Tabares Wins J/80 Match Race Qualifier

Sailing J/80s In Club Canarias Match Race
(Islas Canarias, Spain- Feb 22)- Over the past weekend, a qualifying regatta in J/80s took place at the Real Club Nautico de Arrecife in the Canary Islands to decide the representative of the club in the next Canarios Club Match Race to be held on March 11-13 in Lanzarote.

The four finalists had been racing and practicing quite hard to win the honor of representing the RCNA club in this prestigious match race event.  At the end, one of RCNA's best known J/80 sailors, Rayco Tabares won the event on his J/80 HOTEL PRINCESSA YAIZA. Second was Nete Arms with TGA ADVISERS.  Third was Alfredo Gonzalez with the OKUPA III and Juan Pablo Rompeltien with BODEGAS EL GRIFO ended up fourth.

The mode of competition was under the Round Robin system. In the first round, the HOTEL PRINCESA YAIZA beat OKUPA III. At the second round, TGA ADVISERS defeated BODEGAS EL GRIFO. At the third round, Rayco bdeat Juan Pablo and with two wins climbed the ladder into the final. In the fourth round, Nete defeated Alfredo to also go into the final with two victories.  In the Finals between the Rayco Tabares on HOTEL PRINCESA YAIZA and TG ADVISERS' Nete Arms it was very close in the first race, but with Rayco winning.  The second race of the best of three match clearly went to Rayco Tabares, winning the series 2-0.

The Canaries Match Race event will take place in the capital of Lanzarote, close to the coast, between the zone from the Islet Reef and the harbor, making it even more beautiful and close to the viewer, with ideal condition and winds between 12 and 14 knots.   For more J/80 Spain and Canary Islands sailing information.   

NEXTEL Leading J/80 Memorial Regatta

(Santander, Spain)- The Santander J/80 fleet is competing in the 5th Antonio Pereda-Sealing Memorial Regatta on the Bay of Santander.  In the past weekend, the fleet was greeted by a NW wind that started out nicely but slowly diminished during the course of the day.  It was pert clear that the right hand side of the course was the place to be along the shore to get out of the current and play the shifts and puffs coming off the shore, providing strong lifts on starboard tack.  Conversely, riding a puff on starboard gybe after the set to get out into the current and gybing on a good shift to get on port to ride it hard downwind was the best bet.

Making the best "plays" of the day was past J/80 World Champ Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING, now standing in first.  Second for the day in this regatta was Tono Gorostegui sailing SLAM RACING and third is currently Jose Miguel Oriol on MABLE.  Not too far from the hunt for the top three is another J/80 World Champion, the 2010 winner Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS, now lying fourth and just behind him is Javier Lopez-Vazquez, a Spanish Champion, in fifth sailing BANCAJA AVIVA.

With one more weekend to go in this Memorial Regatta, anything goes for the top three as with one more race, the fleet can then post scores with throwouts and the picture will change dramatically, especially if Pichu's ECC VIVIENDAS sails consistently.  It also means BANCAJA AVIVA ha a chance to finish in the top three as well.  It's been close and very competitive racing in the fleet of twenty-nine boats, surely one of the most toughest gathering of J/80s in the world on a weekend basis!   For more Spanish J/80 Sailing information.   

OLJ SPIRIT HATAMURI Wins

J/80 Italian Winter Cup Finishes in Style
(Tigullio, Italy- Feb 20)- This past weekend saw the completion of the 35th Winter Championship in Tigullio, a beautiful lake to sail in Italy.  The last weekend was not without its own dramas, thanks in part to the crazy weather conditions and "nightmarish" wind.

The breeze first started out nicely from the Northeast, the usual northern wind for the lake at this time of year.  However, after nearly 10 perfects races over the course of the many weekends of sailing, the last Sunday was one of the most difficult days for sailing.  Poor PRO on the TYC Race Committee!  The first race started OK but the coursed was shortened halfway through.  The second race turned into the "nightmare", with very little air starting from the North, then Westerly, then SE, then nearly nothing.  In the end, Frederick Rajola's OLJ SPIRIT HATAMURI wins the Winter Championship and takes home the Cup!  Second was Rama Massimon's JENIALE! from YCC and third MONTPRES sailed by Paolo Montedonico also from YCC.

The Italian J/80 heads next weekend to Santa Margherita along the coast near Portofino for their next regatta on February 27th.  Then after that it looks like Rama Massimo's team on JENIALE! are headed to La Trinite Sur Mer, France to compete against a few thousand Frenchmen (and women) racing J/80s in the huge SPI OUEST Regatta later in March.  For more J/80 Italy sailing information.   

J/80 Rocks SAILING WORLD!

