J/105 Masters Crush Fleet, J/120 Wins Too!(San Diego, CA)- This past weekend marked the first of the infamous three weekend series of "pursuit" races sailed off San Diego's Point Loma. An annual fall right of passage in the southernmost part of California, over 120 boats participated in near picture perfect conditions with winds blowing from the NNW at 10-15 kts. As the little, slower rating boats took off in sunny, breezy conditions on a long starboard tack reach out the Pt Loma shipping channel on a SW course to the first mark under spinnakers, you could practically hear the J/Teams smacking their chops knowing the first two legs would be fast spinnaker reaches before the long beat home to Pt Loma with a quick port tack reach home to the finish line just off Shelter Island.
Leading the entire fleet home were the J/105s, most of whom were participating in the J/105 Masters Regatta. First boat home sailing an amazing race was Bruce Munro's team from St Francis YC, however, as they finished they discovered they were OCS'd by the RC. As a result, the first official finisher was John Andron's team, also from StFYC; they were followed by the famous yacht designer Ron Holland from Ireland in 2nd; local hero, World Star champion and SDYC benefactor Malin Burnham finished in 3rd; fourth was yet another famous sailmaker, World Soling Champion, Hans Fogh from Denmark and Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and in 6th was local champion Rick Goebel on SANITY.Class 2 was won by John Laun's J/120 CAPER with fellow J/120 sailor Chuck Nichols sailing his famous CC RIDER in 5th. Peter Zarcades J/120 MELTEMI ended up 9th.
Class 4 saw the debut of the J/70s. And, what a debut it was with the group of four J/70s having a very close start and taking off in the first giant puff like a Navy F-18 getting shot off the catapult on an aircraft carrier! Taking off with foam hissing in their wake, the J/70s quickly overhauled all their competitors in front of them. In the end, the J/70s took 1st and 3rd. Leading them home was J/70 ULLMAN SAILS in 1st with the J/70 QUANTUM SAILS team taking 3rd. The J/70 NORTH SAILS team was 2nd across the line but suffered a similar fate as their J/105 counterparts (the Munro team) by having to take an OCS. For more Hot Rum Series sailing information
(Paris, France)- The J/111 owner group in Europe has planned five events for 2013 including a European Championship. The main goal is to ensure that at least ten boats will be participating in every event and more than fifteen for the Le Havre race.
There are many strong teams representing the various clubs. The host club, San Diego YC, has J/120 champion Chuck Driscoll skippering their team with Star World Champion Mark Reynolds as part of the crew. San Francisco YC has recent J/105 North American Champion Chris Perkins skippering their team that include Tom & Melissa Purdy. Southern YC from New Orleans, LA has Tommie Meric and Kyle Smith leading their team. St Francis YC has Russ Silvestri skippering their team, an Olympic Medallist and champion sailor from San Francisco, along with Nicole Breault as tactician- a top women match race sailor and four-time All-American sailor at Yale. California YC has Bob "Peaches" Little skippering their team that includes Whit Batchelor and Bennie Mitchell, both champion offshore sailors. Newport Harbor YC from Newport Beach, California has Chris Raab skippering with Bill Menninger as their tactician, both National and North American champions in various classes. New York YC has Glenn Darden skippering along with Jim Brady and Stu Johnstone aboard, a formidable crew with multiple World, North American and Key West Championships to their credit. With sailing inside San Diego Bay, the racing will have the flavor of college-style tactics and strategy as the J/105s are maneuvered around the course by these top teams in remarkably shifty conditions. Plus, you can follow them LIVE on Kattack-LIVE!! For 
(Houston, Texas)- The Lakewood YC on Galveston Bay hosted yet another "most excellent" Harvest Moon Regatta over the October 25th to 27th weekend. Started in 1987, the event was based on the desire to have some good fall sailing before the winter Northers started blowing cold and hard across Texas; “an all sailors from the Bay area event” to accommodate as many sailors as possible for late fall offshore sailing. The boats gather together near the Galveston Bay jetties and sail to Port Aransas under a magnificent full moon each October. This ideal Texas port allows yacht owners and sailors to use minimal days from work to join in on what can be a most memorable overnight sail down the Texas coast during traditionally the best offshore sailing time of the year. 
The wind forecast was light and on the nose for the first few hours with a slight shift to the southeast coming later in the day. We started well and extended out in front of the other boats with the exception of the Melges 30 and the Santa Cruz 50. Our new Carbon 155% Genoa gave us the power we needed to keep the 120 moving in the light stuff and in touch with both of the mentioned boats that were just in front of us. We had some difficulty navigating through the slower non-spinnaker boats but eventually made it through and were now eagerly anticipating the shift. This shift finally came in the late afternoon and we immediately hoisted our Code 0 and were now plugging along just shy of wind speed. The J-120 sails great with a Code 0 and we started to extend on the boats around us. We managed to pull some important distance on the J-44 who took up a little higher course than us and managed to overtake after a few hours of close-hauled genoa sailing. Once the Code 0 went up this all changed.
