January 11th, 2012
Ready to Fly!(Newport, RI)- Like its "big brother" the J/111, the new J/70 speedster is beginning to take shape in the CCF Composites production facility in Bristol, Rhode Island. Hull and deck tooling look gorgeous thanks to primary tooling work created with extremely precise multi-axis CNC milling machines and later hand-polished to mirror-like perfection by the Hudson Yachts Team in Xiamen.
The production is on schedule with "the twins", the first two production boats, to be hatched and sailing in March and with full production scheduled for roll-out in April. Major sailmakers are on-board to help in preliminary sail development on "the twins" as they start to carve up the waters of Narragansett Bay this spring off Newport, RI.
Order books on the J/70 are filling very fast, so be sure to contact your J/Dealer ASAP to get your hull reservation slot today! Start a fleet in your area and get the kids involved! It just couldn't be any easier to get a truck-load of four boats on trailers with sails under $45,000 each on your local lake or harbor! For more J/70 sailboat information
J/22 & J/80 @ boot show(Dusseldorf, Germany)- The German J/22 Class Association will again be exhibiting in the Dusseldorf Boat Show from January 21 to 29. 21.01. till 29.01.2012. The J/22 will be in hall 17 booth A58. This booth is a shared one for several class associations and is done in co-operation with the German Sailing magazine “Segler-Zeitung” (www.segler-zeitung.de) In the following link you can see some J/22 one-design sailboat pictures from last year's booth.
In addition, Mittelman's Werft will be hosting the J/80 class sailors and those interested in the J/80 one-design class at the boot show as well. Please be sure to visit both of these booths, talk shop, talk boats and get a chance to go for a sail in the spring-time on either the Baltic or one of Germany's gorgeous lakes! For more boot Dusseldorf sailboat show information
J/24 Regata Copa de Mexico II(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- The regatta promoters in the Mexican J/24 class are on a roll again. Hosting Copa de Mexico II from March 2nd to 10th on the gorgeous sailing waters of Banderas Bay off Puerto Vallarta (the "Mexican Riviera"), the Mexican J/24 class promises yet another epic event with wonderful entertainment, delicious dinners, and lots of great sailing! Only fun-loving sailors allowed!
The regatta has quickly established a reputation for being a fabulous week-long culinary, sailing, party, cultural experience; you WILL make many new friends in the warm embrace, warm weather and gracious hospitality in Mexico (just ask Tom Leweck of Scuttlebutt Sailing News fame "why PV?"). Over fifty-six J/24 teams from over a half-dozen countries are already registered! And, the depth of talent is only getting better in this remarkable event. Repeat offenders (e.g. attenders) will be champion J/24 sailor Chris Snow and team from San Diego, California aboard DIGGER. There will be two (if not three) other J/24 World Champions joining them, including Tim Healey's TRES VELAS team from Newport, Rhode Island and Mike Ingham's BLUE DEMON team from Rochester, New York. Rumors are that Maurizio Santa Cruz may be sailing another one of his famous BRUSCHETTA's in this second edition of the Copa de Mexico, hard to imagine why they wouldn't go, they won the party AND the sailing regatta last time around!
Other top teams include leading Mexican J/24 sailors like Ken Porter and regatta host Peter Weigandt on the old BRUSCHETTA. There are teams from Sweden, France, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Germany (including German Champion Jan-Marc Ulrich on 4x4). Join them in the fun! You can still register and attend, get charter boats, relax in gorgeous hotels, swim off beautiful beaches and enjoy spectacular sunsets. Plus, the mojitos and fresh-made salsa are to die for, as are fresh "ceviche" (fish) right off the local fishing boats! Toss in an ice-cold cerveza and you'll never return home. Yummy stuff! For more J/24 Copa de Mexico sailing information
Get Rolling in 2012!Give the Crew the LOVE they Deserve!
(Newport, RI)- For 2012 we've got the answer for all your scheduling and crew needs, another spectacular J/Sailing Calendar that fits onto any office, kitchen or dormitory wall. This large format, easy-to-use sailing calendar helps keep all your regattas organized. Plus, it's great for keeping your friends and crew organized, too! A great gift for anyone, one that reminds them of how much you LOVE them 24x365 this year! See the J/Calendar and order now!!
J/Sailing News
The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide
While the J/24 and J/105 fleets "down under" in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Tasmania are enjoying the middle of their summer sailing seasons, the middle of January marks the start of many winter sailing seasons in the northern hemisphere. J/22s and J/80s are getting ready to start in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France and England. Their friends up north in Sweden may have to wait until they actually have some sun during the afternoons!In the America's, January marks the start of the Midwinter one-design championships as well as the start of the most prestigious sailing race week in the winter-time, Key West Race Week down in Key West, Florida. With new sponsorship from Quantum Sails, KWRW 2012 continues its traditions and is celebrating its 25th Anniversary Edition this year-- of note, thanks to the J/24 Midwinters setting the pace in 1978 that ultimately evolved into sailing's premier midwinter event! Additionally, the Storm Trysail Club, Lauderdale YC and the SORC organization also continue to host one of the longest running offshore races in the Florida Winter circuit, the Lauderdale to Key West Race.
Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it or upload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.
Regatta & Show Schedules:
Jan 5-13- London Boatshow (J/80, J/109, J/111)- London, England- http://www.londonboatshow.comJan 15-25- Key West Race Week- Key West, FL- http://www.premiere-racing.com
Jan 15-25- J/80 Midwinters- Key West, FL- http://www.premiere-racing.com
Jan 21-29- boot Dusseldorf (J/22, J/80)- Dusseldorf, Germany- http://www.boot.de/
Jan 26-29- Strictly Sail Chicago (J/111)- Chicago, IL- http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/
Jan 27- Feb 5- Seattle Sailboat Show- Seattle, WA- http://www.seattleboatshow.com
Feb 11-15- J/24 Midwinters- Davis Island YC- Tampa, FL- http://www.diyc.org/
Feb 11-19- Boston Boatshow- Boston, MA- http://www.neboatshow.com/
Feb 16-20- Miami Boatshow- Miami, FL- http://www.miamiboatshow.com/
Feb 17-19- St Petersburg NOOD Regatta- St Pete, FL- http://www.sailingworld.com/nood-regattas
Feb 23-26- J/22 Midwinters- Houston YC- Houston TX- http://www.j22mw.com/
Mar 2-10- J/24 Regata Copa de Mexico- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico- http://j24mex.com/copa_mexico/
Mar 9-11- J/105 Midwinters- Lakewood YC- Houston, TX- http://www.j105mw.com
Apr 12-15- StrictlySail Pacific (J/111)- Oakland, CA- http://www.strictlysailpacific.com/
Apr 19-22- Newport Beach Boatshow (J/111)- Newport Beach, CA- http://newportinwaterboatshow.com
For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.
Lauderdale-Key West Race Preview(Fort Lauderdale, FL)- This perennial winter favorite of offshore sailors always throws the fleet a curveball, no matter how good the forecast looks prior to the start of the race. One would think a simple 160 nm race from Fort Lauderdale, headed south down the Florida shoreline, keeping that right-turn signal blinking as you make your way around all the reef buoys, staying out of the fast-flowing northbound Gulf Stream, to finish off the Truman Annex Navy Base at Key West would not have too many surprises! Well, if you know anything about "The Hobart" Race that is, essentially, a coastal race down the Australian shoreline, turn left to cross the Bass Straits (a short hop), then cruise down the Tazzie shoreline to the finish knows better. Even the most defined race courses in terms of their natural boundaries can throw the fleet massive curve balls. Such is the case in this year's classic Key West Race Week "feeder event", the Lauderdale to Key West Race sponsored by the Storm Trysail Club and the SORC with help from Lauderdale YC.
The original forecast was for an upwind race only as the wind is predicted to start off from the south and clock around to the southwest and west as both the front and the race progress . "This race is always a Navigator's race and changing weather patterns make it an even greater challenge", says Race Committee Chairman Joel Bowie.
With nearly 50 entries headed for the starting line, the early starters in the race saw a tough uphill slog into 20-25 knots southerly winds down to Miami Beach/ Key Biscayne and the first major turning point of Fowey Rocks. But, the front is already dying- as it nearly always does when it hits that massive 85 F degree thermal wall called "the Gulf Stream". However, with a fast-dissipating front and waning breezes clocking NW, then N, then NE, there was still promise for spectacular moonlit nights of racing under spinnakers, watching the dolphin contrails of phosphorescence criss-crossing your wake and knifing upwards pass your bow in dramatic fashion. Time will tell. What is unique about the Lauderdale Race among offshore races is that it's sailed within cell phone range the entire race! Race competitors are permitted to do just about any type of communicating they want, including updating Facebook pages, Twittering away to any friends worldwide-- enabling them to compete for a prize for "Best On-Water Reporting"!! With technology, the folks living vicariously through these sailors can be along for the ride!
Amongst the J/Sailors that love this annual challenge, you'll find a bunch of tough, but fun-loving, hombres sailing PHRF A. Leading the pack may be Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK (2011 Lauderdale Race Champion) along with a trio of J/120s- Frank Kern's globe-girdling champion from Detroit, the famous yacht CARINTHIA; fellow Detroiter Bob Kirkman sailing HOT TICKET (yet another Great Lakes Champion tearing up Florida/ Bahamas offshore waters); and Bill Terry's well-traveled TAMPA GIRL. Lone wolf, but perhaps the toughest of the lot may be David Bond's gang aboard crimson red J/105 LOKI sailing in PHRF B. An interesting side-note, SAILING WORLD's Stuart Streuli is sailing aboard Robin Team's TEAMWORK- learning how to race, navigate, drink beer, avoid the reefs, avoid the Gulf Stream, employ race-winning strategies while sailing fast-- all at the same time! Imagine that! It should be an interesting report at some time in the spring- look for it in Sailing World here- http://www.sailingworld.com. Sailing photo credits- Imagesbymarco.com and John Payne photos.com For more Lauderdale Key West Race sailing information.
