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(San Diego, CA)- Attention all J/Sailors, you're invited to J/Fest 2013,
September 27 - 29 at San Diego Yacht Club! J/Fest boasts a long history
of being one of the most fun and well attended regattas in SoCal, exclusively
for J/Boats! The regatta is open to one design classes as well as a
J/Boat PH fleet!
There are two Racing Venues for the fleets. One is inside San
Diego Bay racing on some nice flat water-- for the J/22, J/24, J/70. J80
one-design fleets. On the outside sailing in the wide-open ocean off
beautiful Point Loma are the J/105, J/109 and J/120 one-design fleets along
with the J/PHRF fleets.
The schedule for
the event includes the following:
Friday - "Just for Fun" race on the San Diego Bay, 4:00 start. Casual
social event at SDYC
Saturday - 3 races, Awesome J/Fest Party Saturday evening at SDYC
Sunday - 2 races, prize giving party at SDYC
Get your crew together and join us on the water for two days of competitive and
fun buoy racing plus on shore for the social festivities. Saturday
evening the traditional J/Fest Party will be held with tons of awesome swag and
giveaways from our sponsors, the prize giving will be held after racing on
Sunday afternoon! With an anticipated attendance of over 60 boats, this
is the one regatta you do not want to miss this year! For any questions,
please contact Joanne O'Dea at email- joanne@jk3yachts.com
or on phone # 619-347-9407. For more J/Fest SAN DIEGO registration and sailing information
(Rochester, New York)- The historic U.S. Adult Sailing Championship will
unveil a new and exciting format for competitive adult women and men sailors
this Friday through Sunday, August 23-25, hosted by the Rochester Yacht
Club. The teams will be contending for the historic Clifford D. Mallory
Trophy on the waters of Lake Ontario. Teams will be sailing matched
International One-Design J/24s in a round robin format with a minimum number of
four crew including the helmsperson.
Women have always been racing in this championship, but only as crew. The new
U.S. Adult Sailing Championship has no gender restrictions on helmsperson or
crews. As an "open" event, there were many women skippers in
the regional qualifiers around America. Nevertheless, this year's eight
finalists all have men skippers and four of the teams have women in the
crew. In fact, many of the teams are championship-calibre J/24 sailors.
Pat Toole and his team from Santa Barbara, CA are traveling coast to coast to
make their third run at the Mallory Trophy. Toole, along with Dale Turley,
George Witter, and Kent Pierce finished second in the 2011 event held in
Mooresville, NC and third in 2008 event in San Francisco. In June, they placed
fourth at the 2013 J/24 National Championship in Lake Minnetonka, MN Toole won
the 2010 J/24 North American title in Seattle, WA.
“We’ve been focused on calibrating our communication and boat handling by
sailing numerous short courses,” said Toole. “The shifts and puffs we
experienced in Rochester at the J24 Worlds were very challenging and very
different than what we ever see in California. We are very excited about
returning and giving it another try.”
Frank McNamara (Wenham, Mass.) was fifth in this year’s J/24 event at
Charleston Race Week. He also placed second at the 2012 Rhodes 19 National
Championships. McNamara will be sailing with crew Clinton Hayes (East Haddam,
CT), Diane Economides (Ipswich, MA), and John Powley (Boxborough, MA).
“It’s just really exciting to have the opportunity to race against the level of
competition you find at the Mallory,” said McNamara. “We will definitely have
to sail our best to have a shot at winning, but we feel we know how to make the
boats go pretty well. We need to get good starts, sail smart and avoid mistakes.”
McNamara and his team look forward to racing the J/24 this week. “The fact that
the event is in J/24s this year is an added bonus because we’ve been racing
J/24s for a number of years. Rochester is a fantastic venue with all the talent
and resources to host a terrific regatta, as we learned when we sailed in the
J/24 Worlds in Rochester last year,” he explained.
Other notable skippers in Rochester this week will be 2004 J/24 North American
Champion David Klatt (Oxnard, CA) and 75 year old former Snipe Champion Russell
Cook (Liverpool, NY).
