INDIGO J/24 "Sailor's Cup" Champion

(Cordoba, Argentina)- The past weekend was the second and final round of the fall J/24 championship on Lago San Roque called the "Sailor's Cup", sailed off the picturesque Andean Mountains' town of Cordoba.

An excellent fleet turnout of seventeen boats produced close competition with the top five all riding "roller coaster" finishes over the two weekend event with six races completed.  It was evident the various J/24 teams are increasingly more even in their performance, boat speed and teamwork are such that many races aren't determined until the final 100 meters by those making the fewest mistakes!

In the end, is was Team INDIGO led by Despontin Ezekiel, who managed to win the championship after an excellent final day posting finishes of 2-4-1 for 16 net pts.  Just behind them a true Argentinean polo pony race hit the pelota into the goal!  The next four boats finished within four points of each other!

Taking second on a tie-breaker was CALEUCHE PHONE SERVICE followed by CAIDO DEL CIELO in third, also with 21 points.  By virtue of winning one of their first races, the team on MARIA MARIA sailed by Julia Wheat, Vicky Allende, Carlos Trigo, Miguel Bailo and Ramiro Camiloto finished fourth with 24 pts.  They were followed in fifth by A PRUEBAS DE BALAS with 25 pts!  A close finish indeed for these crazed mountain J/24 sailors who know how to have lots of fun.  Must be the deliciously yummy pampas fed beef and sweet malbec red wines that all grow in the region.  For more J/24 Cordoba sailing information

J/Teams Support Tall Ship ELISSA

Awesome J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/105, J/109 OD Participation!
(Houston, TX)- Houston Yacht Club recently hosted its 27th annual Elissa Regatta for the benefit of the tall ship ELISSA. This event not only raises money for the ELISSA but also raises awareness of Texas' sailing heritage.

The ELISSA is an iron-hulled sailing ship built in Scotland in 1877, and is now a National Historical Landmark as well as the "Official Tall Ship of Texas". She is a three masted barque with nineteen sails covering over one-quarter of an acre in area.  The Elissa is housed at the Texas Seaport Museum and is owned and operated by the Galveston Historical Foundation. Proceeds from the Elissa Regatta Weekend not only help maintain the ship but also fund exhibits, community activities and educational programs in connection with the Elissa for youth and adults.

Sailing in the regatta was local luminary Jay Lutz, racing aboard his J/80 USA 803 with son, Taylor Lutz. Here's Jay's report- "What a great time of year to sail on Galveston Bay in Texas! Throw in a good cause, the 27th annual 2013 “Elissa” Regatta, hosted by legendary Houston Yacht Club and you have a fun time for all.

The regatta consisted of twelve classes ranging from the hot new J/70 to a pursuit start in mixed PHRF rated boats. I had the pleasure of crewing with my son Taylor, in our J/80 along with our good friends Joe Taylor (JT) and Casey Rogers. JT and I are old, and when we added up, (with a calculator) just the years we’ve sailed together, it was more than the J/80 is long-- 30 years!! At least the “kids”, Taylor and Casey brought our “average” crew age down considerably. Advil anyone?

Our race course consisted of the PHRF, J/109, J/105 and J/80’s. Winds were SSE 12-18 knots for both Saturday and Sunday (and I might add 78 degrees). In our J/80 fleet the competition was very tough with many different competitors leading our class at some point during the six race event. Kevin Funsch and crew of “Geaux Fast” (AKA “Kicks”) did an outstanding job to win the event by one point over “USA 803”, Taylor Lutz and crew on a very tight last race finish.  Third was Ramon Torres on “80 Proof” who did a great job winning race #1 on Saturday. Fourth place was our local fleet captain Forbes Durdin on “Mojito” who had the most unlucky first day rounding the first windward mark of race #1 with a comfortable lead after an excellent beat but missed the offset mark (yes, it was a ways away Forbes) and having a spin takedown/ jib out, back upwind to clear the offset and dropping back to 6th…And then again leading race #2 and missing the mark change (not sure we heard or saw any “C” flag either).. He needed a couple Mojito’s after that!"  Thanks for that contribution, Jay!

The six J/105s battled it out for Galveston Bay supremacy. Winds in the 15-25 knot range made for some exciting extremely tight racing under beautiful Texas skies and very comfortable temperatures. First place changed hands several times during the six races, but Mark Young on KILLER RABBIT won his first ever J/105 regatta and was properly doused in the drink afterward by his admiring competitors. Has Fleet 17 found a new tradition? Bill Lakenmacher on RADIANCE stole second by one point from Bee Bednar on STINGER. A great time was had by all.

The six J/70s saw two matches form over the course of the regatta, one a race for first and the other for third overall.  In the end, Tom Romberg from Austin YC won the first match with Chris Lewis from Lakewood YC taking second.  In the second match, Jim Mitchell from Fort Worth Boat Club sailed BOOMTOWN into third by virtue of winning a tie-breaker over Bruce McDonald's team from Austin YC sailing ROGUE WARRIOR.

