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Garmin Hamble Winter Series - 19 October 2008 |
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Written by Paul Griffiths
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Monday, 20 October 2008 |
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Bojangles is "boat of the day"
Derek Copeman and his team on Bojangles won the J105 boat of the day prize, donated by Lewmar, after Sunday's second race day of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. Bojangles were third in the first race of the day behind Fay J (Paul Griffiths) and Voador (Simon Curwen) but won the breezier second race in great style.
A close third at the first windward mark Bojangles gybed early and made the leeward mark on one gybe, leaving Voador and Fay J messing about on the right hand side of the course, establishing an unbeatable lead. At the finish the order was Bojangles, Voador, Fay J.
Next weekend is the Autumn Championship with seven races scheduled - four on Saturday and three on Sunday.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 December 2008 )
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Garmin Hamble Winter Series - 12 October 2008 |
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Written by Paul Griffiths
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Tuesday, 14 October 2008 |
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Thick fog greeted the six J105’s entered for the second Sunday of the Garmin Hamble Winter Series. The Royal Southampton’s Autumn Double having been canned the previous day due to lack of wind, things did not look too auspicious for racing but after a short delay racing commenced in a weak unstable south easterly. Starting at Universal Marina with a beat to Burgess Salmon most boats elected to go hard left to the Lee on Solent shore to keep out of the tide. With the wind steadily becoming more stable and building Fay J (Paul Griffiths) had a solid lead round the windward mark from Voador (Simon Curwen) with Jackpot (Vernon Bradley) third. With clear air Fay J extended her lead downwind and then to the finish with Voador second and Jackpot third.
The second race, over an identical course but in a wind building to 13 knots with less tide and glorious sunshine, was very similar, Fay J holding an unassailable lead at the windward mark but this time with Jackpot second and Voador third. These positions held to the end of the race.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 December 2008 )
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McGuigan Wines Nab Double 16 August 2008 |
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Written by Paul Griffiths
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
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Race Report Royal Southampton Yacht Club 2 handed Nab Tower Race
“Team Juneau ” sailed the RSYC Nab 2 handed on Saturday 16th August. We bought the boat primarily for 2 handed sailing in Spring 08 and she has proven to be an absolute winner for that discipline. We have sailed all the Royal Southampton 2 handed races so far and for those that haven't sailed 2 handed we strongly recommend it and the RSYC series which is good well run racing, fun courses and great camaraderie amongst the competitors. There are often half a dozen J105's out there and we have had some great racing.
The wind was southerly at about 12 to 16 knots for the start which meant that there were no chutes being flown down the Solent, but it did mean we might not have to beat back from the Nab, which in a classic south westerly we would have had to do. So far this season we have only had a boat speed issue against the Beneteau 34.7 and that only upwind. As soon as we need pointing we struggle against the Beneteau, not for boat speed but for a bit of height, but this looked like a one tack beat / fetch so we had our fingers crossed.
The start was pretty crowded with several bargers trying to force there way in at the windward end of the loine which spoilt our line up, but after a quick clearing tack we were away. We had cross sheeted the jib to the windward side so that Laurence could trim the jib and the main from the windward side, and this was a winning move. We slowly sailed through the J109 as it got puffy and shifty under the Ryde headland (how does a 109 rate lower than a 105?) and blasted away from the Beneteau. We trimmed the sails in every puff and lull and although we kept close to the other 34 footers, the big J boats were away. This lead looked huge when they tacked around the Nab Tower thanks to an adverse tide that was building against the smaller boats. They had got round the mark in slack tide and now 1.5 knots of tide under them and they weren’t ever going to have to come back into the tide it so it was a huge tidal gate. We got there 30 minutes later and having caught up with the HOD35 Malice on the way to the Nab, we tacked inside them (getting our mast closer to the top of the tower than might have been the plan!!!!) The Beneteau “No Doubt”, which is currently series leader, was out of sight behind.
A quick spinnaker set onto the A2 and we were away. We had led the spinnaker sheet to windward and were trimming on every wave and caught a few great surfs on the way back to the corner of the IOW. We sailed up to and past the JOD 35 sailed by Paul Peggs and this was the 105 at its best. Easy to sail, fast and fun! We didn’t think we would win as the big J boats we miles ahead but we kept at it and in the end we won by 12 seconds. One less surf and we wouldn’t have got them and those surfs were definitely assisted by rapid sheeting of the spinnaker down the waves, so it really was a case of every second counting. The big J boats were also in the top 3.
