J/24 World Championship in Sardinia - British Team Preview

The UK is sending out ten teams to the 2008 World Championships in Sardinia, this is the largest number of UK J24s to have ever travelled outside the UK to participate in a World Championship. Currently there is an entry of 76 boats which will make for some exciting racing in the Gulf of Arzachena with its high surrounding hills.

We have a strong team lead by the current European Champion Ian Southworth in Inmarsat Hedgehog who have a real chance and a very strong Ladies team led by Lucy MacGregor in Jolly Roger who we have high hopes of taking the Worlds Ladies Trophy. Lucy’s boat has been lent by Roger Morris who will be crewing for Jim Anderson in Boomerang. The International Class Chairman Bob Turner in his boat Serco (Headcase) has teamed up with a very strong Canadian Rossi Milev who should also give a strong showing. All our other boats are in with a good chance, particularly Gavin Watson in Roger Rabbit and Jon Powell in Peggy who have won the last two Class events in the UK. The racing this season has been so close that we cannot rule out David Ellis in Hitch Hiker, Duncan McCarthy in Madeleine and Thijs Knapper in Phoenix. Two others capable of surprising everyone are Mike Lewis and Jim Anderson who have not been able to turn out for every event this season.

Team Serco (GBR 4247) Owned by the current Chairman of the International Class

The SERCO team have been consistent GBR World qualifiers in recent years, having only missed events in Australia and Japan since the year 2000. The squad is a mix of youth and experience, based at Castle Cove Sailing Club in Weymouth, kindly sponsored by the multi divisional SERCO company and led by International Class Chairman Bob Turner. Their boat is a 19 year old Rogers and in the early 1990s won the World Championships twice sailed by top American sailor Ken Read. The boat still has the same mast and fittings, testimony to the remarkable durability of the J24. The boat was returned to the UK in 2000 with Quantum Sails and the team has never wished to change brand, enjoying an extremely strong performance across the wind range. The sails are among the few actually manufactured in the UK and excellent liaison with the Hamble loft has enabled some useful development.

Due to work and family commitments the normal Championship line up will not see the Clarke brothers and Nick Malein, all most prominent in multiple J24 Regatta victories and previous race wins in World Championships. Other notable International performances include a convincing second overall in the European Championships with a day to spare.

However, with a strong squad system in place, the SERCO line up will now include Bob, former North American Champion Rossi Milev, Royal Navy Test Pilot Steve Jose, UK keelboat squad member Jeremy Fowke and Dr Jon Pegrum a Formula One car designer for McLaren. The latter pair are products of the Castle Cove Youth Team and both bring much experience and new ideas to the team. In terms of these Championships, they are all aware of the quality of the opposition. That said, there is much speed potential in the boat itself, and the proven results and tactical experience in big J24 fleets from Bob, Rossi and Steve, together with the speed and strength of Jeremy and Jon gives SERCO a real opportunity to improve on their previous Worlds best of 8th overall. Travelling with the team will be class stalwart Kenny Roebuck who will give his normal, outstanding shore support and act as reserve crew if required.”

As you know, Kenny has been a great help to the Class, both in Vallarta and at CCSC where he helped a lot to get the Gelignite team on the water in good shape last weekend.

Inmarsat Hedgehog (GBR 4177)

Reigning and now triple European Champion, Hedgehog is a 1987 UK built Rogers boat. She has been extensively restored over the last four years by David Heritage Racing Yachts.

A multiple championship winner from launch, Hedgehog celebrates her 21st year of competition at this World Championship.

Sponsored by Inmarsat, the international mobile satellite communications group, she is crewed by; Ian Southworth (helm), Andy McLelland, Max Skelley, Mike Kyte and Chris McLaughlin.

The team has placed top three at previous World Championships, and most recently at the Tropheo Academia Navale regatta in Livorno. The crew have just sailed the Italian Nationals prior to the Worlds and have Max Skelley from the US arriving to make up their very strong team.

The boat has a Sparloft New Zealand rig with Ullman Sails designed by Max Skelley.

Jolly Roger (GBR 4270) On loan from Roger Morris crewing on Boomerang and supported by Volvo, the UK J24 Ladies Team

Helm: Lucy MacGregor - member of Skandia Team GBR as Shirley Robertson's bow girl, alongside fellow J/24 team mate, Annie Lush. Lucy had a fantastic your career in the 420, before moving into the Olympic 470 class briefly, and then the Yngling. Lucy won a silver medal at the Olympic Test event in Qingdao and is a very sought after keelboat sailor.

