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[source: Scuttlebutt]

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Lake Minnetonka, MN (September 12, 2008) Tim Healy had won the J/24 North Americans before, and was poised to do it again. All that stood in between him and the prize was the one race - the final race - scheduled for Friday. He was guaranteed second, and only a bullet by John Mollicone’s team could change his happy ending. There had been good breeze all regatta, not quite windy enough for jib conditions, but plenty of upper genoa range. The event venue, Lake Minnetonka, had been playing fair too, with both sides of the course working, and lots of shifts for the astute tactician to work his or her way to the front of the fleet. For just one race on Friday, he liked his team’s chances.

The only problem was that for the final day of the event, the wind was zero with puffs to 6 knots. Not exactly the kind of conditions where it was easy to control the only boat you had to beat. Healy’s team could have focused only on Mollicone, match raced him at the start, and forced him into one of the numerous bays along the 140 miles of lake shoreline. However, that’s not his style, and instead allowed Mollicone to start near the pin while Healy would set up more toward the center of the line and protect the favored right side. Of course, when the wind glassed off around Healy, all bets were off and the scramble began.

As had occurred all regatta, both teams found themselves in the top ten at the first windward mark, but when Bob Harden’s team on Mr. Happy worked out into a distant lead over both of them, ultimately winning with a leg lead, Healy knew that the threat was over, and went on to enjoy the most pleasant 18th place finish he ever recorded during his ten year career in the class. — Results: http://www.j24northamericans.com/pages/J24Results.html

So Bob, our mast guy, says do you ever do downwind starts. I say I haven’t in the three years I’ve been racing.  And so after a douse where the spinnaker ended up in the lake, and I’m madly re-running the sheets, and we are going to be late to the start, I look up and the entire fleet has spinnaker set, charging to the line. Too funny. Sort of.

We were caught off guard, didn’t get the spinnaker set before we had to reach to the leeward gate under genoa. That is sort of our night. Many highs and lows, wrapped spinnakers, a torn leach cord, a crash gybe that nearly dumped the crew.

On the high side we were dialed into the puffs and made nice work of the beats. It makes it a bit more painful to see the spinnaker in a un-recoverable figure eight when you actually have a fighting chance in a race. But the breeze was up and mistakes get magnified. A character and experience building exercise for sure.

One lesson was learned on the downwind start. When we made it to the windward mark all boats were leaving it to starboard, which we have never done before. Here is the relevant section of the Lake Washington GSIs:

9.3   Start between the starting buoy and the orange flag on the race committee boat. Pass each rounding mark in the order displayed and on the same side as the starting mark. Finish between the finishing buoy and the orange flag on the race committee boat. When a number, such as “2″ or “3″, follows the course letters, it signals a multiple-lap course. Sail the course as many times as is indicated by that number, crossing the finishing line at the completion of each lap.

Since we started downwind with the pin to starboard, all other marks must now be left to starboard. The leeward mark was a gate so this rule didn’t change anything there. Lesson learned.

When we got back to the dock we did some practicing with the spinnaker pole to sort out some of the issues we are having with douses. I wish we had more time for practicing, I know it would make all of the difference. But it’s hard enough to field a crew one night a week as it is. This is really the biggest challenge for us right now.

All in all, it was a great night on the lake, our crew is getting deeper, and everybody lived to sail another day. 

No racing due to Whidbey Race Week, so we went out for a little training. Nate, Weston and me in 8-12 knots of breeze. We did about 10 gybes and about 20 tacks and then we hove to and broke out the beers and bánh mì (many thanks to Nate). Good friends, good times, and a nice break in the racing.

Following up on the race report from Tuesday night, I emailed Joy Okazaki of Hot Pursuit, the boat we collided with, to get a clearer picture of what happened. I got that and more.

First of all, here was the situation:

Our strategy was to avoid the crowd at the pin. Unfortunately, with Tundra Rose (TR) to leeward of us and the starboard tackers in front of us, we felt boxed in. As we approached the pin layline, TR “helpfully” suggested that we should “make our turn.” We went for it. We tacked under Hot Pursuit and then began the luffing game. As we drifted there the jib backwinded and we tacked.

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The original idea when we started this blog was to be able to review and post our experiences racing in the Tuesday night club races on Lake Washington. It’s been a while since anyone has posted so it’s time to get back to it.

