Hublot Palmavela Regatta

Tres Amigos, Tres Campiones

(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- If there is any place on Earth that comes close to a sailing paradise, Palma surely has to be on the list with its spectacular geography, great sailing on the bay and beautiful, historic town anchored by the skyscraping Santa Maria cathedral.  The mountainous ridge along the NW portion of Mallorca creates a reasonably reliable sea breeze from the WSW.  No wonder Palma's town and harbors are favorites of super yachts and sailors alike for centuries, or why photographers like Jesus Renedo (featured here), that call Palma "home", consider it one of the most spectacular places to shoot sailboats in the world.

The first big event of the sailing season for Palma is the Hublot Palmavela and it's considered one of the best of the year, often because of the spectacular spring sailing conditions with bright, crystal blue skies.  This year's seventh edition lived up to those expectations, with skies made even clearer with no European air traffic due to Iceland's volcanic ash cloud over northern Europe.

The J/80 fleet had twenty-two entries, attracting a star-studded cast of sailors that included two former J/80 World Champions, Jose Maria Torcida and Ignacio Camino, from 2007 and 2008, respectively.  According to Jesus, "it was an incredibly tight fleet to watch and, to our joy, one of the WALLY super yacht owners, Thomas Bascher, left his Wally 100 footer OPEN SEASON to have loads of fun racing one-design in J/80s."

After two beautiful days of sailing, it was hard to hold the ex-World Champions and the Spanish National champions off the podium.  At the end, it was Martinez on PERALEJA GOLF that set the standard with just twelves points!  Camino on NEXTEL finished second with thirty one points, just beating his fellow World Champion Torcida sailing ECC VIVIENDAS who finished third with thirty five points.  Photo Credits- Jesus Renedo.  For more J/80 Sailing results.  For more Palmavela sailing and regatta information  

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/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  

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  

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 Winter Trophy Club de Mar

(Palma Mallorca, Spain- Feb 20)- On Saturday February 20, Club de Mar in Palma de Mallorca ran the final three races of the Winter Trophy.  Sailing well in their first regatta of the 2010 sailing season was the overall winner was the wildly graphic J/80 PORTCALL COMPOSITES.  With no meltemis to worry about and seasonably warm conditions, the island "nation" of Palma blessed the J/80 fleet with near perfect conditions for sailing in the famous bay.  Capturing the essence of sailing in these idyllic waters off the eastern coast of Spain was the remarkable photographer, Jesus Renedo. Credits- http://www.sailingstock.com   For more Spanish J/80 sailing information.