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• 2011 Worlds
• INTERVIEW: Flip Wehrheim, 2011 East Coasts
• 2011 East Coast Championship
• 2011 Downeast Regatta
• 2011 District 10 Championship
• 2011 Europeans
• 2011 North Americans, Interview with winner

  J24 RACING CLINICS "I can not tell you enough how valuable the information was that we got from the clinic. Charlie Enright was on target with the detail he provided for the J/24 group. Thank you for bringing them to Lake George." Request a North Racing Clinic for your fleet

• 2011 Florida State Champs
• 2011 Great Vallejo Race
• 2011 Nationals
• INTERVIEW: NOOD St Pete Winners Todd Fedyszyn and Genoa Griffin
• The Road to the J24 Worlds - Seminars
• 2011 Midwinters Clinic - You are Invited!
• 2010 Fleet 50 Special Recognition Awards
• The Road to the 2012 J/24 Worlds
• North Sails Launches 3DL Genoa for the J24 Class
• 2010 Changing of Colors Regatta
• 2010 Nationals
• 2010 North Americans
• INTERVIEW: Scott Snyder, Winner 2010 Bermuda Race Week
• 2010 J-Daze Regatta
• 2010 Copa de Mexico Regatta
• 2010 Midwinters
• 2009 East Coast Championship
• 2009 Nationals
• Heavy Air J24 Sailing Tips
• 2009 Florida State Championship
• INTERVIEW: Tony Parker, 2009 Worlds
• 2009 Worlds
• INTERVIEW: John Poulson, 2009 St. Pete NOOD
• INTERVIEW: Jorge Murrieta, 2009 NA Champion
• 2009 NOOD St. Pete
• 2009 North Americans

See also: 2008 Reports | 2007 Reports | 2006 Reports |2005 Reports | 2004 Reports | 2003 Reports | 2002/2001

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North Sails Dominates the 2011 J24 Worlds in Argentina
1,2,3,4,5,6*,7,9,10 powered by North!

Lessons Learned sailing a high profile regatta far away: By Mike Ingham Sailing an event far from home takes serious organization.  Here are some of the things we did to prepare: Boat:  We could not afford to ship our boat, so we made sure we knew as much about our charter as possible.  We got photos and found someone local we trusted to give you the honest inside scoop. Boat Prep: We spent 4 full days preparing our charter boat before we even thought about hitting the water.  We brought EVERYTHING we thought we might need to prepare the boat.  We brought keel templates, sanders, drills, voltage converters….There is no bigger waste of time than running around trying to find something in a foreign land. Rigging: We brought spare everything; all lines, winch handles, blocks. You name it, we brought it. Local knowledge: Long before we left home, we found people that had sailed in the Rio De Plate and picked their brains.  Once there we befriended locals who filled in some more detail. Training: We found training partners and went sailing for 6 days before heading to measurement and taking a day off. Logistics: We had a nice house, a car and all the logistics sorted out long before we arrived. There were a few hiccups along the way, but we have found that the less we have to figure out when there the more successful we are.

We are just back from Buenos Aires, Argentina and The 2011 J/24 Worlds-what a great event they put on down there at Yacht Club Argentina! It was like the movie “Ground Hog Day”, meaning each day seem to be exactly the same weather wise… wake up to a warming sun with some early but dying breeze. The real wind comes in around 1pm from the southeast, shifting from the northeast to east then settling into the se-gradient and building. So, the best sailing was in the late afternoon.

We would not leave the dock until 12:30 for a 2:00 start. Right on the nose the signals would go off only to be a general recall with the second start going into a black flag start (it was like this every day and every race). We would have two races each day with the second races seeing breezes in the mid to high teens with short and steep chop. We get back to the YCA around seven, debrief for a bit then venture off to our apartment to make dinner or possibly go out for their famous meats, eating dinner late (for us anyway) at 10-10-30pm. Into bed and repeat the next day.

The YCA, volunteers and class measurers were very organized: scheduling each boat through the two day process of getting fully measured: sails were done at the main club with three-five volunteers on hand all the time helping to streamline sixty boats’ inventories getting checked in. We enjoy a very strong market share in South America, so there were tons of North Sails to be measured. A HUGE THANKS goes out to our local North Sails Team in Buenos Aires for helping to make this process go smoothly for us and all our customers-everyone was talking about it!

The boats were to be measured down at the dinghy club on the other side of the basin, large John Deer Tractors would come get us right on time, they never seem to be behind and all went quite smoothly. The typical adjustments came into play: moving black bands, add a touch of weight to the tiller and sand this and that. We had a brand new ARG built J/24, they pretty much weigh spot on, have really stiff decks with remarkable craftsmanship (finishing, etc…)-the boats did not need much to complete the process to compete in The Worlds-they do a wonderful job building down there.

The boat would go back to its’ designated location and the inspectors would come by to check The J, sheer line and all our equipment/rigging and such. Check all the papers in and we were complete with a couple of days to practice, which we had already gone out before measuring as well.

Like I mentioned about the racing: every first start was a general recall followed by a black flag start-every time! The top four teams at the end all had something in common: they did not have letters in their scores-just consistent top 12 finishes. Not to mention they were fast around other boats as well… Between the black flags, scoring penalties and DSQ’s many teams found themselves on the outside looking into the top ten group-there were a ton of teams with two or more letter scores and with one throw out you know how this goes… usually not well.

The regatta came down to Team Luca (Alejo Rigoni), Guerrero (Luis Olcese), Reloaded (Mike Ingham), Mendieta (Francisco Van Avermaete) and Audi (Francisco Campero). All the teams mentioned sailed with complete North Sails Inventories. Aramid sails are the norm now at big events, it is funny because we just sailed The ECC’s here in States a couple of weeks before where our 3DL Genoas dominated, and these sails were 3rd and 4th here at Worlds. The sails crush it in any type of breeze with moderate chop. The top guys in Argentina still prefer our paneled twaron genoas, believing that they get just a touch more “punch” in the short/steep chop in Buenos Aires. The fleet there is split between our Paneld and 3DL Products right now.

Team Luca, who won this The 2011 Worlds, uses our Newport Series Upwind (with paneled Twaron genoa) and our San Diego FR-2 Spinnaker. They love the feel of this combination in breeze, moving their genoa lead forward and sheet eased to 6-12” to power through the conditions there. This combined with a high traveler, lots of vang and sheet playing really gets them moving upwind. We learned downwind that you can put the pole on the upper ring with the outboard end lower than normal and a hard foreguy really helping to stabilize the luff of the spinnaker for the wave state seen in BA.

In the end the teams that got off the line and were patient enough in making their first couple of moves seem to rise to the top. Mike Ingham is a great example, starting off the regatta with high scores seem to settle in nicely climbing through the leader board every day by staying patient and clean, finding himself in the top seven for the last two-thirds of the event. Mike was the top USA Team finishing third overall, he uses our Newport Series Sails (3DL Genoa) and SD FR-2 Spinnaker. You can almost “Choose Your Weapon” from North Sails as second place, Luis Olcese from Peru, sails with our San Diego Upwind Series Sails (SD Paneled Genoa) and our SD FR-2 Spinnaker. All of our products ended up littering the leader board once again showing nice versatility!

Top 10: 1 5447 ALEJO RIGONI LUCA ARG 50 -17 1 11 13 1 6 8 6 4 2 4618 LUIS OLCESE GUERRERO PER 63 6 13 1 15 2 11 4 11 -16 3 5448 MIKE INGHAM RELOADED USA 66 19 6 -25 2 10 17 5 4 3 4 5461 FRANCISCO VAN AVERMAETE MENDIETA ARG 71 1 10 12 10 4 -23 23 10 1 5 5463 FRANCISCO CAMPERO AUDI ARG 71 2 17 (59\BFD) 3 3 12 15 5 14 6 5460 MIGUEL SAUBIDET* FEFE ARG 71 12 3 7 16 17 3 -28 2 11 7 5454 MATIAS PEREIRA CARRERA DOUBLE TAKE ARG 85 22 2 17 34\SCP (59\BFD) 2 1 1 6 8   5235 TIMOTHY HEALY 11TH HOUR RACING USA 96 3 5 4 1 (59\BFD) 1 59\DSQ 8 15 9 5044 PEDRO GARRA EXTASIS URU 100 15 7 (48\SCP) 24 11 5 14 7 17 10 5464 MATIAS SEGUEL VOLVO CHI 121 16 12 3 7 (59\BFD) 7 20 20 36 For full results go to: http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/Popup.aspx?Id=1290 * patial North inventory.

A BIG CONGRATS to Team Luca for their win overall also to The YCA for hosting a superb 2011 World Championships!

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact the North Sails J/24 Experts!
To order the fastest J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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At early ages what brought you to sailing? Did your parents also sailed? Did you ever race with one of your parents?

Flip - I guess you can say I started sailing when I was 3 years old on Seneca Lake with my father on our Hobie 18.  Though I did not have much tactical input or a clue what was going on I still remember flying a hull and what a great experience it was.  My father at the time was racing on a Red Wing 30 at the Rochester Yacht Club, but as he was finishing his racing career I was just starting mine. I grew up at RYC, if I was not racing 420's, lasers, etc... I was cruising with my family.  The Rochester Yacht Club had and has an excellent junior program and I have to credit them for the skill set I have now.

 You have been successfully racing in several different one design classes. What are the key factors of your success and how do you adapt from boat to boat.

Flip - You have been successfully racing in several different one design classes. What are the key factors of your success and how do you adapt from boat to boat.Yeah racing any sailboat at the highest level is what I am interested in.  Currently I am involved in the Etchells, J24, Melges 24, Melges 32 classes along with the Benetau 40.7 fleet at RYC, and flirting with the Moth's a little.  So I sail around 150 days a year, and its tough to hop from boat to boat but there is a couple of key things I do to adapt.  My IPhone is probably the number one tool and I should use it more than I already do.  When at a regatta I try to take as many photos of the boat as possible. This way I always know the rigging of the boat.  There has been many a time where I would rig something wrong so the camera is huge.  When we have a coaching brief in the morning it try to always record it with the voice recorder app.  The key here is labeling your recording correctly, what event, class, conditions, date I always go back and listen to what we were doing. The more detailed the better! So the IPhone allows me to create a data base I can research at any time. Also when I am on the way to a regatta and I am sailing a different boat I try to visualize moments from the last regatta I did in that particular boat.  This helps muscle memory to replicate the feeling.

