Vela 2012 Show Report

(Trieste, Italy)- Sailing on the Mediterranean and off the gorgeous coastline of Italy's Adriatic Sea has its benefits.  Spectacular natural scenery. Famous coastal villages dating back to the days of Odysseus's famous sailing epic "The Odyssey" traversing the Aegean, Ionian and Adriatic Seas.  The region is steeped in both history and the evolution of civilization, especially as it relates to seafarers.  In that great tradition, local sailors continue to ply their waters in the hope of winning some silverware as well as enjoying the voyage to their events.

In Trieste, the tradition lives on, one of the great sailing areas in Italy.  The weather conditions for sailing are great most of the time, with strong southerly sea-breezes flowing.  The typical Northern wind called "Bora" (a.k.a. "mistral", "meltemi" in other parts of the world) can build up to incredible power, flowing down fast out of the Italian Alps at ferocious speeds in excess of 40-60 knots!  Here is a report from Paolo Boido regards the local sailboat show and the local sailing scene:

"Trieste has produced some of the best Italian sailors in recent years, all great friends of the "J/Family" and most of them successful sailors with various J/Boats models. Two J/24 Worlds Champions, Vasco Vascotto (as well America’s Cup driver) and Rufo Bressani (internationally famous in many different Classes), hail from Trieste.  Gabriele & Furio Benussi are also top drivers in J’s One-Design Classes. Roberto Vencato managing the Ullman Loft in Italy is also based in Trieste.

At the recent VELA Boat Show in Trieste, J/Boats Italy was displaying the gorgeous J/122 #78, an impressive site for many local sailors with its high-modulus black carbon fibre Hall Spars mast & boom-- the J/122 truly dominated the local sailing scene.

Piero Santi, the happy owner of this great yacht, is a kind of veteran among J/Boats Owners. He has owned a J/92, then a J/105, next a J/109, and now sailing this lovely J/122 Grand Prix Edition form JB Composites France.  Mr Santi and crew won several races in the Trieste Gulf and North Adriatic Sea. Obviously now there is a great expectation waiting for impressive speed and results of this new J/122 on the local Trieste sailing scene.  The crew will begin practicing and discovering how to sail faster their new “racing machine”, getting ready for the next IRC/ RORC European Championship that will take place in July 2012.

The Vela Boat Show is in it's fourth edition this year.  This show is open just to sail yachts and takes place in the private and modern marina of Porto San Rocco located in a very nice eastern part of the coast of the Trieste gulf.  The manager of the show, Roberto Sponza, is a great sailor in past 470 Olympic campaigns.  We look forward with Roberto's help to have many more J-sailors in Trieste and the Adriatic Sea!"  Best regards, Paolo Boido.

Trophee Banque Populaire Atlantique III- J/22 Sailing France

J/22s Having Fun in France
(Nantes, France)- The weekend started out nicely with a good wind from the ENE, plenty of sun and a lot of enthusiasm from the fleet to go racing.  As anticipated, it was going to be a battle between the EUROPEAN HOMES and SOFFE.  But the weather, the crazy conditions and the other teams had something to say about how this would all end up for the regatta's top positions.

After facing challenging sailing conditions all weekend, it was the team of Bernard Andre, Pascale Andre and Remi Nobileau aboard MAJIC that triumphed against the leading teams with a strong series of 1-2-11 to win with a high point score of 31.75 points.  Second was the team led by Emmanuel Bollore on DELFINA with a 2-4-5-2 for 23 points on high point.  Third was SOFFE sailed by Claire Pouteau with a strong record of 5-1-2-6 and just missing second place by 3/4 point, getting 22.25 points overall.  Antoine Royne and crew aboard EUROPEAN HOMES had to settle for fourth place with a 4-3-4-3 record for 22 points.  Imagine that, a 2nd in the last race for Antoine and crew on EUROPEAN HOMES may have netted them at least a 2nd place!   

BEASTIE BOYS Win French J/22 Regatta

(Nantes, France- Feb 13th)- The French J/22 class continues to enjoy spirited competition, particularly in their Nantes fleet that has a combination of a local club program plus the French Navy using the J/22s as a trainer.

A competitive fleet of eight J/22s sailed in the Trophy Banque Populaire Atlantique No. 1 event.   For this first regatta, the conditions were ideal:  wind 15 knots flowing down the river and mild temperatures.  There was a great battle for first place.  Ultimately, BEASTIE BOYS sallied by Jean Francois Guionet won with a 2-1-1 record, the last race determining who would win the event.  Second was Antoine Royne on EUROPEAN HOMES with a 1-2-5 record.  Claire Pouteau sailed here SOFFE to a fast and well-deserved third overall with a 3-4-3 record, giving away little to the two leaders-- a puff here a shift there and she would've been contending for the top spot.  Fourth was Phillipe Thome on JULIE and fifth was Fabrice Cahierc on J'M.  For more French J/22 sailing information  

J One-Design Expertise Helps Racing Big Boats!

* J One-Design Expertise Helps!  Past J/24 World Champion John Kostecki (right) led the Farr 40 Worlds fleet home sailing on TRANSFUSION.  Another former J/24 Champion Chris Larson (left) was doing the same further down the ladder.  Great story, consistency is King, as they say in tight, college-style fleets.

