By Geoff Becker
Day 2
2 races (all course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish) Wind 6-10 knots from the Northeast
Day two began with a shore postponement before a light northeast sea breeze filled in and Races 4 and 5 were completed. We again tried to be more conservative on the starting line and during the race knowing that there were no drop races for this event. Our finishes were 9-12 today which dropped us to second overall due to the very consistent sailing of Brian Keane and his team aboard Savasana.
Today’s lighter winds put a premium on boatspeed and making smooth maneuvers out on the course. This also meant that mark roundings were critical points in the race where distance could easily be made up or lost. In particular, the leeward mark gates today were very crowded and the lighter winds also meant that the wind shadows from the boats, still approaching the gate, made exiting the gate marks that much more challenging.
We had one good gate mark rounding today and one we would like back. The difference in the two roundings was the exit from the gate mark to the upwind leg. During the bad rounding, we followed a small pack of boats around the mark and in the other, we were able to round more cleanly without the effects of other boats. Rounding a leeward mark close behind other boats is hard enough, but when you add the bad air of 20+ approaching spinnakers, it can be very difficult to sail at full speed during the first minute or two of the upwind leg.
Of course it is important to choose the best gate mark to round based on the side of the course you prefer for the upwind leg, or even the gate mark that might be more upwind. The best gate mark choice can often be the mark that allows you the cleanest rounding with the best escape into clear air and can make a difference of handfuls of positions at the finish.
Our takeaways from Day 2 are…
1. Maneuvers and mark roundings are key in light winds.
2. Take the time to choose the best gate mark to round 3. Often the fastest exit from the gate is better than the favored mark
Day 2 Overall Results:
1 Brian Keane USA 36 22.00 5 6 2 4 5
2 Tim Healy USA 58 33.00 3 3 6 9 12
3 Ian Atkins GB 76 49.00 6 20 3 13 7
4 Jud Smith USA 48 53.00 8 18 16 3 8
5 Bennet Greenwald USA 54 57.00 16 22 5 1 13
6 Allan Terhune USA 69 57.00 10 13 4 27 3
7 Mauricio Santa Cruz BR 66 60.00 4 16 1 29% 10
8 Kris Werner / F. Wehrheim USA 23 63.00 20 7 22 5 9
9 Martin Kullman USA 42 67.00 21 15 21 8 2
10 Joel ronning USA 52 68.00 29 2 8 28 1
11 john brim USA 03 70.00 24 9 9 17 11
12 Brian Elliott USA 20 C 78.00 7 1 19 25 26
13 Kerry Klingler USA 30 82.00 11 4 23 22 22
14 Marco Teixidor PUR 56 C 86.00 2 21 29% 11 23
15 Will Welles USA 50 89.00 37 11 18 19 4
16 Jenn Ray Wulff USA 22 C 90.00 1 23 29 12 25
17 Adam Burns USA 05 C 91.00 15 8 28 21 19
18 Martin Johnsson USA 61 C 97.00 17 14 27 2 37
19 Peter Vessella USA 07 106.00 19 19 13 26 29
20 Todd Hiller USA 49 C 109.00 41 28 10 6 24
21 Henry Filter USA 26 C 110.00 23 37 12 7 31
22 Thomas Bowen USA 11 120.00 34 30 11 18 27
23 James Barnash USA 82 122.00 12 12 32 14 52
24 Mikael Lindqvist SW 78 128.00 9 5 39 33 42
25 Jim Cunningham USA 06 C 133.00 32 27 26 32 16
26 Gregg Mylett USA 55 C 133.00 18 45 33 20 17
27 David Koski USA 64 134.00 36 47 20 16 15
28 Mark Ploch USA 44 145.00 50 32 7 35 21
29 Tim Finkle USA 02 C 146.00 51 29 17 10 39
30 Jeff_John_Ed_Go Sullivan USA 75 148.00 46 10 40 46 6
31 Stanley Edwards USA 79 151.00 13 34 45 29 30
32 tyler doyle USA 31 158.00 27 56 30 31 14
33 Heather Gregg Earl USA 14 C 166.00 25 43 25 23 50%
34 Catharine Evans USA 15 167.00 14 38 47 36 32
35 Neil Sullivan USA 73 171.00 31 41 37 24 38
36 Chuck Millican BER 33 C 173.00 33 31 14 47 48
37 Richard Nesbett USA 12 189.00 28 44 34 55 28
38 Bruno Pasquinelli USA 21 194.00 38 25 72q 39 20
39 Ron Thompson USA 24 C 200.00 52 46 43 41 18
40 Frank McNamara USA 41 C 200.00 47 50 36 34 33
41 Daan Goedkoop USA 09 C 201.00 40 35 24 30 72%
42 Collin Kirby USA 74 C 218.00 43 24 50 58 43
43 Dave Franzel USA 65 224.00 53 39 31 67% 34
44 Ian Mayers CA 51 225.00 49 42 38 50 46
45 Stu McCrea CA 29 C 227.00 22 17 52 72% 64
46 Paul Cannon USA 04 C 235.00 30 49 49 72q 35
47 Scott Weakley CA 37 C 243.00 68 26 41 51 57
48 Neil Ford USA 72 C 244.00 56 40 54 54 40
49 Killian Corbishley USA 46 C 245.00 54 55 51 38 47
50 John DiMatteo USA 18 C 247.00 39 54 55 44 55
51 Tim Gibbs USA 45 C 247.00 61 53 42 42 49
52 Brandon Flack USA 13 C 248.00 26 66% 46 69 41
J/70 North American championship
2014 J/70 North American Championship Day 1 Report
By Airwaves writer Geoff Becker
Team Helly Hansen, Skipper: Tim Healy, Tactician/Trimmer: Geoff Becker, Tactician/Trimmer: John Mollicone, Bow: Gordon Borges
Day 1
3 races (all course 4, 4 legs and downwind finish), Wind 8-14 knots from the Northwest, with a fairly steady direction.
