New York YC Wins Cumberland Cup Team Race Sailing

(London, England)- The Cumberland Cup, the international 2-on-2 team racing contest sailed in J/80s and hosted by the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London, started the three-day event in windy conditions on the Queen Mary Reservoir. As the only major international keelboat event regularly hosted in the UK's capital, the Cup attracts global competition. This year, teams came from Royal Northern & Clyde YC (Glasgow, Scotland), Eastern YC (Marblehead, MA), Southern YC (New Orleans, LA), Island Royals (London, UK), Seawanhaka Corinthian YC (New York, NY), New York Yacht Club (Newport, RI/ New York, NY), Royal Perth YC (Perth, Australia) and Royal Thames YC (London, UK).

Principal Race Officer, Gillian Smith, took the decision to run a round-robin format of racing to give all teams the maximum amount of time on the water. With races lasting around ten minutes, and with speedy crew changes, the momentum was maintained throughout each day of sailing.  The short, box-shaped course enabled teams to put their team-racing knowledge to good use producing exciting starts, tight mark roundings, neck and neck finishes and even a few man overboard situations.  Stu Saffer, team captain of the New York YC team, commented, “The race against Royal Perth YC was particularly exciting. The vigorous pre-start, resulting in one boat being OCS and a man overboard, meant the NYYC got lucky! We are looking forward to meeting a fully-manned RPYC boat next time around!”

With racers of international experience, the standard of team racing was understandably high as Mark Lees, helm of one of the RTYC boats, said, “We’ve had our first three races, which have all been very close as the standard of team-racing is exceptionally high. We’re frustrated because we’ve only taken one win, but remain positive as we know where we’ve gone wrong, and we’re looking forward to getting some wins under our belt.”

By the end of racing on Day One, 19 races, out of a round-robin of 28 races, had been completed with the New York YC leading with a 4-0 record, followed by Seawanhaka Corinthian YC (3-1) in second and Royal Northern & Clyde YC (3-2) in third.

The second day dawned warm and sunny with a gentle northerly breeze of 10 knots – ideal team-racing conditions.  Having completed 19 out of 28 races on day 1, the Race Committee started racing as soon as possible, completing the first round-robin before moving on to a second, complete round-robin, the aim being to maximize the amount of racing time for all teams.

The lighter breeze enabled teams to engage in some very competitive team racing.  Eastern YC's team captain Larry Ehrhardt said, “The lead changes four or five times in a race with the finishes being pretty nail biting in most instances. The light air is really giving us a chance to race aggressively, which we love”.  Remember, in 2-on-2 team racing, last place loses-- a very difficult scenario to control while team racing!

The Race Committee took the decision not to use spinnakers, giving teams a further opportunity to focus on team tactics. The teams were unanimous in agreeing that this really added to the team-racing element of the competition as opposed to focusing efforts on boat-handling skills.  At the end of the first round-robin, NYYC and Seawanhaka YC were tied with 6 pts apiece, third was Eastern YC, fourth Southern YC and fifth Royal Northern & Clyde YC.

The third and final day was greeted with glass-like water and zephyrs of breeze – ideal conditions for allowing sailors a chance to recuperate from an enthusiastic evening program the night before.  Racing continued as soon as a southerly breeze filled in and round-robin 2 was resumed. Using a box-shaped course, with starboard mark roundings and no spinnakers, enabled teams to focus on tactics and produced some aggressive – and very competitive racing.

At the end of racing on Saturday, New York YC was dominating the event with ten wins out of 11 races. However, hot on their heels was Seawanhaka Corinthian YC with eight wins out of nine races, closely followed by Eastern YC. With another 16 races to go to complete round-robin 2, the lead was very much up for grabs and racing started on Sunday with a vengeance.

New York YC continued with their run of top results and, by race #45 had only dropped one result. The Race Committee, led by Gillian Smith, stopped the second round-robin at race 45 which represented a clean break in the program with all teams having completed the majority of their races. Race 45 itself saw Seawanhaka Corinthian YC take on Eastern YC – a match that would find a finalist to go up against the team from New York.

The race took around 25 mins with frequent lead changes, luffing matches and very tactical mark roundings. The team from Seawanhaka grabbed victory on the final leg and thus earned their place in the final against New York YC. Eastern YC therefore claimed 3rd place in the Cumberland Cup.

The final was a best-of-three match between New York YC and Seawanhaka Corinthian YC with the first victory going to NYYC. It was all to come down to the next race and it proved a worthy battle. NYYC clinched another victory on the finish line and thus sealed their overall win and claimed the title of winner of The Cumberland Cup 2012.

Stu Saffer, team captain of NYYC, commented, “The race was intense. We had a hard time against the boys from Seawanhaka. They raced well and got us into some tight corners. However, we pulled the two races out of the bag in the end and are really pleased with our win”.

After three days of competitive, intense racing all the teams were keen to thank the hosts, Royal Thames YC and their race officer team and Queen Mary Sailing Club for providing a fantastic race venue.   Gorgeous Sailing photo credits- Claire Matches   For more J/80 Cumberland Cup sailing information

JOCONDA Triumphs in Marina Yachting Trophy

(Chiavari, Italy)- This past weekend, the Yacht Club Chiavari played hosted to sixty five boats on the water in classes that ranged from IRC and ORC to one-designs like J/80s.  In the end, the J/80s did incredibly well against all of their counterparts on the water racing for the Trofeo Marina Yachting.

