PHRF Meeting & Holiday Party
We will have a PHRF business meeting for the skippers, followed by the annual holiday party including crews, at the Sail Northwest offices at Shilshole.
When: Wednesday, December 16th
PHRF Business Meeting: 6pm in the SNW classroom
Holiday Party: Starts at 7pm in the main office area.
We hope to see all the fleet together again! We will also award the Season Fleet Championship trophy, and discuss the sailing schedule for next year.
| 08 December 2009 |
Diva participating in Van Isle 360
Jim Prentice & crew on "Diva" are participating in the 10 leg race that circumnavigates Vancouver Island. The photos on the race website (www.vanisle360.com) are impressive and you can find some very nice shots of Diva from Sean Trew. It looks like a fabulous race and a great time!
| 11 June 2009 | Van Isle 360 website |
It's only Rock 'n Roll wins NOOD and PNW Championship
In an abbreviated two race NOOD regatta, Bob Arney & crew sailed well and posted a 1, 2 scoreline on Friday to win the Seattle NOOD regatta, and also repeat as J/109 PNW Champion. To the dismay of the fleet, both Saturday and Sunday of the regatta resulted in no races as the crews bobbed around in brilliant sunshine but no wind. The guys on J/Tripper won the hospitality/best refrigerator award for taking pity on some seriously dehydrated J/24 sailors--the frosty cold Sapporos were very much appreciated!
Congratulations to Bob & crew on a job well done!
| 01 June 2009 | Results |
Illusionist first in PSSR
Dave MacLean & crew aboard Illusionist won a hotly contested Puget Sound Spring Regatta (PSSR) by 4 points, with a mere 3 points separating 2nd through 4th. The win puts Illusionist one point shy of the Season Championship lead, behind Tantivy, the Center Sound Series winner. Congratulations to Dave & crew on a fine performance!
| 20 April 2009 | Results |
February 17th Fleet Meeting Notes
Notes from last night’s fleet meeting:
1) Stuart stiffed us, so after slagging on him mercilessly, got around to discussing fleet business.
2) In light of Stuart’s executive decision to make NOOD the PNW championship, we agreed this was the right course of action. Many of us thought this was still an open issue, but agreed with the decision after the fact.
3) We did not finalize the fleet schedule as it relates to the northern regatta choice (PITCH or Cow Bay). The sentiment was that if our Canadian members will commit to one or the other, then we should include it. Dave MacLean made a point of committing to the travel if we get Canadian participation. He also noted that it doesn’t make sense to include it if we don’t get commitment from our northern friends. If we don’t do PITCH or Cow Bay, then there was some interest in adding a September fleet event to replace NW Harvest Benefit.
4) We discussed Center Sound Series registration, and there was some concern we’d get a one-design start (5 required). Jerry will likely not be ready for Blakely Rock, but is already registered for the series. We were wondering about the status of “Rock and Roll” and “Jeopardy” for CSS. If/when you register, please note a desire for a one-design start.
5) Jerry updated us on his keel issues, which appear to be pretty severe (refer to his update below). Payment from Pearson is a huge concern for him – it is still a TBD. I related Ed’s concern about not getting reimbursed yet as well. His report also underscores the necessity of getting this work done, if you haven’t already!
6) We created a PHRF rating committee consisting of Dave MacLean and Jerry Woodfield. Dave just got his rating changed, and had some pertinent observations about performance, and Jerry has done extensive research on the topic. If you have input on this topic, get in touch with Dave.
7) We discussed class sail buttons (mainly to raise awareness), and clarified that it only applies to class sails, not PHRF genoas or our fleet-adopted 121sqm kite. It sounded like people were getting them, and that the process is working in general.
| 18 February 2009 |
UPDATED: Fleet meeting scheduled for February 17th
A fleet meeting has been scheduled for February 17th, 6pm at the Red Door in Fremont. The Red Door is one block west of the Fremont Bridge. Here's a map: http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/map/3264/restaurant/Fremont/Red-Door-Seattle.
AGENDA:
1) Finalize regatta to host PNW Champs
2) Finalize 2009 Fleet schedule & scoring
3) Fleet building ideas
4) Class sail registration
5) Update on potential changes to class rules from Stuart
6) Eat, Drink & Socialize
| 03 February 2009 |
Fleet Holiday Party
The fleet had a jovial Holiday party hosted by Bob Ross at his Sail Northwest office. Stuart Burnell and crew added the Tantivy inscription again on the fleet championship trophy - for the 3rd straight year. Congratulations to Tantivy for a great season!
