First Annual Atlantic J Class Awards Night

Saraguay House

Its gone one way and then the other, but our first gala awards event is scheduled for Saturday, November 21, at Saraguay House at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. It was going to be November 28 but the Squadron management rented the space while I was trying to figure out how many chairs we needed. Never thought about that with Christmas coming and all.

Its part of a cavalcade of organizational events all on the same day at the Squadron. Before we dish the hardware both the J24 and the J29 Classes will have class meetings to discuss the events of 2009 and plan for the events of 2010:

• The J24 Class will meet at 4:00 pm. I’m not sure which room but we’ll get that for you.
• The J29 Class will meet at 3:00 pm in the McInnes Room in Saraguay House. Bar service and snacks will be available during the meeting (but we are really there to discuss the events of 2009 and plan for the events of 2010). Two representatives per boat. One boat one vote.  (See Atlantic J29 Class Mtg Minutes 041809)

The bar will be open after the end of the class meetings, whenever that might be, so that members attending can kick back and wait for the Awards dinner. Plans for dinner are now in place. Dinner and dress will be informal. The menu is as follows:

• Buffet style: $20++ ($26 inclusive of HST and gratuity)
• 2 Salads
• Carved hip of beef OR Roasted 1/4 chicken
• Roasted potato, vegetable medley
• Chef’s assorted desserts, tea or coffee. 

We are now accepting reservations. Please indicate the number in your party to email and we’ll make sure we have enough seats for everyone.

Watch this space, I’ll amend this post with the details as they are worked out on the Class Meetings and the Awards Dinner.

Saraguay House is immediately north of the RNSYS Main Clubhouse. If you are approaching from the Armdale Rotary, the entrance is on your left before the entrance to the Main Clubhouse. The Saraguay has a large parking lot. The McInnes Room is in the southeast corner of the Saraguay House building. Turn right from the entrance foyer. 

Job Well Done

The T-shirt says it all

News Flash
At last night’s Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron Annual Awards Dinner Dale Robertson was named the Squadron’s Sailor of the Year.

The article on the huge J24 event at Prince of Wales Weekend mentioned that Dale Robertson resigned as President of the Atlantic District of the J24 class two days before the regatta. The District is now in the capable hands of Greg Blunden. It is about time, though, to recognize what Dale has accomplished in what I believe is three and a half years as President.

Dale sailed in the class for a couple of years before he became an emergency mid-season replacement President. I can’t remember the exact timing of events. I know he brought enthusiasm to the class right away and I remember what the big breakthrough was but I can’t remember if it came immediately or whether it was the next year. The breakthrough, for sure, came in the Metro regatta at Shearwater when Dale hit the phones and managed to persuade eight to ten boats to come out in what was the most competitive local regatta for 24s in many years.

After that Dale kept the phones hot and his email humming, and before we knew it, we had ten boats, then a dozen boats, and then even more boats on a regular basis at 24 regattas. Boats that had been sitting on the shore started to go in the water. Shediac, which had often sent a boat or two to regattas in Halifax, started to send four or five then six. Halifax started to send just as many up to Shediac. New boats started to show up. Lunenburg started to develop a 24 fleet and last I heard there are 37 or 38 active J24s in Atlantic Canada with a realistic prospect of as many as 45 next year.

This year’s POW was a fitting climax to a highly successful tenure. Twenty boats on the line for a local event would be pretty impressive in central Canada where there a ten times as many people living much closer together than in our region. Here it is a miracle and one of the most impressive accomplishments I have seen in 40 years of involvement in the sport of sailing. The 24 class wasn’t out when Dale took over but it was a bit down. It is now – with due respect to the Bluenose class and their terrific two-regatta program in Chester Harbour – the strongest sailboat class in Atlantic Canada. Quite frankly I’d be interested to know if anyone in the history of volunteer sailboat class management can come up with an example of a more outstanding turnaround engineered over such a short period by one person.

The 24 class has sponsors, prizes, parties, and many good sailors getting better and better. In short, Dale has shown everyone in Canadian sailing just how limitless the possibilities are. He has done it with work and enthusiasm. The key though is that he has made it fun for everyone and that is a pretty good legacy to leave.

Best of the Season

Its all over. In fact, its all been over for more than a month. The season winners were announced at the Prince of Wales prizegiving at the RNSYS but it’s past  due to get  it in print.

J29

Satisfaction gets some

The J29 Class Championship is based on the best result in four of six designated regattas. Shediac Race Week, unfortunately, did not happen, which made it the best four out of five. The winner (drum roll please) is Satisfaction, which is owned by Jim Mason and helmed by Evan Petley-Jones out of PNSYS. In second was  last year’s champ, Colmonell, which was followed by perennial contender Feed Me

Boat	RNSYS Opener	Ch’town Race Week	Chester Race Week	Lunen-burg Js	Prince of Wales	TOTAL
Satisfaction	3	1	5	2	4	10
Colmonell	6	18	2	3	1	12
Feed Me	4	18	3	6	2	15
Paradigm Shift	2	18	6	8	3	19
J-Zeus II9	5	18	7	5	5	22
Scotch Mist IV	1	18	4	4	18	27
Dog Party	18	2	9	7	18	36
Jaeger	18	18	1	1	18	38
The Simpsons	18	18	10	18	6	52
J-2K	18	3	18	18	18	57
J-142	18	4	18	18	18	58
Maestral	18	5	18	18	18	59
Red Sled	18	6	18	18	18	60
Radar Love	18	7	18	18	18	61
Hakuna Matata	18	18	8	18	18	62
Groucho	18	18	18	9	18	63
C’est La Vie	18	18	10	18	18	64
Rumblefish	18	18	18	10	18	64

