J's Enjoy Gorgeous Sailing At Charleston Race Week

J Sailors Love Southern Hospitality!

(Charleston, SC- Apr 9-11)- After the first two days at 2010 Charleston Race Week brought winds of up to 20 knots, the final day of racing eased up to just 8-12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor. For the 184 teams competing, not a frown was seen on the hundreds of faces at the awards ceremony on Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina's sandy beach. "The city, the weather and the event organizers couldn't have presented this town any better," said local sailing coach Ryan Hamm, whose J/24 PIGS FLY TOO finished in 6th place. "The competition is stiff, and it's great to see so many sailors learn to love Charleston.

Chilly temperatures greeted the record fleet of racing sailboats on Friday. Braving 55 degree-morning temperatures and a wind-chill driven by the 20-knot breeze made the racing "a serious adrenalin rush", as competitor Peter Crawford put it. Temperatures reached the 70s by noon, providing picture perfect sailing conditions to start race week off with a bang. "I don't know if conditions could be any more perfect than today," said Christof Wieland, who traveled all the way from Germany to compete in his second Charleston Race Week.  By Saturday morning, more nice wind, warm sun and waves graced Charleston with picture-perfect conditions. For the second straight day, winds up to 20 knots propelled the J fleets across all four courses.  Sunday dawned with a big change to the previous two extreme sailing days, with just 8 - 12 knots of warm wind blowing across the harbor.

The J/80s had a tough twenty boat fleet, with many serious North American and Worlds contenders vying for the top spots.  After the smoke cleared, past World Champion Kerry Klingler skippering LIFTED just beat out the Roger/Welan team sailing B-TEAM on a tie-breaker, each finishing with 22 points, taking seven first places of the ten races between them.  Key West Race Week winners Glenn Darden and Reese Hillard finished third in LE TIGRE, fourth was Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO and fifth was Henry Brauer and Will Welles on RASCAL.

The seventeen boat strong J/24 fleet had a great turnout for this event and they certainly enjoyed the breezy conditions racing inside Charleston Harbor.  Chip Till on MURDER INCORPORATED managed to hang onto the lead on the last day to win by one point over Joe McDonald on REX.  Chris Jankowski finished third.  The top three were a tough bunch, garnering all ten first places distributed amongst them!

The J/105s had a small but highly competitive class of six boats.  The top three were trading off the fleet lead all three days, race to race.  At the end of their scrum, Jackson Benvenutti's LITTLE BOOTY prevailed on yet another tie-breaker over veteran J/105 campaigner, Damian Emery and the beautiful flag blue hulled ECLIPSE.  Bill Zartler and crew aboard SOLARIS sailed great on the last day, getting two bullets, but not enough to take on the fleet leaders, finishing just three points back in third. Like the J/24s, this tough bunch took all eight firsts places in the regatta.

In the first ever IRC fleet at this race week, the J/122 TEAMWORK that won last year's handicap class sailed nicely to finish third overall.  Seemingly, the crazy currents, tide lines and wave conditions conspired to favor the larger boats, the winner was a custom IRC RP52 called VINCITORRE with straight firsts.

In PHRF A, Will Hanckel's J/120 EMOCEAN sailed the offshore course, finishing just one point out of first.  On the last day, a soul-satisfying 2-1 got them into the hunt, but not enough to win the event, having to settle for second place.  In PHRF B, Willy Schwenzfeier's J/35 ARROW had fun sailing to a fourth overall.  In PHRF D, the three masthead J/29s were having a ball racing against each other.  At the end, Jim Mackevich's FOR SAIL beat out perennial Key West Race Week participant (and often winner) Steve Thurston's MIGHTY PUFFIN from Rhode Island.  Miles Martschink's MONGO didn't sail the first day but still managed a fourth in fleet.   For more regatta/ sailing information on Charleston Race Week.  

J's Dominate BVI Spring Regatta

BAD GIRL is Bad, CAYENITTA is Grande!

(Roadtown, Tortola, BVI)- Once again, it was a picture perfect day in the British Virgin Islands for the last day of racing of the BVI Spring Regatta, with sun and wind all day long. There were a number of battles out on the race course which were fought to the very end providing plenty of action on the SOL, Norman and LIME One Design Race areas.

BAD GIRL, St. Croix's Rob Armstrong's J/100, won Racing Class C.  BAD GIRL sparred with the BVI's Dave West's Melges 32, Jurakan, all weekend in Racing C. "In the first race today," says BAD GIRL trimmer, Carlos Skov, we definitely let Jurakan back in the game. Just one point separated us. The second race, we put our heads down, sailed well and ended up beating the two Melges in the last five minutes. It was like that all weekend. The level of competition has really come up and we think its because we all push each other."

In Racing D Class, the J/80 OTRA KOSA sailed by Kike Gonzalez and buddies from Puerto Rico took 3rd. The well-sailed classic J/27 MAGNIFICENT 7, kept in great shape by Paul Davis from USVI finished 4th.  The brand spanking new J/95 SHAMROCK VIII sailed all over the Caribbean this winter by Tom Mullen finished a respectable 5th for a shoal-draft, centerboard cruiser!

A steady presence on the Caribbean circuit has been Rick Wesslund's crew sailing his J/120 EL OCASO.  Having put thousands of miles on their boat, they're insistence on having fun is infectious.  They were rewarded for their efforts again by taking second overall in Racing E- Racer/Cruiser.

