|
It only seems like yesterday that George Barker was showing us all where we were going wrong during the training day in early March and yet here we are in December at the end of another great J/105 year. IRC events The highlight this year had to be Oscar Mead aged 19 completing the Ostar in King of Shaves (ex Juneau). The wonders of modern communication: my daughter e mailed Oscar when he was somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic and got an almost immediate reply. RORC - Fastnet Race: A generally light airs affair tested stamina and patience but: “Addictive, roll on 2010” – James Heald (Flawless J) “Would do it again tomorrow” – Nick Martin (Diablo J) “In all, an interesting and challenging but comfortable race, ignoring the fact that not a single celestial body was seen in four days due to the pea soup conditions. – Rod Knowles (Juliette) RORC overall As usual J105’s have done well overall in the RORC season: Simon Curwen (Voador) – second IRC2 and second two handed division. Nick Martin (Diablo J) – fourth overall IRC and fifth in the two handed. Nick actually missed out on an even higher position or even possibly first when his forestay broke in the last race of the year, to Cherbourg. They saved the rig but could only limp in to finish well down the fleet. Rod Knowles (Juliette) – seventh two handed Royal Southampton Yacht Club Andy Hill (Only Just) came second in IRC1 in the biannual Biscay Challenge, from The Solent to Hondarribia in the Basque region of Northern Spain. Three Peaks Yacht Race Chris Jones and the team on Journeymaker sadly did not win the Three Peaks Yacht Race again this year. I understand that it was a generally windless race with lots of rowing! One Design Events The Traveller Trophy This is the trophy awarded to the boat that does the best overall in the one design events with the RTIOW counting double. It is so named because those who travel to all the events stand more chance of winning but we do bring in discards to only count the best 24 out of the 30 races. The results show that Fay J (Paul Griffiths) has won the trophy, for the third year in a row, followed by Journeymaker (Chris Jones) with Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) third and Voador (Simon Curwen) fourth. The results will be on the web site soon. The real stars of this year have to be Java whose racing this year has been somewhat curtailed by the arrival of Rob’s daughter but who still managed to win the Spring Series and the J Cup. Spring Series A great start to the season saw some amazingly close, classic one design racing. Five races were held in the series with four different boats winning individual races: Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) won two with Voador (Simon Curwen), Only Just (Andy Hill) and Journeymaker (Chris Jones) winning one each. The series was eventually won by Java on seven points followed by Fay-J (Paul Griffiths) nine points and Voador ten points. Round the Island Race – 20 June Where was everybody? Only six J/105’s (including Jus a J, a French boat over for the day) appeared for what was quite a trying day, with the raft up of all raft up’s off Bembridge Ledge. Flawless J (James Heald) found his way around the mess to be the first J/105 home followed by Fay J, then Jelly Baby (William Newton) and then Jeopardy (Richard Watney). National Championships – 4/5 July The Class Association ran their own “do it yourself”, credit crunch busting Nationals at the RAF Yacht Club, supported by North Sails Nine J105’s took part over eight windward/leeward races over the two days, with race organisation superbly managed by Race with Condor.com. After an early morning shower on both Saturday and Sunday the weather was fantastic, mostly sunny with a building south easterly on Saturday from 6 to 14 knots and a south westerly on Sunday, peaking at 20 knots in the final two races of the day. The racing was close: classic, unbeatable one design racing at its best. Four boats won individual races: Fay J (Paul Griffiths) three, Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) two, Jelly Baby (William Newton) two and Diablo J (Nick Martin) one. After seven of the eight races Jelly Baby and Fay J were equal first with 13 points each, so everything hinged on the final race of the series. This race saw an incredibly close finish with seven of the nine boat fleet arriving at the final leeward mark virtually together with the result in doubt right up to the finish. In the event Jelly Baby prevailed, winning the race and the series. J Cup, Torbay – 20/22 August With eleven boats the