J/24 East Coasts Announcement

(Annapolis, MD)- The J/24 East Coast Championships has traditionally been one of the most competitive J/24 regattas in the world.  With an average of over 35 boats in the past 10 years, competitors have been challenged and excited by the event.  Make sure to join us for the 37th year October 30th to November 1st.  Great Fall Breezes in Annapolis, MD and nice fall temps create an excellent playground for some sharp racing.  Make sure to not miss the average of 8 races over three great days.

Plus, here are the Top 10 Reasons why you shouldn't miss this event:

1. Excellent Competition; most of the top boats compete in this event.
2. Join the ranks of America's Cup and J/24 World Champion sailors that have competed in this event- like Terry Hutchinson, Brad Read, Tim Healy, Will Welles, Dave Curtis and Jim Brady.
3. Easy In & Out - with multiple hoists you are sure to get in and out of the water fast!
4. Extend your season. If you are from the Northeast, its starting to get cold. Come down a few hours south and get in on more super-hot J/24 sailing.
5. Adult Halloween in Annapolis- its FUN, maybe even insane!
6. Free hosted Housing- we can make this event inexpensive for you- just ask (see below)
7. Great Value- Early Entry fee is just $150 and includes sailing, beer, drinks, food and more.
8. Experience Annapolis- home of the Naval Academy, National Sailing Hall of Fame, great food and nightly entertainment
9. Expert Race Management by the team from Severn Sailing Association.
10. Its FUN!

For more J/24 East Coast Championship sailing information, housing reservations, entertainment guide, click here!

JOSE CUERVO Blitzes J/105 NAs!

(San Francisco, CA)- No, the crew on JOSE CUERVO may not have been totally blitzed after the regatta.  But, they sure did blitzkrieg their J/105 comrades in what may have been one of the most dominating performances ever in a J/105 NAs.  Counting four bullets straight Shawn Bennett and crew on JOSE CUERVO threw down a 4 of hearts on the table for their opening gambit then simply aced the rest, much to the chagrin of their buddies on San Francisco Bay.

As the largest fleet of boats in the Rolex Big Boat Series, 27 in all, Bennett walked off with his first Rolex Submariner stainless steel chronometer in his life.  He was a happy camper.

The first day of racing was somewhat prophetic in terms of who was going to rise to the top after some early tough going.  On Thursday, the unthinkable happened, when the club’s race committee – known for expertly conducting more than its fair share of regattas thanks to San Francisco’s ideal winds (consistently strong), challenging conditions (currents aplenty) and superior setting (stadium sailing at its best) – had to postpone the morning race for all classes by two hours, due to lack of breeze. It left the J/105 sailors champing at the bit, but in the end nothing was missed when both of the day’s scheduled races were completed in 15-plus knots of westerly breeze.

As all classes in the RBBS must do, the J/105s rotate from the “Treasure Island” circle to the “Alcatraz” circle (named for the famous island that sits precariously in the middle of the Bay) during the day. On Thursday, the J/105s started with Treasure Island, sailing a 10.9 mile race that Ryan Simmons' BLACKHAWK won in a photo finish with Shannon Ryan and Rolf Kaiser’s DONKEY JACK, which had led over much of the distance.

“Our original plan was to play the ‘cone’ (an area east of Alcatraz Island that shelters from the current), but we changed our mind mid-leg and decided to go to the city front,” said Simmons. “We came out well, but it was a very long beat: all the way from Treasure Island to the Golden Gate Bridge in a flood tide.”

BLACKHAWK finished fourth in its second race, an 11 miler, held on the Alcatraz circle; Simmons was happy about that, since it involved a mediocre start and a “super high powered boats-wiping-out-everywhere reaching leg” where the wind indicator showed 18-20 knots. The performance put him at the top of the scoreboard, tied on points with Shawn Bennett’s JOSE CUERVO and one point ahead of Jeff Litfin’s Mojo.

“Everyone gears up for this regatta,” said Simmons, who sailed the J/105 North Americans once before when it was part of the Rolex Big Boat Series in 2009 and skippered to second in last year’s Rolex Big Boat Series after having crewed for his father, two-time winner Scooter Simmons, 15 times in the event. “Our goal going into this season has been to win this regatta, the North Americans, and get that Rolex.” (Rolex timepieces accompany St. Francis Yacht Club perpetual trophies as prizes in six of the 11 classes here.)

After two more days of racing, the cat was out of the bag.  After racing J/22s for much of the season in the match-racing world, Bennett’s crew were simply unassailable in the tricky SF Bay conditions- demonstrating a mastery that was far, far beyond their wise years.

