For many years the world’s greatest have pondered the meaning of life, scientists, religious leaders, poets laureate, historians, politicians and sports people have all thought deeply to come up with the answer – 42
Recently a group of some of the worlds best brains have come up with the reason this ’42’ thing hasn’t worked across the board for all people in all situations and can’t be the complete answer. They have realised that the number is actually the wrong way round.
The real answer is ’24’ and you all know what that means when you put a J in front of it.
Victoria was graced by the opportunity to meet Stuart Jardine and his wife Mary Ann who made the time to catch up with our National measurer Pete Stevens, Victorian measurer Mark Haughton, Assistant measurer Doug McGregor and several members of the J24 fleet at Sandringham.
Stuart is based in the U.K. and is a member of the International J 24 technical committee along with Pete Stevens. His experiences in Europe, as well and the America’s over the past 30 years has given him a wealth of knowledge regarding the boats and he spoke of his vision regarding future and the where the class is going in the next 10 years and beyond. During his brief meeting, he was able to instruct our new measurers in the latest methods of measuring a J.
Stuart, was impressed by the national data base which has been correlated by the states and processed by Pete Stevens. With changes in the boats and new technology the class will be able to keep abreast of the best ways to make our measurement process fair and quick.
A strong measurement process is one of the fundamental stones that make the J24 Class such a great boat to race.
It’s not easy being a measurer, as I know having been involved at the highest level since 1988 and we should support the system that maintains our status as a prestige Class. To win a J24 National Title is one of the highest achievements in sailing, both here and abroad.
Lets help in maintaining our investment and encourage and support our measurers who currently are working towards a updated list of measured boats.
Yours, Hugo. N. Ottaway, past Victorian measurer.
Simon’s Note: Stuart was doing the Geelong Regatta prior to taking a holiday in New Zealand where Mary Ann has family. Happily, Pete Stevens organised him to stay with us and he told us many stories of his time in J24’s, he is truely an amazing man. He also informed us that he is apparently the oldest man to sail a foiling moth achieved when he was 78 years old !
A small group of hardy J24 sailors made the annual sailing and party pilgrimage to Geelong this year. The weather was sunny and hot and with a great range of breezes to suit and gave us some great close racing.
This year we did the passage race on the Thursday, 3 windward / leewards on the Friday and a short round the sticks race on Saturday, Sunday was light wind and blazing hot, more than that it was time to go home after the race and you guessed it, the wind was on the nose back to Sandy, so we skipped the last race in favour of the tow we organised from one of the Sandy patrol boats and we all bought blue tarps to keep the sun off.
So perhaps the most unusual regatta picture is of 3 of the 4 boat tent city towing back to Sandy.
You’ll remember the last few years we have run our J24 promotion and events under the banner of ‘Where Legends Begin’.
For anyone that didn’t get the message loud and clear during that time – here is an excerpt from the current J Boats Newsletter with coverage on the Key West Regatta – Day Four
“Amongst the J sailors, champions and alumni in other racing divisions, it’s pretty clear they’re having a dominating impact on both IRC Divisions and other one-design divisions. Top amongst them is long-time J/80 sailor Ben Schwartz, now leading the notoriously pro-heavy M32 Class with his boat PISCES over such notables as John Kilroy on SAMBA PA TI. Sailing with him is America’s Cup veteran and J/24 World Champion Ed Baird calling tactics and Quantum professional and J/24 Champion Scott Nixon trimming the jib and spinnaker. “You have to give Ed and Scott a lot of credit for getting our boat up to speed,” said Ben. “I’m fortunate to have a great crew, the guys never stopped working and we were able to change gears pretty well.”
POWERPLAY lived up to its name by making a strong move in IRC 2/ TP52 class with a strong line of 1-3-4 on Tuesday and a 2-6.5-3 today. Owner Peter Cunningham, a resident of Georgetown in the Cayman Islands and a champion J/22 sailor locally, has a nice mix of amateur and professional crew with tactician Tony Rey from Newport (yet another top J/24 sailor). “We’ve only had the boat for six months and we’ve made a lot of modifications during that time,” Cunningham said. “We’re pretty happy with our performance so far. We’re sailing fairly well and having a lot of fun.”
QUANTUM RACING, skippered by former J/24 and J/44 owner Doug DeVos, continues to set the pace in the 52-foot class and leads PowerPlay by 14 points. Terry Hutchinson, helmsman for the Swedish syndicate Artemis Racing that is Challenge of Record for the America’s Cup and a J/24 World Champion, has made strong tactical calls in leading Quantum to the top of the leader board.”