(Hong Kong, China)- The Royal Hong Kong YC's season long offshore series of races includes many challenges for its sailors around the archipelago of southern China. The China Cup International Regatta is a series of both inshore and short offshore races in and around the island of Hong Kong. The event not only promotes the sailing culture & sailing sports among the masses in China, but the Marine Culture Development Forum gathers influential people from the marine industry all over the world to share their achievements and experience.
The four days of windward-leeward races and the Audi Around the Island Race brought every kind of wind, from the strong start and drifting finish of the Simpson Marine Passage Race on day one, to the high-speed excitement of day 3, when masts broke and boats ran aground. Although more than 130 boats wanted to enter this year’s regatta, space restrictions in the marina kept entries to just 91. From a standing start five years ago, the China Cup International Regatta is really beginning to make its mark, not just in Asia but throughout the sailing community around the world.
(San Diego, CA)- Manuel Morenos has been working with friends to create a unique new sailing, adventure and experiential organization called "Reality Sailing Adventure org". Says Manuel, "Our group is embarking on an ambitious project and we need all the help we can get. We have a dream of creating what we call the first bi-national sailing campus. A campus which will have a variety of activities ranging from sailing instruction, adventure sailing voyages and a place for university students geared to marine biology and the research for cleaner technologies perform their studies. The development of this institution has given us the opportunity to reach to world leader in the nautical industry, and to sailing, research and governmental institutions in both the US and Mexico, generating an all around positive program. 
(Gzira, Malta)- For the second year in a row, the Maltese family-powered J/122 ARTIE RTFX managed to win IRC Class 3 in this year's Rolex Middle Sea Race over some of their arch rivals to yet again establish their claim to Mediterranean offshore sailing supremacy! Hoping to repeat their extraordinary performance winning last year's race overall, the crafty team of Lee Satariano and Christian Ripard led their J/122 team again to the head of the fleet overall for a brief period of time after rounding Sicily! However, that excitement was fleeting at best once the light, variable winds kicked in the for the whole fleet.
A record-breaking 83 international entrants from 20 countries took part over the 606 nm course that takes the fleet around Sicily and a series of islands in the middle of the Mediterranean, starting and finishing in Malta. One of the main challenges faced by all teams was managing supplies. "We’re not expecting to see winds above 10-12 knots so we aimed to be as light as possible. We go through sails, spares, food and whatever we can to remove a few key kilos," said Rán 2 team manager Tim Powell. Supplies onboard the majority of the Corinthian crews – more readily braced for a week at sea and less concerned about carrying extra weight –lasted a while longer. Many enjoyed the slow but stunningly scenic passage around Stromboli with a hearty meal. For these teams, the increasing challenge in the final few days was fatigue.
Craig & Derek friends of Joss’s owner, joined the boat and after re-supplying and making sure the departing crews flights were secured, Joss set sail again, destination Cairns, 630nm miles further north. Craig and Derrick settled in immediately and was a great asset to the team. Both thoroughly enjoying the comfort, speed, and ease of sailing this thoroughbred yacht has to offer. This leg took us through the famous Whitsunday Passage, within the protection of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the ‘seven wonders of the world’. It was very tempting to call in at the many islands in one of the best cruising grounds in the world, but the inclement weather in Coffs Harbour had cost us time. The crew only had the opportunity to view the many sandy beaches and turquoise blue bays through the binoculars, wistfully thinking about the cocktails they could have been drinking at the island resorts.
After a good rest and some local sightseeing whilst re-provisioning, “Joss” left Cairns on the final leg to Port Moresby, 500 miles of open ocean lay ahead. Joss motored out of the long Cairns channel markers, toward Trinity Passage and into deep water, then set the sails in the gentle south easterly. The wind slowly built to 15 knots and the miles ticked away. The next day the sou’easter had built to over 20 knots. Joss was starting to build speed and occasionally track into the low teens. On the last day the wind was gusting into the mid 20s and Joss with a reefed mainsail and #1 Jib was starting to hit 14 knots going down the waves. The memorable part of this leg, was that we were on starboard tack the whole time. The winds were consistently South East and we were heading basically due north. We didn’t see another ship (or whale) for the entire leg, and it turned out to be the easiest leg of the whole journey. Before we knew it, it was late afternoon and we were in mobile phone contact with Ian the owner on the PNG mainland. We tried our best to make landfall in daylight as we knew the entrance was tricky. Despite the great sailing we took the sails down early and concentrated on entering Port Moresby under engine power slowly and accurately. There were many reefs to negotiate and the nav lights were blending into the bright city lights in the background.
(New Orleans, LA)- No question, Team JALAPENO delivered the heat on their fellow J/30 compatriots over the long weekend sailing down in New Orleans. Congratulations to Billy Ross and Ken Buhler's JALAPENO who won the J/30 North American Championships last weekend in New Orleans! The team raced an excellent regatta to claim the 2012 title with three bullets and 15 points in seven races over a tough eleven boat fleet that came from across the country to vie for "Top Dog" in the J/30 class. For many, the regatta started a long, long time before the final gun sounded on the last race on Sunday at the famous Allstate Sugar Bowl Regatta that played host to the J/30 North Americans.
