06.Oct.08 - Clear Lake after Ike. Bill Zartler sent this link of a slide show of the Lakewood Yacht Club and Clear Lake shortly after Ike went through.   Slideshow

01.Oct.08 - Chesapeake Bay Championships. The J105 Chesapeake Bay Championship will be hosted by Fleet 3 and the Annapolis Yacht Club 31 October – 2 November 2008. This three-day regatta offers big fleet racing (25-35 boats expected) on the same venue as the record breaking 2007 NAC. In addition to great sailing this regatta is the perfect stopping point for those J105s headed south for Key West Race Week. The NOR is posted on the AYC Racing website. Please contact the AYC Racing Manager or the Fleet 3 Captain for more information.

01.Oct.08 - Minutes posted. The minutes of the Executive Committee's September 23 conference call have been posted. After logging in, choose Members --> Class Business on the left menu.

21.Sep.08 - STARCROSS wins Canadians. Meanwhile, in nearby Toronto, there were another fifteen boats racing for three days. These racers got in nine races and there were also five different winners. In this case, owners Glen Malcolm and Arthur English got the best of the action with two firsts, three seconds and two thirds. Top three: 1. Malcolm/English, STARCROSS, 27; 2. Jim Rathbun, HEY JUDE, 37.5; 3. Dave Shaver, RE-TERN, 41.   Full results.

21.Sep.08 - C-JEM take Great Lakes Championship. Five out of fifteen boats in the J105 Great Lakes Championship registered first place finishes in three days of racing. That wasn't enough to unseat CJ Ruffing and the crew of C-JEM, which won the regatta. The last day of racing brought steady 8 - 12 knot breezes. "IT" -- owned by Jim and Mindy Sminchak closed the door on Phantom - owned by Jim and Cynthia Best with a second in the final race of the regatta. Next year's J/105 Great Lakes Championship is slated for the Mentor Harbor Yacht Club on Lake Erie. Top five: 1. C.J. Ruffing, C-JEM, 30; 2. Jim Sminchak, IT, 36; 3. Jim Best, PHANTOM, 44; 4.Richard Stearns, TYLISHAN, 47; 5. Harry Bloom, DIRTY HARRY, 59. Submitted by Harry Bloom.  Complete results.

21.Sep.08 - Rule proposals for your comments. The Technical Committee has posted six submissions for your consideration. Please read them and comment on the Forum. These are not the final proposals, just the preliminary proposals, so now is a good time to discuss them within fleets and more broadly. The final proposals are still about a month away.

18.Sep.08 - Headstay templates restocked. You can again buy an inexpensive template to repeatably set your headstay to a given length. This is important whether we keep the current headstay rule or modify it. Click the J/105 Merchandise menu and scroll down to the item. We've reduced the total price (including shipping) by $5 this time around.

18.Sep.08 - Photography. I'm putting together the 2009 calendar. It will be for sale in the Merchandise section in about a month. You'll want to get one for each of your crew. In the meantime, I want to give you the web sites of the photographers I've been prospecting for photos. Here they are (in alphabetical order): Bobby Alcott (Great Lakes Championship), Charlie Bergstedt (2008 NAC, Rolex BBS), Karen Hirsch (Chicago NOOD & Mac), Andrew Sims (NYYC Rolex, BIRW, Sail Newport), and Tim Wilkes & Jeremiah Tamagna-Darr (2007 NAC, KWRW). Great shots. Check 'em out.

16.Sep.08 - At least three survive Ike in Houston. It looks like J-TEEZ, STINGER, AFTERSHOCK all survived Ike. If you look at picture number 4 in the page linked below, you can see J-TEEZ at the left. The black mast at an angle just to the right is the mast of Son of Boomer, a Cape Fear 38, that was just across from AFTERSHOCK. It has clearly sunk. The mast just to the right of the big boat is AFTERSHOCK. She is still floating and we are pretty sure she is okay. We can't say the same for HYC's marina, and nobody will be thinking of the planned NOOD this weekend. -- VP Bee Bednar [follow-up: ELIXIR, SOLARIS, BABE, BLUE MAX, MARION V, DOUBLE DARE, and XCITATION all made it through as well.]  (more...)

15.Sep.08 - GOOD TIMIN' wins Big Boats. Brothers Chris and Phil Perkins won San Francisco's prestigious Rolex Big Boats Series in the seven race, no throwout, thirty one boat regatta. Top three: 1. Phil & Chris Perkins, GOOD TIMIN', 26; 2. Tim Russell, AQUAVIT, 45; 3. Scooter Simmons, BLACKHAWK, 51.  Complete results.

