J/70 RASCAL Wins Bacardi Miami Sailing Week

(Coconut Grove, FL)-  Forty J/70 teams trekked to southern Florida for the fifth annual running of BACARDI Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) presented by EFG Bank, held from March 6-8 on Biscayne Bay. What’s not to like about the venue and sailing on the Bay with great breeze and sunny skies. There were 192 boats registered across six one-design fleets, with competitors from 15 foreign nations (Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine) travelling great distances (at great expense) to compete against top American sailors.

The ever-growing popularity of the J/70 class was again in evidence at BMSW where entries were up over 100% from their strong debut in last year’s event.  The class had many of the leading J/70 teams participating.   On the first day in moderate 8-12 kts SSE breezes, Heather Gregg-Earl (Boston, Mass.), the 2013 J/70 North American Champion, posted finishes of 3-5 to take the overall lead with eight points.  BMSW defending champion Brian Keane (Weston, Mass.) had nine points, followed by Will Welles (Portsmouth, R.I.) with 11 points, and two skippers tied with 12 points each: Venezuela’s Victor Diaz de Leon and Peter Duncan (Rye, N.Y).

On a champaign sailing day with nice breeze and white caps flickering across sunny Biscayne Bay, only one race was sailed Friday in the J/70 fleet (much to the disapointment of many J/70 sailors).  Will Welles (Portsmouth, R.I.) took the win and moved from third into the lead of the overall standings, tied on points (12) with BMSW defending champion Brian Keane (Weston, Mass.) who finished third.  Peter Duncan (Rye, N.Y) finished second and stands third overall with 14 points, followed by Boston’s Heather Gregg-Earl who finished 14th and has 22 points.  Fifth in the overall standings with 23 points is New Orleans sailor Tim Molony who placed fifth in the race.  “Three general recalls this morning and a couple of black flags, so we held back, played the game and did not push too hard,” said Welles after today’s race. “In the big puffs we worked the main upwind and then managed the angles well on the downwind. With 40 boats it was good fun, really tight close racing.”

Sadly, day three was a “glass out” and no racing took place.  With scores of 10-1-1, Will Welles (Portsmouth, R.I.) took the win in the J/70 fleet with 12 points, winning the tie-breaker over BMSW defending champion Brian Keane (Weston, Mass.) who had finishes of 7-2-3.  Peter Duncan (Rye, N.Y) took third with 14 points; followed by Heather Gregg-Earl (Boston, Mass.) with 22 points; and Tim Molony (New Orleans, La.) with 23.

“Out of all the regattas this was a really great one to win,” said Welles.  “We had a great start, good team work, nice speed and a little luck. The first day we had about 10 kts, second day we had about 20 kts. So, I would say today [Saturday] they made a good choice to not race. Coming from Newport, we really love coming to BACARDI and we are so glad they invited the J/70  class to be part of it.”  Sailing photo credits- Cory Silken  For more BACARDI Miami Sailing Week information

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

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

Healy Crowned J/70 Midwinter Champion

(Key West, FL)- There was plenty of final day drama at Quantum Key West 2014 as the winners of several classes were determined during the last race. And, conditions could not have been better for those winner-take-all scenarios with the southernmost point of the United States delivering the strongest winds of the regatta. NNE breezes in the 18-25 knot range made for some spectacular racing on all courses and enabled all classes to complete 10 races for the five-day event.

The most impressive performance of the regatta was skipper Tim Healy and his team on HELLY HANSEN, which won the 60-boat J/70 class in convincing fashion. Healy, from Newport, RI, repeated as class champ in Key West by winning two races and placing second or third in five others. HELLY HANSEN clinched the regatta by finishing third in Race 9 and therefore did not sail the final race, using that as its throw-out. Geoff Becker and John Mollicone combined on tactics and trimming while Gordon Borges worked the bow for Healy, who is also a standout J/24 sailor.

“Obviously the biggest key to success is having a good team. My guys did an awesome job of boat-handling and tactics,” Healy said. “We sailed here last year so we had a real good feel for the race course. This team has also sailed J/24s together the past few years so we have a comfort level that makes a big difference.”