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With 59 boats registered this year’s J/24 East Coasts was the biggest J/24 event in North America this year. Sailed over the last weekend of October,  this three day event brings together J/24 sailors from all over the Eastern seaboard and Midwest for one last hurrah before winter sets in. Annapolis is centrally located and offers (generally) good wind, great race committee work and plenty of local color. Annapolis is a real sailor’s town with plenty of after sailing activity to keep everyone happy.

Mark Hillman and his team outdid themselves this year in the promotion and hospitality department.  Run from Severn Sailing Association, the event was superbly managed.

Experienced East Coast participants know that Annapolis in October can mean quite variable conditions and that is part of the attraction, to test yourself and your crew through the range. With a “Noreaster” on tap to roll through on Saturday the fleet was excepting to have their hands full on Saturday.  When all the other events in town (J/22, J/80, J/105 East Coasts plus others) cancelled sailing on Friday night for Saturday most of the fleet went to bed with a knot in their stomach knowing that Saturday might be a day talked about all winter. Turned out that sailing was not to be on Saturday with gusts to thirty knots mid-Bay and a driving rain, racing was called at 9:30 and the fleet departed to explore Annapolis, the Naval Academy and the local taverns. Some folks even made it to the US Sailing Annual Meeting that was in town. Those that didn’t were treated to a show as regatta organizer Hillman and Sumio Shimoyama (all the way from Japan with a brand new boat) matched raced in 25 knot puffs right off the SSA bulkhead. Driving home that night there was a bit of snow in the air!

The sailing on Friday and Sunday should have been called the “Flip Wehrheim Show”.  Save a last race 11th, Flip (actual name Phillip) started strong with an impressive 2,2,1,3 scoreline in the light to moderate air the event was sailed in. His worst race was a 11th in the last race that still left him with a 10 point lead in the final scores. Flip’s crew of bowman, George Peet, cockpit, Willem Van Waay, tactician and Max Skellys sailed consistently kept their noses clean and had speed to burn. They were powered by all North Sails including the new Newport 3DL genoa.

North Sails dominated the top ten places in the event. In addition to regatta winner Wehrheim, the boats in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10 places all carried full North inventories and all had the new 3DL genoa.  As one sailor in the fleet told me who was using a 3DL genoa “it’s just better”.  We are finding the sail very easy to set up and trim, long lasting and fast. We think the sail has a special advantage in a breeze. However, conditions at the East Coasts this year for racing were generally 7 knots and under. Given how many 3DL genoas there were in the top ten it’s pretty fast in the light too!

J/24 Super Clinic race, commented by North Sails expert Chris Snow

The day before the regatta started our group from North One Design ran what we billed as a SuperClinic to help anyone that wanted to participate get better and learn more about sailing the boat. We started on land with a presentation about setting up the boat and trimming the sails. Later in the day we moved on the water and ran some practice starts and short races. We had about 15 boats on the water and over 30 people participating on land.

After the clinic Colin Gowland was nice enough to send this note:

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to participate by taking Thursday off of work and being there. Look for more of these pre-event clinics in the coming season from us. Also thanks to my team mates at North, Will Welles, Chuck Allen, Andrew Kerr and Mike Ingham for doing such a great job. Thanks also to Eastport Yacht Club and Allan Terhune for providing and arranging the space.

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact the North Sails J/24 Experts!
To order the fastest J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

North Sails San Diego 3DL genoa powered the 2011 J/24 North American champions Travis Odenbach, skipper,
Chris Morgan, cockpit, Rossi Milev, tactics, Patrick Oconnor on bow and Ben McAndrews at mast.

Interview by Will Welles

Tells us a little bit about how you got into sailing the J24?

Travis: Well I started working for Waterline Systems two years ago or so, and after about a year I decided with the Worlds coming to Rochester I would try to learn how to sail the j24. My job gave me a huge opportunity to get into the j24 and ever since then I have enjoyed the boat more and more.

What is your sailing background, you also sail in the J22 class right?

Travis: I grew up sailing on Lake Ontario in Rochester New York. I learned to sail on big boats with my family. It wasn't until about five years ago that I decided to get into one design and smaller boats. I can honestly say I knew nothing about sailing until I stepped in to one design. It was a big learning curve. My first boat was the j22 and I have been sailing in that class for four years.

You live in Newport Rhode Island these days and you sail in Fleet 50, how do you like the area?

Travis: I recently moved to Newport about 6 months ago. Will Welles introduced me to fleet 50 and I have to say it is the most fun I have had on a boat in a long time. I look forward to sailing Thursday nights in Newport every week.

It was quite a long drive to Nova Scotia for the NAs, any memorable experiences from the trip that you care to share? 

Travis: Yes it was a long trip to Nova Scotia. We started at four in the morning from Newport. I am pretty sure there is only one memorable experience and that is the first time we fueled up. I was a bit tired still and yes it was 4 in the morning…..I put the gas pump in the car got back in the car and drove away ripping the hose off the gas tank. That was the start to our long trip to Halifax!

Who was your crew at the North Americans this year and what is their background?

Travis: My crew for the North Americans was Rossi Milev who is from Toronto, he called Tactics, Chris Morgan from Vermont was trimming, Pat O'connor  did bow and he is from Buffalo, NY now living in Newport and last but not least Ben McAndrews who is from Lake George and is also living in Newport now.  Everyone did there job wonderfully and without hesitation. It was a pleasure to be on the boat with them.

Tell us about the boat you sail and how you have it rigged and set up?

Travis: The boat that I sailed is a US Watercraft boat, hull number 5256. I have been sailing this boat for a year now and love it.   Very stiff and well built.  The boat is rigged to the standard deck layout. The mast tuning was very easy because we didn't stray far from the north tuning guide. That makes it super easy as long as you know the turns up and down on the shrouds.

Funny question coming from me but I have to ask!   Why did you choose North Sails for your J24 program?

Travis: My family has been a North supporter for years and years, probably over 30!  I have North Sails for the J22 and figured I should probably stay with North for the J24 because they have worked so well on the 22.  It has been very easy to become friends with the guys from North, always helping me learn the boat.

It looks like you got up to speed in the J24 class quite quickly, what were the key steps you took?

Travis: I sailed with Will Welles this year on Thursday nights and I have to say I think it helped!  Besides sailing in fleet 50 I did nothing but just getting time in the boat. I sailed with a bunch of great 24 sailors and that always helps. But it was repetition that ultimately made me understand the boat. 

What are your J24 regatta plans for the next year?  You are gearing up for the Worlds in Rochester right?

Travis: I plan to do the winter regattas and some of the summer regattas. I am really going to focus on the J24 after J22 worlds in October. Rochester is my home town and it would be nice to do well there.

Any tips you can pass along to our readers that they can take to their own sailing programs?  

Travis: One thing that I can say is it is all about attitude. Having fun is what I do best and I try to bring that to sailing. You have to want to practice if you are going to succeed. Always be willing to learn because the day you think you have learned it all is the day that you start to lose.  

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact the North Sails J/24 Experts!
To order the fastest J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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2011 J24 GREAT VALLEJO RACE
1,2,3 Powered by North Sails!

Report by Andrew Kerr

Top 3 J24's in the Great Vallejo Race in San Francisco - all with full sets of North sails! 1. Michael Whitfield 2. Darren Cumming 3. Don Taylor Photo: Winning team - Michael Whitfield's TMC Racing . TMC racing actually won the race overall to Vallejo in the 275 boat fleet and also on the race back on cumulative points for the weekend! Congratulations Mike and team! For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact the North Sails J/24 Experts! To order the fastest J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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Todd, with wife Genoa Griffin, just won overall honors at the 2011 St. Pete NOOD, besting 115 boats and earning themselves a spot to Caribbean this fall! I was down in St. Pete just a few weeks later at the Thistle Midwinters and I caught up with Todd and Genoa. 

“I like the light stuff” says Todd.  And goes on to say that he finds the upper end of the Genny the trickiest.  “15 to 20 Kts with the Genny is the hardest, we don’t sail together a lot and we need to coordinate with the trimmer”. And light it was for all four of the races.  Todd and Genoa got their J24 “Spoony Tactics” as a wedding present from Genoa’s father 5 years ago.  They race the summer Thursday night series out of Davis Island, but both spend their days as coaches out of the St. Pete Sailing center.

You were pretty quick in those light winds, what do you attribute it to?
Todd: We have done a decent amount of racing.  We stepped up our program and started sailing locally 2 times a week, it made a big difference.
Genoa: We don’t do a ton of regattas because we are both coaches, but when we do, we sail with the same core team of Doug Weakley and Eric Bardes.  That really helps too.

What sails were you using?
Todd: I like the North Newport main, and was using the Newport Twaron (Kevlar) Genoa.  Though I need a new spinnaker!

I think you used to use the Pentex Genny, what do you think about the Twaron Genny compared to the Pentex?
Todd:  I think the Pentex is more stretchy and when we go through the chop in St. Pete, it bounces around more than the Kevlar.  I think it holds it’s shape through acceleration in light air chop.

What about the 3DL?
Todd: It looks great, I am going to get the 3DL Genny next.

Anything else that made you go fast?
Todd: We sailed really flat. This worked great until it got really light.

You started out with a bullet, did that set the stage for the rest of the regatta?
Genoa: Winning the first race gave us confidence.  We won against good guys.
Todd: We felt fast with our sails and our setup, and the boat felt good.  Winning that first race gained us the confidence to start aggressively.

Thank you and congratulations!

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!
To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

Contact Will Welles for complete details.

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

Will Welles and team Fawn Liebowitz, champions!

Just getting back into the swing of things here at my desk after the US Nationals last week which were sailed in Marblehead, MA.  The Corinthian Yacht Club hosted the event along with my dear old friends that make up fleet 28 and my old pal Carter White who owns and runs Regatta Promotions. Matt Herbster and Forbes Barber really put together a great team of volunteers.  They really did a stellar job at every aspect of the event both on the water and off the water.  The Race committee leads by Ken Adam did a wonderful job and were always on top of their game in the Marblehead conditions.  They even had old J24 bow guy legion Tom Tompkins in the pin boat calling the line!

