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(Poole, England)- Twenty-five teams from the United Kingdom, Ireland and USA
headed to Plymouth to contest the UK Nationals at the start of July. With
10 races scheduled over 4 days the race committee wasted no time getting going
with 3 rapid fire courses set on the first day to ensure the fleet completed a
series given the patchy wind forecast.
The following 3 days settled into a pattern with competitors enjoying lazy
mornings in the balmy conditions whilst waiting for the sea breeze to fill and
then as the wind arrived reveling in the close quarters racing and tight calls
at every start, mark rounding and finish. With a matter of boat lengths
separating first to last on the water this was one design racing at its very
best. Sail tracker units were carried on all the boats meaning friends and
families could watch races unfold from shore and over 1,300 visitors logged in
to check on the action across the 3 days of racing. You can still view the feed
via the SailRacer site here.
With an all-star cast, including the 2010 and 2011 European Champions, 2013 US
National Champions, as well as multiple UK and Irish National titles shared
between the teams, racing was always going to be tight, with 6 different teams
taking race wins from the 9 races contested and consistency being the key to
establishing a good series. Masters of this were Chris McLaughlin / Ian
Southworth and their IL RICCIO team who, with every result inside the top 5,
put enough space between them and their closest rivals to be able to reclaim the
UK National Championship crown last held by them in 2006.
The UK National Championship Title goes to Chris McLaughlin/Ian Southworth
sailing IL RICCIO with Mike Ingham's HITCHHIKER from America taking 2nd place
and Rob Clark of JUJU taking 3rd. The Westerly Trophy was also hotly contested
and eventually went to the all girls team on NITRO skippered by Alison
Young. Next up is the summer regatta season with a number of J/24's
intending on heading to Yarmouth, IOW to join in with the fun at the Tattinger
Regatta at the end of the month. Sailing photo credits- Tom Gruitt For more J/24 UK Nationals sailing information
(Newport, RI)- What has become a right of passage for New England summer
sailors is the annual pilgrimage to Newport to sail what many consider one of
America's best run regattas-- the Bacardi Newport Regatta. Hosting
nineteen one-design classes is never easy, but the management team of PRO's led
by Brad Read always manage to make it happen no matter what cards the weather
God's have thrown down on the table. So far, the prognosticators indicate
this year's event taking place from July 12th to 14th may end up with some
classic Newport sea-breeze conditions.
The J/70's are "the new kid on the block" and as the world's fastest
growing sportboat class is fielding a fleet of twenty competitors. And,
there's no doubt it will be quite a competitive affair with several top teams
participating from the winter/ spring events like Key West, Charleston, St Pete
and Annapolis. Look for some of these teams to be in the top five,
including James Allsopp's MOXIE, Joel Ronning's CATAPULT, Bennet Greenwald's
PERSEVERANCE, Dave Franzel's SPRING, Blake Kimbrough's NOSTALGIA, Joe
Bardenheier's MUSE, Bruno Pasquinelli's STAMPEDE and Jud Smith's Marblehead
team.
For the sixteen J/24s, it' a double-whammy, a District 2 Championship World's
Qualifier and US Adult Sailing Championship Qualifier. As a result, Tim
Healy is leaping back into the J/24s sailing HELLY HANSEN. They will be
challenged by arch nemesis Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER, Steve Wood on
TASMANIAN DEVIL, Frank McNamara on ZOT, Ian Scott on CRACK OF NOON and Aidan
Glackin on MENTAL FLOSS.
Nine J/22s will be racing and for many it may prove to be good practice for the
upcoming J/22 Worlds sailing in Newport in October 2013. Expect to see
amongst the top boats champion J/22 sailor Chris Doyle sailing JUG 4 1, Brad
Julian skippering JULIAN ASSOCIATES, Lowell Thomas on CHAOS and Matt Dunbar on
WHARF RAT. For more Bacardi Newport Sailing information
Will Three Big Dogs Prevail?
(Wayzata, MN)- Lake Minnetonka will again be the playground for J/24s as the
Wayzata YC hosts them for their National Championship from June 20-23. As
J/24 Fleet #1, Lake Minnetonka has more experience than any other club hosting
major events for J/24s over the course of time sailing on the lake since
1977! The Wayzata YC J/24 sailors are looking forward to another
"most excellent" regatta with a stellar group of twenty boats
participating.
Recently, the J/24 class established a "World Rankings" website (http://www.j24worldrankings.com) that gives J/24 sailors
around the world a ranking overall and by country based on performance and
participation. Currently 1,118 sailors and 140 regattas over 4 years were
used in these rankings (best four in past two years count using a high point
system). Not surprisingly, six of the top ten are Americans with Brazil,
Italy, Argentina and Germany filling out the balance of top teams.
