Classic Cool Seattle NOOD

J/80's Sailed Dozen+ Races!
(Seattle, WA)- Yes, it was an amazing fact.  Long known for its famous late spring monsoon season with next to no wind, the Pacific Northwest version of the Sperry Topsider NOOD regattas can also produce some spectacular sailing conditions with the mighty, snow-capped Cascades Mountain range in the background.  While perhaps not postcard perfect sailing conditions, the sailors didn't care!  Wind was all that mattered, not the wet & wild variety, but just good breezes; the type of conditions that permitted the PRO's on the various course to seriously crank out some fast turn-arounds and dozens of starts. For  the J/80s a dozen races!

The J/80s saw two veterans dueling for the top prize in their fleet, Bill McKinnon's SKYE ROCKET and Dave Schutte's TAJ MAHAL. However, even after closing the last six races with three 1sts and three 2nds, the TAJ gang couldn't muster enough momentum to overcome their early deficit.  Consequently, SKYE ROCKET took the win with 21 pts with TAJ in second with 23 pts.  Third went to Bryan Rhodes's CRAZY IVAN with 33 pts.  Sailing Photo credits- TimWilkes.com.  For more Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD Regatta sailing information

SAIL FIRST Sponsors ISAF Youth Worlds!

(Limassol, Cyprus)- Recently, Giannos Photiou, President of the Cyprus Sailing Federation, announced that SAIL FIRST has come on board as the title sponsor of the 2013 ISAF Youth Worlds and, in a difficult financial climate in the country, extended his special thanks to the company for their financial support.

With 358 sailors from 55 countries set to compete in Limassol Photiou said, "The ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship is one of the greatest sports events ever to be held in Cyprus and it is characterized as a small sailing Olympiad for ISAF Youth Sailors."

SAIL FIRST, based in the harbor of Paphos on the western end of Cyprus (the island itself is in the far eastern Mediterranean), have a fleet of 10 fully-equipped J/80s to make on-water activities available to those who want to get out sailing.  They organize and manage events at any level, including fleet, match and team racing events for both yacht clubs and corporate events.

With a full-time staff based in Paphos Harbour, Cyprus including two RIBs, racing buoys, and judging and technical support, it's simply a phone call/ email to SAIL FIRST to enjoy a weekend/ week-long event of sailing on the gorgeous eastern Mediterranean-- all year long with great winds, too!  Plus, you can be one-design racing with less than four hour flights from London, Frankfurt, Paris, Moscow and other EU cities and stay in 3-5 star hotels on the island! No need to live in cramped charter-boat cabins! Plus, it's a very convenient "two in one" holiday-- one with the family and the other-- your participation in the regatta!  For more SAIL FIRST J/80 one-design fleet sailing information

Annapolis NOOD J/Fest Preview!

(Annapolis, MD)- With 211 boats participating in this year's Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta, it promises to be quite the "class reunion" for many J sailors across eastern America.  Why? For the simple fact that 156 boats are J/Teams (74% of the whole fleet) competing in eight J one-design classes (J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109)!  In other words, for the few boats that comprise the six other classes (average of less than 10 boats per fleet) it may be a tad overwhelming to have nearly a thousand J Sailors criss-crossing the northern Chesapeake Bay and flooding the evening tent parties sponsored by Mt Gay Rum and other enthusiastic sponsors!

With the third largest J fleet, the J/80's sailing with 23 boats are fielding a very competitive fleet.  Like their J/22 sisters, for some American teams, the event provides great practice for J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France. Amongst those teams, look for Brian Keane's SAVASANA and the Danish family team- Thomas Klok and the Crumps (Will and Marie) on their boat R80 to be amongst the top teams.  Some other notable veterans in the mix will be Kristen Robinson's ANGRY CHAMELEON, Chris & Liz Chadwick's CHURCH KEY, Ken Mangano's MANGO and Ramzi Bannura's STACKED DECK.
Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal, Tim Wilkes and  Meredith Block/ Charleston Race Week.  For more Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Sailing Regatta sailing information

How J/80 GULDFAXE Won Annapolis NOOD

By the Slimmest of Margins- Mike Lovett at SAILING WORLD interviewed the crew of Tom Klok's J/80 GULDFAXE that just won a three-way tie for first in the J/80 class and earned the overall victory at the 2011 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD.  After a weekend of big breeze and dramatic wind shifts on Chesapeake Bay, you might not expect an out-of-towner to come out on top of the Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD, where members of the Capital City's strong racing community accounted for the majority of the 220-boat fleet. Nonetheless, when the overall winner was announced, it was Copenhagen resident Thomas Klok—whose team won a three-way tie for first place in the 29-boat J/80 division—who came bounding up to accept the silver dish, as well as the real prize, an invitation to join the winners of seven other NOOD regattas at the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Championship, hosted by Sunsail in the British Virgin Islands this November.

