2011 J/22 Championship Package

(Newport, RI)-  In recognition that the two most prestigious J/22 events in the world are both coming to America in 2011, US Watercraft and J/Boats are pleased to announce a special Championship Package available for a limited number of new 2011 J/22s.

The Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship returns to Rochester Yacht Club August 29 – September 1 and will showcase the top women's teams from around the globe.  One month later, the 2011 J/22 World Championships will be hosted by Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans October 9-14.  Both events expect big turnouts and J/22s will be hard to find.

The Championship Package includes a 2011 model J/22 with anodized mast and boom, an epoxy finished bottom and keel, class required safety gear, Triad trailer, and an upgraded New England Ropes running rigging package; all for $38,500.  The package is available through your local J/Boats dealer or US Watercraft and is limited to 12 boats, with priority given to boats that will sail (or be chartered) in either or both events.  This offer will expire March 31, 2011.  Please contact your J Dealer or J/Boats at ph# 401-846-8410 or info@jboats.com.

  

Cayman Islands J/22 Governors Cup

JUST LEAVING Left Them Behind!

(Cayman Island, Sometime Last Week)- Yes, the "island groove" and ethos is still alive and well with our dear friends down in the Caribbean and those in the same friendly latitudes.  Remember that feature awhile back in J/News about our friends in the Cayman Islands deciding that sailing was "important"?  That is was good for families, friends and strangers?  That it would promote fun, camaraderie and a greater appreciation for being outdoors and enjoying our little lifeboat called "Planet Earth"??

Well, the gang down in The Caymans are slowly (emphasis, slowly), winding up their winter sailing season while the poor sods up in The North (as opposed to The Down Under) are "Cooling Down".  The season starts with The Governors Cup.

This year, the gang aboard JUST LEAVING simply just left The Opposition behind in The 2010 J22 Governor's Cup.  The Event was sailed in fairly light conditions over two days, with a total of seven races sailed in the mind-numbingly beautiful clear blue waters and steady as-a-rock 15-20 knot trade wind breezes.

With the experienced crew of Mike Farrington on helm, ably supported by Matt Diaz and Sam Dawson, their JUST LEAVING Team have dominated the fleet of late.  Nevertheless, they were given a good challenge by Nick Taylor driving MOONSHINE in Commodore Andrew Moon's absence (gone AWOL making moonshine?).  Giving them all a run for their money was Peter Cunningham's SUNSHINE taking third.  Oh dear, could it be that someone was JUST LEAVING town in the SUNSHINE because one was making MOONSHINE?  Hope not.   For more Cayman Islands J/22 sailing information.  

J/22 The Netherlands Cooling Down!

GILL Girls Finish Third- Yippee!

(The Hague, The Netherlands)- The J/22 center of the universe.  The Chairman's Word.  The Place To Be-- it's called The Hague.  Catch my drift?  Seems The Brassermeer is The Locus of The J/22s on The Planet Europa.  Here's The Chairman's Word from The High above The Hague:

"You sometimes hear people say that time flies ... It's already October and that means that the water is 'cooling down', ie. low temperatures, short days, cold water, the J-22 fleet, too, after a busy and competitive season to prepare for the Brassermeer.

A busy and competitive season that was it. For those who seem to forget, all of course started this year with the team Braassem Kesbeke (Ned 1609) as the winner. After the fleet was well represented in Stellendam with Team Henri Lloyd (Ger 1513) as the winner. Everybody was aware that hereafter you can not just be champion. Resulting in more J-22 teams at the start in Medemblik and more teams soon after the launch on the North Sea Regatta. Where Team Henri Lloyd (Ger 1513) again sailed to victory. This team would then be the new World Champion?

There were training at weekends and even ordered a Warming Up Worlds sailed so everyone could get used to the notorious North Sea. Finally it was the day of the World Cup.  Many sailors appeared to be well matched, but there was only a very deserving winner of-- Quantum Racing Team (Ned 1364).

Most teams had just sailed enough but this was definitely not the case at all. A few weeks later there was a thrilling battle between Team Henri Lloyd (1591) and Team Patron (1449) in Travemunde, Germany.

Team Kesbeke (1609) found that the boat had been dry long enough and dropped again in Muiden that she wanted to become Dutch champion. Two weeks later the big day-- the next showdown. Amid all the Olympic classes also were the J-22's to decide who was going to be Dutch champion. Until the finish it was really exciting, but team Quantum Racing (1364) became Dutch Champion.

Oh, forgot.  The "Cooling Down" of The Netherlands, The J/22 Fleet. The End Of The World, Cup season that is, was a real sailing spectacle.

There was already quite a breeze for the start of the regatta. By the time Maria and her team shot away from the starting line in a 25 knot breeze, it was clear the spinnaker laps were going to be very short. The cheers of many a boat was heard clearly across the course.

After the first race the wind increased even more. There was still waiting for a while, but when 38 knots was measured everyone was sent to the port. After a few hours of waiting, a lot of chocolate and pea soup, the wind had fallen far enough for another 2 races to start. After three races, the top team was Kesbeke NED 1609 with 3 points.

The next morning was a sunny autumn morning- picture perfect!  The wind was making us all a bit nervous, it was certainly not above 10 knots. Fortunately, the wind filled a little and we could sail three delicious races. Unfortunately, the wind began to turn somewhat in the afternoon. There was even an aborted start because the wind turned 30 degrees. Therefore, we did not manage to get in a fourth race, bummer!

With 4 first places and two second places, Team NED 1609 Kesbeke Eelco Blok, Bart Fast and Niels Block Majeure were first.  Second with 10 points were Team Sika Roy Heiner NED Academy 1450 Ronald Veraar, Robert Janssen and Joost Brouwer.   Third, with only 5 points difference were the ladies from Team NED 1141 GILL, Maria Poulie, Bregtje Lodewikes, Renske Verbeek and Leontien Benders-- gorgeous girls, right?!  Smart those girls!

And with that the 2010 season ended. It was a great year and we hope that many play our Winter Games on the Brassermeer, everyone and all teams are welcome.  Prior to the Winter Games we will be givng training on Saturday. The first will be given by Wouter Kollman. Thereafter, Rik Sand Boer for some courses.  Set the weekend of 11 and 12 December in your diary.  More later.

Looking back, it has so far been a great sailing season with great moments and winners! But looking forward, we have a lot to do!  Until next week!  The Boss- Floris Toetenel."  For more J/22 The Netherlands Sailing Information.
  

Growing Sailing at the Grass Roots- the College Edition

(Vallejo, CA)- This fall J sailors at the college level have had their fair share of fun in the sun, sailing everything from J/22s to J/44s.  At one end of the scale, the Storm Trysail Club's Big Boat Series on Long Island Sound had an enormous turn-out with dozens of college teams vying for glory on what appears to be the college-version of J/Fest.  And, about the same time, another group were dueling for big boat supremacy on the US Navy Academy 44 footers to qualify for the Student Yachting World Cup in France!  Busy week! Stories below.

What could be cooler than for a little maritime academy that use their fleet of six J/22s and a J/105 to train for keelboat events in the battle-hardened college sailing circuit and win the "big one"- the Kennedy Cup sailed on 44 footers at the US Navy Academy in Annapolis, MD.  Then, better yet, in a real, heart-warming "David and Goliath" story, that same team qualifies to sail in the 30th annual Student Yachting World Cup in La Rochelle, France from October 24th to 29th!  Yes, hopes and dreams do come true sometimes.  The California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, CA with an enrollment of about 850 students, will be by far the smallest school among the 11 international universities entered from the Canada, England, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Japan.

Cal Maritime Sailing Director Susan "Charlie" Arms-Cartee says she and her team don’t worry much about those figures. "We have a history of doing well against much larger competitors. We took the Kennedy Cup in the 2009 National Intercollegiate Offshore Championships last fall to win the right to compete in France, and we recently beat Navy to take our fifth Shields Trophy in seven tries at Annapolis, MD, against teams from the U.S. service and maritime academies." According to "Charlie", "we use the J/105 to help us "show the flag" in Bay Area events and regattas and means our veterans can step aboard other competitive boats on the Bay with greater confidence in their skills."