Day one of the 2014 J/70 North American Championship saw 71 boats make it to the starting line for three races in winds much better than forecast. With the large fleet and long starting line our plan was to stay safe and leave ourselves options in the first part of each race. We were fortunate to get three good starts and finish the day with a 3-3-6, earning Team Helly Hansen the early lead after Day 1. (Scroll down for full results)
The course today saw a fairly steady wind direction as far as the headings were concerned, but it was clear that the boats getting more to the left side upwind were coming out better on almost every beat. After the first race and into the second race it became increasingly difficult to get to the left side since more and more boats were trying hard to get that way. In the third race, our start was not as strong as the other two and we had to tack toward the middle before getting all the way to the left, which gave boats to our left more of the course advantage.
Being a little behind early in the final race made us look for other ways to gain upwind, since we couldn’t always get as much left as we would have liked. We noticed that many of the other boats wanted the left side so badly, they were basically sailing outside the course to get there and overstanding the layline in the process. This gave us the opportunity to tack short of the boats on the left side and lead them back to the windward mark as they sailed extra distance. So, even if one side is favored, it is a good idea to pay attention and save distance when you can’t get to the favored side.
Our takeaways from Day 1 are…
1. Try to stay safe on big starting lines.
2. Know which side is favored, but also know where you are on the course.
3. Saving distance can make gains against boats on the favored side.
Results after Day 1
Overall Group 1
1 Tim Healy USA 58 12.00 3 3 6
2 Brian Keane USA 36 13.00 5 6 2
3 Mauricio Santa Cruz BR 66 21.00 4 16 1
4 Brian Elliott USA 20 27.00 7 1 19
5 Allan Terhune USA 69 27.00 10 13 4
6 Ian Atkins GB 76 29.00 6 20 3
7 Kerry Klingler USA 30 38.00 11 4 23
8 Joel ronning USA 52 39.00 29 2 8
9 Jud Smith USA 48 42.00 8 18 16
10 john brim USA 03 42.00 24 9 9
11 Bennet Greenwald USA 54 43.00 16 22 5
12 Kris Werner USA 23 49.00 20 7 22
13 Adam Burns USA 05 51.00 15 8 28
14 Peter Vessella USA 07 51.00 19 19 13
15 Marco Teixidor PUR 56 52.00 2 21 29%
16 Jenn Ray Wulff USA 22 53.00 1 23 29
17 Mikael Lindqvist SW 78 53.00 9 5 39
18 James Barnash USA 82 56.00 12 12 32
19 Martin Kullman USA 42 57.00 21 15 21
20 Martin Johnsson USA 61 58.00 17 14 27
21 Will Welles USA 50 66.00 37 11 18
22 Henry Filter USA 26 72.00 23 37 12
23 Thomas Bowen USA 11 75.00 34 30 11
24 Chuck Millican BER 33 78.00 33 31 14
25 Todd Hiller USA 49 79.00 41 28 10
26 Jim Cunningham USA 06 85.00 32 27 26
27 Mark Ploch USA 44 89.00 50 32 7
28 Stu McCrea CA 29 91.00 22 17 52
29 Stanley Edwards USA 79 92.00 13 34 45
30 Heather Gregg Earl USA 14 93.00 25 43 25
31 Jeff_John_Ed_Go Sulliv USA 75 96.00 46 10 40
32 Donald Finkle USA 02 97.00 51 29 17
33 Gregg Mylett USA 55 97.00 18 46 33
34 Catharine Evans USA 15 99.00 14 38 47
35 Daan Goedkoop USA 09 99.00 40 35 24
36 David Koski USA 64 100.00 36 44 20
37 Richard Nesbett USA 12 107.00 28 45 34
38 Neil Sullivan USA 73 109.00 31 41 37
39 tyler doyle USA 31 113.00 27 56 30
40 Maxwell Plarr USA 74 117.00 43 24 50
41 Dave Franzel USA 65 123.00 53 39 31
42 Paul Cannon USA 04 128.00 30 49 49
43 Ian Mayers CA 51 129.00 49 42 38
44 Frank McNamara USA 41 133.00 47 50 36
45 William Markel USA 39 134.00 63 36 35
46 Bruno Pasquinelli USA 21 135.00 38 25 72q
47 Scott Weakley CA 37 135.00 68 26 41
48 Brandon Flack USA 13 138.00 26 66% 46
