San Diego NOOD Preview

(San Diego, CA)- The next installment of Sailing World’s NOOD Regattas will be taking place this weekend in San Diego from March 14th to 16th.  In addition to the one-design and handicap classes, a new “event” has been added into the mix, the “North Sails Rally Race” that takes place on Saturday only.  J/Sailors will be a significant component in the regatta, with forty-four teams participating in the large one-design classes of J/24s, J/70s, J/105s, and J/120s. J/Crews will once again be the “life of the party” at San Diego’s NOOD, as 44 “J’s” of 114 boats (39% of the fleet) will have over 250 crew members socializing around the expansive decks and lawns at San Diego YC.

The J/70s have the largest fleet in the regatta with sixteen teams hoping to grab one of the qualifying spots for the J/70 Worlds in Newport, RI this September.  There are several wily veterans mixed in with a host of new teams just starting their J/70 circuits this year.  Amongst the veterans, you have Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT crew from Wayzata YC in Minnesota, Eric Kownacki & Tom Jenkins on DFZ, Dan Gribble/ Kurt Weise on GO-RILLA, Jeff Brown from the host San Diego YC, Craig Tallman on JAYA, Bennet Greenwald on PERSEVERANCE and Karl Pomeroy on ZERO TO 60.  Amongst the fleet newcomers in the regatta are several talented teams from other classes that have hopped into 70’s for more fun in the sun!  Santa Barbara YC’s Scott Deardorff is campaigning CAKE this year (already entered in the J/70 North Americans in Rochester, NY), Beverly Burr is skippering CHICK BOAT from Westlake YC, Patrick Toole is driving ECLIPSE (another Santa Barbarian team that are also J/24 North American Champions!), Dave Vieregg is leading SOGGY DOLLAR, Scott Grealish from Portland, OR is skippering SPLASH and top J/105 sailor Rich Bergmann is sailing ZUNI BEAR.   For more Sperry Top Sider San Diego NOOD 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 California Circuit 2014

(San Diego, CA)- The J/70 fleets in southern and northern California have been working through their schedules to ensure there are opportunities to sail through the winter 2014 as well as through the spring and summer leading up to the 2014 J/70 Worlds in Newport.

The two primary series for SoCal J/70 Fleet #4 are the “JK3 Winter Series” from November 2013 to March 2014 followed by the “High Point” series that runs from February to September 2014.  Interspersed are major J/70 events on both West and East Coasts.

The JK3 2013/4 Winter Series encompasses these dates at San Diego YC: November 9, 16, 23; December 7, 14-15; January 18-19; February 22-23; and March 8-9.

For the 2014 SoCal High Point Series, multiple venues are included:
- Feb 15-16 – SCYA Midwinters- Coronado YC (South Bay)
- Mar 14-16 – San Diego NOOD – San Diego YC (South Bay)
- Mar 29-30 – Kings Harbor Race Week- Kings Harbor YC
- May 2-4 – Yachting Cup- San Diego YC
- Jun 27-29 – Long Beach Race Week- Long Beach YC
- Jul 12-13- Fiesta Cup- Santa Barbara YC
- Sep 20-21 –J/70 West Coast Championships- Newport Harbor YC
- Sep 27-28 – J/Fest- San Diego YC

Key Northern California and National regattas that interleave perfectly include:
- Apr 4-5- J/Fest- St Francis Yacht Club
- Jun 14– SSC Delta Ditch Run- Richmond YC
- Jul 19-20 – High Sierras Regatta- Fresno YC
- Jul 14-20- J/70 North Americans- Rochester YC
- Sep 8-13- J/70 World Championships– New York YC/ SailNewport

For more J/70 Class and fleet championships sailing information

J/70 Dominates Hot Rum Sailing Division!

(San Diego, CA)- The Sinhoffer Hot Rum Regatta series always seems to be full of surprises for all who’ve sailed the event over the course of time.  Such a seemingly simple course, using the classic “pursuit-style” starting sequence with small(slowest) boats starting first and fastest last, is never quite what it seems as the boats head out to the starting line.  Other than weather that can be impacted by late summer highs bathing the fleet in warm sun and light winds or massively fast weather systems blown down from the Bering Straits whipping the eastern Pacific into a frenzy and throwing overcast clouds, 15-30 kts SW winds and 10-15 seas at the fleet, the big “gotcha” is often how the winds (or lack thereof) flow over the monstrous promontory known as Point Loma.  As a result, many a Hot Rum Series leader has seen their chances blown in the final few hundred yards sailing into the finish line off Shelter Island.

