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North American J/80 Class Association
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The American Yacht Club's annual Fall Regatta marks the close of the summer offshore sailing season on Long Island Sound. Fleets were treated to great sailing and good breezes for the two-weekend event, enabling racing all four days and the one-design classes to have nine races. The top two podium steps of the Coastal PHRF 4 Division were determined by a tiebreaker at 7 points each. Winning the countback was Jason Viseltear's J/80 UPSETTER. For more American YC Fall Regatta information, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=16314.
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 Race report by David Doyle
It's been eight years since the J/80 North American Championship came to Toronto, and again the National Yacht Club did not disappoint. Thirty teams competed in perfect warm Fall conditions on Lake Ontario October 1-6. Tight racing and dynamic shifty winds ensured no one could relax, and every game-plan was subject to continuous rewrite. The Race Committee got right down to business, and after three races on day one, Lifted (Chris Hobbs, Samantha Webster, Kris Werner & Tyler Woodworth) topped the leaderboard, while Cristian Bieder (Chimichurri), returning NAs champion Conor Hayes (More Gostosa) and Graham Philpott (Black Dog) were ready to pounce. The day two forecast was for light or dying breeze, which indeed it did part way through the second race. Eight boats completed the race as a thermal flipped the breeze 180 degrees, stranding the rest of the fleet and causing all to score TLE. Lifted survived and delivered three bullets to consolidate her pole position. Sunday brought a bigger SW breeze and choppy conditions, with Lifted fending off the competition to convincingly win the regatta overall. Second place was Graham Philpott (Black Dog), with third place to fellow Winnipesaukee stalwart Conor Hayes (More Gostosa). Corinthian (fully amateur) honors went to Philpott and team Black Dog, with Hayes in second and Thomas Kopp (Kopp-Out) and team from Grosse Point, MI in third. Huge credit to all racers for making this a true North American Championship and a banner event. Boats travelled from Lake Winnipesaukee, Massachusetts, Annapolis and Newport and most especially Seattle (Julian Croxall with Reckless). Amazing commitment by teams to the Class - congratulations to all racers! Fleet 20 is the fastest-growing J/80 fleet, now with 33 boats across five individual fleets: Toronto, Oakville, Port Dover, Ottawa/Nepean, Kingston and Rochester. Canada also will host the 2026 J/80 World Championship in the Olympic sailing venue of Kingston, Ontario. For complete NAC results, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=16432. For event photos visit https://www.tsgphoto.com/sailing/2024-events/2024-j80-north-americans Class members, Your J80NA Class Association Executive Committee (EC) has been hard at work planning events. Next year’s North American Championship will be held at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans. In 2026, the J/80 World Championship returns to North America with both the World and North American Championship events taking place in Kingston, Ontario. The EC has openings and is seeking individuals who are interested in being nominated for election this year. We are also seeking volunteers to work on various tasks associated with upcoming North American and Worlds events. If you are interested in either being nominated to the EC or volunteering to work on event organization, contact Chris Howell ([email protected]). Please provide Chris with your name, Fleet name, and a short resume summarizing a little background and what type of position you are interested in. For individuals seeking nomination to the EC, please be advised that you must be a Class member and J/80 owner to serve. Also, your resume will be distributed to the Class members so that they can know a bit about you when they vote. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Cheers, Jeffrey A. Rabinowitz (JRab) J/80 North American Class President USA 738 Mistress 
 J/80 Hull #12 Report by Peter d'Anjou In the early days of J/80 construction circa 1992 - 1997, Tillotson Pearson, the original builder offered colored gelcoat hulls. Today, a few of those older colored boats survive. Hull 9 is for sale in New Orleans after spending most of it's life on Lake Champlain in VT, Hull 12 is up in Toronto, an active member of fleet 20, and there are others, and yes we’d like to know if you have one. We’ll even accept awlgripped or painted boat pics but we’d really like to showcase these older boats We even asked Jeff Johnstone about these and he told us, “In the early/mid 90’s TPI still offered colored hulls, then moved away from it, as the dark colors didn’t stand up to the UV very well.” Somehow there is an unfair bias in the class that I don't share against anything other than white. The bias includes being picked out for “over early” violations or being identified more easily on the race course by your competition are real. I even had a person looking to buy a J/80 recently say to me, “it’s a little to old, a little to far away, and a little too blue” - and pass on the opportunity. I'd like to thank Toronto fleet captain David Doyle for pointing these out to me. So if you have one of these classics, send a pic and the hull # to me at pjdsail@gmail and we are happy to showcase them on this site.  This old Toronto boat, now raced in Port Dover on Lake Erie, was light gray gelcoat before it's current light blue awlgrip job.
