75 yachts for J-Cup 2008 which starts tomorrow in Hamble

The J-Cup 2008 starts tomorrow when a massive armada of 75 J Boats will be leaving the pontoons of the Royal Southern Yacht Club to commence racing. This record breaking entry includes 32 J/109s which will be racing for the 2008 UK National Championship at the event. In addition to the J/109 Nationals there will be one-design ‘class’ racing at the event for J/105s and J/80s and there will also be two IRC classes. Three races are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with a further two races on Sunday. The J-Cup 2008 will be sponsored by B&G, Dubarry of Ireland and North Sails.

The J/109 National Championship fleet is the largest gathering of J/109s to date, anywhere in the world. They will be racing according to their strict one-design rules on a level rating basis. Competition here will be fierce! Previous winners Ben Richards and Michael Ewart-Smith stormed to victory in the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series in Zelda and are looking very hot. Current UK National Champions and winners of the J-Cup in 2007 Johnny Blue II (Jeff Dakin, Bruce Jubb & Mike Flood) will be hoping to retain their title. The current J/109 European Champion, Matt Boyle, will be vying for the title in Shiva as will the winners of the J/109 Western Solent Championships, Mike and Sarah Wallis in Jahmali. In addition to the regular racers on the South Coast a boat from Scotland Tigh Solius II which belongs to Ken Grant has made the trip down for the event and there are a number of other new faces (and unknown entities!) to the fleet including David Jobson racing on Audajious and Jonas Grander who will be racing his brand new boat Matador for the first time.

There will be 16 J/80 Sportsboats racing at the event and it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top. For sure Ian Atkins and his team in Boats.com stand a good chance having won the J/80 Class at the Raymarine Warsash Spring Series, however Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper won the Elvstrom Sobstad Summer Championship which took place last weekend in Just Do It and so this pairing will be riding high tomorrow. Visitor James Dwyer (and Australian currently residing in Cardiff) will be sailing Redsky and the Solent boats will be watching him closely following his strong series of results at the Spi Ouest Easter Regatta.

Nine J/105s will race tomorrow at the J-Cup which takes place just ahead of the J/105 UK National Championship next weekend. It’s a close call as to who will be in the medals here. Paul Griffiths and family sailing Fay-J will certainly be hot contenders and they are showing sparkling form at the moment. That said, Rob Dornton-Duff has a lot to prove in Java and, in fact, any of the boats racing in this class have the potential to excite, especially the double-handed team on board James Heald’s Flawless J. Richard Watney will be racing his brand new boat Jeopardy for the first time ever at a J/105 one-design event and the word on the street is that he’s been putting in some practice this week.

The J/133s and J/122s will do battle in Class 1 along with the carbon flyer Joe 90 (a J/90) which belongs to Duncan MacDonald, Phil Thomas and Charlie Wise. Given the right conditions (a bit of breeze and a few edgy reaches) this team could easily romp away in Class 1. It won’t be easy: four J/122s and three J/133s, including Stewart Hawthorn’s Jump and Chas Ivill’s JB3 (winner of the RORC series last year) have plenty to prove. Interestingly, the only J Boat at the event with a symmetric (as opposed to asymmetric) spinnaker, Jonty Layfield’s J/39 Sleeper, will also race in this class. The odds here are just too close to call.

Class 2 is the playground for the J/92s and the J/100s. Like the J/105s, the J/92s have their National Championship next weekend. The current J/92 National Champion, Richard Sparrow, has brought Who’s to Know down to the Solent from his home port of Ramsgate and clearly he has to be a serious contender. That said, the winner of this class at the J-Cup in 2007, Colin Wall in True Love will be right up there when things get fruity. The Greenhalgh/Taylor/Grindall Team, racing their J/92 J’Ronimo, have been here, seen it and pretty much done it all before. They won the event in a J/105 a few years ago but they are here to do it all again and they’ve got great form. There are two J/100s racing in this class as well; Barbarossa belongs to Charles Rolls and Jam-T will be helmed by Paul Spurin. Although I often refer to the J/100 as a ‘gentleman’s day-sailer’ I imagine that there will be no quarter given between these two gentlemen on the race-track.

All in all, the J-Cup 2008 looks ready to set the Solent on fire and for sure, everywhere you look this weekend there will be a J Boat on the horizon. Summing up the real spirit of the J-Cup, and indeed, all racing in the J Family, when asked what all this competition means to him, Bruce Jubb of Johnny Blue II told me this morning ‘It’s all about having fun and enjoying the regatta’. Well said Mr Jubb. Let’s drink to that.

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