J/22 World Championship

Netherlanders Crush the Competition

(Riva del Garda, Lago di Garda, Italy- June 10-14)- Joe McCorkell on USA 1577 offers his report from the J/22 World Championship in Italy: Tuesday was the first day of the J/22 World Championship. The boats struggled out of the harbor as the shore and sea breeze fought, then like a brick wall we were hit with 15-20 knots, and we are off! There are 36 boats, with the largest fleet coming from The Netherlands. The Netherlands teams showed their skills in heavy air today with all top 10 boats coming from there. Marvin Beckman's team and ours struggled from time to time downwind in the 25-30 knot breeze with both teams wiping out at least once and looking at their keels. Every day there are different morning conditions, and we think, "hey maybe there will be no breeze today. At noon, we are proven wrong every day as the switch is flipped, and 15-20 knots are piping down the lake. These are definitely some tough conditions, but for the most part, we (the 2 American teams) have switched to European driving mode and ride high and plane all the way down, as opposed to the low and soak mode we are used to back in the States

Predictions regarding Gaston Loos winning would definitely come true! Hailing from the strongly competitive contingent from the Netherlands, Loos won followed by fellow countrymen Kasper Kieft in second and Ronald Veraar in third. Meanwhile, Jeroen Den Boer, the 2006 World Champion, finished in fourth position. The American teams could fair no better than tenth for Marvin Beckman and twelfth for Joey McCorkell. For more info.

BoatUS Santa Maria Cup

Top International Women Match Race on J/22s in Annapolis

(Annapolis, MD -May 27-30) - Enduring a week of brutally light and fickle winds, the women’s world top ranked match racing champion Claire Leroy (FRA) conquered the field to win the ISAF Grade 1 BoatUS Santa Maria Cup women’s match race event. Following the first three days, the event had yet to complete a single round robin schedule of nine races. For the fourth and final day on Saturday, the light winds permitted a 9am start to complete the round, but with time now running short, the second round robin series was scratched, and the top four teams advanced to the semi-final round.
By virtue of their round robin scores, the semi-finals saw top-seeded Leroy blank fourth seed Elizabeth Baylis (USA) 2-0, while second seed Genny Tulloch (USA) also dispatched third seed Katie Spithill (AUS) 2-0. It wasn’t until after four o’clock that the Final/Petit-Final Knockout Series commenced with Leroy vs Tulloch in the Finals and Spithill vs Baylis in the Petit match. Leroy cleanly defeated Tulloch in the first match, with Tulloch unable to overcome two penalties in the second. With time running out, Spithill defeated Baylis in the single Petit match to determine the final scores.
Peter Howson commentary: It's been a rough season for marquee sailing events in Annapolis so far this year. It seems the weather has been one week off on the wind every time and the Boat US Santa Maria Cup was no exception. After a spectacular Memorial Day weekend and the cancellation of the pro-am (sponsored by a local lingerie shop: awesome) because of too much wind, the racers have endured several days of barely enough wind to race. Today was another drifter. The press boat left the dock at 11:00 and hit the race course just in time to wait for a good 3 hours before the breeze picked up. Three hours of floating around watching boats full of women sunbathe... for once waiting out a calm didn't totally suck. In fact I'm sure once "Mr. Clean" (Sailing Anarchy) sees the photos he'll be putting this regatta on his schedule even if it is in Annapolis again. This is an impressive fleet by any standards. The big guns according to the media guide are Genny Tulloch, #1 match racing skipper on the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics, Liz Baylis and the San Francisco Match Women's Racing Team, Katie Spithill ranked #7 in the world by ISAF, and last but certainly not least, #1 in the world (again, according to ISAF) Claire Leroy of France. There are also 6 other women fielding teams from five different continents, all of whom could knock your ass off the racecourse without breaking a sweat. The day started with Liz Baylis and Claire Leroy tied for first with 6 wins each and Baylis had beaten Leroy in a prior flight. RC finally set a course and they got off a full flight of races. With wind blowing just barely 5 knots most of the time, these races were all won at the start. With a short course it was pretty tight quarters and there were some challenges at the windward mark when some boats misjudged the set of the current and had to tack a couple of extra times putting them smack dab in the middle of the following race. Leroy picked up another win and Baylis dropped one to that Spithill girl so Liz was down one at the end of the day. Genny Tulloch came away with the only US win against Ramires of Portugal.
Regatta Debrief: Genny Tulloch, currently ranked as the top women’s match racing skipper on the US SAILING Team Alphagraphics, provides a recap from last week’s ISAF Grade 1 BoatUS Santa Maria Cup women’s match race event: “The Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis was unfortunately not shined upon by the wind gods, and we had four light air days where the breezes were fighting with each other rather than cooperating on our behalf. Sadly I had caught a pretty bad cold on the flight to Annapolis, so while many of the other teams were sunbathing in bikinis, I was still in a jacket, sneezing anytime a zephyr of 2 knots came through. “We knew the weather was bad when we were told Thursday night (after 2 days) that the Santa Maria Cup had never been this far behind in races before, and then we went out and were only able to get one race the next day. We finally finished the first round robin, racing its final race on Saturday, which left us ranked second on a tie-break, as we had beaten both Katie Spithill (last year’s Match Racing World Champion), and Liz Baylis (last year’s second place in World Champs) in the round robin races. “The breeze then died again and we sat out there for about 6 hours as our Northerly gradient fought the Southerly seabreeze, neither one staying long enough to actually get a start off for our semi-finals, though the other match raced one race with three different 180 degree shifts—kites up on the downwind, then sailing upwind on the downwind leg and kites back up for the upwind leg, etc. We were happy not to have raced in that. They finally moved us straight to the finals matches at four, so we were up against Claire Leroy (currently ISAF ranked #1 Women’s Match Racer) to see who would get the win.” Event website. Further info. Photo credits: Sarah Proctor.