Sailing in this year's J/24 Nationals are three of the Americans, including
World #1 Mike Ingham from Rochester, NY, #9 Pat Toole from Santa Barbara, CA
sailing his famous THREE BIG DOGS and #10 Travis Odenbach from Rochester, NY
sailing HONEY BADGER. Not to be outdone are some of the famous founding
members of J/24 Fleet #1 sailing with Rolf Turnquist and John Gjerde on
the mighty yacht OZ! For more J/24 US Nationals sailing information
(Barbados, The Caribbean)- The Barbados J/24 fleet continues to grow by leaps
and bounds, springing from one success to another. This year's Mt Gay
Regatta saw a tremendous, enthusiastic turn-out for the J/24 class with
fourteen boats participating in the event, essentially all the J/24s in
Barbados!
Sailing like a pro was Bailey's team on FULLY COVERED, taking the
regatta counting three 1sts and three 2nds for 9 pts in the seven race
regatta. Talk about a "schooling", seems to many they need to
be handicapped! The dog fight for the balance of the top five made for
some spirited racing within the fleet. Coming out on top was Povey's HAWKEYE
with 23 pts to take second overall. Mayers's ESPERANZA finished third
with 25 pts, Burke's IMPULSE took fourth with 26 pts and Sweeney's ATTITUDE
took fifth. On the short end of that stick in the last race was Rostant's
team on JABULANI, finishing 5th and losing an opportunity to finish on the
podium. For more J/24 Barbados sailing information
(Nantucket, MA)- This year's famous FIGAWI race was perhaps one for the record
books. It was wild, wet, cold, rainy and windy. The several
thousand sailors in the race faced the same conditions as many of their sailing
friends who were participating in the Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race just
a bit further east of Nantucket-- powerful NNW winds of 15-25 kts and
mountainous seas drove the fleet fast across Nantucket Sound from Hyannis to
Nantucket in an epic, wet & windy roller-coaster ride. Of the 210
boats that registered, about 75% of them completed the race due to the crazy
conditions.
The pursuit-style race with quartering seas and winds were fun conditions for
most of the J teams planing and surfing like mad all the way across Nantucket
Sound. Many of the teams performed quite well, especially the classic old
J/24s! Winning their Division D by a landslide was an astonishing
performance by the J/24 MUTINOUS DOGS sailed by Marc Holdaway. Also
sailing like a "mad dog" in conditions only suitable for ducks, was
Stephen Lipman's J/37 DUCK SOUP, taking their Division F Non-Spinnaker by a
landslide.
The balance of J sailors all had fun, placing in many of their divisions.
At the top of the heap was the J/44 BEAGLE with Phil Gutin at the helm taking
5th in Division A. Next was the J/40 JAZZ skippered by Kirk Brown, taking
a 3rd in Division B. Also sailing fast and liking the conditions was the
classic J/29 masthead SEEFEST sailed by Ira Perry, taking 2nd in Division
C. The J/40 SMITTEN sailed by Bill Jones was 5th in Division G
Non-Spinnaker.
Finally, in Division S were lumped all the fast asymmetric spinnaker sprit boats,
essentially a J/class division with thirteen boats vying for being the
"big banana" amongst the deck apes bragging at the Charity
Ball. First boat home was the J/105 DARK'N'STORMY sailed by Andrew
Reservitz. Second into the harbor was the J/120 M-SQUARED skippered by
Bill Mack and third home was the J/111 PRAVDA 2 with Ed Kaye at the helm (proud
of their inaugural effort in the FIGAWI). Fourth home was the J/105 BEAR
SPIRIT sailed by Jonathan Bloom and, remarkably, the fifth boat home was the J/105
PRIMA sailed by the Nantucket High School Sailing Team and led by their skipper
Diana Brown-- congratulations to all!
It was interesting sailing for the J sprit boats, after about 4.5 hours of
sailing, less than fifteen minutes separated the top ten! That's close
sailing and a pretty reasonable job on handicapping the boats in PHRF,
too. For more FIGAWI Race sailing information
Ravioli's STOCKFISH Win Italian
Championships
(Anzio, Italy)- The village of Anzio is a wonderful setting for the J/24
Italian Championships, famous for its micro-climate that often borders on the
tropical, with plentiful sunshine, cool breezes blowing onshore and a gentle
Mediterranean swell rolling into the golden beaches along the shores.
However, this year's event was nothing like what anyone anticipated. As a
monstrous frontal system swept across the Italian peninsula, it generated
giant, breaking waves, 20-35 kt winds and plenty of cloud cover with chilly
temperatures-- epic sailing for sure, testing the determination and limits of
endurance for all the J/24 teams.