Wednesday evening teams started to descend on the Marblehead Neck to rig, prepare and launch their boats.  The boats were split between the CYC and the Eastern Yacht Club.  Once boats were launched from their designated spots they were given moorings to live on overnight.  The launch teams from both CYC and EYC worked overtime in the moorings and evenings to get all the J24 teams out to and back from their boats.  We were fortunate to have a local friend by the name of Henry Brauer who not only housed our team of 5 for the weekend (thanks Callie!) and loaned us his 10 ft rib dingy to get back and forth to the boat.  I think the quote from the weekend came from Stu Challoner’s team after they saw us riding in one afternoon in our Carbon Henri Lloyd gear and they told us we looked like a low budget Navy Seal team in our Pretender boat….too funny!

Thursday our team on Fawn Liebowitz sailed from noon to 3:30.  We had scheduled with a few teams to sail some straight line sprints out off the neck.  We wanted to confirm our set up for the event, mast tune, mast butt placement etc…  At 3:30 North Sails One Design member Chuck Allen jumped into a powerboat loaned to us by local J24 sailor John Denman and threw out some marks to run a few starting drills for any J24 that was on the water and wanted to tune up their team’s boat handling.   At 5:30 we headed back to the dock to finish up on some “to do” items on the pre-regatta work list to insure we’d be ready to roll come Friday morning.

At 6:30 P.M. J24 teams loaded into a large room at the CYC to listen and take part in the off the water part of the North Sails One Design pre-regatta clinic which was lead by North U. guru Andrew Kerr who hails from Seattle.  Andrew is a longtime J24 sailor and champion. About 50 took advantage of the seminar and picked up some great tips.

Friday teams awoke to a nice 15 to 18 knot Northerly which meant it would be a fun morning and afternoon of top end genoa sailing!  There were nice waves on the course which really tested one’s driving technique on port tack especially.  You’d really need to drive the waves and lay on the genoa at the appropriate time.  We had two nice races in this breeze and by the third race the wind started to taper off.  We started out the day on our boat 2 steps (27/24) above “base” and used lots of backstay.  For the third and final race of the day we got back to Base (20/15) for the lighter breeze.

Saturday the breeze was still from the North but much lighter than Friday, about 8 to 10.  We left the mooring with the rig at base (which is usually our program) and never touched it.  We got three nice races in which brought the race count to 6 for the weekend which gave everyone in the fleet a chance to drop their worst finish.  The drop is always a funny thing…kind of a double edged sword….it seems when you need one there is nothing better….but when you don’t it makes it a touch tougher on you.   All in all it was tight at the top of the scoreboard.  This meant for many teams Sunday could be what we call a “moving day” which is exactly what some teams did. Carter White and Pete Levesque’s team are two boats that come to mind, wow they were fast!

Sunday brought us another beautiful day but much lighter breeze and from the South which is typical for this time of year in Marblehead.  It brought me back to the days I sailed in the Marblehead J24 fleet 28, many moons ago but very fun memories and it was really fun to catch up with old friends this past weekend.

Our team left the dock 3 points behind J24 legend Jens Hookenson and the rock star team on Salsa.  Our rig was at base and we never touched it.  The breeze was 5 to 7 tops and the current was ripping in a few places which made the down wind legs very tough.  The first race we rounded the top mark in second and then the breeze started to die, we rounded the bottom mark in 5th or 6th.  Got back up the second weather beat and rounded the mark 3rd.  The breeze really shut off on that run and we were worried if we’d even finish that race let alone get a 8th and final race.  A bit of breeze filled in and we were able to finish the race in second place behind Pete Levesque and team on Mookie.  Jens finished the race in 7th which put our teams tied with one more race scheduled.  Team Salsa wins the tie breaker with 3 firsts to our 2.  We had second locked up but needed the last race to win the regatta.  The breeze filled in and the RC got the last race off.  It was a five leg race which was what they liked to end the day with…apposed to the 4 leg. 

Our plan on Fawn Liebowitz was to just simply go out and beat them across the line on the last race and win the regatta.  We both started at the pin, there was a pile up down there…first one for the whole event.  We tacked and got out to the right and rounded the weather mark first.  Four legs to go!  We then just made sure to stay ahead of them the rest of the race which we were able to do, we finished the race third and won the 2010 J24 US Nationals.  It sure was a pleasure to sail with my team.  My old friend Chris Morgan who I’d sailed with over the years trimmed upwind and down and did a superb job, he is a mastermind at how to make a J24 go fast.  Chuck Allen really brought his “A” game to the tactician spot and always had us in the right spots.  Chuck has a really nice way about him as he is intense when he needs to be but keeps it light between races and off the water.    Patrick Wilson was the MVP of the group as he spent two days polishing the bottom of the boat and was our rig tune guru.  Andrew Kerr rounds out the team as our point guard on the bow. It was my first chance to sail with Andrew and what real a pleasure it was.  This J24 Nationals win made it his 7th one!

After looking through the scores it was really interesting for me to look at what the top J24s at the US Nationals had for sails.  The conditions really were a full range and all of the North Sails models seemed to really get you to the top.  It makes me think about what Chuck Allen says.  “Pick your weapon”. 

1) Newport mainsail, 3DL Genoa and FR2 spinnaker
2) Newport mainsail, DX-7T Twaron Genoa and Slantnose spinnaker
3) Newport Mainsail, DX-7 Pentex Genoa and FR2 Spinnaker
4) Newport Mainsail, DX-7TW Twaron Genoa and Slantnose Spinnaker

Regatta results | Regatta website

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3 Big Dogs top Fleet at 2010 J/24 North Americans in Seattle. 

Skippered by Pat Toole, who was assisted by a veteran team of close friends (Dale Turley, George Witter, Les Wulf and Chris Stanizowski) 3 Big Dogs representing Santa Barbara Yacht Club came home North American Champions in the waters of Puget Sound yesterday. Sailing agianst a fleet of 35 boats in variable conditions Pat and team sailed a super consistent series. Arfter discarding a 15th the crew counted all their races in the top 5 including three first places. 10 races were sailed overall.

North Sails were dominant at the event with places 1 though 7 sporting North One Design sails. In all 9 of the top ten flew North Sails. Almost all the top team had a new North Twaron genoa (either a Newport or San Diego design).

Rounding out the top three were Keith Whittemore on Tundra Rose and Scott Milne on Tremendous Slouch. All three of the top teams are veterans of the J/24 circuit in the US. Whittemore is off later this week to compete in the Italian Nationals. Milne's team scored an impressive three first places in a row on the second day.

1) Pat Toole---Three Big Dogs

2) Keith Whittemore--Tundra Rose

3) Scott Milne---Tremendous Slouch

4) Fernando Gonzalez---J-Netically Altered

5) Mike Ingham---Brain Cramp

6) Eric Sanderson---Suspence

7) Pete Sauer---Bound 4 Glory

8) Hideyuki Miyagawa---Siesta

9) Self Abuse---Harry Dursch

10) Micheal Whitfield---TMC Racing

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Congrats on your win at Bermuda Race Week, you guys dominated.  Tell us about your team that traveled there with you.

Scott Snyder, Captain/Trimmer: Being invited to Bermuda International Invitational Race Week is a tremendous honor as the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club truly knows how to organize a world class international event.  What I’ve learned from previous visits as both crew and captain is that the week-long regatta guarantees to dish up a wide range of conditions, competition and unfamiliar water that will challenge the metal of even the most seasoned team.  With that in mind, we approached this year’s invitation by assembling a team that would first be “fun” to sail with, and second, included crew with great versatility and experience.  I wanted to put together a team that was unselfish on the water, and fun off the water.

Having discussed this regatta for some time with my good friend and world-class sailing Photographer, Tim Wilkes of Rochester, NY, together we put a team together that consisted of Brian Simkins of Long Island, NY, Michael Dannecker of Denver, CO and Greg Schertz of Denver, CO.  Interestingly enough, all five team members are great drivers in their own right.

Despite our attempts to get a practice regatta in a month prior to the regatta, knee surgery for Brian Simkins kept him on crutches until just a week before the regatta – also cementing his role as driver for the week as we had originally planned to co-helm the regatta – a decision that paid off immediately as everyone on the crew really focused on their role for the week.  Even our practice day before the regatta was blown out due to winds in excess of 40 knots.  We dedicated a few hours the evening before the regatta to verbally review roles and team work process verbally before heading out to the course on the first day of the regatta without ever taking a single tack together as a team.

I’ve never been a part of such an unselfish team before.  The entire week was full of great communication, clear lines of decision-making, proactive crew work, and great fun.  As our victory was such a great team effort, we’ve decided to participate in this interview as a team as well.

The conditions got gnarly enlighten the readers on what went down in Bermuda.

Tim Wilkes, Tactician: Aside from the first day, races were held in 22 to 40 knots of breeze. Not that we've never sailed J24's in those conditions, but it certainly isn't the norm. The game changes quite a bit when boats are that overpowered. Solid crew work is essential to keeping the driver and tactician on their game plan. And that's exactly what we had. Every puff, every wave ... was dealt with. We kept our competition where we wanted them for the most part and were able to go about our tactical plan. Now that's not to say we never had our moments of chaos and panic! A dropped spinnaker guy in a gust upwards of 40 knots almost cost us a well fought lead barely 3 boat lengths from the finish.

Amazingly, everyone in the fleet was up to the big breeze challenge. Not a single boat failed to attempt flying their spinnakers (unless of course they were already shredded). And the top five were on their game in every race. This made for some fantastic and strenuous racing since we had no opportunity to relax and enjoy a comfortable lead. What a great fleet to sail with.

Tell us about your sailing background and what led to you sailing The J/24.

CI got into J24’s about 18 years ago after moving to Colorado from Chicago.  Having done some recreational sailing to that point, the Dillon Yacht Club’s J24 fleet was 25+ boats strong at that point and it was difficult to “not” want to get involved.  I received some great coaching and assistance from a variety of local sailors with international experience and bought hull 1574 with two close friends.  After a few years of progressively better results, I bought hull 5253 “Severance Check” and began several years of aggressive travel to both coasts as well as the Texas Circuit to broaden my experience across vastly different sailing conditions.  An important assist throughout the years of J24 sailing has been the assistance and support that I’ve always received from the North Sails team, especially Chuck Allen, who continues to serve as both a great inspiration and support of our program. 

You guys travel to events often, which is awesome, what do have planned for the next year on the circuit?