Saturday had little wind forecast from Southeast.  Nevertheless, the starting was aggressive and complicated by the different pressures on the field of play towards the first mark. Despite the poor start, Daniela Magistro sailing JOCONDA ended up doing well in the first race. The right side paid for JENIALE, enough to close the distance to first, but unable to overtake his opponent. The wind dropped off for the last race of the day, but with the same results for 1st and 2nd.  Afterwards, there was a "great happy hour at the YCC until dinner", according to one competitor.

On Sunday were totally different weather conditions, waiting for the thermal wind to overcome the light north wind.  By mid-day the wind had risen to 15-17 knots with some great racing.  This time JENIALE! took first with JOCONDA second, with COCCHI, JBES and MONTPRES filling out the top five, respectively.  For the second race of the day, in similar conditions, the entire fleet lined up and locked-in battle to the first mark- essentially a close reach with no gennakers.  In the end, it was JOCONDA again the quickest, having a sweet burst of speed and taking a well-deserved victory.  Congratulations to Daniela Magistro for a job well done!  For more J/80 Italy sailing information

J/80 Spain Sailing Summary

(Santander, Spain)- Last Saturday, May 5th, the Cantabrian fleet in Santander started the first day of the Maqueche Trophy race. Jaime Piris with FONESTAR leads the standings after placing 1-2 in the first two races. The runner-up is ECC VIVIENDAS sailed by Pichu Torcida and in third is YATES Y COSAS.

On May 6th and 13th, the J/80 Bilbao fleet has two days of training with the collaboration of J/80 World Champion, Ignacio Camino. These training sessions are a prelude to the forthcoming J/80 Spain Cup, which will start May 31 and go to June 3.

On April 14, in the waters of Lanzarote, Canary Islands off the coast of northern Africa, the local J/80 fleet sailed the J/80 Island League Championships.  After two weekends of sailing (five weekends total are scheduled), MARINA RUBICON II sailed by Rafael Lorenzo Lasso is first.  HOTEL PRINCESSA YAIZA sailed by Rayco Tabarez is currently second followed in third by MARINA RUBICON I sailed by Quintana Aythami Marrero.  For more Spanish J/80 sailing information

PROCEDES DIVA Wins J/80 MAIOR CUP

(Kiel, Germany)- Fourteen J/80s participated in this year's MAIOR CUP in Kiel.  The teams had four days of excellent racing with strongly varying weather conditions, so much so that only seven of the originally scheduled fifteen races were completed.

After two races sailed on Saturday, the race committee decided cancel races for Sunday due to strong wind.  On the third day, there was  glorious weather, but the wind remained nearly dead.  When wind conditions were still weak, the RC managed to sail only two races, and the right side of the track was heavily favored on all legs upwind and downwind.

In the evening the J/80 teams got together for a barbecue on the beach at the Yacht Club.  After plenty of cold beer and hot sausages (bratwurst), there was plenty of laughter about the past days of sailing, recognizing how difficult it was to sail in the weather conditions presented to the race committee.

The last day dawned with great expectations for a fun day or sailing, thanks to a fresh breeze blowing 20-25 knots!  In a few hours, the PRO managed to fire off four great races, much to the satisfaction of the now very, very tired skippers and crews!

In summary, we can say that the MAIOR in 2012 demanded a lot of the crews. Strength, endurance and good tactics.  The light winds demanded tremendous concentration to sail fast and smart.

For the final results, PROCEDES DIVA with skipper Bjorn Beilken (SKWB) topped the field quite convincingly.  Second was ANEGADA sailed by Thomas Dehler (GYC), followed closely in third by CAMPAIGN guided by helmsman Sven Vagt (SKWB).  Next up are the J/80 Worlds in Plymouth, England for many of our teams. Until then, "boom-and Schotbruch"!   For more J/80 Maior Cup sailing information

J/80 JALAPENO Wins Almere Regatta

Fresh to Frightening Winds Challenge Sailors
(Muiderzand, Netherlands)- The JALAPENO Team skippered by Piet Vroon and powered by Joie de Vivre wins Almere Regatta six races.  The Regatta had two perfect days to  determine the winners in very challenging and changing weather conditions. Saturday averaged 30 knots with gusts of 45-- yes, the "blowing dogs off chains" variety! Sunday it blew between 0 and 24 knots from the north and the south and everything in between. The J/80 has again proven that it can sail in all extremes and hang together.  Even then, gusts to 45 kts are a bit much.  Amongst the "surfing content" winners was ELF, managing a shade shy of 20 knots on the speedo!

Behind Vroon's JALAPENO team, who by the way had straight 1sts as counters, second went to Holsboer's JUUL, third went to Everwijn's ELF, fourth was Spaan's J-STRING and fifth was Elsink's J'ZUS.   For more J/80 Almere Regatta Sailing information

ATLANTIS Wins J/80 Interface Cup France

(Vallee des Fous, France)- The second event of the French J/80 Circuit, the J/80 INTERFACE CUP hosted by Club de La Vallee Des Fous, was not without its consequences.  Remarkably bad weather, but great atmosphere for the sailors.  To date six races have been sailed between 15 and 30 knots breeze with icy rain Saturday. "Sporting conditions", as they say, but the bay is sheltered from the swell which permitted the PRO to run the regatta in challenging weather.