Some fleet business was discussed, including re-electing Stuart Burnell as fleet captain, and Tom Niccoli as secretary. Some discussion of including more northern events in the fleet series might help entice our Canadian fleet members to participate. PITCH in Bellingham was mentioned, along with Cow Bay. It was agreed that the fleet would finalize the schedule prior to the Center Sound Series, which kicks off the sailing season in early March. It was agreed that the Center Sound Series as a whole would count as one event in 2009. Another decision was to drop the NW Harvest benefit from the schedule, and replace it with something that might be better attended.
A few photos of the event are posted in the Photo Albums section under "2008 Holiday Party."
Many thanks to Bob Ross, and congratulations to the entire Tantivy crew. Well done!
Happy New Year everyone - here's to another great year of getting the most enjoyment out of our J/109's we can!
| 29 December 2008 |
Round the County on Illusionist
Dave MacLean & crew on Illusionist did the Round the County race last weekend, hosted by OIYC. Here is his recap:
This is a great race. Saturday was interesting. The first leg of the course from the start to Davidson rocks on the south shore of Lopez was a mess with steady 25kts+ and negative (2kts at times) tide. The new #4 I got along with a reefed main seemed to be a great combination with boat speed averaging in the mid to upper sixes even with BIG waves. Once around Davidson rocks it became a heavy air reach in BIG waves. Hit a new boat best of 15.4 kts with full main and the 4 up. Unfortunately with the course and the wind direction, it made this a non-tactical parade around the south half of the county with the larger boats proving waterline is everything. We did not score well but had enough adrenaline going to party well after the race. Sunday as you probably heard was a different story. Light broad reaching with spinnaker was the conditions at the start. I feel the 109 is made for this. With a good start and more boatspeed than anyone else we lead the fleet to the NW tip of Stuart where we ventured too close to the island and fell into its shadow and watched everyone sail around us. It sucks being the marker boat for the first “hole” on the course. Once around the corner we found the whole fleet struggling on a starboard beat in light to zero winds. With 12 miles to go to Patos Island(the half way point) in 3 hours and no hope in site We withdrew and started the long process of getting the boat and ourselves home. We got what we came for on Saturday; Sunday was disappointing....oh well that IS sailboat racing.
Illusionist spinnaker reaching shortly after Sunday's start:
| 11 November 2008 | RTC website |
Tantivy wins PSSC Regatta and Fleet 1 Season Championship
Congratulations to Stuart & crew on Tantivy for a fantastic season! With their victory in the Puget Sound Sailing Championship regatta (won on tie-breakers over Dave MacLean's Illusionist), they put an exclamation point on their season championship. In fact, Tantivy had wrapped up the season championship with one regatta to spare, but went out in style anyway. The Fleet Championship points spreadsheet has been updated in the "Documents" section of this site.
| 13 October 2008 | PSSC Results |
Pathfinder circumnavigates Vancouver Island
Lino & Elisabeth Niccoli took their J/109 "Pathfinder" well beyond their normal cruising grounds this summer, completing a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island in about two months. They returned last night, docking at Ivar's Salmon House on Lake Union to enjoy a delicious "welcome home" meal, as well as wait for the draw bridges leading back to her home slip on Lake Washington. Now comes the task of sorting through about 1500 photos taken by themselves and their various guests who joined for shorter legs along the way. The boat performed very well, and the new XM weather system allowed Lino to avoid the occasional gale that blew through. The two most treacherous legs, around Cape Scott and around Brooks Peninsula, turned out to be no problem at all, and in fact featured some brilliant sailing conditions. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned was to bring fishing gear next time!
Tom & Lino working deep on the run up Esperanza Inlet:
Lino, Elisabeth & Tom at Rugged Point:
| 29 August 2008 |
Fleet Articles of Association Updates Approved
As of July 21st, 2008, the proposed updates are formally approved. The “Fleet Documents” section of the fleet site have been updated accordingly.
Votes for:
Tippy
J-Tripper
Tantivy
Pathfinder
Illusionist
Shada
Votes against:
(none)
| 21 July 2008 |
"It's only Rock n Roll" wins 1st annual PNW Championship
Bob Arney & crew on "It's only Rock n Roll" won the J/109 Pacific Northwest Championship regatta, held in conjunction with J/Fest in Seattle. They overtook Jim Prentice's "Diva" in the standings in the last race, to win by 2 points. Stuart Burnell's "Tantivy" placed third. It was a tight regatta all around, with only 16 points separating 1st through 8th after 5 races. After dealing with fickle wind all weekend, the breeze filled in to a steady 10 knots Sunday afternoon, allowing the RC to get 4 races off. Those that were able to get to the favored side were generously rewarded, and flyers were punished severely. The racing was pretty exciting, as any boathandling mistakes meant losing places and the pack was always tight. And for a pleasant Seattle surprise, there was sunshine all weekend, so all the crews were looking pretty tanned and happy at the awards presentation.
