BMW J/24 Worlds Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BMW J/24 Worlds Preview

(Howth, Ireland)- The venue for the BMW J/24 World Championship 2013, sailing from August 24th to 30th, is Ireland’s largest sailing club, Howth Yacht Club.  Located northeast of Dublin, the club promises very straightforward tides and no wind obstacles or commercial shipping traffic, the sailing waters north of Howth are arguably the best in Ireland!

Howth recently hosted the BMW J/24 European Championship and competitors were given a mix of windy, moderate and light conditions around courses set by PRO David Lovegrove. David is again the Howth YC PRO for the Worlds and had the pleasure of managing the Irish Nationals over the preceding weekend as a fine-tuning session for his race management team.

Howth’s strong relationship with BMW continues. Visitors to the Europeans were treated to an impressive display of beautiful new BMW cars and a dramatic evening lighting scheme. In 2012, BMW sponsored the Irish IRC Championship in Howth, launching a new car at the event. Who knows what will be on show this year?

To enjoy the social festivities, great sailing and awesome BMW automobiles are forty-one J/24 teams from ten countries around the world-- truly an impressive showing for a 36 year old International One-design offshore keelboat class.  There will be many top teams present with one crew, in particular, looking to match Ken Read's (now President of North Sails) remarkable record of five J/24 World Championship titles.  That person is the current J/24 World Champion Mauricio Santa Cruz from Brazil, sailing his famous BRUSCHETTA!  Santa Cruz, a four-time winner of the title, was so keen to defend his title that he was the first overseas entry in the competition. He also won the J/24 Worlds in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

The top British team is the 2011 J/24 European Champion Ian Southworth (a three-time winner of the event) from Royal Corinthian YC in Cowes and the recent J/24 Irish National Championship in the Open Division.  He will be piloting IL RICCIO GBR 5219, the same steed he rode around the track for the Irish Nationals.

The leading Irish contenders will be the current National Champion JP McCaldin from Lough Erne sailing JAIME ENCORE and Irish Class President Flor O’Driscoll of Howth YC skippering HARD ON PORT!

Leading the US challenge will be this year’s J/24 North American Champion Mike Ingham and runner-up Travis Odenbach, both from Rochester, NY.  Included in the mix will be past J/24 World Champion Tim Healy from Newport, RI sailing HELLY HANSEN; 2013 Italian Open Champion Keith Whittemore sailing FURIO from Seattle, WA; and past North American Champion Tony Parker sailing the redoubtable, ultra cool BANGOR PACKET from Georgetown, DC.

Luis Olcese from Peru will be sailing SCARAMOUSH and the Japanese entry Koji Matsumoto sailing TEMPUS G represent highly competitive challenges as both are recognized as notable performers in J/24 circles and have finished well at previous championships.  Top contenders from Monaco include two members from YC Monaco- Dennis Frederiksen on PAGET and Ian Illsley on JAWS.  Germany has four entries including JJ-ONE from  the Joersfelder Segel Club, ROTOMAN from the Blankenser Segel Club and Rosemarie Eckhoff sailing the all-women's team on TINTO.  Finally, France is fielding two teams include JINETTE skippered by Charles Gury and JAGUAR helmed by the Garcia/ Vaulcon team-- both are from YC Crouesty Arzon.

The sailing should be extremely competitive as many of the top teams are fast, sail smart and conservatively.  In fact, Santa Cruz may face a far tougher challenge in this year's event than he did in the 90+ boat Rochester J/24 Worlds last year-- it's harder to get away from the other smart crews in smaller fleets, so small errors translate into significant changes in fleet standings!  Stay tuned, should be an interesting event to watch!   For more J/24 World Championship sailing information

Britain's Southworth Tops J/24 Irish Nationals

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