09.Sep.08 - KINCSEM wins Larchmont NOOD. Perennial top guns, Joerg Esdorn and Duncan Hennes’ J/105 KINCSEM team, successfully defended the Long Island Sound Championship (which was sailed as part of the Larchmont NOOD regatta). In addition to Joerg and Duncan, the all-AYC crew included Fred Walters, Rich Hulit, Don Reeser and Chris Lange. The team has been racing KINSEM together for almost eight years. There were 19 boats and six races sandwiched around Hurricane Hanna, which proved to be a bust as far as enhancing the wind. Top three: 1. Esdorn/Hennes, ECLIPSE, 17; 2. Brian Keane, SAVASANA, 18; 3. Damian Emery, ECLIPSE, 24.  Complete results.

29.Aug.08 - NAC Photos. Charlie Bergstedt was the photographer for the NAC and you can see his photos either ordered by day or ordered by final finish position. Enjoy!

25.Aug.08 - DONKEY JACK wins NAC.
After four days and ten races, Scott Sellers and his crew on DONKEY JACK emerged victorious at the San Francisco NAC. The photo shows the crew (Scott Sellers, Rolf Kaiser, Eric Ryan, Geoff McDonald, Cam Geer and Ted Conrads -- not necessarily in that order). Top three: 1. Scott Sellers, DONKEY JACK, 22; 2. Dave Wilson & Chris Perkins, GOOD TIMIN', 45; and 3. Tim Russell, AQUAVIT, 51.   Stewart's commentary and final results.

24.Aug.08 - And after the third day ... Scott Sellers and DONKEY JACK solidified their top position with three bullets on the day. Top three: 1. Scott Sellers, DONKEY JACK, 19; 2. David Wilson & Chris Perkins, GOOD TIMIN' 2, 40; 3. Tim Russell, AQUAVIT, 41.   Stewart's commentary and complete results (plus bonus video).

23.Aug.08 - And after two days ... The leaders after two days and five races are: 1. Scott Sellers, DONKEY JACK, 16; 2. Tim Russell, AQUAVIT, 19; 3. David Wilson & Chris Perkins, GOOD TIMIN', 26. Five different boats have won races.   Stewart's commentary and full results.

22.Aug.08 - NAC underway with 36 boats. After a postponement and two races in, the top three were: 1. Scooter Simmons, BLACKHAWK, 6; 2. Tim Russell, AQUAVIT, 7; and 3. Kristen Lane, BRICK HOUSE, 10. Fleet Captain, Stuart Taylor, will be providing some commentary with a link to complete results.  Stuart's commentary.

13.Aug.08 - For those who plan ahead ... The 2009 North American Championships have been scheduled for October 29 to November 1 at American Yacht Club in Rye, NY. Also, the initial e-mails have gone out for Key West Race Week (January 19-23). If you are considering KWRW in 2009 and did not get "Update #1", please contact Nelson to get on his distribution list.

01.Aug.08 - PRONTO II wins Chicago Mac Race. There were 27 J/105s entered and six trophies collected for the 100th running of the Chicago Mac. Weather was rainy, dense fog, and on the lighter side presssure-wise, with scattered thunderstorms and occasional clear skies. Roy Disney was the honorary race chairman. Top three: 1. Peter Fray, PRONTO II, 55:47:20; 2. Sellers/Ryan, DONKEY JACK, 56:01:48; 3. Morin/Rose, JUNTO, 56:09:13.  Complete results.

01.Aug.08 - STEELAWAY III wins Marblehead NOOD. A Thursday storm cut the four day regatta to three days, but Peter Morgan won the first two races on Friday and never looked back, winning the seven race, one-throwout regatta by 11 points. Seventeen boats participated at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. That makes seven NOODs this year with two to go (Larchmont and Texas). Top three: 1. Peter Morgan, STEELAWAY III, 11; 2. Jon Wales, BANTRY, 20; 3. Brian Harrington, UPROAR, 24.  Full results.

31.Jul.08 - Minutes available. The minutes of the July 15 Conference call of the Executive Committee are now posted in the Members Area (Class Business). In other late July news, ECLIPSE (Damian Emery) won the Newport Rolex and East Coast Championship among 19 boats (complete results), STINGER (VP Bee Bednar) was second in class and second overall in the three day, hurricane enhanced Texas Race Week, and MIRAGE (Lewis and Salvesen) won the Screwpile Regatta among 15 boats. The ECCs were jointly sponsored by Fleets 3 and 6 with a new travelling half-hull trophy, while Texas Race Week was in Fleet 17 territory, and the Screwpile was sponsored by Fleet 3.

09.Jul.08 - Great Lakes Championship Regatta. Everything you need to know about this regatta (September 19-21, 2008 at Grosse Pointe Yacht Club) can be found by clicking here:   Everything.