J/70 Expands to Asia/ Pacific Rim

(Newport, Rhode Island) - J/Boats announced today that McConaghy Boats has been named the J/70 builder for the Asian and Pacific Rim markets.  This is following the recent news of the J/70 receiving International Class status from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).  Nearly 500 boats are already sailing in 20+ countries within 20 months of launch.  McConaghy Boats joins J/Composites (France) and CCF Composites (USA) as part of the J/70 world building team.

“McConaghy Boats and the J/70 are a perfect fit,” said Jeff Johnstone, President of J/Boats.  “McConaghy is world renowned for building high performance custom racing yachts (such as the famous 7-time Rolex Sydney-Hobart winner WILD OATS XI), and they’re also highly regarded for producing one-designs to exacting tolerances.  We look forward to working with Mark Evans, Stephen Oliver and their team in Zhuhai to build on the momentum the J/70 is already generating in the Pacific Rim.”

“The rapid growth of the J/70 has been nothing short of phenomenal and we’re proud to become a building partner with J/Boats,” commented Mark Evans, Director of McConaghy Boats.  “The J/70 represents the next-generation of fun, easy-to-sail sportboats— a perfect match for the Asia/ Pacific Rim markets we’re supporting.”

New tooling arrives at McConaghy in late January and production is expected to begin this spring. The J/70 will be distributed in the Pacific Rim region by J/Boats Asia.  For more information, please contact Jim Johnstone of J/Boats Asia at jimjboats@gmail.com or J/Boats USA headquarters at info@jboats.com.
For more International J/70 sailboat information

J/70 Awarded ISAF International Class Status

(London, England)- Over 500 delegates from more than 60 nations gathered together in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman for the 2013 ISAF Annual Conference. Held from 9-16 November, the ISAF Council made decisions that affected the sport of sailing in the immediate future.  Most importantly, the J/70 one-design class was awarded “International Class” status.

As one looks back on the history of one-design classes that have achieved International Class status with ISAF (and its precursors like International Yacht Racing Union), never has a boat from any nation achieved “international” status in less than eighteen (18) months from its initial commercial introduction to the world’s marketplace.

Remarkably, the J/70 is now sailed on five principal continents that are part of the ISAF World of Sailing (North America, South America, Europe, Asia & Australia).  To date there are over 500+ boats ordered in some of the world’s best places to go sailing anywhere.    For more ISAF Conference information   For more International J/70 One-Design Class sailing information

J/70 Loves Airlie Beach Outing

(Airlie Beach, Australia)- According to the Airlie Beach Chamber of Commerce, "Airlie Beach Race Week is known amongst sailing aficionados as one of the most "bucket-worthy" regattas in the world.  It’s got a laid-back attitude, perfect weather with solid trade-wind sailing, the town is a backpackers’s paradise full of hot young chicks and cheap booze, and it all comes at the perfect time for winter-bound Aussies.  Airlie is also one of the best jumping-off points to explore the Great Barrier Reef; perfect for an extended trip with some sailboat racing in the middle.  It’s a long haul from most places and you might die if you swim in the water, but on a positive note, they’ve got the best drinks cooler in all of sailing on the dock."  And, most notably, they actually deliver on that promise!

Officially promoted as "The Abell Point Marina Airlie Beach Race Week", the event started off in magical conditions for all the 110 boats across the 11 divisions.  The breeze was a kind south-east eight to 10 knots inshore and up to 15 knots offshore as PRO Ross Chisholm sent the fleet off on Course 7 around the Double Cones for all.  There were plenty of battles, among the small and big boats, with some of the high achievers falling by the wayside in the soft wind and tricky tides. In the Sports Boat the skippers kept themselves under control for the first race, starting cleanly.  And, that's pretty much how it went for the rest of the week of sailing, save for one near windless but gorgeous day on the water.  The final day of racing brought smiles to the face of the sailors and race committee as the breeze kicked in as forecasted.  It was Whitsunday sailing at its best with 10 to 15 knots south-east, a manageable swell and good racing around Pioneer Bay.

Sailing their J/70 JUNIOR for the first time in the regatta were Ray and Jill Carless from Sydney.  Here's their report of the experience which, apparently, neither would trade for the world!

"Airlie Beach is situated in the middle of the stunning group of seventy-four  Whitsunday Islands which are part of the Great Barrier Reef and is an amazing location for this iconic Australian winter race week.

