Later this months, is the J24 Gosford Classic Regatta which is being held on 29 & 30 September 2012 at Gosford Sailing Club. Always a fantastic weekend, we encourage you to come along and join the fun.
It’s a long weekend so we encourage you to book accomodation early and Terrigal is always a great spot to stay, with the J24 Association shouting Happy Hour at the Crowe Plaza hotel on Saturday evening too.
BIG, REALLY BIG
Over 100 J/24 teams are breathlessly anticipating the start of the first
“open” J/24 Worlds in decades. With racing on September 17-21, a strong
American contingent will be doing battle against a cadre of past World,
European, North American, South American, Canadian, Bermudian, Brazilian,
Argentinean, Chilean, Peruvian and Japanese Champions.
Hosted by the Rochester Yacht Club in Rochester, NY, located on the south
shore of Lake Ontario, the teams are anticipating how best to get out of
the starting blocks with over 100 boats on one huge line with multiple line
boats calling the start and keeping the aggressive teams in check.
For those interested in the 2012 Worlds in Rochester in September I have posted a report on it on a separate Worlds page – click here
We are fast approaching the J24 Gosford Classic Regatta which is being held on 29 & 30 September 2012 at Gosford Sailing Club. Always a fantastic weekend, we encourage you to come along and join the fun.
It’s a long weekend so we encourage you to book accomodation early and Terrigal is always a great spot to stay, with the J24 Association shouting Happy Hour at the Crowe Plaza hotel on Saturday evening too.
This summer, to encourage keen J24 owners to participate in all of our 4 J24 regattas, an overall prize will be awarded to the winning boat on accumulative points. Qualifying Regattas are:
J24 Gosford Classic Regatta – 29 & 30 September 2012
Balmain Regatta J24 division 28 October 2012
NSW State Championships – 3 & 4 November 2012
Middle Harbour Regatta J24 Division – 9 & 10 March
Participation alone could result in your victory if winning boats in some regattas aren’t competing in others so gets your hulls scrubbed, crew primed and entries in!!
The dates for the 2013 Nationals at Sandringham YC have been confirmed as follows
Measurement – Saturday 5th January
Measurement and Invitation Race – Sunday 6th
First Race – Monday 7th, racing each day with 12 races planned till
Last Race – Thursday 10th. There will be no lay day.
Presentation Dinner Thursday evening
The Victorian Association will post more information in the near future, so keep your eyes on the website for an increasing amount of detail to help you plan a great holiday and regatta in Melbourne next summer.
The NSW J24 Association would like to invite you to participate in a J24 Coaching Day, to be held at RPEYC on Sunday 22 July from 11am.
Beg, borrow, we won’t say steal a J24, and meet between the RPEYC (Point Piper) and Shark Is at 11am.
Sean Kirkjian & maybe a special guest will be on hand to help you set up your boat to optimum level, offer tips for improvement, and suggest on water tips to get you moving faster. On the water coaching will cease at 3pm. We would then like you to attend a BBQ at 5pm where there will be a debrief with the opportunity for questions and discussions.
There is no charge but you must register by Friday 13th of July so we can organise coach boats & catering. To register please contact Paula on 0404 539176 or paula_shires@hotmail.com, and to qualify the skipper must be a member of the J24 NSW Association & have 4 crew on the day including the skipper.
The 2012 NSW J24 State Championships will be held 3 & 4 November at Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in Sydney Harbour. NOR to follow, but any early enquiries, please contact Paula 0404 539176
The J24 association will also be hosting a J24 Coaching Day on Sunday 22 July. From 11am to 3pm, from RPEYC, with more details to be emailed to all members. Enquiries to Paula 0404 539176.
Cronulla Sailing Club are hosting a fun weekend for J24s on 9 & 10 June. Saturday 9 June will be a fun training day with some experienced J24 sailors on hand to offer tips and advice on setting your boat up well for racing. Sunday will be race day and again, expert advice will be on offer for all those competing.
We encourage you to get involved and there are J24s making their way from Sydney to join the Cronulla fleet.
Look out mums and dads – Middle Harbour Yacht Club Juniors are joining the Sydney City Marine Winter Series.
Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC) Junior Sailing is pleased to announce the entry of J24 ‘Whisper’ in the MHYC Sydney City Marine Winter Series which commences this Saturday 5 May. Teenagers from the MHYC Junior Sailing dinghy program will be crewing Whisper in a foray into keelboat racing.
Reintroduced in 2008, the current MHYC Junior Sailing program was the brainchild of Rear Commodore Carl Crafoord. Since then it has gone from strength to strength with over 150 kids currently active in the program. The hard work of building numbers and getting kids into sailing is paying off with healthy fleet sizes, strong representation at interclub events and many happy children. The strong Junior Sailing base at MHYC provides the Club with a great opportunity to try new and interesting programs, namely an introduction to keelboats for young sailors.
The boat Whisper is currently owned by the J24 Association who has very generously lent it to MHYC Junior Sailing for some rising talent to get into competitive keelboat racing. This great gesture provides the Juniors with some great racing on a well established class of boat.
Leon Wilson, Chief Instructor of the MHYC Junior Sailing program commented ‘I’m delighted to have the opportunity to not only introduce our Juniors to the Clubs keelboat fleet racing but to train them in a class that has strong One Design numbers and some really competitive racing. The commitment and enjoyment shown by our older kids is the right stuff for classes like the J24 and our vision is that this will help pave the way for them getting involved with a strong and fun class.’
The MHYC Junior Sailing team works hard at providing positive and memorable experiences for kids on the water. This introduction to competitive keelboat racing in the Sydney City Marine Winter Series is a great opportunity for Juniors from MHYC to experience a type of racing that many adult Members enjoy. And the Juniors are more than happy to get out on the racecourse and test their mettle against friends and family!
Andy and crew get Jive the Sidetracked youth boat ready for racing
Story by Andy Hunting
Our first state championships; first day together; or second day on the water – call it what you want – certainly made for a trying weekend for the newly developing team on Jive (Sidetracked). The team undoubtedly began to learn how to sail a J24 as the races when on with the final race on Saturday being the most successful and just sneaking inside the top ten.
Tactics and starts were arguably the strongest aspect of the team thanks to the wisdom of Ben Gunther and Chris Fawke, coupled with the experience of Oliver Mckeon calling the shifts. Sunday saw the bow work of Nathan Anderson being put to the test – especially on the leeward drops; however it was the rigging which could not handle the wrath of the new superstar team with the starboard inner turnbuckle proving to be the weakest link.
In hindsight, the softer brass nut atop the turnbuckle had its thread ripped clean by the stainless steel thread of the turnbuckle below – potentially due to being un-oiled or a gradual demise from salt and grit over the years.
At the time of failure, the inner tension read between 19 and 21 (on Adam’s gauge). The immediate reaction of the team was to tack onto port so that the tension could be taken by the opposite shrouds so that work could be carried out on the damaged inner.
Several thicknesses of rope were used to loop the flange at the top of the thread to the deck plate, and once tied, another rope; fastened between the slack (newly repaired) inner and the adjacent outer was tied, and as it was pushed skywards, the tension on the inner wire again increased to prevent the mast from buckling inwards.
Once the team had the mast secured, it was a single tack back to the yacht club and up to the bar.
