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This is the home of the largest Cruising One Design Fleet on the Chesapeake Bay. The J105 Fleet has the highest average number of starters, year after year, enjoying a camaraderie unmatched in any other one design fleet. Anyone looking for a great experience racing their boat should look at the J105. The rules and boat are family friendly and geared to make the sport of sail boat racing as friendly to the wallet as it is to the psyche. If you are considering a new boat or starting out with your first boat take a look at the J105.
Current News:
Screwpile attracted a recession affected 8 boats for a battle in the broiler. Temperatures in the 90's and high relative humidity meant the competitors were not spending a lot of time lounging in the marina and a good awning was a big positive. Sunday and Tuesday saw light thermal breezes while a front moved through on Monday to provide some clouds and more wind. The winds were good enough to get in 7 races with the Jack Biddle team on Rum Puppy and the Marty Hublitz / Eddie Hornick team on Veloce accounted for all the individual race wins. Rum Puppy won the regatta primarily because Veloce was off practicing before Race 1 and ended up with an RAF after missing the first start and using their engine in an attempt to get back to the line while in the starting sequence. That 9 was the only blemish in results no worse than 2nd for the other 6 races. Rum Puppy ended up with 12 points and Veloce with a no drop 18. Aside from the match race at the front of the fleet between the two speed boats, there were several duels between closely matched boats for the other positions. Hugh Bethel's Jester squad (23 pts) nudged the Naval Academy team on Dreadnaught (25) for third place with a 3rd versus their 6th in the last race. The conditions were shifty and a strong ebb current added some extra spice to the tactical decisions. This was a different type of Screwpile from our usual big fleet events, but everyone seemed to enjoy their various versions of the race within the race, and as always the Screwpile event was well managed with lots of off the water fun.
The Solomons Invitational drew 11 boats this year. The race started with a diminishing southerly breeze and the usual confused starting area. Our fleet started right after the multihulls so there was a good amount of dodging their low upwind angles as everyone worked out of the Severn to round 1AH. The right paid as it often does with a south wind in the Severn with Jim Konigsberg on Inigo leading the way around 1AH. The current was flooding to around midnight so most boats stuck to the shallows between 1AH and Thomas Pt. and then into the West River. Just after the lights went out a persistent right shift, with increased pressure, allowed a rhumb line course down the middle of the Bay. Some continued to short tack the right side but the boats that immediately recognized that rhumb line is always faster than sailing the extra distance made out. Loosing 1 kt. to the current is better than the 1.414 extra distance of the tacking. Eddie Hornick and Marty Hublitz on Veloce were in the right place and got on the rhumb highway first finishing at 3:05:17 for one of the earlier Solomons finishes at an average of 5.6 knots. They sailed the leg to R76 after the shift on one tack and no spinnaker. Jack Biddle on Rum Puppy was 7 minutes behind followed by Inigo a minute later. The top 5 boats (Doghouse, 4th and Jester, 5th) were separated by 13 minutes. Some used the spinnaker but the angles required some jib time to clear the shallows south of the Choptank River, so the extra speed was neutralized by the extra distance sailed. Regardless, reaching the chute at night at 9.5 knots is a lot of fun. R76 was not lighted so there were some interesting moments when the mark that should be there couldn't be immediately located.
Miles River Back started out with the apparent leftovers of the mystery NW breeze from the day before. Five boats decided to do the race and the first leg out of the Miles River to Mark N saw a sharp left shift that gave the boats on the left an early jump. This was followed by a high angle spinnaker run down the Eastern Bay, culminated by some interface with an extended shoal that has formed near the southern end of Kent Island. A boat from one of the earlier classes ran smack dab into the mud and saved a couple of J105's from the same fate. After rounding the point, the boats ran into a maelstrom of ebb current as they passed the old light house. This had the efffect of erasing the early shift advantage, bringing all the boats back together. What happened next was a dance as all five boats tried to figure out how to get from the light house to R86 against an incredible current under diminishing breeze. The water depth in that area goes from 100ft. to 10ft. in about a 1/4 mile band. The pressure was better out but the water was rough and the current was leaving rooster tails behind the marks. Mike O'Toole on Varmint solved the riddle first by short tacking up the shallows and taking advantage of a big lift near the shore. Several tacks later he was able to get out and around R86 while there was still wind. The timing of this was critical because the wind eventually went to zero and Varmint was able to get over to Thomas Point before this happened. Iron Mike stuck it out in the shallows between 1AH and Thomas Point until the wind came back so he was the only finisher in our class. The other competitors were either still stuck on the eastern shore or getting an unwanted trip to Shady Side when the motors went on.