Despite the tough sailing, the French crews were determined to race, not only as part of their training and J/80 France Cup but as part of getting ready for the impending J/80 Worlds in Dartmouth, England.

At the top of the pack after a strong SPI Ouest France showing was Laurent Sambron on ATLANTIS with a 2-6-1-3-1-6 for 13 pts.  Laurent was in a "horse-race" for the top of the podium with the next two teams.  Second was Herve Leduc on J'ILE DE RE with a 5-2-2-2-3-12 for 14 pts.  Third was Simon Moriceau on INTERFACE CONCEPT with a 4-1-5-5-8-1 for 16 pts.  A bit further behind was Vincent Vandekerkhove sailing DUNKERQUE PLAISANCE in fourth with 24 pts and fifth was Nicolas Lunven skippering GENERALI with 31 pts.   For more Club de La Vallee Des Fous Interface Cup J/80 sailing information   For more French J/80 sailing information

J/80 Sailing Video- Best of SPI Ouest France

*  J/80 video "Best of Spi Ouest France"- for some fun, take a look at some of these amusing video sequences of J/80s surfing/ planing downwind off La Trinite sur Mer, France on the Bay of Quiberon.  And, some great crashes of other boats that aren't so easy to keep upright!  Have Fun and Enjoy the ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELMVzNt6euw

J/80s Royal Thames Cumberland Cup Sailing Preview

(Heathrow Airport, Queen Mary Reservoir, a.k.a. London, England)-  The Royal Thames Yacht Club, in the heart of London’s West End, is bracing itself to welcome an influx of sailors from across the world, all eager to begin the competition to win the Cumberland Cup, the only international yachting event to be held in the capital of the United Kingdom. The Cumberland Cup is once again supported by the Royal Thames YC’s corporate partner, Audemars Piguet (an exotic Swiss watch company).

Although only launched in 2008, the Cumberland Cup, now raced in J/80s, has rapidly come to be regarded as the most important two-boat team racing event in the World and, with the cream of the World’s yacht clubs eager to compete, the Club has been forced to select the challengers on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

The eight confirmed teams for the 2012 event present a worthy sample of the World’s best team racers: Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), New York YC (New York, NY & Newport, RI), Seawahnaka Corinthian YC (Long Island, NY), Southern YC (New Orleans, LA near the French Quarter), Royal Northern & Clyde YC (Scotland), Royal Perth YC (Perth, Western Australia), Island Royals (a combined team from Royal London YC, Royal Corinthian YC and Royal Yacht Squadron) and the Royal Thames YC (somewhere near great shopping in downtown London on the Brompton Road and a stone's throw from Hyde Park-- e.g. Knightsbridge!). The Event is a four-day celebration of sailing, both ashore and afloat.

There is a full social program including a Reception at St James’s Palace in the presence of the RTYC Commodore, HRH The Duke of York, and a Regatta Dinner at the Royal Thames YC’s Clubhouse at 60 Knightsbridge (Harrod's, by the way, is just around the corner).

Racing, which starts on Friday 11th May, with Thursday 10th scheduled as a practice day, runs virtually non-stop with each two-boat team competing against every other team. With such high quality sailing the Cumberland Cup is very exciting and yet relatively easy for spectators to understand – the winner in each case is the team that avoids having the last boat across the line.

All the sailing will be taking place at the home of the RTYC J/80s, the fabulous Queen Mary Reservoir. The fantastic shore-side premises ensure visitors are able to have a great view of all the on the water action.  Please note the bookies present will place bets on every mark-rounding.  And, if RTYC isn't leading, the House of Lords will undoubtedly be in revolt!

The artifact for which the Royal Thames Cumberland Cup international yacht club contest is raced has an iconic significance not just within the Club itself, but in the wider context of the sport we now call "yacht racing".  The name "Cumberland" is central to the whole history and, indeed, very existence of what today is called the Royal Thames Yacht Club. In 1775 Henry, Duke of Cumberland, who was both the brother of the King (George III) and himself a keen sailor gathered together the gentlemen yachtsmen who had been sailing and occasionally racing on the River Thames since half-way through the Previous Century and bade them to organise a race for which HE would Give a Cup. This was the very first Cumberland Cup, sailed for on July 13th 1775, and in honor of the occasion the gathering of yachts was called the "Cumberland Fleet".   For humble "Colonialists" in America, please note this was a good YEAR before George W The First took his rowboat across Delaware River to declare victory over the "taxation without representation" zealots.

At the time of that regatta, there was no organization in the country – nor indeed so far as we know in the World – engaged in the organization of regular yacht racing. There had been earlier races and indeed earlier gatherings of yachtsmen – the Water Club of Cork and its "maneuvers" being the best known - but by 1775 they had come and gone. After that July 1775 Regatta, the yachtsmen who had formed the Cumberland Fleet met in a coffee room in London and formed what they called "The Cumberland Sailing Society". That society still exists, known today by its more modern name of Royal Thames Yacht Club and each year in June at their Annual Regatta (in Cowes, IOW, of course), they hold the Cumberland Sailing Society dinner.