| 16 June 2008 | Results |
Tantivy gets NOOD
In very competitive racing in the first ever Seattle Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta, Stuart Burnell and crew aboard Tantivy pulled off a 1 point win over J-Tripper (Dave Dack & Rick Nordquist) and Astral Plane (Adam Korbin). J-Tripper and Astral Plane tied on points (11), with tiebreakers giving J-Tripper second. Shada (Jerry Woodfield) was in the mix all weekend and ended up fourth with 13 points. The racers were treated to “champagne sailing” for the first two days of the regatta – steady breeze in the 12-15 knot range, and lots of sunshine with temperatures in the 80’s. For Seattle, this was very unusual weather – typically stronger breeze in Seattle is driven by passing weather fronts, and accompanied by rain. One veteran Seattle sailor commented that in 30+ years of sailing on Puget Sound, he had never encountered such perfect sailing conditions on consecutive days.
The racing was very competitive, as evidenced by first place finishes spread across the top 4 boats of the 7 boat fleet. New sails were flashing out all over the place, a healthy indication of how seriously the fleet was taking this regatta. J-Tripper started strong and finished Friday with a slim lead over Shada, Astral Plane & Tantivy. But with a throwout coming, everyone was still in the mix. The second day provided perfect conditions for the race committee to get off 3 more races, with the primary difference being that the wind was now coming from the south instead of the north. Even with relatively stable breeze, the fleet had to deal with the well known but not well understood “rivers” of current that Puget Sound offers up. Tantivy made a big move on Saturday with a 2-2-1 scoreline to take the lead going into the last day. Astral Plane checked in with a bullet and continued their consistently strong performance, and J-Tripper came back to the field a bit with some spinnaker hoist & navigational “issues”. Shada stayed in the mix, but couldn’t quite break through for the really low scores that the top 3 were collecting. Most of the roundings were crowded but orderly and some of the finishes were so tight that the finishers were unsure of the actual finishing order across 3 boats! Sunday broke with more sunshine but less wind, setting up some tense times for those battling for the silver. The race committee on the north circle got one race started, but abandoned midway through as they recognized that the breeze had turned extremely fickle. It was generally recognized that it would not have been a fair test, and it would have been a shame to decide such a brilliant regatta with “lottery” conditions. In the end, the north circle RC was unable to get another start in on Sunday, leaving the Saturday results intact.
There are some great photos on the Sailing World site, especially of those handsome grey-beards on J-Tripper! Look for them in the July/August Sailing World issue. They are also featured in the on-line regatta write-up.
A special thanks goes to Astral Plane for travelling down from Vancouver, Canada, and also to Jeopardy for making the trip up from Tacoma.
Full results can be found here.
| 21 May 2008 | Results |
Fleet meeting minutes: May 8, 2008
Owners attending: Stuart Burnell, Tom Niccoli, Dave MacLean, Jerry Woodfield, Ed Pinkham
Meeting Minutes:
Fleet 1 Articles of Association
Hard-copies of the proposed changes to the Fleet Articles of Association were distributed to owners. There was some discussion around the “owner-driver” rule, with the conclusion that the existing Class Rule is acceptable as-is. No vote was taken on the proposed changes, as this will be taken up at our next Fleet meeting. Members were encouraged to review the changes.
It was pointed out that our current Fleet Articles modify the Class Rules to allow owners to remove ALL cushions from the boat for racing. Not everyone knew this. There is no plan to modify this with the proposed updates to the Fleet Articles either.
NOOD Measurement
Discussion was raised regarding “measurement” for the NOOD regatta. Tom Niccoli was appointed as Measurer for the event, since he is not participating in the event. Measurement will take place Thursday evening, May 15th. All class participants will be spot-checked for conformance. Sails will not be measured, since it is impractical. Sails that don’t have class tags from the sail maker will need to conform based on the “honor system”.
The goal of the measurement is to ensure the yachts are as closely matched as reasonably possible for one-design competition. Items that will be reviewed will include (but are not limited to):
• Table installed
• Aft doors installed
• Stove installed
• Propane tank on board (can be empty)
• Batteries in place
• Roller furling gear in place
• In-haulers are not allowed
• Sail tags will be noted
Tom will arrange inspection with the owner or an owner’s representative, as access to the yacht will be required. Inspection should take approximately 5-10 minutes.