Healy and HELLY HANSEN came away with the biggest prize – capturing Quantum Sails “Boat of the Week” honors. “We had a huge class down here last year with a lot of really good sailors so it’s a great accomplishment to come out on top. Winning Key West is definitely one of the highlights of my career,” said Healy, a 42-year-old resident of Jamestown, RI. Eight different boats took first place during the week.

Behind them the standings were closely fought for the top five.  Other than having to drop a 28th in race 4, Brian Keane’s SAVASANA from Buzzards Bay, MA sailed a very strong series and were in the hunt as regatta leader until the 8th race when they had to count a 13th.  The SAVASANA crew reveled in the windy conditions on Friday and sailed to a 204 to wrap up second overall with 48 pts.

The “come-back kids” had to be Ian Atkin’s crew on BOATS.COM with Rory Scott skippering.  After starting out slowly with an 11-10-OCS, the J/70 UK National Champions managed to get their act together and sailed strongly to jump into third overall for the regatta, finishing with an emphatic win in the very last race! That’s wonderful news for European J/70 teams to understand that top sailors in their region are every bit as fast as the top American teams.  Follow Ian’s and Rory’s J/70 experiences here on their BOATS.COM blog.

As a winner of some of the regional J/70 events over the 2013 sailing season, many expected Joel Ronning, a long-time Lake Minnetonka, MN sailor, and crew aboard CATAPULT to be contenders.  Indeed they were, sailing extremely well in the first and last days of the regatta to sew-up fourth place with 71 pts.

Another “come-back” story was wily veteran David Ullman sailing US 32 to a fifth place finish.  After starting with a 39-14 the first day, Ullman and crew clawed their way back into contention by winning a race and placing in the top ten six times.

Top woman skipper, repeating the same feat from last year’s Key West, was Heather Gregg-Earl from Boston, MA.  Heather’s team on MUSE persevered and despite being over early in the last race and literally starting DFL about 300 yards behind the fleet, she climbed back into contention to capture a 19th in the last race and finish 14th overall.

HOT MESS, skippered by Rob Britts of St. Petersburg, Fla., was crowned as Corinthian champion of J/70 class. Britts posted six wins and three seconds within the 14-boat sub-class comprised of all-amateur crews.

As an illustration of fleet depth and competition, eight teams won races with, oddly enough, only two teams taking two wins in the total of ten races— Healy’s HELLY HANSEN and James Allsop’s MOXIE.  To finish in the top five would take at least an 8th place average and to finish in the top ten meant you had to average 12th or better!   Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal.

Sailing video interviews:

Tim Healy- Team Helly Hansen- J/70 Midwinter Champion & Overall Race Week Award winner.  Tim is also current J/24 World Champion.
Alan Terhune- J/22, J/70 boat owner, skipper & crew providing perspectives on sailing J/70s in Key West.  Alan is also current J/22 World Champion.

For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

Another Epic Key West Sailing Forecast!

(Key West, FL)- This year’s Quantum Key West Race Week is gearing up for its trademark week of racing on the aquamarine waters off the coast of the Conch Republic. As the sailors make their way down the Florida Keys by air, water and land over the weekend, it looks like they will be greeted by either the tail feathers of another “polar vortex” spinning madly across America or they’ll be hammered by a “clipper system” ripping SSE across the continent spinning up all kinds of winds.  By Monday, the “good word” from the colorful Key West Chamber of Commerce is that sunny, benign weather will caress the fleet with near-perfect Caribbean-like conditions all week— some forecast!  Realistically, various weather forecast models (GFS, NAM, ECUWF) show 8-12 kts from NW to NE quadrants for Monday, Tuesday followed by increasing winds from the NW to NE in the 10 to 20 kts plus range from Wednesday to Friday’s closing day.