This year’s three weekend series saw just about every weather condition imaginable.  The first weekend was fraught with almost no wind with most big boats barely finishing and most littler boats having to take DNFs (sometimes entire divisions!).  The second go-around saw a gorgeous sunny day with 5-8 kts of breeze from the West.  Then, the final weekend was cool, partly cloudy with foggy drizzle and a strong breeze of 10-20 kts from the SW.

With a fast-growing and strong presence already in Southern California, it was only a matter of time that J/70s started to pop-up on the radar screen and do some damage even in the handicap-racing world.  Sailing in what is arguably one of the toughest fleets, Jeff Brown’s J/70 took top honors followed by Dave Vieregg’s SOGGY DOLLAR in third overall in class.  Next up with a good series was Tomm Reilly’s J/100 JASWINDER.  Of note, the J/70 fleet was not going to be denied, winning every race in class with Eric Kownacki’s DFZ taking one and Karl Pomeroy’s ZERO TO 60 taking the other.   Sailing photo credits- San Diego YC/ Bronny Daniels- Joysailing.com   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information

J/Teams HOT In SD Rum Series

(San Diego, CA)- San Diego's favorite Fall racing series is in full swing! For three Saturday’s (November 9th, 23rd and December 7th), the San Diego Yacht Club plays host to the annual Hot Rum Series— a fun-loving “free-for-all” that generally sees the fleet starting inside of San Diego Harbor, takes them on a “tour” that heads out past the majestic Point Loma, around some buoy set offshore, then “back home to the barn” to again finish inside the channel just off Harbor Island.  It’s an annual ritual for many SoCal sailors and, for most, it’s pretty random how one finishes based on how the wind blows (or not!).  For those not “in-the-know”, it’s consistently one of the largest PHRF “pursuit-style” races run annually— with the little boats (like 21 footers) starting first and the big boats (e.g. over 70 foot ULDB sleds) starting last; whomever crosses first wins!

Many J/Teams participate in this festival of sailing, more fun than being an actual race.  The seven J/70s in PHRF Class 4 are knocking it out of the park so far!  First in class is Karl Pomeroy’s ZERO TO SIXTY followed in second place by Jeff Brown’s “J70 Team”.  Dave Vieregg is sitting 3rd in J/70s and fifth in class on SOGGY DOLLAR.  Sailing photo credits-  Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information

Sun & Fun Dominate J/Fest San Diego

(San Diego, CA)- After a weekend of everything J/Boats at San Diego YC’s J/Fest, the fleets of one-design J/120s, J/105s, J/109s and J/70s were blessed with nice breezes for all three days. The fleet of thirty-one boats were treated to the memorable San Diego YC hospitality that many sailors look forward to in this magical part of the sailing world.  It's no wonder that more US Navy flag officers retire to this corner of America than any other, the weather is amazing, gorgeous temperate weather, cool breezes and great sailing all year round.

The J/70s debut as a class with their five boat fleet was a lot of fun racing offshore on San Diego Bay.  Having been traveling to the last three major J/70 events on the West Coast, Dan Gribble's GO-RILLA, Eric Kownacki/ Tom Jenkins' DFZ, and Karl Pomeroy's ZERO TO 60 were likely to have the upper hand-- and they did.  Demonstrating excellent race course awareness, extraordinary speed and consciousness as well adroit boat-handling bordering on the professional level was the DFZ gang from Manhattan Beach YC.  Eric K and Tom J showed the locals how it's done, taking a 1-1-1-2-1 for a masterful win in the J/70 class.  Second was Gribble's GO-RILLA and third was Pomeroy's ZERO TO 60 going more like ZERO to 30-- next time Karl, prime the pump with "av-gas"! :)  Sailing photo credits- San Diego YC/ Bronny Daniels.  For more J/Fest San Diego sailing information

J/Fest San Diego Preview

(San Diego, CA)- The San Diego J/Fest boasts a long history of being one of the most fun and well attended regattas in Southern California.  And, it's exclusively for J/Boat owners! The regatta is open to one-design classes as well as a J/PHRF fleet!

