If anyone I haven't talked to is interested in doing some Pacific Northwest J30 one-design racing in 2010, drop me a line. We're trying to coordinate all showing up to a few races around the area.

Hmm, this sounds fun. Meet in the middle somewhere?

Perhaps we could have a one design division at Swiftsure

Unfortunately Koesh will be out getting a thorough "dry-out" and fresh bottom next summer & we'll be racing the Merit. The idea of a J-30 OD for Swiftsure sounds like a GAS, though!

There used to be a lot of one-design racing for the J30
in Seattle, and since that is where most of the boats were located, that's where we all collected. Cattle point to Shilshoe could be made in just under 8 hours if the tides were right. Most YC have a minimum number for a one-design start, so some politicking needs to be done to keep that number as low as possible. IFIYC the minimum number for the SYC was 7, and Shilshoe was 5.

I'd be doubtful on getting Royal Vic to allow one-design for Swiftsure, as they have enough problems with complaints about the PHRF ratings, and they don't want to be involved with one-design rules enforcement. It's always great to have a number of class boats race since you can then have the "race-within-a race". And that's where the real bragging starts.

I still own Grasshopper, since new in 1980, but like most, crew issues eventually reduce my racing to nil, beyond the local stuff. Once I get a good furler (Facnor?), I'll be all set to go single-handing.

Nice that there's a new group of active owners, but I probably won't be one. Good Luck.

Gary Boothman
Friday Harbor, WA

Yeah, just having several J/30s out to Swiftsure would make it a lot more entertaining even without an official OD Div. I'll just pick you up on the way by Gary so you can crew

This is some great discussion. I will say that after my last swiftsure, on a Mumm 36, I swore I wouldn't do another on anything slower... Hmmmm. Gary's right WRT to the minimums. And, with an event like Swiftsure, I don't see many OD breaks happening. Now, that doesn't mean the J/30 sailors can keep their own score though, right? :-)

The better and more likely event to get a OD start that is more central to both US and CAN J/30 owners is Whidbey.

Re: some local events, a regional "season" might be cool. What about picking 5-6 events incl. PSSR, J-Fest, Whidbey, Waves (sorry CAN sailors - not sure which events are the hot weekend events these days in Van), PSSC, and Grand Prix and doing a low-point score tally? I realize I'm skipping over details but if this was ratified, with specifics about how scores would be calculated for both handicap and OD events, what do folks think?

Winner would get the PNW J/30 Annual Series trophy.

Cheers,
- Jeff

There's been some talk of putting an Anacortes or Bellingham race on the list. This would be a great chance to get together with you BCers. Orcas Island's Round the County might be another good option. I've heard it can really howl for this one.

Also, if we're talking about doing some series 1-design racing, we should put NOODs on the list.

Need to figure out how to get the Oregon folks involved, too.

Good point re: NOOD. Not sure how I missed that one...

I believe some of the folks in Oregon hinted a couple years back that if there were a series or a number of events with a couple in close proximity (in time), they might make the trek up to SEA.

I think possibly one or two of those J/30s have turned over though.

Also - I believe there were a few boats in Olympia. Maybe something south in say Tacoma or Gig Harbor?

One thing (aside from Swiftsure) missing are some distance events (i.e. Center Sound). Would it be reasonable to put one of those on the list?

- Jeff

I would love to take part but I've only been sailing for a season and have no race experience... I think I'd be better off as a crew member on someone elses boat.

Right now with my small children its not fair for me to disappear for a while on the boat. I'd be happy to sail in events in Vancouver, but it is unlikely that I'd be able to travel with the boat. I know for sure that if we had five J30s registered and on the water for WAVES at RVYC we would at least be scored as a one-design fleet, and if we were lucky we'd get our own start.

The five boat policy has been in effect for a while at RVYC and has been in-play on and off with the dragon fleet for quite a while now. J-24s and Martin 242s are so popular that they get even their own race course Wednesday nights.