The Flying Russians- Sailing off Monaco

(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- The Flying Russians!? Not on trapezes in the Moscow Circus nor Rudolf Nureyev leaping about in the Moscow Ballet, but the waterborne version!  Sailing in this year’s YC Monaco Primo Cup- Credit Suisse Regatta were two Russian J/70 teams, one from Kaliningrad and the other from Moscow.

The “veterans” of the Primo Cup were Grigory Aksenov and Dmitry Zaritckii sailing on their now famous J/70 MOJO.  If you recall, last year Grigory and Dmitry picked up their J/70 at J/Composites European boat-building headquarters in Les Sables d’Olonne, France and drove to Monte Carlo, Monaco for their first J/70 regatta ever.  In fact, they were un-packing the boat and learning how to piece everything together as they rigged MOJO to go sailing for their first time! TEAM MOJO loved their experience at the Primo Cup Regatta and promised to return.

In the meantime, Grigory and Dmitry drove the 1,100 miles back from Monaco to Kaliningrad, Russia, at the easternmost reaches of the Baltic Sea— in a snow storm!  If that weren’t enough travel for one month, this dynamic duo then took the mighty MOJO to display the J/70 in the Moscow Boat Show!  It was, in fact, the first time a J/Boat has ever been displayed in the Moscow Show.  As they left Moscow, it was only appropriate they create another “first” for the J/70 and proceeded to befriend the local Moscow Police and took a “tour” of the famous Red Square and took photos of MOJO in front of the Kremlin!!

With a successful year of promoting J/70s in Russia, Dmitry hitched up MOJO again and took her down to Monaco for their second appearance in the Primo Cup. TEAM MOJO sailed well and managed to finish eighth. Perhaps equally as important is that Igor Raspopov, Founder and CEO of the MARC Sailing Club in Russia, chartered a J/70 to also participate in this year’s Primo Cup.


According to Raspopov, “We’re really proud to be a part of the worldwide J/70 sailing family! More than that, we are doing our best with friends to develop the J/70 class in Russia and to invite fellow Russians to sail J/70s in Russia and throughout Europe.

We founded a Russian-Italian sailing club called M.A.R.C. (http://www.marcsail.com) that is based on Lake Garda in Italy and I have been working closely with my friend Dimitry from Kaliningrad.  As we participate in upcoming J/70 events in Europe and Russia, we will provide you reports about our team’s activities!

We also sail J/80s and will organize an amateur Match Race event from April 2nd to 6th at Riva del Garda with the support of Fraglia Vela Riva del Garda, together with the other J/80 events during the year on the French Riviera and Italy.

Also, we plan to participate in some IRC regattas like Giraglia Rolex Cup in St Tropez, France and San Remo, Italy and Copa del Rey in Palma Mallorca, Spain on a J/109 and J/122. Such events enable us to give to give our MARC Sailing Club beginners a unique opportunity to try sailing J/Boats. This is our goal! Growing sailing in Russia has been fun and people LOVE it once they discover how fun it can be!”

In the end, both Russian J/70 teams can bring back memories of an absolutely epic sailing experience on the last day, with “fresh to frightening” conditions with ginormous 10-12 ft waves and 15-25 kt winds.  Those memories have been forever captured by “the Master”, Carlo Borlenghi, the world renown yachting photographer who was on-hand shooting photos for YC Monaco.  Also on hand were Team MOJO’s friend “Elena”, she captured some poignant moments of Team MOJO in the yacht harbour.  Sailing photo credits- YC Monaco/ Carlo Borlenghi and Elena Otekina- https://www.facebook.com/elena.otekina.

Please contact Igor Raspopov to learn more about Sailing Club MARC and their sailing programs.  Contact Igor at email- gorazionelson@gmail.com

CATAPULT Launched @ ST Pete NOOD

(St Petersburg, FL)- The sailors at this year’s Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta were blessed with good sailing conditions for two of the three days on Tampa Bay.  Over the long Valentine’s Day to President’s Day weekend, the forty-five J’s sailing were treated to a well-run regatta by host St Petersburg YC. After an on-shore postponement the first day, the breeze picked up for a nice afternoon of sailing.  Breezy, shifty conditions made for a great second day on the water on the Bay.  Unfortunately, the third day was a total “glass-out” all day.

