J/Boats News & Reviews

(Valle de Bravo, Mexico)- At the gorgeous lake high in the mountains in Valle de Bravo, west of Mexico City, a fleet of thirty J/70 teams from across Mexico participated in the four-day Mexican J/70 National Championship. Hosted by the most gracious and accommodating club one could ever imagine- the Club de Vela La Peña- the sailors enjoyed not only good racing on the lake, but plenty of the famous hospitality onshore after the racing. As has been described by sailors familiar with the club, it’s truly a family affair, and everyone is made to feel part of their extended family.

After a total of seventeen races sailed, with fourteen races to count (3 discards), it was the Perez family from Vallarta Yacht Club that dominated the top of the podium. In fact, it was a “nip & tuck” battle between the two family boats until the very last race! Winning by just one point was Ignacio Perez-Morett’s ZAQUERO with crew of Santiago Perez Soltero, Manuel Weiller, and Rodrigo Cuellar Dipp. Their remarkably consistent scoreline filled with podium finishes produced a net total of 33 pts in 14 races for a 2.36 average!
Not to be outdone, Alejandro Perez’s ALGARETE with crew of Diego Fructuoso, Rayco Tabares, and Juanma Barrionuevo also had an equally impressive scoreline, including six bullets (!), for a net total of 34 pts! Who beat who in the last race determined the winner, with ZAQUERO taking 2nd to ALGARETE’s 3rd place! Noteworthy about Alejandro’s ALGARETE team was his inclusion of two-time J/80 World Champion Rayco Tabares as his tactician from the Canary Islands in Spain! That’s not exactly a “hop, skip, and a jump” from Gran Canaria Airport, Canary Islands, to Mexico City International Airport!

Rounding out the podium was another long-time, prominent yachting family in Mexico- the Brockmanns. Taking the bronze medal was Ricardo Brockmann’s VINCITORRE with crew of Erik Brockmann, Jeronimo Maristcacal, and Palo Guzman. Counting three bullets and three deuces in their scoreline, it wasn’t nearly sufficient to overcome the sheer dominance of the Perez’s consistency, with VINCITORRE finishing with 56 pts net.
The balance of the top five included Marco Sparveieri’s BUENA JUNTA in fourth place and Eduardo Cano Seija’s CHILCANO in fifth place.
Corinthians DivisionWinning the Corinthians was Sparveiri’s BUENA JUNTA with crew of Leopoldo Risotto, Ramon Benitez, and Gerardo Benitez with 113 pts net. Taking the silver medal was Cano Siena’s CHILCANO with a team of Luis Olcese, Hugh McCarthy, and Natalia Pellicer with 123 pts net. Then, rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was Manuel Vazquez’s 4 LOCOS with crew of Eduardo Oething, Cesar Ruiz, and Rodolfo Carballo with 139 pts net.

The Navicap Challenge-Trophée Elena Sivoldaeva 2025 was won in fine style by Victor Holst and Paul Pillon, young sailors from Yacht Club de Monaco, ahead of a record fleet of 65 crews from eight nations. Organised by the YCM in collaboration with FxPro and North Sails, the event is unique as one where teamwork takes on a whole new dimension given the very different profiles of the participants. “Over these last three days, we saw double-hander crews capable of adapting, listening to each other and building a rhythm race after race. This is exactly what we want to encourage: demanding sailing, where technique counts as much as teamwork,” said YCM Managing Director and General Secretary Bernard d’Alessandri.

As every year, YCM competed in the Campionato Invernale West Liguria. Under the banner of the Gorilla Gang Cup and Trofeo Statari, this autumn event has become a must on the race calendar for many Mediterranean based teams, always attracting a large fleet who love this Ligurian regatta. Among the boats taking part were Andrea Statari’s Gorilla Gang XL, and Marco Vignetta’s Blue Scorpion.

A highlight of this stage of the League Championship held in Les Sablettes was the Optimist results of young athletes from Yacht Club de Monaco who really made a mark. The Club’s young sailors proved once and for all that they have what it takes. In a 30-strong fleet of contestants, with variable winds of 6 to 12 knots and after four races, the hard work put in by YCM saw two of its sailors at the top of the leaderboard.