Scott Snyder, Captain/Trimmer: Our Colorado teams have great competition right here in the square state, but our game only improves when we travel…that’s just part of sailing in Colorado.  Although this team is half Colorado, and half New York-based, we assembled this team specifically with Bermuda in mind but with hopes of continuing our success after.  Each of the crew has their own programs to manage this Summer and Fall, but we looking to identify some marquee events to get the team back together again a few more times this year if possible.

So this team has never sailed together before?  What do you attribute your instant success to?

From Greg Schertz, Foredeck: Even though each of us does a lot of skippering, we were all fine with taking on a specific responsibility and sticking to it.  Before we sailed, we discussed the role for each person so we didn’t have 5 “skippers” on the boat.  We all made mistakes during the regatta but we were confident with each others’ capabilities and never felt the need to get involved with someone else’s business.  During the racing, it was easy to focus on our roles because we never had an issue with boat speed.  With sails that are easy to trim to the “sweet spot” we never had those discussions we’ve all heard before, like “why can’t we point” or “why are they faster than us.”  Without having those worries we could focus on the task at hand of figuring out the wind and the chess game with the other boats

You have been sailing with North Sails for quite some time, what models do you prefer and what keeps you sailing with The Blue Dots?

From Michael Dannecker, Mast: I guess looking back; I’ve never sailed with anything but North on my two J24's or the Etchells.  The first thing I do whenever I’ve acquired any new boat is to purge the old sails and a clear choice to go with North for our set-up.  I find immediate value and versatility with my North Sails.  From my first phone call to Chad Hough at North, a fellow Michigan guy and friend, he set me up with a full San Diego quiver of sails and I have stayed with that cut for the past five years.  I find the variable conditions here in Colorado to be a good fit for the San Diego sails, especially with the flat water and shifty breeze.  Seeing that chop is rarely a concern as the San Diego cut seems to really perform well for us especially down-wind when we see many folks in the fleet hoisting competitor kites.  Then again, Colorado sailing quickly shows you that anything can happen here and you better be on your toes - but our speed always seems to be there right when we need it.  Our team here really couldn't be happier with the performance, value, and predictability that our North sails continue to provide us year after year!

Give us some feedback about how you and your team tune your J/24, anything different then our North Sails Tuning Guides?

Scott Snyder, Captain/Trimmer: As we raced this regatta on a great local boat provided by Bermuda J24 fleet member, Christopher Regan, we didn’t have an previous experience with the boat to understand what modifications, if any, would need to be adjusted from the North tuning guide.  The boat sailed pure, and the standard settings for our North Newport Cut sails could not have been better.  We didn’t stray from the North tuning guide at all.

You have now sailed with our Twaron Genoa-what do you and your trimmer notice in the set up, etc… as compared to The Pentex Sails you have used for so long?

From Brian Simkins, Helm: The sail sets up great and was very easy to trim.  The beauty of the new Twaron sail is its ability to hold its shape through a wider wind range.  You can almost set it and forget it.  The shape is absolutely perfect and allows you to concentrate on driving and not worrying about have to make as many fine adjustments.  The shape holding ability is almost to a fault, the sail does not de-power naturally at the high wind ranges so you do need to work with your trimmer to ease and trim the sail through the puffs.  

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Lessons learned from J-Daze:

How to Use the Kevlar Genoa:

We thought we were very fast sporting the new Kevlar Genoa and it looked nice! It is very smooth and held it shape well in the breeze.
We have a lot of miles on the Pentex Genoa, and we learned that there are some subtle yet important trim differences:

• Leads: We set them so that when the Genoa is over-trimmed, it touches the shroud base and the spreader at the same time. This is no different than the Pentex. But when it gets windy or choppy we tend to move it one hole back because the material is lower stretch and moving the lead back keeps the leach from getting over tight.

• Trim: Having the Genoa lower stretch is an excellent feature, creating some interesting trim characteristics. In medium wind, especially if it is puffy, we are LESS dynamic with trim because the cloth does not stretch open the leach like the Pentex. Therefore, smaller movements of sheet are required to stay at top speed. In heavy wind it is just the opposite. At the front edge of each puff we ease more because the stiffer Kevlar tends to be less self adjusting. Finally, we found that we don't have to crank the halyard as hard on the Genoa in a breeze because the draft does not "stretch" back as soon as the Pentex.

So to get the most out our new Kevlar Genoa we make subtler adjustments in the sheet until it gets windy, but once it is windy the trimmer needs to stay sharp!

Mike Ingham
USA5448, Brain Cramp

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Have you ever been to a regatta you hoped would never end? I think we have all been to plenty where we couldn’t wait for it to be over but not too many that we hoped could keep going on forever.

Well there is a new event in Mexico that will keep likely keep you coming back for more day after day no matter what your position in the event. Let me tell you a little about it.

This event was put together by some people who are not afraid to think big. A number of years ago Mexico hosted the J/24 Worlds out of Puerto Vallarta (Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta) and it was simply a fantastic event. Organized by Peter Wiegandt he put on a show that I do not think will be topped in many years (hopefully someone will prove me wrong).

Now fast farward to 2010 and the Mexican Bi-centennial. Peter and his friend Ernesto Amtmann who has been brought back in to revitalize an event called MEXORC held bi-annually in Puerto Vallarta create a new event called Copa de Mexico as a true celebration of sailing in Mexico. This regatta included events from the big boat sailing MEXORC to Opti sailor for all over Mexico going at it, to a world class kiteboarding event with the present World Champ in attendance. By the way the present World Champs in J/24 class and his crew attended Copa de Mexico, more on that in a minute.

I first heard of the event from a close Mexican friend of mine Kenneth Porter. Kenneth is one of the guys responsible for making the J/24 the huge fleet it is in Mexico. Generosity defines Kenneth, when he is not helping his fellow sailors, he is helping the class technical committee, raising a family and generally getting things done. Anyhow Kenneth invited me to sail and also offered me the use of one of his two boats. An offer I could not refuse.

The event was held in a small town on the Northern side of Banderas Bay, near Puerto Vallarta. La Cruz is a real Mexican fishing village, in fact the boats came in right near us at the brand new Marina Riviera Nayarit and set up shop to sell there catch straight off the boat. Super friendly genuine people live here with a big smile of their face morning, noon and night.

Peter and Ernesto brought in some pro race committee people from the states to help them out. Bruce Green from San Diego YC and his team did a great job all week  under somewhat trying conditions. Now to the racing.

53 boats participated, while most were from Mexico, this was a true international event. Countries represented included: Peru, Brazil, Monaco, Germany, Italy, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and the USA. Our crew consisted of myself helming, Rich Bowen of the North Sails PRG Group trimming, Chuck Allen of North One Design Rhode Island, doing tactics, Marianne Schocke from Sweden and chairwoman of the 2010 Worlds in Malmo doing twings and Andrew Kerr of Seattle and North U. doing the box. A great team and lots of fun to sail with.

Chuck’s strategy which proved correct, was to be conservative and not have any big number races, especially early on. The first part of the regatta had pretty unstable winds and there were times in many of these race where we did not look good but we kept chipping away and we had good speed that allowed us to chip our way through the fleet to overcome a less than perfect start or a missed shift.

Halfway through the event our worst race was a tenth and many of our close competitors already had races in the twenties. By staying clean and not taking too many big chances we felt we would surely be in contention for the event towards the end.

The second half of the regatta was when the weather stabilized and the normal wind patterns resumed. Generally the wind here on West Coast of Mexico starts somewhat left of West and as the breeze builds it slowly shift right. This makes the races pretty predictable and places a higher premium on getting a good start. As Chuck told me at least once (at least I thought I heard him say it), “I still got it”. We did get some good starts and managed to put together a great string of finishes toward the end of the event.

Going into the last day and the last two races there were pretty much two boats who could win the event, ourselves and Maurico Santa Cruz. We were able to beat him by one boat in the first race of the day setting up the final race. Going into that race we could not finish worse than second and if we were somehow able to force Mauricio to eat his throwout ( a 23) we would win, we had a throwout to spend.

My strategy was to try and force him as far away from the start line as possible, make him start very late and have to sail through the fleet. Before the start we basically “stalked” him with our genoa down so that as soon as we went into sequence we would be right on his tail to start forcing him away from the line. The first start, a recall worked fairly well. We both started 4-5 lengths back from the line. The next start which went did not go as well, we both started on the line, we tacked right before we were able to and got the first little righty and then covered up from there.

All told we had great speed in a borrowed boat, we used the San Diego designs including our NEW Twaron genoa. This sail is super fast in all conditions but really seems to have an extra gear when the wind gets above ten knots. All indications so far are that the sail is lasting well. I urge everyone who is serious about their racing to look into getting one of these.

Results for top 10 as follows:

	1st	42	Bruschetta	37	Mauricio Santa Cruz	BRA	13	4	1	1	23.0	3	5	1	4	2	57	34
	2nd	44	S	5208	Chris Snow	USA	-10	1	5	6	10	2	7	2	3	4	50	40
	3rd	31	A que si	33	Claudio A.S. Ruschel	BRA	5	22	6	3	8	1	28.0	5	5	7	90	62
	4th	10	Vive Mexico	5407	Jorge Xavier Murrieta	MEX	-14	3	9	5	1	14	6	14	10	1	77	63
	5th	43	Blue Demon	1208	Mike Ingam	USA	2	-21	12	4	14	16	1	4	2	8	84	63
	6th	32	Rotoman	5420	Leif Tom Loose	GER	4	28.0	2	9	21	7	15	6	12	5	109	81
	7th	3	Monster	4029	Kenneth Porter	MEX	-21	2	3	20	16	10	10	11	8	3	104	83
	8th	51	Peligroso	4583	Fraito Lugo	PUR	7	5	15	18.0	-41	12	2	3	13	16	132	91
	9th	49	Primero	5442	Javier Arribas Leigh	PER	1	8	4	8	29	13	-35.5	8	1	21	129	93
	10th	13	Chimera	4439	Yon Belausteguigoitia	MEX	-34	18	17	15	7	4	9	7	6	12	129	95

Complete results can be found at http://www.j24mex.com/copamexico/results.html

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A view from the Orange Blossom:

The first day of the J24 Midwinters brought shifty, puffy, flat water conditions. These conditions put a premium on staying in phase; starting was a huge part of this. You had to stay in the middle of the line until just under 2 minutes, figure out where the wind was, and how you had to position your boat to get it. If the wind was to the left, like it often was, it was very important to position yourself in a place where you could stay on starboard tack for a while. This meant finding low density places on the line, preferably with a nice hole to leeward so you could put your bow wherever it needed to be for the three or four phases you might have to survive just to get to the pressure line you thought would win out. In these conditions clearing tacks set you back a ton, if you sailed out of phase for just a couple seconds you were out of the top group. In the last race we started in a low density spot on the line with a nice hole to weather because our intention was to get onto port immediately. If you are looking to tack right away it’s because you’re flat to the line on starboard. In this scenario the only way to be able to tack is if nobody is on your hip or if you’re able to flush them straight away. We did a great job of staying in phase and used our speed to live in some tough lanes when the bow was changing direction with the wind. It was important to change gears during every oscillation and change in velocity: traveler, sheet, backstay, genoa, crew weight. A good heads up from the rail makes all of this a lot easier. Random fact: on day one we wanted to put our jib car in a place where there was a screw and not a hole, normally we drill out the screw heads but because we were using a borrowed boat we achieved our desired lead position by turning the actual car around. It seemed to us that the new SD Aramid design liked the lead I bit further aft than we are used to seeing with the Newport Pentex.

