J Cup fun

A report from the annual J cup regatta

The J-Cup 2005, the prestigious and increasingly popular annual regatta for all J Boat owners, was hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club from the 18th to the 20th of August.

J-Cup competitors race to win a number of significant prizes for both class and one-design racing, awarded bya number of generous sponsors of the fleet. The most hotly contested are the coveted J-Cup itself, the B&G J-Cup Prize, and for the first time in the history of the event, the Dubarry Award for outstanding achievement.

Presided over by PRO Martin Wells-Brown, the J-Cup 2005 attracted a record entry of 33 boats: nine different models, racing in three classes. Class one was the fast handicap which comprised J/133s and J/120s, Class two was the J/109s which were racing one-design under Class Rules, and Class three included J/105s, J/92s, J/80s, J/110s the new J/92 S and the new J/100.

Seven races were scheduled across the three day event with two races due to be sailed on Thursday. Glorious sunshine was abundant but breeze was in extremely short supply and the race officer did a great job to get race one underway in a north to north westerly of three to six knots.

In class one, Jump, the J/133 of Stewart Hawthorn (winner of the J-Cup 2004) excelled, with Neil Martin’s J/133 Jammy Dodger in second and the J/120 of Ian Matthews, Jinja, in third place. The J/109s were lead by newcomer to the fleet and Westcountry local Peter Johnson in Waverider, followed by Nigel and Suzie Brook’s Jalapeno, and then Zelda, raced by Ben Richards and Michael Ewart-Smith. Mike Riley in the J/110 Jammin earned his first place in class one in the dying breeze. Marie-Claude Heys sailed the J/92 S into second and third were Robin and Jill Stevenson in Mojo, their J/92. With no chance of getting race two away, the fleet and the race committee headed home to enjoy the B&G cocktails at the commodore’s reception in the club-house.

The fleet were greeted with a much more promising 10 to 19 knots on Friday and the PRO called for race two to be sailed prior to the scheduled races three, four and five. In class one friday became the battle of the J/133s Jump Robert Davies’ Roxy 11, each scoring two firsts and two seconds. Boat of the day in the J/109 Class was Zelda with two bullets, but Waverider and Jalapeno scored a win each in races four and five respectively. Greg Burgess and his team in Blue Jay achieved commendable placings for the day with two second a third and a fifth, all the more impressive considering this was the first time Blue Jay had lined up against the other J/109s at a one-design class event.

In class three, Kevin Sproul and his J/80 crew scored four convincing wins in the Silva Dream Machine. Jammin held it together with two seconds, as did J/92 Mojo. The rest of the spoils were split between the boys and girls on Nick Martin and Gary Fry’s J/105, Diablo J, who scored their best result so far with a third place in race two and another in race five. Pete Tyler in the J/92 Neilson Redeye earned their third in race three and the local boys Martin and Tom Bloomfield were third in race four sailing Wizard, their J/92.

Saturday morning was always going to be tricky for some, having sailed four bruising races on Friday and having taken full advantage of the half price bar, courtesy of North Sails, in the evening. A blustery 10 to 16 knots tends to deal with most malaise, one way or another, and with no class result yet decided everyone on the water wanted the last two races to count. In class one, race six was won by Jump, second was Roxy 11 and Jinja took third.

Race six belonged to Roxy 11, with the J/120 Mojo, of Adrian and Kristin Crook in second and Jump in third. The J/109s saw some fabulous racing with race six going to Waverider, Zelda second and Blue Jay third, but in race seven, Chaz Ivill in Johnny Blue finally found his predicted form to win convincingly. Andrew Given’s short-handed but highly skilled team took second in High Tension and third place went to Zelda. In class three, Jammin sailed intelligently and won both races, with Mojo second and Jive talking third in race six. Silva Dream Machine secured a ‘safe’ second and Jive Talking a third in race seven.

The J-Cup Gala Prize-Giving Supper was held on Saturday evening with 200 J sailors present to enjoy the complimentary wine from Sobstad Sailmakers and to ensure that the evening was lively enough.

The J-Cup was awarded to Kevin Sproul and the team from Silva Dream Machine who had achieved the lowest points score across the three classes at the event. The B&G J-Cup Prize was awarded to Stewart Hawthorn and crew in Jump who had beaten Roxy 11 by a single point (actually just one second on the racetrack) and the Dubarry Trophy for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Michael-Ewart Smith and Ben Richards in Zelda who not only won their class at the J-Cup, but who have also scored an impressive list of results throughout the year, including a class win at Cowes. The prize awarded for the best results across the whole 2005 one-design series went to Nigel and Suzie Brook and crew on Jalapeno.

The Royal Torbay Yacht Club has to be one of the most welcoming clubs in the country and they hosted a superb regatta with exemplary race management. We will be back. Next year however, the J-Cup returns to the Solent and indications are that the regatta will continue to grow and develop as the UK J sailor’s ‘regatta of choice’. This is in part due to the competitive spirit, friendship and camaraderie typical within the fleet but also due to the continued support of generous and visionary sponsors. The J Boat fleet would like to thank the event sponsors B&G, Dubarry, North Sails and Sobstad Sailmakers.