviera Nayarit on Banderas Bay, an unparalleled venue for competitive sailing on the Pacific coast of Mexico.  Over the four days, eight races were sailed in winds that ranged from 12 - 20 knots during the afternoon, near perfect sailing conditions.

Like they did earlier in the year at Copa Mexico on Banderas Bay, the Mexican team of Jorge Murrieta sailing with Julian Fernandez, Bernardo Minkow and Alejandro Murrieta sailed a strong series to score 1-2-1-2-1-1-3-2 for a total of 10 points (with throw-out) to win.  Second overall was Yon Belausteguigoitia with 13 points.  Third was Ken Porter, a very good Mexican J/24 sailor from Cantiere Navale Valle de Bravo near Mexico City, finishing with 19 points.  For more Vela Pan-Americana sailing information.

  

J/24 Velas Pan-Americana

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- In 2011, Mexico will be the Host of the Pan-American Games - from the Arctic Circle in Canada down to the tip of South America near the Antarctic Circle and across the Central States to the Caribbean, athletes will arrive to compete with the best of the best.  The beautiful Bahia de Banderas will be the location of the Sailing events.

From October 20th to 24th,  Bahia de Banderas off the Mexican Riviera City of Puerto Vallarta is again going to be awash with flotillas of dinghies and keelboats plying the seas alongside whales and dolphins as sailors aim to become qualifiers for next years 2011 Pan-American Sailing Games being hosted by Vallarta YC.  Yet again, the Mexican Sailing Federation will be rolling out the red carpet for sailors around the Americas.  You gotta see it to believe it!  The Copa Mexico was a sailing extravaganza beyond belief.  Even if you don't sail, you'd want to represent any nation in the Americas to go!

This regatta will allow competitors to become familiar with the waters of Banderas Bay, where winds typically range from 12 - 20 knots during the afternoon to provide near perfect sailing conditions.   This provides an opportunity for competitors to race in the same racing grounds, understand the tides and winds, and be prepared for the "big" games in 2011; an unparalleled  venue for competitive sailing on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

The Vallarta Yacht Club is the Host for this sailing Event, and headquarters are at the Paradise Village Resort and Marina.  The facilities for berthing and staging provide the perfect venue for this large scale event.  Situated in Nuevo Vallarta directly at the channel entrance, this modern marina features 200 slips from 20 to 240 ft.  This luxury marina plays host to small daysailors as well as ginormous mega yachts.The Vallarta YC is an experienced host to many international competitions, including the J/24 World Championships, Copa Mexico, the biannual MEXORC Series, Banderas Bay Regatta, and other world class championships.    For more Pan-Am Sailing Games Qualifier info.