J/133 ‘Best Series Produced Yacht’

The RORC recently announced the Annual Challenge Trophies & Special Awards for the 2007 Offshore Series and what a year it was for J/Owners. Charles Ivill’s J/133 JB3 has won both the Overall IRC award and the Serendip Trophy for Best Series Produced Yacht in IRC after a fantastic season. Philippe Delaport’s new J/122 Pen Azen has been named the IRC 1 champion and Best Overseas Yacht in IRC with an impressive racing record, and J/105s topped the 2 Handed IRC Division for the second season with Mike West’s J/105 Juneau in first and Nick Martin’s J/105 Diablo J placing second. The J/109 RORC trophy will be awarded to Jean-Eudes Renier/Patrick Baune aboard Jee-Raft. All trophies and medallions are to be awarded at the upcoming RORC Annual Dinner on Friday 2nd November 2007. Congratulations to these and all participating J/Owners for a great season! Press Release

Two Old Men ...and the Sea

That’s the caption overlayed on the image of the home page of tangoboat.com along with the Tango team slogan ‘it takes two’. Tango is Mike Abraham’s new J/133 that he had built specifically for the 2007 Transpac Race. Mike along with his good friend & crew Phil Rowe, both of Newport Beach California & both 70 years old, took home the Ancient Mariner Trophy for the wisest (AKA oldest) crew in the race, and finished 2nd in the double handed group, 4th in class and 37th in a fleet of 65 at this years Race to Honolulu. The good humored duo dawned their canes on the way up to the Transpac trophy presentation stage and instantly won over the crowd... This was the second Transpac race for the team who in 2001 won the Tail-End Charlie award on Mike’s former boat Watercolors. The caption update on their web news announcement now reads “2 Studs and the Sea” (see the awards video here) Congrats to the Tango Team!

J133, J122, J105 Lead RORC Series

With several 2007 RORC offshore races now complete, Charles Ivill’s J/133 JB3 and Philippe Delaporte’s J/122 Pen Azen have each compiled an impressive victory list and are currently in first place in their respective IRC classes and hold 1st and 2nd positions in the running for the 2007 RORC IRC Overall fleet points scoring. In the double-handed IRC Class, four of the top five boats are J/105s with Nick Martin’s Diablo-J currently in the lead. There remain four events in 2007 including the world famous Fastnet Race. It is clear that the crews on all of these J’s will be working hard to stay at the top of their game for the remainder of the season. Results & RORC news here.

J’s Win @ Annapolis-Newport Race

Newport, RI - J/Owners recently finished first in three of six classes at the 2007 Annapolis Newport Race... USCG J/44 Glory & Scott Dinhofer's J/44 Brown-Eyed Girl finished first and second in IRC class II while David Askew’s J/120 Flying Jenny V won PHRF I (with J/120s placing four of the top five places in this class). Henry Morgan’s J/42 Dolphin finished first in PHRF Class II and won the PHRF overall award with the best corrected time. In all a great showing for the J/Owners... With the fleet facing a stormy offshore weather forecast, due to remnants of a tropical depression blowing through, several boats in the 56 boat fleet chose to retire from the race early. High winds and seas eventually caught up to those who continued on with this 473-mile offshore passage from Annapolis, MD to Newport, RI with some seeing as much as 40 knots and 10-foot seas…

Other notable J finishes included Tom Carroll's J/133 SirenSong who finished 2nd in the big boat class and James Wilson’s J/42 Ceol Mor finishing 2nd in the Double Handed class. complete news & results.

J/133 & J/122 Post RORC Wins

The Cervantes Trophy Race, a 115nm race from Cowes to Le Havre and back, is the 3rd event on the RORC 2007 racing schedule and this year greeted the fleet with mostly medium to light conditions except for at the end when the small boats finished in a freshening breeze. Charles Ivill’s J/133 JB 3 won the 15 boat IRC 0 class earning them the Thalassa Cup with Martin Richmond-Coggan’s J/133 Jump finishing in second place.

