With the busiest sailing times of the year happening right now!

Lot's happened in February! The J/24 PanAm Trials, J/24 mid-winters, J/22 mid-winters, J/80 southern circuit stop, Various frostbites, series races, and local regatta's!

Fasten your seat belt-more coming in March and April! All three traveling fleets (J/22, J/24, and J/80) have circuit stops, LYC's Bay Cup 1, GBCA's Spring Regatta, HYC's Elissa Regatta, Texoma Sailing Club "Silver Anniversary" Lakefest Regatta, HYC-Offshore Regatta and that's not all! Check your local YC calendar for more.

In addition there are several learning opportunities:
- J/World-Annapolis will be holding two classes in Austin on March 9-12th. A few more students can squeeze in - if they hurry!
- HYC is holding a women's sail training and a women's clinic on big boat sailing that involves learning what to do in emergency situations.
- John Bartlett is hosting a spinnaker clinic at Austin YC.

By now you are probably realizing there is lots to discover and do in the sailing world. Please support your local and event host clubs. They do a lot for us and we need to make sure they receive our support back. And bring a new sailor into the game while your at it! Have a great Spring!

1st Mission - Go out amongst 50 keelboats and bring home 1st!

The mission started with a reverse handicap start requiring 007 to weave and bob around 50 keelboats sneaking up from behind. This mission was to last for 13.5 miles, rounding two oil rig platforms and plenty of fast boats. With tight reaches and big chutes-it was not for the feint hearted! Ok the truth of it was it was a beautiful spring day with light breezes. The J/111 did very well on all points of sail. We beat up the center of the course to the first mark-the house! and then reached under spinnaker to the next mark. By the second mark 007 had picked off a number of the competitor's. As we rounded the last mark it was going to be a tight spinnaker reach to the finish! Jim Bradley's J/109 Surprise was our last target. He had up his best reacher and was sailing fast towards the finish! 007 hunkered down under her spinnaker and in true form, living up to her namesake, took out the last target claiming first. MIssion Complete! The GBCA party afterwards was great fun! Thanks Jay Lutz (North Sails), Kevin Hayes (Hayes Rigging), Doug Strebel for putting the crew together and racing.

Come experience this "Best J/Boat ever" for yourself! The J/111 has been the best boat launch in the history of J/Boats-well maybe with the exception of the J/24, but this one is a real winner. Over 62 hulls sold! Let us show it to you! We want the excuse to go sailing!

J/111 fever has spread to Europe! Interview with J/UK owner Paul Hayes: Watch it HERE

See Pictures of 007 HERE

Five Icicle Races - Around fixed marks - Every Saturday afternoon - With 40 to 60 boats participating! Great event for taking out new crew, family, etc. With only a couple of transitions over the 13.5 mile course, crew work is not critical and you can be as serious or as laid back as you want!

PHRF Spinnaker class dominated by JBoats!
Overall in this class for the series it was:
- J/105 "Stinger" Bee/Kevin Bednar 1st
- J/109 "Surprise" James Bradley 2nd
- Dolcetta 3rd
- J/111 "007" Spurlin (One race) 4th
- J/109 "Hamburg" Al Goethe 5th

Find the results HERE
Looking for pictures? You can find great ones here:
John Lacy Photography HERE
Gary Trinklein Photography HERE

Eight of the top eleven spots were held by JBoats!
Other noteworthy finishers include:
- Shelton Alsup/Liz Biss on their J/24 "Silver Bullet" taking the bullet in the SOS-Tex Class
- Stuart Lundow in his J/24 "Tropical Aggression"
- Vincent Ruder steered his J/22 to 6th place overall in SOS class!
- The Caldwells and their J/40 "Shaken not Stirred" ended up in 2nd place in the GBCA club handicap division
- Tom Sutton and the J/35 "Leading Edge" placed 4th in the PHRF non-spin class.

J/24 PanAm Trials
February 9 - 11th
Davis Island YC, Tampa, FL

DCYC member and J/24 Class president Kelly Holmes, took his "Bad Moon" to Tampa!

Very tight racing and lots of ups and downs. Kelly's best race against some of the top J/24 sailors in the world was a 3rd in race 3. Great experience and this will only make Team "Bad Moon" better. Way to go! Full story and results HERE

J/24 Mid-Winters
February 12-16
Davis Island YC,
Tampa, FL

The weather didn't co-operate and the three J/24 Texas teams that attended the 27 boat fleet were only able to get in 6 races. It was a tough regatta for the usually tough Texans with Kelly Holmes "Bad Moon" ending up in 12th place and Bob Harden's "Mr. Happy" wearing a big frown back in 17th place. Just hope they don't change the name of the boat-love that name! Charles Singstad was shouting "Code Blue" but as the new District Governor he is doing his part traveling and supporting these important events. Way to go Texas J/24 sailors! Story and results HERE

J/22 MidWinter - February 23-26th - Davis Island YC, Tampa, FL

Several teams led by Texans entered the event:

Scott Young, John Morran, and Mark Salih out of Austin YC; Terry Flynn, League City, Texas sailing with Randy Borges.