The Guldfaxe team has a unique dynamic. Klok is the owner/ main trimmer. His brother-in-law, Will Crump, drives the boat. Klok's sister, Marie Crump, handles foredeck duties. The trio also works together in the management consulting business, which is why they refer to fourth crew member, Scott Collins, as their therapist. "A lot of people wonder how we can work together and sail together," says Will Crump. "Somehow, we make it work. I think it's because we can be honest with each other. Sometimes, it's hard for family members who sail together to be honest with each other about what needs to change."

SW: What were your expectations coming into the event?

Will Crump: There were three world champions in the fleet, and this is probably the toughest J/80 regatta in the U.S. this year. So we didn't have great expectations, aside from looking at it as practice, because we'll be going to Copenhagen for the worlds later this year.

Klok: We got the boat about a year ago for the worlds in Newport (R.I.). I lived in Newport for a few years, and when found out the worlds would be in my home turf two years in a row...So we did the worlds in Newport last October, then we left the boat here and sailed Charleston Race Week and this event, then we'll be shipping the boat to Denmark in about a week.

SW: With the worlds in Newport last year, there was a lot of enthusiasm for the J/80 in the U.S. Have you noticed a tapering off since then?

Will Crump: Not at all. It's actually ramped up. People came out of that event saying, "What a phenomenal boat and class." There's still a lot of development going on in the class. There a lot of difference between what the various sailmakers are offering, yet everyone's going about the same speed. So there's a lot of opportunity for people to get into the class and have fun figuring out the boat.   Read more here at Sailing World's forum site.

  

J/80 Trio Battles For NOOD Supremacy

DAZZLER Blinds J/22 Competitors
(Annapolis, MD)- While the script called for battles to rage on after Charleston Race Week in some classes, it was not to be.  Instead, an entirely new cast of characters stepped onto the stage for this spring's Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta and established their roles as top dogs for the weekend.  And, what a roller-coaster it was for nearly every fleet on the water.  With three forecasts from North Sails Weather Services that were basically dead wrong for all three days, it was up to the skippers and tacticians to break out their "divining rods" and simply find the most wind with most favorable current advantage.  Most experienced Annapolis sailors will often error on the side of the current play versus the wind play, sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't.  And, this chaotic and somewhat schizophrenic wind/current condition had some skippers apoplectic and their tacticians simply catatonic! It was not a pretty picture.  Nevertheless, the enormous turnout of 138 J's (62% of the entire fleet!) sailing in seven fleets (thirty-seven J/22s, thirteen J/24s, twenty-nine J/80s, fourteen J/30s, twenty-eight J/105s, seven J/35s and ten J/109s) simply stepped up to the challenges and made the most of them.

As the largest fleet in Annapolis, the 37-boat J/22 class saw the only "runaway" winner, ironically, for the entire regatta.  Al Terhune sailed DAZZLER to a remarkably consistent score of 7-5-1-1-2-8-1-5 for 30 pts.  His competitors were not nearly so lucky, most gyrating through dramatic highs and deathly hallows lows.  Brad Julian sailing JULIAN ASSOCIATES managed to tally a scoreline of 6-1-5-7-1-6-17-2 for 45 pts.  From there it was a huge jump in scores to a battle for third overall that hung completely on the outcome of the last race.  Amongst that trio were Travis Odenbach sailing INSTIGATOR and the Newport contingent of Tim Healy on SAILORS FOR THE SEA and Carol Cronin on HPS.  When the smoke cleared on Sunday, Carol Cronin had made a strong bid for third but came up just short, her 4-7 on Sunday not enough to overcome two deep (21-24) scores, settling for fifth overall with a tally of 8-21-4-24-8-5-4-7 for 81 pts.  Hanging on my his fingernails was Tim Healy, getting a 2-6-8-31-4-16-12-1 for 80 pts to secure fourth.  And third was Travis on INSTIGATOR, managing to breath a sigh of relief after getting a 4th in the last race to score 1-8-15-2-5-25-19-4 for 79 pts.

