J/24 Midwinter Championship

Enright Wins Nail-biter In Last Race

(Tampa, FL- Feb 6-10)-  The Davis Island Yacht Club offers a great escape from the February temperatures, a famous laid-back social atmosphere, and an an inviting venue for the 2010 Midwinters regatta. Februrary in Tampa Bay typically includes some excellent weather for sailing and an excellent way to spend your winter vacation.

Thirty three boats were on the line and amongst them include class notables such as veteran J/24 sailor Tony Parker of Annapolis, MD on BANGOR PACKET, Kirk Reynolds of Skaneateles, NY on OLD CROW, class stalwart Mark Pincus from Miami, FL on SCOUTS HONOR, strong contenders such as Charlie Enright, Peter Bream, Will Welles (fresh from J/80 Midwinters) and from Buenos Aires, Argentina, champion sailor Nicolas Cubria racing JESUS LIZARD.

By the fourth day of the regatta, Charlie Enright from Bristol YC (RI) kept the team of John Mollicone/ Tim Healy from getting in front of them in the last race to win the regatta by two points, they finished first and second respectively.  Just behind them in 3rd, 4th and 5th places, respectively, were Will Welles, Peter Bream and Tony Parker, each having won at least one race each.   For more J/24 Midwinters regatta and sailing information.  

J/24 Åustralian Sailors Growing Fleets

J/24 Australian sailors are growing their fleets and having a lot of fun.   Recently, Simon Grain, from Melbourne, sailing MAKE MY J, had some thoughtful hints on "Get out and revamp your old boat, it's worth it!".  As Simon explains, "One of the huge benefits of sailing a windward leeward course is, it evens out the boats. At the 2006 Melbourne World Championships, many of the top performers were boats with a minimum age of 15 years. None was more noticeable than Mike Ingham who shipped a 20 year old J out from America, whilst not in the top 3, his top 5 finish was excellent. He then went on to come second at the 2007 Worlds in Mexico in the same boat. At the 2009 J Worlds in Sardinia last year, the majority of the fleet were boats 10 years+, just with new rigs and fast as ever. Since then in Melbourne we have seen older J’s revamped and now competing at the front of the fleet. Ron Thompson’s AUS 1324 “Kicking Bottom” ( 20+ years old) has won several races at the beginning of the season, and Micheal Lewenhagen has just put AUS 1687 “Excite your Senses”, back in the water after a major rebuild. In addition, 3 boats have new rigs and 2 have upgraded 2nd hand rigs. The end result of all of this effort, is improved performance across the fleet.

This was driven home when the J fleet sailed in the Audi Victoria Week at Geelong. Out of the 4 races that weekend the J’s got line honours in 3 and a 2nd in the 4th. A fantastic effort out of 50+ boats all of whom were bigger. In past years the S80 design yachts would have sailed past the J’s, this year, none of the 10 S80’s beat a J24 for line honours!  In South Australia several owners have revamped old J’s. Some of these boats were past Australian champions, were cheap to buy, cheap to clean up and revamp and are now sailing at the front of the national fleet again.  J24’s in Australia, can be brought up to race speed with a minimum of effort and experience. With the racing opportunities now offered, the excuse that your boat is no longer competitive no longer holds water. There are around 200 J24’s in Australia and most can be revamped into a competitive boat.  Over the next few months I will be listing hints on how to get old J’s fast, by reducing weight and getting rid of the huge amounts of junk found down stairs.

So, to all the owners of J’s not currently being used because of a notion that they’re no longer competitive, get out there and fix them up and see how quick they still can be.  Just maybe, your boat may have been one that started a legend…. and …. one that could start another. A revamped active fleet maintains the investment we all have in our boats, increases the enjoyment and interest in the class. So get the spanners out, find the screw driver and start taking off all that old crap.  Read more about sailing J/24s in Australia/ Tasmania  

Bacardi Cup- J/24s- March 8-13

(Miami, FL)- A long time supporter of the J/24 class has expanded their renowned Bacardi Cup to include J/24s for the first time ever as part of their week long festivities called Miami Sailing Week.   Hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club you can be sure you will be well taken care of by one of the best regatta hosts in the world.  With a great club, fantastic pool and outdoor bar/ cabana you can rejoice with even greater pleasure recounting the day's racing and amusing stories about past J/24 Midwinters and other events on Biscayne Bay.  Contact CRYC or sign up now at http://www.miamisailingweek.com.  Bacardi and CRYC promise you will have a memorable time.  Can't go wrong.  J/24s are cheap to charter and race.  Weather is awful up North because of an El Nino year, so head south and soak up some good rays and enjoy fair breezes! For more regatta and sailing information.  

Mel Hawkes- women's perspective sailing J/24 Australian Nationals

* Mel Hawkes had a wonderful, endearing story of her experience sailing the J/24 Australia Nationals on-board STARPAC: "When my legs had finally stopped shaking and after I had stuffed a roll in my face I headed for the bar. Not normally a drinker I am finding I am quickly making up for that in the last few days. Still in a bit of a daze, I found myself being asked how we did. I had no idea, so was very surprised to find not only had we come fourth overall, but we had been leading for a while on the first race.