In race nine Transfusion's crew were coughing dust for the first upwind leg and appeared to lack boat speed while defending champion Nerone was sailing hotter angles out in front on the first downwind run. Transfusion's US tactician, John Kostecki, now a three-time winner in the Farr 40 Worlds, lived up to his reputation as one of the world's best as the local boat clawed its way back to finish second behind Nerone, and win the title!  While five different boats won races during the series, Transfusion won only once, but never dipped below a seven.  Consistency pays.

Start sailing any one of the large International J/One-Design classes- J/22 (http://www.j22.org), J/24 (http://www.j24class.org), J/80 (http://www.j80.org)- and you'll learn darn fast! Or, why do you think top women sailors have a hard time winning the Rolex Women's Worlds sailed in J/22s or many of the top USA skipper/ tacticians and European or Australian skipper/ tacticians often started in the middle of the pack of J/22, J/24, or J/80 fleets at some point in their life learning how to sail better, faster, smarter?  Takes practice to get good, lots of it.   

HUET Wins J/22 NOEL Cup

(Nantes, France)- Just before the Christmas Holidays, the J/22 class in France has a wonderful event where any kids participating get a chance to meet St. Nicholas in the evening.  Fun time, sweet event.  On the water, the winner was Patrick Huet, sailing his J/22 EUROPEAN HOMES (yes, same company that sponsors Pichu Torcida's J/80 s ECC VIVIENDAS in Spain).  Second was Clair Pouteau's SOFFE, third was Emmannuel Bollore's DELFINA, fourth Fabrice Chaierc's J'M and rounding out the top five was Vincent Goeusbet's JROUETTE.  More J/22 NOEL Cup sailing results.
For more J/22 sailboat information.   

Huge J Fleet @ SW NOOD Annapolis

(Annapolis, MD)- Looks like it will be a stellar turn-out for this weekend's SW NOOD Regatta sailing on Chesapeake Bay. 210+ boats to enjoy a sunny, bright weekend in the 80s and warm southerlies-- at least that's the forecast from Meteo Norteamericano-- one hopes NOAA Marine meteorologists have got it right for once.  The J Fleet is enormous with 117+ boats attending (nearly 60% of the entire NOOD fleet) and representatives from across the spectrum of one-design classes and coming from all points of the compass across the Eastern seaboard- from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (our ice hockey mad friends from way up North) down to Houston, TX (our Tex-Mex bronco-busting cow hands from the real South) and from Boston, MA (that sport crazy town renowned for the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics- what else is there?) out to Chicago, IL (another sport crazy town).  Here's a class-by-class report and some of the leaders to watch for this weekend.
The eight boat J/109 One-Design class will have class champions Rick Lyall and Bill Sweetser vying for honors in this closely fought fleet.  Rick's J/109 STORM is dashing south from winning the first day sailing at American YC Spring Series to participate in the first event of the J/109 East Coast Championship.  And, rumor has it Bill Sweetser's RUSH is ready to rock-n-roll.  Should be an interesting match up that sets the standard for the rest of the J/109 season series!

The J/105 One-Design class has twenty-five boats showing up along with some past class champions.  Amongst them will be teams like Jack Biddle's RUM PUPPY, Andrew Kennedy's BAT IV racing with Drake Johnstone as tactician, Jim Rathbun sailing HEY JUDE who finished third in the 2009 North American Championship, Bob Reeves on A-TRAIN, Carl and Scott Gitchell on TENACIOUS and Travis Weisleder on LUCKY DOG.  All these boats are well-sailed and any one of these boats are capable of winning or getting podium finishes.

With thirty-five boats, the J/80 One-Design class is by far the biggest at the regatta.  The J/80s are racing the fourth event in the 2010 USA Tour that leads up to the Worlds in Newport.  A strong Texas contingent is showing up, including past World Champion Terry Flynn on B-TEAM, class leaders Jay Lutz and Gary Kamins on FIRED UP, and Bruno Pasquinelli.  The Massachusetts teams from around Boston/Buzzards Bay are fielding some remarkably strong crews, including past J/105 North American and Key West Champion Brian Keane racing SAVASANA, past J/105 New England Champion and Sonar Champion Henry Brauer who has Stuart Johnstone aboard as tactician sailing RASCAL and Henry de Groot on WIRED.  The locals from Annapolis who expect to give everyone a serious run for the money include Ken Mangano's MANGO, Brian Robinson's ANGRY CHAMELEON, Aaron Galvin's WILLY T and Chris Johnson's DRAGONFLY.

In the J/22s, twenty-two boats will include a strong local contingent comprised of the current J/22 Midwinter and World Champion Greg Fisher racing WHAT KINDA GONE and Jeff Todd on HOT TODDY going up against some of the Rochester gang such as Chris Doyle on SOLID LAYER and Travis Odenbach on INSTIGATOR.

For the fifteen J/24s sailing, local legend Tony Parker on BANGOR PACKET (remember him leading the J/24 Worlds for a day or so?) will be leading the charge and still teaching some of the kids new tricks on how to get around the race track like the crafty old fox that he is.

The J/30s and J/35s are each eleven boats strong! That's a terrific turn-out for these two classes and familiar names like BIG KAHUNA, CHAOS, REBEL YELL, MEDICINE MAN, BAD COMPANY, AUNT JEAN, MAGGIE, BAD GIRL will be mixing it up with everyone for bragging rights in these perennial one-design classes.   More news soon.  You can follow the action at Sailing World's site.