Each year after 1775 The Duke gave another cup – always until 1786 known as the "Cumberland Cup"– to be raced for by the Cumberland Fleet. After 1786 the Cups had varying names but the Cumberland Sailing Society continued, changing its name very briefly in 1823 to the Coronation Society before becoming, just a few months later, the Thames Yacht Club.

The 1781 Cup was originally made by London's famous silversmiths Garrard's.  MUCH later, the Garrard silversmiths were the makers of the rather LATER America's Cup- an old piece of silver known as the 100 Guinea Cup). Silver-gilt, and topped by a figure of a sailor holding a scroll bearing the names of the winning yachts of all the previous cups--- the Cumberland Cup has just a "bit of history"-  you can read more about it here (cool stuff if you like sailing & yachting history)!
For more Royal Thames YC Cumberland Cup sailing information

J/80 PRO-RIGGING Wins PalmaVela

(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- Four days of picture-perfect sailing conditions have decided the winners of the 7th edition of the Mapfre PalmaVela regatta, which has gathered 115 boats of 16 countries in the bay of Palma.  It came down to the wire on the last day for winners in most of the 15 divisions at the 2012 Mapfre PalmaVela regatta, which began Friday with over 1.000 sailors representing countries such as Spain, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Virgin Islands, England, Sweden and Great Britain. The event is hosted by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, and is considered the first event of the Mediterranean sailing season.

The nineteen teams sailing in the J/80 fleet had excellent competition.  However, this time a new team took the honors at the top of the podium, local hotshot sailor Javier Sanz racing for Real Club Nautico Palma on PRO-RIGGING won the event easily.  Second was the "sponsor's" team, MAPFRE sailed by Carlos Martinez and third was past Spanish Olympic Gold Medalist, Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg racing NILFISK.  The American team on FIRED UP sailed a charter boat and managed a credible 7th, led by Gary Kamins and crew (Jay Lutz) from California YC and Houston, TX.

In the ORC fleet the J/145 ACE sailed by Fred Stelle with guest star Rod Johnstone had a fabulous time sailing and managed to grab a third overall in their division.

On the first day or racing, the forecast was for Westerly winds of around 15 knots all day, reaching 16-17 knots at 12:00, when the start of races is scheduled. The nice westerly breeze and clear sunny skies brought another great day of sailing for the season`s first event.  Of note, in the Soto 40 class the series favorite Iberdrola, with J/80 World Champion Pichu Torcida at the helm, showed they are in form and finished the day in the first position after the three races held today.  In the ORC 0 Class, Fred Stelle's J/145 ACE managed a 3-4.

On the second day of sailing, Southerly winds of 8 to 10 knots in the early afternoon cooperated to give almost all classes three races, although the breeze didn`t settle until later in the afternoon, 15:00 hours, when the clear sunny skies and 15 knots delivered picture-perfect conditions.  In the J80 class Javier Sanz`s Pro-Rigging skippered by David Madrazo clawed their way up to first after a great performance notching two first and a second place, leaving Jose María Van der Ploeg`s Nilfisk as runner up. The Spanish Olympic medallist posted a sixth, an eleventh - discarded- and a first.  In ORC 0, Fred Stelle's J/145 team on ACE repeated their performance from the day before, scoring a 4-3.

The third and last day of races started in tactically demanding conditions of 6 to 8 knots of Northeasterly wind and light overcast skies which prevented the breeze from pushing through until 14:00 hours, when a nice Southerly breeze stablished in the bay of Palma.  The J-80 class was a cause for joy at the RCNP for its President Javier Sanz`s PRO-RIGGING clinched the Mapfre PalmaVela Trophy in the One-Design class which gathered nineteen boats for this seventh edition. Carlos Martinez`s MAPFRE was second, whereas Olympic medallist Jose María Van der Ploeg`s NILFISK was third.  On the last day, Stelle's J/145 ACE in ORC 0 class managed a 3rd to clinch 3rd overall for the division.   Sailing photo credits- Martinez Studio   For more PalmaVela sailing information

JOCONDA Scoops Italian J/80 Winter Championship

(Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy)- Over the course of the four weekend winter series held on the beautiful waters and bay off Santa Margherita and Portofino, Italy, it was pretty clear that JOCONDA was sailing strongly and was determined to finish well in their series.

The regional J/80 fleet saw testing conditions over the course of the series, with relatively light breezes from the southern sea-breeze quadrants most of the time.  In the end, with eleven races sailed,  JOCONDA won the Winter Championship Trophy Miramare!

In second place in both rankings was JENIALE, which was lacking in consistency and good performance.  MONTPRES was sailing well and managed to sail to third place while J-BES managed a fourth.
For more J/80 Italian Sailing information

MANDOVI Leads El Trofeo Primavera

GO FIT Leads Trofeo El Mundo Cantabria
(Algorta, Spain)- The J/80s in Spain continue their spring series in their various sailing regions.  Held over several weekends, these regatta serve to warm-up their teams to world-championship calibre in a very short period of time-- all possible due to the high level of talent in their fleets, giving many sailors the chance to practice and train hard against Olympic and World Champions!

In the Trofeo Primavera being sailed off Punta Galea near Algorta, Spain, the MANDOVI team is setting the pace, having won two races last weekends.  MANDOVI now sits in first place with only six points followed by JET SET and FREUS that are tied on ten points each.

