J/Fest + Harvest Moon Rising!

(Houston, TX)- A lot is happening in parts of grand'ole Southwestern America.  They think big down there whether it's "honky-tonks" with mechanical bulls, epic parties, enormous blond hair, rattlesnake boots, dude ranches and, sometimes, even huge regattas!  First up on the agenda is the Harvest Moon Regatta, or "HMR" as the locals call it.  This year's 27th edition starts the 17th of October and can be a real "trick or treat" event.  HMR was hatched over drinks in the Lakewood YC bar by a few sailors that wanted to use their boats more!  The October weather window between the summer doldrums and the blue northers makes for spectacular sailing along the Texas Coast.  Add in the beautiful "ginormous" Harvest Moon and a course from the Galveston Jetties to Port Aransas and you have the HMR.  Just a 100 plus mile jaunt down the coast with over 200 sailboats!

With several classes there is a place to race or cruise for every type of boat.  The Bacardi PHRF Racing fleet is about 50% J/Boats with the J/105, J/109, J/120, and a J/44 the primary entries.  Every year epic stories hatch of blast reaching at over 15 knots for 8 hours, or drifting in the same spot for hours!  The cruisers seem to enjoy regaling the racers with how they enjoyed watching the race boats zip by with the crew hanging over the lifelines chomping on a energy bar or MRE as they sipped a nice chardonnay and enjoyed exquisite hot cuisine under the bimini.  At Port Aransas all of the sailors come together for a lively party, brag a lot, tell mind-blowing stories (real or not!) and a wonderful time is had by all.  Almost all the boats start back on Sunday- either motor sailing down the cut or back out in the gulf.  It's no wonder this event attracts 200 entries every year to become one of our nations largest offshore point-to-point races! Put this one on your bucket list!  For more Harvest Moon Regatta sailing information
J/Fest Southwest is next up on the agenda.  Shortly following the Harvest Moon Regatta, be sure to note the deadline Friday is fast approaching!!  The skippers bag has well over $100.00 in product goodies such as Rejex Wax and boat wash, dinner coupons, t-shirt and J/Fest coffee mug!  After Friday the entry goes up by an additional $50.00!

Don't miss the racing action, live music, free beer, Kattack race tracking and thousands of dollars in goodies to be raffled off from Velocitek, Marlow, Torqeedo, Harken, Blackburn Marine, North U.  Along with these great product sponsors we also get financial support from the City of Seabrook, North, Quantum, Torqeedo, Hayes Rigging, Hays Insurance, Sundance Grill, Gulf Coast Marine, and Sundance Grill!

What does all of this mean?  The J/Fest Southwest Regatta committee puts on great racing designed to maximize your time on the water and our sponsors put the shoreside activities over the top to produce one of the highest quality events in the nation with a lot of bang for your buck!  There's a class for every J/Boat ever built and we want y'all to come on down to Galveston Bay and play! Come join the 50 fellow J/Owners already registered! So don't delay register today!   For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information

2013 J/Fest Southwest Announcement

(Seabrook, Texas)- J/Fest Southwest gets better and better every year and provides a lot of bang for your entry dollar!  Once again the skippers packet is going to be chock full of coupons for Seabrook area businesses, and great products.  With great restaurants, and lots of activities for shore side guests there is something for everyone:  Kemah Boardwalk Amusement park, NASA-Discovery Center (worth an entire day), Shopping and Dining.  

Sailing from November 2nd to 3rd, the host Lakewood Yacht Club will have real-time race updates for those that want to hang out and see how their favorite sailors are fairing out on the water.  In addition there will be a spectator boat available to take those that want to get up close and personal with the racing action going on amongst 8 fleets!  

The newest J/Boat- the J/88 Hull #007 "It's a Thrill"- will be making her debut!  How will she do?  We'll find out soon!  Her skipper will be Rod Johnstone, J/Boats co-founder and Guest of Honor back for his fourth year!  And that means a 4th year of J/Boats trivia!  With all the fabulous prizes that come with the right answers!  Hint: "Mello Yellow" will NOT be an answer this year!  

After Saturday's racing the band will start and the music will be heard across the inner harbor as we put our boats away, swap stories, and share a beverage or two.  Back by popular demand comes the "Cajun Feast".  Enough food for three regatta's!  

Your skippers packet will include additional restaurant vouchers to be used at LYC for this incredible dining experience!  After dinner several TV's will be replaying the day's race tracks-this has been an awesome prop for the bench racing stories that tend to go long into the night! But really!  It's all about the racing!

All the usual One Designs will be there:  J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/105 and J/109!  With a record breaking early entry list topping 34 boats with two months to go this is shaping up to be a killer event!  The first year J/70 fleet will top 10 boats! Lots of fun and the J/70 Saturday post-race debrief by the leaders has been a real hit- everyone is welcome to attend!  

And for the real kicker- J/World Annapolis is bringing their talented instructors to Lakewood YC for a 2 day "J/Fest Southwest Racing Clinic" on October 31- November 1st to be run on J/70's and J/80's out of LYC!  It's the best deal in town, just $149/boat!

J/Fest Southwest always has great racing and great sponsors that provide us with a lot of valuable freebies!  Check out the regatta site at J/Fest Southwest and look at the list of sponsors to get an idea of the freebies, and listen to Seabrook Mayor Glenn Royals Welcome video!  Hook 'em up!  Head 'em out to J/Fest Southwest and Race, Dine, and Stay in Seabrook!  BTW ask for the J/Fest Southwest discount at any Seabrook hotel- check the website for a list of participating hotels!  For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information