The regatta is sponsored by Gill North America and Old Pulteney Single Malt
Scotch Whiskey. The championship is also a Sailors for the Sea – Clean Regattas
certification event. Twenty races are scheduled for the regatta-- it's
intended for each team to race each boat one once with a maximum of five races
sailed per day. The top three teams receive US Sailing Gold, Silver and
Bronze medals. Special guest Charles Mallory, grandson of Clifford D. Mallory,
will present the trophy to the winning team. For more J/24 US Adult Sailing Championship sailing information
Howth YC Under 25 team lift Irish
National title
(Howth, Ireland)- Howth Yacht Club hosted the recent J/24 Irish
Championships, an event which was both a warm-up for Irish competitors and a
fine tune for the race management team, in advance of the imminent BMW J/24
World Championship. With the top three determined by just one point, it's
indicative of how close the class has become competitively amongst its top
practitioners!
Saturday morning saw the fleet held ashore for a few hours by PRO David
Lovegrove due to high winds. Nobody wanted to risk serious damage a week out
from the main event. The later start still allowed the 20 entrants from
Ireland, Great Britain and USA to enjoy four races held in a variety of
conditions. Sun, rain, squalls, flat calms, big shifts and a changing tide all
created a very unusual mix for Howth. As one race official noted, "If you
don't like the weather, hang on for five minutes!"
In spite of the weather challenges, GBR visitors IL RICCIO
(Italian for "The Hedgehog") sailed by Ian Southworth dominated the
first day and headed for the bar with a 1-2-1-1 score. Just behind them was
fellow Brit Bob Turner on SERCO with a 5-1-3-3 and Ireland's Flor O'Driscoll
sailing HARD ON PORT into third with a 3-5-5-10. The top Americans all
had great scores, save for bad drop races, like Keith Whittemore's FURIO from
Seattle, Washington and Tony Parker's BANGOR PACKET from Georgetown, DC.
Top of the Irish boats at that stage was Howth's Mossy Shanahan who bagged a
tasty 2-10-4-7. The dividends were paid to those who played relatively
conservatively and kept their noses clean.
Lighter and less
variable conditions treated the fleet to incredibly tight racing on Sunday with
another four races banged off in quick time. By the end of Race 6, IL RICCIO
had sewn up the regatta, pocketing a further two wins, not needing to race in
the last two. A clinical display of extraordinary seamanship and sailing! The
fleet did its best to push the 3PM deadline for a last start by forcing a
general recall in the penultimate race. Taking second for the regatta was
Seattle's Keith Whittemore on FURIO, posting a 2-2-1.5-1- in the last four
races to nearly pull off the ultimate upset sailing the last day, losing by
just a 0.5 pts. Third was the UK's Bob Turner on SERCO just another 0.5 pts
back!! Rounding out the closely fought top five were Tony Parker's BANGOR
PACKET crew in fourth and the Brit's JIGGY 2 led by Paul Williams in fifth.
Irish National title winner was the HYC Under 25 crew sailing EURO CAR PARKS
KILCULLEN followed by Flor O'Driscoll's team HARD ON PORT in second and taking
third Irish Nats on the podium was the Darrer/ Murphy team on the old STOUCHE.
With a calendar of coaching and tweaking, polishing and measuring, ahead of the
J/24 Worlds, the Howth will be a beehive of activity this week. Many of the
visitors have threatened golf outings, punctuated by busy evenings in local
hostelries and pubs!! Story contributed from Emmet Dalton. Sailing photos credits- Tom Gruitt For more Irish J/24 Nationals sailing information
(Huntington Lake, California)- The 60th High Sierras Regatta took place, as
always, on one of the most remote and scenic venues on the west coast -
Huntington Lake in the High Sierras of California. Hosted and run by Fresno Yacht
Club volunteers, the regatta spans two weekends, the first on July 6-7 and the
second on July 13-14. The first weekend was made up of Centerboard
Classes, with the second featuring mostly larger keelboats. The number of boats
each weekend is limited by the US Forest Service, so entries are always on a
first-come first-serve basis.