Race Week Anacortes had lots of races over the three days in WA at the annual event held June 24-28. The half-dozen J/80s Julian Croxall's RECKLESS log only firsts and seconds for the victory at 10 net points. The silver was won by Mike Kalahar's LITONYA with 19 points net, while Ryan Porter's JOLLY GREEN team took the bronze with 32 points net. Find event details at: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=16303.
The 2024 J/80 East Coast Championship was held at the 26th Annual Nepean One Design Regatta in Ottawa, Canada. Fleet 20 continues to grow in numbers and enthusiasm ahead of the 2026 World Championship coming to Kingston, Ontario. The Nepean Sailing Club hosted a fantastic three-day event with excellent race management and shoreside hospitality that kept competitors smiling. A practice race was held alongside Ottawa's Thursday Night Racing (the product of three separate yacht clubs), which was an eyeopener for travelling teams as to just how vibrant the sailing community in Ottawa is! Five races were held on Friday in light to medium breeze ranging from 4-8 knots. Martin Rutter's Free Radical team, Hugh McGugan's Breakaway J, Doug Gibson's Cheeky Monkey and Conor Hayes' team on More Gostosa all tasted race wins keeping the scoring very tight. Hopes that the forecast would be wrong on Saturday were dashed as consistent rain and light wind washed over most of Ontario. The Race Committee eventually hoisted AP over A allowing competitors to do a bit of exploring before getting back to the club for the regatta party featuring Mt. Gay cocktails, great food, awesome live music and dancing. The party was capped off with something you don't see at every regatta—a killer fireworks display right off the dock! Race Committee was ready to jam on Sunday as the rain blew over and a strong southeasterly breeze filled in. Three races on three circles turned the Ottawa River into a mecca for one-design sailboat racing! The 80s saw planing conditions with speeds in the teens on flat water as gusts swept across the racetrack. Sweet! More Gostosa, sailed by Conor Hayes, C. Dan Jolda, Cat McLaughlin and Ben Crosby, was on mission to repeat with three bullets, giving them the East Coast Championship win. Doug Gibson scored 2,3,3 on the day landing them in second, followed closely by Martin Rutter with 3,7,5 for third overall. This fantastic event was the product of a lot of camaraderie by the Ottawa Sailing Community. The Nepean Sailing Club supplied not only top-notch facilities, but also wonderful hospitality. Truly good times and great racing were seen by all. A brand new perpetual trophy was presented! Full event details: https://nsc.ca/an/nod/  Thanks to Brian Gibbs for this report: Back in January, I got word of a new J/80 regatta coming to New England this summer. Bengt Johansson, a long time J/Boat sailor (J/24, J/109 and now J/80 owner), had reached out that he was working on getting a J/80 class start for us at the Cedar Point One Design Regatta in Westport, CT on June 1-2. He already had a few local boats committed, and our friends on PARTY TREE had already signed up. Having sailed many Lightning regattas at Cedar Point over the years and with firsthand experience of their excellent facilities, hospitality and good race management, I immediately signed up. At the next class BOD meeting, I mentioned to the group that there was a new regatta on the calendar and that they should seriously consider going. Within a few weeks, our current Class President signed up, our Past Class President signed up, and our friend of the Class and current J/Boat liaison Peter d’ Anjou signed up. This was going to be great! Now we just needed to wait 4 months for the snow to melt.... So finally, last weekend, we all converged on CPYC on Friday morning, several by land (from as far away as Maryland) and a few by sea. We spent the day rigging, catching up with old friends and making some new ones. Some teams went out and practiced in perfect conditions in the afternoon to knock the rust off. Arriving early at the club on Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised to see an 8-10 knot northerly breeze out on Long Island Sound. The whole fleet, including about seven J/109s, a half a dozen J/105s and the nine J/80s, made our way out to the course. The first race was a W/L twice around with one-mile legs. BLINDFAITH and PARTY TREE rounded the first mark 1,2 and proceeded downwind. Two-thirds of the way down the leg, we noticed the J/105s stopped and dropping their kites. A fast 180-degree shift came in as the seabreeze filled. RC sounded three horns to abandon the race and get set up for the rest of the day in the southerly seabreeze. The RC rattled off three races in a 6-10 knot breeze with plenty of shifts, patchy spots and current to keep things interesting. BLUR, a somewhat local boat from just across the sound in Long Island, sailed very well with a 1,2,1. PARTY TREE was also super fast all day, posting a 2,3,2, and BLINDFAITH put up a 5,1,3. Pretty tight racing across the entire fleet considering the conditions. CPYC hosted an excellent BBQ dinner. Rumor has it that a few adult beverages may have been consumed. The forecast for Sunday was 1 knot, gusting to 4. On the way out to the course, the breeze filled to 5 knots or so, and RC started the classes on time. Patchy, shifty breeze with quite a bit of current made for some challenging racing. Lots of Chutes and Ladders stuff going on. Bengt Johansson on BLAZE was "on fire" in the light stuff and posted a 1,1 on Sunday. The last race was finished at the second weather mark due to dying breeze and foul current. Boats were quickly hauled and packed up. After a very nice awards ceremony, everyone was on the way home. Thanks to Cedar Point Yacht Club, the RC, the ODR event organizers and the sponsors for hosting a fabulous event. We hope to make this a permanent J/80 regatta on the calendar. Come join us next year! Full results: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16374  Knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay and its light, shifty winds paid off for local sailors in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series Annapolis from May 3-5.
