Beautiful Key West Race Week

SAVASANA Wins J/105s, LE TIGRE Triumphs in J/80s

(Key West, FL- Jan. 18-22)-  This year's Key West Race Week was sponsored by Nautica Watches along with popular supporter Mt. Gay Rum.  It was a great cocktail and recipe for success, making for many happy winners celebrating with drinks plus a new watch!  Check out the photos of all the J's racing on the J/Boats Facebook page! (email us if you want high-resolution photos- contact us at J/Boats).

The weather was nearly postcard perfect, hard to go wrong sailing on aquamarine seas, sunny, with gentle breezes and 70 degree temperatures during the day.  The fleet was treated to a typical cold front scenario where the incoming front pulls in SSW breezes and over the course of several days veers from NNW to SE.  The fleet of 134 boats saw J/Boats having the largest total fleet of boats at the event- over one-third were J's ranging in size from the "classic" J/24 upwards through the range including J/29, J/80, J/105, J/109, J/122, J/125 and J/44.  The races generally got off without a hitch due to the seasoned expert PROs like Ken Legler and others who stayed on top of the shifty, streaky breezes.  Races started on time at 10:30 am and most fleets generally completed two races and were heading home by 2:00 pm.

On the Division 1 course, David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH sailed well in IRC-B Class. At one point they had a solid lead but a few slow starts, missed windshifts and streaks rapidly jumbled the standings over the last two days.  Nevertheless, David and crew managed to hang in there to get a podium finish- 3rd overall for the week.  Their good fortune was counter-weighted by the roller coast rides seemingly experienced by Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's beautifully repainted J/44 GOLD DIGGER.  Both sailed well in a couple of races but had difficulty maintaining any consistency due to the very shifty, streaky wind conditions on Division 1 course-  large black holes materialized frequently, swallowing up any unsuspecting boats and never let them go. 

The Division 2 course with J/105s and J/80s had incredibly competitive racing.  For the J/105s, it's Brian Keane's SAVASANA that took home the gold, finishing in first by a significant margin of sixteen points....almost not having to sail the last day because their lead was so large.  However, the next three places from second to fourth was wide open until the last day.  Essentially, a three-way tie exists between Ken Colburn's GHOST, Scooter Simmons BLACKHAWK and Damian Emery's ECLIPSE.  In the end, it was Ken Colburn on GHOST that prevailed, finishing second for the week followed by Scooter Simmons sailing BLACKHAWK to third place and Damian Emery slowing down a bit onboard ECLIPSE  on the last day to finish fourth.

The J/80 Midwinters lived up to its promise to be an indicator for the J/80 Worlds of how tough it would be to win in this closely fought class.  The top five was truly a horse race with anyone still having a mathematical chance of winning with just two days (four races) to go.  Each day brought a new leader to the top of the pack.  The last day created a lot of anxiety for the leaders. However, Glen Darden on LE TIGRE managed to overcome an early race deficit, with Rod & Jeff Johnstone sailing LITTLE FEAT in the lead, to just catch one more boat by the finish to finish fifth and win the regatta.  Rod & Jeff sailed extremely well on a challenging day to get two firsts to rapidly close the gap with LE TIGRE at the start of the day.  Those efforts, however, were not enough to overcome a slow start with two 7's on the first day, LITTLE FEAT finished second by a point.  Early regatta leader Will Welles on board RASCAL experienced some minor (but expensive) mistakes mid-week to fall off their consistent early showings, garnering a third overall.  Conversely, Al Minella sailing RELENTLESS have a "barbell" shaped results table, with great results midweek but a few mid-pack races at the beginning and end of the week.  Past J/80 World and NA Champion Kerry Klingler racing LIFTED had 1-2-3s in his record, but couldn't maintain any consistency to crack the top three, finishing fifth for the week.

LE TIGRE, co-owned by Glenn Darden and Reese Hilliard of Forth Worth, TX, Darden has competed in eight Key West race weeks, but has never taken a top win. Until now.  An experienced racing sailor and collegiate champion at Tulane, Glen is a past J/105 North American Champion and has won the J/80 Worlds. This week, the team placed third or better in seven of 10 starts in capturing the J/80 Mid-Winter Championship, which was contested as part of Key West 2010.   "We had a great battle with Jeff and were just able to hold on", said Darden, who had Ullman pro Max Skelley aboard as tactician.