(Newport, RI)- The final day of racing at last year's J/80 Worlds in Newport, RI produced fantastic opportunities for sailing photographers to capture the essence of sailing a high-performance sport boat in epic sailboat racing conditions- ginormous, breaking waves, 18-30 knots winds from the southwest, and clear, azure blue skies with torn-cotton shaped clouds scudding across the horizon.  When other 20-32 foot sport-boats stop racing at 22 knots, the J/80s RULE!!  And, of course, have a LOT of fun sailing on such spectacular days--- where men are men and women are women and have a blast! Just ask Mr. J/80 France, Bruno Trouble, what it's like to sail in up to 30 knot winds!  Bruno and his crew (average age of 64 years old), sailing COYOTE/ JURASSIC PARK, LOVED it and sailed every race, often finishing in the top 15!

One of those sailing photographers at the event, Paul Todd from Outside Images New Zealand, captured some remarkable photos, many of them memorialized in his J/80 coffee table book that you can buy from Blurb.com.  Here's another photo from that epic day of bashing, crashing and flying off the waves-- it's New York YC members Henry Brauer and Stuart Johnstone on the J/80 RASCAL screaming into the finish line of the last race.  Get Sailing World's March issue on the news-stands now- http://www.sailingworld.com  

J/80 Challenge Trinitaine

(La Trinite Sur Mer, France)- Ever wonder why the Spanish and French teams continue to get stronger and stronger every year and the talent level in their fleets overall continue to improve significantly?  The British J/80 teams understand the problem, and do a lot of training with their RYA Coaches at various venues.

The Trinitaine J/80 fleet is conducting their 3rd edition of the Challenge J/80 Trinite over five weekends in the winter/ spring- February 12/13 and 26/27 - 12/13 and 26/27 March - 9 / 10 April.  It's a great program with specific training targeted on Saturdays and race-training on Sundays.  Afterwards, the entire training class goes to a debriefing at the "Cafe Zing"/ Internet Bar for video and tactical review.  Most importantly, to improve training, they're trying a new method for tracking via mobile phones. Go here to check out the iSea 3D program for ANY SmartPhone.  Or, for Apple iPhone's Sailboat Tracking app, you can go to iTunes.    For more information regarding J/80 sail-training in La Trinite Sur Mer, France.   

J/80 Italy Winter Championships

(Tigullio, Italy)- All was not lost on the 2nd to last weekend of the 35th edition of the Winter Championships in Tigullio.  A beautiful northerly wind helped get the fleet around the beautiful waters off Tigullio and it was clear that some of the class leaders had it all figured out.

The team of Frederick Rajola on OLJ SPIRIT-HATAMURI consolidated their first place position by getting two 3rds and a 1st to get themselves five points clear of Massimo Rama's JENIALE! in the overall standings, 18 points to 23 points, respectively.  Lying third is Paolo Montedonico sailing MONTPRES with 28 points, having a very strong last weekend with two 2nds and a 1st!  Fourth is Alberto Garibotto on J-BES with 33 points and 5th is  Massimo Zunin's JOCONDA with 40 points.

The final set of races takes place on February 20th, let the games begin for the final top three on the podium!  As shifty as the wind was this past weekend, anything can happen!  For more J/80 Italian class sailing information.   

J/80 Palma 2010 Video

(Palma Mallorca, Spain)- In a tribute to his friends who sail amongst the many J/80s that comprise the fleet in Palma, the highly regarded sailing photograher, Jesus Renedo, produced a nice compilation of the year's sailing events along with a powerful musical soundtrack mixed in-- perhaps an inspiration from a long, entertaining evening down along the city-front?  See the Jesus Renedo YouTube video of J/80s in Palma.
For more J/80 saling information in Palma de Mallorca.   

ZEIKA Wins J/80 Winter Trophy

(La Coruna, Spain- Feb 7th)- This past weekend the J/80 Spanish class held the penultimate round of the Winter Trophy organized by the Real Club Nautico de La Coruna and Sada Yacht Club. On Saturday, the J/80s completed 3 windward-leeward races in the Ria de Sada, with a northwest wind of 6 knots at the start, but reached 15 knots during the third race.

At the end of the Winter Series Trophy, it was a good day for MARINA CORUNA skippered by Paul Chavert, with two wins and a third for the day to hold on to second place overall with 13 points for the series.  ZEIKA skippered by Mariano Zapata, with a second and two fifths, remained the class leaders in the standings with 12 points, one point ahead of MARINA CORUNA.  LA SAL DE BAZAN sailed by Blanco-Iglesias, with a 2-4-5, goes from fifth to third place overall with 23 points, ahead of IN ITINERE, skippered by Fernando Bonilla, in fourth place with 24 points.

After the racing, the J/80 fleet held the traditional version of a "Spanish Tea" in the storeroom of the Real Club Nautico de La Coruna in which the sailors were able to taste the delicacies cooked up by various members of the class….sounded yummy and tasty! Paella, red or port wine to warm up the insides?  For more Barcelona J/80 sailing information.   

