J/Boats News & Reviews

 
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- For the first week of August, the Cowes Combined Clubs will be hosting their annual highlight of the summer sailing season on the Solent- the infamous Cowes Race Week off Cowes, Isle of Wight. Yet again, hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors will grace the quaint seaside town with raucous parties and challenging sailing on the capricious waters of the famously fast-flowing Solent Water.
Again, dozens of J/Teams will flock south from their glass tower offices in London and other parts of the United Kingdom and look forward to engaging their passion for sailing for a full seven days on the water! Here is how that all breaks down by division.
IRC 1 DivisionSailing in this fleet will be Ellie Wollmann’s J/111 FREQUENT FLYER and twin J/122s (Nick Southward’s WHISKEY JACK and Derek Shakespeare’s BULLDOG).
IRC 2 DivisionA pair of J/112E’s will be racing in this dozen-boat fleet, the Dutch team on JACK RABBIT (Rutger Krijger & Caroline van Beelen) and the British crew on David Franks’s LEON.
IRC 4 DivisionThis nine-boat fleet is quite literally an all J/Boats division, an internecine battle to say the least. There are two J/99s (Jan Scholtes’s WARP 5 & Charles Balman’s SNAPSHOT), two J/105s (Sara Allan’s TAIKA & Richard Newsom’s JAVELIN), two J/97s (Stew Hawthorn’s JES & Alastair Fry’s JAB CRAB), and three J/92s (Simon & Sally Shilaker’s JAMBO, David & Libby Greenhalgh’s J’RONIMOO, & the trio on NIGHTJAR- Libby Finch, Jack & Joe Banks, & Perry Jeffcoaste).
J/70 ClassAs the largest international one-design class at Cowes, the thirty-four J/70s will have very competitive racing off the iconic Royal Yacht Squadron starting line. Several class veterans will be in the mix at the top of the leaderboard, including Ali Hall’s CALYPSO, Cate Muller-Terhune’s American team on CASTING COUCH, Patrick Liardet’s COSMIC, Marshall King & Doug Struth’s DSP, Graham Clapp’s JEEPSTER, David McLeman’s OFFBEAT, William Edward’s SARDONYX, and Jack Davies’ YETI.
J/109 ClassThis nine-boat fleet is never lacking for passionate, enthusiastic owners who, year after year, enjoy sailing their J/109s around the cans in the always capricious Solent waters. Amongst those veterans are John Smart’s JUKEBOX, Chris Burleigh’s JYBE TALKIN, Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN, and the Dutch team of Arjen van Leeuwen & Silvy Leijh’s JOULE.
For more Cowes Week sailing informationhttp://www.cowesweek.co.uk

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 100th edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race, hosted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), will go down in history as one of the world’s biggest offshore races, with 381 IRC-rated yachts competing. From the start off the famous Cowes/ Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in the Solent, the fleet rounded Fastnet Rock just off the southeastern tip of Ireland, then headed for home to the finish off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France- a distance of 695.0nm. In short, the race turned into a monster windward-leeward race, beating to windward from the Cowes start to “the Rock”. The fleet then popped kites and headed for France on a downwind sleigh ride. There were some amazing highlights for J/Teams in this race.
IRC 3 DivisionIRC Three line honors went to Philippe Girardin’s J/120 HEY JUDE, one of the highest rated boats in the fleet. She had held the lead not just on the water, but also under IRC, for much of the race. Their hopes for the IRC 3 fleet win were dashed when the strong adverse tide around Alderney and the Cotentin peninsula slowed them. As a result, the lower-rated boats that arrived at that point later were sailing in nearly slack current, such is the roll of the dice in the Fastnet Race!
Eventually, HEY JUDE took sixth place on IRC handicap time, a good outing for the grizzled offshore racing veterans on Girardin’s beautiful navy-blue J/120.
“We were pleased with the weather this year, because Philip has a problem with his back – we are now old men,” mused crewman Louis-Marie Dussiere, who has been a friend of Girardin’s since they were at dental school 40 years ago. “We had a very bad start. But, we were able to come back towards the head of the IRC Three fleet, leaving the Solent. We had a very good exit at the Shingles, and we were back at the head of the IRC Three fleet at Portland Bill.
At Fastnet Rock, there was a little rain and very low clouds. We could see nothing-not even the light of the Fastnet Rock-until we were one mile away. We even had to do a very late tack for Fujitsu British Soldier 70-footer!”