Over the past six decades, the High Sierra Regatta has had more than its fair
share of Olympic gold medalists and National champions sailing in the event.
The consistent winds, sunny days and beautiful scenery attract sailors from all
over the country; sailing on fresh water in Central California's biggest lake
regatta is hard to beat!
The first day of racing
on Saturday saw 100+ keel boats on the water. Imagine that many boats of
wildly different speeds and sizes sharing a lake that is only 2.25 square miles
long-- an anxiety attack mid-course is not in the cards if you want to sail
well in this regatta! Like clockwork, the breeze built in time for the races to
start at 10:55am, nearly the same time every day.
Competitors saw gusts up to 19 kts towards the top of the lake and lows of 6-8
kts towards the bottom. The wind was very puffy and shifty and it typically
favored the south shore breeze. Boats that were able to stay in phase on the
south shore and play most of the shifts made out over the boats playing the
middle or the north shore.
On Sunday the wind was pretty similar to Saturday, very puffy and shifty,
favoring the south shore again. With most boats short-tacking up the south
shore and the breeze dissipating as you go up the lake, there was a lot of
disturbed air. This was where "heroes became zeroes" and were shot
out the back. The boats that could stay out of disturbed air and avoid
the holes along the shore were able to minimize their losses. Some boats
played it conservatively and found large, shifting breeze lanes going out
across the lake in breeze.
PHRF B fleet saw the J/24 and J/22 do battle with a cast of Olson 25s and Merit
25s. When all was said and done, Pat Bradley's J/24 OLD AND IN THE WAY
took 2nd overall and Greg Greenlee's J/22 TEKEELA took third overall in class.
Bob Crooks J/80 WASAABI enjoyed their weekend on the lake and took 7th in PHRF
A fleet. They just nipped out classmate Jim Powell sailing his J/27
LEVITY, who took 8th in class. Sailing photo credits- Eric Zamora- The Fresno Bee
For more High Sierras Regatta sailing information
(Dillon, Colorado)- Billed as the world’s highest regatta at 9,017 ft
above sea level, racing for the Dillon Open Regatta takes place on beautiful
Dillon Reservoir in Dillon, Colorado, where sailors enjoy mostly sunny days and
spectacular views of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. The regatta is
hosted by the Dillon Yacht Club, the nation’s highest yacht club at 9,017 feet
above sea level, located near the Continental Divide, a 70 mile drive west on
I-70 from downtown Denver.
As Scott Spurlin from J/Boats Southwest once said, “It's been called the
"Most dangerous Regatta in America", the "Highest Regatta in
America", and the "Largest In-Land Lake Regatta West of the
Mississippi". No matter what the claim-- the Dillon Open Regatta is a lot
of fun!”
Think you're good at reading the wind? Lake Dillon would certainly
test your skills! Mountains and valleys with rapidly changing weather again
kept the tacticians on their toes this year! With winds rolling down the
steep mountain sides along the lakefront (or the occasional micro-burst blowing
down vertically out of clear blue sky), the faster (and sometimes luckier)
crews had a field day picking up windshifts and breeze lines to work themselves
to the front of the fleet.
For well over 25 years, the J/24s from around the Midwest (as well
as refugees from the heat in the Deep South) have made their annual migration
to sail in the warm and friendly confines of Lake Dillon, nestled cozily in the
Rocky Mountains. Eight J/24 teams made the starting line this year.
It just so happened to be a good "vintage" year for the crew on Greg
& Susan Johnson's PINOTAGE, posting three 1sts in their scoreline on their
way to winning the J/24 class with a 5-1-3-1-1-2-3 record for 16 pts.
Alan Dille's crew on SEPTILLION made a valiant effort to remain in contention,
but two 4ths in races 4 & 6 hurt their chances for a comeback.