Over in Santander, the J/80s are racing for the title of Champion of El Trofeo El Mundo Cantabria-  in short, "Champion of the Cantabrian World".  A bit tongue-in-cheek, of course, but no less fun and serious for the top teams practicing for the upcoming worlds just under two months away in Dartmouth, England.

After last weekend's racing, it is David Madrazo's team on GO FIT that is leading with a strong, consistent performance of a 7-2-2-1-2-2 for only 9 total points.  Immediately behind him are two J/80 World Champions, with Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING with a 5-3-1-3-8-3 for 15 pts, good enough for second place, and Pichu Torcida on ECC VIVIENDAS in third with a 1-20-5-7-4-1 for 18 pts.  Rounding out the top five are Jesus Gonzalez on RAITAN with a 6-17-7-2-6-5 for 26 pts in fourth and in fifth is Tonio Piris on the familiar YATES Y COSAS, starting out strong with a 3-1-4-5 but DNC'd the last two races for a total of 43 pts.  For sailing photo credits in Algorta- Patricia Merino Fotografía  For J/80 Spain sailing results

J/Teams Sailing PalmaVela

(Palma de Mallorca, Spain)- 116 boats, 1,000 sailors, 16 represented countries and 15 divisions make up the impressive line-up of the 2012 Mapfre PalmaVela regatta, the principal opening event for the 2012 sailing season on the Mediterranean. During the four next days, 15 divisions will be competing on four race areas distributed throughout the bay of Palma, probably one of the world's most famous sailing areas.

The J/80 fleet will have nineteen teams and will feature the participation of Olympic champion and winner of the last edition of the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre, José María van der Ploeg at the helm of GREAT SAILING as well as past winner of the PalmaVela, Carlos Martínez sailing MAPFRE.  Sure to give them a good-ole fashioned run-for-the-money will be Gary Kamins and crew (Jay Lutz) from California YC and Houston, TX.

In the ORC fleet will be the J/145 ACE sailed by Fred Stelle that has on-board a great crew, including J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone.  Since they're the "small boat" in a big-boat class, life could be interesting chasing down the big-boys when the sea-breeze builds on a choppy, wavy bay off Palma.  For more PalmaVela sailing information

Spectacular Sailing At SPI OUEST France Regatta

J/111 J-LANCE 7 & J/80 INTERFACE CONCEPT Winners
(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- The weather was challenging- ranging from sunny and windy to grey, cool, light and shifty.  Nevertheless, the host club, the Société Nautique de la Trinité-sur-Mer, masterfully orchestrated a fabulous, gracious and excellent competition across the board for the enormous 438 boat fleet and the giant J/Classes. In short, one of the most famous spring regattas in the world lived up to its billing as one of the premiere sailing events on the international sailing calendar.

In one short burst of spontaneous combustion and energy, the quaint, lovely little seaside town called La Trinite sur Mer on Quiberon Bay became a bustling metropolis for some of the world's best sailors in both offshore sailing as well as one-design classes.  All the boats that participated were in for a challenging four days of sailing: great 20-25 kt sunny breezes the first day, two days of cloudy, grey shifty sailing, concluding with another partly cloudy windy day for the finale.  For many of the classes, the regatta outcome was not determined until the last day.  The huge J contingent of 141 boats (32% of the fleet with J/Boats being the largest brand in the regatta!) from across Europe and the U.K. had a wonderful time.  Nine J/111s sailed their first European One-Design event and the 119 J/80s were treated to a tour'de'force by a renown French sailing team.

For the J/111 class, the racing could not have been any closer.  Literally, the outcome came down to the last leg of the last race to determine who would win!  And, even crazier was the fact that the winner was determined on a tie-breaker!  Prophetically, it became a titanic battle between one of the top offshore French sailing teams led by Didier LeMoal on J-LANCE 7 and the #1 British J/109 offshore team that has now hopped into the J/111 class- the team of David & Kirsty Apthorp on the famously-named J-DREAM.  The regatta went down to the wire for the top three boats.  After six races, J-DREAM was a leading with a 2-1-2-3-1-1 record for only 10 pts, J-LANCE 7 was in second with a 1-3-3-2-2-2 for 13 pts and third was John Van der Starre's XCENTRIC RIPPER with a 3-4-1-1-3-5 for 17 pts.  But, the last four races changed everything for this group.  Didier's team on J-LANCE 7 managed to finish off with a 1-1-3-1 to J-DREAM's 8-2-2-2 and XCENTRIC RIPPER's 2-5-1-3.  As a result, J-LANCE 7 won the tie-break on most 1sts to win the class with J-DREAM second and XCENTRIC RIPPER third.  Rounding out the top five were two other French teams, Stephen Blanchard's LE JOUET in fourth and G. Thomas' ALPHALINK EXTREME YACHTING in fifth.

The J/111s enjoyed excellent media coverage of their event, thanks to BLUR.SE founder Peter Gustafsson (he was sailing his brand new J/111 BLUR!).  For a preview of what it's like to sail the J/111 in tight-quarters one-design racing, see these videos edited by Peter's friend Stefan Blom on VIMEO and also read John Van de Starre's report from X-CENTRIC RIPPER below in the J/Community section.