If the J/22s were having a 8-round dog-fight for 8 races to determine the top five, the J/80s were having a slug-fest while riding a roller-coaster up and down the standings at 100 mph.  Crazy. Desperate.  Ecstatic.  Wild.  Psychotic. Name an adjective within those broad terms and you may only begin to understand how rapidly the J/80 teams were moving up and down the standings race-by-race.  Even the local sailors from Annapolis were beyond frazzled.  Consider this, two World Champions in the J/80 class (Glenn Darden and Kerry Klingler) didn't even make the top five in this highly competitive fleet of 29 teams.  To add to the insanity, the winner was chosen based on a THREE-WAY tie for FIRST place!  Pass the Pepto-Bismol, please-- a few upset stomachs and ulcers brewing shortly! Nevertheless, it took a Danish brother/sister team (Tom and Marie Klok) and Marie's husband Will Crump on GULDFAXE to win the 3-way tie-breaker with 1-7-5-19-3-1-5-12 score for 53 pts.  Second in the tie-break was MORE GOSTOSA sailed by Jeff Kirchoff and Kevin Hayes with a 2-12-10-2-11-3-2-11 tally for 53 pts.  Surely the "we got robbed" story must go to Bruno Pasquinelli's team on TIAMO, at one point easily winning going into the Sunday, but having to eat a 13-10 on Sunday to end up with a scoreline of 5-3-9-6-5-2-13-10 for 53 pts-- ouch!  If the top three was not a crazy enough scenario, a similar situation shaped up for 4th and 5th overall also with a tie-breaker only 6 points back from the three "leaders".  In this case it was ANGRY CHAMELEON sailed by J/80 class leader Kirsten Robinson, getting a 6-15-4-9-2-13-8-2 score for 59 pts.  She won the tie-break with Gary Kamin's team on FIRED UP RACING with a 3-2-8-8-4-17-9-8 tally for 59 pts.  Of note, the only three race winner was Glenn Darden on EL TIGRE, riding a huge roller coaster up and down the track to just finish out of the money in seventh.  Perhaps most importantly of all, the overall STS Annapolis NOOD Winners  and qualifiers for the Caribbean NOOD Championship were---- GULDFAXE!  Yes, Marie, Will, Tom and Scott- we wish them all God Speed and lots of umbrella drinks to celebrate with, too!

In the 13-boat J/24 division, Chris Jankowski's STREET LEGAL stayed hot from their previous regatta but a class veteran (30+ years!!) in the form of Tony Parker on BANGOR PACKET from Georgetown, MD really did show the kids how to get it done-- talk about a "schooling", finishing with double-bullets on the last day!  Tony's team sailed a solid regatta to get a 3-1-5-2-2-5-1-1 score for 20 pts.  BTW, the difference in age between the winner and the runner-up was less than the difference in the ages of the boats- 32+ years!!  They were followed by MILLENIUM FALCON skippered by Paul Van Ravensway to a 1-3-1-7-1-2-4-11 score for 30 pts.  Finally, hanging tough for their second straight regatta was Chris' team on STREET LEGAL, getting 9-2-4-1-4-1-2-9 for 32 pts and just barely missing out on a second straight silver for the month of April.

The 28 boat J/105 fleet also had some dramas on the last day, particularly with nearly 1/3 of the fleet called over early during the start of the first race on Sunday.  Amongst those called over was Cedric Lewis' MIRAGE and any hopes of finishing first were dashed, at least temporarily.  After hitting four corners in a row, like a mirage shimmering on the horizon, the real MIRAGE staged an extraordinary come-back to win the 7th race!  The drama didn't end there.  Climbing the leader-board rapidly was Peter McChesney on THE MYSTERY MACHINE, and indeed, a mystery it must've seemed to some of their competitors.  Finishing off the regatta with a 1-2-2-1, Peter and crew nearly won, losing only by 2 points.  Ultimately, Cedric and the MIRAGE gang hung on to get a 5-4-2-2-4-1-1-10 for 29 pts.  Peter's crew sailed well, managing a 7-2-5-11-1-2-2-1 for 31 pts under the challenging conditions.  Fourth, just barely, was INIGO's Jim Konigsberg sailing to a very steady scoreline of 6-11-6-9-9-3-6-6 for 56 pts.  Breathing down their necks, literally, was Carloyn and Chris Groobey's team on JAVA, starting out strong with a first and ending strongly with a 3-4, to get a 1-7-8-17-6-12-3-4 score-line for 58 pts for fifth overall.

