California Dreamin J/22 Match Race Series

(San Francisco, CA)- Over the course of a few years, the California Match Race programs have continued to evolve from the classic big boat programs in Long Beach on Cat37s to a host of events sailed at various locations to encourage participation at the grass roots levels.  This past weekend, the St Francis YC hosted its first 2012 "Cal Dreamin" Match Race event as a preliminary qualifier for the US Sailing Match Racing Championships.  An active participant in the match-racing program is Nicole Breault- a four-time College All-American for YALE's Sailing Team ("other graduates" include Dave Perry, Peter Isler, Steve Benjamin, Jonathan McKee, Stan Honey, Steve Taylor, amongst others).  Here's Nicole's report of the event:

"Both Saturday and Sunday racing brought the challenges of the shoulder season here in SF Bay. We had light winds from the east and north, before moderate westerlies prevailed in the afternoons. As a result, on both days we had periods of time where we drifted in swirling tides, flights were called off due to vanishing breeze, and weird cross-current racecourses messed with apparent wind and forced the RC to implement a long off-set leg from the windward mark.

In spite of the challenges, we were able to sail a full round robin on the first day, and half of one on the second day. My team was tied, 6-1, after round one with Steven Lowery's team from Chicago. Since the decision was made to race the second round robin on Sunday (with the possibility of not finishing it and having to use a scoring system to determine results), the overall win was riding on our match against Team Lowery, which happened during the first flight of the day.

Steven pealed us off at the committee boat at the start, and we opted to power to leeward of him. In spite of getting a lead, we were pinned with the port layline approaching quickly due to the cross current. We then tacked and ducked, engaging them in a tacking duel which we hoped would go our way. Alas, their tacks were great and we ended up falling back a couple of lengths. The offset leg was a tight reach into the tide, we gambled and set our chute for a minor gain. On the downwind leg, we got on their air and reeled them in. We decided to try and pass them on the inside to the leeward mark, so initiated a simo-gybe to starboard. We rolled them, but they were able to pin us past the port layline and gybe back into a solid lead. The second lap we failed to make gains and had only ourselves to blame for the loss.

In the end, we finished the weekend 8-2, second overall. The outstanding scenery and sunshine of SF Bay this past weekend matched the great competition and camaraderie of the California Dreamin' Series. I am thoroughly looking forward to our next stop in Long Beach for the Butler Cup!  Cheers, Nicole".   Sailing Photo Credits- Heike Schwab

Doyle Wins J/22 Midwinters

(Shoreacres, Texas) - Thirty-five teams gathered from around the country for the annual J/22 Midwinter Championship graciously hosted by the magnificent Houston YC, renowned for its extraordinary southern hospitality.  The madding crowd of sailors were not disappointed.  With great food, great drink and plenty of wind and sunshine, the J/22 sailors sailed to a solid six race series out of the nine scheduled.  Only a slow Saturday (no wind) put a slight damper on the proceedings, but the spirits were high and everyone seemingly had a blast.

For the first day of racing, the winds were howling on Galveston Bay in the morning with a cold front and sustained breeze in the high 20s with gusts into the 40s. After on-shore postponements, racing got underway just after 3:00 p.m. For the two races sailed, winds were blowing 15-18 knots. Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY swept the first day. Sailing with Will Harris and Jason Suitor, the team won race one in a tight match with the runner-ups Travis Odenbach on INSTIGATOR and Terry Flynn on TEJAS. In the second race, Doyle developed and kept a strong lead over Texans Ruthie Lambert on OUT OF SIGHT and Chad Wilson on GREEN FLASH who finished in second and third place.

After Saturday's cancellation, the outcome of the event was going to put an enormous amount of pressure on the top teams, particularly with many championship sailors breathing down there necks.  On Sunday, the weather was glorious on Galveston Bay. The sun returned, and breezes started around 5-7 knots, increasing to 10-15 as it moved right. In the day's first race, Flynn earned the top spot, followed by Allan Terhune on DAZZLER and Doyle. Travis Odenbach on INSTIGATOR won Sunday's second race, as Terhune lodged another second and Nick Turney on FREE ENERGY came in third.  Eric Faust sailing NEIGHBOR OF THE BEAST took honors in the next race, trailed by Flynn and Chad Wilson.  Terhune won the closing race, with Flynn and Doyle behind.