Tough, tough crowd as the Worlds will be in New Orleans in October of this year and a lot of the best sailors in the country are ramping up with events such as the mid-winters. Scott Young tied for 3rd, ending up in 4th on the tie breaker, with his best race a 2nd place. Terry Flynn ended up in a very respectable 8th place out of 26 boats and took a bullet in race 6th.

Great site with stories, results, and the ability to replay the twitter feed HERE

Read Scott Young's blog HERE

DCYC - Valentines Day Regatta

DCYC continues to innovate and get people out! This year the Valentines Regatta allowed for more then one couple to be on a boat. But it had to be couples: One couple, two couples, etc. The course this year was only heart shaped with no arrow as last year. Sometimes the wind just doesn't co-operate!

The winning boats in spinn and non-spinn were all J/Boats - Nothing like celebrating Valentines Day with the one you love! Oh and your significant other as well!

The winning spinnaker boat was David Patterson's J/105 hull # 1 "Adios" and in 2nd place the J/80 "Shotglass" driven by Frank Heidlberger.

In the non-spin it was the J/105 "Cyrano" raced by Jay Hoppenstein and wife.

Look for Tonja Sanchez's (J/24 owner) story in the DCYC Hailer HERE

Houston Yacht Club - Mid-Winter Regatta - February 19-20

The J/22's raced class with 9 boats! "Delicious Tamale" skippered by Charles Shade took first with straight bullets. "Out of Sight" Ruthie Lambert had straight two's. I guess she was hungry, chasing "Delicious Tamale" around the course! Vincent Ruder with #365 was in third place. (Vincent-get a name for your boat-#365 is a little lame as compared to the rest of the fleet!). Richard Voyles "Must Go Faster" if he wants to finish higher then 4th. Tom Sutton's "Slippery when Wet" wasn't quite slippery enough! 5th is "Helm's a Lee" Ann/Andrew Lee, Pat Gibson "Red Stripe" in 6th and Julie Goetschius in 7th and Chris Morlan "TILTed" to the back with a DNF hurting him.

Find compete results HERE

GBCA - Frostbite Regatta, Galveston Bay February 26-27th

Five J/105's came out to play on the bay!

J/105 Fleet 17 used this event as their second fleet race of the year! And what a great time it was for Radiance, Infinity, Babe, Stinger and Zippity!

Longtime J/80 sailor, Uzi Ozeri, is now steering a J/105 named "Infinity" and is giving the fleet a good run for the money. He pushed up the score sheet for a grand total of 11 points - 1 point out of first, behind Bill Lakenmacher's Radience with 10 points!

Over in the PHRF spinnaker fleet, Jim Powers on Sea Trial came in 3rd.

Find full results HERE

Find these and other great photos:
John Lacy Photography HERE

AYC 2011 Frostbite Series

Series racing is alive and well at AYC with 10 races sailed over 5 weekends!

J/22's and J/24's raced in class with 10 J/22's participating and 6 J/24's in their class! John Halter was on top, followed by "Golidlocks" driven by Renee Ruais, Bob Mathison in "401(J)" and in 4th "RiffRaff"-Bruce Uphaus.

In the J/24's it was Ryan Harden "Running on Empty" just long enough to take 1st closely followed by "Superman" David Broadway.

In PHRF A 10 of the 12 boats were J/Boats - 3 J/29s and 7 J/80!

Therefore let it be known that J/Boats finished in 10 of the top twelve places in PHRF A!!!!!

Find complete results HERE

Find these and other great photos at:
Bruce McDonald Photography HERE

The J/80 Circuit is Back!

17 boats hit the line Saturday morning, February 26th on Lake Travis, hosted by Austin Yacht Club!

There were two J/80 World Champions in the fleet by the name of Glenn Darden and Kerry Klingler, and with several more very good J/80 sailors, the competition was tough!

The racing was excellent with most of the races tightly packed from start to finish. Very exciting to watch and great fun to see some of the half a dozen or so new J/80 owners round in the top five in several of the races.