Yes, that’s 5 J24 Sailors in 3 paras about other classes.
So sail like a legend today – you might be one tomorrow !
Greg Pratt from Paparazzi Digital Photgraphy sent in this email regarding the pics he took of the Nationals in Adelaide 3 years ago. I have had a look at this page and it looks great with some awesome pics, so have a look, especially if you sailed the regatta.
From Greg Pratt
“I photographed the Nationals in Adelaide . I’m trying a new platform that will allow the purchase and download of digital files. Please note : ONLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE – NO PRINTS.
I have put up a few albums and will put more up over the following week. Whereas you could only order prints previously thru the www.paparazzi.com.au website I have had many emails asking to purchase the digital file so as people can either make screen savers or print as they see fit.”
You could almost touch the Js from the yacht club balcony
Whilst the Saturday keel boat fraternity wandered back to their pens and the bar after a long day around the sticks the entertainment out front of the club was just beginning.
The critics in the bar were oooing and arrrring as the fleet of 8 J24s performed for them. Some with binos and most pausing their drinks as the J24s sailed a four race set right in front of their eyes. With the start line not much more than 100m off the edge of the bar and a brisk southerly blowing in the crowd sat on the edge of their chairs as the gladiators performed.
Saturday afternoon turned on some of the best weather we’ve seen this summer and the J’s turned on the action for the first ever J/24 Saturday twilight. Racing was delayed slightly while we waited for the boats racing in the Club Marine series to get back to the club, but once they were all up in the bar they were treated to some seriously close racing in top end genoa and jib conditions.
Race Officer Glenn Taylor set a short course of windward leeward races inside number 4 mark only metres from the shore!! The brisk southerly ensured plenty action with commentary from Luke Matthews giving a blow by blow description keeping all in the bar and deck area patrons enthralled.
The rolling four race format was fast and furious with any mistakes made costing race places in a blink.
With a fleet of eight boats, racing was always going to be tight and after the first two races, the lead was tied with Hugo Ottaway on Bruschetta VI and Kirsty Harris on Hyperactive both scoring a first and a second in both races. Hugo, finding his groove stepped clear in the third race, going a point clear of the girls on Hyperactive. For the last race Hyperactive needed to not only beat Hugo, but put a boat between them, so it was always going to be tough. Cat and mouse in the last start saw both boats start at the back of the pack after an OCS call. However, Hugo ended up getting the upper hand, leaving Kirsty in his wake.
Third in the first two races was the ever present Brendan Lee in ‘By the Lee’ who was always nipping on the leaders heels. This all being said, one of the most exciting moments went to the thrilling victory in the last race by Steve Aulich holding out a fast finishing Hugo to snatch his first race win in J’s.
The competitors loved it, needless to say the spectators did too. The first of hopefully many such events highlighting the fun a “J” has to offer.
The fleet is now looking forward to the next installment on 4th February, so make sure you are there with your big eyes and a calming drink!
Join in the only regatta in the world in which the crew can win a car each!
The Manly Mini Festival of Sailing will be held over two days on January 21st and 22nd 2012 at Manly Yacht Club, Sydney and there are no less than six, yes six, mini cars up for grabs.
The mini regatta is open to all mono hull yachts whose length overall is greater than 6m and less than 11m, so join the Manly Mini Festival of Sailing and prove for once and for all, that size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it over a series of 6 windward leeward type races in northern Sydney Harbour, that counts.
It’s from such humble beginnings that many of the worlds’ greatest regatta’s were born.
Too long the rock stars and their 100m yachts have been hogging the airwaves. Too many owners have driven away in the car that the crew won. If you have a small yacht then sail up and be counted amongst the greats of this inaugural festival where each member of the crew can walk away with a car prize.
As well as the cars, there is an overall prize of 2 Nights at Pittwater YHA up for grabs along with the coveted Horses Ass Trophy and a variety of crew prizes such as the hotly contested Teabag award for the best foredecky. But best of all is the opportunity to sail into the history books as one of the founding entrants of the Manly Mini Festival of Sailing.