The RSYC lay on a fun prize giving in the Ocean Village club house after racing so it was back there for a glass of McGuigans wine (thank you McGuigans for sponsoring the RSYC 2 handed series!!) and then picking up a bottle as 1st prize in class 1.
Winning somewhat made up for missing out the harbour clearance marks off Cowes harbour in the 2 handed Round the Island, when we had a great lead and ended up with a “retired after finishing” after sailing 50 miles correctly and the last 80 metres incorrectly! The next race is an overnight to Honfluer in France at the end of August.
Laurence Mead |
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Slingshot - double handed campaign 2008 |
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Written by Paul Griffiths
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling are two Irishmen working in England who bought Slingshot from Shaun Murphy last winter and who have tried to follow Shaun’s footsteps – Slingshot was RORC Boat Of The Year in 2006. They have completed seven races to date and plan to be out for the Cowes-Dieppe and Cowes-Cherbourg races. They are having what they describe as a ‘colourful campaign’ and are currently leading in the RORC’s two-handed and IRC 2 divisions. At one stage they were leading the entire RORC fleet in the IRC overall results to date but, after a poor Channel Race result in light airs, Slingshot now lies third. Here, they describe a couple of the more memorable races.
The Myth of Malham Race (Round Eddystone) of 245 miles began on Saturday 24 May and was one of several RORC races this season to experience strong winds. 11 of the 28 entrants retired.
There were seven two-handed entrants and two finishers. The J 105s once again battled for supremacy. The building, ultimately gale force, North Easterly wind made for an exhilarating downhill ride, especially in the seas off Start Point. With Slingshot's speedo showing 22.9 knots and spray at the level of the spreaders, her new owners, Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling were impressed by the reliability and stability of her Raymarine autopilot. Voador triumphed by 19 minutes, also winning IRC 2, with Slingshot coming in second in both classes, her torn mainsail evidence of a downwind reef before reaching Eddystone. The race was won by Erivale III overall.
The 2008 BMW Round Ireland Race began on Sunday 22 June and was one of the windiest on record, with no less than three gales, not counting the one that caused an 18-hour postponement. The course record was shattered by Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard. She took only 65 hours and just under 49 minutes to cover the 704 miles and gain line honours. Ireland West, a Beneteau 40.7 skippered by Aodhan Fitzgerald, won on handicap.
Two J 105s were among the 11 entries in the two-handed division. Simon Curwen's Voador sadly did not make the start as her mainsail ripped whilst reefing with ten minutes to the gun. Slingshot had a wet ride, carrying a triple reefed main and No 4 jib, occasionally furled, for much of the time. The seas were enormous, particularly off Ireland's South East corner and on the wild Atlantic coast.
The two-handed division was won by the Irish J 35, Mumbo.ie, with Slingshot second, 54 minutes behind on corrected time after 106 hours at sea, Jalfrezi, a J 109, was third of six finishers.
In all, 35 % of the fleet retired - 16 of the 46 entrants.
The Cowes to St. Malo race on 11/12 July was probably the first RORC race this season that was not cold, wet and miserable. Nonetheless, the Force 4/5 SW wind at the Needles was sufficient to retire several competitors - the VHF reported a broken mast, a fouled propeller, a leaking keel bolt and a severed finger, amongst a few incidents. As the fleet was in the Channel the wind veered to the West and thence to the North West. This allowed those who had chosen the starboard hand Southerly route to carry a lifting wind, later augmented by a West-going tide, to the Casquets off Alderney and would have disadvantaged those who went west.
Icap Leopard broke the eight year record of her predecessor but the results generally were dominated by French competitors - it was the Bastille Day weekend.
The two handed class had seven entrants and six finishers. There was a ding dong battle between the two J 105s, Slingshot and the French Just A J (Tancrede) . The latter finished 98 seconds ahead on the water but that was insufficient to overcome their 0.002 IRC handicap disadvantage after 25 hours racing. Slingshot's margin on corrected time was 78 seconds.