Class Sails
Stuart raised the question about allowing genoas for class racing. Concern was expressed regarding “what size”, as everyone has a different sized genoa. Roller furling the genoa would also impact the sail design, so a decision would have to be made regarding whether to require roller furling or not. The issue was tabled with no action taken.
Misc.
Beer and pizza were excellent as usual, and Bob Pistay provided good insights on sail design issues.
| 09 May 2008 |
Proposed Updates to Fleet Articles Posted
You can find the proposed updates to the Fleet Articles of Association posted in the Documents section. The primary goal of the updates is to conform the Fleet Articles to the National Class rules. The updates are proposed by the Fleet Secretary (Tom Niccoli) and have been preliminarily reviewed by Fleet Captain Stuart Burnell. These updates will be distributed in hard copy at tonight's fleet meeting. Please review the changes and provide feedback. We will take up the matter of adopting the updates at the next fleet meeting, pending feedback collected during the review period. I don't think the updates will be controversial (they are primarily clerical in nature), but please do review the updates.
| 08 May 2008 |
UPDATE: Membership dues issue
Please note that paying your dues on-lilne via the PayPal link may not work properly. Apparently the payment link directs renewing members to a PayPal account set up by the previous class Treasurer Barry Gold. I am in the process of figuring out what to do about my own on-line payment. I'll update you with the outcome when I have one.
Note: The form for printing and mailing (along with a check) is here: http://www.j109.org/j109memb.php.
| 05 May 2008 |
Annual Dues Reminder for 2008
Normally you don’t have to log in to the national class site to access the content there. But I recently did (to access the technical advisory documents available only to members), and was “reminded” that my dues were not up to date.
So I went ahead and paid on-line (via PayPal). I then checked and noticed that only a minority of our fleet is up-to-date on their national association dues, which are $50 per year. For those who are wondering how to get up-to-date, you can pay on-line via PayPal here as follows:
• Renewing members: http://www.j109.org/oldregister.php
• New members: http://www.j109.org/newregister.php
Once your contact info is confirmed, you’ll be taken to a payment page. On that page, your options include a PayPal link, or printing out a form for sending in a check.
Note that even if you’ve paid via PayPal, your registration information will take some time to be reflected on the web site. I renewed several days ago, and it still shows me as only having paid through 2007. Membership status for our fleet can be viewed here: Fleet Roster
| 02 May 2008 |
Fleet Meeting May 8th
The next Fleet meeting is Thursday the 8th of May. North Lake Tavern on Northlake Way 6:00PM for pizza and beer or wine. Purpose of meeting is to meet the Fleet and to discuss the up coming NOOD regatta, J-Fest and race week.
Currently we have six boats signed up to do NOOD's. Pierre Martin's new boat MOJO will be arriving next week and may not be in the water in time for NOOD's but will be in time to do both J-fest and Race week if he wants to and has the time. Tom, Jim, Adam and Peter have not committed yet, but we are hopeful they will make a showing at all or some of these events. We currently anticipate 7 boats a J-Fest with Pierre, Jim, Adam and Peter - we could have 11 on the starting line - Which would be alot of fun!
Crew for the Thursday Meeting are welcome to come, so let them know!
| 01 May 2008 |
PNW Champs notes from the Fleet Captain
This spring & summer we have lots of big events - NOOD in May - J-Fest in June and WIRW in July. We will have 6 Seattle/Tacoma boats at the NOOD and 7 at J-fest. Tom Niccoli (Pathfinder) can only do one of the two spring events. Seattle is looking forward to Astral Plane, Tippy and Diva joining use this May and June. We will either roll out the red carpet or roll you up in it - You choose!
Remember for One-Design races - NOOD & J-fest, the class will go with the Fleet 1 one-design configuration, Class Jib, 121m kite, and Class main. Jib will have to be furled, table in. V-berth door and cushions can be removed. The rest has to stay on board for racing. Each boat will be able to carry 2 Jibs and 2 spinnakers. We race with the same set of sails during a race. You can change to the other spinnaker for the next race or jib. If the jib or spinnaker is damaged during a race it can be replaced with the spare during the race. We hope to have all of the J/109s in the PNW racing these events - getting all for at least one event will be a major milestone. If you are from out of town and are planning to come this way let us know so we can work on housing.
| 03 March 2008 |
PNW Season Opener: Blakely Rock Race Recap
Race report from Fleet 1 Captain Stuart Burnell (Tantivy):
The first race of the Center Sound Series is over! Tom Reinerston put to rest the use of the Genoa vs. the Jib. Surfer Girl (who would later drop out of the race) sailed a great race against J-Tripper, Tantivy and Shada during the 21 mile Blakely rock Race - Adam should remember this race as the last race at Grand Prix in November.