Much of the early part of the season was missed either struggling to find crew due to heavy work schedules and family responsibilities, or from having the boat in pieces while we upgraded the rig.  Now that we are deep into the second half of the season we seem to finally be putting the pieces together.

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Photo by Nick Frampton

From the UK Nationals:

The five crew of J/24 Juvenile Deliquent were rescued just seconds before their upturned boat sank stern-first into the waters of Weymouth Bay on Sunday. The incident happened in the first race of the British National Championships in winds of 25-29 knots and big seas.

More here.

Triumphant return for Reloaded, a watery end for Delinquent

Mark Jardin reports on the first (and only) race so far:

[Source: Yachts and Yachting]

After racing was cancelled due to high winds on the first day, the fleet was chomping at the bit to get out on the water on day two of the 30th Anniversary J/24 nationals in Weymouth. Just after midday PRO Frank Newton judged the wind had dropped enough for racing to begin.

While the sun may have started shining, the wind certainly hadn’t gone away. An over-eager fleet led to an almost inevitable general recall on the first attempt to start the race. This lead promptly to the black flag being hoisted and a more orderly second start.

From the off, Mark Penfold’s ‘Reloaded’, back on the water after a couple of years collecting moss, took a commanding lead. Conditions were fierce with the wind a constant 25 knots and gusts much higher. The left hand side of the beat paid off with ‘Reloaded’ rounding the windward mark first, Thijs Knapper’s ‘Phoenix’ second and Jon Powell’s ‘Peggy’ third.

The run saw the real drama begin. High speed surfing was had by all on the run leading to a few broaches and the odd capsize. Half way down the run Adam Bowers’ ‘Juvenile Delinquent’ had a huge wipe out filling the boat with water. It was clear to the crew that the boat was going down so they abandoned ship to the safety of a nearby rib.

Conditions continued to get more difficult with the wind going from strength to strength. ‘Reloaded’ just held it together on the final beat, despite a last-minute broach on the final run to take the win. ‘Peggy’ came through into second just ahead of ‘Phoenix’.

The postponement to another day combination of flags were wisely hoisted by the race team at the finish line sending the slightly reduced fleet back in to lick their wounds and repair the damage. Tonight sees a barbeque for the fleet at Weymouth Sailing Club.

Adam Bowers said after the sinking of his boat:
“You can look on a situation like that one of two ways; either it was bad luck that we lost the boat or it was good luck that all five of the crew are safe and well. I’m definitely looking on the positive side of the situation.”

Mark Penfold commented on the winning return for ‘Reloaded’:
“It was great to have her back on the water and performing in such big conditions, I’m over the moon. We’ve a totally international crew on board with British, Swedish, Danish and Cornish sailors – a triumph for us all.”

Links:

• Yachts and Yachting
• Practical Boat Owner
• Foilborne

Canadian Nationals winner Bruce Long offers this race report.

The View - J 24 Canadians

So the stars aligned and we found ourselves on top. Nobody was more thrilled and surprised than me. Paul Elvstrom said that a regatta is won on the beach, before you set out on the first day. So being a bit of a student of the game (read obsessive) the following was key to our success:

1. Team - I had the good fortune of being joined by some great friends, who each could have helmed, called tactics, or crewed better than myself. We are each former or active dinghy sailors. The multiple one design big fleet experiences brought a comfort about the chaos. At least, we had been there and knew what we were trying to achieve! So get to know some dinghy sailors, cultivate some juniors, or buy a Laser.
2. Sails - I have been a long customer of Brett Willett’s Sobstad loft. I have coddled a suit he built for the 2002 Worlds and added a new genoa this year. Flyer has NEVER had such jets. We were higher and faster than some exceptional sailors flying some much newer sails. Brett is local, priced right, knows the boat, has the experience in the class and the sails are finished superbly. Flyer is set-up verbatim from his website and advice. Seems like a no brainer to me.
3. Boat - After 15 years of upgrading, rebuilding, rearranging, and fairing, Flyer is now optimized. Clint Currie’s artistry and guidance over the years has been invaluable. I spent some time over the winter tweaking and this spring re-sanded and polished the hull and foils.
4. Rig - The spar is tuned to the Sobstad data. The entire weekend we had our rig set at our base setting. We got caught on Friday when it got up to 12 knots with 4 people but were able to tough it out upwind with back stay on. I am happy to share the numbers.
5. Starts & Tactics - We all participated in gathering of data before each race. Although the tide was ripping and the beach was favoured at times, (really?) we went out of our way to start with no one on our leeward bow and avoided the high-risk ends. I am more comfortable in speed mode and some skippers are pinchers. We got great speed quickly and were able to leg out (see 1,2 & 3). Funny- speed equals point! We were able to get to the clear air and rolling. We aggressively changed gears for every wave set, puff, lull or rounding.
6. Shut up & Drive - Knowing that everyone on board was a great sailor and they all were doing their job better than I could, (have you seen my foredeck work?), it was pretty easy to bear down on the wooden stick. I was able to relax and get in the groove.