Day two was light. To set up for the lighter air we took a full turn off our uppers and lowers so that the leeward upper was breaking nicely and we were sailing with about a half inch of leeward spoon. We were not sure what side the breeze was going to fill from but we did know that port was the long tack and we wanted to get on it quickly. Unfortunately, we started in a bit of a hole and we weren’t able to flip right away. We tried coaxing a boat to weather onto port but came up empty and decided it was time to swallow our pride and take some sterns. As soon as we went to duck they slammed us. We had to do a couple of the clearing tacks we had avoided the day before and a result we rounded the weather mark in 25th. We did our best to stay in the pressure and maximize our VMG in the changing conditions. We ended up coming into the leeward gate on port pole with leverage to make a right hand turn. We opted out of this maneuver because it involved an abrupt hair pin turn and we thought that there was less traffic at the left hand turn gate. We reached over to the left turn gate, with speed as our friend, kept the kite up late and rounded fast outside a couple of chicken-winged boats on the inside. We were immediately on the long tack and to leeward of the fleet. The boats that we were approaching the mark with had to gybe around it, wait their turn, and then tack to get in phase. It was worth giving up the leverage.  We rounded the weather mark in 10th thanks to a little pressure on the right but lost two boats on the run to finish/survive with a 12th. There was no more racing that day.

 Day three brought a little bit of everything. The first race was quite windy. We learned our starting lesson and hedged towards the slightly less favored, slightly less populated boat end of the line. We held on starboard for as long as possible. It looked liked two boats would cross our bow so we led them back. We rounded the weather mark in 3rd and stayed there for the duration of the race. The second race was much lighter; we had people down below at the start. Our hole looked to be adequate until a port tack approacher set up camp beneath us. Five seconds after the start we knew we would not be able to live to the top left so we took sterns immediately in an effort to avoid the middle. The top left won out but our edge worked well enough. We rounded the top mark 15th but beat the fleet to a gybe in some nice right pressure. We kept chipping away and ended up finishing 7th, even though it didn’t feel like it. We found ourselves in a high risk place on the line in the third race, as far as density goes, and ended up being called over early, even though I know we were bow back on a couple other boats that weren’t called. (I only say this because I was ashamed at how bad our start would have been if we were permitted to race it out, we must have been over at some other point inside 1 minute.) We ground back by thinking about one point at a time, staying in phase, using the lanes we could, and keeping the boat moving fast and powered up all the time. We ended up finishing 18th and in doing so turned the scoreboard into a sticky situation.  After the third day we were tied for the lead with two other boats and there were two other boats one point back. 5 boats within 1 point!

Wednesday was windy. When we saw the forecast we knew it was time to move our mast butt. Before the regatta we came up with three different places for our butt, each about a 5/8 of an inch apart. Because it was windy we kicked the butt to the forward position in order to get some more headstay tension. In addition to moving the butt, we left the dock with our uppers measuring 29 and our lowers measuring 31. We were confident that would be fine with the velocities we were seeing and the relatively flat water in Tampa Bay. We left the dock with the blade on deck and used it for the first beat of the first race. We started at the boat and tack immediately onto port and in phase. We used the next righty to cross the course all the way to the left. We led the two left-most boats only to watch them shear inside. The two shearing boats just so happen to be the boats we were tied with. We finished 3rd in the race with one of the boats we were tied with one place in front of us and the other one place behind, as close as we could possibly be yet again. On the last run of that race Peter Bream, who had been sailing an excellent regatta up until that point, ripped his spinnaker and had to miss the next race to sail in and get a new one. We got a decent start in the middle of the line in the second race of the day. We flopped onto port in phase with the leaders and did a good job speed-wise on the long tack to join the top group. John Mollionce, the boat we were one point up on, was one boat to our right and rounded the weather mark in first. We rounded in 6th. We soaked on the front group over the course of the run and leveraged ourselves to make a left hand turn at the gate. We were the 6th boat to gate but the first to make the left turn. We rounded on the long, lifted tack, and waited for bows to cave. Lucky for us, they did. We were able to get across all but one boat. Mollicone won the race and we took second. This left us both tied for the lead with one race to go.

The last race came down to a who-beats-who scenario, unless both boats sailed their drop and if this happened we would come out on the losing end. Mollicone knew this and began tailing us right away. There was a bit of gamesmanship going on with regard to the headsails. At first we both had our genoas hanked on. We brought our blade on deck to have all our options open and that prompted them to make a change. When the start began we were both  to the right and deep in the box, us with the genoa, them with the blade, us pulling, them pushing. When we broke for the line we were ahead and appeared to be on time in the absence of other boats. Because of all the dirty air we ended up being slightly late and as a result we both tacked onto port. We were ahead and maintained the lead through the ducks. The genoa was working to our advantage and Mollicone had to tack out, back onto starboard. He was met by another pack and led them back towards us. During our next encounter we were still ahead and we were presented with the option of hitting them and leading back right, or switching sides and getting to his left, where the winners were coming from. We chose to split. We sailed towards the middle on an average number and watched John sail in a better lane toward the top right. The top right came in and we found ourselves behind. On the run we leveraged to make a left turn at the bottom. John was forced to gate the other way. He tacked to follow us but on the outside of a shift and started losing his lead. He was unable to hang in his long port tack lane and was forced to tack back to the left. The top right came in again and we rounded a couple places ahead. They had a great run and gated right behind us in 9th and 10th place. They tacked, we followed, they tacked, we followed. After tacking about 15 times we were on the starboard tack layline and we reached into the finish. If this wasn’t dramatic enough, while this was all happening we had to make sure that we finished no worse than 13th. It was intense. John and his crew sailed a great event, it was an exhilarating last day and it was exciting to be a part of it. Big thanks to an unbelievable crew: Nate Frizzell on the bow, Whitney Prossner in the middle, Chuck Norris trimming the kite and doing upwind tactics, and Dave Hughes in the cockpit and helping with downwind tactics.

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!
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The 2009 J/24 US Nationals was simply a great event. My crew and I were lucky enough to win it but that was not the reason the event was so great. The real reason is that there is simply no place better in the US to sail, that’s my opinion but one I know a lot of people share. Sailing upwind in 18-20 knots of wind looking straight at one of the most magnificent bridges in the world with a carpet of fog rolling in under it and over the hills of Marin, well it’s kind of like Nirvana for one design sailors. The Bay can be a challenging place to race but there was no doubt that all who made the trek to San Francisco Y.C. for this year’s event came away smiling. I will leave some people out here but special thanks have to go to Luther Strayer, Ned Walker, Michael Whitfield, Wayne Clough, Jeff Zarwell, Vicki Sodaro and many others for making this event happen.

First I’d like to give you a little overview of our experience attending the event and then I would like to give you a detailed description of how we set up and sailed our boat. Hope you enjoy this report.

The few days before I left to drive up to San Francisco I spent running around getting the boat ready and making sure I had all the supplies we needed to rig the boat right and race it. While still in town I bought polish, gathered rags, soap, tape, tools, etc.. so that when I got to the event I would not have to “run out” to pick anything up. This is a good idea and always saves a lot of precious time at any event. The Boy Scouts motto of  “be prepared” sure applys to sailboat racing.

My crew was to all meet me in San Francisco and to be honest I was really looking forward to nine hours of solitude as I drove from San Diego to San Francisco. As anyone who has done this drive knows, this is not the most exciting drive. Mostly it consists of a dead straight route 5 going straight through the Central Valley of California. That not withstanding as the father of two teenagers with a wife working full time, a dog and a cat plus all my responsibilties at North Sails, I needed some time to get my head into regatta mode! At my first gas stop in San Clemente just up the highway I had my first mishap. One of the hubs for the trailer axle had come off and was missing. It appeared that all the grease could quickly leak out the hub and I knew that would be bad. Miraculously there was an auto parts store a block away an luckily they had the correct hub. A few well placed taps with the hammer to get it on off we were off. By now it was mid afternoon and I was just in time for rush hour in Los Angeles (it seems to start at about three in the afternoon). A litte stop and go and we were up Grapevine hill and down into the Central Valley. I ended up pulling into Tiburon at about 10:30 that night.

The next day was spent fully prepping the boat from top to bottom. Fully cleaned and washed the deck and hull. Added a coat of polish to the mast. Stepped the mast and lubricated all the turnbuckles. I took my time and carefully got the mast centered side to side in the boat and tuned it to our base setting of 24/21. Putting the boat together I noticed that the clevis pin holding the top of the backstay to the mast was bent slightly and that the main cover had worn through very close to where it cleated. So despite my best intentions I made run to Sausalito for a new pin and the line to make a new halyard. By the end of the day I was pretty beat but satisfied that when my crew arrived the boat would be ready to hit the water which was my goal. We needed time to work out our communication and make sure each of us new our responsibilities. Here is who my crew was and what they did on the boat:

Andrew Kerr—Bow: Andrew and I have sailed together for about 15 years. Originally from the UK he now lives in Olympia Washington and works as a sailing coach, primarily for North U, North Sail’s education division. Andrew’s job is pretty multi facted. First he has to do all the mechanical stuff of getting the sails up and down, gibing to spinnker pole downwind, rolling the boat in tacks and gybes as needed, that stuff is relatively easy. His more important role is feeding good information to skipper on puffs and waves and also tactical information on what he sees on the course and what the other boats are doing. Andrew basically runs a constant commentary during the race that would go something like this. “Wave set in 3,2,1, followed by a puff in 10. Flat spot here in 2. Bow number 10 coming on starboard, I have him in the forward window, looks like he is crossing by one length, no duck needed. Do you see him?”. That goes on for the whole race and really helps to keep the whole crew in tune with what is actually happening. With his commentary streaming we can keep our heads in the game the whole time.