Ultimately, it was Julien Bentz’s J/99 WHIMJY 99 that crossed the Cherbourg-en-Cotentin finish line at 0042 local time to take victory in IRC 3 after IRC handicap time by 19 minutes.
“The weather changed a lot, and it was really difficult over the last 24 hours. The conditions were shifty and the current very challenging,” Bentz commented. “It was a roller coaster of emotions, but we fought until the end, and it paid off!
For most of the crew, it’s our first Fastnet, so it’s a great achievement to beat a fleet of 87 boats! We have been working on this project for two years, and, while it was a mix of intense racing and adventure, there was also a lot of discovery for us along the way.”
What was their winning formula? “A mix of many things, of course. We prepared very well for two years. The crew and the atmosphere also were important, we’ve been sailing together for a very long time, maybe 45 years with Romain Troublé!”
“It was a very good race for this boat- upwind and downwind, with no reaching- it was perfect,” added Troublé, son of former America’s Cup skipper and supporter Bruno Troublé. “The Fastnet Rock two days ago in the fog and the dark at two o’clock in the morning was quite an amazing memory for us!!”
IRC 1B DivisionThe large 36-boat fleet had four well-prepared offshore J/crews. In the end, after pushing hard for the entire race, it was Mike O’Donnell’s J/121 DARKWOOD team from Ireland that took fourth place.
The other J/Teams fared well but had their fair share of issues on the race track. Francois Charles’s J/133 SUN HILL IV from France was having a solid race until a bad tactical decision dropped them back. Then, Nick Edmonds’s J/45 STICKLEBACK suffered a torn mainsail soon after passing Land’s End on the way to Fastnet Rock. That was a disappointing blow to the STICKLEBACK team, having to resort to sailing with the first reef in the main for the balance of the race and dropping down from their top-five position!
IRC 2A DivisionThis large 33-boat fleet has a significant armada of J/crews- nine boats total. It was a “tour de force” for five of those teams.
Following on their second place in IRC Two in the Myth of Malham, Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 CORAZON and his young crew (all under 30) sailed a strong race, taking the silver medal for their hard-earned efforts!
Taking the bronze medal was the J/122 MOJITO, owned by Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox, and racing out of Pwllheli Sailing Club.
The other J/crews in the top ten were Frans van Cappelle’s experienced crew from the Netherlands, racing their J/122 MOANA to fourth place. Following them were Chris Power Smith’s J/122 AURELIA from Ireland in sixth place and Nick Southward’s J/122 WHISKEY JACK with his Hong Kong-based crew finishing in 7th place.
IRC 3A DivisionIn this fleet of 43 boats, Frenchman Philippe Girardin’s very experienced, winning offshore crew on his J/120 HEY JUDE fulfilled their desire to garner silver in this epochal 100th edition celebration of the ROLEX Fastnet Race. While they just missed IRC 3 division overall honors due to the tidal gate near the finish, they took the silver medal in IRC 3A division, missing the fleet win by a mere 4 minutes!!
For more ROLEX Fastnet Race sailing informationhttps://www.rolexfastnetrace.com/en

Palma Bay once again lived up to its promise. For the 43rd Copa del Ray MAPFRE, which this year hosted the ORC European Championship, conditions were worthy of this major Mediterranean event. More than 130 teams from 24 countries competed in the typical thermal breezes of Mallorca, ensuring an intense week of racing.

In a particularly competitive Rolex Fastnet Race, Oren Nataf at the helm of his Rayon Vert did the Yacht Club de Monaco proud in finishing 5th in corrected time in the multihull category. A solid performance on a complex 695 nautical mile course between Cowes and Cherbourg via the legendary Fastnet Rock.