There will be nearly 130 boats sailing, but what’s different, like a lot different, about this year’s Key West is that J/Teams comprise two-thirds (66.0%) of the fleet with 85 J’s sailing.  In other words, Key West is now the de-facto “Winter J/Fest”!  That’s a good thing since the new regatta HQ at Kelly’s Caribbean Bar & Grill, situated on Caroline St between Whitehead St and the infamous Duval St will be over-run by members of the J/Tribe sailing J/70s, J/80s, J/88, J/109s, J/111s, J/122s, and J/125!

Newport-based Tim Healy will be back to defend his title in J/70 class aboard TEAM HELLY HANSEN, which has attracted a whopping 62 boats. Runner-up Brian Keane’s SAVASANA (Weston, Mass.) and third place finisher Bruno Pasquinelli on STAMPEDE (Dallas, Texas) will also be back as the J/70 class contests its second Midwinter Championship.  They’re up against a formidable array of teams from across the world, not just top Americans, but also teams from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Great Britain, Canada and Bermuda.  The top boats from the Tampa Bay Quantum Winter series will be attending, including the top three- Jud Smith on AFRICA, Rob & Sandy Butler on TOUCH 2 PLAY and Rob Britts’s HOT MESS.

The balance of the J/70 fleet is deeply talented with any number of teams capable of top ten finishes.  Amongst the top foreign teams could be one of Great Britain’s top J/70 crews, Ian Atkins sailing BOATS.COM; from Puerto Rico is Marco Teixidor skippering CACHONDO; from Bermuda is Chuck Millican racing ELUSIVE; and from Mexico is Julian Fernandez Neckelmann’s FLOJITO Y COOPERANDO.

Several Etchells 22 World, North American and Jaguar series champions are sailing J/70s, namely Jud Smith as mentioned, but also Peter Vessella sailing RUNNING WILD, Peter Duncan helming RELATIVE OBSCURITY and Jim Cunningham on LIFTED.

Other contenders that have won or were “in the chocolates” in various J/70 regattas in the past year include Brian Elliot’s B-SQUARED, Doug Strebel’s BLACK RIVER RACING, Mike Sudofsky’s CARLOS, Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT, Bob Hughes’s HEARTBREAKER, Kerry Klingler’s MENACE, James Allsopp’s MOXIE, Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE, Dave Franzel’s SPRING and Dave Ullman’s US 32 from Newport Beach, California.

Designers Rod and son Alan Johnstone will be sailing the latest RAGTIME and welcoming other renown class newcomers like Johnny Demourkas sailing GROOVEDERCI from Santa Barbara, CA (Farr 40 and J/105 West Coast Champion); John Brim from Fisher’s Island skippering a “baby RIM” called RIMETTE; Johnny Wynacht sailing STRANGE BREW from Nova Scotia (Canadian J/24 champion and J/29 sailor); Richard Bergmann on ZUNI BEAR II (of J/105 Zuni Bear fame); John Arendshorst on 20/20 RACING from Macatawa Bay; Chris Whitford sailing a baby HOT LIPS (top Farr 40 team from Chicago); Stu Williams on CLOUDSOURCED from Whitefish Bay; Malcolm Gefter sailing CELERITAS from Newport (long-time M32 and Swan 42 sailor); and Tim Molony skippering JOUST (with his New Orleans friend, Olympic medallist Johnny Lovell, as tactician!).

The dynamic match-racing duo of Taylor Canfield (current World Match Racing Champion) and Stephanie Roble (USA #1 Women Match Racer) are sailing as tacticians and could be the proverbial “dark horses” in the fleet. Taylor is sailing with Dan Cheresh’s EXTREME team from Macatawa Bay and Steph is helping Juddie Smith’s Marblehead team on AFRICA.

Amongst the record nine women J/70 skippers (15% of the class!) will be current J/70 North American Champion Heather Gregg-Earl skippering MUSE along with Suzy Leech sailing JUNKANOO, Catharine Evans steering MOJITO, Maegan Ruhlman on SPACEMAN SPIFF, Kathy Parks on SUNDOG, Amy Neill on NITEMARE, Kirsten Berry sailing DANGER MOUSE, Carrie Austin skippering CHINOOK and Tris Worth sailing ALIBI.

