Just signed up for feb 22 racing instruction at Key West! It will be nice to get out of the cold and hone some much needed skills. Any suggestions on places to stay?

I also signed up though Iwill be there during KeyWest sail week 18Jan
There are lots of hotels on www.keywest.com
we are staying at the Casa Marina
I will let you know my impression
it's always a toss-up....lessons vs new sails....
Taras

I did the advanced race seminar there in March 2006. J World gave me a list of places to stay. The Cypress House Bed & Breakfast is within walking distance of the J World school and was very reasonable. Contact info is available at the link. They had a happy hour there every day with quite an assortment of drinks and food. Some of the J World instructors would crash that.

If you haven't been to Key West before, stand by for the "cultural enhancement".

Do you know if J/Boats will have a booth (or equiv) in KeyWest during sail week?
What, if any, could I dream of picking up for my J30?
Would there be a chance for used sails? electronic toys?
Do any other boats have compatable sails?

With two weeks to go I am getting very phsyched

Taras

I also stayed at the Cypress House for my course in 2007(?) and agree with Bill on the happy hour. We didn't use the car all week, walk to everything. I hope the weather recovers. It is 36 today with cold rain...

Hi Bill
I just completed the KeyWest advanced racing this past week
(.....regards from Matt Mullan)
As you have also completed this course, I was wondering how applicable is the method they showed / preparing the Spinnaker pole while sitting on the high side to our J30's

I cannot see a problem off-hand but I thought I should ask

Taras

Taras - I personally prefer that method, and want my foredeck to use it because it minimizes people going forward and doesn't require multiple people to adjust topping lift and foreguy before the set.

However - If I have someone who is used to the traditional method, and doesn't like the J World approach, I'll defer to the FU on the front end of the boat and just stay back in Fantasyland at the helm. Those experienced on my crew know just to tell me to shut-up and drive....

Matt's good people - many years ago he crewed on Rhapsody. He was at J World when I took the course both in Newport and Key West.

ps - where did you end up partying ( I mean staying....)

It was a vacation for my wife / sailing for me,...so we stayed at the Casa Marina (Joanne enjoyed it)and tried a different restaurants every night
Last week was KeyWest Sail Week so everynight was eventful at the Schooners Bar where we tried to beat the record time of 8 seconds to drink a Rum shot / tie a bowline / toss & hook a post / pull it forward and down a beer
Matt's best time was 15 seconds
When I asked him J30 questions, he told me he had sailed with you and to extend regards

It was a great week with great weather and good winds
The instuctions openned my eyes
"....we are racing the wind to find the quickest way to complete the course / not racing the other boats"

I look forward to the up coming season
My biggest problem is I have too much crew....10-11 at times!

Taras

Re Jworld Pole approach on a J24 vs J30.
Bill showed his crew how to do this last summer and I had serious doubts ... the j24 pole is lighter, smaller, and shorter.
BUT in light wind conditions and flat seas with light boat motion, I think it may be a good option.

Still, when the crew the old fashioned way is trained well, it takes 8 seconds or less to clip pole on, raise it, and lock.

Use 8 seconds as your guide as to which way works best for your crew. That and not having a 250 lb foredecker. Another consideration is how often can you just pop a pole up and have nothing need "attention" on the foredeck while the mastman hauls away? say prefeeding the guy?

Vee Jay 2 and Rhapsody are scheduled to do some testing of theories this summer out of Newport. "We" will have to follow up this thread by the end of the summer.

re crew count ... 1400 lbs whatever way you slice it.

Being new to J30 ownership,...what is the old fashioned way?
Is the pole lying on the starboard side with aft end clipped to the shroud?

My concerns were also the difference in pole weight and length, but logically when held by the uphaul ring it is balanced
It should only take 4-5 seconds to set(once preset)and all while weight is on the windward rail

I was instructed that I should raise it as per the two-four (24) and set the down haul once made (reverse to douce)
With proper twing settings,...do we even need to use the downhaul in light air?

I can see that we will be enjoying the racing season this year
94 days to launch!!

standard way pretty much as you started to describe.

• put spin lead in jaw (can be rigged ahead of time)
• attach topping lift if not already (usually leave it on and pulled aft held at shroud
• attach pole to ring on mast, making sure end is free of bow pulpit
• raise pole by pulling topping lift
• the rest is the same

90 days to launch!