Another Texan, Jay Lutz calling tactics on SWE 803 said, "The depth of the competition was much better than ever before".  Magnus Tyremans entry (SWE 803) placed sixth in fleet, not bad for the tough, 19-boat class battle. Blake Billman was on the bow and Cal Herman worked the middle. Winning race 2, and finishing in the top ten consistently, the SWE 803 team followed the suspense of the final races between Le Tigre and Little Feat. "The lead boat LE TIGRE almost lost it", Herman said. One extra point and that would've been the case. 

You can read more about what happened on the J/80 race course by reading Chuck Allen's Sailing World blog at http://tinyurl.com/j80chuckallen

The Stock Island located Division 3 course for PHRF boats saw two fantastic performances by two enthusiastic J Owners.  In PHRF 1, Jim Madden's  very fast J/125 STARK RAVING MAD and his fun-loving, happy-go-lucky crew from the San Diego/ LA area (including Gary Weisman and Benny Mitchell), had another great time in Key West and sailed away with PHRF A with eight bullets!  

In PHRF 2, Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH led for most of the week but Thursday's windy day generated an uncharacteristic 4-3 for the day to drop him down to second overall by just one point. Their five firsts in ten races are an average of just over second place, it was testimony to their consistency and how well they sailed their J/109 RUSH.  Perennial Key West participant, Steve Thurston's MIGHTY PUFFIN, got in some good sailing and good times during the regatta, sailing to a sixth overall.

In PHRF 3,  the three J/24s stayed remarkably close to one another all week long.  Mark Milne's BLAH BLAH BLAH "won" the J/24 Class award, finishing second in the overall standings.  Just behind was Naroski/LeBlanc's NOJOE in third.

For Key West Race Week regatta information and sailing results.  

Key West Race Week on a Budget

Key West on a Budget-  J/80 owner Jeremy Reynolds was skeptical when it was suggested he enter Key West 2010, presented by Nautica. The Maryland resident started doing a mental checklist of the costs associated with doing a regatta off the southernmost point of Florida and just shook his head. “I saw the dollar signs going cha-ching, cha-ching in my head,” Reynolds said. That was before J/80 class president Kristen Robinson showed Reynolds a detailed spreadsheet of how to attend the annual race week in Key West on a reasonable budget of less than $8,000.

Perhaps the most notable cost-cutting method involves working a package deal for most of the J/80s to launch and berth at Old Island Marina. Robinson negotiated a discount on the splash fee and storage rate with the Stock Island facility. Robinson also helped the J/80 teams contain their housing costs by calling around to numerous Key West realtors and comparing rates.

Robinson, who posted a “How to do Key West on a Budget” article on the J/80 website, was asked why she puts so much effort into assisting other J/80 owners with their Key West plans and plotting out a budget for the regatta. “Because if I’m going to make the effort to come down here I don’t want to race in PHRF. I come to Key West for good one-design competition so the more boats the better,” said Robinson, who believes other class presidents or representatives should put forth the same effort for a regatta the caliber of Key West.

Premiere Racing president Peter Craig is extremely impressed by the ability of J/80 owners to put together a Key West campaign on an affordable budget. “The J/80 class increasing to 19 boats in this economy is one of the great success stories of this event and should be listened to carefully by the owners in other classes,” Craig said. “The J/80 folks have figured out how to do Key West without breaking the bank by working collectively. They have clearly shown that it can be done.”  Learn more about sailing Key West on a budget at the J/80 Class  

Key West Race Week- Day 5- Gorgeous Finale

SAVASANA Wins J/105s, LE TIGRE gets J/80s, STARK RAVING MAD Dominates PHRF A
(Key West, FL- Jan. 22)- This year's Key West Race Week was certainly one of the nicest sailing weeks in recent memory.  After the tropical downpours on Sunday, Monday dawned with gorgeous weather, nice winds that would prevail for the week.  Despite a gloomy Tuesday, the wind, sun and conditions provided competitors with a variety of shifty, streaky winds that would make it challenging for any sailor to get around the race track without making significant mistakes. 

On the Division 1 course,  David Murphy's J/122 PUGWASH sailed well in IRC2 to finish third. The light air and large wind streaks wreaked havoc on the fleet on the last day.  If you got caught out on some of them upwind or downwind, the speed differences were simply too enormous to overcome any lost distance.  As a result, Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK and Jim Bishop's J/44 GOLD DIGGER had unusually variable performances to finish out of the running.