J/105 fleet was easily the second largest in the overall event, dominated of course by the J/109’s. It was generally windy, windy, windy racing in a superb location. Java (Rob Dornton-Duff) were on top form winning easily from Jeopardy (Richard Watney) second and Jelly Baby (William Newton) third on count back from Journeymaker (Chris Jones) Garmin Hamble Winter Series A disappointing turn-out of only four boats for most of the races saw the J/105’s lose their own start which in the end did not matter much since in all the races the J/105’s were well clear of the rest of the Class 3 boats (massed Sigma 38’s) by the first mark. Despite the poor turn-out the series saw some more classic, close one design racing. Just to show how close the whole thing was, prior to the final race three boats were only separated by one point in the overall standings: Journeymaker (Chris Jones), Voador (Simon Curwen) and Fay J (Paul Griffiths). The last race on Sunday 29 November saw the strongest winds I have ever raced in, inshore, with lots of damage and retirements (gusting 45 knots). At the end of it all Fay J emerged the series winner with Voador second and Journeymaker third. There is no question that the fleet is getting ever more competitive. All three leading boats won two races each with Fay J only winning overall because they were slightly more consistent. Jolene was undoubtedly the boat who made the most progress during the series. They just have to learn how to go downhill as well as they go upwind and they will be one of the teams to look out for. Roll on 2010! Boats / Owners Chris Tibbs has bought Taika and plans to do the Round Britain & Ireland. Richard Wevill has bought Bojangles (ex Atao), to be based in the River Yealm. Slingshot was acquired during the year by Stuart Gow and Richard Cashmore. We hope to see them out racing with the rest of us next year (they do not know what they are missing!) The following boats are for sale: Jambalaya and Jumanji are being marketed by Key Yachts. Mary Sturgess is ideally looking for a partner for Jaldi and I believe that King of Shaves (Juneau) is also for sale following her Atlantic escapades. I hope that all these boats find new homes soon and that they join us out on the race course. Plans for 2010 – already being arranged!! (dates for the diary) Training Day, 13 March - a repeat of the 2009 event that was enjoyed by all. George Barker will be out on the water again in the North Sails rib (thanks again to James Knight) The Warsash Spring Series starts on 14 March. Discounted entry fees until 19 February. Having had a very disappointing entry for the Winter Series it is vital that we get ten or more entries for the Spring Series. Losing our own start would be a catastrophe. J Cup, Royal Southern Yacht Club, 3-5 June – I know I keep banging on about this but it really is one of the best events of the year. National Championships at the Dartmouth Royal Regatta, August 26-29: This is now a DEFINITE with money being spent. A formal NOR will be sent out soon but just as a taster: - Indications are that we could get 15 boats – how cool is that!
- Saturday night cruise up the River Dart, returning in time to watch the fireworks, from the best place in town, the middle of the river.
- The Red Arrows – now with a girl in the team
- Two races a day (with our own starts of course)
- Dartmouth gets booked very quickly – get your accommodation booked soon
- We need to find £1,000 of sponsorship plus the normal entry fee – I will be making a nuisance of myself in the new year..
More one-design racing – the plan is to try to have our own starts during two or more of the Royal Southern Summer Series regattas. Possible just on the Saturday rather than both days (like the J/109’s do). Watch this space. I know I said this last year but this year we will do it if we can get the support. The web site – is about to have a re-vamp, thanks to Any Dennis (Orijin). Conclusion It is vital that we have a strong, vibrant Class Association. It is only by lots of us participating in our events that we can generate news articles that will help maintain a high resale value for our “investments” – in the final analysis that is the only way to measure the success or otherwise of the Class Association. It just helps of course that we can also have great fun messing about in boats. Finally, may I wish you an enjoyable time over the Christmas and New Year break and good sailing in 2010. I hope to see some of you at the boat show, late night opening on Thursday 14 January – meet in the bar at 1900 hours. Paul Griffiths – 3 December 2009 |