With forty-five J/24s attending this year's event, it was clear
Italian sailors love their favorite sailing spots, creating one of the largest
turnouts in years for the event. In the end, it was the American Keith
Whittemore sailing FURIO that won on equal points with Luigi Ravioli in an epic
battle on the high seas. As a result, Whittemore won the coveted
"Open Championship" title and Ravioli sailing STOCKFISH wins the
Italian J/24 Champs as first Italian.
Finishing second overall was Avoltore, third was defending champions Ignazio
Bonanno on LA SUPERBA, fourth was Mariolino Fraietta (Italian class President)
and fifth was Peter Diamond.
"In the end, fortunately, we were able to compete in at least five
races. It would really have been a shame to thwart the extraordinary
efforts of all with fewer races. Conditions were about as bad as we've
ever seen it in this magnificent town of Anzio", said Luigi Ravioli (past
J/24 European Champion in 1999 and 3rd in J/24 Worlds in the United Kingdom).
"With friends we began to prepare the boat (rather dated and with several
problem areas) back in October 2012. We participated in the Winter
Championship where we realized that we could be competitive and, above all, we
had a great team spirit on board."
"It's been a great championship, challenging but very rewarding, with
spectacular 10-15 ft waves, wind never below 20-23 kts, conditions that put a
strain on all but now that it's all over, we can say we have enjoyed it
all," said Massimo Mariotti. "I want to thank my crew for an amazing
job!"
The sailors credited the local sailing clubs and the Italian Navy for a job
"well done" despite the capricious conditions. In fact, the weather
was so difficult, racing had to be canceled one day because the harbor mouth
was virtually impassable due to breaking 15-20 ft waves and 25-35 kt gale-force
winds. For more J/24 Italian Championship sailing information
(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- The Yacht Club Monaco recently sent out it's invitation
to all J/24 sailors worldwide to participate in the J/24 Europeans, the first
to be hosted in Monaco since October 1993 over 20 years ago. Say's the
Secretary General at YC Monaco, Bernard d'Allessandri,
"It's our great pleasure to invite all J/24 sailors close and far afield
to join us this coming October to the J/24 European Championship in the unique
and charming Principality of Monaco.
This regatta will be unique in many ways. For those of you who have never been
to Monaco, our Principality, wedged between France and Italy, will enchant you.
You will discover a magical country with a unique character. Small enough to
give you a village atmosphere, yet big enough to host some unique events from
the Formula One Grand Prix to the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters or even the Yacht
Club de Monaco’s very own classic yacht regatta, the Monaco Classic Week, which
brings back centuries of traditional yachting to life ashore and afloat. All
this while surrounded by super yachts, fast cars, gorgeous people and unique
sights.
So what can you expect from the Monaco J/24 Europeans?
From the unique atmosphere of our “Port Hercules” harbour where
you will find a mixture of traditional fishing boats mingling with the world's
largest yachts, you will be mooring your J/24’s amongst some of the most
exclusive super yachts in the world in a harbour where moorings are near
impossible to obtain! Not to mention, of course, the warm welcome from the
Yacht Club de Monaco where you will immediately feel at home (please note-
Prince Albert notably sailed J/24s for years in the local fleet! As did his
gorgeous sister's on occasion). For this high profile event, the Yacht
Club de Monaco has assembled a very strong race committee to ensure smooth,
fair and professional race management. Heading the Race Committee will be John
Coveney, a veteran international race officer with excellent experience on the
southern coastline of France!
The gorgeous bay of Monaco will be your race area, right outside the harbour,
literally on your door step. No tide, little current, mainly just plain deep
water! No sand banks or shallow parts to avoid or escape too! Just one large
expanse of water in which the race committee will lay the course. Miss the
windward mark and your next stop is Corsica! In simple terms, the race
area is a 2.5nm circle just outside the harbour, from dock to start line in
less than 10 minutes! You simply can't beat that!
From the social events hosted by the Yacht Club de Monaco to those who wish to
explore the Principality further afield, there are plenty of
distractions! From dancing in the "Rascasse" with its live
band, or visiting the local brewery, eating the Provencal delicacies from the
"Condamine market", gambling and "people-watching" at the
world famous "Casino", or visiting the internationally reputed
Oceanographic Museum on the cliff edge, there are plenty of activities to
entertain family and friends while not out on the water racing!
By the time you leave Monaco at the end of the regatta, you may be suffering
from sensory overload, but you will certainly be able to recount amongst other
memories that you towed your J/24 down the start/ finish line of one the
world's most famous Formula One race tracks! How is that for bragging rights at
the bar?" For those of you looking at the world of "bucket
list" venues, that one may be one of the hardest one's to beat! For more J/24 Europeans in Monte Carlo, Monaco
