J/80 Worlds Update!

Eastport Yacht Club, on behalf of J/80 Fleet 10 and the J/80 USA Class Association, invites you to Annapolis and the beautiful Chesapeake Bay to compete in the 2014 World Championship regatta, September 28 through October 4, 2014!

Top notch Race Committee led by Principal Race Officer Sharon Hadsell,NRO (USA), a representative International Jury with Charlotte Greppe, IJ/IU (SWE) as Chief Judge, professional staff and volunteers experienced with running large scale world class events are all ready to welcome you to a guaranteed excellent regatta.

Our facility is uniquely situated on the Severn River at the mouth of the Chesapeake, allowing for a quick commute to the Race Course. Our modern Marina is able to accommodate the participating sailboats in one central location, conveniently located adjacent to our newly renovated clubhouse and grounds where all regatta activities will take place under the tents. We offer full service dining/bar as well as shower facilities.

Eastport YC is located within a quaint neighborhood with available “on street” parking, and walking distance to downtown Annapolis. Historic Annapolis is the Capital of Maryland, home to the United States Naval Academy, and approximately 30 miles from both Baltimore and Washington, DC. We are conveniently serviced by 3 major international airports (BWI Thurgood Marshall, Reagan DC National and Dulles International). All of this adds up to an amazing racing venue, hassle-free and fun social activities, ample accommodations and terrific restaurants to make this a terrific atmosphere for not only the racing crews but family members and friends who want to experience all that the Chesapeake Bay region has to offer.

The Notice of Race (NOR) is available for your review, and Registration is up and running, ready to secure your place as an entrant in the ’14 World’s-  http://j80worlds2014.org/.  We invite you to be a frequent visitor to our site as we provide additional event information.  Join us on FaceBook, follow us on Twitter and please let us know if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing you in September!!  Any questions?  Please contact Chris Chadwick- j80churchkey@gmail.com.

2014 J/80 Worlds Registration Now Open!

(Annapolis, MD)- The USA J/80 Class has announced they've opened for registration the 2014 J/80 World Championship being held September 28th to October 4th, 2014 at Eastport YC in Annapolis, MD.

More information and the registration link can be found on the Worlds website at:
http://j80worlds2014.org/race-documents/registration/

Furthermore, the USA J/80 Class has outlined a 2014 J/80 World Circuit for you J/80 enthusiasts and believe they have a great slate of events, especially with a few events being held at the Worlds venue, to promote practice and familiarization of the sailing area.

The 2014 J/80 Worlds Circuit is as follows:

• Jan 19-24- Key West Race Week & J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL
• Mar 21-23- Davis Island Yacht Club Regatta- Tampa, FL
• Apr 10-13- Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC
• May 3-5- Annapolis NOODs- Annapolis, MD
• June 6-8- J/Jamboree, Gilford, NH
• Aug 30- Sep 1- J/80 East Coasts- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
• Sep 10-14- J/80 North Americans- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD
• Sep 28 - Oct 5- J/80 World Championship- Eastport YC- Annapolis, MD

There will be an Overall Circuit Champion and Runner-Up Award. Boats need to compete in at least 50% of the races to qualify. Finishes will be weighted in accordance with regatta class size to keep it fair.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on the water!    Chris Chadwick, J/80 USA Class Secretary- email- j80churchkey@gmail.com
USA 59 “CHURCH KEY”

Challenging, Cool Sailing Annapolis NOOD

(Annapolis, MD)- With a virtual armada of 156 J/Teams attending the Sperry Topsider Annapolis NOOD Regatta (74% of the whole fleet of 211), the eight J one-design classes (J/22, J/24, J/70, J/80, J/30, J/105, J/35, J/109) all had their fair share of spectacular, sunny racing on Friday. From there it was only a matter of time that conditions would deteriorate on the notoriously fickle Chesapeake Bay. For the most part the Annapolis NOOD weather conditions made for great fleet racing so long as sailors on the five division circles were well-behaved and the PRO's at each did a good job of managing the fleet and the racing.  Some were clearly better than others.  On Friday, the fleet was treated to a brisk ENE 10-20 kts with lots of choppy waters, a fast-flowing flood current and very shifty breezes with big puffs.  In such conditions, most fleets sailed four races.  By Saturday, the forecast was beginning to see diminishing winds and the sailor's confidence in the breeze fell along with those prognostications.  The forecast ENE was in fact 100% wrong, instead the fleet was treated to mostly NW-NE 6-14 kts, getting even shiftier and was full of holes, so much so that the third races for most fleets saw their last leg or two become a matter of rolling the dice.  Sadly, Sunday's forecast was even more wrong.  The forecast easterlies never materialized until late afternoon with a gorgeous sunny day.  Instead, the fleets were treated to an even crazier NW to E breeze blowing 0-10 kts with holes everywhere- a one race "craps shoot" for most, or none for others! With the third largest J fleet, the J/80's sailing with 23 boats had a very competitive fleet, especially as some teams were using it as part of their J/80 Worlds in Marseilles, France.  For the first six races, it looked like the Crump Family (Will & Marie) and Marie's brother Tom Klok sailing R80 would have a "runaway" on their hands, easily leading the fleet by a significant margin.  However, a serious brain fade in the 7th race upset their chances at a comfortable win.  Consequently, Brian Keane's SAVASANA team jumped at the opportunity to take over the lead, sailing well to win the last race as well as the series win for J/80s.  The R80 team settled for second overall.  Third was a new name at the top, John White sailing USA 1162.  Fourth was Kristen Robinson's familiar ANGRY CHAMELEON and fifth was another veteran J/80 team, Chris & Liz Chadwick's CHURCH KEY.
Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com.  For more Sperry Topsider NOOD Sailing Regatta 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