The Division 2 course with J/105s and J/80s had competitive racing for the entire week.   However,  for the J/105s, it was Brian Keane's SAVASANA that simply sailed off with the series lead after Tuesday.  However, the next three places from second to fourth were completely wide open going into the last two races on Friday.  Essentially, a three-way tie existed between Ken Colburn's GHOST, Scooter Simmons BLACKHAWK and Damian Emery's ECLIPSE.  Whoever prevailed on Friday's light air would determine the pecking order.  Ultimately, Ken Colburn on GHOST finished second and Scooter Simmons finished third. 

The J/80 Midwinters concluded with Glen Darden on LE TIGRE barely hanging on to win by one point over Rod and Jeff Johnstone on board LITTLE FEAT.  In fact, going up the last windward and downwind leg, the Johnstones were winning the regatta (they got two firsts on Friday) because Glen and team were lying in sixth place.  However, LE TIGRE passed just one more boat to eliminate the losing tie-breaker scenario and won the regatta.  Third place went to Will Welles RASCAL with much improved Al Minella's team on RELENTLESS finishing fourth and current NA/ past World Champion Kerry Klingler sailing LIFTED finishing fifth. You can read more about what's happened during the J/80 Midwinters by reading Chuck Allen's Sailing World blog at http://tinyurl.com/j80chuckallen

The Stock Island located Division 3 course for PHRF boats saw great performances from the J/125 and J/109.  In PHRF 1, Jim Madden's J/125 STARK RAVING MAD sailed away with PRHF A with eight bullets, winning class with a seventeen point lead!   

In PHRF 2, Bill Sweetser's J/109 RUSH sailed extremely well but two fourths earlier in the series hurt their chances to win class overall, losing by just one point with a 2-1 finish on Friday.

In PHRF 3,  the three J/24s had a fun week.  Mark Milne's BLAH BLAH BLAH finished second and just behind was Naroski/LeBlanc's NOJOE in third.  For regatta information and sailing results, please go to:  http://www.premiere-racing.com/KW10_Results/kw10_results_reports.htm   

J/80 ECC Viviendas Trophy Series

(Santander, Spain)-  The J/80 class in Santander put an end to the 2009 season, with the conclusion of the last two races of the ECC Viviendas Trophy sailed in great northwest breezes, sunny skies and steep waves.  It was a fitting end to the season considering how many times racing had to be postponed/ canceled.  The big waves were a delight for all the sailors as it made for fun, long, fast surfs downwind under the big asymmetric spinnakers.

At the end of the racing, it was YATES & THINGS sailed by A Piris that managed to stay ahead and put up the rest of the away to win the race with great ease. SPACIO 10 raced by Paul Santurde soared to second and in third finished  Javier López-Vázquez in BANCAJA.  The 2010 season will begin on January 9th with the so-called MAFIA TROPHY-- gee, we wonder what the implication is for the winners?  Photo Credit- Jesus Renedo.  For more sailing and regatta information.    

J/80 Palma Otonocon Trophy

(Palma, Majorca- Nov. 28)- Palma's fleet continues Otoñocon Trophy celebrating the fourth day. On Saturday 28th of November they played two more races of the championship. For the time being leading the fleet is 'Portcall' by Jose Carlos Frau, followed by 'Jose Luis Ferrer Winery' Roses Antonio about unreachable 23 points of difference. Close on the podium is 'Expresso' by Jaime Fiol and Eduardo Horrach.  For more sailing and regatta information.

J/80 MUNDIALITO CUP

Pichu Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS Wins

(Santander, Spain- Nov. 29) - This trophy is hosted each year in Santander with many of Spain's best sailors invited to climb in different boats and spend a weekend with their Cantabrian friends and sailors.  This year, Pichu Torcida continued his winning ways racing ECC VIVIENDAS and winning over the twenty four boat fleet.  His VIP "luxury guest" was Malaga Mainemare Vivi and rounding out his crew were Alex Muscat, Pure Ruigómez and Charly Martinez.

The weekend of racing started out with a postponement on Saturday as winds were gusting upwards of forty knots.  On Sunday morning, the sailors enjoyed a beautiful day, with two closely contested races, especially between ECC VIVIENDAS and MAGNIFYING GLASS. The winds were very shifty and puffy and, along with high tide, permitted the boats to play the shores and the beaches for tactical and strategic advantage.

