Simon Grain

Our girls are doing it with style and fun, the J24 is a very female friendly class and the boat can be sailed enjoyably and raced competitively by young and older women, something not many other keelboat classes can offer. Hugo Ottaway, ‘Mr J24’ and long time class sailor takes up the story.

Women have been sailing J24s since they arrived in Victoria in 1982.  Our first international representative was Barney Hartnett who competing in both 1986 Newport Rhode Island and 1988 Sydney J24 World Championships. Since then women have represented the Victorian association across the board, Gai Clough, Commodore of Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and J owner won two Australian Championships, she and Nikki Clarringbold represented Australia in the 1996 worlds in Argentina, Nikki also sailed in the 2006 worlds in Sweden along with the all female crew of Kirsty Harris. Kerry Dickerson and Diane Grimshaw crewed in the 1995 worlds in Sardinia and there will be others who I can’t recall.

Built on this rich heritage of successful female participation, is a new wave of women who have embraced the J24 as the weapon of choice. Today we see a group of females who not only equal the men in numbers, but also in talent. Without doubt, owner Robyn Coombs, skipper Kirsty Harris and crew are best all female crew today, having won races in the Australian and Victorian Championships. In 2012 and 2014 two J24 teams from Victoria represented Australia at the Dennis Conner International Yacht Club Challenge in New York, in 2014 Alicia Ray and skipper…… were on one and Cherry Birch, who sailed in both regattas the other.
The 2015 J24 Australian Champion “Pacemaker” crew includes Rachel Suda, also included in the teams that came 3rd and 4th were Lisa Simonov and Candice Lee.
Recently Paullina Mattila won the 2015 RMYS Linda Goldsmith memorial trophy with Kirsty Harris 2nd.

Our girls have progressively been making an impact, locally, nationally and internationally and it’s only going to get bigger. The J24 is an ideal boat for Victorian conditions, here we have strong winds and an open bay that provides challenging conditions, the equal to any around the world. Due to their unique design the boat works perfectly with either all or part female crews. The class weight restriction of 400 kilos means the boats can sail with either 5 or 6 crew, this makes women crews competitive. Very few classes offer true International one design sailing, with strong competitive fleets in as many as 60 countries, that women can compete equally with the men.

In Adelaide, class stalwart Robin Townsend has long campaigned and skippered ‘Good Company’ with a mostly female crew and now with her newer J ‘Witches Thimble’ she continues to compete. In Cronulla, Sheryl Brighton and ‘the girls’ competes – and wins – club sailing in their 19 boat J fleet in ‘Cooee Two’. On the harbour in Sydney and around the country Jeanette Syme is a fierce competitor with her mixed crew. In Melbourne we have had several young all female crews on our youth boats to great success. The names of many other female crews and skippers escape me but are too numerous to mention.

The name Kirsty Harris continually pops up throughout recent J folklore and this article and she and owner Robyn Coombs deserve special mention. In Robyn’s own words;
“The Melbourne based ‘Hyperactive’ all girl crew joined forces in 2006 when Sarah Thompson and I borrowed a J24 and competed in and won our first regatta, The Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta. I decided this boat had to be ours! So that’s where it all began! We have been predominantly an all female crew. Competing in many AWKR regattas at RMYS, WISC series at SYC, J24 Worlds in Sweden, many J24 Nationals and State Titles along with our one design racing on a regular basis out of SYC and recently competed in The Marley Point overnight race.

Kirsty Harris and myself are two of the original crew members. We had a stint of approx 2 years where we had one of the male variety sailing with us, luckily for us he was more than happy to don our crew colours of hot pink (which represents Breast cancer awareness) along with a colour coordinated mini skirt for special occasions!  As you can see it’s all about fun otherwise we wouldn’t be there. Saying that, we are very committed and competitive to say the least. We are also very lucky to have a lot of support around the traps from members and especially our past sponsors ” Red Bluff Homes and Clearly Frameless” and present sponsor “Crystal”.

Sarah left our crew recently due to baby commitments and Mary has stepped in as the new partner. Our next big adventure will be in Mexico in 2016!
So bring it on! Robyn Coombs Team Hyperactive – Kirsty Harris, Mary McCauley, Joelle Roderick, Amanda Alyward and Robyn Coombs.”