Annie Lush: also member of Skandia Team GBR, as Shirley Robertson's middle girl, Annie has been heavily involved with Olympic sailing for many years, and is a previous winner of the Women's Match Racing world championships. She has won several medals in the Yngling class including a silver medal at the Olympic Test event in Qingdao.

Nicky MacGregor: Nicky comes from a 420 background as part of the ever successful British Youth Squad. She achieved 2nd place at the World Championships, sailing with sister Lucy, in 2003 and is now part of the hugely prestigious RYA Keelboat Squad, where she has achieved fantastic results. Nicky has also won the Women's Match Racing Nationals.

Rebecca Marriott on bow - Rebecca/Bex sail the Olympic circuit in the 470, which she campaigned for three years, before moving into Match Racing in 2006. She began with former Team GBR Yngling sailor, Gemma Farrell, as bow girl and has recently come back from the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championships in Auckland, achieving a very creditable 4th place with skipper Josie Gibson.

Mary Rook: Mary also comes from a 420 background and has also been seen at the front end of Lucy's 470 several times, gaining great results on the Olympic circuit. She has fantastic experience in the RYA keelboat squad and has a wealth of experience in this kind of racing. Mary has also been part of an experienced Match Racing team, achieving fantastic results, including 2nd at the Ladies Nationals, as skipper in 2007.

Alli Martin: Alli has been racing very successfully recently with the RYA Volvo Keelboat squad, which has seen her rise to the top with both inshore and offshore racing. She had a stunning youth sailing career in the 420, earning an ISAF Youth World bronze medal in 2003.

Hitch-Hiker (GBR 4242)

Hitch-Hiker is a 16 year old Rogers boat built in Slovenia. She has been raced all her life by David Ellis. She has an unmodified keel location. Spars are all original Proctor, sails have been variously Ullman and Hyde over the period, this year seeing a return to Ullman. Over her life she has won 2 UK National Championships, 3 French Open Championships, placed 2nd in the Europeans 3 times. David’s sailing experience has been shaped by a career in the Army, where he team and match-raced in everything from 12 foot dinghies to cruisers.

Jo Burchell (Cockpit) Match raced on British team with Shirley Robertson 1998-1999, ranked no.1 in the world. Trimmer on "Amer Sports Too" in the Volvo round the world race 2001-2002. First double handed entrants allowed by RORC to enter Fastnet, finishing second in class against fully crewed boats.

Dave Cheshire (Spi Trimmer) Dinghy sailing Cadets at International level and Fireflies. Match Racing at National and International Level as Youth and Adult. Team Racing at National and International Level. Also member of the British universities (BUSA) team for the tour of the USA in 2003.

Andy Reynolds-Jones (Mast, replacing Graeme Love, at late notice not available). Dinghy and Cat sailing – various classes to national level inc Firefly, Tornado, Cadet, RS400. Keelboat – various (J80, J24, SB3) but mostly in Int Dragons to an international level. Yachts – inshore – lots but recently both J109 and X332 (3rd uk nats 2006) at events like Cowes , Cork , Spi Ouest. Others boats inc Oyster 48, Prima 38, First 29.5. Yachts - offshore – Full RORC 2005 season cumulating in 26th overall in Fastnet Race (on J109), also done other RORC/JOG races over the years.

Rachel Thompson (Foredeck) Dinghies National Level - Optimist, 420, RS200. Keelboats - National and International – J24 – National Champions and European Silver Medal!. Offshore Yachting - Yacht Master Ocean Fastnet Race Helm and Mate (RORC Services Trophy and 59th out of 256) - Sydney Hobart Helm including rescue of 8 Australian sailors from life raft (21st overall - beating Scandia!) - 3 Atlantic Crossings (North, Middle and South) - Southern Ocean (round Cape Horn) crossing.

Rumble (GBR 4264) sponsored by BlackSeal.co.uk and Spearhead Machinery Limited.

Mike Lewis (helm), Nigel Fish (trimmer), Mark Baskerville (tactician), Colin Strain (mast), Lorrie Lewis (bow).