Adam “Broadway” Bennett---Mast: Adam is a young transplant to San Diego from New York via San Francisco. I met him when my family and I were living in San Francisco and he was coaching my son’s in Opti’s there. We had not sailed together but Adam did a great job. As the mast person he is responsible for running all the lines in the middle of boat, outhaul, Cunningham boom vang, twings for the spinnaker, etc. He plays a huge role downwind to help balance the boat and is constantly adjusting his weight to help me keep the helm neutral. At the weather mark he eases the vang, overhauls the spinnaker guys and sets the vang to the proper tension for the breeze at the moment and adjusts for each puff. He also helps the bow person with judgement calls on other boats, whether we are crossing or not or whether we are gaining or not. On a J/24 the skipper and tactician can only see part of the course and it is important for the bow and mast people to be dialed into what is happening. Adam got his “Broadway” nickname from his resemblance to “Broadway” Joe Namath, famous quarterback for the New York Jets.

Chuck Allen—Tactics: Chuck runs the North One Design office in Rhode Island and is a very experienced sailor in boats of all types. Chuck has a really nice way about him on a boat and for me always manages to keep things on the lighter side which helps me a lot because I tend to get pretty nervous. He is a great conservative tactician which probably comes from his growing up racing small boats in college at the University of Rhode Island where he was an All American. Chuck has responsibility for when we tack and jibe and where the boat gets placed on the course. As the skipper I try to give him as much information I can about the boats that I can see to leeward and how we are faring against them.

A number of very ago Chuck and I were sailing together in the Midwinters in Tampa. There was a really competitive fleet and the pin was generally favored. After about the fifth third row start in a row Chuck turned to me a said as serious as he can be, “Chris, I don’t think you could start a lawnmower.”

John Fracisco—Cockpit: The reality is that the hardest job on a J/24 is doing the cockpit. John has been sailing the boat for close to as long as I have and he is great at it. He has a great technique for tacking the genoa even when it is windy. John and I worked hard together on getting our timing down. Ideally there is less strength involved and more technique. Our goal on each tack is to get the genoa inside the lifelines and then get’s John’s weight out on the rail quickly while I grind the sheet in as the boat comes up to speed.

Boat Set Up and Sailing:

Here is how we set up our boat and sailed it in the Nationals.

For the Nationals we used the North San Diego designs. We used a new San Diego Kevlar genoa that I thought was especially fast in the breezy conditions we had. My feeling has always been that the San Diego sails are especially good in a little stronger breeze but I also felt like we could go well in the lighter winds too. The San Diego genoa is rounder in the front and straighter in the back (especially in the top of the sail). This makes the groove wider when sailing in waves and also makes the sail depower faster when the sheet is eased slightly as the wind pipes up. The San Diego main is a little bit fuller than our Newport main which helps the sail in the breeze. You can put on more backstay, and get more headstay tension before the sail gets too flat and starts to invert.

Mast tuning:
I set the mast up according to the tuning guide. The mast butt placement and spreader angle are critical to good speed. If your spreaders are swept too far aft there is no amount of fiddling that will make the boat go. I think many people tend to overlook this. The spreaders help to induce prebend but also to keep the mast from bending too much when the back stay comes on. As the masts age it is easy to have to much sweep. Boats with older and softer masts need to look at sweeping their spreaders slightly forward of what the tuning guide suggests.

I have never been one to move my mast butt between races but I have been sailing Etchell’s a lot. The Etchells has the same mast section as a J/24 except longer and the spreaders are in line. Etchells sailors tend to move their mast butt around more, back in light air to induce bend and forward in a breeze to restrict it. This event we did move our mast butt back and forth and I was happy with the speed. In the first race of the day we had the butt back ¼” and then for the second race when the breeze was in we moved it back forward. I think this gave us more punch in the lighter wind with the genoa as we had a little more headstay sag and I think the Kevlar genoas can use that.

For shroud tensions I followed the tuning guide but I did err on the side of tighter rather than looser. If I checked the rig at the dock and the number was shade under what I was looking for I always went and half turn tighter so that we ended up a shade tighter than what the tuning guide called for. We also checked our “base setting” over the course of the regatta. We counted turns back to what we thought was base each night. Inevitably our “base” would be too loose and we would have to tighten the shrouds somewhat as they had stretched a little during the day.

Sail Trim-Setup:
The J/24 has been compared to sailing a bowling ball with a keel. The boat is very round and because of that does not track nicely through the water. Because all boats sail faster the less you use the rudder it is really important to set up and trim the sails so that the boat is balanced and you are not fighting it. The way I think of it is that upwind you are trying to balance the force of the main and headsail upwind around the pivot point of the keel so that the boat will be flat and track nicely upwind with as little movement to the tiller as possible.

Speaking of flat, we tried very hard to sail our boat flat all the time, even when the wind was really on. The keel on the J/24 is so short that any heel at all just results in sideways movement. All the time it is much better to hit a wave head on a stop the boat’s forward movement than to heel over and go sideways.

In a place like San Francisco that has a lot of steep, short chop and is windy and puffy they way to do this is with twist in the sails. Keep the traveler in the middle. Max out the backstay, get the vang nice and firm (there should be slight bend to the boom) and twist the leech of main so you can bear off a little without having the boat heel to much. On the genoa, you need the jib halyard very tight (three people pulling it up) to pull the draft in the sail forward and twist open the upper leech. Keep the jib lead in the same hole as you have for moderate wind (or 1-2 holes back max) and ease the sheet to keep the boat level. Be subtle on how much you ease it. Do not let it out too much at once unless it is a HUGE puff.

It is very important to play the main and jib together. John and I were a little out of synch in the beginning. He knew I wanted him to ease the sheet for big waves and puffs but if he let the sail out too much and I did not ease the main then the helm would load up, the boat would heel too much and try and round up into the wind. The best was when we listened to Andrew calling the waves. We would try and ease both sails BEFORE we got to big waves. This way when the boat slowed in the waves, and the apparent wind moved aft, we would stay flat and the boat would be ready to accelerate out of the wave set. When you get it right it really works great.

Sailing Downwind:
Like upwind the boat sails fastest downwind with the help neutral. In order to keep the helm neutral you need to balance with your crew weight so the boat sails straight without moving the tiller. When the wind is up this requires some pretty aggressive movement of the crew.

Generally the boat sails dead straight with a slight weather heel. In a good breeze the boat will have a tendency to round down or “death roll”. To counteract this you will want to have the tactician and at times the mast man and bow person sitting on leeward side of the boat. The thing you do not want is to have to sail too high just because you are afraid of the boat rounding down. Keeping the crew weight stacked to leeward really helps.

Be certain that you do not let the clew of the spinnaker out past the headstay and when the boat becomes unstable downwind ease the pole forward slightly to help get it stable again. Keep the pole level or slightly lower than the clew. This is like putting the cunningham on the main. It pulls the draft forward in the sail and twists open and depowers the leech.

Gybing downwind in breeze is one thing that can strike fear into the hearts of any J/24 crew. The key to good safe gybes is:

1. Do and “S” turn gybe. Overturn the boat to get the boom over. As the boom is coming over be sure to turn back down to a run so that you do not come out of the gybe too high and risk loading up the rudder and wiping out to windward.
2. Be sure to get the new windward twing down to life line height as soon as the boom comes over. This will help to stabilize the sail.
3. Be sure to ease the new leeward twing to free up the leech of sail in case you do come out of the gybe too high.
4. Do not rush getting the pole on. Get the boat stable first before reattching the pole. Too much movement to reattach will only make the boat more unstable.

Thanks for reading and please contact myself or any member of the North J/24 team if you have any questions.

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Miami, Florida provided a picture perfect weekend for summer sailing in the southeast Saturday and Sunday July 18th and 19th when Flat Earth Sailing hosted the J24 Florida States at the Olympic Sailing Center.  A fleet of nineteen boats were in attendance for sailing conditions that produced seven very nice races.  With balmy temperatures, in the 90s all weekend, conditions were sunny with light to moderate breeze for both days.

Day one began with winds of about 5-8 out of a southerly direction with the wind wanting to swing toward a sea breeze direction of southeasterly.  The wind shifted back and forth for races one and two as the gradient and sea breeze worked against each other.  In races three and four the sea breeze filled in and Biscayne Bay produced the classic 10-12 knot conditions with oscillating shifts it is known for this time of year.

Getting off the line with a clear lane to get in phase was key all day as it usually is.  We were fortunate to find ourselves in that position on 799 in most races and our North inventory with the new Kevlar genoa provided us with the boatspeed to turn that success into three firsts and a fourth on the day.  Gary Sprague on Scout’s Pride sailed a great day.  He had a 6,1,2,3 on the day but was DSQ’d in race one.  This race turned out to be his throw out anyways so he was on track to push the top of the standings hard.  Brian Malone and John Paulson’s teams also had great days.  All teams of these teams are powered by North.

Day two had an 11AM start, an hour earlier than Saturday, and only three races.  As a result, the wind held in the 5-8 range all day as the sea breeze was not able to develop before the end of the day’s racing.  On 799, we reached both first weather marks in first.  This was not always such a good thing though due to the puffs filling from behind on the runs.  These were conditions to test the most patient sailor’s nerves.  We managed to hold on to third in the first race and win the second allowing us to retire from the last race and use it as our throw out.  This was an especially nice luxury in the Miami heat and allowed us to get the boat packed for the trip home at a more leisurely pace.

The next three finishing spots were hotly contested and came down to the last race.  Second through fourth were separated by three points in the end as local standout Sprague, District Governor Malone, and last year’s winner Poulson all also powered by North sailed hard to finish second third and fourth respectively.

Congratulations to everyone who came out to support this great event.  Thanks to all of the volunteers for their time to run a great event.  I know this event will continue to grow in popularity based on this year’s experience.

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!
To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.



