The Dallas Corinthian YC was the epicenter of Southwest sailing for the month of May. They hosted their Leukemia Cup Regatta May 6-8th and then on May 10th the J/24's began rolling in for their 2011 Nationals.
GBCA hosted their single handed/mixed doubles regatta the weekend of the 14th and 15th.
On to Lakewood YC for the annual Shoe Regatta where the J/105 fleet scored this event towards their season standings.

The real headliners are the sailors that are getting out there and making it happen!
I especially noticed the families out sailing. Read on to learn more about various family efforts and their success.

Father and Son Sailing

Bee and Kevin Bednar. 2011 Elissa Regatta. With Five consecutive first places in the Elissa this father son team was tough to beat! Kevin is far left and Bee is third from the left.

Uzi Ozeri and his son Tal, with the help of Team Infinity topped the J/105 fleet at the 2011 Shoe Regatta!

The Willits Family at the Shoe Regatta

In Steve Willits own words: "This is the second year we have sailed in the Shoe Regatta.  Last year we won it with the same team.  We also got second at the HYC One Design regatta last year.  My daughter Anna is 12 years old and she is our driver.  My daughter Jessica is 10 and does main trim.  My son James is 15 and does foredeck.  James started doing foredeck for me on Wednesday night races when he was 11.   I call tactics and trim the chute and jib.

Both of my girls race Optis but when they have the option to race with me on the J22 they always choose the J22 over Optis.  (There was an Opti regatta in Dallas the same weekend as the Shoe Regatta.)  I have raced sailboats since I was a kid in Newport Beach CA. (So has my wife Joann)  I can honestly say I have never had more fun sailing than I do when I sail with my kids on the J22.  As my kids get a little older (hopefully within the next year or two) we plan on starting to do some J22 circuit regattas and other major J22 events.   

I love the J22 because it has good performance but is still easy to sail in any wind conditions.  On the second day of the Shoe Regatta it blew 20 knots but my kids were still able to sail comfortably and be in control.  We didn't fly the chute on every downwind leg but on the last leg of the last race, with the third place boat closing in on us flying his chute, the kids all wanted to fly the chute.  We popped the kite in 20 knots and finished the race with no problems.  They were very excited and had a great time.  I couldn't have been more proud of them. 

As they get a little older we may have to mix thing up a bit because Jessica wants to drive too.  With my wife Joann and our almost 3 year old son Patrick waiting in the wings, I fear I may never get the chance to be on the helm again.  But that's a small price to pay for the opportunity to have so much fun with my family"

Photos courtesy of John Lacy: HERE

Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club - Leukemia Cup Regatta, May 6-8th

The Leukemia Cup was the J/22 fleets 3rd circuit stop. There were 13 entries and Brant Koepke's "Rich Skank" ended up on top, followed by Scott Dunn's "Rough Action" and in 3rd was Kevin McConnells "Stampede. Circuit newcomer Bruce Uphaus and his "Riff Raff" climbed up to a 4th for this event! Brant Koepke is leading the overall circuit standings by 21 points over Eric Faust. Eric is tied at 63 overall points with Terry Flynn on Tejas. It will be a lot of fun to watch this fleet over the course of the year to see how it all shakes out!

The J/24 fleet had 8 entries and long time J/24 sailor Dave Irwin brought out his J/24 "I B a J Too" and took home 5 bullets! Kelly Holmes and team "Bad Moon" ended up in 2nd and Michael Dannecker on "Entorage" in third.

SIX J/80's showed up for the Leukemia Cup! Now this is a grass roots endorsement! Seems like the fleet ought to make this a circuit stop!? The travelers came from Fort Worth Boat Club and took home the gold: Rick Schaffer on "C'est Nasty", Mike Lattimore on "Yoko" in second and Ramon Torres "80 Proof" was third. Great job supporting this event.

In PHRF1 - 5 of the 8 boats were J/Boats with the J/105 hull #1 Adios finishing first, the J/29 "Scoots" scooted into third and the "Blue Flashes" from Fort Worth ended up in 4th!

Read more about the Leukemia Cup and other DCYC events in the "Hailer": HERE

2011 J/24 US Nationals held at Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club
Tuesday May 10-14th

Things really got rolling this week - including the thunder and wind! This was one of the busiest weather weeks in Dallas with Tornados, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. The participants lost a practice day and part of a race day. However Friday and Saturday could not have been more perfect. With enough wind in the teens to 20's to really get the boats moving-but with not too much carnage. Full story on the J/24 Class site: HERE

Check out the J/24 Nationals highlight video HERE

Bruce McDonals photographed
the event. Check out the great shots HERE

Please do check out these pictures and support your photographer by purchasing that special picture of you and your team sailing in the Nationals. Through Bruce's site you can get the picture placed on Coffee cups, plaques, t-shirts, etc. They work hard and deserve to get a few bucks for their pics.

Lakewood Yacht Club Shoe Regatta-May 21-22nd

J/Boats were well represented with One Design J/22, J/80, and J/105 fleets. PHRFA had 2 J/109's and a J/111 racing against a Melges 32, 2 OD35's, and a King 40. In the J/105 class Mark Masur brought down "Two Feathers" from Dallas and had it going on with two firsts on Saturday.