49 Kathy Parks USA 35 142.00 65 33 44
50 Ron Thompson USA 24 142.00 52 47 43
51 John DiMatteo USA 18 148.00 39 54 55
52 Neil Ford USA 72 150.00 56 40 54
53 Tim Gibbs USA 45 156.00 61 53 42
54 andrew fisher USA 77 158.00 44 48 66
55 Corbo Corbishley USA 46 160.00 54 55 51
56 peter Firey USA 16 162.00 42 64 56
57 Rich Bergmann USA 70 163.00 35 67 61
58 Anthony Byrne USA 28 163.00 48 57 58
59 Jonathan Pollak USA 43 168.00 45 66 57
60 R. Latane Montague USA 83 169.00 58 63 48
61 Davis King USA 80 170.00 59 51 60
62 Kenneth Smith USA 47 173.00 62 58 53
63 Edward Backman CA 60 178.00 55 61 62
64 David Dombroski USA 27 186.00 60 62 64
65 J.B. Walsh USA 57 188.00 57 72% 59
66 Martin McKenna USA 01 195.00 71 59 65
67 timothy Weibel USA 08 199.00 66 70 63
68 Mark Wagner USA 38 202.00 69 65 68
69 Holly Graf 84 204.00 64 71 69
70 Kristen Robinson USA 19 205.00 70 68 6771 Jim Hermetet USA 63 209.00 67 72% 70
Sail1Designer of the Month – MUSE, 2013 J/70 North American Champions
By Airwaves Editor Martha Pitt
Two weeks ago, the Annapolis Yacht Club welcomed 89 J/70s to its facility to compete in the inaugural J/70 North American Championship. With participation in the class growing at an alarming rate in the past year or so since the fleet was introduced, it’s no surprise that event filled in just twenty-seven hours with an extensive wait list, exemplifying how excited and eager so many sailors were to compete! Since the boat is so new, the class is still settling in on class rules and optimal tuning guides, but one thing is for sure: this boat has attracted many top sailors and the fleet gets deeper and more competitive with every event sailed. Only one third of the North American Championship fleet qualified for the Corinthian division.
And yet, despite the deep professional talent on so many of the J/70s competing, the boat to emerge victorious was in fact a Corinthian boat! MUSE, sailed by former Tufts Jumbos Joe Bardenheier, Stu Saffer, Bill Lynn, and skippered by Heather Gregg Earl bested the competition with patience and perseverance and won the regatta with 95 points, just two points ahead of Savasana skippered by Brian Keane. Every boat on the race course faced the same challenging conditions and had to adapt to the changing breeze, and every boat had that one or two (or more!) races that they wished they could take back. But with no drops, the teams that were able to look past the mistakes and minimize damage were the boats that made their way to the top of the fleet; rarely in a seven-race series does the winning boat have an average score of 13.6, which shows just how tough the racing conditions and fleet were! But MUSE did just that; they were able to capitalize on the good races, minimize mistakes, and learn from the tough races to move forward.
The crew from MUSE was gracious enough to share their thoughts about the regatta, the class, and their successes thus far. Earl and Bardenheier bought the boat back in November, and have sailed it in numerous events since, including the winter and spring J/70 circuit, Key West Race Week, Bacardi Race Week in Miami, Charleston Race Week, the NYYC Annual Regatta, and the Marblehead NOOD, among others. The team has known each other for over twenty years, and have all raced with and against each other throughout that time, though their connection comes from the Tufts Sailing Team, of which they were all a part. Though this is the first event that this particular crew has sailed together on the J/70, you can bet that we will be seeing them all on the race course again soon! Congratulations to MUSE for being the first J/70 North American Champs!
S1D: How do you all know each other, and how long have you been sailing together?
