The J/133 excels at Spi Ouest
by Becci Eplett 30 Mar 2005 23:07 BST
2004 was a great year on the water for Jonathan and Lisa Goring; they won their Class in the IRC Nationals in their J/109 and went on to score a number of notable successes, including being part of the winning British ‘Red’ team at the 2004 Rolex Commodores Cup. Good work.
So what do you do to top a year like that? Well, clearly you sell the boat and buy another… In 2005 Jonathan and Lisa Goring will be campaigning a brand new J/133 and they took delivery of their new vessel, also called ‘Jeronimo’ in advance of the Spi Ouest regatta at Easter.
Built by Didier Le Moal and the team at J Europe in Les Sables D’Olonne, The Gorings decided that a hand-over for the boat ‘en francais’ made good sense, and the 37 boat strong IRC Class 1 at the Spi Ouest Easter regatta would be a good testing ground for their new craft. Sailed by Le Moal and his predominantly French crew, the only two Brits on board were Jonathan himself and Jeremy Robinson of Sobstad Sails.
Language barrier no problem it seems; with an impressive 2,2,5,1 score line Jeronimo won IRC 1 convincingly, at times beating the Swan 45s on the water and holding the extremely successful and much campaigned Synergia 40 ‘Paprec Recyclage’ in second place.
So what was the key to the boats success? I’ve asked around;
Didier Le Moal of J Europe told me that the boat is ‘extremely well built’.
He also said that with the 140% overlapping headsail (light and heavy) the boat sails well to its rating of 1.134 across a range of conditions and he also seemed extremely pleased with the performance and characteristics of the Hallspars carbon rig. The crew work improved as the regatta went on and Didier was clearly delighted with the way the team and the boat had performed throughout.
Jeremy Robinson of Sobstad explained that the Gen 2 Sobstad sails were ‘very fast indeed’.
He was also impressed with the way the boat handled in both the heavier airs the team experienced during the practice days prior to the regatta (18 to 20 knots) and the lighter stuff that predominated through the weekend. He commented on how manageable the boat is. In fact ‘easy’ was the term he used. The boat has a comfortable interior but clearly performs the way a race boat should.
Jonathan Goring said ‘the boat is beautiful and a bit of a weapon’.
So the new owner is clearly thrilled with this first win, and in addition to extolling the virtues of the French cuisine available on board (Foie Gras baps and salad verte for lunch apparently) he now can’t wait for the delivery trip back which he will be doing with the core squad from his Commodores cup team.
Jeronimo will be here in Hamble in early May and you will see her competing on the RORC circuit throughout 2005. Jonathan and team have once again set their sights on a good result at the IRC Nationals and the Fastnet to add to the ones he achieved in his J/109.
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