“Winning means a lot to us, because we’ve tried a few times at the North Americans and have fallen short of winning a few times at the Rolex Big Boat Series,” said Bennett. “It’s two things in one: checking boxes that we weren’t successful at checking in the past.”   As for winning a Rolex timepiece for his efforts, he added, “Hands down, it’s the nicest trophy I’ve ever won.”

With the top of the podium pretty much determined by day two, the fight for the balance of the top five spots was typically worse than a sorority pillow fight- can’t see anything until the feathers clear!  In other words, no obvious winners at all until the very last leg of the very last race.  Roller coaster rides everywhere when everyone seeks the ultimate goal of just plain, simple, consistency on the Bay.

When the feathers & down settled from the fields of battle, it was Jeff Litfin’s MOJO that succeeded in nearly the same degree of proficiency as Bennett’s crew, pulling together a 3-3-2-4-5 for 17 pts to secure second.  Behind them, and just staying free of the dust-up, was Jason Woodley & Scott Whitney’s RISK with another all top 10 tally of 8-9-3-2-3 for 25 pts.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment may have been felt by past J/105 NA Champion and RBBS Champion, Bruce Stone on ARBITRAGE; a last race 12th torpedoed their chances at a silver on the podium, instead settling for 4th place with 26 pts.  In 5th place was early regatta leader Simmons on BLACKHAWK only 1 pt back.  Exciting racing for all! Kudos to Regatta Chairman Bruce Stone and Fleet #1 Captain (Shannon Ryan) for wearing about 12 hats to help pull off this exciting regatta with a host of sponsors and volunteers far too numerous to mention here!   Watch J/105 NAs sailing video summary.   For more J/105 North American Championship sailing information

Royal Norwegian YC Is Best Sailing Club in Europe!

(Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy)- Royal Norwegian YC (Kongelig Norsk Seilforening- KNS) wins SAILING Champions League 2015 and claims title of “Best Sailing Club” ahead of hosts YC Costa Smeralda of Italy and, the most surprisingly fast team at the event, YC Navigator from Moscow, Russia.  A fleet of 30 club teams from 14 nations participated in the regatta with the top sailing clubs from all across Europe.

The second SAILING Champions League finished Sunday after three days of thrilling racing, a range of challenging sailing conditions during the last three days, ranging from lots of wind the first day, where races were sailed without spinnaker, to relatively light and shifty winds on the last day.

The final day of racing brought a change from the strong mistral breeze that teams had faced over the previous two days. As the wind moved to a more northerly direction and turned lighter and more shifty those competitors who thrive in light airs had a chance to shine in today’s 12 races. There was little hope, however, of ousting the reigning KNS team of Kristoffer Spone, Christen Horn Johannessen, Sigurd Paulsen and Erik Kongshaug who deservedly held on to first place thanks to seven victories and two second places out of 10 flights raced.

“We were a bit excited today, because we didn't know how it would go,” commented Royal Norwegian skipper Kristoffer Spone, “but now we have the trophy, we are very happy. The level of competition at the SAILING Champions League was very high, so it’s a very good feeling having won against the best clubs in Europe. It has been a terrific event here in Porto Cervo.”

Second-placed YC Costa Smeralda (with a superstar team of Flavio Favini, Branko Brcin, Filippo Molinari & Federico Michetti) flew the home flag high by chalking up six victories over the weekend.  Meanwhile, Yacht Club Navigator of Moscow (Igor Rytov, Anton Sergeev, Konstantin Besputin, & Nikolay Kornev) claimed five wins to take third place overall.

YCCS team captain Federico Michetti commented on the club-centered ethos that is at the heart of the Sailing Champions League concept: “It was an honor to compete here for my club together with the team. These were great races with a superb organization behind them. It’s a format where you can really feel how everyone is fighting for their Club and I think that is important.”

“As always our thanks go to everyone who made this event possible: the race committee, jury, umpires and the sponsor Audi as well as all of the teams who travelled from across Europe to participate in this first event in our waters,” commented YCCS Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo, during the afternoon’s prize giving ceremony.

In addition to the Robbe & Berking Trophy for the winning Club, trophies were awarded to the second and third-placed yacht clubs. Special prizes were also awarded to the Royal Malta YC, whose team was entirely composed of members of the Ripard family (Sebastian, John, Thomas & Julia) and the Royal Danish Yacht Club (KDY) that fielded an all-female team- Lotte Meldgaard, Tina Gramkov, Helle Ørum, and Anne Sofie Munk.