A strong performance from the YCM in ILCA 7 thanks to Jérémy Moutout who made his mark at the 8th Portugal Grand Prix – Round 1 in Vilamoura.

(La Rochelle, France)- La Rochelle Nautique hosted the J/70 Cup for the ninth and final stage of the French Cup. This 13th edition of the Navigatlantique Trophy, always a very friendly event, took place from November 8th to 10th.
The first two races were held on Saturday in very light wind conditions. Then, four races were held on Sunday in stronger conditions. Finally, two more races took place on Monday in a good breeze.
After eight races, JOUR J, skippered by Béatrice Joyaud and her crew of Nicolas Dore, Eliot Merceron, and Benjamin Amiot, emerged victorious with 4 race wins and 10 pts. Taking the silver medal was Philippe Guigne’s SAILING IMPACT Team (Cedric Meunier, Damien Scelo, and Eric Guigne) with 3 wins and 15 pts. Rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was Christine Briand’s JINN team (Louis Taylor, Tom Marsan, Franck Juin, and Armand Clabon) with 24 pts. She won the tiebreaker count back on 24 pts over Richard Fromentin’s COCODY/ LECLERC HENNEBONT team (Thomas Waret, Thomas Nicol, Jean Fretigny, and Valentin Massu), finishing in fourth place. Rounding out the top five with 27 pts was Gonzague Marraud des Grottes’s JAWS TOO with his team of Emmanuel Lacoste, Nicolas Brisson, and Victor Dumareau.
Notably, this was the first J/70 regatta in France that saw two women helm on the podium, Beatrice Joyaud and Christine Briand! This development of top women skippers and top women crew in the J/70 class is a wonderful trend that continues to grow quite significantly. This trend “coattails” the American Laura Grondin’s recent win at the J/70 World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the three-time J/70 European Championship winner Claudia Rossi from Italy; and the dramatic growth of the Helga Cup in Hamburg, Germany, with 62 women’s teams sailing J/70s on the beautiful Alster Lake (325+ women sailors)!
For more French J/70 Cup sailing informationhttps://www.classej70france.com/calendrier

(San Diego, CA)- The first race of the three-race long Hot Rum Series started off with a whimper. Light winds plagued the fleet, with only about one-third of the 100+ boat fleet finishing the pursuit race. Hosted by San Diego Yacht Club for decades, the Hot Rum Series has been a popular regatta to close out the end of the summer/ fall sailing season in Southern California.
Using the PHRF SoCal ratings, the slowest boats start first at 10:00 AM, and by noon, the biggest, fastest boats have started. Given the normal scenario for developing winds on San Diego Bay, it takes some time for the Seabreeze thermal to develop over the top of Point Loma. As a result, it’s usually the big boats that benefit from a late start with decent breeze.
The Hot Rum Series started on November 8th, the next race is on November 22nd, and the last race is on December 6th.

PHRF 2 DivisionLeading this nine-boat fleet was a pair of fast, well-sailed J/145s. First was Rudy Hall’s J/145 PALAEMON, and second was Alec Oberschmidt’s AARRRGG.
PHRF 4 DivisionThis fifteen-boat fleet saw Mike Hatch’s J/105 J-ALMIGHTY win quite handily. George Roland & Johannes Neuendorf’s J/105 JALOPY took third place, and Bennett Greenwald & Dave Vieregg’s J/105 PERSEVERANCE took fourth place.
PHRF 5 DivisionIn this large twenty-boat fleet, Ed Sanford’s J/111 CREATIVE finished fourth, while Brion Murray’s J/122 PRONTO 122 was eighth, John Laun’s J/120 CAPER was ninth, and Colin Suvak’s J/120 DANI GIRL rounded out the top 10.
For more San Diego YC Hot Rum Series sailing informationhttps://sdyc.org/