25th Key West Race WeekBig J/80 Class, Cool New PHRF J/Class
(Key West, FL)- While the world has not seen the best of times, nor the worst of times in the past few years, what has remained a constant, nearly magnetic attraction to the sailing world has ben the annual midwinter pilgrimage to Key West to sail Race Week. Many top teams from the Americas as well as from Asia and Europe attend the event for a bacchanalian sailing feast for a week in January that most describe as "tropical sailing conditions" in spectacular azure-blue sailing waters around the reefs of the Gulf Stream and the Florida Keys. Sunsets and the "green flash" are signature events that put an exclamation mark not only on the day's sailing, but usher in evening festivities that perhaps only can be best described as "epic" and "off-the-wall"! After all, that's what Key West is renowned for down at the bottom (or beginning) of the famous Route 1 roadway that goes from Key West to Easport, Maine.
One of the features of this year's 25th Key West is the very welcomed sponsorship and support from Quantum Sails, whose headquarters in the Great American Midwest belies the subtle, laid back, but competitive approach they have to supporting their sailors, their teams and their customers. "We recognize that Key West Race Week is the flagship regatta in this country and has been for well over two decades," Quantum President Ed Reynolds said. "This has been reinforced by many people we've spoken with both here and abroad. Even with the smaller fleet sizes of recent years, this midwinter, big-boat regatta is very important to North American and international sailboat racing. We would like to see it continue and are committed to supporting the regatta during this transition period."SAIL Magazine's Best Around the Buoys competition is another regatta highlight-- a remarkable "award" for the team that qualifies to sail in a supplied boat with sponsors J/Boats, NORTH SAILS, HARKEN and others. The aim is to grow sailing at a grass-roots level with both one-design and PHRF competition- growing awareness that sailing can be fun with family and friends. This year, the SAIL BAB sailors from Dallas, Texas will be racing a J/80 one-design against some of the top teams in the country.
Yet another special feature of this year's 25th Anniversary is the creation of a J/Class. It's quite a turn-out of some of the top J/Teams that have raced Key West over the past few years. At the top of the food chain in PHRF 1/ J-Class is the J/122 TEAMWORK- Robin Team from Lexington, NC- these guys have done it all, won Lauderdale-Key West and Key West IRC Class and will always be a team in contention at the end of a week long series like Key West. A new team from Detroit is the J/120 HOT TICKET sailed by Bob Kirkman from Bayview YC in Detroit, Michigan-- no shrinking violets this crowd is, having beaten all other multiple Chicago/Bayview Mac Champions to the finish line in the 2011 version of the races. More new faces to the Key West crowd include the J/111 trio, including the J/111 WICKED 2.0 sailed by Doug Curtiss from Buzzards Bay (he sailed his J/124 in Key West last year); the J/111 MENTAL sailed by Paul Stahlberg from Chicago YC (a very fun-loving crew); and the J/111 WARLOCK skippered by Tom Hickey from Newfoundland YC, St John's, NB, Canada (a fast-rising team from near the Arctic Circle and the cool Northwest Passage). If this fleet wasn't' tough enough, you only need to toss in two well-sailed J/109s, like a past J/109 North American Champion and Key West Champion, Bill Sweetser's RUSH from Annapolis YC in Annapolis, MD; he's accompanied by Gary Weisberg from Gloucester, MA sailing his J/109 HEATWAVE in Key West for the first time. 
The J/80s are sailing their J/80 Midwinter Championships, the 19 boat turnout makes them the biggest class for Key West-- quite a remarkable achievement over the course of time! In addition to the SAIL BAB Team (which must feel like they're getting fed to the sharks), you will find the J/80s led by World Champions like LE TIGRE- Glenn Darden from Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX and Swedish Champion ROCAD RACING sailed by Mikael Lindqvist from KSSS (Royal Swedish YC). Plus, you have multiple Key West J/105 Champion Brian Keane on SAVASANA from Buzzards Bay, MA and J/80 North American Champions John Storck and family on RUMOR from Storm Trysail Club in New York rounding out the leaders. Finally, toss in Bruno Pasquinelli on TIAMO from Fort Worth Boat Club and he's sure to be a factor amongst the leaders so long as he doesn't argue with his boom!The PHRF 2 Class have ten boats participating. It will be a competitive fleet with two J's flying the flag and leading the fleet home (we hope)- the J/105 MAX POWER sailed by Gerrit Schulze from Cape May, NY and the J/95 STILL CRAZY sailed by Ed Palm from Grosse Pointe, MI and Naples, FL. For more QUANTUM SAILS Key West Race Week Sailing information
J/Community
What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide
* J/27 Lake Ontario Championships on August 11-12! If you've got a classic fast & fun J/27 (or wanna get one), then be sure to consider sailing in the J/27 Lake Ontario's! The Oakville Yacht Squadron (www.oysqn.com) will be hosting the J/27 Lake Ontario Championship Regatta as part of it's annual 
Mercedes-Benz Oakville Regatta this coming August 11th & 12th, 2012.In attendance will be the four local J/27s, plus they are expecting between 4 to 6 other boats from the rest of the Lake Ontario/Fleet.