This past week, there were several high notes from this summer’s sailing, with fast races, fierce rivals, and plenty of fun ashore. 
There’s no denying it, this season has delivered some of the most memorable racing we’ve seen in years. From the storied 100th edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race to wild Pacific Northwest fun at Race Week Bellingham, J/Teams across the globe have been stacking podiums, battling breezeless blues, and most importantly, enjoying every chaotic, competitive, and comical moment of the summer season.
We’ll start with a serious feather in the cap: a J/99 takes the division win in one of the world’s most legendary offshore events, the Fastnet. That race offered a full test of grit, skill, and gear. It was a long upwind slog to Ireland’s iconic rock, then a kite-charging ride to Cherbourg. Meanwhile, halfway around the globe, more J/99s were leaving their mark in the Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race, kicking off the AUDI Blue Water Series with authority.
Back on this side of the pond, the Great Lakes came alive with Ugotta Regatta’s unbeatable mix of serious one-design competition and tongue-in-cheek T-shirt traditions. The J/111s threw down at their Great Lakes Championship, while J/70s and offshore racers got their fill of fast-paced fun. Further west, Bellingham once again proved that adult summer camp does exist, with great breeze, great bands, and a whole lot of dockside stories best left unprinted.
And don’t blink, because there’s more ahead. Cowes Week is just about to kick off on England’s notorious Solent Water, with its unique blend of tidal trickery and high-energy revelry. Newport is gearing up, too, with the Safe Harbor Regatta drawing everyone from hardcore racers to dock-party aficionados enjoying the best of Narragansett Bay.

J/99 Wins 100th ROLEX Fastnet Race Division!
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 100th edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race, hosted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), will go down in history as one of the world’s biggest offshore races, with 381 IRC-rated yachts competing. From the start off the famous Cowes/ Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in the Solent, the fleet rounded Fastnet Rock just off the southeastern tip of Ireland, then headed for home to the finish off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France- a distance of 695.0nm. In short, the race turned into a monster windward-leeward race, beating to windward from the Cowes start to “the Rock”. The fleet then popped kites and headed for France on a downwind sleigh ride. There were some amazing highlights for J/Teams in this race. Read more here.

J/99s Dominate Top 10 in Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race

(Sydney, NSW, Australia)- The 37th edition of the Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race attracted top-tier talent from across Australia and beyond, with seasoned campaigners vying for early-season glory. Among the sixty-one yachts entered, a half-dozen well-sailed J/99s were racing against many of Australia’s “gold-platers”. In the end, five of the J/99s ended up in the top 10! 
The race also marked the opening event of the prestigious 2025/26 AUDI Sydney Blue Water Series and serves as a vital proving ground for teams preparing for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and Trans-Tasman Yacht Race.
Spanning 384.0nm from Sydney Harbour to the Gold Coast’s Main Beach, this much-loved winter challenge promised a thrilling mix of tactical coastal navigation and potential fast-reaching conditions. From its spectacular start beneath the city skyline to the warm Queensland welcome at the finish, the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast is a bucket-list race.  Read more here.

SHAMROCK Two-peats J/111 Great Lakes Championship

(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailing in conjunction with the Ugotta Regatta hosted by Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI, the fleet of fourteen J/111s sailed their 2025 Great Lakes Championship. 
Repeating their 2024 performance, Jeff Davis’s team from Cleveland, OH, sailed SHAMROCK to another dominant performance, posting a 1-2-2-4 tally for 9 pts to repeat as J/111 Great Lakes Champions!  Read more here.

Fun & Games @ Ugotta Regatta
(Harbor Springs, MI)- Traveling far and wide, sailors from across the Great Lakes always look forward to their mid-summer favorite event, the famous Ugotta Regatta hosted by Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI. Rolling out the proverbial red carpet for a fleet of J/70s and offshore handicap racers in ORC and PHRF Divisions, everyone enjoyed the great racing and the famous t-shirts dispensed at the crack of dawn early Saturday morning for hundreds of passionate sailing enthusiasts- a Ugotta Regatta tradition! Read more here.

Fun-in-the-Sun Race Week Bellingham!
(Bellingham, WA)- This year’s infamous “adult sailing summer camp” in the Pacific Northwest- the Race Week Bellingham- was sailed in Bellingham, WA, based out of Squalicum Harbor, with direct access to Bellingham Bay. The regatta featured buoy, distance, and pursuit races for the fleet of J/70 and J/105 one-design classes and ORC/ PHRF offshore handicap divisions. 
The sailors loved the new regatta headquarters based in the Fisherman’s Pavilion, a 9,000 sq ft event space with broad views of the harbor and a bar that had amazing waterfront views, too. The Pavilion served as the site of the notoriously fun, post-race parties that featured live music, silly themes, and an open bar. Read more here.