So, there is no rocket science from me. I am happy to have any one ask about the gear, settings or our routine. Thanks to all for the well wishes after the event. It means a lot to me to compete at a high level against some excellent competitors.

To win was just a bonus.

Bruce

Crew - Reto Corfu, Rob Cullen, Sean Staniforth, Ed Tchoi, Brett Willetts

[Source: yachtsandyachting.com]

Chris McLaughlin with Immarsat Hedgehog Reports

Canadian Rossi Milev takes over the lead as Hillman moves up

Day two of the J24 World Championship in Cannigione, Sardinia saw two more races and new faces moving up the board. The day belonged to American sailor, Mark Hillman and crew, sailing Wip, and scoring two firsts with Rossi Milev of Canada, steering for Bob Turner and his British boat, Serco Headcase, scoring two seconds. Milev has been very consistent and holds the overall lead.

Race 3 was sailed in winds around 10 mph and an opening beat of 1.6 miles. Leaders pushed both sides of the course, but it was Hillman who got to the left first and managed to take the lead by the weather mark, followed by Milev, Massimo Fillipo of Italy, and Ian Southworth.

The run continued its previous days challenges, with those who pressed to either shoreline being rewarded with additional puffs of breeze, while boats in the middle got less initial pressure. In a trend for the day, puffs would pass crews by, or disappear a matter of feet on either side of them.

One left handed gust brought five boats, led by Stefan Karsunke of Germany, sailing Max Bahr and Mike Ingham of USA back into fourth and fifth places, whilst Southworth fell to fourteenth place. At the leeward mark the Race Officer shortened the next beat, with places remaining unchanged until the run. Once again local puffs were the dominant factor with the fleet as Hillman and Milev extended their lead. The pack closed up and places changed again. Southworth found breeze this time and moved through to overtake boats, including Andrea Casale of Italy and finish just feet behind Santa Cruz of Brazil to record an eight place. The first ten were Hillman, Milev, Fillipo, Karsunke, Ingham, Santa Cruz, Southworth, Peer Kock of Germany and Andrea Casale.

Race Four had an increasing breeze, at times to around 15 mph, with the weather mark moved five degrees further right and a 1.6 mile beat. Hillman won the start and .pushed forward in a repeat of the morning to the left side of the course. Second into the left shore were local sailors, Aurelio Bini in Sardares and Di Fraia, in Slam, followed by Paul Toms of Ireland in Joya and Ian Southworth on Inmarsat Hedgehog. Lucy McGregor, and her team are getting to grips with the boat and rounded just behind, along with Milev in.

With limited place changing on the run, the race officer moved the weather mark another five degrees to the right. Hillman, Bini and Southworth took the left – hand leeward mark and pushed right, while Di Fraia, Toms, McGregor and Milev headed left. Crossing to the left, Hillman and Bini held a comfortable margin and Southworth passed Di Fraia and Toms. But once again, Milev showed his teams grasp of the local conditions to work the left and slip passed Southworth and at the finish line to take second from Bini.

The top ten were: Hillman, Milev, Bini, Southworth,Di Fraia,Toms, Santa Cruz, Fabio Nocera of Italy, Casale and Wilcox ofGermany.

The series leader is Canadian Milev, helming for World Class Chairman, Bob Turner of Great Britain. Their boat, Headcase, is the only J24 to have won two World Championships, with Ken Read at the helm. Perhap this will be a third?

A discard comes into play after Race five of the ten race series and another light airs day is anticipated for Day three.

From the Bermudans:

Tonight - D&S party. Usual tactic - try and get everyone ahead of us pissed (will need a lot of rum!!!).

[Source: J24 Bermuda]

 

Post by Tom Quinn :

Down the run - what an amazing sight - 72 boats behind with chutes set. Great downwind leg - and well set up to go right as planned - plenty of clear air, and covered the fleet this time - another good run - a couple of boats snuck by to a finish of 7th.