Heather Gregg Earl: We are ALL jumbos, we went to Tufts and sailed for the team there. This is the first event that we all sailed together though on a J-70! When we were planning the crew for the event, I really thought it would be cool to have an all Jumbo boat so approached Billy and Stu to sail with Joe and I. I was really excited to get this team together, we have sailed together on the team race circuit over the years since Tufts, sailing on the same team for New York Yacht Club plus we have been really good friends for years. Having a fun team was as important as having a good team – luckily I got both!
S1D: What were your expectations going into the event?
Earl: Once registration closed on the event and I took a look at the scratch sheet, I knew it was a pretty deep fleet for sure. Most of the teams we had raced against so I had a good idea who the players were. Teams were working really hard in prep for the NA’s so I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy regatta at all. Going in to the regatta I felt like we had pretty good boat speed, I felt like all the time we had put in was starting to pay off, but I knew consistency was going to be key. And with so many pros jumping into the class, our goal was to be top 15 and win Corinthian Division. Never thought we could win both!
S1D: We saw a WIDE range of conditions, making it really tough for any boat to find any consistency at the top of the fleet. What was your mental game throughout the regatta to stay focused and not get frustrated?
Earl: After the first race when we had a 5th and some of the top guys had some deep finishes, we realized we have to attack this one race at a time and be prepared that we may be all over the place finish wise and be prepared for that inevitability. Consistency is going to win this regatta especially without a throw out. We had to take a penalty turn shortly after the second start in light air (a tough one to recover from lane wise) so we had a 5, 55, 5 on day one. Collectively our team just put that aside (the 55!) and we just focused on each race. Our team just kept the positive energy flowing. We didn’t focus on the scores after every race, but just focused on doing the best we could in each race. Not getting so focused on the scores was key. Also, I have to say I had the most AMAZING crew and can’t say enough good things about how we all worked together so well, making my job as driver an easy one. Billy Lynn did an outstanding job calling tactics. Stu Saffer did an incredible job trimming jib and spin and Joe Bardenheier was exceptional at trimming main and helping out all around. When you have a team that REALLY works well together, communicates well, its much easier to stay calm, focused and deliver the results.
S1D: What were some of the things that you guys were focusing on throughout the regatta?
Earl: Clean starts, boatspeed, and lane management upwind and down. Getting off the line with a clean lane was a real focus in the light conditions. Having the ability to get to the side we wanted was key and it was critical to be able to find a clean lane very early in the race in order to do that. With 90 boats on the line speed off the line was key to holding your lane.
S1D: How does it feel to be a Corinthian boat and beating so many professional sailors?
Earl: Awesome!! It’s great to have so many professional sailors on the course as it brings the game up to a new level – but it’s even better to beat them!
S1D: What kind of advice would you give to newer J/70 sailors?
Joe Bardenheier: Practice and preparation are important. Find some people that you really like to spend time with and get out there and have some fun. These boats seem to be really even right out of the factory, let’s work together to preserve the integrity of the class so that the racing comes down to strategy, tactics, team work and boat speed and not into an “arms race”. Let’s all make sure to have some fun together on and off the water.
S1D: What about the J/70 drew you to get involved in the fleet? What do you like most about it?
Earl: Joe and I had been interested in getting a sport boat to ca
mpaign. Stu Johnstone called and asked us to go for a sail on one and it was a typical south westerly day in Newport, blowing 15-20….It didn’t take us long, SOLD! It’s a really fun boat, it’s a scream in a breeze and we knew it would attract a lot of top sailors…having a boat this high performance at such a reasonable price point we knew would grow the class quickly.
S1D: How did you enjoy sailing in Annapolis?
Bardenheier: Annapolis is such an historic place to sail and the Annapolis YC certainly knows how to throw an amazing event. They did a terrific job of making the entire process easy and fun from the check in to the final awards ceremony. The race committee and their entire support was top notch, they should all be commended!
S1D: Where did the name “Muse” come from?
Earl: No, not the rock band! Muses are the goddesses of the inspiration of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of knowledge. There are nine Muses, all daughters of Zeus & Mnemosyne. We picked the name because the J-70 was, for us, somewhat of an inspiration for us to buy the boat and go racing!
S1D: Are you all planning on doing anymore events as a team in the next year?
Earl: Yup, Worlds baby! We hope to keep this Jumbo team together for as many regattas as we can as we lead up to next years Worlds in September.
S1D: Any other comments about the event, the boat, your team, your support, etc?
Earl: We would like to thank Atlantis Weather Gear for their support of Team Muse. It’s the best gear out there and we love wearing it!
J/70 North American Championship Report & Full Results:
https://www.sail1design.com/airwaves-sailing-news/regatta-news-results/1184-j70report