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2009 J24 WORLDS
North Sails Versatility Pays off! North 2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10!!!
Report by Chuck Allen

The 2009 J/24 Worlds were held in Annapolis, MD, where as we all know the conditions can be light and variable especially when fronts move through.  The event started off with three days of intense measurement: boats, rigs and sails were all put under the microscope.  With the majority of the fleet flying North Sails, it was pleasing to see our sails breeze through measurement and all of our customers come out smiling-just one less thing to worry about!

That Sunday, before the practice race, North Sails held a “local sailing conditions” clinic over at Eastport YC-where our very own Chris Larson was the featured speaker, he is also a past World Champion and Annapolis resident.  We had to limit the talk to two people per boat since there were 82 registered for the event, passing out flyers and walking the docks really got the word out as we had around 90 people in attendance with standing room only.  Chris did a wonderful job of describing why the conditions would be light (frontals coming through), current, etc… we had some great feedback come out of this.

North Sails also offered daily weather forecasting both during the lead up event and Worlds.  We had record sign-ups for this service where you would get an email each morning with the daily and extended forecast.   It was great to see that even our competitor’s had signed up to receive this service

Monday came around and as predicted the conditions were light and variable and this pattern was to hold throughout the regatta ending on Friday, with the best sailing to be the last day.  Our sails would begin to litter the leader board right from the get go and remain dominating the top twenty throughout the week.  In fact, the only two teams in the top ten were Santa Cruz and Casale, both past World Champions.  Santa Cruz makes his own brand of sails in Brazil and Casale flies Elvstrom Sails-congrats to both of these teams, especially The Brazilians for their regatta win. The Italians would end up in eighth place.  Some of the other sailmakers seem to struggle with their sails showing a lack of power for the lighter conditions as of evident on the race course and in the overall results.

Chris Larson led the way for North Sails, in fact he was winning the event going into the last race, showing awesome speeds all around the course and on all points of sail.  Chris’s professional approach to sailing was quite noticeable just watching him and his team around the docks.  Chris sailed with our San Diego Main, Newport Technora Genoa and San Diego Spinnaker.

Pereira from Argentina would end up third sailing with our Newport Main and Pentex Genoa with a San Diego Spinnaker-this combination proved to really- really fast as he would dominate the last and best day of sailing (where we had three races) in around 5-9 knots of breeze.  These guys were unstoppable-I know for a fact, as we did battle with them in two of the races and we could not hold pace.  As a matter of fact, The ARG and CHI Teams seems to really enjoy these conditions throughout the last and best day of sailing.

Chis Larson using Newport Technora Genoa Pereira using Newport Pentex Genoa

Milev and Kotoun (Past World Champion) would sail to fourth and fifth overall both using our Newport Design Sails, the only difference was Milez sailed with our Pentex Genoa and Kotoun used our Newport Design Aramid Product, or Yellow Genoa, as we like to call it.  This really shows that our designs are simply superb in The J/24 Class, as we can take three to four different products, run filter through all our testing data and produce versatile/winning products.  The jury is still out on what product is best, in relation to the genoa, as we are still in the process of evaluating the “wear and tear” on all of our sails.  We now are sailing with all makes of our genoas here in Newport’s Fleet 50, using digital imagery to evaluate weekly to show stretch and breakdown-more on this in my next article.

Antony Kouton using Newport Aramid Genoa Perfect shape of the Newport Aramid Genoa

Overall, North Sails were on 15 of the top 20 boats at this year’s World Championships, we are really excited with about these results, our customer’s are even more excited as they would dominate the trophy collections. 

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!
To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

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Photo courtesy PhotoBoat.com

John Poulson’s Longshot J24 NOOD team consists of trimmer Jason Chavez, bow person Whitney Prossner, tactician Fred Meyer, and mast man and tactical assistance Paul Famaghetti.  In my conversation with John he stressed how integral the team is to the program’s success and requested that I include the team’s input in this article.  Their performance was related to their great relationship with North Sails by each person on the team that was interviewed.

John, please tell me a little about how you got into the class and how your present crew evolved.

John: When I first moved to Tampa I found that the J24 class was the boat to be involved with in Tampa Bay.  I had a young family at the time and was spending a lot of time with them and did not buy a J24 at first.  I bought an SR 27 to do distance racing that I could involve my family in more easily.  We had a great time with that boat.

I did stay involved with the J24 class through sailing at the Midwinters most years with about a month prior commitment each year.  As it turns out, I sailed with the prior owner of Longshot on several occasions.  Actually buying the boat was more of a result of circumstances.  I started looking for a boat at about the same time the previous owner was becoming too busy to sail Longshot. I knew the boat was meticulously maintained and the previous owner was glad to keep the boat in the local fleet. I bought her and began strategically developing my team.

I wanted to develop a team similar to some teams that I had competed against that I considered successful.  My model was to develop a regular team that would sail at every event toward a goal of competing at the Worlds in Annapolis.  I was unsure whether we would be able to attain this goal, but I felt our team would be better for the experience of the effort.  We are excited to have reached this goal.

My trimmer, Jason Chavez, had sailed with Longshot and won a previous Midwinters sailing aboard your boat.  He was a perfect fit.  Whitney has also been with the program since the beginning; she always works hard, is very competitive and has become a first rate bow person.  For the middle key players, we looked to fill out the crew and balance a maximum weight team.  We landed Fred as our regular tactician when he moved to Tampa last year. He’s been doing an outstanding job keeping us going in the right direction.  Paul had previously sailed with Fred and joined us for the NOOD Regatta.

We have developed a team rapport that allows Jason and I to keep our heads in the boat and concentrate on boat speed. Fred and our mast man keep their heads out of the boat and keep us pointed in the right direction. Whitney calls the wind and waves and helps keep us each focused. Our crew work has really become polished so that the main elements of our jobs are automatic and we’re able to focus on the details.  Our success was a matter of getting a good start, boat speeding our way to the front of the fleet, and managing consistently top finishes through solid tactics and crew work.

Do you think you your relationship with North has contributed to your development as a team?

John: Being comfortable that we have superior speed around the race course early in our program has allowed us to develop our crew work at a great rate and concentrate on tactics.  This accelerated our team’s development to its present level.  Utilizing the customer friendly nature of the sails, tuning guide information, and the support from the North Team at events has been a factor in being able to concentrate on the smaller things that have allowed us to get to this point.  We were as fast or faster than anyone at the NOOD at all times, and our goal was to utilize this speed and manage the fleet to turn in consistent top finishes.
Robby-Obviously you were very successful.  Do you do anything outside the tuning guide numbers?
John-We tend to go to the softer 18-12 setting a little sooner and stay there a little longer.  We found this out through getting caught a little light on the rig and feeling fast so we stuck with it.  We also keep our mast butt back slightly, but this may just be how our particular boat sets up.

I spoke with and got some great email feedback from trimmer Jason Chavez.  Jason, are you happy with the decision to go with North’s? 

Jason: Yes, they seem to give us the high mode and the low groove that we didn’t have prior to John buying the boat and going with North.  I don’t tune the rig.  The driver has his hand on the tiller and knows how the boat should feel.  We were as fast or faster than anyone at the regatta.

"I have complete faith in our North Sails set up & tuning guide. I think that it is important that the driver understand rig-tuning & tune the guide himself as he is the only one who can actually feel the amount of helm present while sailing. That being said, I think we pretty much stick to the guide and it works for us.”

Jason also credits many other factors including everyone being completely comfortable with their jobs, good starting, and team preparation.  This is clearly a great team that appreciates each other.

I also got some email feedback from tactician Fred Meyer.  This obviously comes from a passionate team player who is excited about the direction this team is taking.

Tactics is not all about telling people when to tack or jibe but more about how to channel your boat into one mode of thinking and timing the execution to achieve a common goal.

To the back, it’s about being mentally tougher than your opponent and willing your way past them no matter what the scenario.

To the front it is about being able to snap a jibe at the windward mark even thought we didn't ask for it until...... NOW; (even though you just asked for a little heads up) and picking up 4 boats without even thinking about it every time.

We were able to be consistently at the top because our boat was consistently fast all of the time through focusing on the boat handling. This allows the boat to sail in front of the competition and in clear air more often. Then we just tack to where we think there is more breeze and collect the trophy.
You just have to remember what got you there, the fundamentals, your foundation; using your boat handling to squeeze every drop of speed out of the bitch and leave them looking at you wondering why they can’t go that fast as you sail away.

The Proof:
We never really knew what side of the course we wanted to go to until we were in first then it becomes apparent, beat the guy in second!”

All told, this was a truly exceptional regatta from a boat that appreciates their relationship with North.  Good luck at Worlds guys (and gal)!  See you in Annapolis.

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J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

Another great weekend for North J/24 sailors! John Poulson and his team aboard Long Shot won the St. Pete NOOD beating a lot of good teams! John who just finished 5th at the Midwinters is on fire for the upcoming Worlds. We are working on an interview with him. Please keep tuned!

Here the results:

1		Long Shot	John Poulson	1	3	3	2	2	4	15
2		Evil Donut	John Mollicone	4	12	4	1	6	3	30
3		Lizard Murder	Chip Till	5	10	10	5	3	2	35
4		Tasmanian Devil	Steve Wood	3	2	9	7	9	6	36
5		Sabotage	Wilson/Vilardebo	2	6	2	10	10	7	37
6		Spoony Tactics	Todd/Fedyszyn	6	8	8	8	1	8	39
7		Pee Wee	Kirsten Werner	11	4	1	12	13	1	42T
8		Pop Rocks	Timothy Healy	10	9	5	4	5	9	42T
9		Team S3	Mateo Vargas	8	7	7	3	14	5	44
10		Team Rental	Mark Liebel	13	11	6	6	4	11	51

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!
To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

NORTH J/24 COVERS

J/24 Skirted Deck Cover Convertible for mast up and mast down. Learn more about North J/24 covers.

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Team Vitamin Water, #1 at the 2009 North Americans!

Jorge Murrieta (MEX) and his Team Vitamin Water have won The 2009 J/24 North American’s powered by North Sails. They used a combination of Newport Upwind and SD FR-2 Downwind in securing the championship.  The event was held in Valle de Bravo, Mexico sailed with 44 boats.  Chris Snow/Chuck Allen (USA) finished in a close second having a chance at the title on the last day but fell short. Kenneth Porter (MEX) was forth and Mike Ingham (USA) fifth, both using North sails.

Ten races  were sailed over the weeklong event and if you have never sailed here before make sure to put it on the list! The breeze comes in at 12:30pm-so you leave the dock just before, sail until 5:30pm where you arrive back to The Club Nautico for the most festive atmosphere you could imagine-just beautiful here!