J/80 (26 boats, 7 races):
For complete results, visit https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16261. Photos are video are available at https://www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series-annapolis/. Robert L. Johnstone, lll has been named the 2023 recipient of the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy, US Sailing’s most prestigious annual award, going to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in this country in any associated activity. Presentation of the Trophy is planned during the 2024 US Youth Championship in Bristol, RI June 22-25. The recipient is selected by the Board of Directors from nominations made by US Sailing members. Bob Johnstone’s legacy in sailing is extensive. Along with his yacht designer brother Rod, he co-founded J Boats Inc., one of sailing’s leading performance brands, with five World Sailing International Classes and thousands of boats being sailed at all levels of the sport from grassroots to World Championships. After starting fleets of Solings and 470’s in Wilmette IL, he revived Sunfish sales with AMF Alcort, then used marketing skills, honed at The Quaker Oats Company, to create the J/24 phenomenon, the first of 21 J/Boat designs to be awarded Boat-of-the Year or win Sailboat Hall of Fame honors. Fifteen thousand J Boats of all sizes have been built, including about 5,700 J/24s. J/Boats and MJM Yachts stories are documented in Bob’s new book, Maverick Marketer. Besides a legacy in the boat design and marketing world, Johnstone has a longstanding connection with US Sailing, having been a member of US Sailing’s Board of Directors, and chaired both the One-Design Class and Industry Councils. In 1973, Johnstone founded US Sailing’s US Youth Championship, establishing the pinnacle event in American youth sailing that continues to thrive today. After frustration with a lack of pathway for youth sailors in the 1970s, leading to poor performance at the Youth Worlds, Johnstone lobbied the NAYRU (now US Sailing) to create a single US qualifying regatta for the Youth Worlds in Lasers and 470’s, which became the US Youth Sailing Championship. The 50th anniversary of the event, held in 2023, saw 250+ competitors across nearly every Youth Worlds discipline from ILCAs to Nacra 15s and iQFOiLs. "Bob’s vision and commitment to the sport is one of a kind," noted nominator John Pearce. "When the alumni of the first Youth Champs reunited at the 50th Anniversary regatta last summer, it became clear to me the huge impact that Bob has had on American sailing. We received letters from so many notable sailors telling stories and praising Bob’s vision for the US Youth Championship. And it goes without saying that the J/Boat brand is iconic in our sport. It’s great to see him being honored with US Sailing’s most prestigious award." Bob is a graduate of the Loomis School and Princeton University, where he now serves as the Senior Alumni Advisor to the sailing team. In 2016, he was honored with the Mystic Seaport’s America and the Sea Award and inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame. He and his wife, the Reverend Mary Johnstone, reside in Charleston, South Carolina. He is a member of Carolina, Charleston and New York Yacht Clubs and the Northeast Harbor Fleet, where he has been Commodore. His current focus is racing in a fleet of radio-controlled DF95 sailboats twice weekly on the local Bishop Gadsden Pond while pursuing his latest vision: creating a pilot middle-school RC sailing education program, based on US Sailing’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) Reach Program, as a model for a national rollout to any community with a 150’ x 250’ pond.
