Australian J/111 fleet at the Festival of Sails - Day 1
by Yacht Spot 27 Jan 2018 20:00 NZDT
26-28 January 2018
Australian J/111 fleet at Festival of Sails, Geelong © Sandra Entwistle
Fresh from competing in the Australian Yachting Championships at Sandringham Yacht Club last weekend, the J/111 fleet have headed to Geelong for the Festival of Sails Regatta. The J/111's will be racing one-design for the J/111 Cup, sponsored by Yachtspot, the local distributor for performance yachts from J/Boats. The J/111 Nationals (held as part of AYC last weekend) was won by Rod Warren's 'Joust' who will be keen to continue his winning streak at Festival of Sails.
A special shout out to the crew from J/111 'Horopito' who sailed around from Adelaide for the events. Five J/111's are now based at Sandringham Yacht Club being Joust, Jake, Playlist, Veloce and Scarlet Runner 11.
The passage race from Melbourne to Geelong was sailed yesterday, with Rob Date's Scarlet Runner 11 taking line honours. Rob commented after the race 'We had a plan and stuck to it – sail straight and keep some in the bank. Before the race we guessed the SW change seabreeze would hit at 1.37pm so we planned to be in the best position for the change. Rob joked that he misjudged the change by 6 seconds, when the wind shifted at 1.37.06 however they had positioned themselves perfectly and took the lead. Rob added "the J/111 is a really nice boat and we are having a lot of fun with it".
In second place was 'Playlist'. John from Playlist commented "We are really proud of our efforts after less than 1 year of owning our J/111. The team has come together really well. Today, the Code zero was our hero!" Like most of the fleet they were stuck in a wind hole and changed between kite and code zero about 10 times. As the change hit they went from 0 knots to 8 knots of boat speed instantly, and they were off.
Ray Entwistle from Yachtspot, the Australian and NZ importer and distributor of J/Boats, is pleased to support Royal Geelong Yacht Club in this 175th year of the event. J/Boats have been synonymous with racing over the generations starting with the J/24 40 years ago, the J/35 and on to the next generation of sprit yachts encompassing the J/70, J/88, J/111 and new J/121 in the Sports range and the J/97e, J/112e and J/122e in the performance cruiser 'e' range.
Thanks to Royal Geelong Yacht Club for running one-design class racing for the J/111. We are looking forward to a weekend of close, evenly matched racing that only one-design racing can offer.
Yachtspot are also displaying the J/70 (7.0m one-design keelboat) at Festival of Sails. The J/70 is the fastest growing one-design keelboat class in the World with over 1400 J/70's delivered worldwide in under 5 years. Drop by and visit if you are in the area.
yachtspot.com.au/jboats