In Victoria, Sandringham Yacht Club is the home of J24. The club has embraced the class and over the past 3 weeks we have had two new owners join us swelling the ranks to 21. New owner, Eddie Ragauskas has been joined by his wife and daughters making up the team.

This growth, is not without effort. Bruce Alexander, who owns a local J24 has created a user friendly internet site “Melbourne Sailing Meet up” which boasts over 1000 members, 2/3rds of which are women. Says Bruce “this site allows potential crews to access sailing at the click of a button, without the intimidation of the yacht club walls. The Victorian J24 class has grown and benefited enormously from this group”. Hugo notes, “on my boat I now have two women and one male, who all came from Bruce Alexander’s Meet Up site, thanks Bruce for that !!”

Bruce has provided several charts that have shown a rapid increase in interest in sailing J24 yachts and women have made up the majority of that interest. I urge all J owners to look closely at the benefit and enjoyment of having either part or all female teams. Here is an indication of the popularity of Melbourne Sailing Meet Up and the interest in sailing J24s. Remember 2/3rds of these are women !

Interest should be directed to, J24 Victoria, attention President Doug McGregor or Melbourne Sailing Meet Up attention Bruce Alexander.

Edited by Simon Grain with contributions from Hugo Ottaway, Robyn Coombs and Bruce Alexander.

15/4  UPDATE – WE NOW HAVE A LIKELY 27 ENTRIES FOR THE VIC STATES.

This is now the biggest regatta since the Legends Regatta in Gosford a few years ago. The class is alive and well with 10 INTERSTATE ENTRIES. 4 from SA, 3 from the Harbour and 3 from Cronulla.

The Monjon Victorian States are shaping up to be a 25 boat regatta this year. Dates are Saturday 18 –  Sunday 19th April this year.

The fleet at Sandy is hot, 20 boats all wanting a piece of the action this year, new sails and new owners, old owners dusting off the tillers, everyones getting fired up.

Dave Suda is running just ahead of the pack, but not always, the ‘Black Prince of Sandringham’ isn’t getting it all his own way with the next 3 or 4 boats chomping on his rudder. Last year’s National Champ Steve Girdis from Sydney and Doug Watson from SA are coming to Melbourne and are planning to pull the plug out of the ‘Pacemaker’.  Dave Mackay and Steve O’Rourke from Cronulla, Robin and Jim Townsend, Andrew Townsend from SA and Jeanette Syme from the harbour are also coming. Word is the Thommo Cup is going to move homes or get a new set of rules !

Sadly all the spare Victorian boats are already chartered at this stage (keep asking incase one becomes available), so if you want to be part of the regatta you best bring your own boat.

Traditionally the regatta is a hot competition regatta in Melbourne’s soft Autumn wind conditions (no guarantee of course). Complimented by the usual great party evening on the Saturday, this is a regatta not to be missed.

This will be the biggest J regatta in 2015. So if you want to be part of it and can’t get your boat here then why not fly in and sail with a local, you’ll have a great time – guaranteed !

Call Vic Pres Doug MacGregor for more information  on 0400 584 067

Here’s a copy of the poster 2015 States poster

Go here for the NOR

Go here for more up to date info on the SYC site Update

If you are coming to Sandringham for the first time you can check the regatta information on the Vic page of this site – there is one low bridge you don’t want to get too !