Annapolis to Miles River had 7 J105 entries making the Memorial Day weekend run. The wind was very light at the start so getting the myriad classes going was a problem for the RC. The current was ebbing, and with little wind, boats that got pushed over had a tough time getting back. This led to multiple delays and general confusion despite valiant effort from the RC on the radio. The Multihull Fleet distinguished themselves by being mostly all OCS with one boat taking an extroadinary time to get back and restart. The J105 Fleet got off with no problem once the prior classes had sorted out their difficulties. Conventional wisdom was to head straight for the eastern shore despite the presence of a band of wind on the western shore because most wind forcasts (as though they are worth anything) were predicting more pressre on that shore. Four went straight over (more or less) and two went more or less right. The eastern shore group came out generally to the better although the boats became compressed as the merging currents at the mouth of the Eastern Bay made for squirelly wind and considerable difficulty getting to and around R84A. Carl and Scott Gitchell on Tenacious were in the lead of a parade through the Poplar Island shallows (in less ebb current and a whisp of shore breeze) toward what looked to be a promising line of wind along the eastern shore of the Eastern Bay. Rob Mock on Unbridled got frustrated with this and split for Kent Island. Awhile later Mike O'Toole on Varmint did the same followed later by Marty Hublitz and Eddie Hornick on Veloce. About the time that Tenacious (the lead boat on the right side) was getting to the jibe point toward what turned out to be the finish, the wind filled from the Northwest over in the Kent Island area where Unbridled had ended up. They got the new NW breeze well in advance and rode that to the win at the course shortened Mark F. Where this wind came from is anyone's guess as there was no possibility of this mentioned in any of the pre-race wind predictions. Zephyr realized late that the finish was at F, so was coming in at a hot angle with the chute up, and with all the extra heel the spinnaker caught the flag fitting on the pulpit of the committee boat and completely trashed the sail. That explains the RAF and the red face.
Attention regarding the Leukemia Cup (6/12). The NOR has incorrectly stated that this is not a high point event. This is a high point event.
The SCC Spring Race saw a stalled front with east wind. The wind forecast was, by the nature of an east wind on the Chesapeake, all over the place, and the conditions did not disappoint the expectations. The good news was that there was wind. The RC stalled for an hour waiting for things to settle down, and then accepted reality and ran one 5 leg race with 1.25 mile legs. The course was set for 45 degrees but right before the start the wind shifted left to about 20. This suckered some boats into going left toward the "new breeze" which quickly turned into old news to another new breeze from 60 degrees. Those that anticipated this shift back to the right were rewarded with a big lead at the first mark over the boats that went any part of left. At this point Jay Corcoran on Hiawatha and Andrew Kennedy on the Bat Mobile were locked in a battle for first. The shifts were not over and by the completion of 5 legs Chris Groobey on Java had made the most of it for the win. The Gitchell brothers on Tenacious recovered from taking the left side on the first leg to take second. Hiawatha finished third, followed by Richard Hinds on Breakaway for 4th, and Bat IV in 5th.
The NOOD Regatta saw a strong 27 boat turnout including 3 visiting boats from the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (Fleet 4, Toronto) and former Class President, Rob Mock hailing from Mentor On The Lake, Ohio (Fleet 22). The weather pattern was frontal with warm air over cold water. This resulted in a boundary layer with lots of wind shear. Puffs that worked through the boundary layer were highly shifted and not symmetrical to both tacks. It was no uncommon to see tell tails pointing in contradictory directions from top to bottom. Pressure also varied as the surface pressure was considerably less than the upper pressure. To summarize, the wind was all over the place with a strong ebb current. Peter McChesney and his Magic Mystery Machine team (21 points) once again showed mastery of the challenging conditions, putting a 21 point spread (including 3 wins in 8 races), between themselves and the second place James Rathbun's, Hey Jude (42 points). The RC made things interesting on Saturday by setting a short line in combination with a strong pushing current. This meant that boats who were early to the line had nowhere to bail and got a free ride on the conveyor belt over the line. After a couple of general recalls they put up the I,Z combo so races 5, 6, and 7 show a combined 14 ZFP penalties. Jim Konigsberg on Inigo was 3rd (47), followed by Arthur Libby, John Bremer, and Tom Carter on Dog House (65) in 4th, and Will Crump in 5th on She Crab Soup (68). The wide spread in points gives a good indication of how difficult it was to stay on the correct side of the shifts. The tactical cookie cutter was down the hatch as what worked on one leg was almost certain to not work on the next.
The 2010 High Point Season is underway with the NASS Spring Race. The conditions were typical of spring condions on the Bay with a stationary front over cold water making for twisted wind conditions topped off by a nice current. The forecast showed a north wind just to the north and a south wind just to the south and nothing outside the Severn. Puffs came and went but eventually the wind filled from the north with a fairly consistent breeze and the NASS committee managed to get off two races with four 1 mile legs. The conditions were definitely not for amateurs and the well schooled group of Jim Konigsberg and the Inigo team took two wins home and looked ready to be contenders at the NOOD next weekend. Jay Corcoran on Hiawatha took second and Bob Reeves on A Train was third. The full results are posted on the Results Page.
Download the 2010 Membership and Dues Form.
Information for visiting boats here.
CBYRA Entry Form - Download here
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Anyone interested in crewing on one of our J105's should e-mail crew@j105fleet3.org
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