A fleet of twenty-eight J/70s participated in this year’s ST PETE NOOD, a collection of teams that have sailed both the Key West J/70 Midwinters and the Quantum Winter Series at Davis Island YC just across Tampa Bay.  The J/70 class emerged as this year’s most competitive by far. The 28-boat fleet was the regatta’s largest and saw dramatic jockeying atop the leader board. The day began with Jud Smith and crew aboard AFRICA leading the class, however three consecutive first-place finishes to start Friday’s racing launched Minneapolis-based skipper Joel Ronning into the lead. Ronning and crew, on the aptly-named Catapult, sprung into the class’s top-spot by making quick, tactical decisions and flawlessly executing their sailing strategies in choppy waters.

After the dust settled, it was pretty obvious that Joel Ronning’s team on CATAPULT had not only another gear upwind and downwind to sail fast, but they used that ability to get themselves out of trouble to win the regatta by ten points.  Ronning’s crew amassed a 2-1-1-1-2 record for 7 pts; they were followed by Jud Smith’s AFRICA in second with a 1-2-6-2-6 score for 17 pts and third was Mark Ploch’s SUGAR DADDY with a steady 3-3-3-3-8 line for 20 pts.  Will Welles’s RASCAL was fourth and Martie Kullmans’ TOUCH2PLAY was fifth.

Sailing aboard Ronning’s team was a crew that consisted of Bill Hardesty calling tactics, Willem van Waay as cockpit and “guest star” Meredith Powlison from SAILING WORLD magazine.  Meredith was a last minute recruit and wrote a blog report about her experience and “lessons learned” on the winning boat.  She provided some good insight on what it took win the regatta.

Here’s Meredith’s report on Day One:

“‘I’d rather work on boats peed than takedowns,’ Bill Hardesty says the day before racing. ‘If you’re ahead of everyone, the takedown will just happen.’

We’re talking about our plan for the day ahead at the 2014 Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta. A few hours earlier, Hardesty and Joel Ronning pulled me aside at registration and asked if I could sail for the weekend on Ronning’s J/70 Catapult, as winter storm Pax has cancelled the flight of their fourth crew.

So we sort out the specifics of the day ahead, and how to get me up to speed fast in a boat I’ve never spent significant time in.

But Hardesty’s words ring true when the AP is lowered the following day, in mid-afternoon, and we head out to the course for the one and only race of the day. The breeze builds to 5-10 knots as we get out to our circle, and the guys take the time to sail upwind as Willem van Waay locks in our rig tune. We discuss the jib car location and then spin back down to grab our starting sequence.

With a clean lane and our bow out off the start, we find our boat speed and get far away enough from traffic to play the shifts. We round the windward mark in the top five, and then take starboard jibe out to the leeward layline. With a good header, we jibe, round the favored gate, and head back upwind.

The leader’s too far ahead to catch, but we make our move to solidify second place by playing the righthand side of the course.

It’s a nice calm race to start the regatta with, and a good reminder that no matter who you’re sailing with, if you can get around the course faster than the other boats, you’re set up for success.”

For Day Two, Meredith exclaimed, “patience was a virtue in St Pete”:

“As we reached a lull on the right side of the course, with most of the fleet to weather and lifted, our race looked grim. We wondered whether the left shift was persistent, whether we’d missed our chance and would be putting more points on the board than we’d have liked to.

In the 28-boat J/70 fleet at the Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD, consistency was paying off. Joel, Bill, Willem, and I posted three first-places finishes on this second day of racing. Boat speed, good starts, and staying in phase in the shifty, puffy 10-15 knot conditions were key.

The first beat of this fourth and final race of the day was not ideal. We’d started near the boat and tacked onto port, the lifted tack, soon after. As the fleet to weather of us tacked and continued to be lifted, however, we held on to the right and continued to work to find the next shift.

As the breeze started to oscillate and head us farther up the course, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. “I wasn’t going to tack and go behind 15 boats,” says Hardesty.

