Official J Class Website

J Class 2009 NCR Sacramento, California October 3-4

Mystic 2009

J Class Mystic Regatta

August 21^st 2009

Those who have never sailed in Mystic are surely missing one of the best venues for model sailing on the East Coast. Mystic Seaport is a Maritime Museum that covers nearly 50 acres along the Mystic River. Once a historic shipbuilding site back in the 1800’s, the Seaport is now a showplace of maritime history and preservation.

Our sailing site is located at the Northern most end of the Seaports picturesque grounds. Skippers this year were treated to a new lush lawn and a wonderful panoramic view of the Mystic River. The typical sea breezes are SSW at 8-10kts at this time of year which sets the course up perfectly along the elevated bulkhead. Floating docks surround the bulkhead with a spacious ramp for ease of launching.

With a Hurricane looming to the South and a forecast for huge amounts of rain and wind for the area by Sunday, we were blessed with a 8-10kt Southerly which was ideal for these boats.

J Boat Regatta

11 boats registered for this event and 11 boats showed. It was not difficult to fill the ranks. In fact, we capped the event at 11 when more wanted to sail. The goal was to have the best, one day regatta we could muster by limiting the event to one fleet and so it was.

In attendance, Dave Brawner, multi year J Class National Champion sailing his Shamrock, Bruce Walton, current J Class National Champion once again sailing his Team Q Ranger, Dave Ramos, multi class National Champion at his first J Boat regatta sailing Shamrock, a boat that he completed building only weeks before for Scott Todd, Alan Kew, sailing his Whirlwind, Biff Martin sailing his scratch built Ranger, Gary Mueller with his scratch built Ranger and John Skerry with his beautiful Enterprise. In the charter fleet, we had Tim Stone from VT sailing Yankee for Team Q, Phil Tonks, also from VT sailing an Endeavour for Team Q, John Luscomb from Jupiter FL sailing Ranger for Team Q and Chuck Luscomb from Deep River sailing Endeavour for Team Biff.

The breeze filled in out of the S-SW at 8-10kts as promised and the racing got underway. It became clear that this would not be a walk in the park for anyone. Leads changed often and if it had not been stereotypical of any J boat event and more boats had stayed in the game without gear failure, the results might have been different. Dave Brawner was on his game and kept himself consistently near the front. Gary Mueller was able to get his red Ranger cranked up and stay near the front as well. Bruce Walton made another great showing with his chartered Ranger. Had he not had a few gear problems, he may have been able to edge Gary out for second. Dave Ramos sailed an excellent first J boat regatta mixing it up with the leaders.

The official results after 12 races.

Following the regatta, a cookout was held at the Luscomb's barn in Deep River CT. Most who sailed came for the burgers and beers and the good cheer. It was an exceptionally hot day and some took refuge in the pool as well. It was a great ending to a wonderful day of sailing.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped with the event. Judy Skeery for RD and our staff of mark/crash boat operators, Al Dion, Gib Losel and Mark Benedict, and our score keepers, Ken Koehler and Mike Mortarelli and finally to the staff of the Seaport who extended every hospitality to our group, Shannon and Sarah.

Respectfully submitted,

Chuck Luscomb

Regatta Chair

2009 AMYA J Class Region 1 Championship Summary

August 7,8,9  2009 Bristol, R. I.

Photo by Pat Butterworth

The 2009 AMYA J Class Region 1 Championship was hosted by the Herreshoff Marine Museum (HMM) / America’s Cup Hall of Fame (ACHF) in Bristol, RI on August 6-9 at the historic waterfront site of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. The AMYA - US VMYG Regatta Team was comprised of Earl Boebert, Jim Dolan, Jim Linville, John Snow and Scott Todd. Planning meetings with Halsey Herreshoff and the HMM staff commenced in November 2008 via Scott Todd’s initial HMM contact in September.

Racing Overview

Photo by Pat Butterworth

Total of 14 J skippers were registered, with 13 onsite by Friday for race practice. They represented 11 different states and came from as far-away as the mid-west. Three skippers were unable to start on Saturday due to equipment problems.

Site Sailing Conditions:

- Winds on Saturday, August 8^th, were from the NNW at 6-8 knots swinging to the West under sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 70s.

- Winds on Sunday, August 9^th, were from the SSW at 10-12 knots with a moderate Bristol Chop under light overcast with 70s temperatures. (photo1)

Skippers’ pit area was on the HMM South Main Pier. (photos 2&3). HMM construction of an 8’x12’ wood float with low height facilitated launch / retrieval of J and other models. They also provided Boston Whaler as chase boat. Total of 18 races were completed: 12 on Saturday and six on Sunday. Protests were handled on the race course by skippers. AMYA low-point scoring was used with one throw-out race. Race Director was AMYA President Pete Maxson, with Race Committee from the nearby Mount Hope Bay MYC of Tiverton, RI under Commodore Carroll Buress. Award plaques were presented to the “Top 4” J skippers by HMM / ACHF President Halsey Herreshoff. J Class Region 1 perpetual trophy was also presented by Halsey to Dave Brawner. (photo4)

Photo by Pat Butterworth

Supporting Activities

AMYA - US VMYG Team with the HMM staff planned several complementing regatta activities, given the opportunity to promote our sport to a target audience from the Bristol and Newport yachting community and with HMM members and friends as follows:

• Summer formal model yacht exhibit in HMM Gallery.

• Saturday HMM buffet dinner with Halsey Herreshoff after-dinner presentation.

• Friday cocktail reception in Hall of Boats plus Gallery model yacht exhibit and “Nathanael Greene Herreshoff” Model Room tour by Halsey.

• Thursday 90-minute formal lecture by US VMYG Historian Earl Boebert on 100 years (1850-1950) of model and full-size yacht designing and history.

• Weekend waterfront tent information display with model exhibit focused on large (7 to 9.5 foot LOA) R/C schooners (photo5), V36 and VM model yachts and 1889 Nat Herreshoff Coquina 1889 ¼ scale (four foot) R/C model (photo6). Exhibitors were Earl Boebert, Andrew Charters, Bill Huizing, John Snow, John Stoudt, Alan Suydam and John Whalen. AMYA-VMYG info table volunteers were Jim Dolan, George and Norma Greenhalgh, Jackie Lakeman, Lily McBeth, and John Snow.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Photo by Pat Butterworth

Andrew Charters' beautiful 9.5 foot LOA R/C scratch-built model of 1908 UK Fife Cicely schooner yacht.  It is sailing just aft of Museum's vintage Sadie sailboat.  This is one example of three superb R/C schooner models that were displayed and sailed at HMM during our J Region 1 event.    

Championship Results

Halsey Herreshoff with event winner Dave Brawner                     photo by Pat Butterworth

                                                           * wooden hull from plans
 

Summary

Besides the exciting on-the-water competition under testing wind and wave conditions, other positive regatta outcomes for enhanced future relationships were:

• Establishment of the Herreshoff MYC under AMYA,

• Skippers, exhibitors and volunteers interest in another J regatta in 2010, and

• Collaboration with HMM to document links between model and full-size yachting through further archival research on Herreshoff family sailing models.

the above provided to the J Class website by John Snow, President of the USVMG   US Vintage Model Group.

For more information visit their website: US Vintage Model Group