J/122 Jackpot does it again winning the CYCA SOPS IRC Div 1

by Sandra Entwistle on 4 Mar 2010
Ray and Sandra Entwistle's J/122 ‘Jackpot' has won the 2009/10 Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Short Ocean Pointscore Series on IRC in Division 1. The SOPS is an 11 race series which runs from October to February, and is a combination of both windward / leeward courses and short passage races, held on the waters offshore from Sydney.

'Jackpot' finished three points ahead of her nearest rival Ed Salter in his famous AFR Midnight Rambler, completing the series on 17 points.

'Jackpots' worst result was a fifth, which they were able to drop. 'We were caught up in an entanglement at the start of a particular race where the winds were drifters and the tide relatively strong – we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other than that, we finished in the top three places for all the other races.' The top class fleet is a mixture of yachts in the 38-60 foot range with everything from a Swan 60, TP52's, Cookson 12's, new Bene 40's, 47.7's, 44.7's, Sydney 38 and others.

The season comprised of a variety of wind, sea and weather conditions but 'Jackpot' and her crew remained consistent throughout.

'We have a fairly small sail wardrobe from Ian Short Sails which has proved to be incredibly effective, consisting of a carbon main, #1 light carbon jib, #1 Medium Heavy carbon jib, #4 Kevlar jib. The kites we fly are asymmetric, being a 140 mtr sq.m reacher and 155 sq.m runner. The J/122 is designed to carry non-overlapping jibs so tacking is quick and easy, and the kites fly from a fully retractable carbon sprit making the hoists, drops and gybes simple and efficient.'

'The J/122 is a joy to sail, she doesn't slam in rough conditions, her hull shape allows her to ride up the waves and surf back down, in the light winds she simply glides along. In one race gusting over 30 knots and waves peaking at 15 feet we hit a speed of 18.6 knots and averaged 14.4 knots on a leg from Botany Bay to Sydney Heads.'

'The J's are light but extremely strong, so you don't have the excessive sheet loading you get with some other yachts. This also means you don't need to have a crew of rugby players on board – in fact 40-50% of Jackpots crew are women. The J/122 really epitomizes what sailing should be about. We can race her hard and win a prominent and competitive series, but then load her up with food and water and head up the coast cruising. She truly is a dual-purpose yacht.'

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our crew Ian, Hedgey, Emmy, Cassandra, Kate, Caroline, Darren and James for making this series not only a ‘winner', but also a lot of fun.

Our congratulations and respects to all our competitors for their sportsmanship throughout this highly competitive series.