What a difference a J makes! J/Boats Invitational

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 11 Nov 2008 Take nine teams and give them nine J/80s (most of us had never sailed one before), give them a quick briefing from Jeff Johnstone, President of J/Boats (who has definitely sailed one before). And send them out of Wu Yuan Bay, Xiamen, for a 5-race regatta.

That was the programme last weekend, and the purpose of the exercise was to introduce those people to the J/80s – the first ‘batch’ out of the mould at the new production facility just outside Xiamen. And also to show off J/Boats Asia’s new headquarters in Xiamen and home of the J/World Xiamen performance sailing school, housed in the freshly and very nicely refurbished former Olympic Sailing Centre.

‘We’ were beta testers for the new boats, and ‘we’ were a mixed bunch: Hong Kong (HKG) was represented by four sportsboats sailors from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, China (CHN) by three Germans and a Turk from the Shanghai Boat & Yacht Club, Singapore (SIN) were all from Changi Sailing Club and the USA (we think) were all actually American. Then there was the Philippines (PHI) with one American, one Chinese and two Filipinos), Taipei (TPE- yes, all from Taipei!), France (FRA) – three Frenchmen and a Belgian from Shanghai, Australia (AUS), two Sheilas, a Pom and a Yank, and lastly Belgium (BEL) consisting of one Irishman, one American, one Chinese and one token Belgian. And just to prove that this was a serious regatta, the helm of the Belgian boat was Song Xiaqun, CHN Yngling helm, and 8th overall in the Qingdao Olympic Regatta. Some competition!

Team HKG tried to nobble the opposition immediately on arrival in Xiamen by taking Eric Rogers out for a QLD. Rumour has it they did a great job, but Rogers wasn’t sailing in the regatta – he is J/Boats Asia’s engineer. Then HKG took Song Xiaqun sailing, found that she was a demon upwind but had never had to cope with an a-sail downwind – taught her well, then had to watch helplessly as she was assigned to a spare slot in the Belgian boat…

Sailing day 1 was for tuning the boat in the sunshine, practicing starts and (in the case of the AUS contingent) practicing throwing winch handles over the side. The Honorary Aussie helm had to be shown how to point the boat at least 15 deg higher, while FRA practiced and demonstrated some finely-tuned trawling techniques.

Race day 1 turned out grey and blustery, with a cold front having gone through overnight. But nobody was complaining at the 14+ knots of breeze, and BEL opened the batting with 1, 1, 3 (5) in front of HKG’s 2, 5, 1 (8) tied with USA 4, 2, 2 (8). At the other end of the fleet – whilst everyone was undoubtedly enjoying themselves – there were some boat-handling deficiencies which needed attention. But there’s precious little that can’t be improved by cold beer and a magnificent buffet supper, and the first day’s racing was accounted entirely successful by all concerned.

Race day 2 was just as cold and just as blowy, and Team AUS started the day with an hour’s tutorial from Jeff Johnstone, President of J/Boats, and someone who just may have spent more time in J/80s than anyone else on the planet. The effect was obvious at the start of race 4, with AUS following BEL and USA round the top mark with HKG and SIN in hot pursuit. The run was almost as good, but the take-down definitely wasn’t, and although AUS fought hard to get back into the race and rid themselves of the wooden spoon, it was not to be.

Now, this was meant to be a shake-down for a fleet of new boats, so some rudder fittings that sent USA and AUS back to the dock were all part of the game – even if it did mean they both collected fleet+1 points for the last race.

Really, this little regatta was more about sailing than it was about racing. It was an opportunity to introduce a whole lot of new people to J/80s, and to each other. We were (almost) all sailors from the Asia region, and this was an excellent opportunity to ‘meet and greet’. In the case of Team AUS (which, in case you hadn’t guessed, included the Editor of Sail-World Asia) it was also an occasion to find out how much you can learn, and how fast, when someone gives you the time. Many sailors go out and race weekend after weekend, perhaps doing the same crew job time and again, and rarely if ever helm a boat or receive any real coaching apart from what is ‘absorbed’ from other crew members. It was a vivid demonstration of how participating in a course at J/World Xiamen would benefit practically any but the dullest (or sharpest) weekend warrior. Sign me up!

Jeff Brown, President of J/Boats Asia, did a great job in pulling together what looked like a friendly and impromptu event, but which actually had yards and yards of well-executed organization behind it, from the airport transfers to the socials, and not forgetting providing ten boats for a regatta. 'We couldn’t have been looked after better, and we’ve met some great people. Congratulations to J/Boats Asia' was the comment from one pof the competitors.
A successful and enjoyable first event of this nature inevitably leads to the question – 'what next?' Firstly, Brown would like to see more J/80s out on the water around the Asia region – that’s no surprise. But he has bigger plans for the J/80 in Asia. 'If we can seed a couple of fleets in the region, and then get a China Class Association recognised by ISAF. We could turn this little event into J/World Race Week, and then we could hold a J/80 Worlds here in Xiamen. For that, we would build and provide anything up to 30 new boats for charter, and then I think we’d really start to see small boat sailing grow in China. That’s what I’d like to see.'

Given the enthusiasm with which this inaugural event was received, coupled with the start-up – by the end of this year – of the J/World Sailing School, and Jeff Brown’s undoubted ability to ‘put on a show’, don’t be surprised if it happens – soon. Some of us are already looking forward to sailing in Xiamen again.

For the record:
1 BEL 8 points
2 HKG 13
3 SIN 18