Low point scorer for the regatta just happened to be one of the surest bets to get it, Bill Sweetser's champion J/109 team on RUSH.  Not only a gracious host, but a great competitor.  Hard not to like sailing in the J/109 class when the class act of the regatta is also a great party host!  At the end of it all, the J/109 fleet had great competition and the boys from New Jersey on MAD DOGS certainly made their presence felt, winning three races to Bill's four.  It's a bit ironic that the two good out-of-town teams joining the fun, Craig Wright's AFTERTHOUGHT from Raleigh, NC and Adrian Begley's MAD DOGS from Atlantic Highlands, NJ were the ones to give the locals a "run for the money".  In the end, Bill's team sailed to a  1-1-4-3-1-1-2-3 for 16 pts.  Second was Adrian's MAD DOGS with a 3-2-1-1-4-2-1-8 for 22 pts and third Craig's AFTERTHOUGHT with a 2-4-2-23-7-3-4 for 27 pts.

Following a similar theme as in other J classes, the J/35s had their fair share of drama to determine who would win the J/35 class.  The last race ultimately determined the outcome here, too.  Peter Scheidt's MAGGIE survived their roller coaster experiences to win with a 2-1-7-1-1-4-1-2 record for 19 pts.  Getting edged out in the last race was AUNT JEAN sailed by Jim Sagerholm from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, finishing second with a 1-3-1-2-2-5-2-5 for 21 pts.  Third was last year's bronze medallist, Chuck Kohlerman's MEDICINE MAN with 5-2-3-4-3-4-1 scores for 27 pts.

With fourteen J/30s on the line, there really was some strong competition amongst these 30 foot cruising-racing classics.  Even though they won last year, Bob Rutsch and Mike Costello on BEPOP had to fight like crazy to stay out of trouble and ahead of Bob Putnam skippering BETTER MOUSETRAP and Dave McConaughy's USA 90 during the last two races on Sunday.  Nevertheless, avoid the traps they did and Bob and Mike's BEPOP took it all, winning by only one point with a 2-3-4-1-1-7-6-2 for 26 pts.  BETTER MOUSETRAP took second overall with a 3-2-2-7-5-5-2-1 score for just 27 pts.  USA 90 sailed by Dave McConaughy was a contender for the lead, but had a slow day Sunday to finish out-of-the money, getting a 1-4-5-4-4-1-4-7 record for 30 pts-- it all came down to last race for the whole top three!   Sailing photo credits-  Tim Wilkes Photography    For more Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Annapolis sailing information.

  

J/80 Italian Winter Championship

(Santa Margherita, Italy)- On the first weekend of sailing the J/80 Winter Championship- Santa Margherita (on the same Bay as Portofino), the weather forecast was not promising.  However, almost suddenly, magically, the clouds disappeared, the sun came out and a beautiful breeze filled in from the south.

Fresh from their earlier J/80 winter sailing on the lakes, JENIALE JACONDE was a bit too aggressive on the first race start and was burned with an OCS.  Nevertheless, the rest of the fleet sailed a few good windward-leeward races with good breeze and good competition.

However, at the end of the day, a new "scirocco" was brewing, blowing down hard from the Italian Alps and fighting the nice sea-breeze.  The fleet was lucky to get in one last race. The final tally for the day saw ORSO J first, followed by MONTPRES, HATAMURI J, GARDA and fifth JBES.

The next weekend for the Santa Margherita Ligure winter series will be sailed on the 12th-13th of March.  For more J/80 Italian Winter Championship information.   

J/80 China Winter Series

(Xiamen, China)-  There was light air this weekend, but no lack of turnout again for the second week of racing.  With 8 boats on the water and over 50 people attending to help with committee or sail, things have been going very well.  Since the overall participants in many cases have not sailed J/80's before, the first two weeks of light air have allowed teams to start to figure out the best ways of handling the asymmetrical spinnaker sets, jibes and take downs.  

We had two races and tried to get a third but lack of wind lead to abandoning the last race.  Boat #6 driven by Jacky Chen showed consistent first place finishes to win the day.  I must say that it is great to see so many kids joining the sailing.  Last week we had Laura and Phil Harvey with 4 small kids on board and this week we had Alain and Sacha Vermeulen and Pieter van der Plas sailing with their kids.  You will notice from the photo that the kids are driving when they got 2nd in the first race.  

I am glad to see that everyone is having a great time.  We have changed the schedule a little to help with the holiday travel schedule.  We will be racing Dec. 19th, Jan. 9th, Jan 16th, Jan. 23rd and finishing on Jan. 30th.  We are keeping track of the overall score but it is good for people to realize that this is just for fun and that we are all out just bettering out sailing ability.  I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend, We will be trying to get the first start off at 1:30pm sharp if we have breeze this weekend so don't get too far from the starting area.   

