UK J/24 Class Early Season update

By Rob Clark on 8 Feb

After the coldest weekend of the winter so far it's almost time to polish the boats up and get ready for the new season so I wanted to send a quick update with the UK Class news as I know a number of people are looking for a bit of information to help with planning the season ahead.

I have broken this down into information on the Fowey Trophy, UK Nationals, Boats for Sale and a UK NOR ammendment to be applied for our class racing at UK events this season following feedback from crews across a range of events. I hope that it is of interest, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Fowey Trophy - 21st to 22nd April

This is our first open meeting and World Championship qualifying event of the season and is being run from Fowey Gallants over the weekend of 21st - 22nd April. The NOR and Entry Form have now been posted on the UK Class Website, please can crews try and enter as soon as possible to help the club to put things in place and generate interest, we have a few new boats entering / re-entering the fleet so it should be a great way to kick off the season.

UK Nationals - Poole - 1st to 4th June

Following meetings with the race committee we have set the programme for our National Championships with 10 races scheduled over the 4 days of competition. The plan is for registration and launching on Friday morning followed by two races that afternoon, three Saturday, three Sunday and two on Monday morning before craning out in the afternoon. The event is in conjunction with Poole Regatta so in addition to our fleet they are expecting over 200 boats competing in the other classes giving us a pretty full social schedule in the evenings plus our J24 AGM and social on the Friday night. The entry fee for the event is £55 plus a berthing and cranage charge (£120), the UKJCA would like to offer the following:

UKJCA subsidy of £30 per boat to travelling (non Poole based) boats to reduce the cranage and berthing fees
UKJCA funded entry to one U25 and one all girls team - this will be allocated on a first come basis if a boats crew all fit into the category
The option of a boat loan where prospective new crews borrow a boat that is unable to enter the event themselves by paying a small fee to cover the owners expenses - the applying crew would be required to pay £375 to cover entry fees, UKJCA membership for the helm and the owners expenses - who would receive £250 to cover the costs of getting the boat ready and transported to the venue. The crew would also be required to provide a £500 deposit in case of any damage or insurance excess - this may be of interest to anyone who is currently looking to sell a boat or has a local boat that can not enter themselves. If you would be interested in this from either side please let me know.

In order to qualify for the above crews should contact me to let me know to add them to the list and then submit their regatta entry form prior to the normal entry deadline - I will send out an update when the entry form is available on the event website. Also a few of the Poole fleet have said they may be able to help with accommodation by offering spare rooms / local gardens to camp in if that will assist in getting as many boats to the Nationals as possible - if you would be interested please let me know and I'll see what we can arrange.

Boats for Sale

I am aware that there are a handful of boats currently on the market and have people contact me looking for information as to what is currently available. If you are currently aiming to upgrade or move your boat on please let me know the details and I'll add it to the list. Also if you sell your boat please can you pass on the new owners details to myself or William so we can keep them up to date with class news and keep the boat involved in the fleet.

Notice of Race Ammendment

There is an update to be applied to our UK event rules clarifying the number of sails usable in an event and the addition of the option to carry a second measured spinnaker on board - this will be included in all our standard UK NORs.