While ECC VIVIENDAS won, Cesar Obregon and David Marazo sailed to a regatta-winning combination of 1-2 on Sunday but were disqualified for inadvertently touching the mark with their boom.  Of note were some good performances from the "guest" sailors.  YATES & THINGS, with Toño Piris at the helm and Vicente Tirado as a guest had a 4-11.   PROPERNOR led one race with current World Junior Champions  Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos on board.

After ECC VIVIENDAS in second place was  SPACE 10 sailed by Chuny Bermudez de Castro.  And, in third overall on the podium was FUNDESTIC sailed by Antonio Gorostegui.  For more sailing and regatta information

Commodores Trophy- Espana

ZEIK Wins Big In Gale Force Winds
(La Coruna, Spain- 9 November)- This past weekend was the penultimate day of Commodore Trophy for J/80s organized by the Real Club Náutico de La Coruña.  It was a blustery regatta, marked by the storm that struck the Galician coast for two straight days with near Force 8 gale winds offshore.

On Saturday at 1600 hours was the first race of the day for the J80 class inside the Bay of La Coruña, with a northwest wind 16 to 19 knots and waves of 2-3 meters.  The Race Committee had to delay until late afternoon because the weather was so ferocious earlier in the day.  Ultimately, it was a good day for the "Big Boy Nautical Aussycrawl" Stuart Shimeld winning two races.  However, by the end of the weekend, it was ZEIK that took the overall event winning on a tie-breaker over MARINA CORUNA with 17 points each, the tiebreaker to "greater number of first "wins" goes to the former.

For more sailing information and regatta results.

Bancantabria Sailing Cup

FUNDESTIC (Toño Gorostegui)  Winning Overall
(Santander, Spain- 8-9 November)-  The forecast for bad weather in the Bay of Biscay, with orange alert announced and forecast winds of force 7 to 8, meant that the Third Act (Series) of the Bancantabria Sailing Cup was going to be an experience to say the least.  Fortunately, the Race Committee elected to setup the courses in the inner bay, therefore enabling the J/80s to have two fun, very windy races.  Only twelve of the thirty boats raced in the demanding conditions.  And the end of the weekend, it was Tono Gorostegui who maintained their composure to maintain the overall lead sailing FUNDESTIC. 

Leaders for the weekend (Act III) were Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS; then RAITA finished second and Tono's FUNDESTIC got third.  The provisional Overall standings for the Bancantabria Sailing Cup has Tono's FUNDESTIC in first with 8 points, Paul Santurde's SPACIO in second with 12 points and Pichu Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS in third with 13 points.
For more sailing and regatta information.

French J/80 Nationals

Luc Nadal's GANJA Dominates Championship
(Cherbourg, France- Nov. 7-11)- A record turnout of forty eight J/80s showed up for this year's French J/80 National Championship in Cherbourg.  The hometown hosts were fabulous and put on quite a show despite the somewhat difficult weather conditions they were presented with over the course of the four day regatta. Light shifty four knot winds and flat water to moderate rolling seas blowing upwards of twenty knots offered the fleet tremendous challenges.  It was very difficult to stay out of the bottom of the fleet and maintain some kind of consistency.

However, Luc Nadal and his team aboard GANJA sailed magnificently, demonstrating remarkable consistency across the board to win by nearly thirty points over his next competitor.  Their record of 2-1-9-1-7-1-1 for 22 points speaks for itself...four firsts was unequalled in the fleet.  Second overall was Jean-Yves Jaffrezic racing ATLANTIS with a record of  5-8-21-12-1-3-1 for 51 points, beating JACUZZI on a tie-breaker.  Ludovic Gilet raced the renowned JACUZZI into third place with a 1-6-13-3-5-19-4 also with 51 points but lost tie on most firsts.  Fourth was the famous French woman sailor Christine Briand just three points back sailing J ILE DE RE and finishing behind her was Frederic Denis on ECOLE NAVALE CG29 with 63 points.

On a personal note, it was nice to see Pierre Follenfant- a former 470 and FD sailor whom Drake and Stu sailed against when they were kids in the 470 class in the mid-1970s sailing a respectable series to finish 11th in this highly competitive fleet!  We're glad to see old warhorses like us can still hang in there with the top players in the class!

For more sailing and regatta information.