Arms Cartee says Cal Maritime’s small size can be an advantage. “Many on Team USA have sailed with each other for two and three years in a variety of boat classifications and conditions. As the first team from the West Coast to compete for the U.S. in this event in its 30-year history, we think we have some demonstrated strengths in sailing in the kind of heavier winds we’re told are the norm in late October on the Atlantic Coast of France. Many on our team are comfortable with the stronger winds we often find in northern California and especially on San Francisco Bay. But we’ve also got team members with skills in light winds, as we demonstrated with our recent Shields victory.”

Follow the adventures of Team USA at the Student Yachting World Cup.  We hope the skills learned at home along with their counterparts, many of whom have also been "schooled" on other J's, like 24s and 80s in Europe, all have fun and good sailing!  Read more about sailing the Student Yachting World Cup.  Cal Maritime TeamUSA sailing website.
  

WHITE TRASH Wins J/22 Southeast Champs

(Birmingham, AL)- The Birmingham Sailing Club held their annual Leukemia Cup Regatta and hosted the J/22 fleet for their Southeast Championship Regatta. The event was held over the weekend of September 17-19, 2010. The regatta counts for double points in the Southeast Circuit and rotates from year to year amongst  the major sailing venues of the Circuit. Previous championship regattas have been held on Percy Priest Lake-Nashville, TN, and Choctawachee Bay-Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

With double points on the line, everyone brought their “A” game. Eight J/22s were there for the racing. Three boats were local and the remaining five trailered in from Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky. High pressure moved in for the weekend and settled in over the area making for very light and shifty conditions. At the end of one race what had been the windward mark was now almost a perfect set for the leeward mark! In conditions like this it’s sometimes hard to remember that the only place worse to be than on your own boat trying to go forward is to be on the race committee boat trying to get in a few quality races.

When it was over, three races counted and Sean Clare sailing WHITE TRASH with crew of Doc Bellows, Ashley Sulkalski and Micah Souza (Ashley’s 6 year old son won the regatta).  Finishes were 3-1-2.  A very determined past Rolex competitor, Jennifer Grant with crew of Sam Grant  took a solid second with finishes of 2-4-1. Local knowledge paid off for Bob Blythe and crew of Rebecca Blythe and Larry VanHorne who placed third with finished of 1-5-5.  Contributed by Wayne Cassady.  For more J/22 One-design sailing info.
  

J/Fest SW Great Success

Zartler, Goethe, Flynn, Shaffer Get Straight Firsts!

(Houston, TX)- The first J/Fest Southwest took place on Galveston Bay this past weekend, hosted by Lakewood Yacht Club.  Forty boats participated ranging from the majestic J/122 GAMBLER down to fleets of J/22s, J/24s, J/80s, J/105s and J/109s!  On Saturday the fleet awoke to a beautiful sunny, crisp fall morning, with a light northerly.  By afternoon the sea breeze filled in for some great racing on Galveston Bay.  Sunday a similar scenario played out for the weather.  In short, it was amazing work by the regatta committee, led by Lakewood YC Fleet Captain, Carl Drechsel, to get off up to six races for some of the fleets on what was a beautiful weekend.  The general theme voiced by all the competitors is that the race committee’s did an outstanding job, and the racers handled themselves in a corinthian manner both days! 

In the J/22 class, Brant Koepke from Galveston Bay Cruising Association sailed RICH SKANK into first place after a slow start, garnering a 5-3-1-2-1-2-1 score to win with 10 points after seven races, one throw-out.  Second place was a duel between Pat Gibson from Houston Yacht Club sailing CRIMSON RIBBON and Casey Lambert from Lakewood Yacht Club racing OUT OF SIGHT. Pat started out strong with a 1-2 to Casey's 4-5.  But, after a tough seven races, Pat prevailed on the tie-breaker with his 1-2-4-4-3-1-4 score for 15 points.  Finishing third was Casey getting a 4-5-3-1-2-3-2 also with 15 points.

The J/24s had a strong turnout with ten boats.  Racing was close for the top five.  But getting three firsts and keeping himself out of trouble allowed Pedro Gianotti from Galveston Bay Cruising Association to race AMBASSADOR to the top of the heap with a 2-1-4-1-5-2-1 with 11 points.  The race for second and third was very tight, with the final result determined by who beat who in the last race.  Stuart Lindow sailed TROPICAL AGGRESSION into second place by just a whisker over Dov Kiviovitz's NO NAME.  Stuart's 1-6-2-3-1-6-4 record for 17 points just gave him the edge over Dov's 5-3-1-5-8-1-3 for 18 points.   Kelly Holmes placed fourth.  Kelly did a really neat thing and crewed on his boat with the University of North Texas Sailing Team.  Lots of smiles on the UNT sailors faces.

Fresh from having raced the J/80 Worlds and, most likely, still licking their wounds, was the team of Terry Flynn and Dave Whelan from Fort Worth Boat Club racing QUANTUM RACING.  That experience in Newport seemed to have sharpened their skills, winning 6 of 7 races to win by 6 points over Paul Parsons team hailing from Galveston Bay Cruising Association sailing PARSONS PROJECT.  Third was Ramon Torres' 80 PROOF from Fort Worth Boat Club another 6 points back.  What was really cool was that Kurt Vanderwall pulled his J/80 down from Dillon, Colorado to partake in the festivities.

Special J/Fest guest Rod Johnstone was brought aboard Scott Spurlin's J/105 RAGTIME-JTEEZ to have some of that special karma help them get around the course faster and smarter.  It nearly worked!  Winning the J/105s was long-time J/105 champion Bill Zartler from Lakewood Yacht Club sailing SOLARIS to straight firsts after five races!  Ouch!  Talk about a "spanking".  Even Rod J was impressed, wondering himself what special voodoo or karma was being practiced aboard the great yacht SOLARIS-- something special that's for sure!  Scott and Rod managed to sail well to finish 2nd ten points back with a 3-2-2-5-3 score.  Giving them a run for the money was Matt Arno from Fort Worth Boat Club sailing the BLUE FLASH into third with a 2-5-3-2-5 record.

The J/109s were having fun amongst themselves.  It was the HAMBURG boys using the FRENCH CONNECTION to stay out of HARMS WAY!!  Ha!  Well, nearly the case.  Albrecht Goethe's HAMBURG from Lakewood Yacht Club pretty much showed their tail feathers to the rest of the 109 class all weekend, getting straight bullets.  Second was John Mather's FRENCH CONNECTION from Galveston Bay Cruising Association and third was Mark Smith's HARMS WAY from Fort Worth Boat Club. 

Over in handicap land, the J Fleet sailed PHRF and managed to get in three races.  At the end, Doug Shaffer's well-campaigned J/122 GAMBLER from Lakewood Yacht Club managed to pull off the top of the podium finish also with straight firsts.  Just behind was Alex Ascencios' J/120 PREMIER from Lakewood Yacht Club and in third was Walter Caldwell's J/40 SHAKEN NOT STIRRED from Galveston Bay Cruising Association.

Of note was the chance for Rod Johnstone to catch up with Rita Matthews (pictured at right).  Rita, and her husband Ed, owned the first J/24 on Galveston Bay.  Over the years Rita and Ed sailed many times with Rod.  Rod took the opportunity to tell the attendee’s about that first J/24 on the bay and that “Rita was the mother of all J/Boats in Texas”.  A touching, sweet moment for all!  For more J/Fest Southwest sailing information.
  

No Saving Sailing Needed?

Try Fleets of J/22s, J/24s or J/80s

(Lake Minnetonka, MN)-  Dallas Johnson submitted a letter to Sailing World/ Scuttlebutt where he commented that while everyone is talking these days about "Saving Sailing", there are still sailing areas - such as his home waters of Lake Minnetonka - that are doing just fine.  As current Commodore of Wayzata Yacht Club, Dallas provides some insight into what’s going right on their lake in Minnesota (note- they were home to J/24 and J/22 Fleets #1).  Dallas' comments are an honest, simple and incredibly straightforward program to keep sailors coming to their programs and having FUN:

"There's no magic bullet or super genius running our programs, but there are some basics:

First, we focus on having a well rounded board of directors who are focused on our club mission statement of being "a dedicated, passionate sailboat racing club", and it's a working board where everyone is expected to be energetic and do more than contribute their opinions. They take their jobs seriously.

Second, we own our club property: year after year that Board of Directors has made the commitment to invest in our club (often against the wishes of vocal club members) and provided us with a substantial base of operations. We do not live like a bird on a wire with rented or borrowed property smiling at how little we spent to get there.

