J24 Blog

More video from Vitamin J. Looks like fun:

Results here.

Photo by Dallas Johnson

After a second day of racing with 3 more races completed, it’s Tim Healy moving up five places to first, replacing Will Welles (Paraloc), now in third place. Bill Fastiggi (Beauty) moved up one place to 2nd overall. For complete reaults go here. For more go to SailKarma.

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. 

More on the sinking of Delinquent. The current owner wrote an email to the previous owner which has been posted in the Sailing Anarchy forum:

Steve,

Good news is that everyone got off safely. We were going like a train having rounded about tenth. It was unbelievably windy with the sea running at a different direction to the breeze. We Had just gybed and all was well but before we settled down we were hit on the stb quater by a massive wave that pushed us nose down into the wave in front and spun us so quickly there was nothing we could do. Then we were pulled sideways for about a minute (although it seemed a lot longer) so fast that we were leaving a wake, and she filled up turned fully upside down and then sadly went down. We have a GPS of where we left her but it’s spring tides so she might not be there. I have to say though that she went down with her boots on having crossed the chaps that came second at the worlds by a mile just before rounding the windward mark. Insurance company have been brilliant and they have already commisioned thier surveyors to find her. I will let you know what happens.
Thanks again for your concern and hope to see you soon
Chgeers for now

Adam

Hopefully Delinquent will yet see the light of day. BTW, the second in the worlds boat must be Serco Defence, who ended up placing 5th overall.

For those of you with older boats who are interested in not sinking your boats, here is info on drownproofing your j24:

http://www.j24class.org/TipsTricks/Drownproofing/tabid/96/Default.aspx

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

An awesome photo from the start of the Newport Bermuda race. Speedboat dwarfs the J24 in the foreground. Photo by Ben Jacobsen.

Chris McLaughlin reports:

Ian Southworth and Andrea Casale won the pin and worked toward pressure on the left of the course. At the Committee boat end, a few boats tacked immediately and headed to the right, led by Britain’s Gavin Watson in Roger Rabbit and Germany’s Stephanie Koepcke, with her women’s team on Vega Reederei. The wind flicked but gradually built left , but not before boats from the extreme right, including Watson, Koepcke and Gaetano Pelizarro in the aptly named Magic Fate had rounded, with Casale in Fiamma Gialle fourth and Southworth sailing Inmarsat Hedgehog fifth. Places were unchanged down the run and the leaders, with the exception of Casale took the right hand leeward mark, then all began a slow port tack hall to the right. The USA’s Keith Whitemore on Furio rounded behind them at the left mark and immediately pressed right.

As Watson and Koepcke went further ahead, the wind died completely leaving Southworth and Casale on port making little progress. Whitemore found breeze at the right hand shore and sailed into the leading pack while Southworth and Casale tacked toward new pressure on the left. For the next ten minutes the pair tried to find pressure, as Santa Cruz and others caught up and joined them on the left. Casale, more inshore, dropped back in no pressure, and Southworth could only hold on port underneath an increasing pack of boats. When it finally arrived, it lifted Casale back up from ninth place to third and the port lift left Southworth in the mid-teens.

More here.

The race committee managed to get off one race beginning at 4pm, after the lightning and thunder had subsided, won by Andrea Casale. A second race was started amidst the protests of the racers, and eventually called off.

Chris McLaughlin reports

In a day of extremes, the J24 fleet at Cannigione was made to wait on shore for most of the day as thunder and lightning broke over the race track. Rain continued throughout the day and into the evening in very un-seasonal conditions.

The race committee waited until 4 pm to send the fleet out to the start, with the race officer rumoured to be trying to get a fourth race completed to give a series in advance of an anticipated Mistral Breeze on Friday.

On the way to the start, in heavy rain, the fleet changed from genoa sail, to jib and back to genoa over the course of 30 minutes.

Ian Southworth, sailing Inmarsat Hedgehog and starting to race after crew illness, led the fleet off the line and to the windward mark. Conditions were light, force 2-3 with 20 degree shifts. Southworth led the downwind leg and opted for the port mark to lead into the final approach to the second windward mark. It then became clear that the race officer had shifted the weather mark to the right, although there had been no sound signal at the leeward mark. All VHF transmission being in Italian…

Series leader, Andrea Casale , had a bad start but dug back from the teens towards the right hand side of the beat in the light shifting conditions, this paid off and at the second windward mark, Casale rounded with a fifty yard lead on Luigi Ravioli and Matias Pereira of Argentine who had aslo gone right. Southworth and Greg Wilcox battled for fourth place down the run to the finish, with the German just taking fourth on the pin end line bias.

At 18.40, the Race Officer switched on his navigation lights and attempted a second start. The fleet greeted this by whistling and banging their side decks in disapproval and promptly went over the line.

The race officer gave a General Recall but the Fleet continued beating to windward leaving him alone with his sound signals!

As the Fleet carried on home, the Race officer decided to abandon racing for the day.

This has been a difficult Championship to date and the venue seems unduly dominated by local and shifting conditions,

Comments Ian Southworth: ” It was great to be back on the water. Andrea Casale and his team are sailing very sharp and have great speed in their old boat. Their team mate, Luigi Ravioli is equally on pace, just as at Livorno a few weeks ago. It is going to be a very tough J24 World Championship”.

Here’s my top of mind list of things to do to improve the boat performance after this week’s experience 

• Sail flat for best speed.  Use heel when we need it to pinch up or turn the boat.
• Leave room at the pin to round,  allowing for side slip while the boat speeds up.  Practice shooting head to wind a few feet at the rounding.
• Keep the cockpit organized:  Trimmer and Pit should work together to ensure that jib sheets are properly under the spinnaker sheets, leads are in the right position and locked in, no tangles, etc

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