Bancantabria Sailing Cup

HOUSING ECC Wins Fundestic Trophy
(Santander, Spain- Oct. 14-26)- Hosted by the FCV (Federacion Cantabra de Vela) in Santander, Spain, the Bancantabria Sailing Cup had a strong turnout of thirty-one J/80s.  The Cup is a series of races taking place over several weekends sailing in the spectacular waters off Santander in often warm, sunny conditions.

While the last weekend of the two week event was nearly a wash-out, the sailors had an enjoyable time racing for this past weekend's Fundestic Trophy.  Pichu Torcida racing ECC HOMES managed to take home another win.  Pushing him hard was Jaime Pris onboard FONESTAR to take second overall and coming in third place was Adrian Zamacona racing MABLE. Notable amongst the competitors in this year's even was the return, after months of absence from racing J/80s, of the 49er Olympic Sailing medalists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez. Iker and Xabi went sailing with friends aboard PROPERNOR-- looks like they'll need some practice after posting a twelfth in their first outing.

For more sailing information and regatta results, please visit J/80 Spain Class site.

2010 J/80 European Championship Sailing on Lake Garda

(Lago di Garda, Italy)- Get ready for some fantastic sailing on the famous, windy Lake Garda next summer, as the Italian J/80 Class Association invites you to the 2010 European Championships.  The event will be hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine Yacht Club and take place June 21-26. The Italian National Championship will be held two weeks prior (June 11-13) at the same venue.   Italian hospitality is renowned and the FVM YC promises that this will be one of the BEST European one-design events ever held on the Continent.   Put it on your schedule now, book a gorgeous villa with lots of friends, eat lots of tasty, fresh Italian pasta cuisine, enjoy great Italian red and white wines and go have a great time!  The event weblink is up and running and complete sailing instructions, sailing venue and other regatta information will be posted there in the near future.  http://www.j80euro2010.it/

Texas J/80 North Americans

Klinger Grabs Three-Peat
(Houston, TX- October 23-25)- Kerry Klingler has been sailing J/80s for a number of years.  Yet, despite the talent and the CV that might favor a "three-peat", Kerry was perhaps the least confident of the class leaders going into this year's J/80 North Americans.  With six previous J/80 North American Champions in attendance, including a current J/22 International Class World Champion Terry Flynn, it was not readily apparent who would come out on top of the heap of such a talented group of sailors.  As Terry said. "it was closest competition ever in NAs amongst the top 10....it could've gone either way."

The first day was perhaps the best for the fleet as it was a windy, puffy northerly gusting to twenty knots on Galveston Bay.  It made for difficult conditions to stay consistently in the top five against the tough fleet of NA Champions.  On the second day, there was no wind in the morning and the fleet had to wait for a light, shifty sea breeze to develop out of the southeast.  By the third day of racing, a solid sea breeze filled in making for extremely tight, fun racing amongst everyone-- the very tight mark roundings had an enormous impact on race outcomes. 

Prevailing through the smoke and fog of battle was Kerry Klingler and team again aboard their J/80 LIFTED with a  1-4-1-5-[13]-1-4-5 record for  a total of 21 points.  Hanging tough was Terry and David Flynn, finishing second with a 3-1-[8]-7-1-5-3-2 for 22 total points! Third overall was Glenn and Reese Darden sailing LE TIGRE to a 4-2-6-[10]-5-4-2-3 record for 26 points.  Special mention must be made of Jay Lutz- the victim of an extraordinary accident at the J/80 Worlds in Santander, Spain.  Now fully recovered, Jay "feels like new again" and sailed to a respectable fourth overall onboard the appropriately named PAINKILLER JANE with a  6-[9]-4-4-3-3-7-1 tally for 28 points.



For more sailing information and regatta results.

J/80 Tour Update

Word on the street is that upwards of a dozen J/80s have been bought  for competing in this years' upcoming J/80 Tour that starts with the Nautica Key West Race Week in Key West, Florida and ends with the J/80 World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.  J/80 Class leaders at the recent J/80 North American Championships in Houston, Texas have seen strong enthusiasm for the J/80 Tour.  For more information on this circuit, please contact J/80 Class reps at the J/80 Class Association- http://www.j80.org

J/80 Atlantic Coasts- France

Team ATLANTIS- Lawrence Sambron Wins.
(Lorient, France- Sept 19-20)- Twenty-one teams gathered in Lorient this past weekend to race the "Atlantic Telegram" regatta, emblematic of the J/80 French Atlantic Coast Championships.