Instead, SEPTILLION's 2-3-2-4-24.5-2 for 19.5 pts snagged them a second
overall. Taking two 1sts but not staying at all consistent was Frank
Kelble's team on USA 1966, amassing a 1-5-4-5-4-1-4 for 24 pts to take third on
the podium. The balance of the top five was taken by Doug Pierini on COLD
SMOKE in fourth and Stephen Bergman on EVENT HORIZON in fifth.
The Dillon Open has also bee quite popular with the J/22 class,
this year fielding the largest one-design fleet in the regatta with twelve
participants. Sailing fast out of the starting blocks on the first day
was Mike Kline's NAUTI-MOOSE, taking a 1-1-2-1 to never relinquish the lead for
the rest of the regatta. However, victory clearly did not come easy for
this team. After what appeared to have been premature celebrations taking
place on Saturday night, the "Nauti-Boys" on NAUTI-MOOSE could only
muster a 6-5-2 on the last day to barely hang onto their lead to take class
honors! David Baker's UP FOR AIR started slowly but closed the regatta
with a 1-1-4 to take second overall. Third was Robin Jackson & Kristin
Zagray's BIG BUTT BOAT, closing with a 3-2-1 to show rapid improvement in the
standings to take the silverware for third. Fourth was Stan Strathman's
SCREAMIN J and the "long-distance award" goes to fifth place finisher
Richard Hallagan from Canandaigua YC on New York's Canandaigua
Lake. Sailing photo credits- Greg Schertz For more Dillon Open Regatta sailing information
J/100 Wins Cruising Class, WILD
THING Shocks J/24s
(Padanaram, Massachusetts)- The BBR (as the Buzzards Bay Regatta is commonly
referred to) has long been one of the highlights of the summer sailing season
on Buzzards Bay, and certainly renown as one of the best sailing areas in New
England. Generally sailed in the first weekend of August, the BBR is
blessed with favorable sea-breezes that develop late morning and can often
build from the WSW well into the 15-20 kts range or higher along with enormous
current-induced chop. While not San Francisco Bay or Cascade Locks in
Oregon, it's certainly one of the better "big breeze" venues any
sailor can find along the Eastern seaboard.
The BBR is one of the largest multi-class regattas in America, but
like many others, has been suffering from attendance over time, particularly in
recent years. The dinghy classes (Lasers & 420s) continue to do OK,
but the offshore keelboat classes have diminished quite significantly.
Nevertheless, the army of volunteers and the enthusiasm of the host clubs
ensure the sailors are having a good time ashore (lobster bakes, etc) as well
as have good race management on the water.
This year's event was hosted by the New Bedford Yacht Club from August 2nd to
4th! Thirty-seven keelboats (one-design & offshore) participated over
the three day weekend. Remarkably, nineteen of those boats were J/Teams
from around New England-- J's were by far the dominant brand at the regatta
with 51% of the participants.
In the J/24s, ten races were sailed over the three days, making it
fun sailing for the fleet of eight boats. Jim Ciffolillo on WILD THING
from Beverly YC was in a battle with Sanford Tyler on STRAIGHT JACKET from
Hyannis YC for first place. In the end, WILD THING prevailed with 19 net
pts to take the J/24 crown. Second was STRAIGHT JACKET with 21 pts.
In the fight for third place, Craig Correia's team on QUEEQUEG finished with a
flourish of 1-1-3 to take the last spot on the podium. Settling for
fourth was Nick Kotsatos and Chris Memoli on DARK & STORMY and in fifth was
Bonnie Kirchner on FAST FOOD.
PHRF 1 division had the largest fleet of keelboats at the regatta
with fourteen boats, a welcome change from previous years. Taking second
and third in class were the two talented sailing teams on the J/111's- WICKED
2.0 (skippered by Doug Curtiss) and ODYSSEY (sailed by Fred Van Liew and Dave
Brodsky), respectively. Fourth was the J/122 AUGUST WEST sailed by Jamey
Shachoy. The third J/111, BRAVO skippered by Sedgwick Ward, took seventh
in class. The "other" WICKED, the J/124 sailed by Scott
Bancroft took 8th and Jim Masiero's J/122 URSUS MARITIMUS got the short-end of
the stick on a three-way tie for 9th to settle for 11th. It was a good
showing for the J/Teams, taking 50% of the top ten overall.