Third, we have two-tiered mooring rates. By far our biggest asset has been to provide "owner" mooring rates to boats that race at least 15 races per year. All other boats pay about double for a slip rate which is equivalent to commercial marinas on the lake. This gets rid of the dead wood.

Fourth, we got strong One-Design racing fed by handicap fleets: We love the simplicity and comradeship of one design, and we structure our fleets to have different flavors of non-competing one design fleets so that even the casual/family racer has a one design fleet to join. It's not an accident that we are home to J/24 and J/22 fleet #1.

Fifth, our great RC pays off: We spend copious amounts of money on our RC equipment and paid RC staff. They provide us with what many visitors tell me is the best staff  in the country.

Sixth, lotsa Seminars: I've lost count of how many seminars we do each year. All of them are inexpensive and mostly volunteer run.

Seventh, inexpensive Crew Membership levels help participation: All those people who don't own boats can join or club for a measly $100 per year, and it creates commitment.

Eighth, the "Crew Needing A Ride" Table gets lotsa takers: Before every race we have a table on the patio reserved for anyone who wants to pick up a ride (member or not). Excellent recruiting tool.

Ninth, Women and more women: Specifically, women sailors. We court them, encourage them, train them. Women are half the population, it's a big market, and they are really, really fun to sail with and somehow (magically) they bring in more men to the club. I am told that many clubs are not female friendly, too bad, we're having a ball!

Tenth, Free Beer: Another obvious thing. Along with free soda we provide a free keg after most races. (note: the women are not free, anything but!)

Eleventh, more kids.  Here's a simple formula.  Women + beer = kids and families. And nothing kills sailing more than an uncooperative family. So we focus very hard on trying to make our club family friendly, and we strongly support our youth sailing center and its programs.

Here are the things we don't do: We don't have a bar, a restaurant, a "model room" of our past glories, blue blazers, and anyone who suggests getting a pool is thrown off the dock. We are not a country club with a sailing program, and our lack of "ancillary revenue sources" like a bar or restaurant means that we are free to throw some great parties after the race and make everyone feel welcome.

In short, we focus our energy on providing a solid base for excellent racing programs, and we try to keep it simple, friendly, and fun.  For more on Saving Sailing, please refer to various articles at:   http://www.sailingworld.com  or  http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com
  

J/22 Netherlands Nationals

Quantum Racing Repeats World's Win

(The Hague, Netherlands- Sep 17-19)-  Quantum Racing Team NED 1364 sailed by Nic Bol is not only the World Champion, but now the Dutch Champion!

It was exciting race this past weekend sailing in front of The Hague, a monumental and historical waterfront city.  Autumn often means lots of wind, rain and cold in the area.  No one was disappointed by the forecast- winds of 20 knots and gusting above 25 knots all day.  Three races were held in these demanding conditions.  There were many tough stories about planing, broaching equipment failure in conversations at the Restaurant Ektaboer over many a pint and a few suffering from bruises.

Saturday started with more wind and rain, but by the start of the first day's racing, it was fantastically beautiful autumn weather with sunshine and a nice breeze, so the less experienced sailors J/22 could compete more favorably and still have fun.

Although the top three teams after the first day didn't change, the battle at the top was very exciting. After the first day, first was MOJO sailed by Roy Heiner with 4 points on top, followed by Team KESBEKE and third was Quantum Racing Team. After two days of racing, these top three teams had equal points!  Talk about a "horse race"!  

On the last day of racing, the brand new World Champion, Nic Bol and his team Quantum Racing, sailed the most steady series and avoided the many dangers on the race course to win overall.  Second place was Team KESBEKE sailed by Eelco Blok, Bart Fast and Niels Blok.  THird was Team MOJO sailed by Roy Heiner, Ronald Veraar, Robert Janssen and Joost Brouwer.  For more J/22 Netherlands Nationals sailing information.

  

Jaffrezic Wins J/22 French Nationals

(Nantes, France)- Over the weekend of September 4th and 5th, the French J/22 class held their Nationals, competing for the Trophy Dominique Doucet.  The setting was gorgeous and the sixteen boat fleet took full advantage of the beautiful conditions to get in six races over the two days.  

In an unusual scoring scenario, the regatta had a two throw-out six race series! As a result, the scoring was extremely close for the top three spots as it was difficult to compute who was going to win until the last leg of the last race-- even then some of the sailors simply threw away their calculators and just sailed around the race course, praying for the right combinations to win.

 

After sailing in 3-6 knots south-southeast winds all weekend, it was the team of APCC2 sailed by Jean Yves Jaffrezic that took the top step on the podium, winning with a counting score of 1-3-3-1, throwing out two 4ths.  Jean Yves was the only team to score all top five scores in the regatta.  Benefitting from the high throw-out count was Frederick Mouchet, tossing a 16-9 and counting a 2-2-1-4 for nine points, just one point from first.  Third was early regatta leader Jean-Francois Guionet, starting strongly with a 3-5-2-1 and tossing an 11-7.  The local Nantes-based J/22 teams dominated the top five.  For more J/22 French Nationals sailing information.

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FUNHOUSE Wins J/22 East Coast Championships

(Annapolis, MD)- Fall is in the air and down in the Chesapeake Bay that means the fall sailing season is kicking into high gear.  With its gorgeous tree-lined shores turning brilliant colors of flaming red, burnt orange and screaming yellow, it has to be one of the world's more beautiful places to sail, especially in a "clear as a bell" puffy northwester.

The J/22s enjoyed the first of the fall sailing weather this past weekend racing their East Coast Championship, though this year it was a bit more painful.  The last time AYC was due to host this event, it was postponed due to an impending Tropical Storm that was working its way up the Coast.  

This year they could have used a bit of that blustery weather!  Three races were held on Saturday with the first two in trying conditions with major wind shifts which in the light air proved frustrating for RC and competitors alike.  With the chance of a 3rd race seeming bleak, PRO Mark Murphy patiently waited for even the slightest sea breeze and was rewarded with a comfortable, steady breeze and the best sailing of the day to round out the first day or racing.  On Sunday, the RC posted the AP Flag and kept everyone ashore hoping that once again there would be a light at the end of the tunnel but it wasn’t to be.  

In the end, it was a "foreigner" from way south of the Mason-Dixon line that strode into town and demonstrated to everyone who was the new posse in town.  Collin Linehan's FUNHOUSE MIRROR took the top spot, winning the racing with a 2-1-3 record to just beat out local Annapolis sailor, Brad Julian, sailing JULIAN ASSOCIATES to a 3-2-2 tally.  The regatta came down to the last race and if Brad could push the FUNHOUSE gang further down the ladder and place a boat in between them they'd take home the gold.  However, it was not to be.  Finishing third overall was a local Annapolis favorite, Jeff Todd racing the famous HOT TODDY, garnering a 5-3-1 score.  For more J/22 East Coast Championship sailing information.  Sailing photo credit- Tim Wilke

  

Mercedes J/22 North Americans

Fisher Wins Again!

(Buffalo, NY)- This past weekend, over 50 teams from across the United States and Canada sailed on the waters of Lake Erie in the Mercedes-Benz 2010  J/22 North American Championship, hosted by the Buffalo Yacht Club in Buffalo, NY.  In the end, J/22 class leader Greg Fisher from Annapolis, MD again proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he's one of North America's most versatile one-design class sailors.  Greg and his team of Jeff Eiber, Jo Ann Fisher and Martha Fisher, on their J/22 Team WHAT KINDA GONE finished the event with 30 points over five races.  It certainly didn't start out that way for Greg and crew.  On the first day, they were in a three-way battle for second. 

Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY dominated day one.  Team SOLID LAYER finished the day with just 12 points over four races. A three-way battle ensued for the next spots between Todd Hiller, Greg Fisher and Jim Barnash (28 points). Competitors experienced winds starting around 12 knots, building to 15-20 with large waves.  Todd Hiller kicked off the event by winning race one, followed by Canadian Champion Gordon McIlquham and David McBrier. In race two, Terry Flynn took the top spot, trailed by Chris Doyle and Greg Fisher. Chris Doyle had a strong showing in race three, besting John Loe in second and Fisher in third. In the day's final race, Flynn returned to the first position, followed by Fisher and Kevin Doyle.