VIMEO - Day One/  Day Two/  Day Three/  Day Four

Without question, the dominant one-design class in SPI Ouest France were the 119 J/80s-- by far the largest one-design class the SPI OUEST Regatta has ever experienced for several years in a row. Why?  Because they're having fun and it's a simple sportboat to sail in France!  Considering the strength and the depth of experience seen at this year's world-class event, it was remarkable to see one team simply dominate the racing over a wide variety of sailing conditions.  The top Frenchman at last year's J/80 Worlds in Copenhagen, Denmark simply demonstrated speed, smart tactics and great boat-handling-- congratulations to Eric Brezellec and crew on INTERFACE CONCEPT for a fantastic sailing series-- hard to beat a record of 1-2-7-1-2-1-7-4-1 tossing a 7th for an aggregate of 19 pts!  Nevertheless, while Eric's was a dominating performance, two other top French teams were giving him a "run-for-the-money".  Coincidentally, like their big brother J/111 teams, they also had to settle for "who-beat-who" on a tie-breaker!  Second was Vincent Vandekerhove sailing DUNKERQUE PLAISANCE to an equally strong 6-1-1-7-bfd-1-1-5-2 record for 24 pts.  Were it not for a BFD in race 5, Vincent and the very fast, smart-sailing DP crew might have won the regatta outright.  Third was Nicolas Lunven sailing GENERALI to an incredibly consistent 2-16-2-2-3-3-2-6-4 also for 24 pts.

Congratulations must go out to the top women sailing team that was led by the French team of Maxime Rousseaux on CN ST CAST- GRAND OUEST ETIQUETTES, finishing 4th overall out of 119 boats!  She ended up defeating a number of Olympic Medallists, World and European Champions along her route to to the top five.  Fifth behind here was French J/80 Champion Luc Nadal on GANJA.  Top British team was Royal Southern YC's Kevin Sproul sailing ULTIMATE SAILS to sixth and top Spanish team was Inigo Jauregui on GOLD SAILING in eighth.

The J/122s and J/133 had a tough road to drive in a very competitive 32 boat IRC 1 Class.  In the end, the top J/122 was MADE IN LOVE (J. Patier) finishing 7th, followed by another J/122 JOLLY JOKER (R. Marchais) in 12th.  Ending up 13th was Yves Grosjean's J/133 JIVARO and just behind them was the J/122 NUTMEG IV (F. Lognone) in 16th.

Finally, in the largest IRC fleet, IRC 4 class with 64 boats, the J/97 MISPICKEL V sailed by B. Fagart managed to finish 6th despite a "slow start" in Races 1 & 2 and a bad race 8. Otherwise, the MISPICKEL V team were on track to be a regatta leader with a 4-2-8-1-4 for one of the best records in the fleet!  "Next time" promised the crew!   For more Spi Ouest France sailing information

J/80 Italy Winter Championship

(Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy)- The J/80 class in Italy continues to enjoy a passionate following of sailors, much like their J/24 brothers.  This year, the J/80 Winter Champion was JOCONDA.  After sailing four weekends (from February to April 1), the local J/80 fleet was pleased to have lots of races on the water in front of the Hotel Miramare and the beautiful bay of Santa Margherita (just around the corner from a very famous sailing "water-hole" known as Portofino).

The racing was tight for the fleet but it was clear that JOCONDA's team had the upper hand over this year's winter sailing season.  After 11 races JOCONDA proved they were worthy of being crowned the Winter Champions of the Trofeo Miramare.  In second place was class evangelist and long-time support JENIALE!  Third in the standings was MONTPRES.  For more J/80 Italy sailing information

Tabares Wins Hotel Princess Yaiza Cup

(Lanzarote, Canary Islands)- The Fifth Princess Yaiza Cup, emblematic in many respects of the Canary Islands J/80 Champion, was hosted this past weekend by the Real Club Náutico Arrecife Nautica on the spectacular and windy waters off the islands.  Presiding over the festivities and the regatta was none other than Princesa Alexia herself, saying to the teams at the start of the regatta, "I wish everyone lots of luck, enjoy fair winds and show a lot of sportsmanship!"

The first day of racing saw the fleet experiencing up to 19 knots of breeze and the offshore trade winds built up strength over the course of the day.  It was pretty clear from the outset, the fleet of twelve boats was going to have to figure out how to overcome the dominance of former J/80 World Champion, Rayco Tabares sailing the famous Canary Hotel Princesa Yaiza.  They didn't.  As Rayco's team led from the outset.

By the second day average winds were 25-28 knots gusting to 30 knots plus-- just your average Canary Islands sailing day, as Ken Read of PUMA Volvo 70 fame acknowledged after months of practice there prior to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race (quote- "I thought the roof of my condo was blowing away each night!").  Nevertheless, after contemplating for awhile the decision to go sailing, even the hardiest souls admitted it might be a bit much for most of the fleet, so the RC/PRO wisely cancelled sailing for the day.

As a result, the winner of the regatta was Rayco Tabares, the 2009 J/80 World Champion in Santander, Spain.  Second just one point back was Rafael Lasso.  Third on the podium was a family affair- Carlos Morales sailing with his three brothers, Alejandro, Gonzalo and Miguel!

On March 23, 2012 the President of the Real Club Nautico de Arrecife Jose Alvarez Juan Padron with SAR Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark presided over the awards ceremony in which different crews winners received recognition in the presence of different authorities, representatives of the different ports of Lanzarote, other competitors and attendees.

