Sail Boat Races

[Woodsy]

I just wanted to thank the J-Boats and crews who participated in the races yesterday... What a great show!

I stumbled upon the the race yesterday afternoon (Sunday 9/13) while putting along the Broads... It was awesome sight to see these boats racing! After they crossed the finish line a few of them continued racing back to Glendale! Pretty cool to be putting along in the Donzi and getting passed by sailboats!

Great Day to be on the lake!

Woodsy

[tis]

It was beautiful out there yesterday, Woodsy, I saw them too. What a pretty sight!

[SIKSUKR]

I happened to be out in the Broads last year in my gfbq&s (go fast be quiet and small) PWC and had the same pleasure of watching these beautifull boats racing.I'm not supposed to like them though,right?

[searay220]

I'm almost affraid to ask cause your going think I'm nuts. We came out of Alton Bay yesterday and headed around the outside of Rattlesnake Island. To the north out in the broads we could see dozens of sail boats. The boats were beautiful to see with all the different color sails. As we went closer the color in the sails went away and they were all white. They were the same boats we were watching but the colorful sails became white. Are the sails colored on one side and white on the other? Can anyone explain this or is age catching up with me.

[Zeke]

What you saw were the boats racing windward-leward courses. They go up wind to a mark, turn around and go down wind. The colorfull sails , spinakers, can only be carried down wind. So you saw the fleet headed downwind, when they turn back upwind after the rounding mark, the spinakers come down, and the color is gone. The white sails are the main and jib. I hope this helps.

[searay220]

WOW I'm not going crazy. I did see it correctly. Thanks

As you can tell I have no knowledge of sailing. All I know is any boat I own must have a V8 engine in it.

[Sunset Bob]

The J-boats did put on a great show.
Will post more on photo-post later

[Sunset Bob]

New pics on photo-post

[Woodsy]

Sunset...

Thanks for posting the pics... the one time I didnt have the camera on the boat and I stumbled across the races! It was quite a sight to witness!

Woodsy

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Here is the link to Sunset Bob's extensive PhotoPost Gallery.

[ApS]

I was reading up on the Winnipesaukee Yacht Club, and found that it is WYC who sponsored this race. Details of this event are here. Even more photos of the event can be navigated-to from there.

Originally Posted by searay220

"...As you can tell I have no knowledge of sailing. All I know is any boat I own must have a V8 engine in it..."

In the US, at least, you have lots of company.

I Googled "knowledge of sailing", and found that to acquire boating certificates and other specialized boating licenses in Great Britain, knowledge of sailing is required! (And nowhere in the US).

Originally Posted by Woodsy

"...Pretty cool to be putting along in the Donzi and getting passed by sailboats...!)

1) The J-class sailboats were started by one excellent hull design built in a garage. From there, "J-boats" spread into other—and very popular—new classes. Among the J-boat variants, those pictured here are a "middling' size.

BTW: A new J-80 jib (the smaller, gold-colored sail) costs $1545!

2) They really "show their stuff" in a good breeze, like the breeze that day. One J-80 race-entrant-neighbor (who bought a catamaran from me) passed by my place after this race and I hollered, "Slow Down!" at him. He gave a big wave.

3) Race "starts" demand that an entrant boat be the first sailboat "upwind"—pretty tough when every entrant wants the same spot! Among many other photos of this event at their site, WYC posted this shot of the start:



4) Like some other forms of racing, sailing is interesting for having this strategy: Being "third" in the final minutes of the race is not a bad position to acquire "first" at the finish line.
.
.
.

[Rattlesnake Gal]

WYC sponsored the J-Jamboree race on September 13th?

[ripley]

Interesting,,,these j-80 's run 26 feet.they look like your average day sailer until you look close .
The 80 stands for the length of the boat: a J-80 is 8.0 meters long,,,or 26 feet .New ,they run about $36,000 and up.
I crew on one during July/early August each summer .
they love a 10 knot breeze or more and really move very quickly through the water

[ApS]

A 10-knot breeze is ideal for most sailors, and the Lake offers that and sometimes much more!

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal

WYC sponsored the J-Jamboree race on September 13th?

Perhaps the better word is "promoted". (The WYC promoted the race at their website).

1) I was just reading about Dennis Connor ("America's Cup" U.S.A. skipper-veteran), and his generous sponsorship of J-boat racing. Dennis will "chime into" forums devoted to Laser, Opti-prams, and Sunfish—the smallest of sailboats.

2) Speaking of starting to windward, this photo is of a typical start "lineup", with the boat on the far left trying for the favored position of "most windward"—next to the "Committee Boat". (With the orange "Start" flag—don't brush against the Committee Boat!)

3) The "straw color" of modern sails is due to the natural color of Kevlar. Other colors are painted on the sails.



4) The boats pictured are all in the class "Volvo-70", and race around the world—and everywhere in the world. A RIB dealer in the UK advertises, "Our rental RIBs are now powered to go 45-MPH, so our renters can catch these powerful sailboats." (!)

5) Speaking of crewing, fast sailing is more rewarding when you have a crew.

(Video—check out these boats' wakes).

[VtSteve]

Gives new meaning to Stuffing The Bow. My uncle used to race on the big boats out of Marblehead, Mass. Very impressive.

[SIKSUKR]

Nice video APS. I followed the Volvo offshore race series on tv for 3-4 races this summer. Pretty impressive.

[ApS]

Come to think of it, I "followed" a Volvo offshore race—quite literally!

Off Ft. Lauderdale, we were spectating from a "fully-capacitied-out" Farrier-28 trimaran traveling at 19 knots (!). We had a slight lead over the fleet at the start, but when they set their spinnakers, the entire fleet simply ran off!

[Airwaves]

APS wrote:

I Googled "knowledge of sailing", and found that to acquire boating certificates and other specialized boating licenses in Great Britain, knowledge of sailing is required! (And nowhere in the US).

While that may be true, I know that the Coast Guard Auxiliary does devote one night of their Boating Skills and Seamanship classes for powerboaters to sailing so that power boaters will know and understand what sailboats do and how to anticipate their moves. I expect the Power Squadron does the same.