 By Peter d’Anjou Everyone associated with the J/80 class in North America knows that there are very few boats available for sale. When used boats do come on the market they are gone - sold in a heartbeat. As a result prices for used boats are up. So when I was approached to help a prospective buyer, Dr. Artur Zembowicz, find a boat we talked through the whole gambit of options from fixers to race ready boats with pedigree and what they cost until we got to the comparison of a brand new boat - and that required some history.  The last time a run of new boats came in was prior to the 2020 Worlds, 10 boats went to Hudson Sailing School as the 2020 worlds got canceled due to the Covid Pandemic. Also, because of the pandemic, manufacturing & supply issues grew along with shipping costs to halt new boat production. Bottom line - for the past few years, you couldn’t get a new boat. Now, a solution has been worked out with J/Boats and International Marine of Bristol, RI to bring in molded parts from Red Dragon in China and assemble them here. Dr. Zembowicz has a purchase contract on this latest J/80. In fact, this project proved feasible and led to three more boats being sold. This will hopefully lead to a run of new boats for North America. Tim Kohl of East Coast Yacht Sales is the J/Boat dealer overseeing Dr. Zembowicz purchase and J/Boats has announced new boat special pricing of $59,900 to its entire dealer network. Frankly, this is a formula that has worked previously when Waterline Systems assembled a run of Chinese parts into boats prior to the 2010 Worlds. The newest hull, 1700 includes AG+ rig, Profurl R250 furler, standing and running rigging. This price does not include sails, engine, or instruments and there are some options for the new owner to decide on, such as self-tailing Antal 30 winches, a fixed cradle for $1,850 or a customizble Triad trailer starting around $6,700. International Marine has succeeded with the “proof of concept” build and new boats are now an option again to fill pent-up demand. Talk of existing owners lining up to buy new boats is already being discussed. Dr. Z’s boat will be named Tresna and sail in the Massachusetts fleet in Marion - I have the pleasure of helping him trick out the boat to World Class standards. "I am excited to buy a J/80", says Dr. Zembowicz, "I looked around for a safe boat to sail in Buzzards Bay with my family and one I could race with a local fleet." This is good news for all, seeing the class continue to grow in North America. International Marine has set aside space for assembling the new boats and J/Boats says that the next boat available, beyond the 4 just sold, will be this May.  The keel on this boat will be epoxied white, note the class templates laying on the deck used for perfecting the fit and finish. As a J/80 owner myself, I was able to compare the new boats fit and finish so here are just a few improvements that I witnessed on the new boat; the Teak and Holley sole has been replaced by a composite sole, the IBeam in the boat has a full length aluminum plate on top that extends to the bulkheads for the mast step, the cockpit scuppers are solid tubes thru the transom eliminating any possible leaks into the aft air tank, the tiller is composite, the AG+ spar has a Nav light on top eliminating deck level nav lights and interior wires, the thickness of the deck around the stanchions is increased and gussetted on the hull, cockpit bilge pumps are now standard and the plumbing is cleanly routed thru the step support rather than thru the area under the Barney post, lifelines are continuous thru the pulpit and along with the transom gate have a turnbuckle for tensioning, and the hatch board has plastic retention guide instead of wood - all minor but thoughtful upgrades within the one -design rules.  New J/80s are available through the J/Boat dealer network for $59,900 FOB Bristol, RI !!!
All non-Olympic International classes that are current members of US Sailing are eligible to apply for a United States Sailing Foundation (USSF) Sailors Grant to send your top sailors to international events held outside North America. Grant requests should be sent to: [email protected] and [email protected] by Nov 30.
The 2023 J/80 North American Championship took place on Lake Winnipesaukee in Gilford, New Hampshire from October 4-8. A fleet of nearly two dozen boats was assembled to do battle from all across the USA and Canada. Hosting the event was Winnipesaukee Yacht Club. After a nine-race series, it was Conor Hayes's MORE GOSTOSA that won the Championship with his team of Dan Jooda, Cat McLaughlin and Joe Diller (33 points net). After a tough first day, Jason Balich's OVERACHIEVER recovered for 39 points net to take the silver position. The OVERACHIEVER team included Balich as skipper, Chris Small, Doug Cochran and Chole Frentzel. Rounding out the podium was Guy Nickerson's team on PRESSURE (Kurt Walton, Alex Bowen and Nicolas Rigoni) with a total of 40 points net. The balance of the top five included Warren Flannery's FEISTY (top Canadian team) finishing fourth with 42 points net, and Graham Phipot's BLACK DOG with 52 points net in fifth place. Winning the Corinthian Division was Hayes's MORE GOSTOSA, followed by Philpot's BLACK DOG and Les Beckwith's FKA. For full results, visit https://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15990.
 J/80 NA Class President Jeff Rabinowitz, at left, presents the NA Perpetual trophy to the crew of More Gostosa 1153, Catherine McGlaughlin, Conor Hayes, Dan Jolda, and Joe Dillier at Fay's Boatyard. Report by Peter d'Anjou Photos by Brogan Hurst Twenty-two teams, including 7 Canadian entries, gathered in Gilford, NH to dual for the 2023 J/80 North American Championship hosted by J/80 Fleet 1 NH and the Winnipesaukee YC. Local Fleet 1 sailor Conor Hayes and crew prevailed in a wet and increasingly windy 3-day regatta.  The weather started out nice during the weigh-in and measurement days before the regatta when the fleet moored in front of the Winnipesaukee YC.  Conor Hayes and team boasted a 2,9,1,4,1,3,4,9,12 scores over the three days and nine races for the championship - full scores on yachtscoring  More Gostosa 1153 battling second place finisher Jason Balich's OverAchiever 116 at the top mark. The race committee flew the U flag to keep boats from crowding the course side of the start line one minute before the gun. OverAchiever was flagged twice and automatically disqualified from two races yet still managed to claw back for a podium finish. Fifteen U flag violations were called during the regatta.  More Gostosa gybes downwind in front of the fleet. Hayes likes to stand when steering downwind. Guy Nickerson on 702 Pressure was third overall, just a point out of second place. The top Canadian entry was 4th overall, Warren Flannery's Feisty 78.  The marks used for the championship were bots which stayed in place despite the wind and exceedingly deep lake.  The Mt. Washington ferry gave background to the sailing area known as the Broads. Congrats to Conor Hayes and the More Gostosa crew on winning the 2023 J/80 North American Championship. Hayes also won the Corinthian and State of NH awards with the win. Next year's championship will be in Toronto, Canada.