Rayco Tabares said, "I am very happy to have won my third Cup in honor of Princess Alexia with my team, this year we missed a lot of people, but otherwise all participants showed a very high level of competition with excellent crew. We are preparing for the World Championship to be held in England in June and this kind of racing can help us confront these challenges.  The northeast wind (typical of Arrecife) of the race was suitable for testing and competition, we were all very evenly matched and that is reflected in that nothing separates us from one point between each of the first four boats.  I am more than satisfied with my team after the bad start (ED NOTE- they "shrimped" their spinnaker).

Carlos Morales on the third place IKOS Crew said, "The most important is that the first four teams were just a point apart each, it shows that there was a very similar level.  We had a very good race, so I'm very happy and is a good result.  This race is special because it is named after my wife and it is great to participate. In this edition I have the luck to have had a crew of my three brothers Michael, Alexander and Gonzalo. Is the first time we sailed the four together and the experience is more than positive because we enjoyed together, so hopefully we can repeat soon."  For more Spanish J/80 sailing information

SPI OUEST France Preview

(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- Perhaps one of the most significant rights of spring every year in the sailing world in Europe has to be the famous SPI OUEST France sailing regatta held in the quaint, lovely little seaside town called La Trinite sur Mer on Quiberon Bay.  The ambiance is renown, the restaurants delicious, the wine even better, and the international gathering of sailors from all points of the compass make for a highly entertaining venue.  The beautiful harbor often has some of the elite monster multihulls parked stern-to on the main quay (the 130 footer Banque Populaire or 100 footer Groupama, for example) and, due to their enormous popularity the 100+ J/80s are parked on the other side, a commanding presence at the heart of Grand Prix French sailing.

This year another good turnout was anticipated.  A total 438 boats of which 141 (32% of the fleet) are J sailing teams are coming in from across Europe and the UK.  Nine J/111s will be participating in their European One-Design debut, 116 J/80s are racing for class honors and sixteen J/Teams are sailing in the four IRC handicap classes.

Starting with the J/111 class, nine boats are represented from across continental Europe and the UK.  So many of these teams have never sailed against one another it's impossible to make any predictions as so many are well-sailed.  Most certainly all the teams will have steep learning curves as they learn to extract maximum performance from their J/111s race-to-race. There are three French teams, LE JOUET (Stephane Blanchards- must see his website- http://www.lejouet.eu), J-LANCE 7 (Didier Le Moal) and ALPHALINK EXTREME YACHTING (G. Thomas).  Two teams are from the United Kingdom, including J-DREAM (the champion J/109 team of David and Kirsty Apthorp) and OJE (A Hill).  From Benelux are two entries, XCENTRIC RIPPER (John Van der Starre and Robin Verhoef from the Netherlands that sailed the Fastnet Race Doublehanded) and DJINN ( Jean-Patrick Smal) from Belgium.  Long distance awards will surely be contested between JUSTICE (B. Flavio) from Italy and BLUR (Peter Gustafsson's J/109 champion team from Sweden).  For a preview of what it's like to sail the J/111, see the BLUR/Peter montage video-- totally cool!!

The dominant one-design class in SPI Ouest France are the 116 J/80s-- easily the most consistent and largest one-design class the SPI OUEST Regatta has ever experienced over the course of three decades of hosting this famous regatta.  Like their J/111 big brothers, it's going to be pretty hard to determine who's going to the dominant teams, but certainly there are a few standout J/80 sailing teams that are worth mentioning that will factor into the leader board.  From France, you have renown class leaders like GANJA (Luc Nadal), ATLANTIS (Louis Sambron), INTERFACE CONCEPT 1 & 2 (Eric Brezellec and JC Moriceau, respectively) and TBS (Pierre Follenfant-- perhaps the "sleeper" in their group of world-class sailors, Pierre is a former 470 and Flying Dutchman champion).  From Italy you have their class leader JENIALE! sailed by Massimo Rama.  The Spanish contingent have nearly a dozen boats sailing with one of their top boats in attendance, GOLD SAILING skippered Ignacio Jauregui.  The host of the 2012 J/80 Worlds are the United Kingdom and their contingent is pretty strong, including ULTIMATE SAILS (Kevin Sproul, a multi-class champion), RAF BENEVOLENT FUND (Terry Hanlon of the British RAF Sailing Team) and BALTIC WHARF LTD (Henry Bomby, a top youth sailor in the UK).

The IRC Handicap rule grouping has significant competition across all four classes- IRC 1 to IRC 4.  In the 32 boat IRC 1 Class, the big J's are sailing with the J/133 JIVARO leading the charge sailed by Yves Grosjean, followed by a very tough group of J/122s, including NUTMEG IV (F. Lognone), JOLLY JOKER (R. Marchais) and MADE IN LOVE (J. Patier).  Given a good series, any one of these boats has proven over the course of time at various events around France, Italy, the UK that they can win.

In the 32 boat IRC 2 class, the top J is the J/120 RHAPSODIE V (J Godet), with two J/109s taking chase in the form of POULICO 10 (CV Arcachon) and FRANJPANE (P. Mouret), followed by the J/105 J-SQUARED (V. Jomier).

