2013 J/24 World Championship: Interview with Tim Healy

Sail1Design is pleased to welcome Geoff Becker, author of this piece and our newest Airwaves writer. A collegiate All-American, Geoff has vast one-design sailing experience and success, is a rules expert, and has great coaching experience. Geoff will write for Airwaves and help manage our performance coaching service. Geoff will be reporting from the 2013 J/24 Worlds in Ireland, so stay tuned!

Tim Healy, a sailmaker for North Sails in Rhode Island, has been sailing in the J-24 class for almost 20 years and has won many local, regional and national J-24 regattas. In addition, he was awarded a gold medal for sailing the J-24 in the 2003 Pan American Games and won the J-24 World Championship in 2010. I sat down with Tim Healy before the 2013 J-24 World Championship Regatta in Howth, Ireland to find out more about Tim’s history with the J-24, thoughts about the class and suggestions for those who aspire to compete in one of the most popular classes in the world.

Q: When did you start sailing J-24s?

TH: My first time on a J-24 was in 1979 on my father’s J-24 named ‘Daddy Wagon.’ He used to race it locally and he would take our family for cruises around Niantic Bay in Connecticut.  1995 was the first time I competitively raced a J-24, with skipper Geoff Moore and in

1998 I first competed as a skipper on a J-24.

Q: I know you sail many different types of boats, and all at a high competitive level.  Why do you like sailing an older one-design boat like the J-24?

TH: First of all, the J-24 Class Association is very strong and very supportive of the sailors in the class. With boats competing all over the world, there are J-24 sailors almost everywhere and you can find high level competition in many parts of the US and the world. As a one-design class that has been established for around 40 years, competitive J-24 sailing creates a level playing field for comparison with sailors from different areas, as well as different generations. 

There are many J-24 sailors that have been sailing the boat for decades and are still going strong today.

Q: Can you think of any specifics that make sailing the J-24 both challenging and rewarding?

TH: I think that the J-24 puts significant emphasis on some of the fundamentals of sailing. The regattas have a consistent high level of competition, generally high numbers of boats and the big regattas attract a lot of top sailors. Since the J-24 is sailed with 5 crewmembers, sailing the boat puts a premium on teamwork and team building. Also, sailing a smaller boat with a genoa headsail creates challenging boat handling and rewards teamwork and practice. I would say the largest challenge is being able to put enough time into sailing the boat with as many of the same people aboard as possible. 

The J-24 is a challenging boat to sail, and top crews have been sailing the boat together for longer periods of time.

Q: Do you have any specific suggestions for those already in the class that want to improve?

TH: Ask questions and be a sponge! As with any class, find out the tricks of the trade from the top guys in your own fleet and try to stay up with what makes the top boats go fast. And like I already said, you also need to spend time sailing the boat with your crew to make the biggest gains in your boat handling.

Q: What is the best way to get into the J-24 class?

TH: You can start by crewing on a J-24 in a local regatta. Then you can decide if you want to get your own boat. If you are looking to get a J-24, look for a quality used boat. There are so many J-24’s all over the world; you can find good quality boats for reasonable prices, almost anywhere. Most any well-maintained boat will not take too much work to be competitive at the club level and probably not too much extra work to be a top-level boat. If you have any questions about what to look for in a boat, try to attend a J-24 regatta as a crew and start asking questions.

Q: Ok, lets talk a little about the upcoming 2013 J-24 World Championship in Ireland. What specific preparations did you make for the World Championship?

TH: As I said, sailing the boat is one of the best things for getting better. In Rhode Island, we have a very strong local fleet (Fleet 50) and sailing locally has great competition. During the summer, we have

J-24 racing on Thursday evenings and those races are some of the most competitive short course races I do.  The next step was to sail regional and national events with my whole crew, if possible. The more events with the entire crew, the better. With the J-24 Worlds being overseas, there are some challenges that we don’t have when sailing in the US. Things like getting a quality charter boat, longer-term housing and travel are all more difficult and have to be planned out pretty far in advance. Lastly, you need to be prepared to spend enough time getting your boat ready and practice time in prior to the regatta. Normally that means arriving 5-7 days prior to the regatta to prepare the boat and practice with our crew.

Q: With around 40 boats at the World Championship, do you approach the racing any differently than in smaller events?

TH: Not really. Our team tries to approach all regattas with the same focus, so as far as our preparation and teamwork goes; we have a lot of experience. As for the racing, in a fleet with more talent and depth, it will be our general strategy to try and avoid bigger risks and keep our options open. With more fast boats, successful risks are going to pay off less and unsuccessful risks will be more damaging with more boats likely to be close. Beyond that, our team will work together each day to come up with what we think will work that day.

Q: Thanks Tim! Do you have any predictions for the regatta?

TH: None. I don’t do that. I take every regatta the same way, start-by-start, leg-by-leg and race-by-race.

Geoff Becker, Airwaves Writer & Performance Coach