Only this year we had a light southernly. So we headed to the south first, rounding the mark to Starboard. Surfer Girl started closest to the committee boat (leaving it to Port) and lead the fleet to the beach. The fleet tacked off the beach - Shada tacked first she had started closest to the pin. J-Tripper tacked second followed by Tantivy and Surfer Girl. At that point Surfer Girl was about even with J-Tripper and at least two to three boat lengths ahead of Tantivy. She was using her Genoa and moving well, but in the 6 to 8 knots of breeze at the start she was only pulling away slowly from the fleet.
After exchanging tacks up the beach Surfer Girl and J-Tripper pulled away from Tantivy and Shada. As the wind changed up and down Surfer Girl continued to pull away from J-Tripper who was sailing very well. Surfer Girl rounded the Rock in first place by several boat lengths and on the run would be passed by J-Tripper. The wind died a long and slow death around 3:20 and would fill in from the North again around 4 in the afternoon. By then Surfer Girl and J-Tripper, who lead at the leeward mark, had again changed positions. J-tripper said that as the wind dropped below 6 knots the genoa allowed Surfer Girl to just pull way. Both J-Tripper and Surfer Girl finished before the wind died. In the end Tom withdrew as he was unaware that we were sailing as a one design class and were not permitted to use the genoa's. But it was a great test for the Genoa vs. Jib.
| 03 March 2008 | Results |
Fleet meeting minutes, Feb 28th
A few orders of business were discussed relating to the PNW Championship event:
1) Moving the PNW Championship event from J/Fest to the NOOD regatta in May was discussed. The group decided to keep with the original plan of holding it coincident with J/Fest.
2) The Thursday "practice race" may include a dash over to Port Madison for a BBQ or pizza feed. Rick will look into the availability of the SYC outstation there for hosting. Since we will not be able to dock at the outstation, we will anchor/raft up in the harbor, and Bob Ross will dinghy us ashore.
3) Friday's race will be a middle distance race. The course will be set such that all competitors will be finished by 7pm.
We will have 4 boats participating this Saturday in the first Center Sound race, and 6 for each of the remaining two Center Sound races.
Jerry suggested we write up a piece for the national site about 3 of our 109's appearing in the 48 North Top 25. I'm happy to publish, but I don't have the details. Could someone give me some text to post?
Most of our time was spent eating pizza, drinking beer and swapping stories.
Good times - the sailing season is here!
| 03 March 2008 |
Gaia world tour adventures continue
Phyllis has been updating the Gaia World Tour website with lots of entertaining stories. It sounds like they are having a phenomenal experience. It is well worth checking out what they've been up to!
| 27 February 2008 | Gaia World Tour website |
Doc Holiday sold
At the fleet holiday party, Bob Ross announced that Doc Holiday (hull #43) has been sold. Bob anticipates that Doc Holiday will be raced, with the involvement of Bob Arney.
| 07 December 2007 |
Fleet schedule updated
FYI - The fleet schedule for 2008 has been updated - select the "Schedule" link above to check it out.
| 06 December 2007 |
J/109 Fleet 1 Holiday Party
All J/109 owners, crew and families are invited to Sail Northwest on Wednesday Dec 5th to celebrate another outstanding year of fleet #1! Sail Northwest will provide the food and drinks (and of course we will accept donations!). The fleet championship trophy will be presented to Stuart Burnell and the crew of Tantivy. The festivities will begin at 6pm. Please let Carol know if you will be able to attend and how many crew/family will be joining you!
| 13 November 2007 | Sail Northwest |
Grand Prix provides mix of breeze, tight competition
In Seattle Yacht Club's traditional season-ending regatta, Adam Korbin's Astral Plane came back from a slow start to school the Seattle homeboys on their home turf.
Friday featured light breeze and a big spread in finish times - indicating there were some big wind holes on the course. Jeopardy overtook J-Tripper in the shadow of the finish line to win, but Astral Plane found themselves looking up the results list from last place.
But with the weekend the breeze arrived, and the fleet enjoyed mid-distance and bouy racing in 15-20 kts the rest of the way. Just as J-Tripper was hitting their stride, winning the first race Saturday, they bobbled in the second race, sending Rick Nordquist over the side in a downwind round-up. Happily, Rick was safely recovered and J-Tripper was able to finish the day. But they had to eat a last place finish as a result of the incident. In a great show of seamanship, the two closest 109's, Tantivy and Shada, stopped racing to assist, and were awarded redress based on their positions at the time of the MOB.
