Its bigger than a double J-Cup

Whopping 75 boats entered with 32 boats on the J/109 UK Nationals startline

The eagerly anticipated J-Cup 2008 starts Friday when a massive armada of 75 J Boats will be leaving the pontoons of the Royal Southern Yacht Club to commence racing. This record breaking entry includes 32 J/109s which will be racing for the 2008 UK National Championship at the event. In addition to the J/109 Nationals there will be one-design ‘class’ racing at the event for J/105s and J/80s and there will also be two IRC classes. Three races are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with a further two races on Sunday. The J-Cup 2008 is be sponsored by B&G, Dubarry of Ireland and North Sails.

The J/109 National Championship fleet is the largest gathering of J/109s to date, anywhere in the world. They will be racing according to their strict one-design rules on a level rating basis. Competition here will be fierce! Previous winners Ben Richards and Michael Ewart-Smith stormed to victory in the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series in Zelda and are looking very hot. Current UK National Champions and winners of the J-Cup in 2007 Johnny Blue II (Jeff Dakin, Bruce Jubb & Mike Flood) will be hoping to retain their title. The current J/109 European Champion and Cowes Week 2007 winner, Matt Boyle, will be vying for the title in Shiva as will the winners of the J/109 Western Solent Championships, Mike and Sarah Wallis in Jahmali. In addition to the regular racers on the South Coast a boat from Scotland Tigh Solius II which belongs to Ken Grant has made the trip down for the event and there are a number of other new faces (and unknown entities!) to the fleet including David Jobson racing on Audajious and Jonas Grander who will be racing his brand new boat Matador for the first time.

There will be 16 J/80 Sportsboats racing at the event and it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top. For sure Ian Atkins and his team in Boats.com stand a good chance having won the J/80 Class at the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series, however Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper won the Elvstrom Sobstad Summer Championship which took place last weekend in Just Do It and so this pairing will be riding high this weekend. Visitor James Dwyer (and Australian currently residing in Cardiff) will be sailing Redsky and the Solent boats will be watching him closely following his strong series of results at the Spi Ouest Easter Regatta.

Nine J/105s will race tomorrow at the J-Cup which takes place just ahead of the J/105 UK National Championship next weekend. It’s a close call as to who will be in the medals here. Paul Griffiths and family sailing Fay-J will certainly be hot contenders and they are showing sparkling form at the moment. That said, Rob Dornton-Duff has a lot to prove in Java and, in fact, any of the boats racing in this class have the potential to excite, especially the double-handed team on board James Heald’s Flawless J. Richard Watney will be racing his brand new boat Jeopardy for the first time ever at a J/105 one-design event and the word on the street is that he’s been putting in some practice this week.

The J/133s and J/122s will do battle in Class 1 along with the carbon flyer Joe 90 (a J/90) which belongs to Duncan MacDonald, Phil Thomas and Charlie Wise. Given the right conditions (a bit of breeze and a few edgy reaches) this team could easily romp away in Class 1. It won’t be easy: four J/122s and three J/133s, including Stewart Hawthorn’s Jump and Chas Ivill’s JB3 (winner of the RORC series last year) have plenty to prove. Interestingly, the only J Boat at the event with a symmetric (as opposed to asymmetric) spinnaker, Jonty Layfield’s J/39 Sleeper, will also race in this class. The odds here are just too close to call.

Class 2 is the playground for the J/92s and the J/100s. Like the J/105s, the J/92s have their National Championship next weekend. The current J/92 National Champion, Richard Sparrow, has brought Who’s to Know down to the Solent from his home port of Ramsgate and clearly he has to be a serious contender. That said, the winner of this class at the J-Cup in 2007, Colin Wall in True Love will be right up there when things get fruity. The Greenhalgh/Taylor/Grindall Team, racing their J/92 J’Ronimo, have been here, seen it and pretty much done it all before. They won the event in a J/105 a few years ago but they are here to do it all again and they’ve got great form. There are two J/100s racing in this class as well; Barbarossa belongs to Charles Rolls and Jam-T will be helmed by Paul Spurin. Although the J/100 is often referred as a ‘gentleman’s day-sailer’ there will be no quarter given between these two gentlemen on the race-track.