(Hamburg, Germany)- The Alsterglocke regatta was founded in 1984 by Claus Krogmann and Robby Rottmann and has enjoyed steadily growing popularity ever since. Not only sailors, but also media outlets such as radio, television, newspapers, and the internet are enthusiastic about this event. It’s well-known throughout Germany and even beyond. Often imitated, but never equaled, it is one of the largest regularly held regattas with an impressive number of participating sailors.
Sailors are known for sitting in their boats, sailing across the water, and using the wind to build speed. They occasionally need to manually adjust their sails to create optimal conditions. However, on Hamburg’s Alster Lake and during the Alster Bell event, much more action is required.
Every year at the end of the sailing season, the Hamburg Sailing Club organizes a lively spectacle on the Alster. Around 90 boats participate annually, with over 500 sailors and 250 guests from all over Germany. Of course, not everyone is on board at the same time– each boat carries two complete crews of different classes. While a typical large boat usually has five sailors on board, the Alster Bell rule stipulates ten. After each prescribed lap around the dock, without mooring, and maintaining almost no speed, the crews must be exchanged.

Now imagine this: Ten or more boats are racing towards the jetty at once, and you can already see it about to break in two. Then, just before colliding with the quay wall, the helmsman turns the rudder, brings the boat into the wind, and reduces speed. Then the game begins:
The crew jumps overboard to thunderous applause. One after another, they jump, slide, stumble, and tumble towards the jetty, while the crew members on the jetty try to do the same in the opposite direction— to get back onto the boat.
Some land sideways, clinging to the opposite bench, getting tangled in the sheets, or ending up blindly wrapped up in the sail, and disoriented. Others slide straight into the cockpit or perform unexpected ballet moves by doing the splits between the dock and the boat. One leg desperately wants to stay on the dock, while the other is already on board, and the boat is sailing on!
At almost every Alster Bell race, there are sailors who swim after the boat, and during sudden gusts of wind, entire crews often capsize their vessels. However, the Alster Bell trophy cannot be won by swimming – it must be won by sailing!!

The numerous J/22s, J/24s, and J/70s, which are usually strong contenders for the Bell regatta, had no bearing on the outcome this year. For example, the first J/24, sailed by Frank Blohm & Christina Schober, came in tenth.
The weather conditions were moderate, with a force 10 wind gusting to 15 knots from the west and an air temperature of 15°C (60°F), typical for this time of year. A total of forty sailboats participated, including 470s, 505s, Dragons, Ynglings, and the J’s made up most of the fleet.
The top five J/Boats teams were Frank Blohm & Phillipe Graf’s J/24. Next was Dagmar Hilcken & Nicola Rodenhausen’s J/22, then the third J/Team was Louis Enking & Max Haufschild’s J/22 from the Netherlands. Fourth was Jorn Harms & Peter Langhans’s J/24, and fifth was Lasse Karstens & Tim Lasse Seeger’s J/24.
For more Alsterglocke regatta sailing informationhttps://hamburger-segel-club.de/alsterglocke/

(Hamble, England)- The 44th running of the Hamble Winter Series is now in its sixth weekend of sailing on the infamous, capricious Solent Water between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Yet again, J/teams across the board are enjoying a wide range of conditions from wet & wild to sunny and benign.
The CV SEA ANGEL set up at 4J (hamblewinterseries.com) for Race Week 5 of the Hamble Winter Series, which was sponsored by Pharmacy Consulting Ltd. The plan, according to PRO Peter Bateson, was “for a challenging variety of legs up, down and across the wind and across the tide, ending after 2-2½ hours back at hamblewinterseries.com.”

Wellies had been compulsory on the Hamble foreshore mid-week, which meant that some big spring tides were still prevalent in the Solent. 10-15 kts of breeze with a lot of South in it (185-200 degrees) meant there would be even more “opportunities” for cross-tide sailing than usual.
With the series entering its last four weeks, one longer race is the order of the day, allowing boats to return to their berths in daylight. IRC 1&2 were sent on a 13-mile course which had two legs across the Ryde Middle Bank. IRC 3 was dispatched on a 10.9-mile course, which went to Royal Thames (4F) and then to Ben Wood (4N) on the southern edge of the East Knoll Bank.