With very little time to practice and still quite new to the J/70, we quickly recruit two new crew members for this highly competitive winter paradise regatta.  With the boat packed we made the 1,800km three-day drive from Sydney with ease towing the J/70 with a 2 liter diesel VW.

The line-up of sports boats were typical of the high performance machines raced in Australia and New Zealand, some up to 8m, a number with wings and trapezes, most much lighter than the J/70 being built of carbon fibre.

The wind conditions were predominantly up to 8 knots with the windiest reaching 15 knots on the first day and every day in crystal-clear, sun-sparkled, aquamarine waters.

With an impressive scoreline of 3-5-5-3-4-3-4-2 and a drop of 8th, our performance for the week improved as the two new J/70 crew got used to the boat.

In short, we had a fantastic time! The J/70 is amazing! Anyone who doubts this is a good and economical way to run a modern sports boat should look at our results.  We were the only boat in the fleet to have Dacron upwind sails and only one of each sail, ie. 1 main, 1 jib, 1 spinnaker, as per the J/70 class rules.

All of the other boats were sporting exotic sails and most had multiple jibs and spinnakers.  This sounds too expensive and complicated to us, we just want to go sailing and have fun!

That we did and had a great time with a very good result as we get to learn the J/70. There is obviously more to be had out of this great little machine from the J/Boat stable and little wonder over 500 have now been sold in a very short space of time.   

How best to sum it all up?  Long drive, blue sky, little wind, much fun, great result!”

Sailing photo credits-   Shirley Wodson - Shirley Wodson Photography     Julie Geldard - Video Picture Promotions

Airlie Beach Race Week YouTube sailing video highlights:     Day 1 Sailing summary   Day 2 Sailing summary    Day 3 Sailing summary   Day 4 Sailing summary   For more Airlie Beach Race Week sailing information

Captain Jack Sparrow Defends J/70 Speedster Sailboat!

(Sanctuary Cove, Australia)- "Avast ye' matey's"!  The Honourable Captain Jack Sparrow graciously looks after the J/70 at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show in Australia.  Jack's doing a great job protecting the J/70 from pirates of all shapes and sizes that are invading from the islands and beaches nearby!

As reported by Sandra Entwistle at the J/Australia dealership, "we had a great time at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show and had an awesome response to the J/70.  Here's a photo of ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ in front of the J/70.  A very entertaining guy!"

For more J/70 sailing information in Australia, please contact Yachtspot at Ph +612 9449 4976, info@yachtspot.com.au or on http://www.yachtspot.com.au

J/70 @ Sanctuary Cove Show

(Sanctuary Cove, Australia)- This coming weekend, the J/70 will debut at the 25th Anniversary Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show from May 23rd to 26th. Located on the gorgeous "Gold Coast" of Queensland in eastern Australia (just south of Brisbane), be sure to take a hike with your family and friends to enjoy the fabulous beaches, islands and learn more about how the J/70 can be your next trailer-sailer for your "mates, kids and the ladies".

In fact, speaking of the ladies, the show features "Women on Water- High Tea on the High Seas" on Saturday and Sunday!  Ladies, leave the men at the Boat Show and embark on one of two special cruises full of fun and frivolity! Hosted by Channel 7 personalities, Kimberley Busteed and Liz Cantor, enjoy two hours cruising, complimentary bubbles, a light lunch, pampering sessions, on-board entertainment, prizes and gifts! "WoW Seminars" for the women also include "How to Furnish you boat" hosted by BoatStyle, "Basics of Sailing" hosted by Sunshine Sailing Australia, and "Look Your Best on Your Boat" hosted by Hypoxi Body Botique.  Sorry guys, none of this is for you.

In fact, the perfect W.O.W. sailboat is the J/70 trailerable speedster!  Easy-to-sail even in 20+ kts breeze racing, a frolic for the ladies for a bubbly champagne evening sunset sail.  Like this gorgeous, fashionable woman seen here winning silverware sailing her J/70!

Please be sure to contact J/Dealer Yachtspot at "info@yachtspot.com.au" or telephone- +61-2-9449-4976 for a demo sail or appointment at the show!   For more J/70 and Sanctuary Cove Boat Show information

Australian J/70s On Show

(Sydney, Australia)-  Since the J/70's arrival in Australia, interest continues to increase in the dynamic little speedster that has been taking the world by storm since its introduction in America in the spring of 2012.  With record turnouts in American winter/ spring regattas and building fleets in Europe, the world of sailing in the Asia-Pac world is just beginning to get its taste of the J/70 magic.

