Warsash Spring Series Start

Last year, the first race of the Helly Hansen Warsash Spring Series took place in unseasonably glorious sunshine, but this year on March 12, entrants were faced with drizzle, mist and light winds. With light fair tide beats and foul tide runs, the latter were always going to a challenge, and both the White and Black Groups boats found that avoiding holes downwind was the main priority of the day. It was a challenging day also for line and course setting for the committee boats. The winds reported on Bramblenet were 7-10 knots Southwest, but Dock Heads was reporting 7-10 knots Northwest. In the end, Northwest predominated, but 10 knots was rarely if ever seen. On the White Group, Race 2 had to be abandoned when the wind switched through 90 degrees or more and dropped below 3 knots. However, another two races were completed, and as Race Officer Peter Knight noted, the same boats were up at the front. IRC1 was won by JITTERBUG (J/111 - Cornel Riklin), with KESTREL (J/111 - Simon Bamford) third. For more HELLY HANSEN Warsash Spring Series information, visit http://warsashspringseries.org.uk/2017/index.htm.

J/111 Wins PH3 at Islands Race

The Islands Race was hosted by Newport Harbor Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club on February 24-25. The 130nm dash began February 24, with competitors starting off Long Beach Harbor, heading west around Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands and into the finish off San Diego’s Point Loma. The race has become one of the West Coast’s signature offshore races, but this year’s event featured considerable visibility and scenery for those on board, yet light winds for the last third of the race. Skies were clear enough at the start on Friday that competitors and Race Committee could see all the way to Catalina due to the stormy fronts that have been blowing through Southern California over the past few weeks. Most boats started in about 8 knots of wind out of the northwest, and winds increased as boats moved around the course to San Clemente Island. The breeze peaked at about 14 knots at San Clemente and got progressively lighter and came from odd directions (east) as boats approached the finish. Only 14 of the 24 boats entered in this year’s race finished since many boats turned their engines on and confirmed their "did not finish" status. Crushing it overall as well as in the PH3 Division was Doug and Jack Jorgensen’s J/111 PICOSA from Los Angeles YC. In class, they won by 21 minutes corrected over a Summit 40 and Class 40. Overall, PICOSA took fourth place. For more Islands Race information, visit http://islandsrace.com/.

2017 J/111 World Championship

Peter Wagner's Skeleton Key Wins Midwinter Championship

The 30th anniversary Quantum Key West Race Week saw the seven racing classes complete races as scheduled. The week started with a windy and wavy southeasterly that faded over the course of four days before swinging around to a light southerly for Friday's conclusion. Many sailors felt the conditions were "typical of Key West Race Week," and they complemented the race committee's judgment. Peter Wagner's (Atherton, CA) Skeleton Key won the J/111 fleet for a second consecutive year with the low score of 25 points. Skeleton Key won Friday's race to score a 6-point victory over Rob Ruhlman's (Cleveland, OH) Spaceman Spiff. For complete event information, visit the Quantum Key West Race Week website at https://keywestraceweek.com/.

Midwinter Championship Day 4

Two races were held Thursday at Key West Race Week in light winds between 6-9 knots from the southeast. These were held after a harbor postponement that was signaled to allow the light northeasterly wind to shift around to the forecasted southeasterly. After posting finishes of 2-1, Peter Wagner's (Atherton, CA) Skeleton Key was named Boat of the Day. Skeleton Key also took over the lead in the J/111 Class with the low score of 24 points. Skeleton Key won the Class last year but got its defense off to a slow start with an eighth in Race 1. Since then, the crew from Northern California has steadily climbed the leaderboard while the early series leader, Rob Ruhlman's (Cleveland, OH) Spaceman Spiff, has been dropping. In the past four races, Skeleton Key has finished 1-3-2-1 while Spaceman Spiff has finished 3-9-3-5. "Today was all about being flexible. It was a very challenging day," said Wagner, a two-time All-American sailor in the late 1980s. "We're always very confident in our boatspeed; the trick is to put ourselves in position to use it. We didn't see a bias on the racecourse to one side or the other, so we tried to maintain tactical flexibility. That allowed us to benefit from boatspeed." Spaceman Spiff trails Skeleton Key by four points and now has to keep an eye over its transom at Jeffrey Davis' (Cleveland, OH) Shamrock, which has 29 points. "I have a lot of respect for the Spaceman Spiff guys. They sail their boat very well," said Wagner. "The conditions were so challenging today that it was easy to come out on the wrong side of events. We were fortunate to be able to improve our position today, and that's all that we could hope for." Racing concludes Friday. For more information and complete provisional results, please visit the Quantum Key West Race Week website at https://keywestraceweek.com/.