J-80 UK Class Association

With only a few days remaining before the start of the 2009 J80 World Championships most of Team GBR are on the move towards Santander.

With the entry capped at 134 boats this proves to be the largest J80 worlds yet.

Team GBR consists of 8 boats.

Follow the results at http://www.j80worlds2009santander.org

The Hamble Yacht Services J/80 and 1720 UK National Championships were held in the Solent under the burgee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club from the 10^th to 13^th of June. A sportsboat sailor himself, the PRO for the event was Nick Hollamby.

The series consisted of eight races, which were sailed in a variety of conditions from five to twenty-eight knots over the course of the three days.  Ultimately it was Kevin Sproul and his team on Jane’s Sister who took home the National Championship title, but the title was not secured until the final day of racing.  In the J/80 fleet, no one would deny that Sproul and the team on Jane’s Sister sailed an A1 series, never dropping a result out of the top five, but here again, the on-track leaders were just too close to call on many occasions during the racing.  
 The major pressure on Jane’s Sister was from Victoria Gregory and Rob Larke’s Joystick and Ian Atkin’s Boats.com. After two races on the final day Joystick had secured her second place overall and had just pushed Boats.com into second place by just two points. In fourth place overall was Charles Somerset and his boys on board Loudwater. These guys are relative newcomers to the J/80 Class and charge at their racing; their results are impressive. Tom Phipps of Plymouth University also slotted in a great result of fifth overall and this is his first J/80 UK Nationals. 
Hamble Yacht Services (HYS), the event sponsor gave both fleets free use of their launch and lift facilities for the duration of the event, along with some great prizes, and whilst the benefit of HYS’ investment in the event, the three J/80s which were racing for the charity Toe In The Water could not have competed at the National Championship without their support. This charity aims to speed the recuperation and rehabilitation of injured servicemen and women through sailing, and it seems to work; Kev O’Brien’s Toe In The Sky topped the three in fourteenth place and Sam Mettam’s Toe In The Sea came in sixteenth overall leaving Lloyd Hamilton and his team on Toe In The Sand in nineteenth and buying the beers. Those Toe In The Water boys and girls were certainly thirsty… 

The prize-giving took place on Saturday night at the Club. Along with the Championship trophies and the prizes from the event sponsor, Hamble Yacht Services. 

The winning skippers from each fleet thanked Hamble Yacht Services, fellow competitors, the Race Officer and all at the Royal Southern Yacht Club for running a superb regatta. Or, as Kevin Sproul put it ‘Pretty much a perfect event’.

Results

Hamble Yacht Services J/80 UK National Championship - Overall Results

What a fantastic day. 9 J/80’s came to the line for what was to become a perfect day’s racing.The first start saw barely enough wind to get the boats moving, but Joystick ( Vic Gregory & Rob Larke ) made a perfect pin end start to lead throughout the race.In fact this set the tone for the weekend, with Joystick winning all 3 races.However, the battle for the other podium places was intense, and often only decided in the last few metres to the line. The first race saw Boats.com ( Dan Brown ) also make a good start, but was gradually overhauled by Jevan ( Rob & Jon Fox ) who took second place. The second race saw an increase in wind strength, with 12 knots of breeze making for great conditions. Hard left off the start line was the secret, and the leading pack consisted of Joystick, Just Chilling ( Stephen Chiverton ), Boats.Com and Loudwater ( Charles Somerset ).The racing was very close with Boats.Com gaining second and Just Chilling third. The final race saw 8 boats getting to the first mark pretty much at the same time….no collisions but some handbrake turns were called for.Again Joystick got her nose in front and gradually extended her lead. Jevan had a bad first beat but gradually gained places by some good downwind tactics and improved pace upwind speed to clinch 2^nd place, but had to defend against Just Chilling and Boats.com on the final beat. Roll on the 2 Sportsboat weekends.

11 J/80’s came to the start of the first race in the 2009 Raymarine Warsash Soring series. Light a flukey winds greated the competitors, which would test both skill and patience. Race 1 saw Joystick ( Vic Gregory & Rob Larke ) continue her dominance from 2008 with a superb pin end port tack start.The first mark saw Joystick round first, followed by Jevan, Boats.com, & Just Chilling.A very flukey run ensured, which saw Just Do It & Just Chilling go hard left and close to the shore, hoping to find extra breeze.This turned out to be a good decision as they were 1^st & 2^nd at the bottom mark, with Jevan in 3^rd.However the fleet would be about to change again as the leaders foundered in little breeze allowing those behind to catch up and steal through on the inside.Joystick again resumed the lead to the finish, with Loudwater ( Charles Somerset ) finishing a fine second with Just Chilling ( Stephen Chiverton ) doing well to retain 3^rd place. With the wind shifting more to the South and dying, race 2 was quickly started.A tight start once again, with Joystick again leading at the top mark, and again Jevan ( Rob & Jon Fox ) following in 2^nd place.At this time the breeze was at 4kts and the run was slow but at least boats were moving.The next upwind leg however saw progress grind to a halt as the wind died to virtually nothing.Many boats kedged to stop the tide from taking them further away from the finish, with the race committee trying to finish the fleet ASAP at the next upwind mark. Joystick again crept over 1^st, but the stopwatches then started to see if boats could finish before the 20 minute time exclusion expired.Loudwater did a great job of keeping their boat moving to creep through into 2^nd again, with Just Do It making ground to take 3^rd.The final finisher was Jevan, with 17 seconds to spare before the time expired, leaving a few boats agonisingly short of the line.    

Raymarine Warsash Spring series.
Starts March 15th, Sundays 15, 22, 29 March, 5, 19, 26 April.

White Group Champs weekends 18/19 and 25/26 April.
Warsash Sailing Club. www.warsashspringseries.org.uk

Spi Ouest-France, 9th April – 13th April, La Trinité-sur-mer, France
Contact: Société Nautique de la Trinité/mer. Tel: +33 (0)297 557348, Fax: +33 (0)297 558578, www.spi-ouestfrance.com, www.snt-voile.org
Please note that the Notice of Race for this regatta is usually posted in early December and there is a limit on the number of boats that can compete. You are strongly advised to get yours in very early. Translation services are available at J-UK.

Elvstrom Sobstad Summer Championship, 16th May – 17th May, Hamble, Solent
Contact: Royal Southern Yacht Club. Tel: 02380 450302, Fax: 02380 450313, www.royal-southern.co.uk
Incorporated within the RSrnYC May Regatta

Island Sailing Club Open Meeting 6/7 June 2007, Island Sailing Club, IOW

The Round The Island Race, Saturday 20th June. www.roundtheisland.org.uk

2008 J/80 UK National Championship, 10th June – 13th June, Hamble, Solent
Contact: Royal Southern Yacht Club. Tel: 02380 450302, Fax: 02380 450313, www.royal-southern.co.uk

2008 J/80 World Championship, 4th July – 11th July, Santander, Spain
Contact: Real Club Maritimo de Santander. Tel: +34 942 21 40 50, Fax: +34 942 36 19 72, www.rcmsantander.com/ingles/

Cowes Week, 1st August – 8th August, Cowes, Solent
Contact: Cowes Combined Clubs. Tel: 01983 295744, Fax: 01983 295329, www.cowesweek.co.uk

J-Cup 2009, Thursday 20th August – Saturday 22nd August, Torbay, Devon
Contact: Royal Torbay Yacht Club. Tel: 01803 292006, Fax: 01803 200297, www.royaltorbayyc.org.uk