From May 23 to 26, the J/70 will be debuting at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show, its first big show and first “Australian International” show since its arrival.  For those passionate J sailing enthusiasts in Australia, this is a great opportunity to enjoy a classic "fall boat show" Down Under and learn more about why the J/70 will soon be the world's next giant international one-design class!  After all, when club sailors were having a ball sailing their J/70s in 20-30 kt breezes (with no boat breakages) recently in the Charleston Race Week regatta, many sailing "other sportsboats" were doing cart-wheels across the water with massive breakages and capsizes taking place everywhere (rigs blowing-off boats and crews seen standing on keels in just 20 kts of breeze!).  Learn more about the fun, family-friendly, one-design speedster- the world's most popular new sportsboat- J/70!

Australian J/70 Blasts Local Sailing Circuit

(Sydney, Australia)- Way, way Down Under, it's true all the "ex-convicts" are having a lot of fun in life, work hard/ play hard, love water-sports and, more importantly, love sailing!  The first J/70s have arrived in Sydney and the atmosphere surrounding the boat is simply electric.  As savvy sailors, Aussies know a thing or two about performance boats and, especially, sportboats.  After all, it's the home of the famous "Ate-teen"- e.g. the  18-foot dinghy with a cloud of sail.  Cool stuff, very cutting-edge- the Editor and his brother have sailed them and "I-14's" and loved them. That said, it's nice to hear the J/70's debut in the recent Australia Day Regatta (Jan 26th) was a lot of fun.  Here's the account of that experience from Ray & Sandra Entwistle:

"Sandra had a great day on the harbour and a Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Australia Day regatta to remember.  It was the first  regatta for our new J/70, the first one into Australia. We were placed in Division 2 against much bigger boats. The competitive fleet consisted of Beneteau 35s, J/35s, Etchells 22s, Northshore 370, Bavaria 38 Match, Hick 32, GP26, Flying Tigers, Alerion 33 and a Thompson 7, to mention a few.

It was a 20 -25 knot nor’easter and the harbour was very busy and choppy with all the Australia Day traffic.  After a 2.2 mile beat up to Obelisk Bay and then a two sail close reach across the harbour to Lady Bay, we were pleased with our J/70s upwind performance and the way it was dealing with the waves and slicing through the chop. We even managed to get through the very well sailed Thompson 7 upwind, the Alerion 33 and a few others. At Lady Bay we popped the spinnaker to go back down the harbour to Nielson Park. Blast off!! The J/70 took off planing instantaneously as soon as the spinnaker filled. We started raking in more of the fleet and rounded Neilson Park with a few more boats behind us on the water. Again we held our own on the beat back up the harbour to Obelisk Bay on the western shore. From Obelisk the second time around was a broad reach into Rose Bay, kite up and wooosh the J/70 exploded into 16 and 17 knot bursts and the crew were elated and astounded at how easy the J/70 was to sail even at these crazy speeds.  We passed another group of much bigger boats in our division, waves and ‘thumbs up’ signs from competitors and other boats as the J/70 did her thing down the harbour with spray and wave-skipping becoming the norm as the J/70 kissed speeds in the high teens. We managed to fly the spinnaker further than most into Rose Bay and were the first to hoist again after the gybe on a tight spinnaker reach between Rose Bay and Shark Island. We  knew once the speed came on we could sail higher at maximum velocity as the apparent wind comes around and that’s exactly what happened.

The J/70 was absolutely flying, we were passing more boats in our division through a blur of spray and weaving through everything else in the busy Australia Day regatta. We knew we had done well as we went through the line just a few seconds behind the big Bavaria 38 Match and one of the J/35s.

After reading all about the fun the 39 x J/70 s were having in Key West this week it was a great feeling to join the excitement and go out in our first real regatta and win with 4 minutes to spare on handicap and finish an incredible 3rd on scratch against so many well sailed big boats in a choppy seaway. Many thanks to our crew Peta and Ian who had a thrill sailing the J/70 for the first time.

