J boats playing away

Harriet Prest reports from the J Cup in Guernsey

The mass of colourful asymmetric spinnakers, tearing through the Channel Islands over the weekend, could only mean one thing: the J-Boats have come out to play. With two days of racing completed, the 2003 J-Cup, supported by the Guernsey Tourist Board, has provided competitors with a diverse program: upwind-downwind courses, round the cans and long distance racing.

The start of the regatta on Sunday morning was delayed as it seemed the wind was having a lay in. When breeze did arrive from the North-East, conditions went from light to just right, with boats finishing the day in the stunning Havelet Bay powered up by a good force 4.

The regatta fleet of some 30 J-Boats is split in three classes: dividing the J120s from the J109s, leaving class three a mixture of J80s, J92s, J105s and J110s. In class 1 Stewart Hawthorn in Jamarama won the first race. An unfortunate incident preceding the second start took them out of the race and Charley J, driven by owner Chas Ivill, delivered a strong performance, to better their previous second, and win this time round. A ten strong fleet of J109s meant serious one-design style racing; with the Irish team in Wow nearly pulling off a flyer downwind on the opposite gybe angle to the rest of the fleet. It was Richard Creer’s Jo Jo Gunne who stole the first race and J-Sprit Class Cowes Week 2003 winner Robert Shaw, in Jazolo, who showed form in the second race. Class 3 was dominated by Slingshot, the J105 driven to two victories by Jeremy Robinson.

The following day, it being bank holiday Monday, the J-Boats undertook their own kind of cruising with a long race around the Island of Sark. The dramatic tacking leg along rock infested waters and exhilarating epic spinnaker legs meant this race was no family picnic. Navigational decisions were key in deciding the results and each boat seemed to have their own ‘local knowledge’ on board. Winners of Class 3, Simon Curwin and his team on board Voador, had taken this a step further and taken the previous day off racing in order to check out the rocks and eddies around Herm; a crucial obstacle on the race track. As with much of the fleet, their course took them on a rock hop along Herm’s eastern shores gaining them enough height to cross the Big Russel Channel and stem some 4 knots of unfavourable tide.

In Class 1 Charley J showed the way amongst the rocks, carving through the smaller boats, nearly kissing the Bec du Nez point and leaving everyone else for dust as she stormed to gain line honours and the fastest overall time by one and half minutes. Jazolo had another great result, winning Class Two. In this case they employed another local navigational nugget; crossing the channel early to make use of a back eddy in Sark’s Banquette bay. Whilst the day’s racing proved popular with the competitors, today, the final day, promises more excitement. The chat in the Guernsey Yacht Club reveals confidence and ambition; notably on the Swedish boat, Vegas, who are sure they will dominate Class 3 revealing their secret weapon, stating; “We have the Scandinavian powers of concentration.”

RESULTS

RACE ONE
Class 1
1. Jamarama, Stewart Hawthorn
2. Charley J, Chas Ivill
3. Jalfrezi, Gareth Thomas

Class 2
1. Jo Jo Gunne, Richard Creer
2. Wow, George Sisk
3. Waverider, Mike Bennett

Class 3
1. Sling Shot, J-UK
2. Moby J, Mark Franklin
3. Majic, Peter Howe

RACE 2

Class 1
1. Charley J, Chas Ivill
2. Marionette, Chris Dunning
3. Jalfrezi, Gareth Thomas

Class 2
1. Jazolo, Robert Shaw
2. Judgement Day, Nigel and Suzie Brooke
3. Wow, George Sisk

Class 3
1. Sling Shot, J-UK
2. Majic, Peter Howe
3. Duck ‘n’ Jybe, Roy Morgan

RACE 3 – Around Sark

Class 1
1. Charley J, Chas Ivill
2. Jamarama, Stewart Hawthorn
3. Marionette, Chris Dunning

Class 2
1. Jazolo, Robert Shaw
2. Joyride, Michael Jones
3. King Louie, Malcolm and Fiona Thorpe

Class 3
1. Voador, Simon Curwin
2. Sling Shot, J-UK
3. Just Enough, Andy Hill