By the last day Sunday the tables had turned on the top three completely, looking nothing like the first day of sailing.  No racing was completed on the final day of the regatta due to a lack of consistent winds. After a rare score of 20 in the first race of the event, Fisher tallied two third-place finishes and two second-place finishes. Following Fisher in the silver position is Jim Barnash with 35 points, then Rochester favorite Chris Doyle with 36.  For more J/22 North American sailing and results information.  Sailing Photo Credits- Tim Wilkes Photography.
  

J/Fests Southwest and West!

Coming up soon are two excellent J/Fest events that are taking place on the West Coast and in Texas.  For starters, the J/Fest Newport Beach is the western version being held from September 16-19th in Newport Beach, CA and hosted by Balboa Yacht Club (http://www.balboayachtclub.com). 

For the Texas "hoe-down" version, be sure to attend the J/Fest Southwest being held for the first time on October 16-17 in Galveston Bay and hosted by the Lakewood Yacht Club.  As LYC Race Committee Chairman Dwight Bengtson explained, “J/Fest Regattas have been held for over 25 years in such venues as Annapolis, Newport Beach, CA; New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.  This will be a great opportunity for Lakewood to promote and support a national caliber event.” One design fleets slated for the J/Fest Regatta include J/22, J/24, J/29, J/80, J/105 and the J/109.  All J/Boats are welcome to race in the PHRF classes and in the J/Cruise class.  Any J/Boat is eligible to participate and the regatta organizers intend to offer several exciting formats for the non One Design racers. To learn more detail about registering for the J/Fest Southwest, please check the home page of Lakewood Yacht Club.
  

Mercedes J/22 North Americans

(Buffalo, NY)- This week, more than 60 teams from across the United States and Canada will compete August 18-22 on the waters of Lake Erie in the Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo 2010  J/22 North American Championship, hosted by the Buffalo Yacht Club in  Buffalo, NY.  The event, which is attracting J/22 racing boats from as far away as Texas, Louisiana, Michigan and Quebec, is part of the Buffalo Yacht  Club's sesquicentennial anniversary celebration.   For more J/22 North American sailing and results information.  Sailng Photo Credit- Tim Wilkes
  

Dillon Open Regatta- World's Highest Regatta

J/22s, J/24s, J/80s Need Oxygen Masks?

(Dillon, Co)- On the first weekend of August, the Dillon Yacht Club again hosted the world's highest regatta at 9,017 ft above sea level.  Racing was held on beautiful Lake Dillon in Dillon, Colorado (a town about 70 miles west of Denver high-up in the Rocky Mountains) where the sailors enjoyed sunny days, insanely shifty, puffy winds (vertical micro-bursts?) and spectacular views of the snow-capped mountains ringing this spectacular lake.

Participating in this years regatta were one-design fleets of J/22s, J/24s and J/80s, with a total of 25 J's participating-- a huge turnout for such rarified air!

In the J/22s, Bill Darling sailed his CAMP ROBBER to six firsts, dominating the eleven boat J/22 fleet and winning by 12.5 points.  Second was David Baker sailing the appropriately named UP FOR AIR (remember, they are sailing over a mile high in the air!), sailing to a 3-3-2-4.5-3-3 record for 18.5 points.  Third was Lyn Nicks on WALK OF SHAME (who as the inspiration for that name?) with a 2-4-4-2-5-4 tally for 21 points.  The J/22s had a great time and it's wonderful to see the fleet continue to grow.

The J/24s are one of Lake Dillon's oldest one-design keelboat fleets, having been formed back in the late 70s with luminaries like ski-boot legend Denny Hanson racing avidly over the years.  Still hanging tough and having a wonderful time sailing Dillon's crazed wind patterns were ten boats from around the Rocky Mountain states.  This year, Greg Johnson sailed PINOTAGE to a pretty convincing win with a 4-1-1-1-2-1 record for 10 points, nine points clear of second place.  Jill Nelson (you go girls!!) was second sailing FLY MO'Js with a 1-2-5-2-5-4 score for 19 points.  Third was Matt Weiler on SHOOTING STAR, starting out slow but finishing with a flourish, getting a 7-4-2-5-1-2 tally for 21 points.

The J/80s are beginning to build their class on the lake and this year saw four boats entered.  In the end, Kurt Vanderwall traded off 1sts and 2nds with David Leavenworth to determine the regatta leader.  After the smoke cleared, it was Kurt's HENDRIX that took it with 5 firsts and a second over David's HARMATTAN with five seconds and a first.   For more Dillon Open Sailing information.
  

J/22 Travemunder Woch Regatta

JABBADABBADOO Wins The Party!

(Travemunder, Germany)- in the first weekend of August, the J/22 German class hosted their renowned Travemunder Woche Party--- er, sailing regatta.  Here's an amusing story from Team JABBADABBADOO that hail from the Netherlands J/22 fleet, daring to venture across the border, trailer their boat after the J/22 Worlds to parts unknown up north where different tribes of J/22 sailors lurk, awaiting in the shallows to launch an ambush on unsuspecting sailors who haven't cracked a smile in weeks (if not years!).  Here's JABBADABBADOO's report-

"From all the German J/22 sailors, we had heard that we had to go to the Travemunder Woche to party and sail this huge event. So nicely convinced by them, we packed our JABBADABBADOO! and went to Germany!

We even convinced our favorite German sailor to join us (and even more important) to train us- "Welcome on board of the JABBADABBADOO Mssr. Falko! And training we needed, from rigging to trimming to maneuvers.

The first day brought wind, a lot of wind-- our cowboy attitude in hoisting the spinnaker was instantly punished-- we broached big-time, and we went swimming (a complete Stan and half a Nadine), "J down for the count", we're in the water, but Falko was already at the spinnaker halyard, rescuing us, our J/22 and keeping our third place in the race! Lessons learned-- release the spinnaker, don't panic, and enjoy the ride, the J will be up in 20 seconds!

With a third and a ninth place we were completely happy with that day, having already exceeded all our expectations. Time to celebrate with all the other J sailors on board the beautiful four-masted ship PASSAT and later for cocktails and music to the Travemunder Party (all promises proved true-- it is an excellent place to sail AND to party)!

Two more days ahead and we started the second day again with more wind than predicted (but thankfully a bit less than the day before). After a 5th place (involving some more swimming crew-members) we went on with a steep learning curve, leading to an incredible (for us) second and first place in our J/22.

We celebrated this in all forms at the end of this day with a BBQ organised by the class association (yummmy, such nice Bratwurste) and well deserved German beer!

The third racing day brought no wind and we could just enjoy the sail (and tow back).

It was such a great weekend, a superb party, a fantastic sail and even more important great company on our boat, but also on shore with all the other J/22 sailors!

And we know that we have so much to "thank" Falko who coached us perfectly and proved to us that our boat can be fast and point! The race results were great, but the learning curve thanks to Falko's training was much more important to us. Thank you!"  Most respectfully, Team JABBADABBADOO- Nadine Fritz, Audrey Paterson, Stan Heltzel und Falko Braun- pictured here.  Team website- http://jabbadabbadoo.eu/   For more Travemunde Woch Regatta sailing information.
  

McIlquham Wins J22 Canadians

(Port Credit, Ontario)- Port Credit Yacht Club put on a great 2010 Canadian Championship regatta from July 10 – 11. Despite fairly light wind, the Race Committee did a fantastic job and were able to get seven races off. 

Newcomers to the fleet, Gord Mcilquham, his wife Maryann Turcke, and their 2 daughters, Emily and JJ, showed us all how it’s done, walking off with the trophy sailing PRUDENCE to a solid 6-3-1-1-2-3-2 record for eighteen points.  It was pretty clear they were learning the ropes as they went along, starting out slowly but finishing with a flourish!  Second just five points back was Travis Odenbach sailing INSTIGATOR sailing to a 7-2-2-2-8-1-1 record, nearly pulling off the Championship themselves excepting a "hairball" fifth race where they got in trouble and dropped off their regatta winning pace.  Third was American Kevin Doyle sailing  MO'MONEY.

The Canadian J/22 fleet continues to grow on Lake Ontario.  Join them and have some fun! A few new boats showed up this year: the winning boat PRUDENCE from Royal Canadian YC, Jerry Wendt from Niagara YC, SPACEBALL from Nepean (Marg Hurley) and ECLIPSE from BHYC (Brian Young). Thanks to EVERYONE for coming out!  For more J/22 Canadian Championship sailing info.
  