J/80 SW NOOD Champion- Terry Flynn Interview

* Terry Flynn- a past J/80 World Champion had a great time in the recent SW Annapolis NOOD Regatta, in particular since he had long-time Texas friend Mark Foster sailing with him (a former 470 Champion with Mark Ploch and J/24 Champion, too).  Sailing World's Mike Lovett interviewed Terry, read on below:

With a first-time crew, Terry Flynn won the J/80 class—and the overall prize—at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD.  As the J/80 freight train rolls northward on its USA Tour, bound for the World Championships in Newport, R.I., in October, the class just keeps picking up steam. The 36-boat fleet at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD was the largest of the regatta's 16 divisions, and, arguably, the most competitive.

Over the course of eight races, four boats posted first-place finishes; Houston native Terry Flynn had just one bullet in his scoreline, but his team sailed with enough consistency to win both the division and the overall prize, which includes an invitation to compete in the NOOD Championship in the B.V.I. in November.

The Annapolis NOOD was the first time Flynn had sailed with his crew of David Whelan, Mark Foster, and Charlie Snyder, but the Quantum sailmaker had no trouble getting everyone on the same page. "Too many times, when it's your first time sailing together as a crew, everybody's real quiet the first race of the regatta, and you do terrible," says Flynn. "We made an effort to say, 'You start giving input, and if we don't want to hear it, we'll tell you."

With Foster and Snyder feeding information to Whelan, the tactician, Flynn was able to concentrate on steering the boat through the light wind and mixed-up chop on Chesapeake Bay. "I didn't do anything but drive," he says. "I put my head down, concentrated on keeping the boat moving, and listened to what they wanted me to do. I very rarely got involved in the tactical end of things. I'm pretty good at listening, and they're pretty good a putting me where we need to be.

"It's important for everyone on board to give feedback," continues Flynn. "I've been on boats where the tactician doesn't really share the information, he just kind of tells the skipper when to tack. But I think it's important that the skipper know the thought process. That way, it's not like, 'Why are we doing this?'"

Refined communication, uncharacteristically good starts—"I historically have terrible starts," says Flynn—and close attention to changes in wind speed propelled Flynn's team to victory. And, apparently, word is spreading that the affable Texan is a fun guy with whom to sail. "I've already had a few people come up and tell me they want to go to the B.V.I. to crew with me," he says.

Between now and November, Flynn will be competing in the J/80 North American Championships, the aforementioned Worlds, and the J/22 North American Championship. So there's a good chance that, by the time he hops aboard that Sunsail 39 in Tortola, Flynn could have a few more feathers in his cap—and a few more eager crew members.   More SW NOOD Regatta coverage.  

ECC VIVIENDAS Wins J/80 AVEGA CUP

(Santander, Spain)- Thirty two boats participated in the coveted J/80 AVEGA Cup in Santander.  The event is widely popular because the winners get to take home HUGE new LED television sets to enjoy with family and friends those popular futbol (soccer) matches so prevalent in Spain and Europe.  The picture here is of José Manuel Sansalvador, CEO of AVEGA SRL, along with the winners of the biggest TV, Pichu Torcida and crew from ECC VIVIENDAS.  They sure are happy aren't they?

After two very nice days of sailing in the beautiful waters off Santander, Pichu's crew won by six points over his arch competitor BANCAJA sailed by Javier López-Vázquez.  There was a big point jump after the leaders up to NEXTEL ENGINEERING raced by Ignacio Camino, fourth was GRUPO RHIN skippered by Angel Herrerias and fifth was a regular front-runner in this fleet, FUNDESTIC capably steered by Toño Gorostegui.  For more J/80 Spain sailing info.  

J/80 Cruising Across the Atlantic?

Seriously? Why? Here's an amusing story about sailing a J/80 on the old "trade-winds" route from Europe to the Caribbean, going by way of the Azores and the Canaries.  Follow the adventurous blog of two Swedish J/80 sailors, Andreas and Jens, a fire-fighter and IT consultant, respectively.  "The idea of sailing to the West Indies was born during a warm summer night on our way to Fårö, Sweden. A J/80, is an eight metre long racing boat with the same conveniences as a two-man-tent and is so fast that it even leaves some 40-feet boats behind. J/80 boats have been sailed in races like Gotland Runt and other ocean races many times but still, no one has crossed the Atlantic Ocean in one. We will change that during the autumn 2007.  So follow us during our preparations and also during our journey to the West Indies in one of the smallest racing boats!"  They're now down in Los Roques/ Tortuga off Venezuela having a scream cruising, fishing and kite-boarding.