Cowes Week 2025 Preview
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- For the first week of August, the Cowes Combined Clubs will be hosting their annual highlight of the summer sailing season on the Solent- the infamous Cowes Race Week off Cowes, Isle of Wight. Yet again, hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors will grace the quaint seaside town with raucous parties and challenging sailing on the capricious waters of the famously fast-flowing Solent Water. 
Again, dozens of J/Teams will flock south from their glass tower offices in London and other parts of the United Kingdom and look forward to engaging their passion for sailing for a full seven days on the water! Here is how that all breaks down by division. Read more here.

Safe Harbor Newport Regatta 2025 Preview 

(Newport, RI)- An increasingly popular regatta during the busy Newport sailing season has been the Safe Harbor Newport regatta. It’s a fun event both on and off the water. The sailing on Narragansett Bay is always fun and challenging, dealing with currents and shifty winds. But, where the Safe Harbor regatta has developed an enthusiastic following amongst sailors is their “apres sailing” events onshore at their world-class yacht harbor facility. With great food, a huge tent, and great bands on Friday and Saturday evenings, the parties are well attended by the eccentric mix of yachties off the magnificent super yachts and the enthusiasts on a range of offshore racing/ cruising yachts. Read more here.

J/Gear- August 20% off Special
The J Diamond Polo is a mild departure from the solid colors. This fun diamond pattern is featured on a quality shirt by Adidas. Soft uniform collar and available with your J Class logo. Specify your option impriints and location.
Features:- 3.5 oz./yd², 100% recycled polyester- Allover diamond jacquard pattern- Three-button placket
Get your J/Gear 20% off special here- ORDER your special discount items here. 

Yacht Club de Monaco has won the Admiral’s Cup 2025 after a nail-biting finale. Led by YCM vice-president Pierre Casiraghi at the helm of Jolt 6 and Peter Harrison on Jolt 3, the two Monegasque teams fought a collective strategic battle right down to the wire of the Rolex Fastnet Race. This third and final event (coefficient 3) on the Admiral’s Cup programme was the ultimate stage of a three-part format that mixed offshore and inshore races. For its first ever Admiral’s Cup, YCM won the team ranking ahead of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. An historic feat that marks the Principality’s entry into an exclusive circle of winners of this legendary event.

Black Jack 100, owned by Yacht Club de Monaco member Remon Vos
and helmed by Tristan Le Brun (member of YCM’s Captains Club), was first to cross the finish line of the 51st Rolex
Fastnet Race Tuesday 29 July at 00:21 in Cherbourg. The Maxi monohull took 2 days 12 hours 31 minutes 21 seconds to
claim the Erivale Trophy awarded to the winner in real time in the monohull category.

Two days after the canon fired at Cowes for the start, the Rolex Fastnet Race is in full swing. The pace is intense, fatigue is creeping in, but the fleet remains focused. The 51st edition of this legendary race is living up to its reputation as a 695 nautical mile sprint where every choice weighs heavily.

(Port Credit, ONT, Canada)- The 2025 Lake Ontario 300 Race was recently hosted by the Port Credit Yacht Club on Lake Ontario. The Lake Ontario 300 originated through the interest and vision of several single-handed sailors at Oakville Harbour Yacht Club, now part of Oakville Yacht Squadron, and the Port Credit Yacht Club. Johan Pederson and his group envisioned a long-distance race to challenge the skills of those who usually raced single-handed in the Lake Ontario Short Handed Racing Series (LOSHRS) or around the cans on their club’s race nights, or went to regattas such as the Lake Yacht Racing Association and sailed the Freeman Cup. Most, if not all, of these long-distance races were for fully crewed boats. Johan realized that often the sailing done on Lake Ontario was by 2 people, and racing doublehanded was a good way to improve and challenge skills.
Since then, the Lake Ontario 300 has grown in both crew allowance and race length. While there are still double-handed and solo entries, there are a number of boats that race fully crewed. This year, the handful of J/Teams that participated in the race walked off with a few nice pieces of silverware! Here was the outcome of racing on western Lake Ontario.
PHRF Doublehanded DivisionIn this half-dozen-boat fleet, it was Ard Van Leeuwen’s J/112E HIGH TEA that took class honors by a significant margin, winning by nearly five hours on corrected time!
PHRF B DivisionIn this ten-boat fleet, it was Robert Dewitte’s J/100 PERSPECTIVE that got the bronze medal. Meanwhile, Ralph Neate’s J/88 BLACK DOG took sixth place.
For more Lake Ontario 300 sailing informationhttp://loor.ca/lake-ontario-300/