For a complete look at Brogan Hurst's photos click here. The Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series took place over two weekends from September 30-October 1 and October 7-8. The first weekend was affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia and was canceled. Then, the second weekend also started a bit wet, but concluded with good sailing conditions, enabling the Annapolis YC RC team to run a total of five races off the opening of the Severn River on the Chesapeake Bay. The J/80 fleet saw Connor McKee's WILD JACOB starting with three straight bullets to win by a significant margin. Second went to Bert Carp's ELEVEN, and third place went to Dreick Lynch's OUTLAWS. For more Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series information, visit
https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15662. Thanks to Jeffrey A. Rabinowitz, J/80 NA Class President, USA 738 Mistress, for the report:
The North American J/80 Class held its East Coast Championship event from Friday, July 28th to Sunday, July 30th as part of the Lake Yacht Racing Association (LYRA) annual regatta in Kingston, Ontario. Kingston, famous for its reliable breeze and challenging windshifts was the venue for the 1976 Olympic sailing regatta, and the ECC was hosted by the Kingston Yacht Club (est. 1896). Racing began on Friday morning under mostly sunny skies and moderate breezes between 8 to 12 knots. With excellent race management, the Race Committee treated racers to four races over the course of the afternoon. Saturday dawned gray and rainy. The fleet went out and the RC managed to get off one race under difficult and sporty conditions of driving rain and breeze from 15 to 20 knots with gusts in the upper 20s. Class stalwart Hugh McGugan (CAN 347 Breakaway J) noted that "the NE breeze saw the J/80s planing downwind at speeds in the 15 knot range (the 1 mile run took 5 minutes to sail), mostly under control although with a couple of notable exceptions and spectacular broaches". On Saturday night racers enjoyed dinner and local music at KYC. Sunday began with light conditions of about 5 knots that built throughout the day to 12 to 15 knots. The RC provided teams with 4 quality races and still brought the fleet back with ample time for teams to derig, decompress, and lift a beverage or two before the awards ceremony. As for results, Conor Hayes and team More Gostosa (USA 1153) provided a master class with six bullets and a total of 9 points after their drops. There was a hard fought battle for the remaining podium places. In the end, John Vallee and team Sheets and Giggles (CAN 1326) was second with a total of 22.5 points after their drops. Both Hugh McGugan and team Breakaway J and Doug Gibson and team Cheeky Monkey (CAN 1067) had 28 points, with Breakaway J winning the tie breaker for third. Congratulations to all the teams! In moving the east coast 500 miles inland, the J/80 Class truly embraced our rapidly-growing Fleet 20. Fleet 20 actually comprises several dispersed J/80 local fleets and has grown every year for the last 8 years: Toronto area (12 J/80s), Ottawa/Nepean (7), Port Dover on Lake Erie (4), Rochester NY (4), as well as 1 in Kingston and 1 nearby in Eastern Lake Ontario. With suburb organization, grace, style and cooperating breeze the North American J/80 Class was treated to a fantastic event. Particular thanks must go to Hugh McGugan and his mighty gin pole for raising and lowering so many masts in such a short timeframe! Smiles abounded at this regatta and there is already discussion about coming back. The Class thanks LYRA, KYC, the entire Race Committee, volunteers, staff and the City of Kingston for hosting the event. "In 1965, we had 175 boats come to Storm Trysail Club’s Block Island Race Week, and 30 years later we are still going strong with 177 boats," noted Race Chair Andrew Weiss of this year’s edition presented by Margaritaville. "It has been a fantastic week of racing, parties, and fun – so here’s to 30 more." And what a regatta number 30 was. The week started off strong with three races completed on both Monday and Tuesday under sunny skies and consistent easterly winds. Wednesday provided perfect conditions for the Regatta Craft Mixers Round the Island race with one of the fastest laps in history. Thursday became a welcome and well-deserved lay day for the fleet. With 25-knot morning winds and grey skies creating a lay day made for napping followed by a laughter-filled Mount Gay Rum Day party to kick off an evening of food and community camaraderie across the island. Friday started off slow with a one-hour delay onshore as the Race Committee waited for the northerly breeze to die and the southeasterly gradient to fill in. After sending the fleets out, the wind didn’t want to cooperate for the Guardian Jet Blue Fleet and McMichael White Fleet as it never filled. Luckily, the GMT Composites Performance Cruising Green Fleet did get a race off as there was a breeze closer to the shore.