So, Ken, maybe you should get these guys to sail with you on the Volvo 70 PUMA!  Clearly, a luxury yacht ride compared to a J/80, eh?  Could even use their "rubber-band auto-steering" innovation, too, that works surfing down waves up to 20 knots!  This story had me in tears laughing.  http://adventure.roxen.com/  

Can Favourites Win Match Race France in J/80s?

Not.  Instead, it was "Local French Hero Reverses History!"  Here's the report from the WMRT.  "Twelve skippers went to Yacht Club Pointe Rouge, Southern France for the start of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour (WMRT). The first of this 10 event global series starts in Marseille and will count towards points for the ultimate prize of becoming the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Champion.  With a daunting line up of skippers including seasoned World Champions, Olympic medal holders and adrenalin-fuelled youngsters, any skipper lining up to perform pre-start tactics would have to be confident of their match racing prowess and boat handling abilities onboard the J/80 yachts. The J/80 will provide a lively model for the skippers to race, a design that works for dinghy sailors as well as big boat racers making tight boat maneuvering during the pre-start achievable for all skippers. The J/80 cockpit is also spacious for the four person crew to perform their jobs to the best of their ability, involving constant alteration of sails, body weight and vantage points to see the competing boat's next move. The J/80's will be raced asymmetrically for this event so it will be interesting to see if those skippers who have previous asymmetric experience will have an advantage on the downhill legs."

As the regatta unfolded, it was clear that strong dinghy sailors had an advantage.  Here's what happened, "Stage 1 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), has put a new twist on an ancient maritime tale. The scenario of English sailors battling French sailors is reminiscent of the famed 1805 Battle of Trafalgar when UK’s Lord Nelson defeated Emperor Napoleon of France. Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAM ORIGIN took on Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team.  The French local, Richard, took a convincing victory winning both of the final two matches raced under a testing 6-7 knot westerly. Richard celebrated with local Marseille supporters, who were quick to take to the water in boats of all sizes."  Photo Credits- Gilles Martin-Raget

Mathieu Richard, who is also tactician for the French America’s Cup syndicate, ALEPH, observed, “We had a slow start to the regatta, but a slow start motivates you to really improve when it counts.” Ainslie sees his time invested in attending WMRT events as a profitable way to keep his match race training fresh, “My ultimate goal for the ISAF World Match Racing Tour events is to improve my match racing skills and rules knowledge”. The Tour forms an important ingredient in Ainslie’s long term America’s Cup ambition with TEAM ORIGIN.   Richard advanced to the finals by beating Francesco Bruni (ITA) 2-1, while Ainslie bested Paolo Cian (ITA) by a similar score. Bruni beat Cian in the single race Petit Final.  For more info sailing J/80s in the World Match Racing Tour  

J/80 Wins Asia's ABMA Sportboat Class Award

(Shanghai, China)- The awards and enthusiasm for the J/80 class continue to roll in, a phenomenal achievement for the world's largest ISAF International sportboat class and a boat first designed in 1993 to grow the sportboat revolution worldwide.  This past week, the Asia Boat Marine Association voted on the "Best Sportboat for Asia", a category that had a slew of other well-known sportboats competing.  The J/80 received five of ten votes while its erstwhile competitors received only one or two votes each!  The four reasons mentioned by the ABMA Committee that strongly influenced the voters were:
    * New Hong Kong Fleet
    * Use of the J/80 in the Asian Games
    * Production in Xiamen
    * Overall an all-around performer meeting the sportboat and daysailing requirements.
For more information on the ABMA Sportboat Sailing Awards  

J/80s Dominate SPI OUEST Race Week

ATLANTIS  Dominates Field of French Sailing Legends

(La Trinite Sur Mer, France)-  This year's SPI Ouest fleet was blessed with good racing and an experienced committee was able to get off a full flight of races for all three days for all three courses.  The winds were strong, mostly offshore NNE and blowing with one moderate spell (somewhat similar to what they saw in Marseilles for SNIM).  The 93 boat J/80 fleet, by far the largest fleet at SPI OUEST, had some tight racing behind the runaway leader, Louis Sambron racing ATLANTIS.  The J/24s enjoyed tight racing as did the J/105 and J/109 fleet.  Over on the handicap course, the various J's had a tougher time getting off the competitive, crowded starting lines and picking the shifts to stay in contention.