The competition in Racing F- Racer/Cruiser was tough! The J/105 UMAKUA sailed by Julio Reguero from Puerto Rico finished 3rd- Julio was winning class until they got DSQ'd in race 6.  The other J/105 ABRACADABRA, raced by another crew from Puerto Rico and Carlos Camachio finished 4th. The J/40 NEPENTHE sailed by Bob Read from Barrington, RI managed a 6th for a pure cruising boat.  And, the girls sailing the J/33 BOOMERANG- Pat Nolan- had a wonderful last day and managed to get a respectable 7th.

As noted above, it just seems that Tony Sanpere is on a roll-- perhaps far longer than anyone can imagine!  Tony's J/36 CAYENITTA GRANDE simply took all the marbles in BVI Performance Cruising Class-- winning by a significant margin with three firsts!  And, it also looked like a J/Cruising class!  Third was the J/46 MISS MAJIC sailed Jim Baus and lying 5th in the J/160 AVATAR was Alan Fouger.

As usual, the most intense, nail-biting finish came from the IC/24 course. It came down to the final rounding of the leeward mark in the last of 21 races to determine the winner in the IC/24 class. "I saw the door open and I took it," says Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo, about the maneuver that put the necessary three boats in-between his ORION and closest competitor, TEAM LIME, to win the class by one point.  TEAM LIME, sailed by the BVI's Colin Rathbun, had a three-point advantage going into the last race. "We had a horrible rounding and then a big shift," says Rathbun, who finished second by one point. "But, it was exciting and a lot of fun." INTAC, raced by the BVI's Mark Plaxton, finished third in the nine-boat class.

Seventeen-year-old BVI sailor, DonTae' Hodge, is no stranger to sailing IC-J/24s. He's crewed aboard the modified J/24-design since he was a pre-teen and last year took first as a skipper in the Premier's Cup and third in the Nation's Cup, two events raced out of Tortola. What was different about sailing this weekend is that Hodge met his crew for the first time this morning on the dock before the races started. "I started communicating more as the day went on and I got my confidence and we all worked in sync together," says Hodge, who raced aboard Latitude 18.

This year, members of the press were invited to sail in the IC/24 fleet. Two journalists, San Francisco's Paige Brooks from SAILING ANARCHY and Efrain Rivera from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, were among Hodge's crew. "This is the first time I've seen the boat," says Brooks. "I don't like the J/24, but I love the open cockpit in the IC/24." Rivera added, "It's my first time sailing an IC/24. DonTae' is an excellent driver, so it was fun. It's real hands on. You're in the whirlwind of everything. It's a great idea to put the press on these boats." See Paige Brooks account below in J/Community.

Not at the top of the heap in Racer Cruiser Class but first at the weather mark in the second race on the last day, Pat Nolan's J/33, BOOMERANG, and her all women crew, were leading by a full minute. "It was great," says Nolan, who operates Sistership Sailing School in the BVI. Her crew are all former students. "The competition in our class is very keen and we're largely inexperienced," says Katie Sharp, from northern Virginia. "Don't get me wrong; we like sailing with the fellas, but, it's also nice to kick the boy's butts too."

Of note, the BVI Spring Regatta is the last race in the CORT (Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle) Series. Winners of the series are as follows:  Spinnaker A- 1st- BAD GIRL- Robert Armstrong's J/100; Spinnaker B- 2nd- MAGNIFICENT 7- Paul Davis' J/27; Performance Cruising: 1st- CAYENNITA GRANDE- Tony Sanpere's J/36; IC-J/24- 1ST- LIME- Colin Rathbun.    For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing info.    Photo credits: Yachtshots BVI

J/Fest NW Celebrating 27 years

Sail Northwest would like to invite all J Boat owners and their crew to join us at the 27th annual J/Fest Northwest regatta June 19th and June 20th hosted by Sail Northwest and Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle.

Fleets expected this year are J/22, J/24, J/80, J/29, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109, J/PHRF and J/Cruising.

The J/Cruising Class, J/28, J/32, J/35c, J,37c, J/40, J/120,  J/42, J/130, J/44, J/46, J/160, and any other J that wants to do a casual one day race on Saturday.  PHRF ratings will be assigned for flying sails and no flying sails.  Last year the J/Cruisers had a great time joining in on the festivities and we expect a large turnout this year.

Saturday evening will be the ever popular J/Fest dinner and door prize give-away.  Join us to make this 27th J/Fest one you won’t want to miss! For more information you can call Sail Northwest at (206) 286-1004 or email us at sales@sailnorthwest.com or go to http://www.sailnorthwest.com  

J/100 BAD GIRL Wins St Croix Hospice Regatta

Tony and Ellen Sanpere from St. Croix supplied this report: "We came in second in Performance cruising in my old J/36- CAYENNITA GRANDE. We also had J/27's in the race with one of them getting close to a podium finish. Also sailing was Bob Armstrong's J/100 BAD GIRL.   On the Buck Island Channel course, the J/100 BAD GIRL won the Spinnaker Racing class with an all-Crucian crew and six top three finishes. Though long-time J/24 sailor and helmsman Jens Hookanson was born in St. Croix, he has lived in the U.S. since age 16 and had never sailed in the annual SCYC regatta. He liked the race to Christiansted, followed by windward-leeward courses in the Channel. "Tactician Carlos Skov is key to the program," according to Hookanson. "Skov was especially touched by the win, as his mother was the first hospice patient on St. Croix, and Skov weighed in at eight cases of Cruzan Rum."  Armstrong and his J/100 crew also received an invitation to the National Hospice Regatta Championships, to be sailed in Rochester, NY in June.