Coming just a year after the premiere of the new, international club competition, the SAILING Champions League, this is the second showdown of the best sailing clubs from Europe. The 30 clubs have travelled from all directions to Sardinia, from Finland in the North and from Italy in the South, Great Britain in the West and Russia in the East, to fight for the title currently held by the Royal Danish Yacht Club.

The only all female crew on the starting line was the title defender from Copenhagen. Skipper Lotte Meldgaard and her crew were the reigning World and European Champions and have a great deal of experience in match racing. However, they were looking forward to the challenge of competing in fleet races at the event. “We always want to be at the top of the ranking, whenever we are sailing – also at the Champions League, of course. At the Danish league events that we sailed for the Royal Danish Yacht Club (KDY) this year and in the previous year, we were always on the podium. This is what we want to achieve here in Porto Cervo as well,” explained Meldgaard.

Being the strongest nations as regards the number of league clubs, the Danish Sailing League and the German Sailing League each had four participating clubs each. The Austrian Sailing League, the Italian Sailing League and the Swedish Sailing League sent three clubs. Two clubs came from Poland, Switzerland, Russia and Norway. The Netherlands, France, Malta, Great Britain and Finland were all represented by one club each.

During the training session, Porto Cervo offered perfect sailing conditions, with wonderful late summer weather and great breeze. The weather forecast for the three racing days promised sailing action at its best for sailors and spectators.

Day 1- Windy Start
The first day of racing was spectacular, with racing in survival mode with seven races completed. The sailors were facing a typically brisk Sardinian mistral breeze.  After 7 races were completed, the wind reached 25 knots and a postponement was called for the day.

Promising early performances were put in by the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV) of Hamburg who chalked up victories in both of their races today. Norway’s Kongelig Norsk Seilforening (KNS) also performed well, claiming a first and a second place. The Russian Team of Yacht Club Navigator (YCN), took a third and first place while the young crew representing the Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club (DTYC) who boast an average age of just 23 years – won their first race and came third in their second. With a possible 41 races left to run the games have only just begun however and the leaderboard tomorrow could well tell a different story.

“It was a pretty good day for us,” confirmed NRV helmsman Carsten Kemmling. “Our first race was dramatic because it was more survival mode in these conditions. It was a tough fight and a photo finish with the club from Geneva. In the second race we sailed without the gennaker so the boat handling was more important than tactics.”

The crew representing host club the YCCS also got off to a good start as they took victory in the first race of the event. “It was a good feeling,” commented team member Filippo Maria Molinari, “the team has trained well and we won with a good lead which is very encouraging even though we have only completed one race so far.

Day 2- More Mistrals!
The second day was an intense one for the teams. A lively Mistral wind once again put teams to the test over the course of 21 fleet races, bringing the total number of flights completed to 7.

The provisional rankings at the conclusion of racing saw Norway’s Kongelig Norsk Seilforening (KNS) heading the fleet of clubs from across Europe with five victories and two wins in the seven races run. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda team followed hot on their heels with four wins. The Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club (DTYC), one of four German teams present, continued took look strong despite a sixth place in one of today’s races, as does Switzerland’s Société Nautique de Genève (SNG).

“It was a terrific day on the water,” commented Kristoffer Spone, skipper of Kongelig Norsk Seilforening. “My guys did a great job. Maybe from outside it looks perfect but we made a lot of mistakes. Normally, we are better in light winds, so we’re excited for tomorrow. This format of league sailing is what we want to do.”

Julian Stückl, skipper of DTYC was also pleased: “It was a great day for us but tricky, as well. On the top it is very tough sailing. We know the guys from other regattas. In the league sailing it is more about maneuvers than speed. Tomorrow we want to have fun again and do our best and try not to be too nervous.”

Day 3- No More Drama
After the conclusion of racing on Sunday, it was clear the Norwegian team was not going to be displaced from the top of the podium.  By closing out the last three races of the regatta with a 3-1-1, Norway’s KNS team won by over 8 pts- a landslide in this extremely talented fleet.  Proof of their steep learning curve, the host club’s YCCS team won three of their last four races, but a last race 7th hurt their chances to stand atop the podium in their first major sailing league finale.  In the end, the Italian YCCS team was extremely happy with their results, happily taking home the silver.  Third was the remarkable YC Navigator Team from Moscow, Russia, talk about a fast ascent up the leader board!  They also closed with a 1-1-3 to take the bronze overall.  The balance of the top five included the Societe Nautique de Geneve (the former America’s Cup winner) in fourth place and in 5th was Deutscher Touring YC- the top German team at the event.  Sailing photo credits- SCL/YCCS/Francesco Nonnoi   Facebook/SailingSCL- https://www.facebook.com/SailingCL

