J/Fest West 2009 Run By The Crews

CC RIDER Cruises off into the Sunset
(San Diego, CA- Sept. 26-27)- May the best cooks win, or so it seemed for the crews participating in this year's J/Fest West in San Diego.  This year’s theme was all about the crew. So Saturday night all the skippers donned chef’s hats and aprons, tended bar, flipped burgers and waited the tables. A great time was had by all. 

Forty-two J's sailing one-design in J/120s, J/109s, J/105s and J/80s participated in this year's J/Festival on the waters off fabled Point Loma, San Diego.  As this time of year it's hard not for the Weather Gods to cooperate and deliver less than stellar conditions.  As one might expect, the "brochure conditions" were good enough to get in five races over the two days.

In the ten boat J/120 class Chuck Nichols crew aboard CC RIDER sailed an extremely consistent series to win their division by five points, counting a third as their worst race and winning tow of five races.  Second was John Laun's CAPER with a 1-1-2 but fell off the clifff relative to Chuck's crew when they picked up two fifths in the first and third races.  Third on the podium was Jed Olenick sailing DOCTOR NO (remember the TV show?? Awesome, eccentric time traveler, wasn't he??).

The nineteen boat J/105 class was the largest class in the event (as seems to be the case nationwide in most major events)!  DC won (yea, not THAT one) with his wife Sharon and crew aboard...Dennis and Sharon Case are perennial favorites whenever they put together the full court press and pull out all the stops to put on their best efforts-- their efforts did not go unrewarded, getting first place by six points over Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE.  JAVELIN was only one point back and the crew aboard Doug and Pam Werner's boat wished they could have bought back their 6-5 combo in races 3 and 4! 

The nine boat J/80 class was a closely fought battle between Bob and Nick Caldwell's SLEEKIT and Curt Johnson's AVET.  At the conclusion of racing, SLEEKIT won by two points based on the ability to win the last race while AVET could just manage a third.  Mark Hunter's IN-APPROPRIATE was eight points back in third overall.

The J/109 teams, while having just four boats in their fleet, more than made up for their relatively low attendance  with the rollicking good times they had ashore.  Nevertheless, no one could take away from Tom Brott's ELECTRA winning every race.  Great job guys...next time not only will the skipper be the cook/bartender, but the whole crew!!  Perhaps that will slow them down, eh?  John Shulze's LINSTAR was second and Jim Vickers was third with JOYRIDE.

Craig Leweck from Scuttlebutt had an enlightening and fun interview with Jeff Brown, leader of J/Boats efforts on the West Coast and creator of the J/Fest events on the West Coast.  Please read more of the interview here:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0928/

J/22 Match Race Clinic

San Diego YC is hosting a Match Race clinic on its new J/22s!

Any Southern California sailors want to go to a match racing clinic at San Diego YC Sept 18-20 with racing Oct 4th? Please spread the word even if you can't make it. Six J/22's, no need to be on a team, Whit Bachelor will be leading it.

Registration at: http://www.matchracesandiego.com/

SAN DIEGO J/FEST 2009

It's All About the Crew
Southern California ’s J/Fest is at the San Diego Yacht Club September 25-27. J/Fest is Southern California ’s largest and most attended regatta… exclusively for J/Boats. Don't miss out on the biggest J/Boat event of the year! This year J/Fest will be focused on celebrating and thanking your crew and those who contribute to the camaraderie and success you have during the sailing season. There will be exciting one design racing, great prizes, and fun parties. Register for J/Fest today at http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/races09/jfest Questions? Contact J/Concierge Amanda Denton at JK3:amanda@jk3yachts.com

J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship

Doyle Reigns Supreme Again
(Buffalo, NY- July 18-19)- Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY excelled in the wind and waves at the 2009 J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championship at the Buffalo Yacht Club. In breeze of 15-25 knots and waves up to eight feet, team SOLID LAYER bested 42 other teams over eight races. Following Chris Doyle were Jim Barnash on THUNDER CHICKEN (Rochester, NY) and local Kevin Doyle on MO'MONEY. The event also featured the popular Raw Bar on Saturday night. Don't forget, the Buffalo Yacht Club is hosting the 2010 North American Championship!
For complete results:
http://www.ewyc.org/CRW2009

J/Fest Northwest

Burnell's J/109 TANTIVY Wins
(Seattle, WA- June 20-21)- Corithian YC member Stuart Burnell and the crew of his J/109 TANTIVY took top honors in the annual J-Fest regatta, winning the Francis LeSourd Trophy. The regatta was held on Puget Sound off the Shilshole Bay Marina.

Overall it was a well attended J/Fest NW with thirty-nine boats racing in seven fleets, two as PHRF handicap and five as one-designs- the J/24, J/30, J/35, J/105 and J/109s.

In the PHRF handicap classes, the J/100 TOURIST won the only PHRF Class 1 race they could fire off due to extenuating circumstances. The J/46 CLAYMORE and the J/35 BLUE STREAK finished second and third, respectively. The PHRF Class 6 managed to get in four races and the team of Moynihan/Conway simply put the rest of their fleet into a clinic of how to race around the track, garnering four first in their J/29 WINGS. The lone J/60 SKYE ROCKET raced by Mckinnon was second and Schutte's J/80 TAJ MAHAL was third.