The talk of La Trinite and the French sailing community was the domination of the 93 boat J/80 class by Louis Sambron sailing ATLANTIS. Sailing to  five firsts, a second and fifth in the first seven races, Team ATLANTIS didn't sail the last race to win by 32 points!  Quite an achievement when you have some of France's more renowned sailing talent and legends like Pierre Follenfant, Bruno Trouble, Christine Briand, French J/80 National Champion Luc Nadal and Yves Tabarly.  With teams representing Italy, England, Netherlands, Spain, France, Sweden it was clear to most competitors that it was not going to be difficult to be consistent to do well in the event with so many good sailors fighting to get off the starting line.  Nevertheless, behind ATLANTIS's remarkable performance, that view held true for all other competitors.   Pellisier sailed VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE to second place just three points in front of Pierre Follenfant on TBS.  Christine Briand sailed very well to finish fourth overall and was Top Woman for the event!

On the J/105 and J/109 class course, there was a good regatta for the boats vying for top honors.  At the end, Blanchard's J'ADORE finished first by staying out of trouble, winning by just three points, despite having to drop a DNF/ 11th in the fourth windy race.  In second was Tostivint's J CROIS PAS sailing quite consistently, but having to eat a sixth in the ninth race and tossing an 11th/DNF in the seventh just to be a contender.  Third was the most consistent boat in the fleet, Barouch's J'VOLE finishing only three points back and tossing only a fifth!  Were it a no throw-out series, Barouch and team on J'VOLE would've tied for first but lost the tie-breaker!

In the J/24s, Aubert on JULIA finished strongly with two firsts in the last two races to win over Lemaistre racing MARTA and Cahto racing COUTOT ROEHRING.   For more SPI Ouest Regatta and Sailing information  

J/80 Champion Racing IMOCA 60 New York-Barcelona

J/80 champion Spanish sailor, Antonio ("Toño") Piris from Santander, is skippering in the New York-Barcelona Race in IMOCA 60s.  You'll have seen his name frequently pop up in reports of the extremely competitive J/80 fleet racing off Santander, especially in this last Winter Series.  Great training to keep you sharp offshore in a 3,000 match race!! Toño began sailing in the Optimist class and soon moved on to the Laser, becoming runner-up in the Spanish national championships in 1981, and later winning in the youth category , as well as taking part in the Junior IYRU Laser World Championships in Portugal. He has sailed on boats across many different classes, such as J/24s, J/80s, IOR, IMS, IACC, TP52, as well as having taken part in the building process of many of them: Hispania, Galicia Pescanova, EF Education y EF Language, España 92, Rioja de España, Bravo España, Caixa Galicia and Iberdrola.  Read more about this epic assault on a Trans-Atlantic record with two IMOCA 60s racing.  http://www.ny-bcn.org/en/index.jsp   

Benelux J80 Winter Series

Ms. Vroon's JOIE DE VIVRE Wins!

(Belgium)- After 18 races, divided over 6 racing days, the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) J80 winter-trophy goes to the JOIE DE VIVRE sailed by Laura Vroon.  Racing took place at the Grevelingen, Zeeland, a salty formed sea branch, closed off by the sea with a dike, with fair weather, smooth water and a moderate to fair breeze.  Up to the last racing day on March the 14th, the number one and two positions were uncertain. Before the last day Faber Munker from Twan Hanse was in the lead with only a few points difference with her closest contender.

So, on this last racing day of the winter series, stakes were high.  Not all the contenders fully applied the racing rules during the starts but no protests were fought out in the Jury rooms.  Port side of the course had a more favourable wind angle and the starboard side more pressure with hardly any noticeable advantage for either side.  After all, FABER MUNKER took place three, JALAPENO place two.  JOIE DE VIVRE took first convincingly with the three first places, and won the daily prize, too. That just did the trick for her to come out of this winter series as the glorious winner.  Third place overall was for Erik Scheeren's JALAPENO.

In total 18 boats have joined this winter series. After being launched only three years ago, the J/80 class in the Benelux shows a steady growth, in terms of fleet size as in the level of sailing.  For more info on J/80 one-design sailing.  