Dave Franzel attended what was known as Key West Race Week way back in 1981 as crew for a J/24 program. The founder of the Boston Sailing Center returned 32 years later as a J/70 skipper and was crowned as Corinthian champion after finishing eighth overall in the 39-boat fleet.  "I had an absolute blast. It was one of the best regattas I've ever been to. It made me wish I hadn't waited so long to come back," said Franzel, a resident of Somerville, Mass. "I was very impressed with the race management. The courses were sound and the starting lines were solid. We got in 12 races in five days and you can't ask for more than that."

The Demourkas family from Santa Barbara, CA are back again.  This time, John Demourkas will be racing his new J/70 GROOVEDERCI in the class as the couple makes their annual winter pilgrimage from Santa Barbara.  His wife Deneen is sailing her M32 GROOVEDERCI, commenting that, "John and I have been attending this event the last 14 years and we love the relaxation Key West affords, particularly after a hectic holiday season.  And then there is Race Week, which always delivers. You can pretty much guarantee great sailing conditions, beautiful weather and good competition. Why wouldn't you be here?"

NOTE- the North Sails J/70 team is providing FREE pre-regatta clinics in Key West— come one, come all! Here's what’s happening:

• Saturday 1-4 pm- North On-the-water clinic (run by Tim Healy, Allan Terhune, Andreas Josenhans and Chuck Allen) with starting drills and short course races with complete photo and video coverage.
• Saturday 5:30 pm- Clinic Debrief at the North U. Regatta HQ (725 Caroline St, formerly West Marine)- review photos and videos and pick the brains of top J/70 sailors in a relaxed and casual environment. Refreshments courtesy of North Sails.
• Sunday 10 am- North Dockside clinic- will be held at Tim Healy's boat located near the ramp at the Truman Annex. Bring your questions and a notepad to get the latest, hands-on, tuning tips

For Key West sailing video entertainment, look at this beautifully produced summary from Chris Odom @ Chris Odom Photos- nice sequences of J/70s, J/80s, J/109, J/111, J/44, J/122 in the 3-minute clip.    Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal Photos and Tim Wilkes.com Photos.   For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

Countdown to Key West

(Key West, FL)- Racing teams from across the country and around the world are getting ready to compete in the waters off America's southernmost city during the 27th annual Quantum Key West Race Week, scheduled Sunday through Friday, Jan. 19-24.

The "wow" factor is clearly in play again for the 2014 edition. All three divisions will feature well prepared programs gathering to enjoy great competition and renowned Key West sailing conditions, as they pursue coveted podium finishes.

The incredibly popular J/70 class is coming off a very successful Key West debut with the fleet topping 60 boats for their 2014 Midwinter Championship. Returning veterans and newcomers to Key West will experience big fleet racing with exciting starts, tight mark roundings, and close finishes. Both the J/70 Open and Corinthian winners will be recognized with daily and series trophies.

For those who can't be out on the race course, there will be plenty of ways to follow the racing. Last year was a first for "Key West Live" coverage (#QKeyWest) and there will be more real time bloggers and video coverage to keep everyone connected this year.   Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal
For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

Quantum Key West Race Week Update

(Key West, FL)- The annual winter pilgrimage to the sunny, friendly climate of the Florida Keys in late January is showing healthy participation by J/Sailors!  This spectacular event presents world-class competition over five full race days. Entering its 27th year, Race Week offers exceptional racing and fun shoreside parties in wonderful Key West. The Florida Keys and Key West are the perfect southernmost vacation destination!  Yes, even the first J/24 Midwinters sailors in 1978 can attest to that fact!!

Premiere Racing’s reputation for excellent race management and regatta organization promises to deliver another great regatta and ideal winter get-away for all sailing enthusiasts.  If you haven’t already, make plans now to start off the New Year with the best sailing there is this side of the Caribbean’s aquamarine waters and warm, gentle trade-winds.