Mike has represented Bermuda in five previous J/24 World Championships. Having returned to the UK in 2006, this will be his first Worlds representing Great Britain. He hopes that Rumble and her crew can pull out a performance similar to the one that earned them a 13th place in the 2007 European Championships

Team Roger Rabbit (GBR 4223)

Roger Rabbit, 1989 built by Jeremy Rogers. This season the Cornish based team from Falmouth are; Gavin Watson (helm), Gary Denning (cockpit), Nick Hirst (tactician), Dan Watson (mast), Wayne Barnicott (bow).

They are looking forward to this year’s World Championships in Sardinia. They will be using North Newport sails with a new Sparloft mast. The team is hoping to better their last World Championship 2005 result of 10 place, although realising this could be quite a tall order with a much bigger turn out of J24s from other countries.

The team would like to take this opportunity to thank their sponsors for helping us make this all possible; World Fuel Services, Falmouth Oil Services and Palma based RS Finishing & Refinishing. The team have been tuning the boat this season to be able to reproduce power when needed and feel now that the boat is ready for anything and can compete at the highest level. A win at the Southern Area Championship last weekend has been the iceing on the cake in the UK. We only hope that we can do it justice should the wind gods look upon us favourably.

Boomerang (GBR 4232)

Quantum (UK) sails, 1991 Bashford (Australia) hull, Peelcrane (Australia) spars.

The team is; Jim Anderson (owner/helm), 27 years continuous J24 helm/owner, crewed in first J24 Worlds in 1980 at San Remo. Nigel Ryder (cockpit), rail whale with about 12 years J24 experience, including Genoa, Weymouth & Australia Worlds. Roger Morris (hatch), owner of Jolly Roger which he has loaned to the UK Ladies team. Laurence Hanley (mast) former Shannon One Design World Champ & Laser Radial Sailor. Cara Golden (foredeck) many years as foredeck on J24 in Ireland, since then bow/etc on several big boats for the last 10 years or so.

Phoenix (GBR 4222)

This is Phoenix’s second season racing in the J24 class. The team bought the boat to enjoy the strong club racing in Poole harbour, and with the additional aim of qualifying for the 2008 World Championships in Sardinia. They have found the fleet to be very welcoming and very competitive! They know each other from sailing dinghies and team racing.

Thijs Knapper helms using his experience gained from a mixed dinghy and yacht background. Mark Tait trims the genoa and spinnaker and adds the J24 to his 18ft skiff and Firefly sailing. Simon Spolton does cockpit and tactics, he also sails a Firefly and has recently joined the RS200 fleet. Simon Philbrick (“Dinger”) who does mast, is currently building himself a new foiling Moth. He assists Rosie Knapper on bow who has a dinghy sailing background. Rosie Knapper bow.

After they bought Phoenix (formally RSJ) they have taken a steady program of refitting the boat, replacing broken hardware and rigging. After much consideration they decided to use Quantam sails and have been delighted with their performance and the service that they have received from the loft. They have also received a lot of support from sponsors the Lake Yard in Poole.

They have been delighted with the steady progress that they have made since last year and are looking forward to the rest of the UK season and the worlds.

Madeleine (GBR 4245)

They have the boat speed for the weather in Sardinia and the crew to match. They are all looking forward to success in Arzachena.

The team is; Duncan McCarthy (helm), Winning Helmsman in Class at last 3 Cowes Week, Cadet National Champion, 2nd Dart Nationals, 2nd J24 Nationals 2006, 4th J24 Europeans 2006. Steve Phelps (trimmer), J24 European & National Champion 1989, 2nd J24 Nationals 2006, 4th J24 Europeans 2006. Peter Coe, 2nd J24 Nationals 2006. 4th J24 Europeans 2006. Hannah Scott, 4th Swan Europeans 2007, 3rd Heineken Regatta – St Maarten 2007, J24 Nationals 2005 – 4th. Jools Scott (bow), 1st Omega Bahrain Match Race, 2nd J24 Nationals 2006, 4th J24 Europeans 2006, 5th Swan 45 World Championships 2007.

Peggy (GBR 4268)

A win at the Spring Cup in early May and a strong performance in our other events this season sees us very confident for our task in Sardinia.

The team are; Jon Powell (helm), Tim Powell (cockpit), Mark Penfold (trimmer), Sarah Norbury (mast), Keith Smith (foredeck).