The whole experience has been a steep learning curve and another one  I found was probably how to annoy everyone by me piping up, I had no idea where we were, I was too busy concentrating on my  two little lines that were my job. The correct terms for them would be the topping and the kicker line.

I must confess to shutting my eyes at each start as it looked more like a pack of bumper cars about to attack and judging by a rather loud thud at one point I think that theory was correct.

I have an absolute respect for all skippers, especially mine, as to how they manage to pick their spots, remain calm, is a new mystery to me. I also have to re-think the theory that men can’t multi-task as our skipper, apart from helming and trimming the boat, prevented me from hanging myself on more than one occasion and hoisting up the bow girl with the pole and that’s just the parts I had my eyes open for.

My goal tomorrow is to try and look up at one point. Baby steps! I started sailing with Pacific Sailing School a few months ago after a holiday in St. Lucia and I managed to flip a Hobie Cat which I am told is pretty hard to do. A few months later I find myself racing in the J/24 Nationals way out of my comfort zone. Hank at the school reassured me that girls can be very good sailors, let’s see what our skipper has to say at the end of the week. ;)" 

Thanks Mel for such a heartwarming story--- we all started sailing somewhere, sometime, someplace...some great, some not so great. ;)  Persevere, have fun and God Speed!    

J/24 Australian Nationals

WETTY GRIPPER Takes All The Marbles

(Sandringham, Australia)-  The lads aboard WETTY GRIPPER, lead by cosmic J/24 sailing genius Sean Wallis, bested the lot at this year's 2010 Australian J/24 National Championship.  Hosted by Sandringham Yacht Club, the event was blessed with great sailing, good breeze and a great sailing time by all.

On a day where bad luck stories abound, Sean Wallis and his team on WETTY GRIPPER came home to win one of the closest and most hard fought titles for many years. Doug McGain on CODE VIOLATION was bridesmaid and Dave Suda sailing PACEMAKER was third.  Adam Evans and his youth team won the Handicap Title.

In true one design tradition you can always rely on great a competition. With the last days racing to go only one point between first and second and one point between third and fourth separated the top teams. At that point, Doug McGain from NSW was first with 14 points, Sean Wallis from WA was second 15 points, Hugo Ottaway from VIC in third with 22 points, Dave Suda from VIC in fourth with 23 points and Sean Kirkjian from NSW at 32 points.

For some perspective on how competitive this group was, McGain, Wallis, Ottaway and Kirkjian, are all former J/24 Australian Champions, and Suda a runner-up J/24 National Champion.  A bit like having Ed Baird, Ken Read, Jon Kostecki and John Kolius beating each other up for podium finishes separated by only five points going into the final heat.

On the second to last day, it was a postcard perfect day on Port Philip Bay, a 10 to 15 knot southeast wind matched with a flat sea and clear 28 degree temperature that saw both Suda and Kirkjian win heats putting additional pressure on the front three boats. Doug McGain and Hugo Ottaway consolidated their positions with two seconds for Doug and two thirds for Hugo. Sean Wallis had his worst day so far with an 8th and 4th, however with the one race drop system now achieved after six races completed, Wallis was still able to hold second.  The rest is history, as evidenced by Wallis's WETTY GRIPPER excellent performance on the last day, consolidating their position to win over McGain on CODE VIOLATION.  For more sailing and regatta info.    

J/24 Copa de Mexico Update

Wow, check this regatta out!

(Cabo, Mexico)- Jorge Castillo reports- "We are still three months away from the event and already have 52 boats with paid registration. We have crews registered from Brazil, Germany, Monaco, El Salvador, USA, Puerto Rico, Peru, Italy and Mexico! All preparations are going as expected, charter boats available are being assigned by Kenneth Porter this coming week and hotel accommodations are already posted on the website (we will send updated registration codes for discounted rates shortly). The competitor's villa has been designed to gather all participating classes; Offshore, J24, Kite surf. Optimist  and Windsurf during the two weeks of celebration. The title sponsor will be Nextel.  For more regatta information.

J/24 Australian Championships

(Sandringham, Australia)- The resurgent J24 one design keelboat class, with expanding fleets in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, will be holding its national title regatta at the stunning new $12.75m Sandringham Yacht Club from 2 to 8 January 2010. These are the first nationals to be hosted by SYC since building was completed in October 2009.  Oover 20 boats and 100+ c ompetitors are expected, including some of the finest sailors in the country. Sean Wallis, Sean Kirkjian, Doug McGain, David Suda and Hugo Ottaway will provide the competition for the most fiercely competitive Australian titles for some years. Added to these illustrious names are the all women's crew on HYPERACTIVE which last year won two heats in the same event.  First place immediately qualifies for The J/24 World Championships in Sweden, September, 2010    Learn more about the J/24 Australian Championships.