The Montreal Fleet is on a Roll
Montreal Fleet
2011 was a fantastic year for the Montreal chapter with three new J /22 boats added to the fleet. And guess what, another two boats are joining for the 2012 season. These new players are not coming from HYC but from OKA Yacht Club. A total of thirteen confirmed J/22 will be jostling for position on the start line this coming season. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such enthusiasm in the area. Something must be going on, so beware all racers this is highly contagious and you might be the next victim, the only remedy is to stay far away from the fun.
Class president and 2011 Canadian champion Ron Harris and crew John Martin orchestrated an evening, with a focus on two main areas: protests & rules, and tactics specific to J/22’s in a regatta. The clinic underlined critical points of contention with topics like; do not fear the protest room - one design vs PHRF/club racing starting tactics - J/22 class rules – and a review of the ever so important mark rounding rules and tactics.
Rules were read and explained, and with the help of a magnetic board different situations found on the race course where carefully examined. It made for a great forum where everyone could join in to provide further explanation or ask clarifications about a situation they had encountered.
In the course of the night it became clear to everyone that there are times where perspectives or opinions concerning a situation can come in conflict. Throughout the clinic emphasis was put on the fact that J22 racing is a gentleman’s sport, where fair play and respect of the rules must prevail. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that a church was chosen for the reunion after all!
What every sailor needs to remember is that racing is a game, and there are proper ways to settle differences between players. Being involved in a protest does not mark one as evil. It’s a civilized way of settling differences and it’s part of the learning process; sometimes it is the only way to decide how a rule should be interpreted. It’s not like calling the cops on someone, so we shouldn’t be afraid to protests.
The J/22 teams have a goal in mind: the J/22 worlds in 2013. This event will be held in Newport, Rhode Island, so getting everyone up to speed is essential if our local teams want to fair well in this world class competition. On the water speed tests and clinics are being planned for the start of the 2012 season.
Most of the fleet will travel and attend many of the nearby events such as the Canadian Championship at CORK, to name just one great event. The Montreal fleet has planned for lot of time on the water and class members are very generous with their experience and time, wishing to bring new comers quickly to level.
If you enjoy racing and wish to improve your skills there is no better time than now for anyone thinking about joining this class!
2011 World Championship
The J22 World Championship for 2011 was sailed at Southern Yacht Club in Louisiana. For those of you who haven’t sailed there, the yacht club is located on Lake Pontchartrain, in Metairie LA, which is a suburb of New Orleans, about 12 km from downtown New Orleans. The lake is very shallow and notorious for its chop. There were 64 boats competing with boats from Canada, Cayman Islands, Germany and the USA.
Most of the racing was sailed in 4-6 knots of breeze, with only one day, Thursday starting with winds of around 12 knots which died to around 5 knots throughout the day. Saturday, the last day of racing, there were big waves and whitecaps when we arrived at the club, and we thought we were going to have great conditions. It turned out that we only had about 5 knots of wind, and in the big waves, it was really tough to get the boats to move. Lots of boats changed positions on that last day. Rob Johnston started the last day with 62 points to 48 for Jimmy Barnash, and after the 11th race, Jimmy was still leading by 2 points. Rob turned in a 5th place finish in the last race to Jimmy’s 13th to win the overall regatta.
Two boats attended from Canada – Jazz, CAN 1610 with Ron Harris, Pete Amos and John Marten, and Alternative Girlfriend, CAN 341 with Trevor Collins, Doug Mair, Alexandra Leus, and Lauren Laventure (all newcomers to the class)– both boats from Hudson, Québec. Jazz finished 11th overall, and won the Masters’ trophy. Alternative Girlfriend finished 56th, which was a great finish for a team new to the J22 and sailing in their first regatta on the boat. For full results, see http://www.j22worlds.com/index.php/the-event/results/.
The race committee was led by Hank Stuart from Rochester. He and his team did a great job to get off 12 races in the very challenging conditions we faced, with the predominantly light air. The event was very well organized and the Southern Yacht Club did an outstanding job of running the regatta and hosting all the competitors. They set a very high standard for a regatta that will be hard to beat.
J22 2011 Canadian Championship
2010 J22 Canadian Championship
Port Credit Yacht Club put on a great 2010 Canadian Championship regatta for us on July 10 – 11. Despite fairly light wind, we were able to get 7 races off, and newcomers to the fleet, Gord Mcilquham, his wife Maryann Turcke, and their 2 daughters, Emily and JJ, showed us all how it’s done, walking off with the trophy.
We had a few new boats out this year: the winning boat Prudence from RCYC, 383 from NYC (Jerry Wendt), Spaceball from Nepean (Marg Hurley), and Eclipse from BHYC (Brian Young). Thanks to all of you for coming out.
2012 Calendar
Categories
- Class and Rules (2)
- Events (2)
- Race Report (4)
- Stories (3)
- Uncategorized (1)
US Class News
- 2012 J/22 World Championship 09/12/2010
- Santa Maria Cup 25/03/2010
- St. Francis YC Wins J/22 Team Racing Invitational 14/03/2010