Under very light winds and somewhat unstable weather conditions, the ATLANTIS Team skippered by Lawrence Sambron with the crew of Jean-Yves Jaffrezic, Pierre-Yves Tinel and Stephane Guilbaud won the regatta.  The ATLANTIS team was closely followed by Sylvain Pellissier and Dominic Vittet racing their J/80 VOILERIE ALL PURPOSE. The J/80 from La Trinité, AXELLE, raced by Damien J Zucconi finished third on the podium.  JACUZZI from Breton was fourth and Gilles Drouet from Cherbourg was fifth.

This regatta was good practice and an indicator of which teams will be contenders for the upcoming French J/80 Nationals which will be sailed in Cherbourg, France from November 8 to 11. After the French J/80 Nationals, the J/80 French Class will announce the winners of the hotly contested J/Cup in France for the J/80 Class--- so far, everything is still in play for the top spots for many of the crews. 

Lawrence Sambron commenting on his win had this to say about his team and the event: "It was the first time we had come to the Atlantic Coast and raced on the Bay of Biscay.  We were seduced by the awesome racing, the beautiful waters and the warm welcome on this site. On the water, we started well on Friday and we continued our momentum.  Jean-Yves Jaffrezic tactics were excellent in conditions that were not obviously clear for most crews this particular Sunday. We got a good result and this is good preparation for the J/80 French Nationals to be held in Cherbourg in November. The
outlook is positive so far!"
For more info.
http://www.cnlorient.org/photo/classements/ATG2009/J802.htm

J/80 Central Optica Trophy Series- Spain

J/80 ECC VIVIENDAS Winning
(Santander, Spain- Sept 19-20)- The Federation Cantabra de Vela is hosting the Central Optica Trophy series for the twenty-one boat J/80 fleet, racing on the spectacular setting of Santander Bay, sight of this year's record 133 boat J/80 World Championships.  The leader of this fall series classic is the J/80 team of BANCAJA raced by Javier Lopez-Vazquez.

The Santander J/80 class raced the second of three parts of their series this weekend under very gusty west wind conditions, with ginormous changes of strength and direction that allowed two long races with three-times around windward-leeward legs. The tidal currents helped some of the racers, like BANCAJA and ECC VIVIENDAS, ride favorable currents up inside the Santander Bay to the Moors. The two races were won by the ECC VIVIENDAS  team of Pichu Torcida and his skipper Pablo Arrarte.  Second for the weekend was BANCAJA raced by Javier López-Vázquez and his skipper Alvaro Mazarrasa, strengthening their overall series lead.  MAQUECHE sailed by Alfonso Pascual ended up finishing third for the weekend.  After sailing well on the first weekend, NEXTEL's Ignacio Camino had a relatively poor showing to lose the lead after the first weekend.

Currently, the standings for the series after six races and one discard is Jose Lopez-Vazquez's team on BANCAJA by just two points over Ignacio Camino's NEXTEL and Pichu Torcida's team on ECC VIVIENDAS. Next weekend completes the series for the Central Optica Trophy where tough competition is sure to breakout amongst these top three teams who collectively have a sizable lead (by ten points) over the rest of the fleet.

J/80 Autumn Trophy Series- Spain

Bilbao Squalls Make For Exciting Racing
(Bilbao, Spain- Sept 19-20)- It was a clear victory for Jose Azqueta in the first test of the Autumn Trophy Series for J/80s racing off Bilbao.  It was also the J/80s first racing since the long summer break. The weather conditions were harsh but fun since it blew 15 to 25 knots large seas on top of a huge ground swell.  These conditions made it challenging upwind but the crews were showered with salt spray from monstrous bow waves as the teams had fun planning wildly downwind on the big seas and swells.

The start was rather uneven as it was highly favored to the Race Committee boat and there was not much room on the line.  So whomever won the Race Committee boat end enjoyed a ginormous advantage over their competitors.  The boats that had strong starts - Mandovi and Montarto - held their lead up the first leg.   However, because of a strong right shift, they ended up second and third at the weather mark behind Azqueta's team; Bizkaia rounded fourth.  After a wild planing downwind leg, Mandovi dropped back to fourth. 

A strong squall of rain and wind buffeted the fleet with Azqueta lengthening their lead over Montarto and Bizkaia- that's how the first weekend ended up for the Autumn Trophy Series.  The Race Committee canceled the second race because the squally conditions had deteriorated to the point where the ability to race safely around the course would be difficult for most teams.