The points were tight to the end, but Astral Plane kept the hammer down and finished with 3 straight bullets to secure the regatta victory. J-Tripper, despite their downwind wobble held on for 2nd...probably leaving them thinking about what might have been. From all accounts, Saturday and Sunday made for spectacular sailing on the Sound, and a good time was had by all. The win by Astral Plane certainly sets them up as the odds-on favorite for next year's J/109 Pacific Northwest Championships.
| 06 November 2007 | Results |
Fleet 1 Meeting Minutes - 10/25/2007
Attendees:
Bob Ross - SNW
Carol Reid - SNW
Bob Pistay - SNW
Dave Dack
Rick Nordquist
Stuart Burnell
Tom Niccoli
Jerry Woodfield
Craig Schulz
Meeting Minutes:
Fleet co-captain Dave Dack called the meeting to order at 6:34pm on 10/25/2007.
Fleet Champion 2007!
Stuart was roundly congratulated for winning.
Fleet holiday party & awards
The fleet holiday & awards party was planned as follows:
Date: Wednesday, December 5th, 6pm
Venue: Sail Northwest office @ Shilshole
New Fleet Captain
Stuart Burnell was unanimously voted Fleet Captain for 2008. Some discussion regarding Fleet Champion being automatically instated as Fleet Captain was tabled.
Grand Prix
If the J/109's get a class start, the preference was to use a #3 (class jib). The class will wait to see the class breaks before any decisions are made.
Pacific Northwest Championships
The event and logistics were discussed. It was noted that the promotional bit was included in the J/109 electronic newsletter sent out earlier in the month. Some decisions:
* SNW will produce all racing documents including the NOR & SI's, along with the J/Fest documents.
* Dave will gauge intererest and look into a Mariners game as a social event for Thursday evening.
* Alternative Thursday event will be a pizza party & chalk talk at SNW's Shilshole office.
* Thursday practice race is planned for a 5pm start. Bob Ross will evaluate and recommend RC possibilities.
* Friday racing will be bouy racing, with a 1pm first warning and a goal of getting two races in. Ideally racing will be concluded by ~6pm.
* Stuart is in charge of arranging a trophy.
* Billeting options are available with Stuart, Dave, Jerry & Tom (at least).
2008 Fleet Championship Schedule
Bob Ross indicated that the traditional SOCKS regatta in May will be replaced by a NOOD event. The fleet agreed to add the NOOD event to the Fleet Championship schedule, and keep all other events intact. There was discussion of changing the fleet championship scoring, allowing for some regattas to be weighted more than others. But the scoring changes discussion was tabled, and the Fleet Championship scoring will remain the same.
Misc
There was much follow on discussion about regattas and boat items over beer.
| 26 October 2007 |
Tantivy wins 2007 Fleet #1 Championship!
With just a two point lead over J-Tripper and Shada going into the last event of the series, Tantivy finished strong to secure the 2007 Fleet #1 Championship. Unlike previous years, CYC Seattle's PSSC regatta went off with a whimper, featuring fog and light to non-existent breeze. The race committee only got one race completed for the J/109 class, with Tantivy picking up the win, the PSSC title, and the Fleet Championship in that one race. Sources report that Tantivy passed two boats on the final beat to grab the victory. Congratulations to Stuart and crew on Tantivy!
The points spreadsheet is available under the "Fleet Documents" link above.
| 15 October 2007 | 2007 Fleet 1 Season Championship Standings (Final) |
Fleet 1 Meeting Minutes - 9/13/2007
Attendees:
Dave Dack
Rick Nordquist
Stuart Burnell
Tom Niccoli
Jerry Woodfield
Tom Reinertson
Eric Fitzgerald
Craig Schulz
Meeting Minutes:
Fleet co-captain Dave Dack called the meeting to order at 7:20pm on 9/13/2007.
Fleet championship events:
Remaining fleet championship events were discussed: Star & Bar, NW Harvest, PSSC. Dave reminded everyone about the class rule about only extending the sprit after the bow passes the weather mark. There was some discussion about how to score multi-day events in the fleet championship, but no changes were made. Further changes will be discussed at the annual meeting in January.
Tantivy will not be doing NW Harvest, as it conflicts with the event around Bainbridge Island.
PNW Championship:
We will be holding the Pacific Northwest Championship coincident with J/Fest in Seattle. Stuart Burnell is regatta chairman. Dave will look into class sanctioning of the event with Rick Lyall. Tom N. will submit an announcement to the J/109 class newsletter (done). Stuart will contact potential racers from Canada. A further meeting will be arranged in October to plan and assign tasks (NB – this has been arranged for October 25th, 6pm @ Northlake Tavern). Entertainment will leverage the J/Fest program, but we will need to arrange for Thursday evening festivities. Class rule exceptions will include spinnaker size. Billetting arrangements will be made on an as-needed basis. We will need to procure a perpetual trophy, and figure out if this is an every other year event, and also how we can better involve our Canadian friends.