So far, 105 boats have signed up for Key West, with the two largest one-design fleets being J’s. The 64 J/Teams registered in four classes represent 61% of the fleet, a veritable J/Fest down in the Florida Keys!  By far the largest one-design fleet at the event, the forty strong J/70 Midwinter Championship fleet, already has representation from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Great Britain and continental Europe.

Head on down and join the fun!  Last year’s Key West was epic, 2014 promises to be even better!  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal.com   For more Quantum Key West Race Week sailing information

J/70 SoCal Circuit Rolling!

(San Diego, CA)- The J/70 schedule on the Pacific Coast is beginning to ramp-up with a number of great regattas in Southern California for the fleets that are developing in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Newport Harbor and San Diego.

According to Julie Servais, the 2013 Yachting Cup Chairperson, the J/70s are all invited to participate in the next major event on the West Coast schedule, the Yachting Cup hosted by San Diego Yacht Club from May 4th to 5th!  She reminds everyone there is a reduced entry fee before April 1st 2013.

At this time, the J/70 schedule for California looks like the following:

• May 4-5     Yachting Cup- San Diego YC- San Diego, CA
• May 31- Jun 2     Cal Race Week- Cal YC- Marina del Rey, CA
• Jun 28-3     Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach YC- Long Beach, CA
• Jul 20-21    Fiesta Cup- Santa Barbara YC- Santa Barbara, CA
• Sep 27-29    J/Fest- San Diego YC- San Diego, CA
• Sep 26-29    Big Boat Series- St Francis YC- San Francisco, CA
• Sep 26-28    J/70 North Americans- Annapolis YC- Annapolis, MD

Specialty Events (ones that J/70s would love to do!):

• Jun 8         Delta Ditch Run- from Richmond to Stockton up the Delta on the Bay
• Jul 13-14    High Sierra Regatta- Huntington Lake, CA

For more SDYC Yachting Cup sailing information on Facebook   For more information on the SoCal fleet #4, please contact Karl Pomeroy (karl8144@att.net) or J/Concierge- Joanne O'Dea (joanne@jk3yachts.com) or phone# 619-347-9407.  Sailing photo credits- Onne Vanderwal.com

J/Teams Loving Sailing SoCal Sunshine

(Marina del Rey, CA)- As one of the first racing series of the Southern California midwinter sailing events, the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey starts off the New Year  with their Berger Series for PHRF racing in SoCal.  It is a five-race event and is the premier distance, day-time series in Marina del Rey, culminating with a race to their Catalina Island Harbor facility and returning to Marina del Rey (yes, that beautiful, massive 10,000+ boat marina just north of LAX airport.

So far, several J/Teams are loving the sunshine and moderate breezes (if not a bit light) and are leading their divisions.  In PHRF B, theJ/80 AVET sailed by Curt Johnson from Cal YC won the first race.  Third is the J/70 DFZ sailed by the team of Kownacki & Jenkins, also from Cal YC.  Fourth is the J/109 SPRAY skippered by Peter Nelson and just behind him in 6th is Alice Leahey's J/109 GRACE O'MALLEY.

In PHRC C, Jim Bauerley's J/24 CRITTER is leading followed in third, appropriately enough, is the J/24 TRIPLE sailed by Lars Radmall and in 6th is the J/30 EGGEMOGGIN led by Kris Helm.

The PHRF A divisions sees three J's all in a row together in the top ten with the J/125 TIMESHAVER sailed by Viggo Torbenson in 8th, followed by the J/111 JATO skippered by the Webster & Moorehead team in 9th and Joe Simpkin's J/124 FORGIVENESS in 10th.