SAVASANA Dominates J/80 East Coasts

(Annapolis, MD)-  Eastport YC hosted the J/80 East Coast Championship over the October 13-14 weekend, providing a great seven-race series.  The twenty-four boat fleet was deeply laden with talent as many boats were using the event as a warm-up for the J/80 North Americans being held Eagle Mountain Lake in Forth Worth, hosted by the Fort Worth Boat Club.  In the end, top J/80 and J/105 sailor Brian Keane sailed SAVASANA to a solid series with scores of 1-2-4-1-3-1-2 for 14 pts to win the regatta 19 pts clear of the rest of the fleet.  Brian's team was never really challenged for the lead as their erstwhile competitors could only muster short runs of races to even stay close.

Perhaps the biggest battle of the regatta took place for the balance of the podium in the silver and bronze spots.  Vying for silver were John White, Will Crump, Bruno Pasquinelli, Daniel Wittig and Kirsten Robinson.  All of their teams experienced quite the "roller-coaster" rides as they fought hard to stay in contention and avoid the one disastrous race.  At the end of the day, everyone in this drop had a least one bad race, destroying any chance to even consider catching Keane's sharp sailing team on SAVASANA.

The last two races provided the deciding factor amongst these half-dozen boats.  John White's crew managed to avoid some of the difficulties other teams had avoiding the nasty race, managing to hammer home a scoreline of 11-3-5-4-1-4-7 for a total of 35 pts to secure second overall.  Third was Will Crump, demonstrating that his team could sail fast and smart at times with a scoreline of 2-8-16-9-2-2-1 for 40 pts.  Fourth was Bruno Pasquinelli's team, they started strong and were vying for the lead, but faded hard towards the end, accumulating a 3-5-2-2-5-20-5 record for 42 pts.  Fifth saw Daniel Witting finish with a flourish in the last two races, but not enough to overcome some bomber races earlier, tallying a 6-6-14-3-15-3-3 for a total of 50 pts.

Thanks must go to the sponsors, West Marine Rigging, Annapolis Sailing School, APS, SpinSheet, Bacons, Tom's Shoes & Sunglasses, Eastport YC, J World, and North Point Yacht Sales.   Sailing photo credits- Tom Hasbrouck   For more J/80 East Coast Championship sailing results

CHURCH KEY Unlocks J/80 East Coasts

(Annapolis, MD) -  This year's J/80 East Coasts were hosted by Eastport YC in Annapolis, MD.  Ramzi, who was sailing the J/80 STACKED DECK, had this to report of the crazed weather and conditions that sailors faced this past weekend on the Chesapeake Bay:

"What an amazing weekend we had! We had windy, choppy and shifty weather on Friday but had solid racing... getting in four races!  We knew that the weather would be questionable for Saturday so we did all we could to get in all we could with races starting at 10:30 and ending at 4-ish.  We had a fun event Friday night with one of our sponsors hosting wings and beer.  We decided to cancel for Saturday after our party Friday night when we learned that AYC had cancelled the J/105 regatta.  We figured that if they were concerned... perhaps we should follow.  Although the weather didn't get as awful as predicted... it was still pretty bad and the right decision.

Saturday we had a big BBQ party at the EYC clubhouse... lots of raffle goods and auction item. A lot of food, beer and fun.  We were able to make the most of the situation given the weather.

We started early on Sunday (10:30) and targeted for as many races we could get by extending the "no later than" time to 3pm. We shared the course with the J/22s and got in three races (almost four but had to abandon the 4th race due to unfair wind situation)... on a sunny day with good but shifty breeze."

At the end of the day, the J/80s can say they made the most of the weekend despite the weather conditions.  After completing seven races over the three days, Chris Chadwick's team on CHURCH KEY sailed a solid regatta to win by 10 pts.  John White's crew on US 1162 was second, narrowly beating Will and Marie Crump's JEFF's BOAT by just two points.  Fourth was class up and comer Kristen Robinson keeping the wheels on their shopping trolley and hanging tough on ANGRY CHAMELEON to get snag fourth.  Bill Hunt's FIREBOLT started strongly with a 1-3-5-2 winning the regatta Friday to fade to fifth on Sunday's racing with some deep finishes in the shifty conditions.   Sailing photo credits- SailFast Photos   For more J/80 East Coasts sailing information