Fleet Articles update:
Tom raised the issue that our Fleet Articles of Association need to be updated to reflect changes that were made to the Class rules in 2006. Stuart Burnell volunteered to review proposed updates. The updates will be presented to the fleet for approval at the next Fleet meeting. The updates will be posted to the class website prior to the fleet meeting.
Much pizza and beer was consumed, and lots of sailing-related discussion ensued.
| 21 September 2007 |
J/109 Pacific Northwest Championship -- June 11-15, 2008
Fleet #1 is pleased to announce the first J/109 Pacific Northwest Championship Regatta. The event will include 3 days of buoy racing, and even more nights of parties. The event will be held in Seattle, WA on Shilshole Bay. The rough schedule includes registration and the opportunity to race against the local fleet Wednesday June 11th, registration and a practice race on June 12th, followed by 3 days of racing June 13th through June 15th. This regatta will be run in conjunction with Sail Northwest’s legendary J/Fest regatta (June 14th & 15th), so there will be no shortage of fun festivities, and you can expect expert race management. For further information and logistics questions contact regatta chairman Stuart Burnell. The NOR and other regatta documents will be posted on the fleet website (http://www.j109.org/fleet1) in the next few months.
| 18 September 2007 |
Gaia world tour!
Bob Riggle is heading out soon on his world tour in Gaia, J/109 hull #56. You can follow the action and adventures at www.gaiaworldtour.net.
We all wish Bob and Phyllis fair winds and following seas!
| 10 September 2007 | Bob's world tour site |
J/109 PNWC 2008 Discussions
The fleet is currently discussing hosting J/109 Pacific Northwest Champs in 2008. Options presented are to piggy-back on either J-Fest (mid-June) in Seattle or Whidbey Island Race Week (mid-July). If J-Fest is used, then the racing days would be extended to Fri-Sun or possibly Thurs-Sun. Stuart Burnell (Tantivy) & Dave Dack (J-Tripper) are facilitating the discussion. Contact either of them if you have interest or input (contact info is in the fleet roster on this site).
| 09 August 2007 |
View from the Winner's Circle with Adam Korbin
Adam was kind enough to do an email interview about his success at WIRW. Here it is:
Editor (ED)> Congratulations Adam on a big win!
Adam (AK)> Thanks for the congratulations. We didn’t know what to expect at Whidbey, being our first time there. We are obviously very happy with the result.
ED> What sails did you use (brand, sail loft)? Genoa specs? From pictures it looked like you didn’t use roller-furling for the genoa – was that an advantage?
AK> Astral Plane has Quantum sails from the Vancouver loft. We were running two genoas at Whidbey; a light carbon/kevlar #1 and slightly smaller heavy Kevlar #1. The heavier sail is stiffer and flatter so we could carry a #1 into the 14 knot puffs. We do not furl our headsail so that we can peel sails easily using an alternative forestay track and halyard..
ED> Did you get new sails for the event?
AK> The light #1 was a brand new sail for Whidbey.
ED> Rig tune: did you go by your sailmaker’s tuning guide, or something else?
AK> I haven’t touched the rig since it was originally set up. We used local knowledge to set the boat up for light Vancouver breeze. We did suffer a bit with this rig set-up at Swiftsure, but overall it does the job in the PNW.
Ed> Tell us a bit about your team (how long you’ve sailed together, experience, key players)?
AK> Much of our success at Whidbey was due to excellent crew work. Most of the crew has been on the boat for at least 6 months. It was helpful to have our sailmaker, Dave Cross from Quantum onboard. For many on the crew the incentive to race fast was so that they could get into the rum tent early.
ED> What were your keys to victory?
AK> We just followed the fundamentals: good crew work, good sails, clean bottom and eyes on the race course looking for wind shifts. We tried to get good starts but that didn’t quite pan out. I believe we were over early in three races and had to re-cross the line.
ED> How did you accomplish them?
AK> We are running a fairly busy racing program in Vancouver with Wednesday, Thursday and weekend races. The boat is gets a dived every week and I try to maintain the running rigging.
ED> Any memorable boat-on-boat action that made a difference for you?
AK> The competition at Whidbey was really challenging. We had to sail through the fleet after a few bad starts and a lot of our gains were made at the mark roundings. There are some really good pictures of Astral Plane and Shada approaching the windward mark. We had a really fun downwind drag race with Tantivy. One area I need to improve on is learning how to pass boats downwind.