It paid off to stick to our guns and stay in phase, looking upwind for the next shift.

By the top of the beat, we’d caught up to second place and held that position to the end. Even though our race was looking ugly, it paid off to stick to our guns and stay in phase, looking upwind for the next shift.”

After the final day of racing, Meredith asked Hardesty for their Five Key’s to success at St Pete:

“As we waited for breeze that never filled in on the third day at the 2014 Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD, I took the opportunity to consider what made our weekend so successful on board the J/70 Catapult. Skipper Joel Ronning, Bill Hardesty, Willem van Waay, and I sailed a consistent, smart regatta that led to a win for the weekend. With Hardesty’s help, I came up with five keys to success in the 28-boat fleet in yesterday’s puffy 10-15 knot conditions.

Keep it boring: Communicate your plan clearly and early. From picking which side of the course you want in the pre-start, to deciding on a gate, to knowing whether to launch the spinnaker at the windward mark or offset, make it clear so there are no surprises. As Hardesty says, “Keep it boring.”

Options off the line: After the start, we always had the ability to either hold our lane and continue on starboard, or tack if we wanted to, rather than having others dictate the first portion of the beat. We never tried to win an end of the starting line but instead found clean lanes toward the end that was favored. With our options open, we could head toward the favored side and start to leg out with speed--watch the video from our second race for more:

Choosing modes downwind: With puffy, shifty conditions on the second day, we alternated between planing and displacement mode. In the puffs, we’d be hiking with the jib out. In the lulls, we’d move forward and to leeward, and furl the jib up. Whenever conditions were on the edge, we discussed what the best mode would be and then committed to that.

Communicate the big picture: Hardesty asked van Waay and I to give big-picture input to him and Ronning whenever we could— things like: “Three minutes to the next wind line.” In addition to our calls on puffs, chop, and boat speed, these big-picture items ensure that everyone’s on the same page, and that you won’t tack short of the next pressure line.

Boat speed first: This tip is so crucial that it bears repeating. As Hardesty said the day before the regatta, “I’d rather work on boat speed than takedowns. If you’re ahead of everyone, the takedown will just happen.” We made sure our settings were just right before the race and then used our speed to get away from the pack and sail our own race. While Ronning, Hardesty, and van Waay were dialed in with the crew mechanics, I was learning on the fly for my first J/70 regatta. Pulling away from the fleet gave us that extra wiggle room to ensure that no major errors were made around the marks.”

Here is a sailing video of CATAPULT from race 2- it’s a great sequence of teamwork at the start, windward mark, chute set, gybe, take-down, and final mark-rounding.   Sailing Photo credits- Daniela Clark- http://www.photoboat.com  For more Sperry Top-sider St Pete NOOD sailing information

J/70 European Circuit Update

(Les Sables d’Olonne, France)- The European J/70 National class associations have updated their J/70 European circuit and proposed European 2014 ranking.  At this time, over 200 J/70s are sold in Europe and J/Composites in France will be delivering 15 boats per month to fulfill the demand.  The primary countries generating such enormous enthusiasm are Germany followed by Great Britain, France and Switzerland.

The 2014 European ranking system has been established as follows: each race of each event will be considered in the overall formula.  The points will be based on a “high point” scenario, with first equalling the number of starters for each race, second is -1, third is -2, etc.  On the basis of an average of 6 races per event, you can discard 10% of the races when more than 18 races have been achieved and 20% when 32 races have been achieved.  The major events include the following dates:

• Feb 7-9- Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse- Monte Carlo, Monaco
• Apr 18-21- SPI Ouest France- La Trinite sur Mer, France
• Jun 6-9- North Sea Regatta- The Hague, Netherlands
• Jun 21-29- Kiel Week- Kiel, Germany
• Aug 2-5- Cowes Race Week- Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
• Sep 23-27- J/70 EuroCup/ Europeans- Lake Garda, Italy

At this stage, the current report from the various J/70 Class associations are that Kieler Woche will see at least 25+ boats from Germany and that 15+ boats from Lake Constance will participate in the EuroCup on Lago di Garda.  The German J/70 Nationals will be held on Lake Constance (the Bodensee) just before the EuroCup.