All in all, the J-Cup 2008 looks ready to set the Solent on fire and for sure, everywhere you look this weekend there will be a J Boat on the horizon. Summing up the real spirit of the J-Cup, and indeed, all racing in the J Family, when asked what all this competition means to him, Bruce Jubb of Johnny Blue II told said this morning "It’s all about having fun and enjoying the regatta." Well said Mr Jubb. Let’s drink to that.

		J/105s
1	Paul Griffiths	Fay J	J105
2	Geoff Payne	Jolene	J105
3	Rob Porton-Duff	Java	J105
4	Chris Jones	Journey Maker 5	J105
5	Richard Watney	Jeopardy	J105
6	James Heald	Flawless J	J105
7	Nick Martin	Diablo J	J105
8	Siobhan Hayes	Just Aquaholix	J105
9	William Newton	Jelly Baby	J105
		J/109s
10	Gary & Sasha Fry	Mojito	J109
11	Ben Richards	Zelda	J109
12	Dr Ken Grant	Tigh Soluis II	J109
13	David Richards	Jumping Jellyfish	J109
14	Mike Wallis	Jahmali	J109
15	Andrew Given	High Tension	J109
16	Elliot Wishlade	Jumunu	J109
17	Steven Tapper	Stalker	J109
18	Kevin Moll	Jura	J109
19	J. Hearth	Basic Instinct	J109
20	Michael Jones	Joyride	J109
21	RAFSA	Red Arrow	J109
22	Jonas Grander	Matador	J109
23	Max Kenna	Jeoman of Wight	J109
24	Jamie Arnell	Jeez-Louise	J109
25	David McLeman	Offbeat	J109
26	Bruce Jubb	Johnny Blue II	J109
27	Adam Wright	Jouster	J109
28	R Palmer	Jangada Too	J109
29	Bill Blain	Batfish II	J109
30	Richard & Valerie Griffith	Outrajeous	J109
31	David Carter	Jeboch	J109
32	Matthew Boyle	Shiva	J109
33	David Jobson	Audajious	J109
34	Luca Rubinelle	Aria	J109
35	Steve & Jody Maine	J2Eau	J109
36	Roger Phillips	Design Star 2	J109
37	David & Kirsty Apthorp	J-Dream	J109
38	Guy Knight	Beth	J109
39	Jonathan Perry & Philip Smith	Firestorm	J109
40	Tony Dawson	Juno	J109
41	Dominic Monkhouse	Me Julie	J109
		Class 1 (IRC)
42	John Patterson	Panacea	J122
43	Stan Fenton & Nigel Cook	Jedi Knight	J122
44	Ian Matthews	Jinja	J122
45	D Hunt	Jacobs Ladder	J122
46	Stewart Hawthorn	Jump	J133
47	Neil Martin	Jammy Dodger	J133
48	Charles Ivill	JB3	J133
49	J Layfield	Sleeper	J39
50	Duncan McDonald	Joe 90	J90
		J/80s
51	Andy Phelps	Strumpet	J80
52	James Dwyer	Red Sky	J80
53	Stephen Chiverton	Just Chilling	J80
54	Dominic Margetson	Just Smyle	J80
55	Chris Harper	Just ravage	J80
56	Damien Samuel-Camps	Jango Fett	J80
57	Seb Ripard	SAO	J80
58	Terry Palmer	Just Do It	J80
59	Ian Atkins	Boats.com	J80
60	Chris Kinsman	Jabba	J80
61	Rob Fox	Jevan	J80
62	Liz Savage	Savage Sailing Team	J80
63	Marcus Stone	Rose & Thistle	J80
64	Nick Kirkman	Jane	J80
65	Simon Read	Jamari	J80
66	Nigel & Suzie Brook	Jenga IV	J80
		Class 2 (IRC)
67	David Greenhalgh	J'Ronimo	J92
68	Richard Sparrow	Who's To No	J92
69	Martin Pound	Moby Jay	J92
70	Colin Wall	True Love	J92 S
71	Dominic Horner	Jeckyll	J92
72	Andrew Roberts	Just In Time	J92 S
73	Pete & Pip Tyler	Neilson Redeye	J92 S
74	C Rolls	Barbarossa	J100
75	Paul Spurin	Jam-T	J100