J/80 World Trophy de Cantabria

SLAM RACING Wins First Spanish Regatta of 2011!
(Santander, Spain)- While his brother is out amongst the leaders of the Barcelona World Race on IMOCA 60s, Jaime Piris was taking the upper hand amongst the local J/80 fleet in their first regatta of the year- the World Cantabria Trophy.  An excellent turnout of 29 boats assured everyone of a highly competitive and fun sailing regatta.

For the first weekend of racing, the Race Committee set up a course in light wind from the west in the bay and managed to get off a good series of races.  Jaime's FONESTAR was leading after the first weekend, followed by MABLE sailed by Alberto Padron, third is SLAM RACING with Tono Gorostegui sailing very fast downwind.  Past J/80 World Champion Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING is fourth and fifth is MERCEDES BENZ sailed by Alvaro Elorza.  Current J/80 World Champion Pichu Torcida had a bad second race, finishing an uncharacteristic 17th in his local fleet to knock him out of the top 10 for now.

For the second weekend of racing, the standings amongst the fleet leaders changed a lot! Two straight days of racing were scheduled to complete the first regatta of the year.  The Committee decided to set up the race course off Cape Minor.  The wind was blowing about 10 knots from the west to northwest. It was very cold with wind chill close to 0 degrees C (32 degrees F).  The wind was very shifty and contributed to the huge changes in the standings. Those who went left on the first beats did a lot better than those who went right.  A surprise leader at the first mark on the first race was COMPESCA with Olympic Gold Medalist Fernando Echavarri at the helm.  Chasing him fast was NEXTEL, MAQUECHE and RAITA.  After a disastrous spinnaker takedown, COMPESCA dropped back allowing MABLE, RAITA and Pichu on ECC VIVIENDAS to round out the top three, respectively.  After a good series of races, the Race Committee was careful to provide the fleet reasonably "fair" racing conditions.  However, the wind dropped a lot and veered in direction, so the PRO Perez-Sanchez decided it was better to conclude the racing and head for the clubhouse.

At the end of the day, Tono Gorostegui on SLAM RACING counted a 3-2-1 to win the first Spanish regatta of the year.  Second was Alberto Padron sailing MABLE with 9 points, third was Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING with 12 points, fourth was Adiran Zamacona's LUPA, one of his better finishes to date in the J/80 fleet.  Fifth was Jaime Piris on FONESTAR, the early regatta leader falling from grace with the sea- the last weekend was very tough on their team.  Again rising like a "phoenix from the ashes" was Pichu Torcida, salvaging an 8th to finish with 22 points on ECC VIVIENDAS.  For more J/80 Spain sailing information.  For more J/80 one-design sailboat information.  Sailing photo credit- Chapifoto.com   

J/80 Italy Winter Series Update

(Tigullio, Italy)- A beautiful northerly breeze accompanied the exciting sailing on Sunday in the Regatta dell'Invernale of Tigullio. The 35th edition of the historic Offshore Sailing Championship organized by Franco Noceti and sailing clubs of Tigullio crews brought an intriguing double series of races.

Before the first race it was blowing 12-15 knots, then the north wind strengthened unexpectedly, rising to 25 and allowing beautiful planing conditions for the J/80s of over 14 knots.

In the first race JENIALE! (Maximum Rama / Extreme Sailing Team) set a good pace and won the race in front of a bright MONTPRES, followed by OLJ SPIRIT, JACONDE and J-BES.

In the second race it was a repeat duel between JENIALE! and MONTPRESS, but this time the crew of Paul Montedonico on MONTPRESS prevailed, winning the race followed JENIALE!.

Overall after 8 races, Federico Rajola is first with OLJ SPIRIT. JENIALE! is in second followed by  Paul Montedonico with MONTPRES in third. Fourth place with J-BES is Alberto Garibotto and fifth Massimo Zunino on JACONDE.  The next set of races is on Sunday, Feb. 6 and a great closing set will be on Feb. 20.   

SPI Ouest France Expects Strong J/80 Class

(La Trinite Sur Mer, France)- Expect over 100 J/80s from Italy, Spain, France, England, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom and Germany.  Like every year, the Spi Ouest France will be the first Cup race in Coupe de France J/80. The fleet will be rafted on the pontoons in front of the NTS, the mooring slips will be reserved for J/80s, the biggest class at Spi Ouest! Thank you to everyone to keep his place from the beginning to the end of the race to avoid the bazaar in the back at the dock.  Be sure to make plans now and register for Spi Ouest and take advantage of all the special rates for launch/ haul and dockage for the J/80 class- go now to Spi Ouest Regatta site.
For more J/80 one-design sailboat information.