The Netherlands J/70 Class reports they’re already approaching a dozen boats.  One of their top sailors, Wouter Kollman sailing HENRI LLOYD will be sailing the North Sea Regatta at The Hague, Kieler Woche, Cowes Week and Lago di Garda for the EuroCup.  They expect at least 6 Dutch boats at North Sea Week, 3 at Kieler Woche, 2 at Cowes and 4-5 teams at EuroCup.  The Dutch J/70 sailors are also offering to other J/70 teams “free storage” after North Sea Week so that you can easily sail Kiel, saving a lot of travel time for some teams!

Both the Italian and French J/70 Class associations are indicating at least as many boats as the Dutch teams traveling to the same events.  For more information on the J/70 European Circuit, please contact Fred Bouvier- fred@jcomposites.com

J/70 Sweden Boat of the Year!

(Stockholm, Sweden)- The J/70 continues to garner accolades from knowledgeable sailors around the world.  In particular, Europe is seeing a significant uptick in one-design J/70 activity with more countries and more fleets developing across the Continent.

This past month the Swedish yachting press selected the J/70 as Sweden’s Boat of the Year, citing its scintillating performance, family-friendly boat-handling characteristics, easy transportability and extraordinary value relative to all other sportboats in the market today.

Here is J/Dealer Peter Johansson from Marstrand Yachts accepting the award at the boat show in Sweden. For reference, here’s the original article written in Swedish about the J/70’s qualities (translated into English).  For more J/70 sailboat information

LULU LA NANTAISE Crowned Primo Cup Champion

(Monte Carlo, Monaco)-  The second part of YC Monaco’s famous Primo Cup XXX- Trophee Credit Suisse took place this past weekend from February 7th to 9th.  As predicted, the twelve boat J/70 fleet encountered very challenging sailing conditions.  While Friday was a bit soggy and had reasonable breeze, by Sunday the massive front rolling across Europe flew off into the eastern Med, making for a spectacular day of sailing with WNW winds of 15-25 kts with clear skies and enormous waves! The J/70s had wild, exhilarating rides whistling across the magnificent Monagesque shoreline.

“It’s great to come across and race against America’s Cup helmsmen who got us dreaming in the first place,” commented a young Laser sailor from the YCM, Edward Albert-Davie. It’s true that since it was launched in 1985 on the initiative of YC Monaco President Prince Albert II (sailing his J/24), the Primo Cup has hosted many of the great names, be they Olympic or offshore sailors, who come to Monaco to kick-start the Mediterranean circuit alongside highly skilled amateurs.

The J/70 fleet had teams from across Europe representing six countries (Monaco, France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Turkey). Introduced last year in the Principality of Monaco, the J/70 has won many YC Monaco members over who have taken it up. As a result, there was much anticipation surrounding the J/70s which proved just how maneuverable and easy to handle they are in the big sea and wind conditions of Monaco.


Frenchman Ludovic Sénéchal, sailing LULU LA NANTAISE, demonstrated his supremacy with three race wins. He beat Monegasque Jacopo Carrain, skippering CARPE DIEM, who was still discovering what his boat could do having only baptised it on Thursday evening the day before the event!!  Carrain’s 2-2-5-4 for 8 pts net was enough to finish ahead of Frenchmen Marc Pajot and Tom Mellano sailing JUMP AROUND that had a 3-3-OCS-3 record for 9 pts.  For those of you familiar with the Olympics and dinghies, you may remember Pajot as a top French 470 and Flying Dutchman sailor in the 70’s and 80’s.  He also sailed with his daughter Zoe both weekend of the Primo Cup, finishing 3rd in IRC in his J/97 and repeating that finish with her, again, on the J/70!

Friday’s sailing saw three races were completed in difficult conditions, with a north-easterly touching 12 knots at its height in the day before fading. Like a metronome, the YC Monaco’s Race Committee fired off a string of starts, one after the other, with no respite for the 83 crews.  At the end of the day, and after a fairly spectacular final race, particularly round the second windward mark, a pattern was emerging in the provisional rankings. Sénéchal’s LULU LA NANTAISE won three races, opening up the gap with the two Monegasque entries,  Carrain’s CARPE DIEM and Tamburelli’s YCM 2.