The next two events are the Santa Monica Bay Race- Saturday, March 2nd and then the finale, the Pt Dume Race- Saturday, May 4th.  For more Del Rey YC Berger Series sailing information

Epic Key West J/70 Midwinters

Healy Wins, Keane Close Second!
(Key West, FL)- "It felt like 1978 all over again – debuting a new class in Key West with top sailors and family teams from around the country participating. This time, 35 years later, it was the J/70 capturing the headlines, blogs, and video feeds beaming around the planet, though the J/24 was never far from mind.  At almost every turn, there was a J/24 champion from one of the past four decades walking by on the dock admiring the J/70, including several who happened to sail in that famous 1978 J/24 Midwinters like Mark Ploch, Bryson Hall, Dave Ullman and Bill Shore," said Jeff J.  Then, there were the "new kids on the block", like past J/35 North American Champion Bob Hughes and J/80 champions Bruno Pasquinelli keeping the fleet "honest" as to who knew how to sail sportsboats fast.

Most teams arrived over the weekend and all launching and hauling took place at the Truman Annex (former US Navy base) facility equipped with a super wide launching ramp (can launch three boats at a time) and two "cherry picker" hoists (bless, those guys) that tossed in/hoisted a boat every 5 minutes.  The industry showed up in force with about half a dozen rigging trucks, and suppliers like Southern Spars, Harken, Marlow, Torqeedo and the top sailmakers all on hand to support the owners.  Chris and Julie Howell, the new administrators of the J/70 Class had their RV onsite all week helping get folks registered for the class and equipped with member stickers and royalty tags. Saturday evening was a J/70 owner's reception at Kelly’s (Race HQ) where Chris and Julie and the founding group of J/70 Class officers were introduced to the sailors.

Racing was fantastic with 12 races in 5 days, including two 3-race days.  The first gun wasn’t until 11:30am and the fleet was usually dockside by 4. Half the boats dry-sailed out of the Annex and the others wet-sailed. Once people got into the rhythm of hauling and launching every day the dry-sailing went very smoothly and most thought they’d do the same again next year.   The J/70 program was by far the most affordable ever done at Key West and a big reason so many KW veterans came back this year. It was also the first time in years the event permitted a boat under 24’ to compete, a nice testimony to the confidence the organizers had in the ability of the boat to handle whatever Key West dished out for weather conditions.

As Craig Leweck, of Scuttlebutt fame, pointed out, "it's the right boat at the right time.  When nearly a third of the boats in Key West are competing in one class, and when that class is a one-design boat that has yet to celebrate its first birthday, the question that we ask is---what gives?  Already the magazines have heaped praise on the boat:

Sailing World - Boat of the Year
SAIL - Best Boat - Performance 30ft & under
Yachts & Yachting - Boat of the Year - Performance Boat under 30ft
BOOT Dusseldorf- European Yacht of the Year- Special Category
 
"The Key West J/70 fleet will represent about 1/3 of U.S. built J/70s to date," explained J/Boats' President Jeff Johnstone. "A Key West debut was a natural. Several owners competing had expressed their interest early on that it would be great to get 'back' to Key West in a smaller, more affordable program. There's also a portion of the fleet that are experiencing the event for the first time. This is all a bit of flashback when you consider that Key West is where the J/24 kicked off its first class event back in 1978. And in fact some familiar faces like Mark Ploch and Dave Ullman, who raced in the first J/24 Midwinters, are competing in the J/70 class this week."

The extraordinary growth of the J/70 class is a testament to the marketing ability of J Boats. "It's really exciting to see a class that has only been around for four months become the largest one design class at Key West RW by almost double,” said David Ullman, President of Ullman Sails International. "I jumped at the opportunity to sail in the class because it'll be the starting block for a new and potentially big one design class, which is exciting to be a part of. Plus, the popularity of the boat has attracted a field of first rate competition."

What could be most interesting is not only who wins, but how did they win.

"Most of the one design sailmakers will be there to see how well they have done with sail development and getting the most performance out of the boat," noted Jud Smith of Doyle Sails. "It will be interesting to see which teams and sail designs find themselves on the podium on Friday. The crew weights will be different among many of the teams and that may turn out to be a big factor depending on conditions during the week."

J/70 was the largest class at Quantum Key West 2013 with 39 boats and the boat was showcased with some spectacular racing. North Sails pro Tim Healy and his experienced team on HELLY HANSEN seized the lead on Thursday then held it by winning both races on Friday, which featured 14-16
knot winds. Geoff Becker (tactician), John Mollicone (trimmer) and Dave Reed (foredeck) comprised the crew on HELLY HANSEN.