The Hand Gliding World Championships were here the same time-these guys are crazy!

Keep tuned.. Interview with Jorge Murrieta coming shortly.

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts!

To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

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            Last weekend 20 boats made it out to the Sail Newport starting line 1.5 miles off of R2 at a bearing 240 degrees. When the fleet arrived at the rendezvous point they were met by a light southerly breeze and plenty of slop. The race committee set a fairly even racecourse that had a bit more pressure coming out of its top left corner. After a two-boat tuning session we decided we were happy with our base setting on the shrouds (20-15), a loose jib halyard (big, round, scallops), and super forward jib car setting (end of the track). We had a mediocre first start and decided to get onto port right away. Being to leeward in light and lumpy conditions is an enormous advantage so even though we liked the top left we conceded it early for leeward positioning. After being on port tack for about two minutes, windward bows began falling into us so we consolidated back to the fleet while simultaneously heading for our top left. We got across 18 of the 19 other boats and switched sides with the race leader who had come out of the left. After rounding in a close second we kept trying to soak inside and gybe on top. With a little separation, a bit more pressure and a great layline call we were able to scoot around the competition and lead around the course-right gate, the better gate for avoiding boats that were still sailing down wind. Rounding the leeward gates in clear air in lumpy conditions is an unbelievable advantage. The wide tacking angles that come with choppy conditions make for exaggerated wind shadows and a scenario where the rich seem to get richer. We were able to maintain our lead and ended up winning the first race of the regatta. The next two races we won the pin and were able to put our bow down when necessary to get through the occasional boat-stopping wave sets. We found starboard tack to be a bit more bow into the waves and because of that we sailed starboard tack with a couple degrees of leeward heel. Sailing with a bit of leeward heel is like sailing with gathered potential energy, when you hit a wave you go to flat instead of heeling all the way to weather and losing flow on your foils. We found port tack to be more wave-friendly and because of this we sailed port tack dead flat. Angle of heel through the waves was the key to upwind boat speed on Saturday. Conveying exactly where the weight needed to be made it easy for an already heady crew to keep the boat moving nicely though the waves. Footing helped the boat point on starboard, we kept our leeward telltale flicking most of the time. Conversely, on port tack, we were bubbling our jib in the puffs and sailing with a more traditional J-24 inside break. We ended up using our out-of-trouble starts, maneuver-minimizing game plan and slight upwind speed advantage to take the next two races of the day as well.

            Sunday was a much different day. The wind was out the same quadrant but had increased in strength to around 13-17 knots. We started the day at 24-21 on our shrouds but eventually moved half way up to our next setting. (27-24) Our boat is on the older side so we usually ere tighter on the rig but with the all the chop we decided the tuning guide numbers would be about right. On Sunday I did not get off the line very well. The first start we found ourselves thin on the pin and reverse rabbited the fleet and ended up heading towards the right. Being to leeward early let us foot in the chop that was now a bit worse on port tack and watch our weather bows for a good time to come back. We came back in pressure across a good chunk of the fleet and rounded the weather mark third. The Z’s passed us by going to the clearer gate so we ended up finishing fourth in the first race. The next race we won the boat and were able to hang on starboard tack until we approached the left-hand corner. We rounded the weather mark in first but Healy and crew had a great gybe set and passed us on the run. We rounded behind Healy at the leeward gate and watched the Z’s split with us again. We ended up finishing third in the middle race of the day. With one race to go we had a sizeable lead on second place and decided to be conservative on the starting line. We got off poorly in the middle of the line, which is what happens when you decide to be conservative, and needed to tack out immediately. We ended up as one of the right most boats and decided to check in with the fleet about three quarters of the way up the beat. If we were sailing more aggressively we probably would have wung it out a bit further in an effort to minimize tacks in wavy conditions, but as the situation stood we were trying to eliminate, not gain, leverage. We rounded the weather mark sixth and ground back to finish fourth and take the event by 8 points. We attribute the win to great crew communication, really good or really bad starts, awesome up wind boat speed and a tactical game plan that involved patients and a less-is-more-when-it-comes-to-maneuvering philosophy. I would like to thank my crew for doing a great job and keeping it fun: Mike Campbell the rope puller, Ben Seigal the brain, Ryan “Robin Boy Wonder” Mullins, and Matthew Cohen on the point. 
           

Top Ten:

For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts! To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

J/24 Sails J/24 News J/24 FAQs Tuning Guide Contact J/24 Experts Order J/24 Sails

New San Diego FR-2 spinnaker

Robby Brown and Chuck Allen of North Sails One Design team up to win the 2008 St. Petersburg NOOD J24 class and Overall Award.  Robby and Chuck topped a great field of J24s with North dominating the field in the end results.  The regatta conditions covered a wide range of wind strengths with the first two days having predominately light air and the final day having winds ranging from 5-15 knots.  The North sails performed outstanding in all wind ranges.  We used the upwind Newport designs and the new San Diego spinnaker.

Twenty-six J24s competed in the regatta making it the second largest class at the event. Boats featuring North Sails won every race with the top six spots going to North boats.  Mark Liebel, a new North customer, was third at the regatta after suffering the same misfortune as we did on the run of the first race that was shortened at the first leeward gate.  In that race, the wind died and shifted about 50 degrees leaving all but one of the front boats on the wrong side of a knock that turned the fleet upside down.  Mark was extremely pleased with his new North sails stating that the groove was easy to drive on the upwind sails and the spinnaker was real fast and easy to fly during the regatta.  He was overheard reflecting, asking why he waited so long to make the change to North.

Other North customers showed great performance in speed and tactics as North claimed the top six spots in the class.  Todd and Genoa Fedyszyn sailed an outstanding regatta to finish second with help from North’s Brian Bissell.  The balance of the top six finishers Mark Liebel, Steve Wood, John Poulson and Paul Van Ravensway respectively all sailed outstanding regattas with top finishes except one big number along the way in the tricky conditions.  The fickle winds of Tampa Bay proved challenging for even the best sailors.

Our team on Preparation J, sponsored by Sunsail, was honored with the overall regatta award in an admittedly close decision among several outstanding performances in other talented classes.  We are honored to win the award as a J24 team.  Our team consisted of co-skippers Robby Brown, helmsman, and Chuck Allen, tactician (Friday and Saturday, Bill Icely Sunday), Jeff Olsen, trimmer, Jim Traun, bow and Sandy Scheda, boat partner and mast.  We had an outstanding team all weekend.  We were fortunate to get off the starting line in good shape every race and had enough boat speed to stay with the lead group each race.  After the big shift handing us a tough finish in race one, we finished out with all first place finishes with no boat crossing our bow at any time in the last three races.  I was extremely pleased with our speed and got many compliments about how fast we were.  I feel this is a reflection on North’s commitment to ongoing research and development and tuning information.

Chuck Allen, Brian Bissell and myself, Robby Brown, along with the rest of the North J24 team look forward to assisting you at the next J24 event, and we are always happy help with any questions you may have about getting the best performance from your boat.

Top 6:

1 2901 Robbie/Chuck Brown/Allen St Petersburg, Fl Preparation J 11 1 1 1 1 15
2 2264 Todd & Gen Fedyszyn St Petersburg, Florida Spoony Tactics 3 11 10 4 5 33
3 2920 Mark Liebel Bradenton, FL USA Team Rental 6 17 4 6 6 39
4 US3969 Steve Wood wakefield, ri USA Tasmanian Devil 18 2 14 3 3 40
5 2917 John Poulson St. Petersburg, FL USA Long Shot 9 10 5 13 4 41
6 5350 Paul Van Ravenswaay Annapolis, MD USA Millennium Falcon 5 9 18 9 2 43

From Sailing World Web site:

Feb 17, 2008
By Stuart Streuli

Brown and Allen Rack Up The Ones Enroute to St. Pete NOOD Regatta Win

Six "Ones" in five races add up to an impressive victory for a local skipper in the 26-boat J/24 class. Plus a familiar name takes home the top prize in the regatta's biggest division.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Local sailor Robbie Brown and co-skipper Chuck Allen, of Wickford, R.I., strung together a scoreline full of ones at the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta. The only problem was two of them came in the first race in the form of an 11th. After that minor bobble, however, the team was untouchable, winning the four remaining races to take first place in the 26-boat fleet by 18 points and the regatta's overall prize, a Sunsail charter boat and entry into the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Caribbean Rendezvous in the British Virgin Islands in November. The choice was a popular one as the J/24 class erupted with applause when Sailing World marketing director George Brengle announced that Brown and Allen had taken the award over Terry Hutchinson, who won the 49-boat Melges 24 class, and Brad Boston, who won the 10-boat Ultimate 20 class with six firsts and a second "The first race was very light and we were in third or fourth on the run," says Brown, of the opening race of the regatta, which was finished in drifting conditions after two of three legs. "The boats that got ahead tended to sail a little higher and we got about a 50-degree knock when we got to the bottom of the run. The boats from behind sailed down the rhumb line and got ahead. We had to jibe back into a really bad angle and we lost a lot of boats." In the remaining four races, sailed in between 6 and 12 knots, Brown and Allen were able to get in front and stay there. "We got off the line really well. A couple of times it was really tight and we managed to squeeze out of there," says Brown. "[Sunday] we had really good lanes coming off the starting line and just got in phase. I had a guy sailing with me today who is very knowledgeable about the Bay and we had a good feel for what the wind was doing today. I had a good team. We really sailed well." The forecast on Sunday was for more breeze than the two previous days—though that wasn't saying much given how light the wind had been—and for the wind to gradually veer as the land heated up and the seabreeze started to mix with the gradient flow. However, said Brown, even as the wind was shifting right, it wasn't the sort of day where you could start at the boat end and tack for the right corner. "We talked about this before the start," said Brown. "I've sailed on the Bay quite a bit, Davis Island [YC, which hosted the J/24 Midwinters earlier last week] and here, and this can apply either place. Even when the wind is going right you can make gains by digging in to the left a bit and taking the left angles. The first race, we had a great start, but we went a little farther left than the guys who tacked immediately and when we came back across we had them handily." For information on North sails for your J/24 don't hesitate to contact our J/24 Experts! To order your fast North J/24 sails online and have them delivered to your door, click here.

For more information on J/24 sails, contact the North J/24 experts.