The largest class at the regatta were the fun-loving J/24s. The fourteen boats supplied great competition and the top five really was not settled until the smoke cleared in the final race.  Squeaking by with the top honors was Stu Lindlow's TROPICAL AGGRESSION, winning by only one point over Jim Kondziela's ODALISQUE.  Third was Natalie Penner's GIGGLES, an awesomely fun team from Dallas Corinthian YC just three points back.  Fourth was Kelly Holmes-Moon on BAD MOON and fifth was Bryan & Vicki Dyer on RUM LINE.

The six J/22 teams saw a streak of bullets from Larry Blankenhagen's team on PARROT TALES LIGHT, winning comfortably with 6 pts.  Taking second was Don Peloquin's STUDENT DRIVER and third was Chris Morlan's TILT.

Finally, the J/109s sailed as a trio with some spirited competition.  At the end of the day, is was Dave Christensen's gang on AIRBORNE that was crowned champion.  Next in line was Tom Hutton's LEADING EDGE and in third was Barry Hoeffner's POLE DANCER.    For more ELISSA Regatta sailing information

Pendola Leads Argentina's J/24 Autumn Cup

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- While winter seemingly still has not left the northern hemisphere, clinging a bit too tenaciously for most battle-hardened sailors, the J/24 gang down in Buenos Aires are enjoying nearly equally crazy conditions in their J/24 Autumn Cup, hosted by Yacht Club Argentino.

After a hard day of racing Saturday, the fleet was able to complete three good races. Southwest winds prevailed despite, providing the fleet with what is known locally as the "borneo conditions", rains blasting the fleet with massive wind shifts and winds gusting from 15-25 kts.  With the racing taking place not far off the "North Dock", the fleet was constantly challenged with shifty, gusty cells that keep mixing up the fleet.  After three races sailed, it was clear the CACIQUE team led by Sergio Pendola had established a good lead on the fleet with a 1-1-2.

For Sunday's racing, the fleet was blessed with a sweet sunny day with little breeze. After two hours of postponement a gentle northerly settled onto the race course, veering to the northeast that grew stronger during the day.  The RC managed to run two good races to make for a nice start for the two weekend series. The first race with soft breeze was again won by Sergio Pendola and the CACIQUE gang and the second race was won by Nico and Rina Cubria. The Rossi brother's on SHARK are still lurking and waiting for their chance at the lead.  Also, the BA J/24 fleet welcomes newcomer Adrian Segurado.  Next weekend concludes the Autumn Cup at YCA- April 13 & 14.   For more J/24 Buenos Aires sailing information

Durant Takes J/24 Nation's Cup Barbados Qualifier

(Barbados)- Commenting on hosting the Nation's Cup Qualifier, President of the J/24 Club of Barbados, Greg Webster said, "such  organized events will help to further develop the sport of sailing on the island. Support-funding and events of this nature also allows the J/24 Club to promote Barbados as a sailing destination and helps to train and develop our youth sailors for international competition."

The Barbados J/24 Club founded in July 2007 has rejuvenated Barbados to the sport of sailing and yacht racing with its camaraderie and spirit of competition. The J/24 One Design fleet grew from 4 to 10 boats in just 14 months. And, most importantly, it's mission is to encourage and grow the recognition of the J/24 class throughout the Southern Caribbean and in in Barbados.

Following a convincing victory in the Barbados ISAF Nation's Cup Qualifiers, Team USA, skippered by Dustin Durant, will represent the Caribbean and Americas region in the 2013 Nations Cup J/24 yachting championship in Denmark.

Team USA spoiled the party for Team Canada when it mattered most, registering a convincing 3-0 victory in the final sail-off  in Carlisle Bay on Sunday after the Canadians had completely dominated the preliminaries.

Six teams took part in the United Insurance Nations Cup qualifiers which were hosted by the J/24 Club of Barbados and sailed over three days as an international regatta in Carlisle Bay.

The Canadians, skippered by Peter Wickwire,  entered the final with 15 points, having defeated all rivals in the round-robin preliminaries, but encountered a more tactically-charged American team in an exciting tussle for the finals.

Durant and his crew, from Long-Beach California, grabbed the championship as they controlled the pre-start sequence and  tactically stifled the Canadians in each of the three races in the finals.

The Canadians finished second overall while Team Puerto Rico, captained by Marco Texidor, were third after defeating Robert Povey's Barbados team 2-1 in the sail-off for third place.

The Barbadians, who made the semifinals and were defeated by Team Canada, won the first race in an impressive performance against the Puerto Ricans but were unable to subdue their more aggressive rivals and took fourth place.

"It was truly a new level of competition for us Barbadian sailors but it was also a fantastic week learning from our  competitors from North America . It will certainly raise the bar for our local guys to achieve new heights.  We look forward to meeting them again in the coming year," said Povey.