The 46 boat IRC 3 fleet has the J/92s UNISAILS BAINBRIDGE (SP Quiberon) vying for honors against a fellow J/105 MISS J (F. Guillemot).

Then, in the largest IRC fleet, IRC 4 class has 64 boats battling amongst the a wide range of boats, from the J/24 up to the super-fast J/97.  If things go well, the J/97 may prove again that it's the master of its domain, this time the J/97 MISPICKEL V sailed by B. Fagart will be up against some formidable competition.  Thrown into the fray doing battle against all the "modern" boats is the "classic" J/24 with four of them competing against the big boys, including J'ADORE (E. Richard), JINETTE (C. Gury), MARTA (P. Lemaistre) and INSULARIS (A. Garcia).  For more Spi Ouest France sailing information

Piris Wins J/80 Compesca Trophy

(Santander, Spain)-  Thirty one boats competed in one of the first major trophies of the famous J/80 Santander fleet sailing season-- the Trofeo Compesca.  The Cantabrian fleet takes no prisoners, amongst them are multiple J/80 World Champions, Olympic and European Champions.  In the end, Tono Piris too his crew on YATES Y COSAS to a one point victory over current 2011 J/80 World Champion (Copenhagen, Denmark) Ignacio Camino's famous NEXTEL ENGINEERING.  Third was yet another 2010 J/80 World Champion (Newport, RI), Jose Maria "Pichu" Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS.   The fleet enjoyed good weather, sunny days, and plenty of wind over the course of three weekends of sailing.   For more Spanish J/80 sailing information

LE TIGRE Wins Epic Bacardi Cup

(Miami, FL)- The Bacardi Miami Sailing Week could not have wished for better, more extraordinary "postcard"-type sailing conditions-- some even called it "epic". In fact, in some respects for the International Star fleet with multiple Gold Star World Champions present, it may be been "too perfect".  With a massive High weather system slowly moving offshore to the North and a large Low depression Southeast, the regatta organizers had a remarkable string of six-plus days of strong winds from the easterly quadrants (NE to SE) blowing from 8 to 30 knots.  For the Stars, Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled due to 20-30 knot winds-- perfect J/80 sailing weather, of course!  By Thursday the winds had abated enough so the J/80s could enjoy three straight days of simply picture-perfect sailing.  In the end, Glenn Darden's team on LE TIGRE simply "ate everyone's lunch", sailing to dominant win in the J/80 class.

On the first day of sailing, the all-American fleet of nine J/80s were led by Glenn's LE TIGRE team from Forth Worth, TX with five points after winning the second and third races of the day.  Gary Kamins (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) on FIRED UP was second with eight points on finishes of 2-4-2, followed by Rick Schaffer (Ft. Worth, Texas) with 13 points on finishes of 4-6-3.  Fourth overall was Henry Brauer (Marblehead, Mass.) on RASCAL after finishes of 6-3-5 earned 14 points.  Nizar Abuzeni (St. Paul, Minn.), won the opening race of the day which he followed with finishes of 7-8.  Abuzeni was fifth overall with 16 points.  On this day, the fleet was treated to 18 to 25 knot winds and wild and woolly planing runs, making the weather legs the time to recuperate for the crew in preparation for the next 12-16 knot "planing mode" run.

By the second day winds had moderated to "only" 14-20 knots, ensuring the crew's supply of "vitamin A" (a.k.a. Advil or Aleve) would be put to good use again to alleviate sore muscles, backs and arms!  Glenn and the LE TIGRE crew continued to lead the standings after winning back-to-back races which he sandwiched between finishes of second and third.  It was a tough four-race day that started early at 1030 hours!  Darden had only nine points to the 19 of Gary's FIRED UP team who finished 4-6-3-4.  Rick Schaffer (Ft. Worth, Texas) placed 3-7-9-1 and was tied on 24 points with Henry Brauer's RASCAL team who posted finishes of 8-3-2-5.

Brian Keane moved up a spot to round out the top-five with 25 points. 'Today we had less breeze but conditions were challenging with lots of wind shifts,' said Glenn Darden. 'I would say that this was the biggest challenge to overcome. Luckily our tactician did a great job in searching for the breeze. We also had good starts and these are the secrets of the day.  For tomorrow (Saturday) the strategy is to keep the momentum with my team. We've been sailing together for three years and hopefully this will get us on top tomorrow night."

Three final races were sailed by the J/80 fleet to complete their series debut.  Glenn's "Tigers" led the standings all the way to the win, which he wrapped up without needing to sail the 10th and final race.  Darden won the first two races of the day, and discarded the 10 points from not sailing the final race to net 14 points for the series.  Henry Brauer's RASCAL team made the biggest move of the regatta, moving up from fourth overall to second with 30 points after finishing with a strong 3-2-1 on the final day.  Gary Kamins FIRED UP crew with 4-5-5 ended the series with 33 points, followed by Rick Schaffer with 41 and Nizar Abueni with 44.

“Sometimes it looks easier than what it is,” said Darden.  “Today we had much lighter wind and wind shifts that made it challenging.  We had to work for our wins, but we are very pleased for the victory.  I'm also very pleased to be in Bacardi Sailing Week, and, looking forward to next year, I most certainly will recommend it to other competitors and sincerely hope participation will be up next year.  I look forward to the event ceremony and dinner, Bacardi style!”  For more Bacardi Sailing Week sailing information