(San Francisco, CA)- Recently, the South Beach Yacht Club on the southern part of San Francisco Bay hosted its annual Red Bra Regatta. The event was all about fun and supporting other women. Specifically, the regatta supported “Girls United” for the sixth year this September! 

Girls United is an amazing organization that organizes clubs and student-led advocacy for girls in Kenya, as well as training female teachers to be role models for these girls. 

United Girls for Kenya
Run out of Flying Kites Academies, Girls United empowers young women in many ways, including skill-building workshops as well as providing access to information on important topics like reproductive health. The aims of Girls United are clearly aligned with those of the Red Bra Regatta and its motto- “Empowered Women Empowering Women.”

This year, we ask that you give any amount that feels meaningful to you- no amount is too small. If you want to further increase your impact, you can share this on your page. Let’s keep empowering each other!  Please consider a donation here

Many passionate women J/sailors participated in the event and while having fun they also managed to win some silverware! 

PHRF F Divsion- Spin <115>
In this twelve-boat division, it was yet again a clean sweep by J/Women’s teams! Winning this year were Lisa Anderson-Byrne, Liza Trombi, & Rachel Fogal’s J/80 MEEP MEEP which won a tiebreaker at 3 pts each. Both teams posted identical 1-2 scores, but losing that countback by a 2nd in the last race saw Caitlin Gutekunst-Cerra and Tabea Mittmann’s J/88 BUTCHER having to settle for the silver medal. Then, rounding out the podium with the bronze medal was Marcia Bever and Libby Zhang’s J/105 ROULETTE. 

PHRF C Division- Non-Spin <152>
In this division of five teams, it was Melissa Davies’s team on the J/30 MISS MAYHEM that took home the bronze medal. 

A quick history of the Red Bra Regatta from Libbie Sheldon:
“The Red Bra Regatta started with Nancy DeMauro using it as a protest flag in the Jazz Cup. She was egging me on to participate in the Jazz Cup so we could race against each other. I accepted the challenge and Tad (my husband) was the PRO for the race. As soon as I crossed the start line, she protested me for having an unfair advantage with the PRO and, subsequently, removed her red bra and “hoisted” it as the protest flag. Her tactic worked; we laughed so hard we were distracted and she won the race. The challenge continued for two more Jazz Cups. After the third Jazz Cup, we decided that it would be fun to have an all-women’s race.  We wanted a non-threatening environment where women could race against each other, elevate their skills, and also have fun. The red bra was a symbol representing our racing together.  It seemed fitting to call the race the Red Bra Regatta.”  Photo Album by Brendan Rosen  Follow Red Bra Regatta on Facebook here   Red Bra Regatta website  For more South Beach YC / Red Bra Regatta sailing information

(Berlin, Germany)- This past weekend, the Berliner Yacht Club in Berlin, Germany hosted the 2024 German J/24 Open Championship on the gorgeous Lake Wansee southwest of the city in a spectacular park-like setting. Short, fast races were the order of the day and the weather Gods cooperated, providing good very shifty, and puffy winds. A total of nine races were completed over two days!

Eighteen teams ultimately participated from Germany, Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden. Not surprisingly, one of the top J/24 teams in Europe took home the title of German J/24 Open Champion- Frank Schonfeld’s JOOL from The Netherlands! His crew of Susanne Bergmann, Thorsten Glabisch, Olaf Zietz, and Nils Ole Harder managed to post a solid scoreline of 5-3-3-1-3-2-3-1-5 for 21 pts net. 

Taking the silver in their closely fought series was the top German crew on HUNGRIGER WOLF, sailed by Fritz Meyer and a team of Jannik Duehren, Thorsten Paech, Lars Christiansen, and Jonas Lysseski. Their 6-1-6-11-1-1-5-2-2 tally of 24 pts showed they improved nearly every race!

Rounding out the podium was another well-known top German team, Stefan Karsunke’s SCHWERE JUNGS with a crew of Carsten Kerschies, Christian Carstens, Tim Habekost, and Malte Gibbe. There was a truly “roller-coaster” experience, with an 8-2-2-2-2-13-1-BFD-1 for 31 pts net. Ironically, it was their regatta to lose, but given their lack of consistency and mental errors, they had to settle for the bronze medal. 

The top Women’s Team title went to Maike Haas on JUELSSAND. Her team was comprised of Naomi Kosmehl, Maria Hoffmann, Gesa Gollner, Emily Kern, and Kristin Duhren.  For more German J/24 Championship sailing information

J/111 FIREBALL Wins PHRF Overall and Division!
(Greenwich, CT)- Last Columbus Day weekend was the infamous “Gearbuster Race” run annually every fall by Indian Harbor YC. It’s a long day race around various government buoys in western Long Island Sound. It’s a popular event as the “grand finale” of fall sailing on the Sound. It is quite popular with J/sailors. There were 25 J/Teams sailing (50% of the 51-boat fleet!). Lots of silverware was garnered by the various J/Teams! Here is how it all went down by division.