Ultimately, Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY won in a tie-breaker over local Terry Flynn.  The two teams battled during all four races on Sunday, both ending the regatta with 12 points.  Doyle, sailing with Will Harris and Jason Suitor, won the championship thanks to two bullets on day one, counting a 1-1-3-3-4 versus Flynn's 3-4-1-2-2.  Travis Odenbach rounded out the top three with 18 points based on finished os 2-4-1-6-5. Rounding out the top five were Allan Terhune in fourth with a 4-2-2-14-1 for 23 pts (a DSQ in Race#2 and a bomber in Race#5 killed his chances of winning) and Scott Young from Austin YC scoring an 8-7-5-3-6 for 29 pts.   For more J/22 Midwinters sailing information

J/22 Sailing for Hope Regatta 2012

* Sailing for Hope Regatta 2012- May 18-20- Why:  “Because no child should die in the dawn of life” Danny Thomas.  Sailing for Hope 2012 is a charity regatta benefiting St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Sail in our popular mixed class distance race on Saturday May 19 or choose to sail with the J/22 South East Circuit in a windward/leeward course on May 19 & 20.  Pre race skipper meeting and party May 18th on the beach at Lighthouse Landing, our host marina. Trophies will be awarded in all classes at the post race dinner.

The Regatta is sponsored by Kentucky Lake Sailing Club and is held on Kentucky Lake, part of the Intra-Coastal Waterway and the largest man-made lake in the eastern United States. Simply some of the best inland sailing east of the Mississippi! The area  has many hotels, marinas and camping facilities to accommodate sailors and their crew.

For more sailing information- Kentucky Lake Sailing Club website http://klsc.net or if you can't make it check out http://sailingforhope.com to see how you can still "get on board" and support the children of St Jude.  For more information contact:  Elizabeth Owens/ Sailing for Hope Chairman- elizabeth.owens@stjude.org

Team Breault Crushes J/22 California Dreamin Opener

(San Diego, CA)- Nicole Breault and team simply dusted off some of California's top match racers in San Diego, winning her maiden voyage in the first weekend of the three part California Dreamin’ match racing series racing in J-22s.  Here's the report from Nicole on how it all went down:

"We had pretty solid wind (for San Diego) from the west, 7 to 12 knots. The competition was great! Some of the teams had minor boat and sail handling issues the first day, but those issues disappeared the second day and we had to fight hard in every race.

We had some trouble winning starts on the second day, and in our early wins we had to come from behind. We lost to Nick Dougdale and David Storrs back to back and had to rally as a team to overcome the slump and win our last two races. We nailed our start against Dan Aeling and sailed away for the first of those wins. That pumped us up big time!

Our last race was against Dustin Durrant's team for overall winner of the regatta.  We split off the line, and in the duel up the first beat we prevailed and rounded the top mark first. The course was a bit skewed and we gambled that the pressure was better to the left looking upwind and gybed first. It was a mistake, the breeze dropped off, and Dustin rolled up to our lee stern and pinned us above layline. We slowed to make the 17 overlap, got it, flagged, he did the double gybe, pinned us again, we reestablished a 17, flagged and he got a penalty (perhaps should have been a red flag penalty). We rounded behind him and trailed closely up the beat. On the second run, he made a fatal mistake dropping his chute to come attack us on white sails with to big a gap between the boats. We just sailed away to win! He lost the lead and had to re-hoist his chute to chase us down, but we were already gone."

Nicole and the other teams are continuing the next step to participate in the US Match Racing Championship Area GHJL Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, sailing all three events (if they qualify) in J/22 one-design class sailboats.  The dates are April 14-15 at St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC); May 12-13 at San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC); and the Semi-Finals on June 2-3 at San Francisco Yacht Club (SFYC) in J-22s!  Sailing Photo Credits- Kirsten Stahl.   For more J/22 Cal Dreamin sailing information.

J/22 Midwinters Preview

(Houston, TX)- Next weekend, the Houston Yacht Club and J/22 Fleet 6 will be hosting the 2012 J/22 Midwinter Championship Regatta from February 23-26.  With thirty-four boats registered so far, the sailing promises to be closely fought amongst some of the top teams attending, many of them coming from the local Texas fleets.

The Annapolis contingent will be well represented by some top women teams, including Sandy Adzick from Haverford, PA and Kathy Parks from Annapolis, MD on SUNDOG.  In addition, Al Terhune sailing DAZZLER from Arnold, MD will hold up the guys side of the equation for "Naptown" sailors.

The Texas gang rides hard and fast and with two World and North American Champions in their midst, it will be tough to beat these gringos.  Too close to call this horse race, but you have Terry Flynn sailing TEJAS from Houston, TX and Scott Young from Austin, TX ready to joust when the flags drop.

The Rochester Mafia has always had a strong group of teams sailing J/22s over time.  They will be well represented by Travis Odenbach sailing INSTIGATOR from Webster, NY and Chris Doyle teamed up with Will Harris from Kenmore, NY.  Either team can be considered top contenders.