J/22s In California Dreamin' Series

(San Francisco, CA)-  West coast clubs have created a new match racing series titled, appropriately- "California Dreamin' Series".  It's a new set of match racing events that has been created for the spring of 2011 in which skippers will have the opportunity to compete in three consecutive weekends of ISAF Grade 3 match racing.

The west coast series begins at St. Francis Yacht Club sailing their new fleet of J/22s on February 26-27. The series then migrates to Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup, March 5-6 and winds up with at San Diego Yacht Club’s event March 12-13.

The new series is truly a dream come true for skippers who are trying to crack their way into top-drawer world events but are still in the process of accumulating the necessary points to qualify for an invitation.

The California Dreamin’ Tour events coupled with the August 2010 Trifecta match racing series of the Chicago Cup, the Detroit Cup and the Knickerbocker Cup, in which the series winner receives an invitation to compete in the Grade 1 Congressional Cup in March 2011, are a big shot in the arm for the growth of match racing in America.

These changes and more are all part of the newly created North American Match Race Series made up events organized by Bayview Yacht Club, Detroit, Mich.; Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, Port Washington, N.Y.; Chicago Match Race Center, Chicago, Ill.; Long Beach Yacht Club, Long Beach, Calif.; San Diego Yacht Club, San Diego, Calif. and St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, Calif.

These six clubs have dedicated themselves to promoting and developing high-level match racing countrywide and are on the forefront of bringing U.S match racing to the attention of the international sailing community.    For more California Dreamin' Series Sailing information.
  

Dutch Sweep J/22 Worlds

Bol's Quantum Racing Holland Is Champion

(The Hague, Holland- July 5)-  Yesterday the Henri Lloyd J/22 Worlds The Hague came to an end. Only 1 missed race on the last day because of light winds on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful series with a happy champion.  Nic Bol and his crew Dennis Goethart, Janneke Hin and Marije Kampen of the Quantum Racing team had a great series. Here is their story about the last race day:

"After four days of excellent racing, close competition and no single race behind schedule, Saturday morning turned out to be different. With two more races to go, the starting vessel kept us in the harbour after reporting zero knots of wind on the North Sea. When the first breeze appeared, the fleet was towed out the harbour and the committee began the starting sequence for race 13 as soon as possible. For us, leading number two in the fleet by only three points, the nerves began to grow. Starting in these light conditions was for sure the least wanted option. No way we could control anyone in the race, we just had to sail our own and be positive we would end it well.

With the wind dying within ten minutes before the start, the race committee called the race off to wait for better wind. And it came. About 8-9 knots of breeze helped us through the last and decisive race of the Henri Lloyd J22 Worlds 2010. Ever since we were black flagged on the first day of the championships, we held back on the starting line avoiding any risk. But today, with our opponents so close behind us, we had to do a little bit more. Our margin was a top 13 finish and no more than two places behind the team of Eelco Blok, who was currently ranked 2nd. We decided to put pressure on his team and start close to him so we would start the race in the same area. The teams of John den Engelsman (3rd) and Ronald Veraar (4th), as well as Eelco's team all chose the left side of the starting line. With the current coming from the right, we stayed above the others and we could see in the race how rich the right people got and how poor the boats on the left. This was also due to a shift to the right. We stayed sort of in the middle, stealing the goodies from the right but for sure stay in close contact to the left side of the course where our opponents were. At the top mark we were placed 13th with only the team of John den Engelsman three boats ahead of us. We were in control of the title, though on the very edge. We started focussing more on our own race and gained little by little. We came in 8th at the second top mark and we only had a reach towards the finish line ahead of us because of the strong current coming form the side. YES! YES! YES! We started breathing again and immediately after the finish Nic jumped overboard, celebrating his long wished J/22 world title.

Looking back, we had a terrific week of sailing with 13 beautiful races. We would like to thank the race committee, the J/22 organization and J/22 class for their perfect job. As for us, we have enjoyed the races very much. They were both exciting and challenging due to ever changing conditions and a great competitors fleet. Last but not least, congratulations to the team of Michel Miltenburg who won the final race."

Second overall was Eelco Blok sailing TEAM KESBEKE with 56 points and third overall was John den Engelsman sailing HENRI LLOYD with 56 points.  Top French boat was Patrick Huet sailing EUROPEAN HOMES in 19th and top German boat was Christian Rieckborn sailing JOLLY JUMPER to 21st overall.    For J/22 Worlds sailing results       Sailing Photo credits: De Venster
  

A Jubilee J/Fest Northwest

J/105 Wins Top Performance Award

(Seattle, WA- Jun 19-20)- A gathering of 30 J's including one-design fleets for J/109s, J/35s, J/105s and J/30s enjoyed eight races over two days of competition in the waters off Shilshole Bay Marina, sponsored by Seattle J-Boats dealer Sailboats Northwest, with Corinthian Yacht Club running the racing and hosting post-race parties.

For the J/109 class, the Dack/ Nordquist team sailed J/TRIPPER to a 1-1-3-1-2-1-2-1 record for twelves points.   The Greene team on IT'S ONLY ROCK & ROLL finished second with a 2-4-1-4-1-4-1-2 record and third was Woodfield's SHADA with a 3-3-5-3-5-3-3-3 tally.

The J/35s were won by the Whitfield/ Chatham team on JABIRU.  Second was White sailing GRACE E and third was the Ellingsen's BERGEN VIKING.

Erik Kirsten's team sailing JUBILEE were not only winners of the J/105 class, but got Top Performance Award for best regatta in biggest fleet at the event.  Second was Petersen racing LAST TANGO and third was Pinkham's USAWI.

The J/30s had a nice turnout with the Gardner/ Adair team winning with seven firsts on ROUNDER.  Battling for second and third were CELEBRATION and OUTLAW. At the end of their epic battle for J/30 supremacy in the greater NW, the Storm/ Gossett team racing OUTLAW just lost out in the last two races to Bottles' CELEBRATION.

The PHRF handicap fleet had quite a mix of boats and a donnybrook of a fight for the silver/ bronze positions on the podium.  No matter what anyone could do, the Moynihan/ Conway team raced WINGS to a dominant first place getting eight straight firsts!  Playing "tourists"/ bridesmaids to this amazing performance were Daniel's TOURIST and Sawyer's FEARFUL SYMMETRY.  Finishing in a tie with twenty-one points each, the tie-breaker went in favor of TOURIST with FEARFUL SYMMETRY finishing third- with an average of 2.5 each!

In the photo is the crew of CYC member Erik Kristen's J/105 Jubilee. From left are Joel Thornton, Jeff McLean, Matt Tookey, Bruce Sherman and Kristen. Kristen's wife, Steph, and children Mary and Tom sailed on Saturday.   For more J/Fest Northwest sailing information
  

J's Shine at Cal Race Week

ELEKTRA Zaps J/109 Class

(Los Angeles, CA)- California Yacht Club plays host to one of the longest running race weeks on the West Coast and attracts, in particular, good one-design fleets from greater southern California.  The J/80s, J/105s and J/109s all had fun sailing around-the-cans with excellent courses set by CYC's PROs.

Tom Brott's ELEKTRA truly did zap the J/109 fleet, sailing to an extraordinarily consistent score of 1-2-2-1-1 to win their class by four points.  Chris Mewes sailed SHADOWFAX to second with a 3-1-3-2-2 tally followed by Bryce Benjamin in PERSISTENCE  with a 2-5-1-3-3 record.

Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 literally dominated the J/105 class winning with four firsts and not sailing the last race.  Second Steve and Lucy Howell sailing BLINK! into second with a 2-3-2-2-1 score.  Third overall was ROCK & ROLL, sailed by Don Poppe.

The J/80s also had a dominant performance from Curt Johnson racing AVET to four firsts and a 6th place.  The Mullen/ Witt team sailed an remarkably consistent score of 2-2-2-3-2 to grab second and third was Jeff Friedman's FIRED UP.

In the handicap fleets, Susan Taylor won PHRF4 division in her J/24 and Fred Cottrell finished second in the Sportboat division with his J/33 TIGGER.   For more Cal Race week sailing information.     Photo Credits- Sam Haythorn Photography
  

Leroy Defends BoatUS Santa Maria Cup

France's Leading Lady Graceful & Dominant

Annapolis, MD (June 5, 2010) - Close racing on-board precisely matched J/22s in hot, shifty wind conditions through the final contests of the semi-final and five-match final rounds in the 20th annual BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup international women's match-racing regatta produced a similar result to last year, with the French team skippered by Claire Leroy topping San Franciscan Genny Tulloch and her team 3-2 to retain Leroy's title as champion for another year.

