Jika Jika consolidates

Full schedule sailed on day two of the J-Cup

All six classes completed races four, five and six on Friday, the second day of racing at the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics. Competitors enjoyed another fine day on the sparkling Solent in a shifty northerly breeze which topped out at ten knots.

Mike and Jamie Holmes consolidated their points lead over the fleet in their J/97 Jika Jika, racing for the Lombard J/97 UK National Championship title, but they did not have things all their own way. Grant Gordon and his team on Fever notched up the lowest score of the day with a 1, 3, 1 scoreline and now sit in second place overall. Gear failure meant that the first race of the day was disappointing for Stuart Sawyer on Black Dog, but now discarding an eighth place Black Dog holds on to third place in this nine boat fleet.

Stalker, owned and raced by Steven Tapper, still leads the J/109 UK National Championship supported by Sebago with just nine points on the sheet. Paul Griffiths had a great day on Jagerbomb and pushed through to second place overall with 19 points and Mike and Sarah Wallis settled in third place with Jahmali on 23 points.

A black flag in the first race of the championship for Jonathan Calascione and Johnnie Goodwin, on Harlequin, was discarded after five races and an otherwise consistently strong performance sees this new team in fourth place overall on 23 points. A win in the last race of the day places David Richards’ Jumping Jellyfish in fifth going in to the final day of racing with 25 points.

Three bullets for David and Kirsty Apthorp’s J-Dream in the J/111 one design fleet propelled them in to pole position with a two pint lead over Didier Le Moal’s J-Lance 7. Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas had a tough day, but hold third place overall in Shmokin Joe. All eight boats are so evenly matched in terms of boats speed that there is simply no margin at all for error. For J-Dream, things just came together nicely on Friday: this tight knit team found their groove.

Ian Dewhirst’s J/133 Jump still leads IRC 1 with just five points having won five out of the six races completed so far but Robert and Jackie Dobson nailed the final race of the day in Jeronimo and are in second overall on 11 points. Ivan Trotman and his team on the J/122 Jolou also enjoyed a better day and sit in third place with 14 points on the card.

The top three boats in IRC 2 are all J/92s. Bojangles, owned and raced by Richard Sainsbury, tops the bill after six races on eight points. Andy Howe and Annie Kelly (current holders of the J-Cup) slotted in a win in race five in Black Jack and have pushed through to second place on 14 points whilst Richard Sparrow’s Who’s to No holds third place overall.

Stewart Hawthorn’s J’ai 2 Amour leads the J/80 Class with seven points, but Patrick Liardet who is especially slippery in the light stuff took two race wins in Aqua J. Gordon Craigen still holds third place for Swallow by a single point from Chris Ducker’s Slam.

The North Sails daily prizes were presented on Friday evening to Aqua J, Bojangles, Fever, J-Dream, Jagerbomb and Jeronimo and competitors settled in at the bar of the Royal Southern Yacht Club to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony. The two final races of the 2012 J-Cup Driven by MIQ Logistics will be races today. 400 competitors will assemble at St Mary’s stadium in Southampton this evening for the final prizegiving party and the winner of the J-Cup will be crowned.