With five races on Saturday and two on Sunday, the fleet got their quota of racing in! In the end the teams from Fort Worth Boat Club-dominated with: Team LeTigre led by Glenn Darden devouring the competition. And as can be expected the other world champion Kerry Klingler-Larchmont, NY came in second. Third was Bruno Pasquinelli from FWBC, and after a several year absence Rick Shaeffer-FWBC and his team of nasty boys on "C'est Nasty" came in fourth.

Claudia Bartlett driving the new J/80 "Speed Racer" hull #1320 with husband John, and daughter Lauren along with Bay Peterson and Charles Singstad took 1st in the very last race of the day! This was the first event for their new boat! Forbes Durdin on "mojito" got off to a great start in race two nipping LeTigre at the finish by a matter of feet! Great racing and lots of fun! Thanks to Claude Welles, Fleet 6 captain, and Ray Schull PRO.

Complete results will be posted soon HERE

For these and other great shots:
Bruce McDonald Photography HERE
Hallie Mullins HERE

2011Sperry Top-Sider NOOD
St. Petersburg, FL
February 18-20th

Ok, for a while I was starting to believe there were at least two J/80's with the red "80 Proof" logo on the side, as this boat seems to be in every regatta!

But sure enough there is only one and Ramon Torres from Fort Worth Boat Club may be the ultimate J/80 Road Warrior! After a second place run at the St. Pete NOOD they took their "80 Proof" on the road to Austin, Texas to make it in time for the circuit stop the following weekend!

Team "80 Proof "did a great job at the St. Pete NOOD compiling a 1-2-2-1-4 for 10 points, 1 point out of first. Doesn't get any closer or more fun then that!

St. Pete NOOD results HERE

J/World-Annapolis at Austin YC March 8-9th and 10-11th is Happening! Great bargain as compared to flying to Annapolis.

A couple of slots are available in each class. There are two slots left in the first class, and one slot in the second class. Registration closes March 4, 2011
More information HERE

March 8-9 & 10-11

Call for Availability!

The package includes: Boat, Triad trailer, Waterline Systems faired keel, epoxy or anti-fouling bottom paint, class safety gear, lifting strap, ratchet tie downs, and upgraded line package for $38,500.-$3,000.00 Savings! Limited to the remaining 6 boats. Offer expires March 31, 2011. Contact me HERE

Jim Tichenor's J/105 "J'Teez" has been sold and is off to Chile where they are building a fleet!

Dan and Mary Sullivan have acquired a J/92S and will be enjoying the cruising scene out of Kemah Boardwalk marina.

John and Myriam Bell have found their medicine in Elixir. They will be moving this beautiful J/105 to Corpus Christi. John is the 2011 Commodore of CCYC. Will we see them this fall at the HYC OD Regatta? J/Fest Southwest? GBCA Bank Regatta? These events will all race as a One Design class and it would be great to have team Elixir back up and racing!

JBoats/Southwest sold four brokerage boats in four weeks during January and February!
Interest in sailing seems to be rising fast! Let us help you sell or buy that next boat!

New listings coming-check our site in the next several weeks!

Beautiful fresh water J/124 that shows like new. There is a resurgence in demand for these great boats. On our site now! See it HERE

Hylas 54. If your ready to sail away and want to do it in style, this could be the boat! Take a look HERE

Older J/105 coming in from Oklahoma.

J/105 sailing is doing well in North Texas and on Galveston Bay. Two J/105's sold in February!

Check back often as our brokerage boats are moving! And if your boat is no longer right for you-let us help! We can sell it for you. Contact us HERE

J/122 Coming! Check the web sites. These models are being sailed around the world in cruising mode and winning around the buoys or long distance races. It doesn't matter what you do with a J/122 they excel at it. Check it out HERE

Check Out All of Our Great Listings HERE

To make it even easier to start sailing now-our friends at Lighthouse finance have put together a few numbers as an example for financing a J/105:

Down Payment 15-20%, Term 15-20 years, and rate of 5.87%.

A nice newer J/105 in the $90k range can be financed with a monthly payment in the mid-to high $500's. A lot of bang for the buck!

Lighthouse Financing can finance your boat and provide documentation services. Contact Peter and Martha Alandt and let them help you get it done! Click HERE

I ran across the SOAK halyard keeper on FaceBook. I contacted Andrew and immediately put one on our new J/111.

It works great!

Information on where to buy your SOAK halyard keeper HERE

Check out our J/Boats Southwest YouTube channel! Upcoming video's include the J/80's at the Austin Circuit stop and the Promotional video for 2011 J/Fest Southwest.

See it HERE

To Contact Us:

JBoats Southwest.com HERE

Call: 512-423-2179

Email: scott@jboatssouthwest.com HERE