In the semi-final pairings, which were all tied up at the end of Friday's racing, Tulloch and her crew, including Molly Carapiet, Katie Pettibone, and Jen Chamberlin, outfought Sally Barkow and her crew this morning, going on to win the series 3-2, while Leroy made short work of Floridian Anna Tunnicliffe and her team in just two more races to earn the spot to race Tulloch and defend her title.

The final series was a nail-biter, with Tulloch coming from behind in the second race to beat Leroy, and solidly in the lead throughout to win the fourth race, but Leroy and her team, including Elodie Bertrand, Marie Riou, and Claire Pruvot, were able to hold the challengers off for a second straight year and win the other three.  In the Petit-Final, Anna Tunnicliffe beat Sally Barkow 2-0.    For more Santa Maria Cup sailing and regatta information
  

J's Enjoy SW NOOD Detroit

J/120 CAPERS Wins Class

(Detroit, MI)- As usual, the Bayview Yacht Club did an extraordinary job to host yet another fun-loving Sperry Top-sider NOOD Regatta.  Can't argue with the fact that BYC members led by their perennial Commodore (well, kind-of) Frank Kern and his happy-go-lucky crew on the J/120 CARINTHIA put out the red carpet for all those who wish to participate in this annual event to have fun, enjoy the racing on that crazy body of water everyone knows as Lake St. Clair, just north of "Motown Detroit".  Remember, Detroit invented not just cars (some guy named Henry Ford, remember (?)), but hip-hop, trip-hop, funk, rap, soul, rhythm and blues, dance hop and just about all other forms of downbeat and upbeat music one can imagine.  Against that backdrop of musical innovation Frank's gang at BYC have done there own bit to keep the drumbeat rolling in the Detroit area to continue to have fun and grow the sport of sailing, welcoming one and all to their corner of the world with open arms.

This year's extravaganza had 154 boats show up from the four corners of the Great Lakes.  The J Crew were well represented with very good fleets of J/105s, J/120s, J/29s and J/35s showing up to lay their claim to some cool Sperry Top-sider gear and nice swag. 

The J/120s were well represented with seven boats enjoying some great one-design racing.  Kudos to Frank Kern and his CARINTHIA team for welcoming all competitors to yet another nice weekend of sailing.  In the end, Donald Hudak from MHYC was the winner on CAPERS.  Keeping Donald honest was David Sandlin on JHAWKER in second from Lake Shore Sailing Club.  Lying third was Marvin Ihnen from CSYC in his cleverly named IHNSANITY.

The seven boat J/105 fleet also had some good racing.  By winning the first race the rest of the fleet should've taken notice and run for cover, nevertheless Jim Sminchak's IT from LYC ran off with the first place prize.  Second was Don Harthorn's SNAKE OIL (wished he had some more of it?) from Lake Shore Sailing Club and third was Mark Symonds' PTERODACTYL. 

What seems to be a renaissance in the making are the passionate, enthusiastic and fun-loving J/29 owners around America.  Ira Perry took his J/29 SEEFEST across from the East Coast to the Detroit event on their truck and trailer to go have some great fun in this event.  Hailing from New Bedford YC in Massachusetts, Ira and his team were rewarded with a first overall in the J/29 class!  Giving them a run for the money was John Bullga/Amyot from LMYC racing BLITZ! in second place.  Brian Rice and his crew from Dalhousie YC were third sailing ROOSTER TALE.

The J/35s race as a class mixed up with a few other 35 footers.  What was cool was to see that the J/35 NIGHT TRAIN sailed by Chris Herriges from North Star Sail Club won over this very competitive fleet.

Despite all the fun and games, there was an unfortunate, fatal accident at BYC on Saturday night.  An automobile accident injured several sailors and resulted in the death of a fellow J sailor (most unfortunately, a member of Frank Kern's CARINTHIA crew)- Mike Badendieck.  It is with tremendous sorrow that we deliver this news and all those in the J/Family wish Mike's friends and family our deepest condolences, prayers and warmest wishes-- may the Good Lord Be With You All. Said a Tufts classmate of Stu Johnstone, BYC Commodore Bruce Burton, “We are deeply saddened by this accident that injured nine people and fatally injured a tenth person. Our first priority and thoughts are for Mike Badendieck’s family, who died from this accident. Our prayers go out to all of those who were injured and their families. Our hearts and prayers go out to them and to all Bayview members. This is a family club and a close group of friends. This is a tragedy and we are all in distress.”  For more Sperry Top-Sider SW NOOD Detroit sailing information.  Photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com
  

Genny Tulloch on Sailing J/22s in Santa Maria Cup

Genny Tulloch Reports:  "The Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup finished up yesterday, with a typical shifty and puffy Annapolis day giving us a very intense and long day of racing, where we finished second overall after going 2-3 against #2 world ranked Claire Leroy in the finals. Sailing with me was a brand new team, with Molly Carapiet on main, Katie Pettibone on Jib/spinnaker trim, and Jenn Chamberlin on the bow.   We worked on our communication throughout the double round robin, and were seeded fourth against top seed Sally Barkow for the semis.   We went 1-1 Friday night, tying it up. Saturday morning we lost initially then won the last two races against Sally to finish 3-2 in the semis, leading us to meet Claire Leroy in the finals, as she had defeated Anna Tunnicliffe's team in her semis.  Both the semis and finals we went to the maximum five races, so at the end of the day we were joking that we’d gotten our money’s worth with the most of races we possibly could have done.

The racing was difficult with big shifts and pressure differences throughout the day and across the course, and a lot of the wins were determined by who had the better start headed to the first shift.  But with the directional swings and pressure changes the pre-starts were very interesting and calling laylines and time to the start were big stresses and very important for winning the start headed the right way. Claire won the first race, we won the second, then the third was a very close fight.  To read on about the racing and see more great pictures from the event, check out my website http://www.getsailing.org.

I’d especially like to thank my teammates this week for doing an excellent job, our housing hosts Dick and Phyllis for taking care of us, our regatta hosts Nancy and Phil for keeping us entertained (and well-fed!), and the club and all of the volunteers for putting on an excellent event.  I also would like to thank USSTAG for their support.  Next up for me is the Kiel Week World Cup event in Germany; I leave on Tuesday for training in the Elliotts in Chicago then straight to Germany."
  

Anna Tunnicliffe- On Sailing J/22s in Santa Maria Cup

Anna Tunnifcliffe Reports:  "The final day of racing concluded today at the BoatUS Santa Maria Cup and Team Tunnicliffe came home with a bronze medal after winning the petit-finals 2-0 over Sally Barkow.  The finals were fought between Genny Tulloch and France's Claire Leroy. Claire came out on top after defeating Genny 3-2 to defend her title from last year.

The day started hot again, but with a bit more cloud cover which meant that we weren't going to get a sea breeze, but were going to sail in the gradient breeze. The 5-9 kt breeze was off the land so it made for very puffy and shifty conditions. In addition to that, the usual Annapolis boating traffic was out, resulting in a lot of challenging chop.
We began the day finishing up the semi's against Claire. Claire sailed the first race very well and won the race easily. In the second race, we were leading the race, but then got caught down speed on the second upwind leg and she managed to sail around us. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't move on, but psyched ourselves up for the petit-finals against Sally.

The first race of the petit finals was close and exciting. We led around the top mark by about one boat length and gybed early. She extended on port tack and then gybed later in the leg. We hit some chop a little bit harder than she did and she managed to use that opportunity to pass us. But coming into the leeward mark, we managed to get just inside her and rounded ahead. We had to tack immediately around the mark to avoid fouling her, but tacked back soon after so as not to split too far from her. We both sailed on starboard tack for a fair ways, heading towards pressure. This time, Sally hit the waves harder than we did, and it gave us an opportunity to advance a couple of boat lengths ahead and hold on until the finish. In the second race, we managed to get our bow into the breeze just before her off the line and controlled the side of the course with the breeze the whole race. We had a huge lead around the top mark and extended on the downwind leg. On the second upwind leg, she caught up a bit as we sailed a little out of the pressure, but it wasn't enough to pass us and we went on to win the series 2-0.