For the one-designs, the J/109 TANTIVY raced by Stu Brunell sailed an almost perfect series, too, garnering four firsts in six races to win by seven points over Greene's IT'S ONLY ROCK'N'ROLL, Woodfield's SHADA slipped into third by one point after not covering the ROCK'N'ROLL team well enough. In the J/35s, White's GRACE E sailed in a very competitive class to just beat out Deyo's DIVERSION by three points, who in turn won on a tie-breaker over Berge's THE BOSS. In the J/105s, the largest and most competitive fleet with ten boats, Schlitz's MONEY SHOT won on a nail-biting finish based on results of the last race...they had to at least tie or beat by one boat over Diercks' DELIRIUM in order to win. Finishing third just off the pace but coming on strong in the last four races was Kristen's JUBILEE only three points back. The J/30s had a fun time racing around the track themselves with the team of Gardner/Adair sailing ROUNDER atop the leader board with Bottles' CELEBRATION two points back in second and the team of Marsden/Geck racing BOB (what about Bob??) in third. The J/24 class saw Milne's TREMENDOUS SLOUCH beat out Brown's MOUSE TRAP and Mason's RYLAH to win all the marbles in this classic class.

Bob Ross and his staff at Sail Northwest organize the popular event for J Boats and use the Corinthian YC race committee and clubhouse to support it. The Francis LeSourd Trophy is named for the sixth commodore of CYC. It was donated by his law firm as the J-Fest best-performance trophy in 1998, when the firm sponsored the regatta.

Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week

Wind Lovers Rule in 20 knots of Long Beach Breeze
(Long Beach, CA- June 22-26)- The last anybody checked, fun had not been outlawed during a recession---after all, wind is free and there was plenty of it Friday, and a thousand or so mostly working class sailors are making the most of it during Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week. Sailors from these parts will tell you that San Diego 100 miles to the south is not the windiest venue on the West Coast. "That's why we enjoy coming up here," said Chuck Nichols, owner of J/120 CC RIDER. Few complaints about the weather conditions were heard from the 135 boats competing in 18 classes on three race courses inside and outside the Long Beach outer harbor. Only 8 knots of wind was forecast for the first day of the West's largest keelboat regatta, and that's what everyone saw through the first race in early afternoon. But by Race 2 the southwest breeze had started to build and the better sailors went with it, bringing smiles to the faces of the volunteers from Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs who are running the traditional event on and off the water. By Sunday, it was so windy that even the local Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs that organized the event were impressed by the benevolence of nature that blessed the West Coast's largest keelboat regatta.

Ultimately, Chuck Nichols, Chris Snow and Mark Surber came on strong in the last two races Sunday to win, respectively, the J/120, J/24 and PHRF-1 classes, reveling in winds of 15 to 20 knots. Running away from their classes in the J/109s and J/105s were Tom Brott and Gary Mozer, respectively.

The ten boat J/120 Class were looking forward to the carpet of whitecaps as they sailed out of the Alamitos Bay jetty on Sunday. "We don't get this much in San Diego," said Nichols, racing his J/120 CC RIDER. "But we've had the same crew [of 10] for seven or eight years and our average age is over 50, so it's good to know we can still sail in heavy air." While other boats were rounding up or spinning out here and there, Nichols said, "I think we were the only one in our class that didn't wipe out. We have really good communication for trimming and adjusting and keeping the boat sailing under us." Rounding out the leaders of the ten boat J/120 class were John Laun aboard CAPER in second by only one point and eight points back was Jed Olenick's DOCTOR NO.

Surber's DERIVATIVE, a J/125 racing PHRF Class 1, finished fourth and sixth in the early light-air races Friday and Saturday but ran off two seconds and three firsts in the windiest races over three days. "The windier it is the better it is for us," said Surber, a Coronado YC member. "It's what makes Long Beach a great event. We just kept driving as hard as we could thinking that sooner or later something may come our way." Lorenzo Berho's gorgeous J/145 RAINCLOUD finished seventh but reveled in the windy conditions of the last day.

Only two of the seven J/24s raced Friday, leaving Susan Taylor's TAKE FIVE with an early 1-1 lead and everybody else with a steep hill to climb. Like Surber, Snow's BOGUS started slowly with a fourth place in Saturday's first race, but then hooked into the big breeze to run off four consecutive wins to match Taylor in points and edge her on a tiebreaker---his four first places. Rounding out the top three was Pat Toole's team aboard 3 BIG DOGS, finishing a scant one point behind Taylor and Snow on their tie-breaker....almost the bridesmaid, almost the winner, too!!

In the J/105 class, Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION sailed away from all their competitors with a fairly dominating performance, garnering five firsts in seven races to win by thirteen points over Doug and Pam Werner's JAVELIN. In third was Bill Logan's PHOLLY eight points further back.

The J/109s saw a similar, electrifying performance to Mozer's with Thomas Brott flying around the course in ELECTRA to win by eight points counting five firsts and two seconds-- yikes, an average of first! Well, kind of. Still a dominating performance over Steve Crooke's SUGAR and Chris Mewes' SHADOWFAX, second and third respectively. We are certain by now that the others are probing Brott for some of his speed secrets by now!

The West Coast Championship was the main event for the five boat J/29 class. Bruce Lotz aboard SEDONA showed the fleet how to get it done and with four first places managed to win by just three points over Larry Leveille's RUSH STREET. Bob Lenard averaged third to get third overall.

The J/80 class was perhaps the closest racing fleet other than the J/24s. Gary Kamins's FIRED UP was crowned champion with Gregg Kelly's MERKIN and John Steen's UNDERDOG finishing second and third, respectively.

J/22 World Championship

Netherlanders Crush the Competition

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

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