Senecal’s report on Friday- “we were the third start on our course.  The first race was run in medium conditions (8 to 11 kts of breeze).  Five boats went together around the first windward mark with us and they all stayed close after the downwind run and rounding of the leeward mark.  On the second beat, the left side of the course was better and we managed to round first and finish there at the end of the race.  The entire fleet of J/70s finished in less than a minute, close racing!  The second race was completely different.  The wind was playing tricks on Hercules Bay, it was puffy, quickly died down, shifted, then would increase again.  With such dramatic changes in the wind, the fleet spread out, but we sailed most of the four legs in about 10 kts of wind and somehow won the race.  In the third race, with a few recalls, it was easy to get an OCS.  On the first beat, we played the left side again and rounded first.  The downwind run was tricky, but it was worse on the second beat, the wind played lots of tricks in strength and direction. It was more like a “lottery draw” than a sailboat race!  In the end, we snuck past the early race leaders and somehow took our third first!  Amazing!  At the end of the day, the YC Monaco had a fabulous Happy Hour in their beautiful new club— what an incredible place!”

Having already confronted fairly wintery conditions on Friday, the entire fleet were not able to complete a race on Saturday in Hercules Bay. After several starts were attempted for the fleets, the YC Monaco Race Committee was forced to cancel all races in the interests of fair-play.  The PRO was faced with totally unpredictable conditions that saw the wind veering 90° within minutes and a squally weather front foiling any chance of a stable system filling in.  All was not lost, however, as the YC Monaco Social Committee welcomed all the teams back with a warm glass of mulled wine. Consequently, the spirits were high amongst the sailors and they were ready for some competition.  The result? A friendly tug-of-war went down during the storm while others enjoyed the opportunity to support their teams in the Six Nations Rugby Match that was being broadcast on a giant screen along with “live” Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia on another giant screen.

Sunday’s epic sailing conditions only produced one race, much to the dismay of many J/70 sailors who were relishing the high-speed planing conditions and gigantic waves.  Senecals’ report is an interesting commentary on the crazy weather conditions, “we had offshore winds of 30 knots at the starting line with 3m swell (that’s about 10 ft!).  On the first beat off the starting line, it was very obvious that the right hand side of the leg was favorable.  With winds easing a bit near the windward mark, the first three boats (including us) set our spinnakers and took off from the rest of the fleet in a gigantic puff (the rest of the fleet rounded in a big lull and got stuck far behind).  The run was very, very fast, too fast for some who ended up too low and had to drop spinnakers to make the leeward mark!  On the next beat to windward we had the same problem, good winds up the right beat playing shifts, but becalmed again at the windward mark.  Now, the cards got shuffled again!  We lost some here and finished second in the race behind the fast sailing Italians on TANSPANCE, skippered by Vittorio Di Mauro.  It was great sailing and congratulations to YC Monaco for a fabulous event!”

After the top three, the balance of the top five was broken on a tie-breaker.  The Italian team sailing TANSPANCE with Di Mauro skippering took fourth overall by virtue of winning the last race, scoring a 9-7-4–1 for 12 pts.  Losing the tie-break was Roberto Tamburelli’s YCM 2, scoring a consistent 4-6-3-5 also for 12 pts.  The general commentary from the fleet afterwards was that YC Monaco ran a fantastic event and the J/70 sailors are hoping to again double the size of the fleet for 2015 and have at least three to four dozen teams sailing!   For more J/70 Primo Cup- Trophee Credit Suisse sailing information

HELLY HANSEN Tops Quantum J/70 Winter Series II

(Tampa, FL)- Hosted by the Davis Island Yacht Club, the 2014 Quantum J/70 Winter Series 2 concluded Sunday for the fleet of forty-one boats. After an excellent start in the first series in early January (where the fleet got in two solid days of racing), the second installment was a bit of a disappointment.  The weather forecast looked promising, with plenty of sun and reasonable winds forecast on Saturday, but it was nearly a “glass-out” on Sunday. The Tampa Bay sailors certainly had the better end of the massive High pressure weather system parked over Florida than their colleagues sailing on Biscayne Bay, where there was no sailing at all on Sunday!