Notice of Race can be found at http://www.myc.org.au/racing/mini/mr.shtml. A barbecue will be held after racing on Saturday at Manly Yacht Club and a prize presentation after racing on Sunday. For queries or further information contact the race director Chris Stockdale on info@manlysailing.com.au
In view of Hugo’s MOB retrieval event last Saturday Peter Stevens has shown us what might be the perfect simple device which Doug McGain developed for Code Violation before Pete bought it. This device consists of a length of rope run though the middle of a pool ‘noodle’ with a clip on the end, this can then be connected to either a sheet for easy pulling or a haliyard for lifting. I think this would be suitable for anyone that is conscious and able to put it over their heads and under their arms. It would also be relatively easy to throw towards someone in the water. The cost of such a device would be no more than $20 bucks. If owners wish to purchase a fully spliced unit, Pete will work out a price for all J24 owners. Weight of this device is less than 1kg.
The 2011 Lipton Cup was sailed in true Port Philip conditions, from 10 knot North Easterly, through to 30 knot South Westerly on Saturday. Mix this with blinding rain that persisted all day, and you have conditions that test the best of us. Fortunately the weather improved on the Sunday however most of the fleet stayed on shore, as the previous day was enough.
Simon Grain and Lisa Simonov won the regatta with 4 straight wins, their boat Make My Jay, was quick, well sailed and when required picked shifts that pulled them up through the fleet to win yet another race.
There was another event that took place that day that made me feel 1, glad that our crew competed (as we only decided to sail the previous day) and 2, that I sailed such a great boat as a J24.
In the third race the wind had turned to the South west and kicked in at recorded 30 knots. After a screaming downwind run with the spinnakers Simon and I rounded the bottom mark together, back on the wind, we sailed lower and both boats were about ten boat lengths apart on port tack with Simon slightly astern and to windward.
My crew alerted me that there was a boat from another division that was on starboard and hardly moving, we bore away and as we passed astern we could see that the boat was a mess with her headsail half furled and two crew occupied with something going on in the open cockpit. The boat’s crew shouted “we have a man overboard”, which sent a shock right through the whole of our crew, we replied “where”, one pointed directly down wind. Through the blinding rain we could just see a tiny black shape about 200 meters away.
Jack on the bow tripped the jib, and kept his eyes firmly on the MOB, whilst Matt eased the vang and Michael readied the life ring, the MOB was waving his arm and as we approached we assured him and asked him to keep calm.
Our first pass was too quick and we felt that the wind was too strong to throw the life ring as it would never have made it. Our second pass, much slower allowed the MOB to swim to the windward side of the J where it took all three of my crew to get him on board.
Dominic was ash white, shaking and exhausted, we put him down in the cabin where Jack kept a eye on him. It was only then that I looked around to see that through the rain the only other boat I could see was the stricken yacht, no one else was in sight.
The stricken yacht had managed to bare away and was able to run down wind some distance away, we both headed to the nearest harbour at RYCV.
Dominic advised us that there was a injured crew on the other yacht and that the events that caused his injury had caused his fall from the boat.
I estimate that Dominic would have been in the water for a minimum of ten to fifteen minutes, we were concerned that he might be effected by shock so I got Jack to keep eye on his condition all the whole way home.
J24’s are great to sail in tight windy conditions, their low free board made getting Dominic on board much easier, and the speed in which we could do a second pass, took some of the panic out of the situation. Had we been in a much bigger boat, this MOB rescue would have been much harder and taken a lot longer, of that I am sure.
When we entered to harbour, the stricken yacht managed to get assistance from a rescue boat who rushed the injured crew to a waiting ambulance.
After we had docked we were met by the crew of the other yacht who thanked us and advised us that they could never have been able to pick up Dominic.
Lessons learnt were, 1: the stricken yacht should have sent off a flare. 2: radioed for assistanc.e 3: waved their arms to alert us or others. However, there were only two of them and one was preoccupied looking after the third injured crew. Makes sailing a four man keelboat hard in 30 knots single handed.
On reflection, my crew and I agreed that we had all had a rewarding and special day, as no one else knew Dominic was out there until we reported what had happened when we came ashore. We later learnt that the race was shortened due to the wind strength and reduced vision of 100 meters.
Special thanks to Jack Crawford, Matt Weston and Michael Lewenhagen, crew of Bruschetta VI.
Hugo.N.Ottaway.
Note from Simon Grain. Hugo’s actions quite probably saved Dominic’s life on Saturday. The visibility was terrible with heavy driving rain, rising seas and lots of spray making looking to windward almost impossible and painful. This might have meant that no other boat would have seen him in the water. This is a very sobering thought, as losing a crew member overboard can happen in the blink of an eye to any of us on the water in these conditions. Make sure you practice your man overboard retrieval in all kinds of weather. Hugo was awarded redress and scored an equal first place in this race and came second overall in the Lipton Cup.