The aforementioned Spring cross-tide came into play at the start of IRC 1 & 2, as Chris Burleigh’s J/109 JYBE TALKIN, who last week was photographed very close to a mark, went one better this week, when they got tangled up on the pin! In maneuvering off, they came together with the Sigma 38, which led to a protest. However, having witnessed some turns by JYBE TALKIN that would have graced the dance floor, the Sigma 38 withdrew the protest.
The winner for the day was the J/109 JUKEBOX with two bullets, then third on the day was the J/109 MOJO RISIN with a 3-4.
After ten races in the Winter Series, MOJO RISIN still sits in third place, with JYBE TALKING sitting in fourth place.
In the J/111s, Chris Jones & Louise Makin’s JOURNEYMAKER II continues to lead their series with two more bullets over the weekend. Second is Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB, and third is Ella Wollmann’s FREQUENT FLYER.
Next week sees The Bugle, a famous pub in the Hamble, as the day sponsor!! With three races to go and another discard in play, things could get very close.
Thanks for this report, contributions from Trevor Pountain.
For more Hamble Winter Series sailing informationhttps://www.hamblewinterseries.com

(Valparaiso, Chile)- The 50th edition of Off Valparaíso Regatta was raced in Valparaiso Bay on October 17-18 and was hosted by Yacht Club de Chile. Conditions were light on Saturday, with only 1 race with westerly winds of 4-7 kts. On Sunday, the conditions were much better with southwest winds from 12-14 kts.
Thirty-three J/Boats participated in the regatta amongst the fifty-nine keelboats in the regatta. 56% of the fleet was J/Boats! That’s an amazing statistic for any regatta in the USA or Europe, but it’s truly remarkable in a South American regatta!

J/24 ClassThe regatta had seventeen J/24s sailing on a dedicated windward-leeward race course. The fleet was preparing for the J/24 South American Championship to take place from December 5-8 at the same host club- Yacht Club de Chile. Also, this regatta was part of an international Navy Academy regatta, organized by the Chilean Navy. Different Navy Teams were invited from Canada, Spain, Italy, the UK, and Argentina. The class was won by Ivan Sepulveda on board MARGARITA with 6 PTS, followed in second place by Javier Nuñez’s BRIBON with 7 PTS, and third place went to the Canadian Navy crew on TRIUNFANTE with 7 PTS.

J/105 ClassIn the J/105 fleet, ten boats sailed and completed three races over the weekend. Winning by a significant margin was Robert Malsch’s GRAND SLAM with a 1-3-2 record for 6 pts. The balance of the podium was determined by a tiebreaker at 12 pts each. Winning on the count back to take the silver medal was Jose Tomas Errazuriz’s WICHITA with a 5-6-1 record. Losing that count back to take the bronze medal was Horacio Salamanca’s CHUNGUNGO with a 7-2-3 record. The balance of the top five was Miguel Perez’s RECLUTA in fourth and Claudio Leon’s TRICALMA in fifth place.
The J/105 had this last formal training for the 2025th J/105 National Championship that will take place on November 8, 9th, 22nd, and 23rd. A dozen boats are expected to take part in the Championship, which will be held by Cofradía Náutica del Pacífico in Algarrobo.

IRC Racing DivisionIn this sixteen-boat fleet, Carolina Ibañez’s J/122E BELEN took the silver medal with a 4-1-3 tally for 8 pts. Eduardo Capdeville’s J/99 LADY CHOPPER finished in 8th place with 23 pts; they had a difficult day on Sunday.
IRC Classic DivisionIn the IRC Classic fleet, the winner was Antonio Pi’s J/120 VIENTO DEL SUR!

IRC Cruising DivisionIn the IRC Cruising fleet, it was Francisco Allamand’s J/145 ALIMANA that took fourth place.
The 3rd and final date of the Apertura Championship will take place on the 22nd and 23rd of November in Cofradía Náutica de Algarrobo.
Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1e2VwMyi3_Gs-t7U5QiSq_43ibGP-Q6Tt