As it was, the J/70s in Tampa had enough to go sailing each day and managed to get off four races in somewhat brutally light, shifty, patchy conditions.  Saturday was a light northerly, dying to come in from south around noon at 4-6 kts, dying and then coming back in northerly from 3-6 kts.  On Sunday the light NNE winds hung in there from late morning to mid-afternoon from 3-7 kts and died late with racing finished by 2:30 pm.

Literally every boat in the top ten had a double-digit race to count in their scoreline!  Even the eventual regatta winner, Tim Healy steering HELLY HANSEN, couldn’t match is remarkable record of all top five finishes he posted for the J/70 Midwinters in Key West recently!  In four races, Healy’s crew managed a 5-12-1-3 for 21 pts to just nip out the wily coyotes sailing on the second place boat— Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT (his crew included Willem van Waay, Victor Diaz & Scott Nixon).  The CATAPULT team were winning after the third race by a wide margin, but managed to punt the last race with a 17th, accumulating a 3-1-5-17 for 26 pts.  Taking third was Tom Bowen from Annapolis YC racing REACH AROUND with a serious roller-coaster scoreline of 6-5-33-8 for 52 pts.  Rounding out the top five were Jack Martin on EXIT STRATEGY II with a 14-3-8-28 tally for 53 pts and Mark Ploch on SUGAR DADDY with a 4-6-20-23 for 53 pts, taking fourth and fifth, respectively.  What’s interesting is that places 3rd to 11th were separated by only ten points!  And, Martin and Ploch were in a three-way tie-breaker at 53 pts that also included Rob Britts’s HOT MESS.  In fact, the last race cost Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE, Ted Johnson’s VITAMIN J, Casey Klingler’s MENACE, John Brim’s RIMETTE and Andrew Criezis a podium finish!

A repeat winner of the Corinthians was Rob Britts’s HOT MESS, now taking three in a row- QWS I, QWS II and Key West/ Midwinters!  Second was Brandon Flack and Chris Carrol on TORQEEDO and third was Peter Tuite on CURRAGH.

With such enormous swings in the standings, it’s anyone’s guess how the QWS series will turn out after the fleet finishes their third event in March!  Watch this space again soon!  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal- http://www.vanderal.com.  For more Quantum J/70 Winter Series sailing information

Sperry Top-sider St Pete NOOD Preview

(St Petersburg, FL)- The 2014 Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta series kicks off in sunny St. Petersburg, FL from February 14th to 17th. The fleet of 123 boats is dominated by J/Teams, representing 38% of the participants.  Of the forty-five J’s sailing there are twelve J/24s and twenty-eight J/70s racing one-design, while there are a half-dozen J’s sailing PHRF handicap classes.

The J/70 fleet, now in its second year at St. Pete, boasts the most entries and it’s a J/70 World Championship qualifier for the fleet.  Competitors will duke it out for two open spots for the Worlds in Newport, RI, in September 2014.

For Todd Fedyszyn, St. Petersburg YC’s youth sailing director and head coach, this year’s event will be a change of pace. Having previously raced J/24s at the NOOD, a parent of one of his team member’s offered to loan him a J/70 for the weekend. “It’ll be our first regatta,” says Fedyszyn, “so hopefully we can be competitive with the top of the pack if all goes well.”

The top of the pack, says Fedyszyn, includes many who are participating in the Quantum J/70 Winter Series at Davis Island YC. “Jud Smith on AFRICA was really fast last month at the first Winter Series regatta,” notes Fedyszyn. “He was almost unbeatable. I think Marty Kullman on TOUCH 2 PLAY will also be one of the top guys. People will always keep their eye on Heather Gregg-Earl and Joe Bardenheier on MUSE. Patrick Wilson had a good first Winter Series event as well sailing STAMPEDE. Mark Ploch’s SUGAR DADDY team is another crew who’s been spending a lot of time on the boat and should be in the front of pack. There are four or five who are going to jump out, who seem to have an extra gear.” Defending St. Pete NOOD J/70 champion Joel Ronning, on CATAPULT, will be also be back, along with Don & Tom Finkle on JUNIOR, Jim Cunningham on LIFTED, Kerry Klingler on MENACE, and Will Welles on RASCAL.  For more Sperry Top-sider St Pete NOOD sailing information.