PHRF Doublehanded Division
In this fleet of half-dozen boats, the J/teamms nearly swept the podium. Winning was Christian Uecker’s J/120 HOUND DOG, with Thomas Sa’s J/33 GUN DOG in second place, and the two other J/120s rounding out the top five- Sara & Josh Reisberg’s ABILYN in fourth and Richard Wests’s CHARLOTTE in fifth position. 

PHRF A Division. (<9>
Winning this half-dozen boat division was the screaming-fast J/125 GOOD NEWS sailed by Macrae Sykes. 

PHRF B Division (10-55)- J/Teams sweep!
This ten-boat fleet was packed with hot J/crews and it was not a surprising outcome to see the top five spots occupied by those talented teams. 

Winning was Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL by nearly 24 minutes corrected time! As a result, they also took PHRF Overall honors, too. Second was Steve Losik’s J/121 HABIRU, third went to Eric & Maggie Deichmann’s J/112E MISCHIEF, fourth was John Sartorius’s J/120 ALIBI, fifth was Bill Klein’s J/120 SPECK, and sixth went to Brian Nelson’s J/112E HONEYBADGER.

PHRF C Division (56-91)
Four J/crews sailed this nine-boat fleet. Taking class honors was Nicolas Delcourt’s J/88 OH JEE, with Steve Landy & Derek Soohoo’s J/100 SANGUINE taking the silver medal. 

EATON’S NECK SHORT COURSE RACE
PHRF Spinnakers Division- J/Teams sweep!
Sailing in this fleet of eleven boats were several J/crews that swept the podium! Winning was Ken & Drew Hall’s J/88 NEVERMORE, followed by Randy Bourne’s J/105 STRANGE BREW in second, and JC Zucconi & Jim Townsend’s J/92 EASY RED. 

PHRF Non-spin Division
This eleven-boat fleet saw Jim Reichel’s J/105 SCAPEGOAT take the silver medal. 

For more Stratford Shoals Race sailing information 

(Lake Wolfgangsee, Germany)- The J/22 EuroCup at Lake Wolfgangsee was sailed from October 3rd to 6th, hosted by the Union Yacht Club Wolfagngsee. Fifteen teams from Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands fought for the coveted title of J/22 European Champion 2024. After six races, it was the German team that garnered victory, led by former J/22 Vice World Champion Reiner Brockerhoff and his French crew of Christophe Declerque and Charles Michaux.

The experienced crew won after 6 hard-fought races, in sometimes challenging conditions. Despite the extremely bad weather forecast: 5 to max. 10 C. degrees, snow up to 1200 m above sea level, rain, and hardly any wind, the winner prevailed. Brockerhoff’s team posted a 6-1-4-1-2-8 for 14 pts net. They ended up winning on a tiebreaker of 14 pts each over the Dutch team led by helmsman Jesper Overbeeke and crew of Merle Meinhardt, Sijmen van de Velden, and Lucas Leerdam. On the countback, the Dutch record of 1-5-2-5-3-3 lost to the German winners by number of 1sts!

Rounding out the podium taking the bronze medal was the Austrian team led by skipper Karl Holzner and his crew of Rudi Höller and Jörg Moser. This team from Salzburg, Austria also sailed a solid regatta posting a 2-2-9-3-5-9 tally for 21 pts. 

The balance of the top five included the Dutch team led by Sanne van Rijn in fourth with 22 pts and the German team with skipper Lasse Paland in fifth place with 27 pts.   Here is the race report for all 3 days from one of the skippers on AUT 1127- Karl Holzner.

October 4th Friday
It’s finally starting! But, we started with a “harbor postponement”!

The clouds were hanging low, the surrounding mountains had disappeared in the mist, and the lake was in leaden silence. It is raining now and then. The wind forecast is 1 to 2 km from the west.

After a long wait, a breeze picked up and the very committed and prudent race director chased us out onto the water. It was enough to sail! That was hard to believe! We had just one race in a light, quite brisk wind. The winner was NED 1455 skippered by Jesper Overbeeke.

October 5th Saturday
At the skipper’s meeting, we were greeted by yet another “harbor postponement”! It was a prudent thing to do, so we had more coffee and more pastries!

We had more clouds, more rain, and no wind. Is that why we all drive so far? LOL! It’s the nature of sailing… we understand!

A small gap opens up in the clouds and there is what no one dared to hope for: wind!

Thanks to the good race management and the exceptional starting discipline (not a single false start, only various individual recalls), we had four really exciting, difficult but fair races!

The UYCW used every trick in the book to keep us sailing, using all means possible such as moving course marks, shortening course legs, etc.

Reiner Brockerhoff GER 1368 won 2 races,  Felix Rittinger’s AUT 1442 one win, and Rudi Mayer’s  AUT 1680 one win. 

Tired, but mostly satisfied with four races completed, we returned to the harbor.

In the evening, there was the UYC Wolfgangsee sailors’ dinner with a 3-course menu and traditional live music!!

October 6th Sunday: Wash, rinse, repeat!

At the skipper’s meeting, we were greeted by yet another “harbor postponement”! Again, it was a prudent thing to do, so we had more coffee and more pastries!