Race Charter J/80s At J/World San Diego

J/80 North American and J/80 World Championships are just around the corner right here in the US and J/80 sailing is gearing up from Coast to Coast. J/World San Diego recently entered four J/80s into the San Diego NOOD Regatta, adding to the class totaling 12 competitive boats. Bring your crew to San Diego and tune up for the season and big races this fall. Yachting Cup 2010

is coming up the first weekend in May. J/World San Diego is offering individual positions as well as full boat charters for the regatta. Contact us for more information at info@jworldsandiego.com or http://www.jworldsandiego.com  

World Match Race Champions Racing J/80s

Current World Match Racing Champion, Kiwi Adam Minoprio, will be racing J/80s in the Match Race France Regatta from April 6-11 in Marseilles.  Adam's signed on to Team New Zealand as understudy to Dean Barker.  It's Adam's unflappable nature that has earned him the call up from Grant Dalton to be Dean Barker's side-kick in Team New Zealand's two-boat development programme for the next America's Cup. "For Adam it's how fast is he, because you can be able to match race, but on these boats Dean's instinctively fast, there's only a few that are fast," says Grant Dalton.  "I'd like to think I'm fast enough. I've been sailing a long time, I'm always learning and I think I've got what it takes to make one of those Cup boats go fast," says Minoprio. At 24, Minoprio is the reigning world match racing champion, set to defend his title on the eight month long World Match Racing Tour circuit with his team Black Match Racing. First event is Match Race France in Marseille to be held in J/80s on April 6 - 11, 2010."  Time to prove you can beat the world's best on a J/80.  A boat that is sailed fast by many, many people worldwide- French, Spanish, Germans, Belgians, Americans, British.  Good on ya mate...master these like other J Champions before you (Ken Read, Ed Baird, Terry Hutchinson, Chris Larson, Dave Curtis, Brad Read, Eddie Warden-Owen, Francesco D'Angelis, to name just a few) and the "big ride" could be yours! Good luck!   

J/80 European Circuit Update

J/80 European Events ready to roll with strong competition.  Less than three months away are the J/80 Europeans on the famous Lago di Garda.  Leading up to the Europeans are national events that are not to be missed!  Starting with France's SPI OUEST Regatta off La Trinite, you will be treated to excellent sailing and 100+ boat fleets.  Next up are the J/80 UK Nationals in Cardiff Bay where the hearty competition, 50+ boat fleets and "dogs blown off chains" wind conditions can test the heartiest of souls.  For some R&R, you can then relax after these two marquee events with a trip to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain for the Copa de Espana in Barcelona for some tapas, sangria and Latin-inspired flamenco/ salsa dancing to the wee hours of the morning. See below for appropriate links to each event.  

J/80 Best Practices – Part II

Since publishing J/80 Best Practices Part I, many J/80s have undergone the seven-step inspection recommended annually for the keel/keel floor area.  If you have not conducted this inspection, we strongly urge you to do so before the coming season. Part II documents the damage found on a 1994 J/80 as a result of this inspection as well as the subsequent repair.  The subject boat is a 1994 J/80 that was purchased by its current owner in the fall of 2008 after 14 seasons of sailing with at least two previous owners.  The boat was run through the seven-step inspection process at International Marine, in Bristol, RI.... link to rest of article.  

J/80’s Are Back on Long Island Sound!

(NY/ CT)- J/80’s are one of the most exciting one-design boats to sail, but, previously, if you wanted to race one-design on the Long Island Sound, you either had to sail dinghies or buy a larger boat like the J/105.  There always were a few J/80’s around, but split in two different groups: the one-design travel boats and the local PHRF racing boats.  Among the travelers, some of the best crews in the country, if not the world, call the Long Island Sound their home. The more prominent boats are Kerry Klingler’s LIFTED and John Storck, Jr.’s RUMOR who probably both don’t need any further introduction to the readers of this newsletter. On the other hand, there have always been various J/80s scattered about in clubs like AYC, LYC and Centerport that mainly sailed PHRF in club races. But, until this year, the local boats did not come together as a fleet.

This February, representatives from nine boats got together at Larchmont Yacht Club to meet each other, organize and reaffirm that western Long Island Sound was ripe for J/80 one-design events.  Five more boats joined Fleet 17 since the word got out bringing the total count of boats in the area up to 14 and at least two more are expected to join soon. The newly invigorated fleet agreed on three local races for this year to complement the full 2010 USA Tour schedule.  These events are:
May 22-23    Lloyd Harbor YC Spring Race for the Case (of Rum)- Lloyd Neck, NY
Jun 6-7         Cedar Point YC One Design Regatta- East Norwalk, CT
Sep 25-26    American YC Fall Series (1st weekend only)- Rye, NY

In addition, the fleet is planning to launch an annual J/80 Long Island Sound Cup – “J/80 LIS Cup” – which will be scored similar to the J/80 2010 USA Tour with a combination of qualifying local races. For more information on the fleet and how to get involved, please contact J/80 Fleet#17 rep Ansgar Chorhummel (ansgar@kiaora.us) of  or go here-  J/80 Fleet #17 website.