SAILING Champions League sailing video summaries:
Day 2- Highlights- https://youtu.be/lY0Zwd6fQig
Day 2- Replay- https://youtu.be/SNBcyitG21E
Day 3- Replay- https://youtu.be/VJSzERSt23o
Regatta Summary- https://youtu.be/ycQ5tUQUJ_E

For more SAILING Champions League information

J/105s Sailing off Manhattan

(New York, NY)- Over the course of the year, we often get some amusing anecdotes and photos from friends of the J sailing world.  Recently, the President/ CEO of Treasure Chest- The World’s Greatest Vacations- Richard Shane, was out on the water off downtown New York City on the Hudson River.  The weather was gorgeous.  The city looked spectacular.  And, a fleet of J/105s was sailing on the Hudson River in a fresh, invigorating, smog-free southeast breeze with lower Manhattan as the canvas in the background.  Enjoy the photos and meanwhile learn more about Richard’s endeavors here.

Improve Sailing Performance Through Team Function!

(Newport, RI)- Geoff Becker has been riding the J/70 wave since the class was launched, teaming with Tim Healy as they won the 2014 Worlds and finishing third in 2015. Here Geoff comments on how team function impacts performance.

“While I am a skipper at heart, the more I sail as a tactician or trimmer, the more I appreciate the functions of the crew when I do skipper. Each person on the boat is contributing to the performance of the team, and when everyone has that outlook, the function of the team improves.

While sailing with Tim and our core team, I have learned how important the interaction between crew members can be to a boat’s overall performance. The amount of information that needs to be filtered on the racecourse in order to make educated decisions, is immense and has made me fully appreciate the trust required on a boat and among the crew members.

We have all been in a situation where the other guy isn’t pulling his weight and you or someone else needs to pick up the slack. Less apparent at the time is what is being missed when crew members compensate and have their attention divided. With so much going on during any given race, having each sailor on board pulling their weight allows everyone the opportunity to really excel.

Our team, having sailed together for such a long time, has developed a strong sense of trust in each member to do his job on the boat. For example, I don’t tune the rig on the J/70 when sailing with Tim. It’s not that I can’t do that job; the reality is that on our J/70 team, the rig isn’t one of my responsibilities and I have complete trust that those responsible for the rig tune will do the job properly.

That level of trust has other pretty cool effects, too.

First, each of us has a smaller amount of stresses because we know all the jobs are covered. Less stress then enables each of us to do our jobs at a much higher level. Also, when someone has a problem and the performance suffers, we are able to fall back on our trust in each other to know that even though a mistake has been made, it will be quickly fixed and unlikely to happen the next time.

All aspects of the competition are made less stressful since no one is worried about making a mistake knowing our teammates are there for support. As a result, we win as a team and when we don’t, there is no blame, only a discussion of how to improve for next time.”  Thanks for the contribution for Geoff B @ North Sails and Scuttlebutt News

J/92 THIN MAN- Sailing Vineyard Race

(Larchmont, NY)- Todd Aven’s J/92 THIN MAN has raced in Long Island Sound regattas and offshore races for quite some time now.  Todd’s team has either been double-handed racing or fully-crewed in major events, winning some, enjoying some, and along the way collecting some silverware or pickle-dishes for friends and family.

Recently, in the Vineyard Race, Todd's friends discovered there was a discrepancy in the rating of the boat that was scored as beating them.  Naturally, this led to some “interesting discussions”.

According to Todd, “after my friend alerted us to the issue, the Stamford YC Race Committee promptly investigated the issue and adjusted the scores based on the correct ratings.

Looking at both PHRF 4 and 5 combined, we had the 5th fastest corrected time to Seaflower Reef, 2nd fastest time on the return leg, ending up 1st in class and 3rd overall.

It was a particularly hard upwind as we had a very seasick crew member laid out at the stern and frequent visits by others to provide attention and fluids. Needless to say, not optimal crew position for the 3-6 foot seas brought up by the easterly 15-25kt breeze.

I slept for about 1.5 hours out of the total 25 hours, on the helm most of the 15 hours upwind.