The sun was shining, we could see the mountains, winds were blowing from the southeast over the lake, but the wind just wouldn’t get through. 

The starting line goes to the right, against all the rules, much to the dismay of the local Wolfgangsee residents. There’s another way to have a home advantage!

It was enough wind for a laborious final windward-leeward race, completed in a dying wind. That sole race winner was Sanne van Rijn’s NED 1500.

The hoped-for spring wind never came!

A few final words as a member of the UYCW:

“Thanks to Rudi Mayr, who together with the German J/22 Class Association brought this J/22 EuroCup to Lake Wolfgangsee. He was the main organizer before and during the regatta, which didn’t make it easy for him to concentrate on sailing himself!

Thanks to Manfred Magnus, who was the race director and did a perfect job with his entire team in the most adverse conditions! 

Thanks to our neighbors from Wallersee and thanks to all the participants who traveled far and for the wonderful days together at Wolfgangsee! We enjoyed hoisting a few beers with our comrades in arms and colleagues from around Europe!

Thanks to the UYCW for the usual good execution on the water and on land and for allowing the J/22s to be their passionate, enthusiastic guests!” For more J/22 EuroCup sailing information

(Annapolis, MD)- Next week, from October 21st to 27th, forty-eight teams from around the world will be participating in the 2024 J/22 World Championship, hosted by Eastern Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD. The J/22 Worlds have been hosted on the Chesapeake Bay in the past several times and it often provides a great challenge to the very talented teams sailing from four nations (USA, Cayman Island, Canada, and Jamaica).

Several past J/22 World, North American, European, and National Champions are participating in this star-studded fleet. To say the least, it would be “fool’s gold” to handicap the two ten boats since all of them have beaten each other in various regattas over time! Who’s going to prevail this time is anyone’s guess, but it will surely come down to the smartest team that makes the fewest mistakes!

The following teams should be a factor at the top of the leaderboard; Mike Farrington’s Cayman Islands team on ADJUSTED; Glenn Darden’s BABY DOLL from Fort Worth Boat Club; Will Welles’s COUGAR team from Newport, RI; Travis Odenbach’s HONEYBADGER crew from Rochester YC (he’s recent J/24 World Champion!); Jeff Todd’s HOT TODDY from Annapolis YC; Katja & Mark Sertl’s LUCY from Jamestown, RI; Kevin Doyle’s MO’MONEY from Youngstown YC; Jake Doyle’s PINATA from Annapolis YC; JR Maxwell’s SCOOBY from Annapolis YC; Chris Doyle’s The JUG 4 1 from Youngstown YC; and Brad Julian’s YARD SAIL from Annapolis YC. That’s a very stellar and highly competitive cadre of teams plying the choppy, muddy, current-driven water of northern Chesapeake Bay! For more J/22 World Championship scoring & sailing information

(Gzira, Malta)- For most racers, the Rolex Middle Sea Race needs little introduction. Hosted by Royal Malta Yacht Club the race starts and ends in Malta, with an offshore race that makes a circumnavigation around the spectacular volcanic island of Sicily, Italy. The 606.0nm journey starts from the Grand Harbour in Valletta, Malta, beneath Fort St Angelo and the Saluting Battery, then the fleet heads northeast along the coast of Sicily, towards the Straits of Messina. You can usually spot Mount Etna and hear the Volcano rumble, or so they say.

The course heads north from the Straits in the direction of Stromboli, another active volcano, where the yachts then turn west to the Egadi Islands. After reaching Favignana the fleet heads south towards the island of Lampedusa with the island of Pantelleria on their port side. Once they have passed Lampedusa the fleet is on the home straight towards Malta and the finish at Marsamxett Harbour. 

The Rolex Middle Sea Race is a challenge for both skippers and crews. Everyone has to be on their A-Game to cope with the demanding and often changeable conditions on the 606.0nm course.

Amongst this year’s 94 entries are a half-dozen J/Teams spread over three divisions. 

ORC/ IRC 4 Division- 14 boats
Sailing this tough fleet will be Andrew & Sam Hall’s J/125 JACK KNIFE. In the past, J/125s have proven incredibly difficult to beat given the right wind and sea conditions. J/125 has won the Rolex Middle Sea Race twice before overall!

ORC/ IRC 5 Division- 20 boats
This fleet has three J/crews participating and all have abundant offshore experience and good track records. There are two J/112Es- Hort Huelsey’s BEFREE OPENPAYD from Malta (local offshore hotshots) and Peter Lezhnin’s JEDI crew from Australia. Joining them is Mark Wilson’s J/122 NOISY OYSTER, a proven winner on the Mediterranean offshore circuit. 

ORC/ IRC 6 Division- 18 boats
As the smallest boats racing for 606.0nm, it’s a tough “ask” for these small crews to keep up the pace 24×7 for over three days! Nevertheless, the intrepid young crews on the two J/109s are up to the task and have sailed remarkably well! Supported and sponsored by the Jarhead Young Sailors Foundation in Malta, those two teams include Gary Mercieca’s JARHEAD and Claudio Bugeja’s JYS JAN. For more Rolex Middle Sea Race sailing information