We are happy with our overall result at the event. We were using this regatta as a training event for our team. Our next couple of events are in Elliots but since our next major event is the World Championships coming up in September in Sonars, we don't have that many events to practice with 4 people. In addition to that training, we also tried some new moves that we don't normally do: we wanted to see how they would work and get a feel for them. We had a great coach working with us during the event, Dave Dellenbaugh, who helped us out a lot between races and in the evenings. You can check the final results at the regatta website.

Our next event is in Kiel, Germany which starts on the 18th. First though, we have a couple of days at home before heading to Chicago Match Race Center to do some training before we head over to Germany for the event.

We have a lot of thank you's to give out for this event, but specifically we would like to thank Frieda and Jim Wildey for housing us. We would also like to thank all of the volunteers at Eastport YC who help at, and for supporting the event. We would also like to thank Harry at Annapolis Sailing Fitness and Boatyard Bar and Grill for their support of our team during this event.

We would like to thank our sponsors Carmeuse and Trinity Yachts for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their support."   Sail Hard,  Anna/ Team Tunnicliffe/  http://www.teamtunnicliffe.com
  

J/22 Champion Greg Fisher- T2P.TV Interview

Greg Fisher on T2P.TV!  Check out this nice interview with Greg - perhaps one of one-design sailing's most gracious Champions.  Greg Fisher has spent a lifetime sailing one designs and along the way has won 21 championship events in 7 different classes (including Lightning and J/22 World Championships)-- a remarkable achievement in and of itself.  But, if you know Greg, what's more important to him is his untiring love for the sport and people in it, helping anyone who cares to ask, and often those who don't need to ask since he helps you anyways!  View Greg Fisher's T2P.TV interview.
  

Odenbach Dominates J/22 Jack Rabbit Regatta

(Canandaigua, NY- May 15-16)- Great news from one the pretty Finger Lakes in upstate New York this past weekend. 25 boats sailed in the Jack Rabbit regatta in varied conditions.  Travis Odenbach and his team won with four firsts in six races!

Will Harris reports: "The inaugural Waterline Systems Great Lakes J/22 Circuit event was the Jack Rabbit Regatta, hosted by the Canandaigua Yacht Club.  The weather was great; sunny with breeze ranging from really light, to pretty windy.  Typical for a Finger Lake, the wind direction varied from really shifty to psychotically shifty.

The racing was extremely close, the shifts lead to plenty of position changes.  No lead was safe, especially if Travis was lurking anywhere near it.  Travis and his team of John Newell and Billy Farmer sailed a great regatta, winning 4 of the 6 races sailed.  They didn't win the races by a lot, but they won a lot of races!

Jimmy Barnash sailing with Gunnar Richardson and Mark Sertl aboard were 2nd.  Vic Snyder, Kevin Doyle and Marcie Lake on Mo' Money completed the podium.  Sarah Enwright's team took home the wine and rum awarded to the mid-fleet finisher.

25 Teams from nine different clubs made it to the regatta.  Special mention should go to Hudson Yacht Club in Montreal.  3 teams from their new fleet made it down and were very competitive.  CYC did their usual great job, the courses and hospitality were all first-rate.

Bully Hill Vineyards was the presenting sponsor.  Admiral Nelson Rum and Waterline Systems also supported the event.  Wine, Rum and boat service... should be easy to support the sponsors!   For more J/22 Jack Rabbit sailing info.  See more commentary from Will Harris at North One-Design.  

J/22 Great Lakes Trophies

Waterline Systems Great Lakes is pleased to announce they will be sponsoring two perpetual trophies honoring the individual and fleet season champions in the Great Lakes J/22 Fleet. The Waterline Systems Great Lakes J/22 Circuit for 2010 will consist of 6 regattas contested on 4 lakes, in two countries, over a period of 6 months.

From the opening event on Canandaigua Lake, to the closing event in Rochester, teams will need to overcome a wide variety of sailing conditions; from the big water sailing of Lakes Ontario and Erie, to the crazy shifts of Lake George and Canandaigua Lake.  Additional hazards to master will range from the blender storm in Cleveland, to a semi-formal dinner at Lake George.  The winners of these prizes will be pretty well-rounded.

The purpose of these awards is to promote and encourage J/22 teams to travel and enjoy the hospitality and camaraderie of our regional J/22 fleets.  WLSGL hopes that the establishment of a regional circuit will help regatta organizers promote their events to the region.  Waterline Systems is also committed to assisting regatta organizers and competitors through sponsorship and participating in or organizing pre-regatta clinics.

The US Watercraft Top Boat Perpetual Trophy will be awarded to the boat with the lowest cumulative score using the final individual regatta rankings. A regatta win is worth 1 point, 12th in a regatta is worth 12.

The Waterline Systems Top Fleet Perpetual Trophy is designed with two goals in mind; to get fleets to encourage their members to travel, and for the fleets to help their members get better. Scoring is the same as in the individual trophy, but the top three scores of the fleet count. It does not need to be the Same 3 boats at each event... just the top three.

The Waterline Systems Trophy will display the names of all the boats that scored points for the winning team.  You can take pride in winning the team trophy and tell some amazing sea stories about how you overcame the Loch Ness Monster ("Missy"(?)) and other such extraordinary tales of bravery and seamanship on your way to the season championship.  For more information on the Waterline Systems Great lakes J/22 Circuit contact:  Will Harris, will@waterlinesystems.com, 716-531-6088   

Blustery Stone Cup Regatta

J/120 DESDEMONA and J/105 JAM SESSION Win

(San Francisco, CA)- Under grey skies and blustery winds the St. Francis Yacht Club's Stone Cup event was held this past weekend of May 15-16. The racing was tight in each of the J one-design divisions.  Typical San Francisco Bay weather greeted the Stone Cup sailors for two days of racing hosted by the St Francis Yacht Club. The Marine Layer that had been missing all year showed its presence over the weekend ensuring the fleets would have plenty of wind for racing. With a strong flood tide providing flat water, at least flat by San Francisco standards, and 15-25 mph of wind from the first gun, each day of racing would have been perfect it wasn't so darn cold!

The 16 boat J/105 class was missing local scratch boat GOOD TIMIN' but the competition was still fierce in this hotly contested one design class. Three different boats each won one of the four races held, but it was Adam Spiegel's JAM SESSION that came out on top. Bruce Stone's ARBITRAGE took second and Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK took third. Each of these two boats also won races individually with BLACKHAWK winning race 2 and 4 and ARBITRAGE winning race three. Simmons probably has a story to tell about his 10th place finish in race one. With a 10-1-3-1 scoring line something dramatic happened, gone shrimping?

In the 40ft J/120 class DESDEMONA owned by John Wimer took the victory while MR. MAGOO helmed by Steve Madeira from Northeast Harbor, ME took second. The podium was rounded out by DAYENU in third but only by the narrowest of margins did the Donald Payan boat miss second place. It went down to the last race in which MR MAGOO took the bullet and put two boats between himself and DAYENU (fourth) and even then it went to a tiebreaker with MR MAGOO taking second by virtue of that low score first place finish.  For more St. FYC Stone Cup sailing information     Photo credits- H20Shots.com/ Erik Simonson  

Stormy Sailing For Shoe Regatta

Zartler's J-TEEZ Triumphant

(Houston, TX)  The Lakewood Yacht Club in Houston, TX hosts this annual even that is heavily attended by the regional one-design classes...the winners all get "sailin' shoes for the crew" (these are no Tod's nor Manolo's, bet the girls wished they were)!  This year, heavy thunderstorms, wind and rain caused abandonment of Saturday's racing, while light air and high temperatures made for some brutal conditions on Sunday.   Over sixty sailboats participated, including one-deSIgn classes for J/22s, J/80s, J/105s and J/109s. 

The J/105 class, along with a set of shoes, was won by Bill Zartler and crew on J-TEEZ with 5 points. Bee Bednar and crew on STINGER squeezed out a second with 7 points. Malcolm Bremer and crew on BABE finished third with 8 points. The most interesting race had all the J/105s crossing the finish line within seconds of each other.

In the J/22 class, Steve and Anna Willits from Lakewood YC were first with ten points, solidifying their lead in the last two races with two bullets.  Vincent Ruder was second after torpedoing their early regatta lead with a 6-3 in the last two races. Ruthie Lambert from GBCA was third racing her J/22 OUT OF SIGHT, winning on a tie-breaker over Richard Volyes' MUST GO FASTER with thirteen points each.