(Mackinac Island, MI)- It was a “slow-motion thriller” for the 116th edition of the 289.0nm Chicago Mackinac Race- presented by Wintrust. For nearly four days, multiple division leaders were within shouting distance of each other on Lake Michigan, swapping tacks, and trading leads as they clawed their way through the Manitou Passage and up into the Mackinac Straits. A big, fat high-pressure system with nary an isochron in sight was parked over northern Michigan, leading to light and fickle winds from the north, northwest, and easterly quadrants. As one wise navigator explained, it was as good as “rolling the dice” as to where the next breeze line would settle in for an hour or two, then just disappear. In the long run, the “stop & go driving” saw many J/Teams excel in the difficult conditions, leading to many of them garnering silverware on the podium.
This year’s Chicago-Mackinac Race reminded sailors that no two “Mac Races” are ever the same, delivering the kind of dynamic challenge that has made it one of the world’s most iconic offshore races and a fixture on every sailor’s bucket list.
Known as “America’s Offshore Challenge”, the 2025 Mac Race tested sailors’ tactical instincts, patience, and mental endurance over the course up Lake Michigan and into Lake Huron for the finish at Mackinac Island, MI.
Unpredictable wind conditions made this year’s race especially demanding, with many boats taking longer than usual to reach the finish. On average, this year, the racing division took 57 hours. In contrast, last year’s race was one for the record books as the 80-foot canting keeler MAVERICK broke the 22-year-old monohull record (just over 22 hours). It’s this unpredictability that keeps Mac Racers returning year after year. Here is how it broke down by division for the large numbers of J/Teams.
Mackinac Cup Fleet (116 larger boats)Overall Results:4. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM- only 30 mins corrected from 2nd place!6. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI10. Blaine Shea’s J/111 STRIKING BACK12. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA13. Jeff Davis’s J/111 SHAMROCK15. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s J/111 PADAWAN17. Scott Sellers’s J/111 NO SURPRISE
Division 2- 15 boats1. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA6. Bill Schanen’s J/145 MAIN STREET
Division 3- 14 boats3. Jim Murray’s J/125 CALLISTO (a successful J/70 sailor, too!)
Division 4- 13 boats5. Tom Papoutsis’s J/133 RENEGADE
Division 6- 14 boats1. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM2. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI5. Len Siegal’s J/122E LUCKY DUBIE6. Mike & Bob Kirkman’s J/120 HOT TICKET7. Charlie Hess’s J/120 FUNTECH RACING8. Bob Eger’s J/120 CALIFORNIA GIRL
Doublehanded Division- 6 boats1. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE2. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER4. Dan Floberg’s J/88 MISTY- missing podium by 3 minutes!
Mackinac Trophy Fleet (119 smaller boats)Overall results:2. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE- missing the gold medal by 19 minutes!5. David Gustman’s J/109 NORTHSTAR- just 9 minutes in arrears of the J/88!6. Jim Nacthman’s J/99 RAMBLER 8. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER9. Jim Caesar’s J/109 LIQUID LOUNGE II10. Mike Hendrie’s J/109 BULL
Division 7- 13 boats2. Tim & Cathy McGuire’s J/112E ELEVATION- celebrating her 25th Mac was Cathy!3. Tom Dickson’s J/105 WARLOCK6. Todd & Heidi Patton’s J/112E BLONDIE
Division 8- 12 boats1. Jim Nachtman’s J/99 RAMBLER2. Bob Asher & Wes Ory’s J/99 SHING-A-LING3. Ray Douglas & Christine Maybach’s J/109 COURAGEOUS
ONE-DESIGN CLASSES
J/111 Class- 12 boats1. Jeff Davis’s SHAMROCK2. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s PADAWAN3. Scott Sellers’s NO SURPRISE
J/109 Class- 8 boats1. Dave Gustman’s NORTHSTAR2. Mike Hendrie’s BULL3. Jim Caesar’s LIQUID LOUNGE II
J/105 Class- 18 boats1. Paul Hickman & Jody Kjoller’s KASHMIR2. Mark Denuyl’s GOOD LOOKING3. Mark Fruin’s NYCTOSAUR
Level 35 OD Class- 9 boats1. Keith Stauber’s J/35 PAPA GAUCHO II2. Hugh Haggerty’s J/35 NOBLE BUFFALO3. Kim & Linus Isabell’s J/35 REDLINE
For more Chicago Mackina Race sailing informationhttps://cycracetomackinac.com/