The premier lady skippers race on Port Phillip Bay Melbourne Victoria is the Jennifer Goldsmith Memorial trophy – this year won by a J24 !
In memory of Jennifer, a keen sailor, all the entry fees were donated to Melanoma research.
The 2015 race in its 24th year, attracts Melbourne’s best female sailors from all the major keel boat clubs in the bay.
This year the race began in very light, sunny 34 degree (93.3 degrees fahrenheit) conditions, which quickly changed with the arrival of a southerly breeze reaching 12 knots, on what was a beautiful day for sailing.
Amongst a fleet of 30, the boat size ranged from 44 footers to the smallest, two J24s.
Despite their disadvantage in size, the J’s had crew members who had competed at the highest level with both boats representing Australia in the J worlds in Sweden in 2011 and Bruschetta VI also in the Dennis Conner International Yacht Club Challenge New York 2014. Hyperactive, skippered by Kirsty Harris with her all female crew and Bruschetta VI skippered by Pauliina Matilla with her male crew, excelled in the light conditions, picking the shifts and changes in the freshening breeze, this resulted in both being in the top 10 boats over the finish line. Hyperactive who had a AMS rating, won the AMS division, However the overall award was won by Bruschetta VI with Hyperactive second.
Pauliina Matilla, was awarded the Jennifer Goldsmith Memorial perpetual trophy and a beautiful Tiffany & Co necklace. Pauliina who lives and sails in Finland is currently working in Australia, explained during her acceptance that in Finland its -15 degrees with a maximum of 4 hours of light per day, a far cry from the sun drenched shores of Port Phillip Bay.
The J24’s excelled against the competition, taking the major and divisional trophies, the class has a strong local fleet of 20 active boats with the current and past Australian Champions amongst it. J24 has experienced a regrowth in Australia and with results like these it will only encourage more to take up J sailing. The full story can be read on “Sail World.Com/ Port Phillip women’s championship series- love a southerly”.

From Hugo Ottaway

Will you be in the US in September this year, maybe you would like to enter or maybe just stop by and have a look. The 2015 Pape Chevrolet North American Championships will include 3.5 days of great racing, multiple nights of live entertainment at Portland Yacht Club, many complimentary beverages and meals including Saturday night’s famous traditional Maine lobster bake with lobster, corn, potato, steamers, and more…

J24 Fleet 43 and the organizing committee of the annual J/24 Downeast Regatta, which has been held for over 20 years on Casco Bay, Maine, is excited to invite you to the 2015 Pape Chevrolet J/24 North American Championships. The event is being hosted by Portland Yacht Club, Handy Boat Service and J24 Fleet 43. The dates of the event are; racing – Thursday September 10th through Sunday September 13th.    Limited to 50 boats !!!!

For more information go to the website    http://www.2015j24nas.org/

‘When you have got it flaunt it’ and that’s just what ‘The Black Prince of Sandringham’ in Pacemaker did in the last race today. With the series win in the bag after two wins this morning they were spectators at the last start, watching the fleet sail off while they cruised home to early celebratory drinks. Well done Dave, congratulations to you and your crew, Herschel, Rachael, Sam and Luke.

This morning the real race was for second, third and fourth with Doug Watson (El Fideldo), Brendan Lee (By the Lee) and Simon Grain (Code Violation) all in with a chance on second and third. Simon Grain scared the other two enough with two seconds behind Dave’s two firsts in the first two races that they both pounced on the poor blighter from Sandy and after a dump on Simon First leg, Code was out the back. A certain discard for sure and made certain by an unfortunate bottom mark rounding when Lisa on the foredeck got hit by the kite pole and covered the deck and her white top with an alarming shade of red. Retired hurt – but you have to look after the ladies faces ! Doug Watson put in a stellar performance to take out the race and the second overall from Brendan with Simon in fourth. A long jump back to Kirsty Harris in Hyperactive and Ron Thompson in Kicking. Rob Hogan coming in 7th making the famous Cookie Monster get up and fly with a best place 2nd in the regatta, “good to see that old sun umbrella kite go Rob” and Dave Mackay from Cronulla, our newest ‘circuit devotee’ in Stockcar coming home 8th.

Unfortunately after an enormous effort in training and preparation program prior to the nationals our Victorian President Doug MacGregor got a hit from the boom and has now gained a few stitches but lost a couple of teeth, tough luck and a bad end to a good campaign, but Doug will be back with that Scottish vigor and determination we all see in him. Our thoughts are with you Doug. Maybe a trip to Thailand coming up – I hear the teeth are good and cheap there.

The Performance Handicap winner is Janette Syme with a well deserved win over new comer Steve O’Rourke and his crew of grandkids (well done Steve, your competitive spirit and attendance at the regatta is much appreciated by the class and we look forward to see you again in the circuit. Janette arrived in the heat before the regatta and rubbed the black antifoul off the bottom of Foolish Behaviour prior to the start – our own little coal miner !  Go Janette – we love you sailing the J’s with us. Next big gig is the Vic States – 18th April. (SA States possibly the last weekend in Feb, but yet to be confirmed). Rob Hogan in Cookie Monster took out 3rd from Helen Wilmer in Good Company in fourth.