The J/80s had a nice turnout with some very competitive racing.  Winning on a tie-breaker at six points a piece was Bob McMahan from Lakewood YC winning on his J/80 KAOS with a 3-1-2.  Losing the tie-breaker with an identical record of 1-2-3 was Forbes Durdin also from LYC finishing second sailing MOJITO.  Third was Bill Rose from GBCA on KICKS sailing to a 2-3-4 record for nine points.

The J/109 class had a great turnout for this versatile offshore/ one-design racer.  Most of the Houston area J/109 contingent showed up in full force to race for their share of the shoe inventory (that's a lot of them for a 9+ person J/109 crew)!  The winner was John Mather from GBCA sailing FRENCH CONNECTION to win with five points.  LYC's Albrecht Goethe sailed HAMBURG to second with seven points and Mark Smith showed up from Ft Worth Boat Club sailing HARM'S WAY to third place, just one point back from HAMBURG.  For more Shoe Regatta sailing and results information
  

J/22 German Inshore Series

Annka Duebbers's Womens' Team Screams Away!

(Haltern an See, Germany)- The conditions before the regatta were not good. For days before it was 8 degree centigrade, rain and no wind.  But then just before the regatta started, the skies parted, the sun showed up and the wind came in!  Magical, a glam regatta for some glam girls, too! 

After the first days of racing, sitting with a 1-3-1 were the girls racing JETSCREAM, skippered by Annka Duebbers and her merry crew of Falko Braun, Nadine Settele and Gina Heb.  On Saturday evening, there was nothing that Ulrich Wens' team could do (including his crew Christian Raschke) to get Annka's team to have too much fun enjoying the African live music, stage show and gambling.  The girls  kept their composure, went home and showed up the next day ready for action.

On Sunday, the JETSCREAM team sailed strongly, despite starting off with a fourth place.  They managed to beat Ulrich's team in the last race to secure first place for the regatta.

The Race Committee should be commended for setting a variety of interesting courses, including a very challenging Olympic Course that sailed so many reaches, runs and beats that the crews appeared dizzy after one seventeen leg race!  See more results and photos on the J/22 Germany site.   For more J/22 Germany sailing info.  

J/22 French Nationals

EUROPEAN HOMES Wins

(Brest, France)- Ten boats made the trip to Lanvéoc off the River Alders, including three crew who sailed their first J/22 regatta outside of Nantes, France.  A special thank you to Philippe who made his J/22 JULIE available  to the youth team of Erick and Pierre Philippe and Jean Pierre.  Like the J/80s, the J/22s sailed as part of the Grand Prix Ecole Navale in Brest.

The sailing was magnificent, with flat seas, large stretches of green, undeveloped coastline and gorgeous vistas. In typical Breton weather, four races were run on Friday at a steady pace and by 1500 hours all boats were in port.  After the first day, EUROPEAN HOMES  was dominating with three firsts and a third (after hitting a buoy and re-rounding while in the lead!).  On Saturday, the standings tightened up with various leaders making some mistakes, but EUROPEAN HOMES maintained their leading position.  On Sunday, the course was shifted eastwards towards the River Alders.  Two races were sailed on the final day. As usual EH stayed in front, not having to sail the last race.  In the end, the final standings were European Homes (13), Soffe (20), Delfina (30), Majic (34), J'rouette (52), Jazzy (56), Ener'J (57), Julie (61), Papy'J (65) and Beasties' Boys (68).   For more French J/22 sailing information     Sailing Photo credits- Ecole Navale Brest
  

Gale Force J/22 South African Nationals

Mark Sadler's ORION Wins

(False Bay YC, South Africa)- Who ever said the J/22s weren't stout little boats!  The South Africans had a spectacular series of racing hosted in gorgeous sunny conditions, huge winds and ginormous waves in False Bay.  The PRO at False Bay YC should be commended for running a wonderful regatta.

Sixteen J/22s showed up for this years' 2010 J/22 South African Championships.  Six of the boats sailing in the Nationals were ready to practice the day before the regatta started.  ORION skippered by Mark Sadler, JUMP'N'JIVE skippered by Dale Kushner, MINI BILLY skippered by Peter Hill, BABY J skippered by Markus Progli, GREENLIGHT skippered by Dave Hudson, and JENDES skippered by Manuel Mendes.  However, with 30-40 knots gusting to 50+ knots in False Bay, even the bravest of souls thought prudence the better part of valor and all stayed ashore. 

Nevertheless, the sailing for the championship was spectacular as the gales eased off to 15-25 knots, making for excellent racing. Race Officer John Spillhaus managed to get in five great races, with J/22s leaping off giant wave-tops upwind and experiencing long surfs on the Atlantic swells downwind under spinnaker. Exciting Racing! The pics show it all.  Congratulations to Mark Sadler, Simon Eatwell and Gerrie Hegie for taking 1st place with ORION, Markus and Crew for 2nd on BABY J and Dale and crew for 3rd on JUMP'N'JIVE. For more South African Championship sailing information  

Rolex Women's Regatta September 2011

(Rochester, NY)- Who today would think it daring to declare that female athletes should be mainstreamed into big-boat sailing? That was the general attitude in 1985 until US Sailing and Rolex collaborated to create the Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC).  Twenty-five years later 'The Rolex Women’s' – as competitors fondly call it – stands as a testament to the huge strides made in women’s sailing. This biennial event regularly attracts both the Who’s Who and the up-and-coming of women’s sailing. The 14th running is scheduled for August 29 – September 1, 2011 at the Rochester Yacht Club (Rochester, N.Y.), and utilizes the International J/22 class keelboat, suitable for four-person teams. A Preliminary Notice of Race will be posted in June, 2010 on US Sailing.

The current champion and US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), recently received US Sailing’s highest honor as the 2009 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year based in part on her accomplishment of winning the 2009 Rolex IWKC. 'Since US Sailing and Rolex created the Rolex IWKC in 1985, many accomplished women sailors have been part of this regatta’s 25-year history,' said Taran Teague (Annapolis, Md.), chair of US Sailing’s International Women’s Keelboat steering committee. 'In fact, since its founding, this regatta has hosted more than 2,500 women representing 23 countries.'

Part of US Sailing’s Championships calendar, the regatta provides women sailors of all ability levels with high-quality racing and an opportunity to compete against top national and international sailors. Opportunities for skills development are available through nationwide Road to Rolex clinics, as well as mentoring to young women through the Next Step to Rolex program and the Junior Road to Rolex clinic.

Inaugurated in 1985 with J/24s in Newport, RI, the Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship quickly became the premier women’s sailing event in the U.S. and worldwide. Held biennially, the event now sailed in J/22s provides women keelboat and offshore sailors high-quality racing and an opportunity to compete with top national and international sailors. The Houston Yacht Club in LaPorte, Texas hosted the event in 2007; the Annapolis Yacht Club, in Annapolis, Md., hosted the event from 2001 through 2005; and the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, R.I. hosted the event between 1985 and 1999. The regatta is popular with women sailors because it has pioneered a fun, competitive, but relaxed atmosphere sailing the easy-to-handle International J/22 and it's open to any women's team from around the world.  40 to 50 teams regularly participate from up to 12 countries; anyone is welcome, team  housing is provided by request to competitors; daily dockside "happy hours" contribute to camaraderie and "winner's roast"; and the winners get a gorgeous Rolex watch!  How cool is that!  Start your campaign now, get your girls organized and start sailing this summer!    Photo credits- Rolex/ Dan Nerney

For more information about the 2011 Rolex IWKC contact US SAILING’s IWKC Committee Chair Taran Teague at Jtteague@aol.com or RYC’s Event Chair Chris Dorsey at rolexregattachair@rochesteryc.com.  

J/22 Trophee Grimaudiere BP4

(Erdre, France)- This year, the nine boat J/22 fleet was treated to beautiful spring weather in the Banque Populaire Trophee Grimaudiere. The race committee managed to dash off three races on the river with a warm, soft breeze averaging nine knots from the southwest. 

At the end of the day, the spoils of victory go to the team of Jean-François Guionet, Paola Guionet and Thierry Picault, just eclipsing the teams aboard EUROPEAN HOMES in second and JULIE in third.

Finally, a heartfelt "Thanks" must go to the attendance of Norman and his friends who does not hesitate to travel to each event on the Erdre and emphasize the motivation of young sailors who will put their energy into going to the next regatta-- remember, the next stop is the J/22 Championship of France in Brest!  Then, to the Worlds in Netherlands!   For more J/22 France sailing information.