Find complete results HERE

Find Quantum article on the Shoe Regatta HERE

Photos courtesy of Jimmie Rogers and John Lacy HERE

J/22 Circuit Stop #4 May 28-29th - Fort Worth Boat Club

12 boats made the event and the results were topsy turvy after 4 races scored!. The "Green Flash" owned by Chad Wilson started with a 4th in race 1 and ended with two firsts scoring 9 points overall for first place. Glenn Darden and "Baby Doll" scored 11 points for second, Followed by "Fast Lane" in 3rd. The J/22 season is now half way through their schedule and the Series leader is Brant Koepke's "Rich Skank" with 18 points and Max Scott "Fastlane" in second with 39 points. In 3rd is Charles Shade's "Delicious Tamale" with 46 points. Bruce Uphaus "Riff Raff", "Neighbor of the Beast" Eric Faust, and "Tejas" Terry Flynn are all lurking and if a throwout applies the results could get interesting!

Fort Worth Boat Club Heineken Regatta, June 3-5th

J/Boats were represented well with three One Design classes racing, the largest being the J/105 class with 6 boats. Reese Hillard's "Hoss" took home 4 bullets and two 3rd's to top Mark Smith's "Beauty". 3rd place was Matt Arno and "Blue Flash". The J/22 Fleet was schooled by Bryan Dyer with his worst race the last race a 3rd while races 1-6 were all firsts. The J/80 fleet was led around the course by Rick Schaffer on "C'est Nasty" followed by Mike Lattimore on "Yoko" and Ramon Torres "80 Proof".

AYC - Mallory National Championship

Austin Yacht Club hosted 20 High School sailing teams competing for the InterScholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) Mallory National Championships. JBoats Southwest sponsored the Saturday night barbecue dinner and rock bands. A great time was had by all and if you have sailors in, or about to be in high school check out the ISSA and get them involved.

Link to ISSA here: HERE

Find great photos by Bruce McDonald HERE

JFest Southwest 2011 - October 29-30

Mark your calendar! J/Fest is gathering steam-Many of the same sponsors were excited about last years event and are stepping up again! City of Seabrook has promoted the event to one of their top five events of the year-which puts us in pretty heady company! Watch for mailers and news items coming soon!

Press Release:HERE

Sailing Anarchy created a walk through video of the J/111. This video will give you a good feel for the J/111's deck and cabin layout:

Find it HERE

J/111 - One Design Racing this summer. There have now been sufficient numbers of J/111's delivered for One Design Racing! Fleet #1 in Chicago will participate in three events as a OD class, including the famous Chicago-Mackinac race. The New York YC's annual regatta will have a J/111 fleet and 6 or more will race at Block Island!

New J/70 Speedster Sails 2012

(Newport, RI)- The J/70 speedster (22.75 feet) is J Boats' first ramp-launchable keelboat - designed to fulfill the growing need for an easy-to-own, high performance one-design that is exciting to sail, stable enough for the family, and built to last.   J/70 is sea-trialing fall 2011 with new boat deliveries available in 2012.

Features include:
- Large comfortable cockpit with open transom
- Deck-stepped carbon mast with single spreaders
- Three sail inventory with masthead A-Sail
- Vertical lifting bulb keel
- Small cabin for storage and personal privacy
- In-cockpit stowage of outboard engine
- Easy to trailer and ramp launch

Conact us HERE for more information or call 512-423-2179

Great article on the J/80 class winners at the 2011 Annapolis NOOD. Team Gudfaxe was in a three way tie for first going into the last day. BTW-Team Guldfaxe is another family affair, Husband and wife, and wife' s brother. Even more interesting is that the three family members work together!

Find it HERE

Prices are a rising! We've all seen it at the gas pump. When oil goes up-so does gas! and so does resin and fiberglass. Which means boat prices will be going up as well. There are a few slots at current prices left for each of the 13 J/Boat models-if you are considering a new J/Boat contact us to discuss the current versus future expected prices.

2012 J/80 Nationals

Fort Worth Boat Club has been awarded the 2012 J/80 Nationals to be held sometime in June-2012! Along with the nationals in our own backyard the J/80 southern circuit has re-vitalized with 4 stops this year, more planned for next year. The national class is putting together a southern tour with all roads leading to Fort Worth. Stay tuned for more info-but 2012 should be a great year for J/80 sailing fun.

Congratulations to Geoff Cornish of Toronto, Canada. Geoff will be taking delivery of the 2007 J/124 that we had listed. "Rouler" is one beautiful J/124 and Geoff will enjoy this boat for years to come!

Jim Greenwell has closed on the J/80 "Twighlight Zone III". Jim lives on Pine Island off of the coast of Portland Maine. Congrats Jim!

J/122 "Gambler" one of the winningest J/122's in the country. Impressive sail inventory and aggressively priced. Sails continually updated including new 3Di 2011 sails.

Beautiful Beneteau First 36.7. Freshwater boat-traded in for a J/111

Check out all of our brokerage boats HERE

The summer heat is here! Get out on the water and sail! Contact us and let us know what we can do for you! 512-423-2179 or HERE