PHRF 2 had five J/Teams in a fleet of seven boats. Not surprisingly, the
fleet was pretty much over-run by the J/Teams as they raced around the
track. Taking class honors was local superstar Ted Herlihy sailing his
champion J/109 GUT FEELING. Fourth was Rob Salk's J/109 PICANTE and fifth
was Dan Boyd's J/109 WILD THING.
Like their PHRF 2 counterparts, the PHRF 3 division had seven J
crews sailing in a fleet of ten boats, making life tough for their non-J
competitors. In the end, the well-sailed J/29 MIGHTY PUFFIN skippered by
Steve Thurston from Bristol, RI finished second overall. They were
followed by the J/105s HARDTACK (Matt Schmitt) in fourth and DARK N STORMY
(Andy Reservitz) in fifth. Henry DeGroot's J/80 WIRED took 7th, the J/29
MAS SAILING Team led by Sean McLaughlin took 8th and the J/105 WATERWOLF helmed
by Ed Lobo took 9th.
The best J/PHRF performance goes to the sole J sailing in the PHRF Cruise
division. Those honors go to the J/100 SUNDANCE skippered by Albert Signorella
from the host New Bedford YC. For more Buzzards Bay Regatta sailing information
(Barbados)- Skippered by Ian Mayers, the BANKS ESPERANZA J/24 team continued an
impressive run of form to completely eclipse the J/24 division of the Harris
Paints two-day regatta. It was another show of late-season magic from the
ESPERANZA crew, who also dominated and won the First Citizens Regatta earlier
in the season in Holetown.
In the Harris Paints event, which was also the 30th year of
sponsorship by the company, and which featured shifty winds on the southcoast,
ESPERANZA's slammed nine other rival crews to win three of four races. They
finished fourth in Race 4. “We were looking to make a clean-sweep but we
didn't have a great start in the last race, although we made up some ground.
Our crew is in good form and we proved that we are capable of challenging the
top boats in competition,” said skipper Mayers. Impulse, skippered by
Neil Burke, finished second and HawkEye, skippered by Robert Povey, finished
third overall while also winning Race 4. Fourth was Die Hard, captained by
Robbie Yearwood, and fifth, ISIS, captained by Nicholas Lashley.
The six-member Barbados J/24 Youth team also used last weekend's regatta as
part of their preparation for the for BVI –Premier Cup International regatta
which is being contested in Tortola on Saturday and Sunday( July 12-14).
Significantly, the Harris Paints regatta was the last of six regattas making up
the 2013 Jaguar/ Landrover series in the race for the national championship of
J24 racing in Barbados.
Despite their late season heroics, Esperanza were unable to deny Williams
Industries HawkEye the championship as they pipped them by one point to secure
the right to be called national champions. After six regattas, HawkEye
collected nine points while Esperanza finished the season on ten points, for
second place in the Jaguar/ Landrover series.
HawkEye earlier in the season won the Taylors Cycle Centre regatta , were
second in the Mount Gay regatta in mid-May, and won the Lucky Horseshoe regatta
in early June. “It was a very competitive season. Our main goal was to
win the national championship this year and our crew made it happen. We came
out with a mission and accomplished it,” said Robert Povey, skipper of HawkEye.
Champions in 2012, Impulse finished the season third overall, on 12 points,
while Fully Covered, skippered by Bruce Bailey , finished fourth with 16
points. ISIS, skippered by Lashley, were fifth overall on 26 points.
The Jaguar/ Landrover series is organized by the J/24 Club of Barbados and
President Gregory Webster praised, sponsors, sailors and other partners for
helping to create successful events and an outstanding season. For more J/24 Barbados sailing information