The lone female crew in the regatta, an American team skippered by Sandy Hayes, have also qualified for the Nations Cup Women Finals in Denmark as winners of the female division. Part of Sandy's team includes the famous bow/cockpit goddess, Martha Parker of TEAM ONE Newport- the world's leading foul-weather gear experts!

President of the J/24 Club Barbados, Greg Webster, said the International Sailing Federation Grade-2 event was a learning curve for local J/24 sailors and thanked all sponsors for helping to make it a success.  Along with title-sponsors United Insurance, other support came from RL Seale, EarthWorks Pottery, 10 Saints Beer, the BYC, and RoseBank Apts.

"The pre-start sequence for each match was fantastic to watch as the competitors were very aggressive and the boats were in extreme close proximity to one another and the helmsmen were required to maintain the control of the boat with assistance from the crew in a precision manner so as to prevent fouls and penalties.  It was great to watch and learn from the top international sailors. It was a successful event hosted by Barbados and many thanks to our sponsors and volunteers", he said.  For more J/24 Barbados Nation's Cup sailing information

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EL FIDELDO Smokes J/24 South Australians

(North Haven, South Australia)- The CN Management South Australian State titles were held at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of March off North Haven, just north of Adelaide sailing in the challenging waters of Gulf St Vincent. A predominantly light wind event saw the local fleet joined by a few guest skippers chartered boats and one visitor from Victoria. Andrew Townsend pulled a crew together and entered JJF, while Jamie Goode returned to the fleet in NO EYE DEER after downgrading to a Farr 30 at the start of the year and Bill Coutts (the previous owner of JJF) was the guest helm in STOCKCAR. Special thanks go to Ron Thomson and the crew of KICKING BOTTOM who made the trip from Sandringham for the weekend.

With concerns about whether there would be enough wind for any racing, the race officer got proceedings underway in a very light and shifty breeze and had to rotate the course through more than 90 degrees before the two laps were completed. A slightly stronger and much steadier breeze allowed for a fairer 2nd heat however the 3rd race of the day was abandoned as the wind disappeared completely with most of the fleet getting swept north on the tide. With 2 wins EL FIDELDO were looking like the boat to beat with KICKING BOTTOM pushing them hard with 2 second places.

Sunday saw one race completed in a light northerly before the wind started swinging to the west bringing the possibility of a sea breeze. Although the direction steadied, the breeze failed to build and the last two races were run in similarly light conditions. EL FIDELDO managed to maintain their unbeaten record with KICKING BOTTOM close behind and Dave Nicholson on SUCH IS LIFE finishing consistently at the front end of the fleet to secure third place overall.
Under PHS, it was Bill Coutts that took the honours by only half a point from Andrew Townsend with the other Townsend's in GOOD COMPANY taking third.

It was good to see almost all the boats at the CYCSA on the water for the weekend and great to have some competition from further a field. The next event in SA is the Great Southern Regatta, again held by the CYCSA, on the 6 and 7th of April. To secure our One Design start, it would be great to see as many boats on the water as possible. Details are available on the CYCSA website.  For more J/24 Australian sailing information

CARRER Takes J/24 Cordoba Championship

(Villa Carlos Pax, Cordoba, Argentina)- As they have for years, the "400 Club" as it's known amongst the J/24 sailors that go sailing in Argentina's Andes Mountain range hosted yet another fantastic regatta, weather be damned.  Located not far from its famous vineyards for making the delicious red Malbec's and for snow-skiing in yet another direction (like at the top of the lake!) the J/24 sailors made the most of what can be some of the world's most spectacular sailing conditions as well as it's craziest.  Think of sailing on any Swiss Lake, Lake Dillon in Colorado or Nevada's famous Lake Tahoe; micro-bursts are normal and boats sailing at one another with spinnakers on opposite legs are simply part of the game.

For this year's event, the Campeonato Centro de la Republica Cordoba, it was Pablo Despontin's team on CARRER that managed to win by the narrowest of margins.  With 21 boats on the water of Lago San Roque from Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendoza and Neuquen the fleet managed to sail three races over the course of three days, such is the case with mountain breezes!

On the first day of sailing, the fleet managed to get in two good races with a reasonable winds.  The second day of racing was difficult and the RC was only able to get in one good race due to highly variable climatic conditions that went from storm to calm and mountain "Borneos" of 180 degrees changes in wind direction, until it settled to about 8 to 10 knots.


Despite the weather conditions, there was incredible enthusiasm and very cool racing amongst the J/24 sailors despite the heat of the competition. Not to mention, of course, was the absolutely amazing party in the evening with beautiful people, fine wines & champagne and incredible fireworks magically reflecting off the lake like it was a mirror!

Sadly, there was no racing Monday since there was a complete lack of wind.  As a result, the regatta ended with three races counting with no throw-outs.  True to their tradition for this event, the regatta organizers, 400 YCC, J/24 Cordoba Fleet and others had a fabulous closing ceremony and awards.  To next time, as they say, but this time with more wind!  See J/24 Cordoba photos in Picasa photos.  More J/24 Cordoba pictures on Facebook.

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