Philippe Delaporte, owner of J/122 Pen Azen, topped the 25 boat class in IRC 1 taking home the Noryema VII Cup. He sent along this brief report:

“Cervantes trophy was a great race for us. The course was 115 miles long. After 2 hours of racing going to windward out of the Solent we were among Class O and super O, TP 52 and Farr 52 ahead of Farr 45, DK 46 & Ker 46. The wind was 11 knots. Then while crossing the Channel, the wind shifted and decreased to 2 knots during the afternoon. During the evening it went back to 5-6 knots and Pen Azen crossed the line at 3 o'clock in the morning. At that time we were hoping for an overall IRC win but the wind increased to 10 and later 15 knots and so the small classes finished very fast… frustrating us from the overall victory.”

Other notable J/Boat finishes were Nick Martin & Mike West each sailing their J/105s in the Two-Handed division and finishing 2nd & 3rd for the race. results

J/133, J/92S Lead IRC at Hamble

The Garmin Hamble Winter Series is underway and already four races are completed with J/Boats on top of the two largest IRC classes. Organized by the Hamble River Sailing Club, this series attempts 8 race days with two races per day within the months of October and November with a mid-series break for a charity pursuit race. Currently at the top of the 26 boat IRC Class 1 are two J/133s, Neil Martin's Jammy Dodger and Stewart Hawthorn's Jump with only one point separating them. At the top of the 26 boat IRC 3 class is Marie Claude & Paul Heys aboard their new J/92S Java Lite. There is lots more J/Action in the one design classes. J/80s, J/105 & J/109. Visit the event site for more details.

J-UK Reports: The 2006 Season, So Far

J/Sailors are enjoying a banner year of successes and milestones throughout Europe and more specifically the UK and Ireland. J/133 Owners posted wins at the Hamble Winter Series, Round the Island Race, St. Pete Port Double, and the Blenheim Triangle Race to date. And recently, Stewart Hawthorn’s ‘Jump’ just narrowly missed a first place class win at Skandia Cowes Week in IRC Class 2. In J/105 action the class one-design circuit is starting to fire on all cylinders with renewed enthusiasm for class racing at Deauville International Week in June, the J/105 UK National Championships in July, the just completed Skandia Cowes Week & later in August, J/Cup. J/105 Owners are also posting some impressive wins in RORC series events. In the J/109 group, it is not unusual for twenty or more boats to now enter most major class events. Of the 300 J/109s worldwide that are sailing, over 65 are located in the UK and Ireland... With the introduction of the new J/92S, the J/100 daysailor and continued success of the J/80 class, we expect the year to continue to please J/Owners. For more of the latest J-UK news visit http://www.j-uk.com

J/133 Shines at NYYC Annual Regatta

June 13, 2006, Newport RI. Strong westerly winds greeted the fleet for the New York Yacht Club’s 152nd Annual Regatta, presented by Rolex. A total of 132 yachts, including 33 J Boats, sailed in the event, which for the larger boats served as the last warm-up before the Newport-Bermuda Race.

John McLeod served early warning as he and his Canadian team aboard the new J/133 Hot Water took the 14 boat IRC Class 4 over Andrew Weiss’s J/130 Christopher Dragon. Len Sitar’s Vamp was the top J/44 in IRC Class #5 with J/44s taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. The J/92S made its New England debut finishing 2nd in IRC Non-Endorsed class behind Bill Sweetser on the J/109 Rush. In J one-design action, Phil Lotz and Indefatigable topped the J/105 Class, as Pete DuPont sailing Miss Marvelous won the inaugural J/100 East Coast Championships, with Bob Johnstone on Tern and Michael Wallace on Astrid finishing 2nd and 3rd. www.nyyc.org

J/Activity Buzzin' in June

June 5, 2006… For the Centennial Newport-Bermuda Race a record 44 J/Boat teams are entered with class competition for both the J/44 and J/42 and the debut for the J/133 (6 entered) in this famous 600 mile offshore race. At the Rolex New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, again it’s a big J turnout (with over 30 boats). J/105 and J/100 Class action is anticipated…To top things off, more J/Owners are currently entered for 2006 Block Island Race Week than all other boat types COMBINED with strong fleets for both the J/105 and J/109 classes… There are several more events for June including J/Fest Seattle, NOOD Regattas in Chicago & Toronto and more.... please check our J/Schedule for the latest dates & event links…. June 2006 promises some great J/Sailing, indeed!