Top Three J/80:
For complete results, visit https://yachtscoring.com/event_scratch_sheet.cfm?eID=15440. The third stage of the 2023 Women’s World Match Racing Tour had 11 teams from six nations competing May 26-29 at the Normandy Match Cup in Le Havre, FRA. Using J/80s, Pauline Courtois (FRA) won the qualifying round robin stage, and stayed perfect through the knock-out rounds to win the title. North American representative Nicole Breault (USA) lost to Megan Thomson (NZL) in the Quarter Finals, with the Kiwi advancing to the Final where she was defeated by Courtois.
For full results, visit https://www.matchracingresults.com/2023/wwmrt-normandie-match-cup/. One of the first major events of the sailing season in the Pacific Northwest is hosted by the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club called the Race to the Straits—a 30.0nm dash from Shilshole Bay in Seattle up to Port Townsend, WA. It is principally a short-handed event, featuring both Single and Double-handed divisions. The full course length is 30.710 nautical miles each day. Saturday’s race is from Shilshole Bay to Point Hudson, and Sunday’s race is the return leg. This year's weekend saw predominantly light airs on both days, with a lot of DNFs/RETs on Sunday for most of the fleet. In the PHRF 7 division of doublehanded J/80s, winning was Gerry Gilbert's VELOCE, followed by Ryan Porter's JOLLY GREEN in second and Lek Dimarcut's UNDERDOG in third place. For more Sloop Tavern Yacht Club "Race to the Straits" information, visit https://www.styc.org/.
The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Annapolis had three days of extremely challenging light winds, strong currents and ultra-competitive fleets from May 5-7. Mike Beasley and his teammates on the J/80 Black Sheep were the most dominant of the weekend, topping their fleet by a whopping 18 points after winning seven of eight races. "Tuning was key," Beasley says. "We put a lot of time into boat setup and understanding what the demands were from the sails we had and what we were trying to achieve with upwind speed," Beasley says. "Working as a team was a highlight of the weekend; we had a guy from the youth team. On Friday, he was a little ropey, but he was a machine today."
1st – Black Sheep - Mike Beasley - 10 points 2nd - Kopp-Out - Thomas and Jennifer Kopp - 28 points 3rd - Meltemi - Mike Hobson - 29 points Top Mixed Plus Team - Stacked Deck - Ramzi Bannura Full Results: www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series-annapolis  By Peter d’Anjou When I bought my J/80 in the fall of 2014 it came with a 5-hp Nissan long-shaft. Nice engine, plenty of power, started right up, but it was a beast, weighing 85 lbs. along with it’s external tank. For me, too unwieldy for a rolling deck and storing it behind the Barney post behind the steps was very difficult to wrestle it in and out. Now the class rules have four specific provisions for outboards; you must carry one (in working order), they must weigh 28 lbs or more empty of fuel, they must be stowed below while racing (not on the transom), and they must be stowed below behind the front face of the cockpit. So after burning out the impeller on my Nissan when everyone ran to the bow for something, I decided a change was in order. Something a lot lighter, so I bought the 28 lbs air-cooled Honda 2.3-Hp long-shaft. However, I had not found a good solution for stowing it below. As with the old motor, I tied it behind the Barney post in a web of line that only made it harder to retrieve. It still slid around some. So I added some eye straps to the sidewalls of the quarter berth where I could add even more lines.  I then came up with a way using 3” u-clamps and a piece of Water proof Azex trim attached to the Barney post itself. This eliminated the line, put the engine in a reachable position just under the step/ladder. Simply remove the step for access and best of all, it used the engines own screw clamps to secure it. This worked on my boat but when I made a few of these for fellow J/80 owners found that not every engine fit under the step.  A few years went by until the 2022 Worlds. I chartered the boat back to the original owner and his crew observed and made me aware of the rule for stowing the engine behind the front edge of the cockpit. My solution was clearly encroaching beyond this by the width of the step, so once again the engine got thrown behind the Barney post tied with lines as they didn’t want to lose a championship on a technicality.  I was determined to find an alternative that was easy and permanently legal. I studied the “boxes” many of the Europeans made - but those secured the engine face down, my Honda is designed to stow on its side. I designed many elaborate frames supported on the barney post that would push the engine further aft by the post. That is when I came up with the idea of making a mount attached to the sidewall of the quarter berth rather than the post. The engine could lie on its side on the platform by the Barney post, be accessible by removing the seat. And rather than build a frame found that a simple J/24 engine mount worked best. The mount was procured from Vela Sailing - World Champion bowman Rod Favela has many J/80 specific parts available through his online store.  