If there are any boats still out there who have an interest in attending, and have any questions or need any assistance, please drop an e-Mail to J/27 Ontario Class Guru- Andrew Riem- email- andrew_riem@hotmail.com
* The J/30 Class continues its healthy growth over the past few years. Credit the "Bill & Dave Show" for making it happen, keeping the J/30 gang organized, having fun and, most importantly, keeping it all in perspective. Apparently 75 "official class members" agree! Wonderful stuff. It's also a model for ANY J/Class organization to keep their members involved, informed and enjoying what you love to do the most-- "simply messing around in boats" and sharing it with family and friends (sure helps that they're fun boats to sail, too!). Here are some excerpts from Bill & Dave's 2012 New Year's Welcome message to the J/30 Class:"The word 'camaraderie' means: Mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together. We are very proud of our class as we have developed a sailing leadership image over the years. We have overcome our differences of opinions through various levels of diverse thinking. Across the nation, we have developed a lot of lifelong friends in our class. We are thankful to have the best people with a focus of family. With a goal to keep the costs of our sport low, let’s work together to produce a class built on the basic foundations of sportsmanship and camaraderie. We are like a softball league on water. As the economic times improve and the new sailing season begins, give yourself a pat on the back for creating a world in which we compete, laugh, collaborate and succeed on and off of the water.
After reading Nicholas Hayes book Saving Sailing, it's clear that we need more families sailing together. Let’s host more junior regattas and act as mentors to younger sailors. The J/30 is a perfect boat to help Save Sailing."
Perhaps one of the best things a class can do is provide "recognition awards" for how various individuals contribute to the "cause". This year's J/30 President's Recognition Awards go to:
- North Americans– David McConaughly- with Hampton based crew aboard WHITE BOAT
- Newest Member to Finish Top 5 at NAs– Whitney Kent- with TEAM RAFIKI from Milwaukee, WI
- Media– Molly Winans- for coverage of multiple J/30 events in Spinsheet Magazine.
- Funniest Video– Bob Rutsch- watch this video- pretty darn amusing.
- Sailor Recruitment– Vic Farmer- who created a youth sailing program in Naples
- Training Videos– Vic Farmer – check many of them out on the J/30 Forum
- Innovative Story– Dell Todd – check out his story on the J/30 website
If you would like to recognize a J/30 class member for accomplishment visit this forum thread.
* Southampton University Student Wins Prestigious Sailing Trophy- Will McGough (age 22), while studying for his finals in Aeronautical Engineering, also achieved sailing success with JOG (Junior Offshore Group) this year. Will was awarded the “Youth Challenge Trophy” when JOG held its prize-giving recently in Southampton. The prize is awarded to a participant under 25, for sailing ability, commitment to offshore racing and Corinthian spirit.Will races aboard the J/109 JUST SO with his Mum and Dad, Mary and David McGough. During the summer JUST SO won races from Cowes to Dartmouth and St Peter Port as well as from Cherbourg to Cowes and was second overall in the series. Furthermore she was placed 2nd in JOG’s 60th anniversary regatta in Falmouth.
Will is clearly on a winning streak and he has also found himself a job, albeit he hopes this will not interfere with his sailing in 2012! Mary and David, on the other hand, are looking forward to Will’s pending financial contributions towards JUST SO’s running costs!
* Bob Musor sails his J/130 SCEPTRE just about everywhere on the West Coast of America, from California to Mexico on multiple occasions. Who can blame him? Gorgeous sailing, gorgeous waters, dolphins and whales swimming everywhere in the Baja, tasty fishing and so forth. We wanted to share Bob's Happy New Year note to us: "Happy New Year! Stuart et al. I was cleaning out my email and came across this little video of my J/130 SCEPTRE rolling a 44 foot boat during the 2009 Baja Haha cruising race down the coast. We were about 40 miles off the coast of Baja and about 100 miles NW of Cabo St. Lucas.
As a long time J-Boat owner (32 years and counting), I read your newsletter each week and enjoy watching
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