"It was really fun to figure out how to sail the boat. Right up to the last race we were working on tuning and experimenting with techniques," said Healy, a J/24 World Champion who was making his J/70 debut. "We went out early every morning and tinkered with sail trim and rig tune. We made progress every day and the crew worked very hard at fine-tuning every maneuver."

After a slow start the first day, Healy's team took a top 15 position with a 23-14 after the first day of sailing and simply worked harder than anybody to put together ten straight races mostly in the top three, winning five of them.  It was an impressive debut for a long-time J/24 sailor, especially since this was Tim's first "sportboat" event, learning the ropes on the fly especially downwind on how to simply sail faster.  Everyone else was right there with him on steep, steep learning curves figuring out how to start, how to round marks with their newfound crew members and how to get going fast upwind and downwind in the planing conditions the fleet saw for four of the five days.

Chasing Healy all week was past Key West J/105 and J/80 Champion, Brian Keane on his renowned SAVASANA.  Like Healy, he also had a slow start out of the blocks on the first day, posting an equally impressive 15-25, a near mirror image of Healey's first day exploits.  Gotta love it, eh?  However, loving the breezier conditions as Keane often does (former College Single-handed Champion in Lasers, too), he and the SAVASANA crew took off and posted nine top 5 results!  Behind them from Ft Worth Boat Club in Texas was the team of Loring/ Pasquinelli sailing STAMPEDE who also shared a similar pattern to the other two leaders.  Starting off the first day with a blistering 18-33, the STAMPEDE boys shook off the cobwebs and sailed to mostly top 5 finishes for the next ten races to snag third for the regatta.  Rounding out the top five were Peter Duncan and Juddie Smith sailing RELATIVE OBSCURITY finishing 4th and first day leader, Dave Ullman and Tommie Lihan, sailing TEAM 69 to fifth overall.  Notably, class newcomer Bob Hughes (of J/35 and Farr 40 Heartbreaker fame) sailed his J/70 HEARTBREAKER to sixth place, just 6 pts out of 4th overall, the difference unfortunately being an OCS and RDG that materially affected his chances for a top three finish.

For the first time, a Corinthian Class was also sailed for by the purely amateur boats and the competition was hot in this grouping.  David Franzel (Somerville, MA), Founder and Executive Director of the Boston Sailing Center, captured the Corinthian portion of J/70 class sailing his boat SPRING and finished 8th overall in the main fleet.  Just behind him in 9th overall and 2nd in Corinthians was the brother team of Blake & Lud Kimbrough sailing NOSTALGIA from Newport, RI.  Finishing third in Corinthians and 14th overall was Bryan Elliott and David Hyer on B-SQUARED.  Thanks for the contribution from Craig Leweck/ Scuttlebutt.

Sailing World's Dave Reed Interviews of the winners:
Tim Healy- http://www.sailingworld.com/videos/all/2013-quantum-key-west-tim-healy-interview
Tim's Tricks for boat-prep- http://www.sailingworld.com/videos/all/healys-j70-tips
Dave Franzel- http://www.sailingworld.com/videos/all/2013-quantum-key-west-dave-franzel-interview

Sailing photo credits:
Onne Vanderwal- vanderwal.com
Tim Wilkes- timwilkes.com

For more J/70 Midwinters/ Quantum Key West sailing information

Get Ready For Sailing Key West!

Calling All J/70, J/80, J/105 & J/PHRF Teams!(Key West, FL)- The 25th Anniversary edition of Key West Race Week was by all accounts a great success and your Key West hosts are looking forward to building on the enthusiasm that was generated last year and delivering another memorable Key West Race Week 2013 for the one-design J/80 and J/105 classes, for the popular J/PHRF class and for the new J/70 class!  The competition is world-class and the evening socials at the Kelly’s Caribbean shoreside venue have proven to be very popular for skippers and crews.