Hosted by San Diego YC the J/Teams will enjoy three day of competitive, fun buoy racing from September 27th to 29th.  Friday is the fun, casual race around set marks and government marks, followed by two days of course racing on Saturday and Sunday.  Inside the bay will be the smaller boats (like J/22, J/70 and J/80) and offshore will be the larger boats (the J/105s, J/109s and J/120s).

While the sailing is always nice in sunny San Diego, J/Fest is perhaps most renown for its onshore festivities.  Saturday evening is the traditional J/Fest Party, basically a giant cook-out on the lawn with live music and lots of awesome swag and giveaways from the sponsors.  The fun factor is a key element of the event, a reason why over fifty boats have attended every year.

The J/105s have yet another great turnout with most of the top local teams sailing, including Chuck Driscoll's BLOW BOAT, Steve & Lucy Howell's BLINK!, Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis & Sharon Case's WINGS, Rich Bergmann's ZUNI BEAR, Jon Dekker's AIR BOSS and Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION 2 fro Los Angeles.

The J/120s have traditionally offered very tight competition with a modest-sized fleet.  Again, a number of local favorites are sailing and should be factors at the front of the fleet.  Familiar faces like John Laun's CAPER, John Snook's JIM, Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER, Gary Winton's SHENANIGANS and Mike Hatch's J/ALMIGHTY have all had their fair share of great performances in J/Fest.

The J/109 class will see past local and regional champions sailing again, including Gene Pitkin's GERONIMO, Rex Butler's JD, John Shulze's LINSTAR and Daylen Tercen's GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!

The J/70s will debut as a class and their six boat fleet should present a lot of fun racing on San Diego Bay.  Having been traveling to the last three major J/70 events on the West Coast, Dan Gribble's GO-RILLA, Eric Kownacki/ Tom Jenkins' DFZ, Karl Pomeroy's ZERO TO 60 and Craig Tallman's JAYA may have a leg-up on the fleet. Nevertheless, 70 sailors have proven they're climbing the learning curve fast in this simple boat, so expect to see good competition from Hugh Bennet on CHEETAH CUB and Sean O'Keefe on DECOLORES 3.  For more J/Fest sailing information, please be sure to contact Joanne O'Dea at joanne@jk3yachts.com.  Or, go to the San Diego YC website.

J/70 Weed & Kelp sticks!

(San Diego, CA)- J/70s are sailing in areas notorious for having weed & kelp issues.  Lightweight, quick-to-deploy carbon sticks are often a great answer to the difficult issue of getting weed/kelp off the bottom of the rudder and the keel where the "weed whacker" doesn't reach.  For places like New England, California and lakes like Minnetonka, SD Boatworks has come up with an elegant solution- the J/70 carbon fiber kelp/ weed stick.  Here's a Youtube video of how it works on the rudder and when you lie down on your stomach next to the shrouds, you can use this to also get rid of weed on the bottom of your keel!

Please see:   http://youtu.be/VG9daQGfQc0

If you'd like to get one, please contact Julie Servais at SD Boatworks- ph# 619-592-8682 (office) or 619-632-2444 (cell) or julie@sdboatworks.com.  Their website is http://www.SDBoatworks.com

Yachting Cup- A Tequila J/Storm!

(San Diego, CA)- This year marks the 41st year of San Diego Yacht Club's (SDYC) signature regatta, the Yachting Cup. This premiere regatta brings together competitive fleet and one-design racing at multiple venues in San Diego. Responding en-masse with nearly 56% of the overall fleet of 84 boats, the Yachting Cup saw an armada of J sailing teams participating in the event, including 47 J's spread across PHRF & one-design fleets of J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and J/120s.

The typically sleepy sailing conditions of San Diego got hit by a "tequila storm", with 20+ knots on Saturday with a Low spinning off Mexico kicking up huge waves and southerly breezes preceding the Cinco de Mayo party that night. Amid stories of torn sails and broken boats, there were 83 boats competing in 10 PHRF and One Design classes.