I laid the engine on its side with the mount already clamped on to find the best position and traced the location on the sidewall for the mount. It is within a foot of its old location under the seat but now clearly further aft and legal. It seems this position would also accommodate a slightly larger engine too as it is not under the step anymore but behind it. I used a fender to support the prop end of the shaft - more to protect the boat than support the engine. It added about 3 lbs to the boat and cost me $140 for the motor mount. I’ll see how effective getting it in and out is and I do wish J/boats had made a similar accommodation from the beginning, but then it may not have fit all engine options. In any event it has taken years of practice to solve this and I hope that my solution(s) may be useful to others. If getting the engine out is too difficult, especially in an emergency, then how good is it really.   Former J/80 NA class VP and newly elected class president, Jeff Rabinowitz (t-shirt) and crew on his boat Mistress during a delay between races at the 2019 J-Jamboree on Lake Winnipesaukee. As evidenced by this website being down unexpectedly for several weeks, Much has changed in the background for the J/80 North American Class for the coming 2023 season: the North American class elected a new President, at the annual meeting this past December, Jeffrey Rabinowitz from fleet 1 NH, and added new blood to the board, with west coast (Seattle) rep, Lek Dimuracot temporarily serving in the role of interim VP.
Now, Fleet 12 Massachusetts and Marblehead native, Brian Gibbs, has agreed to serve as VP effective immediately. Canadian rep David Doyle remains as class secretary along with long time board member and treasurer Kevin Hayes. In addition, long time President Ramzi Bannura is now President Emeritus, he continues to provide guidance and experience to the board. The President Emeritus position can cast a tie breaker if the board is deadlocked but otherwise has no voting power. Many thanks to Ramzi for his invaluable contribution these last 8 + years - guiding the class thru numerous one-design events, including the highly successful 2022 Worlds. The board has decided to bring in operational help to run class sanctioned regattas etc… in the future in the person of Chris Howell, whose company, One—Design Associates, also manages the International J70 class and J24, J22, events as well as others. To afford this, sail royalty and membership fees have been raised. The new sail tag fee is $75 and the new membership fee is $195/season. We encourage all J/80 owners, whether racing or not, to support the class with dues, since a strong class helps maintain the value of your boat. A full 2023 Class events schedule with be posted shortly: East Coast Championship - Kingston YC, July 24-30 LYRA2023.CA West Coast Championship - Seattle North American Championship - Lake Winnipesaukee Oct 6,7,8 Other regattas with expected one design fleets include: Annapolis NOOD, May Block island race week, June  The J/80 North American Class will hold its annual meeting Sunday December 4th at 7:30 PM EST via zoom. The zoom login will be posted here that day. The meeting is open to any interested parties, however voting is restricted to class members. Under discussion will be voting for class officers, next seasons class sponsored events, etc... The J/80 Class will hold its annual meeting virtually on Sunday December 4th, 2022 at 7:30pm EDT to ensure good NA-wide participation. Please come and attend to hear the state of your class and to learn about 2023 plans. Key topics of discussion will include a summary of the health of the class, proposed rule changes, local fleet updates and a vote on the new class constitution that is provided for your review; highlights will be presented. Tentative Agenda: 7:30pm EDT Dec 4, 2022
Link to meeting: https://meet.google.com/kdz-bmme-vjn Miss the meeting on Dec 4th this year? No problem... please see the recording now available...  Glenn Darden and crew, Rod Favela, Marcus Eagan, Victor Diaz de Leon, and Willem Van Waay toast the owner of Le Tigre on the way back to the dock at Sail Newport. The first J/80 World Championship was held in 2001. In all these intervening years only 5 Americans have held the crown. And only one American, Glenn Darden, has repeated as World Champion (2006, 2022). Six straight years of Spanish team domination since 2014 and the last American, Brian Keane in Annapolis, won the title. Darden chartered his old boat 1152 Le Tigre and surrounded himself with pros in mostly windy conditions to dominate a 48-boat fleet with 2,1,1,2,12,1,2,1,3,7 scores.  The tricked out ride, replete with Atlas 2 electronics, that Darden and crew sped to a World title spent little time ashore as the Le Tigre team spent weeks upgrading and practicing before the successful North American title and the Worlds. The start lines were strikingly long and Darden perfected mid-line starts by relying on his Atlas 2 for staying behind the line prestart, rolling other boats to leeward and pinching off those above them. Darden has won two North American titles on Le Tigre (2011, 2022) in addition to the 2022 World title. His 2006 World's win was on Le Glide, hull 407, which is curious in that this year he beat hull 406 (GP BullHound second overall) this time around.  