It was wet and nasty and rough upwind all the way to Seaflower Reef Light (15 hours), and correspondingly, it was a blissful downwind sleigh ride home with the spinnaker (10 hours). The breeze was generally easterly and moderate to strong, with a brief light spot for the last hour upwind to Seaflower.  All the boats we were racing against were bigger and heavier and had less trouble punching through the seas upwind. We made up lots of time on the downwind return, just enough, as it turns out, for that 1st place spot!”

J/Fest San Diego Preview

(San Diego, CA)- The San Diego YC is proud to host the 20th Anniversary of the J/Fest regatta in Southern California! One design fleets included in the event are J/105s and J/120s.  The racing consists of a Fun Bay Pursuit race on Friday afternoon and windward/leeward courses in the Coronado Roads on Saturday and Sunday.

This year J/Fest San Diego will coincide with the J/70 North American Championship. The social events will be fabulous- a Beer/Food pairing party on Friday evening, a Mexican Fiesta with musical entertainment on Saturday night, and the awards party on Sunday after racing.  JK3 Yachts is proud to sponsor not only the J/70 NAs, but the 20th Anniversary of J/Fest!

Joining the festivities in the J/105 class are Steve Howell’s BLINK!, Dennis Case’s WINGS, the Hurlburt/Driscoll duo on JUICED and Stew Cannon’s J-OK.  The J/120s are out in force, with Ernie Pennell’s MADMEN, Rudy Hasl’s HASL FREE and Peter Zarcades’ MELTEMI hoping to overcome the historical dominance of Mike Hatch’s J-ALMIGHTY and Chuck Nichols’ CC RIDER.  For more J/Fest San Diego sailing information.

J/30 North Americans Preview

(Marion, MA)- One of America’s oldest and most prestigious yachting clubs, the Beverly YC of Marion, MA, will be hosting the 2015 J/30 North Americans on the waters of the notorious Buzzards Bay this coming weekend.  If there’s one thing the J/30 sailors can count on, it’s that no matter what wild and crazy conditions are thrown at them by the weather Godz this coming week, the BYC team will ensure the nine J/30 teams assembled from across the northeastern seaboard will have fun and get in some good racing.

With so many fresh faces appearing in this year’s edition, it’s difficult to determine some of leading teams.  Nevertheless, based on their reputations in other classes, watch out for one of the true “hot shot” locals, Bill Saltonstall on ARBELLA.  Then a “foreigner” in these parts of New England is the Dan Mather/ Dave Irwin team from Oswego YC on the crusading CRUSADER.  Based on previous J/30 NA’s, you can count on Charlie Stoddard’s FALCON from Barrington YC in Rhode Island and also John McArthur’s SMILES from Cedar Point YC to be a factor on the leaderboard.

Based on the upcoming weather forecast this weekend, on Friday the J/30s will face stronger ENE/Easterlys building during the day. Those ENE winds fade a notch Saturday before refreshing and veering further Easterly on Sunday.  High pressure remains in control through the extended period as it slowly slides E from Canada, causing NE'rly winds to veer more ENE Friday through Sunday. Sunday is now looking to show strongest values as High pressure slides offshore, wedging a trough from the S into the coast.  Should be fun, very very shifty racing with lots of puffs and streaks sliding down Buzzards Bay!
For more J/30 North American Championship sailing information

Australian J/24 Sailing Video Promo!

(Sydney, Australia)- Australian J/24 sailors are on their game. According to Simon Grain (cheerleader in chief of all things J/24 in the land of wallabee’s, dodo-birds, lizard-eating koala’s, highway-leaping roo’s, Ayer’s Rock aliens, Great Barrier Reef giant bug-eyed squids and more), “Australia is alive and well and coming into summer - looking forward to that! We have produced a new J/24 sailing/ promo video that is online on YouTube.  If you haven't seen it go here:”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hitkZSxdUFo

J/111 BLUR Sailing Video- Rolex Fastnet Race

(Stockholm, Sweden)- As many J sailors know, Peter Gustafsson and his Viking friends in the “friendly confines” of the cool northern Scandinavian summer always look forward to heading “south” (e.g. below the Arctic Circle, so to speak) and invading (a.k.a. joining) their warm-blooded friends in the southern parts of the North Sea and the even warmer English Channel and Irish Sea (someone once told the Vikings the beer is way better down in Ireland!).

Perhaps one of the most difficult and mind-numbing races ever in Fastnet Race history was this year’s edition; with some teams quitting and most staying the course to finish after nearly five days of racing the 600+nm course.  Enjoy Peter’s compendium of photos and video they compiled during the race here (we are sure you will find it quite amusing, entertaining at the very least and, in many respects, eye-opening!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4TytT_kmCQ