Quantum J/70 Winter Series II

(Tampa, FL)- After an excellent start in the first series in early January, the second installment of the Quantum J/70 Winter Series will be held at Davis Island YC in Tampa, FL from February 7th to 9th. This next step in the series promises even greater and more varied competition with a strong turnout of forty-two boats.  Will Juddie Smith on AFRICA continue to lead the standings after this weekend?  Will Rob Britts’ promising experience at the J/70 Midwinters, winning the Corinthians Division aboard HOT MESS, lead into a repeat performance against a variety of “wannabes” to the throne? In both cases, new teams rapidly ascending the learning curve will ensure it’s not going to be easy.

The weather forecast looks promising, albeit “lightish”, despite the fact that a seemingly endless stream of “Alberta Clippers” or “Polar Vortex’s” are punishing the American Heartland and East Coast.  How many people have heard of “thunder snow” or “snow-nados”??  We got’em all this winter in America— seems ‘ole Mother Earth is acting a bit cantankerous these days, perhaps she’ll toss in a few more degrees of magnetic variation for good measure to confuse all tacticians even more!

Guaranteeing the Smith’s AFRICA tough sledding this time around in the Open Division will be top teams like Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT, Henry Brauer’s SCAMP, Martie Kullman’s TOUCH2PLAY, Dan Cheresh’s EXTREME, Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE, Kerry & Casey Klingler’s MENACE and Mark Ploch’s SUGAR DADDY (one of the top locals having sailed out of Tampa Bay and Clearwater for decades).

The Corinthians will surely be seeing some “new kids on the block” vying for supremacy.  Though Britts may be the favored local, don’t be surprised if you see some wily’ole veterans like Tony Parker (of BANGOR PACKET J/24 fame) or John Brim (of big boat RIM fame) grab the brass ring.  Then again, the likes of Brandon Flack sailing TORQEEDO, Blake Kimbrough skippering NOSTALGIA or Noel Clinard driving LOONATICTU cannot be taken lightly to finish “in the chocolates”.   Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal Photography.   For more Quantum J/70 Winter Series sailing information

J/70 Featured at U.S. Sailing Leadership Forum

(Mission Bay, San Diego, CA)- The J/70 will be on display this weekend at U.S. Sailing's Leadership Forum 2014 taking place from February 5th to 8th at the Hilton San Diego Resort on Mission Bay.  This ground-breaking event connects leaders from all aspects of the sport including sail training, sailing clubs, community boating programs, racing and cruising associations and industry professionals.

J/Boats’ President Jeff Johnstone will be participating on two panels, one on Thursday at 10:45am to 11:45am with North Sails President Ken Read, Harken’s President Bill Goggins and others discussing the future growth opportunities for sailing.  Perhaps more importantly, Jeff will be discussing the “club-owned boats” opportunities using boats like J/70s, J/22s, J/24s and J/80s on Thursday at 4:00pm to 5:00pm.

Attendees will be able to meet first hand the people behind the products, including the world’s fastest growing sportboat class-  the J/70 (provided by local J/Dealer- JK3 Yachts).  The J/70 will be featured in the one-design tuning clinic and available shoreside for viewing on Mission Bay, right on the Hilton Hotel’s docks.  Limited slots will be available for test sails, for appointment please contact Jeff Brown at ph# 619.224.6200, email- jeff@jk3yachts.com or visit JK3 Yachts at http://www.jk3yachts.com.   Sailing photo credit- Onne Vanderwal.   For U.S. Sailing Leadership Forum information

J/70 An All-Round Boat Review

(Marstrand, Sweden)-  “It is a remarkable story.  When talking actual sales figures, in just over a year the J/70 has sold hundreds of boats. It has become so popular to race, many event organizers cannot accommodate everyone who want to sail- the parking lots and all the logistics around are not enough! And in Sweden, the boat has won the hearts of many with more buyers than boats to sell!