Both boats were well beaten in IRC 2, finishing 12th and 13th, respectively, to Agence Directe 3.9%. The overall handicap winner was Lady Courrier.
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Written by Paul Griffiths
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Monday, 11 August 2008 |
In the recent bluQube Solo 1000 race organised by Racing at Petit Bateau, the overall winner on IRC handicap was Nick Martin with his J/105; Diablo J. The awards were presented by C.E.O of bluQube (www.bluqube.co.uk), Simon Kearsley in Camaret, France where the race finished on 12 July.
The singlehanded bluQube Solo 1000 this year comprised three legs (Mylor to Kinsale, Ireland - 185 miles, Kinsale to Santander - 525 miles, Santander to Camaret - 290 miles), covering a total of 1,000 miles and doubled as a qualifier for next year's OSTAR.
Of the 20 solo skippers that took part, ten were forced to retire. The weather conditions especially on the second leg between Kinsale and Santander were the most challenging he had seen with 35 knot winds.
The IRC prize for the overall win of the event went to Nick Martin. Based in Richmond, SW London, 42 year old Nick Martin describes himself as an executive in the IT industry. He took the helm just five years ago and has since then been a regular competitor in the RORC's two handed races, finishing the 2007 season in second overall. He has owned his J/105 Diablo J for five years now and aside from the RORC series his first solo race on his boat was the Petit Bateau Channel Week in 2005.
"I am attracted to shorthanded sailing, and especially singlehanded, as it really tests you as an individual covering all aspects of sailing: prep, nav, tactics, handling, boat management, personal management, safety...and of course results! Racing single-handed under IRC provides an excellent system to pitch skipper against skipper in different boats."
Martin admits that the bluQube Solo 1000 has been his ultimate test to date. "Sleep management was the main concern. Having done several thousand miles of two-handed sailing, I was comfortable with the normal watch system, but this required a re-think - 10 minute, 20 minute naps? Use bunk or kip on deck? I settled on a 20-minute system, bought an piercing alarm, and it worked well enabling a reasonable look-out at all times." His watch was backed up by electronic gadgetry in the form of AIS boat identification system and a Sea-Me radar transponder.
The crossing of the Bay of Biscay in a full gale was the most arduous and scarey part of the race: "the 535 miles crossing from Kinsale across the Bay of Biscay, knowing full well a big low-pressure system was coming through and that stretch of water is notorious for bad condistions.... It lived up to it's reputation, with gale force nine gusts of 50 knots recorded across the deck and a fairly rough sea-state. Fortunately with two reefs in the main and a No.4 headsail suited Diablo-J well as we kept powering through."
It was this hammering that caused half of the competitors to retire, mainly through gear failure.
"By the time I reached Santander, I realised that only I would finish and it put me top of the IRC leaderboard. A good run on the final 335 leg to Camaret would secure it, but with very able competitors out there such as Barry Hurley on Dinah from Dublin, it was still to play for. "
However from the ridiculous to the subline, in contrast to the previous leg, the final charge towards Camaret at the mouth of the Rade de Brest started off in light conditions. "Some light winds ahead of the incoming westerly saw some very demanding and tactical plays," continued Martin. "Although I lost out for a prolonged period on the first night, I regained a top position owing to the reaching kite for which the J.105 is renowned." In the end Diablo J posted a decent enough finish to secure first place under IRC.
On his win Martin commented: "I am absolutely delighted with my result. This was my biggest personal sailing challenge so far. My main objective was to complete the race and second was to secure a top three place in IRC, so securing the overall 1st position under IRC was a huge achievement for me. I have completed many RORC two-handed races in previous years, including two Fastnets, but this took the challenge to new levels."
Finally Martin concludes: "Completing the bluQube 1000 Solo means automatic entry into next year's OSTAR. However, on a J/105? I'm currenty considering options, perhaps refitting her or maybe acquiring a different boat? In the meantime, my more immediate plans are to compete in IRC in the Zurich Financial Solo (Channel Week) under Petit Bateau Racing, which starts on 27 July, and to finish the season competing in as many of the RORC's two-handed races as possible."
Nick Martin - Diablo J |
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