Sailing World Detroit NOOD

Frank Kern Wins J/120 Class!

(Detroit, MI May 29-31)- The host Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, MI had 191 boats competing in 20 classes. Frank Kern's Carinthia, took a seven-boat J//120 class by 3 points over second and six points over third. Five of seven boats won races in the J/120 class, six of seven recorded a top-two finish.
The assessment of the competition for the J/120s at "Day-twaah" was insightful: "In spite of the large spread of the J/120 class IRC ratings, these boats are very close in speed and any one of them can win the NOOD based on tactics and crew ability. Jerry Bresser of Flyin' Irish comes in from his 2008 one-design victory in the Bayview Mackinac. Don Hudak's Capers returns from his overwhelming 2008 victory of the J/120 class in Harbor Springs. Henry Mistile Night Moves will be defending his 2008 NOOD victory, which he won in the last race. Marv Ihnen's Ihnsanity will be returning with his first place success in the DYRA series on Lake St. Clair. Bob Kirkman's Hot Ticket, although he didn't claim any bullets in 2008, will be returning with a veteran J/120 crew and is always in the thick of competition. Frank Kern's Carinthia did not race in last year's NOOD, but will be coming back with a class triumph in the Chicago Race to Mackinac class and winner of the J/120's Great Lakes Trophy. Competition in this class is very competitive and these veterans of the J/120 class should have another close battle for victory." Ultimately, Frank and crew prevailed. For more info.

J/22 Worlds Sailing on Romantic Lake Garda

44 Entries from Six Countries Will Enjoy Breathtaking Scenery

(Riva di Garda, Lake Garda, Italy)- Not to be outdone by the J/80's in Spain, the J/22's are hosting their World Championships this year on the spectacular location of Lake Garda deep in Italy's famous northern Lakes District. Renowned for gorgeous cobalt blue waters, strong adabatic winds gusting up and down the mountain valleys, enormous rock and mountain formations thrusting skyward precipitously along the lakeshores and simply extraordinary Italian home-style hospitality, it's hard to imagine how anyone of the forty-four boats entered to date are going to have a bad time! Toss in a fair dose of great Italian wine, fresh bread, some extraordinary northern Italian cuisine and you have a recipe for a gastronomic World Championship--- nearly to rival the sailing itself! We wish all competitors fun, fair winds and many a splendid evening along the shores of the sybaritic, romantic waters of Lago di Garda. For more J/22 International Class Info. For more J/22 Worlds Info.

BoatUS Santa Maria Cup

Top International Women Match Race on J/22s in Annapolis

(Annapolis, MD- May 26-29)- Today also marks the first day of racing at the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup, an international women's match racing regatta held in Annapolis, MD. US Sailing Team members Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Genny Tulloch (San Francisco, Calif.) will be among the ten skippers competing in the event alongside other well-known skippers such as 2002 US SAILING Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif.) and the world's top-ranked women's match racer Claire Leroy of France. For More info.

Seattle SW NOOD

A bit of a drifter, but the tent party was HOT!

(Seattle, WA May 15-17) Leave it up to the locals in Seattle to make the most of seemingly nothing. On Puget Sound, when the wind is light and shifty, you don't hear a lot of complaining. Racers are used to variable conditions; with the Olympic Range towering to the west and the entire North American continent to the east, weather systems frequently lock horns over the Sound, resulting in confused wind patterns and Seattle's characteristic lingering rain. The regatta was characterized by light, variable winds. That's not to say the weather wasn't beautiful-- with clear skies and stunning views-- and it's certainly not to say that the racing wasn't tight. There were 17 classes racing, but only 8 classes got enough racing to generate any results- 3 of those fortunately enough were the J Classes- the J/80s, J/105s and J/109s.

The six boat J/109 class was won by Robert Arney on It's Only Rock & Roll with a first and second. The J/105s had Jerry Diercks on Delirium scream around the course to net a first and third to triumph over their nine boat class. And, perhaps the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, was the incredibly tight racing amongst the six boat J/80 class. There was a three-way tiebreaker with four points a piece that was broken in favor of Dave Schutte on Taj Majal, followed by Chris White on Crazy Ivan and Mike Brewis on Swish.

Gene Brown and Pete Bristow, who crewed aboard Edward Pinkham's J/109 Jeopardy, were pleased with their boathandling. "Any day we don't have trouble with our spinnaker sets and takedowns," said Brown, "that's a good day." Over a plate of tasty, local barbeque, SW columnist spoke with Jack Seznick, who grew up on the bluff behind the Corinthian YC and reckons he's been sailing these waters for thirty years. For the past three years, he's been working with the crew of the J/109 J-Tripper, co-skippered by Dave Dack and Rick Nordquist. Before purchasing their J/109, Dack and Nordquist were only occasional racers. Since Seznick hopped aboard, however, the team has made drastic improvements to their boathandling and their scoreline. Seznick finds the steep part of the learning curve extremely rewarding. "When I joined the team," he says, "I told the guys, 'I want to be a part of this crew, but we've got to keep it fun."

Strategy in the light air was critical and local talent certainly had their advantages. As in other tidal locales, the key to success is often deciding where to position oneself in relation to the fast-moving current in the middle of the Sound. At times, there is a "toilet bowl" effect, as the tide flowing out of Lake Union and through the locks moves through the marinas and swirls out along the shore, providing for a peculiar, near-shore lift. See Sailing World for more info/ results. Photo credits- Tim Wilkes