The explanation for the unusual success today, with boat production not keeping pace with demand, can be attributed to several factors. Mainly, nice beautiful lines, simple, fun, sporty sailing qualities and particularly advantageous price. For the first time in many years, there is now a modern, sensible daysailer for the people.

These qualities are exactly what designer Alan Johnstone was up to when he began to plan for a successor to father Rod's formidable success with the J/24 (with 5,300 boats) and the J/80 (about 1,600 boats). Alan listened to the audience in the form of sailors who were in search of a new, great little day-sailor. He made ​​an effort to keep the price down, without compromising on construction quality. The solution was a highly specified hand layup of the laminate with strict weight controls. This was complimented by a high-tech, performance-engineered mast, spreaders, boom and bowsprit all built in carbon fiber epoxy laminate (the favorite of the aerospace industry), while the fittings on deck are kept as simple as necessary.

To be on the safe side with the concept, Alan asked experts and sailmakers to test the boat before the start of mass production and to comment or criticize on what they thought needed changes. Perhaps the evaluation was as much an opportunity for him to ensure that the marketing of the new J/70 was true- that it was a substantial, clever little sailboat that performed and feels genuinely comfortable just sitting at the dock.

The lines are beautiful, subjectively speaking, the J/70 is the neatest J as seen on the ocean's horizon. It has a fairly slim hull with low freeboard, modern flare breadth pulled all the way back to the stern.  She also has a straight stem with a narrow bow to effortlessly slice through waves.  The open stern, large open cockpit, rudder hung on the stern with a clever bump so the tiller ends up almost horizontally are all examples of good design. The J/70 is a symphony of aesthetic proportions and pleasingly elegant to the eye— no other sportsboat we’ve seen around the world comes close.

When the jury of the Sailing World Boat of the Year decided to nominate the J/70 in the “Performance one-design class”, it was precisely the lines and the promising sailing characteristics that determined its ultimate top boat award. And, expectations were met by far in connection with the test outside Karingon, Sweden with speeds in excess of 6-7 meters per second. With a full load (five people on-board without crowding in the cockpit) the boat easily sailed the half-ton crew without disruption to speed or stability.

The response on the long tiller and the deep rudder is excellent, the balance is neither too light and vague or too heavy and over-ruling. Meanwhile, the grip on the rudder is considerable, the J/70 responds fast when you want to fall-off and it requires negligence when sailing under the gennaker to get a broach. Acceleration is direct and fast, the mainsheet, together with the long mainsheet track, serves as throttle and brake. The boat is lively, but not wobbly, and therefore safe for regular Sunday sailing.

Speed, of course, is the fastest when you set the masthead gennaker and the J/70 almost imperceptibly slides onto a plane. But even for just main and jib the boat glides smoothly and quickly, making the J/70 a boat you can take out your near or dear ones in without scaring them.

The decor below is, for a small boat, nothing to comfort family cruising sailors- no headroom, no toilet, no kitchen, no dress code and no natural light. But that does not prevent older sailors approaching senior status from getting on a “back to basics” boat, it’s absolutely just right. For campers, the berths are long and the thick cushions make anyone sleep like a log. Ventilation is arranged by having the cabin door half open and using a “boom tent”.  In fact, the more “youthful” sailors can go camping on the boat with boom tent, sleeping bags and a bucket for a weekend on the J/70!

The trailer is well-designed and has a strong grip on the J/70 hull, all brackets are just right.  The mast sits on a hinging-bracket on the deck, which allows the mast to be raised and lowered with just two people. The lifting keel and the boat's light weight allows an ordinary car to pull the entire rig, thereby reducing transportation costs to exotic regattas at home and in Europe.

The bottom line is the J/70 is a fun, easy-to-eat “recipe” for almost every kind of sailor. It is nice and easy to sail regardless of whether you are new in the sailing world or an old hand looking for experiences to relive youthful days on the water. If any boat shall renew the sport and tempt new followers, this is it! All credit to Alan Johnstone in Newport on the other side of the Atlantic.”
Review courtesy of Curt Gelin at Batmassan.se    Here’s the Batmassan.se overview of the J/70 (link is Swedish).