J/80 Dynamant Cup- Sundelin/Kallstrom Winners

(Sweden- Sept. 21)- There were fifteen J/80s participating in this year's Autumn Cups and Dynamant Cups in Sweden.  The competition was very even between the top boats ENG 386 and ENG 562 in first and second, respectively.  And the battle for third place was also a very even battle between bla MK PRODUCTS, HEAVY DUTY and DOG.  Great prizes are promised to all of the top three in the overall rankings. First prize was a voucher with a total value of 6000 Kroner from the main sponsor Dynamant and second prize is a set of fine sailing shoes from SLAM.

The traditional Autumn Cup organized by KSSS took place in non-traditional winds. Autumn storms lost some of their strength, thank goodness and the fleet was treated to beautiful sailing on the archipelago in 17 degree C temperatures, clear blue skies and a southwest breeze of 2-4 m/s. 

The host club KSSS was quite ambitious and planned eight races.  However, they managed to still get in five races thanks to an alert and quick race committee crew.  Sundelin / Kallstrom did what they could to snatch the top honors by taking home the regatta. But their competitor Rosenberg finished up nicely with a second place.  The American Tom Whitmore who showed good form, despite a very bad first race to finish third.  It was extremely even between 4, 5, 6, and 7 spots with only one point separating these four boats.  You will find all the results on the KSSS site.
http://www.ksss.se

2010 USA J/80 Tour

Join the J/80 Class in 2010 for an incredible East Coast tour of events - starting in Key West, Florida, then working up the coast and culminating with the J/80 World Championship in Newport, Rhode Island.  If you can’t do them all, partner up with a buddy to share the program and enjoy great sailing, world class competition, and camaraderie in some of the world’s most famous seaports:

Jan 18-22           Key West Race Week - Key West, FL    (J/80 Midwinters)
Feb 12-14          St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta – St. Petersburg, FL
Apr 9-11             Charleston Race Week – Charleston, SC
Apr 23-25           Annapolis NOOD Regatta – Annapolis, MD
Jun 6-7               Sprit Fest – Shelter Island, Long Island
Jul 9-11              Sail Newport Regatta – Newport, RI    (Pre-Worlds) 
Aug 6-8              Buzzard’s Bay Regatta – Marion, MA
Sep 9-12            North American Championship – Marion, MA
Oct 4-9              J/80 World Championship – Newport, RI    

Swedish J/80 Championships

Sundelin Family Affair Wins

(Stockholm, Sweden- June 25-28)- The Swedish J/80 Championship took place in Sandhamn in the Stockhom Archipelago 25-28th of June as a part of Sandhamn Race Week, Volvo Ocean Race Stopover and Around Gotland Off Shore Race.

Twenty boats competed with representatives from both Estonia and Norway. With stable winds of 3-5 m/s and a sunny sky the conditions couldn't be better and the races offered a really tight fleet. The proud winner was SWE 562 with former Olympic Champion Peter Sundelin as a tactician and his son Martin Sundelin skippering the boat!! Good on ya, mates! Awesome to see father/son combinations enjoying the love of a life long sport.

HYS J/80 UK National Championships

JANE'S SISTER Led the Fleet Home
(Hamble, England- June 10-13)- The HYS J/80 UK National Championships were held in the Solent under the burgee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club. A sportsboat sailor himself, the PRO for the event was Nick Hollamby. The series consisted of eight races each for the J/80s, which were sailed in a variety of conditions from five to twenty-eight knots over the course of the three days.

Ultimately it was Kevin Sproul and his team on JANE'S SISTER who took home the National Championship title for the J/80 Class. No one would deny that Sproul and the team on JANE'S SISTER sailed an A1 series, never dropping a result out of the top five, but here again, the on-track leaders were just too close to call on many occasions during the racing.

The major pressure on JANE'S SISTER was from Victoria Gregory and Rob Larke’s JOYSTICK and Ian Atkin’s Boats.com. After two races on the final day JOYSTICK had secured her second place overall and had just pushed Boats.com into second place by just two points. In fourth place overall was Charles Somerset and his boys on board LOUDWATER. These guys are relative newcomers to the J/80 Class and charge at their racing; their results are impressive. Tom Phipps of Plymouth University also slotted in a great result of fifth overall and this is his first J/80 UK Nationals.