We have more J/70’s arriving this week and all are looking forward to some class racing soon – come and join the fun and see for yourself why this is the fastest growing sportsboat in the world today! To learn more about the J/70, please contact Ray at Yachtspot in Australia- Ph +612 9449 4976 or email- info@yachtspot.com.au

J/70 Class Update

(Newport, RI)- Class development is accelerating dramatically around the world.  In the USA alone, there are over a dozen J/70 fleets that have formed already with nearly twice that amount in the formative process across America. 

The J/70 Regatta schedule has expanded considerably, here's a short-list of what's happening in the 70 world for 2013.

J/70 Regatta Schedule
January-     Key West Race Week- Key West, FL
February-   SW NOOD Regatta- St Petersburg, FL
March-       Bacardi Race Week- Miami, FL
April-         Charleston Race Week- Charleston, SC
                  Warsash Spring Series- Solent, England
                  SPI Ouest France- La Trinite sur Mer, France
May-         SW NOOD Regatta- Annapolis, MD
June-         Bacardi Regatta- Newport, RI
                  Sail Newport Regatta- Newport, RI
                  Cleveland Race Week- Cleveland, OH
July-          Leukemia Cup Cleveland- Cleveland, OH
                  Youngstown Level Regatta- Youngstown, NY
                  New Englands/ Marblehead NOOD- Marblehead, MA
August-      Cowes Week- Cowes, England
September- Europeans- Lake Garda, Italy
                  North Americans- Annapolis, MD
October-    Fall Brawl Regatta- Annapolis, MD
                  SoCal Championships- San Diego, CA

More regattas are coming on-line all the time. Teams out West are working out the PCC's and SoCal Championships.  J/70 owners in Texas/Gulf Coast are forming a Texas Circuit rolling between Forth Worth, Austin, Houston.  In the Midwest (Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio) teams are forming their circuit plans, too. The European 70 teams were discussing at the Paris Show and soon the London Boat show plans for the J/70 European Circuit. In Europe, fleets are developing in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.  South America also has boats and fleets are in development in Chile, Argentina, and Peru.  Also in the Southern Hemisphere, it looks like J/70s may become popular in Sydney, Australia and even in Perth-- can you imagine a J/70 flying home downwind in the "Freemantle Doctor"!?  That would be insanely fun.

Read more about J/70 class development on the newly formed J/70 Class Association- J70class.com or learn more from owners on the J/70 Class on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/J70Class.

J/Boats @ Australian Boat Shows

For those in the lands Down Under, the current boatshow calendar indicates the J/70 and the J/111 will be on display at the Pittwater Sail Expo and the J/70 will be shown at the Melbourne Show.

For you J enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of the latest, fastest, most fun boats to come out of the J/Design Studio in some time, please be sure to contact Ray Entwistle at YachtSpot at info@yachtspot.com.au for more information.

• Feb 3-5- Melbourne Boat Show- Melbourne, Victoria
• Mar 16-17- Pittwater Sail Expo- Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club

J/News Sailing Summary- April 14th, 2012

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide 
With the advent of April and Easter and all the festivities associated with this time of the year, it's also a time of closure and celebration in the sailing world.

Down Under in the Antipodean sailing world of Australia and New Zealand, as well as in South American sailing waters of Chile, Argentina and Brazil, their summers are coming to a close, fall is rapidly approaching and all the efforts put forth in sailing summer series are being celebrated by many in such diverse locations.

While the Chilean J/105 fleet rescheduled their Chilean Nationals to October (due to weather challenges), the J/111 in Sydney had a successful summer racing their Offshore Series.  Also in the Pacific, a J/109 and J/145 sailed the Rolex China Sea Race and had cause for celebration for the Easter Weekend.

Keeping within that same theme, the J/24s had fun sailing a long-time Easter "classic", the Easter Regatta in Columbia, SC.

The Caribbean J sailors on a J/122, J/95, J/109 and J/120 were busy divining the Wind God's wild breeze rolling off the enormous cliffs and hills of St Barths during the Les Voiles St Barths.

Finally, over in Europe, the French were hosting their largest regatta, SPI Ouest France off La Trinite sur Mer, offering amazing sailing on Quiberon Bay to an enormous one-design fleet of J/80s and a strong one-design fleet of J/111s.

Just across La Manche (the English Channel), the RORC sailed their Easter Challenge on that famous body of water called "the Solent", a unique regatta that features real-time, on-the-water coaching while you sail around the race-track-- helpful to many J/122, J/133, J/111, J/80, J/109 and J/97 sailors!

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.