Sailing "skiff style" with the main trimmer behind the helmsman Le Tigre lit up downwind. Whether up on plane or dead downwind wing and wing no one could catch them. Ten of the top 20 boats at Worlds were charter boats, most prepped by World's charter coordinator, the author of this post, and Le Tigre owner since 2014, Peter d'Anjou. "Really proud to see all the international teams do well. In addition, my own fleet 12 Massachusetts boats finished 1, 2, 7 (the top Corinthian Ryan Walsh on 146 Pearly Baker), 10, 12, 15, 17, 20. I would point out the effort made by owners to upgrade and charter their boats rather than sail in a World's Championship. Ten owners upgraded to the new rig packages built by Sparcraft who also sponsored the event. Class President Ramzi Bannura chartered both his boats: 1314 Stacked Deck to the French, and newly acquired Osprey, with an emergency repaired bulkhead hull 1322 to one of the Belgian teams. Ramzi sailed the Worlds on North American Class Vice President, Jeffrey Rabinowitz's boat, Mistress.  Ferver, hull 22 was chartered by the all-women's team from Spain and finished 15th.  Nine Canadian boats also made it across the border to join their North American class partners. David Doyle, fleet captain in Toronto, did his countrymen proud by winning the last race by minutes over his closest competitor. A local Newport boat, 251 Lead Mine, was chartered and driven to third overall by Irishman Patrick O'Neill.  Next year the North Americans are rumored to be in Canada and the Worlds return to Spain. Congratulations to Glenn Darden on impressive wins in both this years North Americans and Worlds and thanks to Sail Newport for hosting both back to back!
 Brad Read (far right), Director of Sail Newport welcomes the 2022 J/80 North American champs to the podium. Glenn Darden of Newport, RI and Fort Worth Texas charterered his old boat, Le Tigre 1152, and loaded it with world champion rock stars to overwhelm a 33 boat fleet and win his second North American Title (2011). Darden, also the 2006 World champ is in Newport gunning for another Worlds title next week. He tuned up at the NAs by winning 4 of 7 races. His crew above of Rod FaVela, Willem Van Waay, Darden, Victor Diaz deLeon, and Becky Anderson (not shown), have won multiple titles in other classes and are the odds on favorites in the upcoming J/80 2022 Worlds, also at Sail Newport.  Le Tigre beat Per Roman's, GP Bullhound (2nd overall) to the finish in race one. The racing was held up Narragasnsett Bay near halfway rock. Friday racing was cancelled due to 25 knot breeze and 40 mph gusts. The second day had 3 races with strong NW breezes in the 16-22 mph range. Sunday culminated in the race committee getting off another 4 races in breeze ranging from 12-20 knots out of the SW. Darden dominated upwind and down, showing a deep downwind mode wing and wing and on plane that none of the other competitors could match. Expect to see teams out practicing this manuever this week leading into the worlds when another 20 boats will join the fleet in the much anticipated climax to the season.  Thirteen charter boats with international teams from France, Holland, Belgium(2), Sweden, Spain(4), Ireland, and India, are registered in the 53 boat fleet for the 2022 Worlds.  Sail Newport and PRO Tom Duggan employed Uniform and Black flag starts trying to control the 33 boat fleet. Note the light colored jib at the pin, GP Bullhound (2nd overall) nailed the pin in almost every race. Darden often started in the middle.  Three of the Top five boats, Le Tigre - hull 1152, Next Adventure hull 406 aka bullhound, and Pearly Baker, hull 146 are charter boats prepared by World's charter coordinator and current owner of Le Tigre, Peter d'Anjou out of the Marion, MA fleet 12 Massachusetts fleet. They won 6 of the 7 races with only Dan Wittig's Turbo Sloth, which placed 3rd overall from Annapolis breaking the streak. Scores on yachscoring.com Congratulations on another NA title for Le Tigre and Good luck to Darden and team in the upcoming Worlds!
 Fleet 12 Massachusetts has contributed 5 boats to the charter fleet and several more attending. Three of these boats from Marion, MA have new sparcraft rigs and profurl furlers. One is still available for charter... J/80 North American owners have been very generous in making their boats available for charter. With almost two months to go before the 2022 J/80 Worlds in Newport, RI we already have 12 charters with several more pending.
Of those charters, 4 are Spanish teams, 2 Belgian, 2 USA, 1 Irish, 1 Holland, 1 French, and 1 Indian boat. Five of the charter boats have upgraded rigs. We still have a couple of more boats being prepared that should be available, so if you can pull a crew together - you might still help make this a 50 boat Worlds with nearly twenty percent of the fleet from overseas. Come experience World Class sailing in Newport! Contact Peter d'Anjou, class charter coordinator for information on charters |
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