ED> Any observations about the rest of the fleet (especially the other 109’s)?
AK> In my experience having a very good main sail trimmer makes a huge difference; especially at the top of the wind range of the genoa. The boat loves to point, but the main has to be set just right to optimize point and speed while playing the puffs. A good main trimmer can keep the helm happy and boat moving fast.
ED> What are the prospects for the 109 fleet in BC?
AK> We have four J109s in BC. Unfortunately we don’t see them on the race course very often. We race with Tippy on Wednesday nights at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.
ED> What is your schedule for the rest of the season? Any interest in any of the Seattle events (particularly Puget Sound Sailing Championships - PSSC)?
AK> We will be racing on the August long weekend at Cow Bay regatta on Vancouver Island, then the boat will be back in Vancouver for Wednesday, Thursday and Vancouver Area Racing Council races on weekends until October. Astral Plane won the 2006 winter Hot Rum series last year and we plan on defending our title in 2007. I would really like to participate in more class racing, but Seattle is a long delivery for us. Hopefully we’ll be down for J-Fest and Whidbey next year.
ED> Any other comments about the event, conditions, the RC, fleet?
AK> I have to say the Seattle organizers and RC did an amazing job. This was one of the best run regattas I have ever attended. The committee placed excellent courses and laid very square starting lines. Also the members of the Oak Harbour yacht club were very hospitable to our crew. I really look forward to spending my summer holidays at Whidbey next year.
Regards,
Adam Korbin
| 01 August 2007 |
WIRW Final: Astral Plane takes first!
Congratulations to Adam Korbin & team on Astral Plane, who closed the deal at Whidbey Island Race Week, handily beating some of Seattle's best 35' keelboats in the process.
J/109 Fleet 1 results:
1st - Astral Plane
5th - Tantivy
6th - Shada
9th - Jeopardy
11th - Surfer Girl
| 30 July 2007 | Results |
Astral Plane leading the way at WIRW
Adam Korbin and crew are leading the very good "P2" PHRF fleet at Whidbey Island Race Week. The results show very tight racing between 5 J/109's, 3 J/35's, 3 Express 37's, and one C&C 115. Astral Plane is going into the final day of racing with a 4 point lead over Brian Watkins' Express 37 "Declaration of Independence". Brian is one of the best sailors in the Seattle fleet (a former SYC sailor of the year), and it is impressive to see him in Astral Plane's rear view mirror. Other J/109 standings: Tantivy is in 4th, Shada in 6th, Jeopardy in 9th and Surfer Girl in 11th.
| 27 July 2007 | Current standings |
Fleet documents now available
We have new functionality on the site to post fleet documents. So I've posted both our "Articles of Association", as well as a spreadsheet calculating our Fleet Championship standings. You can access the documents via the "Fleet Documents" link at the top of this page. Note that the Articles of Association should probably be updated to reflect class rule changes that have taken effect over the last year.
| 28 June 2007 |
Tantivy wins J/Fest with straight bullets!
In light to moderate conditions, Stuart Burnell and Tantivy set a torrid pace with a perfect 1-1-1-1-1 score line. Shada put in a solid performance for second, and J-Tripper chimed in with a third, despite basically missing a race while having lunch. Shada's white spinnaker sporting a large pelican graphic was a beautiful sight. Judging by the smiles in the bar, a good time was had by all.
Tantivy's dominating performance earned them the FRANCIS L. LESOURD CUP ("Best Performance Overall") presented to the regatta's top performing boat across all classes.
Two other J/109's took part in the J/Cruising class, with Gaia taking a 3rd place in very testing Puget Sound convergence zone conditions.
Congratulations to Stuart Burnell and crew for an outstanding performance, and congratulations to the J/109 fleet for a tight, competitive show.
| 18 June 2007 |
Fleet Championship Scoring Notes
To clarify the scoring for the 2007 Fleet #1 Season Championship, here are the notes from the meeting at which the topic was discussed:
"Each event will be scored as a single score; individual races within an event will not used to calculate fleet championship scores. Center Sound Series will count as 3 events, with the worst score of the 3 being discarded. An additional discard will also be used."
| 12 June 2007 |
Fleet Meeting and Winetasting this Friday
We will be getting together on the Friday prior to J/Fest to swap stories (Stuart can share Swiftsure stories) and sample some wine provided by Sail Northwest.
Date/Time: June 15th @ 7pm
Location: CYC Shilshole Clubhouse
See you there!
| 12 June 2007 |