This year’s Thommo Cup was taken out by big brother, a bit monotonous, but Ron is just a bit competitive over little sister, must be some other way to do the Thommo Cup.

The class showed a great deal of appreciation for the efforts of SA President Jim Townsend and wife Robin and his team in putting the regatta and the class back together in SA – we can’t say enough thanks for all your effort. Thank you to all the CYCSA members and volunteers in helping to put the Nationals together and making it a well run and smooth operation.

Are you reading this and thinking we had a story there too – send it to me and it goes online. My take on it all isn’t the only viewpoint so send them in for all to read.

Well Steve – there goes the title, gone without a fight. The Vic States will be bigger than ever this year and we look forward to seeing you back on the startline.

For final results go to http://www.cycsa.com.au/results.html

More overcast grey skies today, suiting the Black Prince of Sandringham perfectly with 3 bullets added to his score. With the first drop coming into effect today, his score of 11 is half that of Brendan Lee (SYC) on 23 points. Doug Watson, Adelaide’s leading skipper is third with Simon Grain (SYC) now forth after an ordinary day. Sandringham boats fill 6 of the first 7 places, so the competitive fleet at SYC shows it’s worth.

The most novel picture was Jeanette Syme sailing around before the start in the rain under an umbrella at the back of the boat.

Today’s first race started in very light conditions with a swing to the left and an increase of breeze to around 18 knots, catching some of the fleet unawares, but giving a fast and exciting kite ride back to the finish. Finishing order was Dave Suda, Doug Watson, Ron Thompson.

Race two and we had a shifty SE breeze of around 15knots. Once again banging the beach proved to be the way to go and even some of the locals didn’t take their own advice on going left. Dougie Watson telling me that for 4 years he has sailed here and knows the left rule like the back of his hand. Why did I go right twice ? he asked me. Finishing order was Dave Suda,  Brendan Lee, Simon Grain.

Race three and the wind had lightened off so much that it was almost a drifter off the start with many people calling it a lottery. didn’t bother the Black Prince though as he scooted off to a 3rd win of the day in a shortened race. The planned race 4 was not held due to the lack of wind and interest.  Finishing order was Dave Suda, Rob Hogan (Cookie Monster), Dave McKay (Stockcar).

Performance Handicap is being lead by Jeanette Syme in Foolish Behavour from Rob Hogan in Cookie Monster and Helen Wilmer in Good Company.

Full results available on http://www.cycsa.com.au/results.html

Overcast skies all day with a building SE breeze gave the nationals competitors a great day’s racing without the heat and burning sun of the past few days. Around 8-10 knots breeze and flat water for the first race and ending up with the whole fleet on jibs in around 20 knots.

The normal ‘bang the left’ rules applied today with boats getting big lifts along the beach to a top mark down towards Largs. Racing is very close with the top boats getting around in a very tight group and the bulk of the back following closely behind.

Results are not online yet due to a protest. Today’s race winners are Doug Watson in El Fideldo, Brendan Lee in By the Lee and two races to Dave Suda in Pacemaker. Overall leader is Doug Watson, followed by Simon Grain and Dave Suda.

Check back a bit later here or on http://www.cycsa.com.au/results.html   for updated full results.

Day one has got off to an interesting start with more protests that races held.

After a very stormy morning today following two 38 deg days previously that have had those preparing their boats spending unusually large amounts of time falling about with heat stress and consuming large amounts of water rather than beer, racing got going with a huge black wall of cloud to the north of the race track. The breeze was a light and variable 13knots, flat seas and warm muggy temp, champagne sailing really.

Dave Suda won the first race from Simon Grain sailing Code Violation but is on the receiving end of a multi-boat protest at the top mark for a port and starboard in the second race. At least 4 protests are in already and I believe there may be more to come – busy night in the committee room !

Code Violation was leading all the way round the track in the second race before falling into a hole 100m from the finish and having 3 boats sail around them as the breeze died. Brendan Lee took out the second race from Doug Watson, Dave Suda and Code.

For more details and full results go to the CYCSA site at http://www.cycsa.com.au/results.html   then click on the ‘Results for the 14-15 season link and then J24 Nationals link near the bottom.

Note that as of writing the results are provisional due to the protests.