 

J24

What a rush

The method by which the J24 Champion is determined is similar to the one used to elect the Pope and a bit more secretive. I’ve asked about it a few times and sat through at least two explanations but two graduate degrees have not sufficient limbered my mind to absorb the concept. I take comfort in the knowledge that the capable folks who run the 24s don’t have a handle on it either. They have announced two or three champs so far but I’m going with the last one I heard about, who was Greg Blunden in Adrenalin Rush.  I’m having fun with them here but I think Johnny Whynacht in Sticky Fingers came second and I’m going with Mike Orr in Limerick for third because he’s a good guy and its a pity he’s selling the boat.

ODOD III Ends it All

The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron held its final One Day One Design on September 26 attracting six J24s. In keeping with the J24 pattern, there was no pattern. Ted Murphy, the eventual winner, rounded the first windward mark of the first race, as I recall, in last place but worked up to a fourth, and then added three firsts in the next four races. Ted was coming off a seventh in the Etchells 22 North Americans and there’s nothing strange about taking a leg to get used to things. Ted was followed on the podium by Dale Robertson and Andrew Rankin.

Boat	Sail	Club	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Net
Power Play	4331	RNSYS	Ted Murphy	(4.0)	1.0	3.0	1.0	1.0	10.0	6.0
JZeus	911	RNSYS	Dale Robertson	1.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	(4.0)	11.0	7.0
Samsquanch	2108	BBYC	Andrew Rankin	2.0	(6.0)	2.0	4.0	2.0	16.0	10.0
JSlocum	543	RNSYS	John Heseltine	(5.0)	4.0	4.0	2.0	5.0	20.0	15.0
Limerick	3849	RNSYS	Mike Orr	3.0	(5.0)	5.0	5.0	3.0	21.0	16.0
Jamming	42	RNSYS	Nick Hamblin	6.0	3.0	6.0	(7.0 DSQ)	7.0 DSQ	29.0	22.0

POW in Pictures

J-Zeus sneaks a peak

Lynn Gray of Ocean Media Design has taken some beautiful pictures of both J24s and J29s in action on the Sunday of Prince of Wales Weekend but this one with the top three 24s in the final race overlapped at the leeward mark and four more 24s overlapping and fading in the distance is my favorite. Says it all about the entry and the competition.

Lynn has just established a Web site for viewing her full selection and ordering individual photos.  Lynn’s current price list follows:

Digital File (hi resolution)  $15.00

Prints:

• 5 X 7                                  $18.00
• 8 X 10                               $30.00
• 8 X 12                               $35.00 
• 11 x 14                             $50.00
• 16 x 20                          $125.00

For an even quicker look at some of her best shots, she has kindly provided a slide show and several images of our major trophy winners that we have used to illustrate our POW stories and will also use for our end of year wrap up. A big thanks to Lynn for helping me brighten up the site and showing us all how great we look on the water.

Canadian Nationals Blow Up

This year’s Nationals were hosted by Hudson Yacht Club in Hudson, Quebec, which is a very lovely little village west of Montreal on the Ottawa River just before it meets the St. Lawrence.  As I said previously I have experience at Hudson and it tends to be either flat nothing or a wild ass blow. The part I saw was a wild ass blow but it seems like the next two days were atypically middle of the road. Pity to have missed them (see below for details).

In any case, its over now and the Atlantic contingent did well with the racing part if not with some of the navigation.  The Nationals Web site is not the greatest but they do have pics.

KerPOW

In the distance, Super Dale Robertson in J-Zeus is port tacking the fleet

While I have always called it the Fall One Design, I notice this year that the Squadron is calling their fall regatta Prince of Wales Weekend or POW. It makes sense, given that the big trophy is the one that we got from Queen Victoria’s son while he had nothing better to do but trip around yacht clubs and nightclubs, and get fat as his Mum lived into her nineties. Possibly even more relevant is that the second weekend in September is not actually fall. You can add to that my crew were getting it confused with the One Day One Design, which I named a few years back.

Looking Up for September

Its Labour Day and I have a bit of “me” time that I thought I should sacrifice to pump up our coming events. Next weekend is the Fall One Design, which is combined with the big boat Prince of Wales Weekend at RNSYS. I don’t know how the Premiere class is shaping up to pursue the mug we got from Prince Willie’s great great great grand uncle but its looking pretty good for J classes.

Your Pictures are Ready

Sticky Fingers	Jaeger

Scott Covey just sent me a link to an excellent collection of pictures taken at the Lunenburg BMW Regatta. There are eleven pages of pictures of every J24 and J29 that competed with some great group shots.  These pictures were taken byMike Pothier who does foredeck on the Lunenburg-based J92 Poohsticks. Mike volunteered his time and talents to take pictures with the help of Sandy MacMillan who provided his  Edgewater to get Mike the best possible angles.

Men in Trees

They wanted a fractional rig

Since the picture above has gone viral on the J29 email list, I just wanted to let the Radar Love crew know that I feel you. My friends consider me the “absent-minded professor type.” Acquaintances just call me absent minded. My wife calls me an idiot.