Veraar Wins J/22 Spring Cup

(Medemblik, Netherlands)- In Medemblik, the Dutch Mecca of sailing, the Royal Yacht Club Hollandia hosted nineteen J/22s for the annual Spring Cup. The regatta was blessed with good breeze and good weather for the two days.  On the first day, the fleet saw winds form the west at Force 5 to 7!!  Holy smokes, that's honking, baby!  On Sunday, the wind shifted to the northwest with winds still in the Force 5 to 7 scale, with enormous wind shifts to punish the fleet mercilessly!  Needless to say, there were a LOT of sore muscles after this series of six races!

The team of Ronald Veraar sailed a strong series to win by only one point over the team of Eelco Blok.  Ronald's scores of 2-2-1-1-4-2 were just good enough to beat Eelco's strong start of a 1-1-2-2-6-1 for 13 points.  Wouter Kollman sailed consistently but had to withstand a challenge from Murt Almat to finish third. Wouter's 4-4-3-5-3-3 scoreline for 22 pts was more consistent than Murat's scores of 5-5-7-4-2-4 for 27 points who finished fourth.  Fifth was Misja Adamczyk with a score of 8-6-15-6-1-6 for 47 points.

On Saturday night, the J/22 teams were treated to a wonderful evening of food, drink, and music.  Perhaps more importantly, during this evening by Floris Toetenel passed the gavel of J/22 Netherlands leadership to Diana Kroo, the new "boss" of J/22s in the Netherlands (pictured here).  For more J/22 Netherlands sailing information

  

J/22 France Open NN Erdre

(Erdre, France)- In a thrilling finale, Jean Francois Guionet and his crew of Yannick Souron and Thierry Picault from Nantes, France sailing their J/22 PAPY J managed to win on a tie-breaker over Patrick Huet's team on EUROPEAN HOMES.  Sailing to a 1-2-6-1-3-1 score for 8 points (including a throw-out race), Guionet's team just outlasted Huet's tally of 2-1-5-2-1-2 for 8 points as well.  In third Phillipe Thome's team on JULIE sailing to a 6-4-1-3-2-3 score for 13 points.   For more J/22 France sailing results

  

J/22 Netherlands Promote Student Sailing-

A new J/22 team sailed the Van Uden Reco Regatta this year off The Hauge, in The Netherlands.  For the first time the Groningen Student Sailing Association MAYDAY sailed in the J/22 class regatta that starts the season. This new team of students in the class will sail their J/22 called MAYDAY all season. For G.S.Z. MAYDAY it will represent a new challenge and a step forward in racing. Since 1994, this association for sailing has introduced many Groningen students to sailing. The J/22 is a logical step to continue growing. For the J/22 class, it means a new impetus, new faces, and refreshing new competition in the fleet.  It was clear their participation in the J/22 class was very enthusiastic and they will participate for the long-term in the class. A warm welcome to them and we hope to see more of them!   For more J/22 Netherlands sailing class information.

  

AMTEC J/22 Mpumalanga Provincial Champs

 
(Mpumalanga, South Africa)- What to do on an Easter Weekend in South Africa? Go sailing no matter what "Mum" says!  From 1000 hours on Easter Friday, the grounds of Witbank Yacht & Aquatic Club became a hive of activity in frantic and hyper-kinetic preparation for the Amtec J/22 Mpumalanga Provincial Championships.  Life was made easier for the registration team as most of the information had been collected prior to the event. Thank goodness since we had a HUGE turn-out twenty-one boats!

Witbank Yacht Club had pulled out all the stops with the facilities and infrastructure ensuring a well run and organised event. With boats and crew prepared, the winners of the Amtec sponsored spinnaker, the team on PAGURO IV, knew that their chances had just improved. The first race on Saturday started with winds of 8-10 knots, an organised bridge committee had a course laid and a prompt start for the fleet of 21 J/22's commenced at 1100. No one boat held the first place consecutively as the competition was close and fierce. In the first three races a maximum of 8 minutes separated the first and last boats. A quick turnaround between races ensured that a total of 6 races were completed. The Durban entry, VOODOO skippered by Luke Wagner and crewed by Jean and Siya showed that they were a team to be reckoned with achieving two firsts, two seconds, a third and a fourth. The steady wind which calmed slightly after three races did nothing to deter the boat skippered and crewed by the Youth team. They were as competitive as their experienced senior counterparts as proved by Donovan Kruger on HAKAHANA rounding the mark first in the 6th race and ultimately finishing 7th. As the sound signals for the 6th race were heard there were some tired bodies but the focus was ever present with five minutes separating the first and last boat. Sunday saw a lighter breeze but four evenly matched races completed the regatta on 10.

The land crew worked extremely hard getting all J22's out of the water in preparation for the J/22 Amtec Nationals scrutineering. Prize-giving acknowledged Donavan Kruger, with his team of Jared, Steven Kruger and Justin Botha being the first placed youth skipper. Third place saw US'N'J skippered by Graham Baker with Barry and Shaun Gurnell with 28 points, second VOODOO with Luke and his team with 25 points and first place to Richard Weiderholdt on CELL C with his team of Greg Plunkett and Rob Edwards on 18 points. Special thanks went to Mike Hayton of Amtec for his sponsorship, time and effort as well as all Witbank Yacht Club ensuring a fantastic regatta was held by all.   For more J/22 Mpumalanga Provincial sailing information

  

Beautiful Easter J/22 Weekend

Van Uden Reco Regatta Had Great Sailing
(Stellendam, The Netherlands)- It was a nice Easter weekend. It was perhaps late this year but 3 years ago there was so much snow on Easter that a snowman in the garden could be made. Shorts and sun this weekend were must-haves during the Van Uden Reco in Stellendam.

The predictions were very mixed. A sleepy start for the day was very welcome. For those who tried to sail to the line it was hard, a paddle worked nicely! The first couple of hours before the race the RC had a challenging time to determine which way to set the starting line and the first windward leg. The postponement flag was interspersed with lots of class flags.  The J/22 started a contest that was canceled halfway through. Around 1500 hrs the wind suddenly began to fill. The gradient wind for that matter that came from the north east. So there were two hazards for us today.  One, the overheating of many heads hanging and bobbing in the sun, which the cool breeze helped blow away. Second, was the wind!  Time for concentration. It remained difficult to sail with the thin and unstable winds. An abbreviation of the last race at the leeward mark caused a surprising turn. After two races GILL was the first racing team with 3 points, second was ENG 1385 and third ENG 1591.

Sunday there was more stable wind than on Saturday. After some delay there were two more races. Around 1400 hrs the sea breeze cam in nicely.  The race track had to be moved.  But, because there was no time limit in the SI's, all the folks at home who were waiting to celebrate Passover would just have to wait a little longer!  After a whole day of re-shuffling among the top three after 6 races the final score as follows: first was NED 1385 STRIPES,  second was ENG 1591 sailed by Henry Wouter Kollman and third was ENG 1141 GILL RACING Team sailed by Marieke Poulie.   For more J/22 Netherlands sailing class information.