Lone wolf and very capable competitor from Ohio is Nick Turney on FREE ENERGY from Lakewood YC in Lakewood.  Returning for some more "22 Love" is past J/22 Class President Galen Freeman on HOT RUDDERED BUM from Brentwood, TN.  Should be a fun event with this firepower amongst the top of the fleet.  For more J/22 Midwinters sailing information

Charleston Race Week J/22 Sailors Growing Fast!

(Charleston, SC)- It looks like there will be another strong turnout for J/22 sailors at the 2012 version of Charleston Race Week.  For those of you who are interested in participating (and haven't made the decision to go), perhaps this note from past J/22 World Champion and College of Charleston Sailing Director, Greg Fisher, might convince you to strap the old girl onto the trailer and yank her south for some good'ole fashioned "fun-in-the-sun" and enjoy some of the world's best "Southern hospitality".

Greg's commentary- "This year's Charleston Race Week will be a super event, and especially great for the J/22s. We have organized our own special J/22 launching and trailer storage at James Island YC--only $50/boat with no hassle of long lift lines or fighting the tides!

We will have free docking in our College of Charleston Basin in the Patriots Point Marina for all J/22s. We are a 5-minute walk to party/regatta central and a 10-minute sail to the race course. The weather mark of our race course will be 10 minutes from James Island YC so the whole set up couldn't be more convenient. Our PRO will be Tommy Harken, one of the best in the south and a great sailor himself, so we are guaranteed good racing.

A new attraction will be that our College of Charleston varsity coaches (myself included) will be running practice starts and races--with a little coaching on the side--Thursday afternoon for those who are interested....more on that later.

Since you're asking...Charleston was recently ranked 2nd in Travel and Leisure's America's best Cities! High on the list was Quality of Life and Visitor experience!  We've been working on decent hotel rates and have found that Mainstay Hotel, 5 minutes from the Patriot Points Marina, is offering good pricing and they still have a number of rooms available. They offer the basic double, and then a special 2 bedroom suite at reasonable rates. The Mainstay Hotel number is 843-881-1722.

We hope you can make CRW 2012 as it should be a great regatta! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help you make the trip!"

Please feel free to contact Greg Fisher at cell# 410-212-4916 or email- greg@gregfishersailing.com for any kind of help in the greater Charleston sailing scene.  Of course, tactical information comes at a price T.B.N. with Greg (good beer is a good idea!). Sailing Photo Credit- Tim Wilkes- timwilkes.com

J One-Design Sailing Events 2012

J/22, J/24, J/80 & J/105 Classes 
(Newport, RI)- For those of you considering sailing in any European, North American or World Championships in the large J/One-Design classes like the J/22s, J/24s, J/80s and J/105s you should be thinking about keeping abreast of the latest developments in sails, speed techniques and tactics at the following events:

J/22 Sailing Events:
J/22 Midwinters- Feb 23-26- Houston YC, Houston, TX- http://www.j22mw.com
J/22 Worlds- Le Crouesty, France- Jun 26-29- Crouesty Arzon YC, Brittany, France
J/22 North Americans- Sep 11-14- Tawas Bay YC, E Tawas, MI- http://www.j22na.com/

J/24 Sailing Events:
J/24 Midwinters- Feb 11-15- Davis Island YC- Tampa, FL- http://www.diyc.org
J/24 Australian Nationals- Mar 9-12- Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia
J/24 Europeans- May 30-Jun 3- Club Nautico Arzachena, Arzachena, Italy
J/24 US Nationals- Jun 24-30- Dillon YC, Dillon, CO- http://www.j24nationals.com/
J/24 Worlds- Sep 13-21- Rochester YC, Rochester, NY- http://myyc.org/site/2012umgj24worlds/
J/24 North Americans- Nov 14-18- Florida YC, Jacksonville, FL- http://www.thefloridayachtclub.org/

J/80 Sailing Events:
J/80 Winter Circuit:
    Valentines Cup- Feb 11-12- US Sailing Center, Miami, FL
    Bacardi Week- Mar 8-10- Coral Reef YC, Miami, FL
    Biscayne Cup- Mar 24-25- US Sailing Center, Miami, FL
    Charleston Race Week- Apr 19-22- Charleston Harbor Resort, Charleston, SC
J/80 Worlds- Jun 9-15- Royal Dart YC, Dartmouth, England- http://www.j80worlds2012.com
J/80 North Americans- Oct 31-Nov 4- Fort Worth Boat Club, Ft Worth, TX- http://fortworthboatclub.com

J/105 Sailing Events:
J/105 Midwinters- Mar 9-11- Lakewood YC, Houston, TX- http://www.j105mw.com
J/105 North Americans- Oct 17-21- San Diego YC, San Diego, CA- http://www.j105nac.com/

Also, for some amazing J/24 shots at the past J/24 Aussie Nationals, check out "Paparazzi.com.au"