For their debut in the Yachting Cup, the half-dozen J/70s certainly served up some excellent racing in the windy Saturday conditions with huge waves and massive, almost epic planes/ surfs down the big Pacific rollers.  It was close racing with the top four boats all finishing within 7 pts of each other.  The Kownacki/ Jenkins team on DFZ sailed the most consistently, with four 2nds counting towards their total of 12 pts to take the J/70 crown.  Karl Pomeroy's ZERO TO SIXTY (does that mean "zero to hero" in sixty seconds?) sailed some great races (including three 1sts) but couldn't maintain that "fast & furious" pace, settling for second place overall with 14 pts.  Third was Scott Grealish's SPLASH with 18 pts.  Craig Tallmans' new JAYA was 4th, only one pt back!  And, taking the fifth spot was Kenyon Martin's CHEETAH CUB.  Amazingly, four boats won races in the pack of half-dozen boats, a great start for the San Diego J/70 fleet!
Sailing Photo Credits- Bob Betancourt & Bronny Daniels   For more Yachting Cup 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 Sail Frenetic San Diego NOOD!

J/70s Challenge Shifty Winds
(San Diego, CA)- The second stop for the eight event Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta circuit was in San Diego, CA on March 15th to 17th weekend. The feast or famine tradition for this event prevailed, where strong conditions in past events were set aside this year for light and spotty winds. Three race courses hosted 101 boats competing in 12 one design classes. A total of 38 J/Teams participated, accounting for over one-third (37%) of the fleet!

According to Benjamin Miller, SailFlow.com Meteorologist, spring in San Diego can be quite dynamic. The passage of winter storm systems continues but these winter storms become less frequent and less potent as the month of March progresses. Meanwhile, the North Pacific High begins to rebuild, resulting in some modest WNW breezes, too. However, despite all great and wonderful prognostications, such was not the case!

On the opening day, the fog lifted to deliver great conditions for racing for the J/Teams for the duration of the afternoon.  But, the light winds and significant shifts tested the patience of sailors in all fleets.  By the end of the regatta, it was self-evident the weather was putting a premium on good starts and conservative strategies.

Emerging from the heat of battle amongst the rock-star laden J/70 fleet was Bennet Greenwald, sailing a consistent series on PERSEVERANCE to win the emerging 10-boat J/70 class, scoring a 2-3-1-4-2-4 for 16 pts.  On-board with Bennet was fellow San Diegan and Star/ Etchells 22 World Champion Vince Brun.  Next in line grabbing an early lead on the first day but succumbing to a deep finish on the second day was champion sailor David Ullman sailing USA 32 to a 1-1-4-7-4-3 tally to snag second by one point!  Recent St Petersburg NOOD winner, Joel Ronning, sailed his brand new midnight blue/black CATAPULT to a great series, improving just about every race to collect a 3-5-5-2-5-1 for 21 points to grab the third spot on the podium.  Aside from the usual sailing rock stars, the NOOD Regatta also attracted a couple other notable celebrities in the field, including national talk radio host and author Dr Laura Schlessinger.  She sailed her new J/70 called VENGEANCE to a credible fourth place for her first outing!  Like Joel, she too improved virtually every race to win the top J/70 scoreline on the last day, counting an 8-4-3-5-3-2 for 25 pts!  You go girl!!  Rounding out the top five was Karl Pomeroy sailing with Scuttlebutt Newsletter editor Craig Leweck on their boat- ZERO TO 60.  Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com  For more Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta sailing information

J/70 Teams San Diego NOOD Preview

(San Diego, CA)- The western stop for the Sperry Topsider NOOD Regattas will be the San Diego event that will be held at San Diego YC from March 15th to 17th.  The event is breaking new ground as it will be the debut of the J/70s first West Coast one-design regatta, the world's fastest developing sportboat class.  Perhaps most importantly, J sailors overall will be well represented with a strong fleet of J/80s, a renowned fleet of remarkably competitive J/105s and, of course, one of the best 40 ft offshore one-designs rolling along the Pacific coast, the J/120s.  With 101 boats registered to sail, the thirty-six J/Teams represent 36% of the overall fleet!

It looks like the J/70’s have a great fleet, a very deeply talented group no less, and may have up to a dozen boats sailing.  For such a fleet, it's remarkable to see some of California's offshore and one-design racing luminaries participating, testimony to the fact the J/70 is perhaps one of the most fun and easy-to-sail performance sportboats ever created.  Leading the charge is past 470 and M24 World Champion Dave Ullman from Ullman Sails sailing is own boat USA 32.  Then you have one of talk radio's more famous hosts, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, sailing her new VENDETTA USA 201 with Chris Snow on board and you also have Bennett Greenwald on PERSEVERANCE USA 206 with Vince Brun aboard! Then, you have Sean O'Keefe on DECOLORES 3; Craig Leweck of Scuttlebutt newsletter fame sailing with Jeff Brown; Scott Grealish on SPLASH from Portland, OR; and several other characters giving them all a "run-for-the-money".   For more San Diego NOOD sailing information

J/70 Crushes Hot Rum Class 4

J/105 Flies To Class 3 Win
(San Diego, CA)- The last major San Diego YC racing event came to a close on the first day of December with the final of three races in the Hot Rum Series. The fleet of 130 boats in 6 classes enjoyed gorgeous sunny, warm "winter" sailing conditions on the 11.9 nm  pursuit race course located off the majestic Point Loma.

Race 1 was simple enough with nice sun and a great wind, and the usual inquisitions and opinions over ratings.  The conditions favored the smaller sport boats and the early finish line looked a little like a J/105 regatta. But you know what they say about the Hot Rum, one "nice day", one "light day".

And so, the fleet experienced "the light day" for Race 2.  Sunny, yes, but very light winds.  There was enough breeze (6+ knots) to whisk everyone out to the half-way mark in the Roads, but the wind evaporated from there. The larger boats, that have 50+ feet of mast and sail up in the air, managed to make enough breeze to ghost to the finish.  A last little puff of wind just before the 1600 deadline brought the front of the other five fleets to the finish, but in total, only 57 of the registered 130 boats finished.  Several boats received ratings adjustments that reduced their handicaps (estimated their speed faster) at the start of Race 2, and after a protest hearing, those boats were given redress (RDG) of a time credit for that race and their ratings were returned to those posted for Race 1. The redress did not change any of the results.

And the last part of the saying about the weather for the Hot Rum says "one stormy day".  But despite the low clouds and rain through the night, a really nice day popped out of the clouds around 10 am.  At noon, fluffy white clouds with 10+ knots of wind got the race going in perfect Hot Rum conditions.

In the "big boat" Class 1, the J/125s were having a tough time against the 60-70 footers with their sky-scraping masts.  On the second race, the big rigs had their day, all finishing at the lead of the class and overall.  Amongst the J/125s, the top boat was essentially determined on a three-way tie-breaker!  Jim Madden's STARK RAVING MAD had a 25-11-5 for 41 pts to be top dog amongst the 125s.  Second was Viggo Torbenson's TIMESHAVER with a 12-15-14 also for 41 pts!  Third was Tim Fuller's RESOLUTE with a 15-13-13 for 42 pts.

Class 2 was made up of J/109s, J/120s and J/124s.  Leading the J's home was John Laun's J/120 CAPER, getting 2nd in class with a 1-9-2 for 12 pts, nearly taking the entire event had they sailed a slightly better second race!  Second J/120 was Mike Hatch's J-ALMIGHTY with a 12-7-4 for 23 pts and third J/120 was Chuck Nichols' famous CC RIDER with a 5-11-11 for 27 pts.  Amongst the J/124s, Seth Hall's MARISOL was the leader with a 21-15-9 for 45 pts, beating classmate Tom Barker sailing his boat, GOOD CALL.  Top J/109 was Rex Butler's JD followed by the Pikin/ Carter/ Bush trio on GERONIMO and third 109 home was Daylen Teren's GREAT BALLS OF FIRE.

As usual, the J/105 fleet gave everyone enormous headaches in Class 3.  Taking both the Class and J/105 honors was Sharon and Dennis Case sailing WINGS to a 4-3-1 scoreline for just 8 pts.  Second 105 home was Dave Vieregg's TRIPLE PLAY with a 2-5-4 tally for 11 pts.  Third was the Dagostino/ Fisher duo on VIGGEN with a 3-9-3 for 15 pts.

Making their mark in Class 4 were four J/70s-- three of which were sailed by sailmaker teams on boats provided by Jeff Brown's JK3 Yachts.  After the dust had cleared, the top dog amongst the 70s was Bruce Cooper sailing J/70 ULLMAN to a record of 1-2-3 for 6 pts, winning the 70s, winning Class 4 and getting 20th overall!  Pretty good show for their first time out in the Hot Rum.  Second 70 was J/70 QUANTUM with a 3-10-12 for 25 pts and third was Hugh Bennett sailing J/70 #31 to a 14-10-7 for 31 pts.

Class 5 had several of the J/Classics sailing.  Getting third overall was Mark Clements' J/24 BRIGADOON with a 4-3-6 record for 13 pts.  Finishing behind them was the J/22 GOOD ONE! sailed by Shala Lawrence and the J/24 IRIE sailed by Jeremy Miller.

Many thanks to Mount Gay Rum and San Diego Yacht Club and the Race Committee for their support of this hallmark event.  Mark you calendars now for next year's Hot Rum (Nov. 9, 23, Dec. 7)!  Sailing photo credits- Bob Betancourt and Bronny Daniels/ JOY Sailing.   For more San Diego YC Hot Rum sailing information

J/70 One-Design Class Update

(Newport, RI)- Over the past month the evolution of J/70 one-design class development continues its inexorable fast pace around the world.  While the first J/70s are just beginning to appear in such exotic locations like Santiago, Chile; Sydney, Australia; Hong Kong, China; and Miami, FL, other famous sailing venues are seeing fleets blossom like spring flowers across the sailing landscape.  Europeans are just beginning to get a taste of the J/70 in the Netherlands (Belgium & Holland) as well as in England and France.

In the Americas, the class is developing rapidly.  To date there are over a dozen fleets in development with nine confirmed already.  At this stage, it looks like Annapolis can lay claim to being the J/70 capital of the world with Fleet #1 status, followed closely by their friends in Newport/ Narragansett Bay with Fleet #2.  The Great Lakes are growing fast with Cleveland as Fleet #3, Western Lake Ontario #6, South Shore Lake Ontario #7 and Erie, PA as #8.  Out West, SoCal (Southern California) is Fleet #5 and the California fleets may soon expand to include Santa Barbara, CA as its own fleet along with San Francisco, CA.  Plus, the Cascade Locks, OR and Seattle, WA fleets are not far behind! In the East, Fishing Bay, VA is now Fleet #4 and just recently Marblehead attained Fleet #9 status.  Not far behind are fleets forming in Chicago, IL; Fort Worth, TX; Houston, TX; Lake Dillon, CO; Tampa, FL; and Long Island Sound.

Reports from the frontiers of J/70 fleet development are encouraging.  Recently, Jud Smith, a world-renowned sailor (Etchells 22 World Champion, Sonar North American Champion, IOD World Champion and Dennis Conner's mainsail trimmer in the America's Cup), had the following commentary after sailing in Marblehead recently: "I saw the J/70’s sailing in Newport a bunch this summer.  It looked well mannered, without the crew having to fight it to go fast.  I also like the decision to go with dacron race sails for this size one-design.  The ramp-launch trailer, roller furling headsail, carbon rig with adjustable backstay all makes a lot sense.  However, it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to sail with Peter Duncan this fall in New York that I realized that this boat was going to be a game-changer.  I couldn’t help but think the J/70 class was going to take-off like the J/24 did  years ago.  When I got home I told my wife, Cindy, how impressed I was with the boat and that it was a class we could race together. I was pleased to finally be able to get her out sailing at the Marblehead Demo day.  When she returned to the dock she insisted I join her for another ride. I wasn’t expecting that! She’s quite excited now for racing the J/70 together. Our two daughters can race it as well, even if I’m away!"

The report from San Diego was similar.  Jeff Brown at JK3 Yachts said: "This past Sunday we had a J/70 Demo Day hosted at San Diego Yacht Club with sailmakers from Ullman, Quantum, and North sails on each boat for people to test. It turned out to be a perfect day with about 30 attendees.  We offered food, beer, and drinks on the dock after and it was a very successful, enjoyable event. We're looking forward to growing our Socal Fleet #5!"  For more J/70 one-design sailing information

J/70 San Diego Demos!

(San Diego, CA)- JK3 Yachting welcomes an exciting new member of the J/Boat family, the J/70 one-design speedster! Whether you're a veteran racer or daysailor the J/70 is the boat for you. Stable, fast, and fun to drive, the J/70 offers something for everyone.

The Annapolis fleet has 23 J/70s, and 18 boats have already signed up for Key West! Our goal is to build a strong J/70 class on the West Coast!

Join us with our friends from Ullman, Quantum, and North Sails in San Diego Sunday, November 18th, after the Hot Rum Race for J/70 Demo Day! There will be beer, drinks, food, and a chance to test drive a J/70 with your favorite sailmaker. To RSVP please go to http://ja6248.wix.com/socalj70 or contact Jeff Brown at JK3 Yachting in San Diego.