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

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/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.