For the 26th edition of this winter classic, ten races over five days are planned for J/One-Design classes and the J/PHRF classes.  A Key West hallmark has been strong class racing and we are hoping to grow those fleets that have supported Key West for years.  Positive news from all four J/Classes point to another year featuring great competition- so far 35 J's are signed up, about 42% of the 84 boats planning to participate already.  Come one, come all, let's make J's 50% of the fleet!  The more the merrier!

For J/105s, the big news is that one of the class's newest owners, Dennis Conner (recently honored as "America's Greatest Sailor" by US Sailing/ Sailing World Magazine) will be sailing USA 3- DC's PHOLLY, one of the oldest J/105s in existence.  DC just finished sailing the J/105 SoCal Championships and the J/105 North American Championships in San Diego and has proven to be a competitive J/105 sailor-- DC and crew are looking forward to sailing Key West and invite all J/105 sailors to join them for some "phun and phrolic with PHOLLY!"  To date, Damien Emery's champion ECLIPSE from New York has taken up the invitation as has Bennet Greenwald's PERSEVERANCE traveling cross-country like DC from San Diego, California!  What an opportunity to say you "crossed-tacks with DC (the America's Cup most famous sailor) and lived to tell the story"!  Join DC and crew for the J/105 2013 Midwinter Championship!

The J/80s have a quartet from Annapolis showing up with Kristen Beery, Bert Carp, Jeff Jordan's WILLY T and J-World's ANIMAL HOUSE looking forward to some rocking & rolling in the crystal blue-waters off Key West.  Joining them are Gary Panariello's COURAGEOUS from New York and Ron Buzil's VAYU 2 from Chicago, Illinois.  The J/80s will again be hosting their 2013 J/80 Midwinter Championship in conjunction with the Key West regatta-- it's a great way to have "your cake & eat it, too"!  Win class prizes, daily fleet prizes, door prizes and take a well-deserved break from the freezing grip of winter to work on that tan and catch up with sailing friends from around the world!

The J/70s debuts at Key West 2013 for its first J/70 Midwinter Championship on a special circle just west of Sunset Key (Tank Island), past the NW Passage.  The racing promises to be fun, fast and challenging for what may be the first time many of the teams will be racing one-design. So far, with 18 boats registered and over 30 expected to participate the fleet is beginning to look like a "Woodstock" sailing festival with many legendary J/Sailors from the past participating as well as some of the latest rockstars. Known participants include Mark Ploch (winner of first J/24 Midwinters in 1978), David Ullman, Don Trask, Tim Healy, Rod/Jeff Johnstone, Heather Gregg-Earl, Don Finkle, Jimmie Allsopp & son Cole, Kerry Klingler/ Rick Lyall, Henry Brauer/ Will Welles, Mike Sudofsky, John Gottwald, Bruno Pasquinelli, Chris Snow and Blake Kimbrough, amongst many others.

Finally, the J/PHRF Time-on-time handicap class is shaping up to be yet another great fleet of boats.  Last year, past winners Bill Sweetser on the J/109 RUSH and Robin Team on the J/122 TEAMWORK both said it was some of the best handicap racing they've ever sailed at Key West.  With Rod J handling the PHRF TOT handicaps, the racing was fair, fun and extremely competitive with the outcome of the entire week coming down to the last race.  This year promises to be just as much fun.  So far, two top J/109s are sailing, Sweetser's RUSH and Gary Wesiberg's HEAT WAVE; four J/111s are expected to sail including Doug Curtiss' WICKED 2.0 and class newcomer Bob Hese's LAKE EFFECT from Youngstown, NY.  Also sailing are Glenn Gault's J/120 REBECCA from Texas, Adam Esselman's J/124 STILL MESSIN from Michigan and David Alldian's J/95 CYMOPOLEIA from New Jersey.

REMINDER! NOTE TO SELF- be sure to enter NOW (no cost obligation) if you believe that you will be racing with us next January 2013 – here are the links to the online entry and the current entry list – it is easy to do and the entry fee is not due until later in December.  To enter Key Race Race Week, please click here   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes