Successful Spring Tune-Up for J/121 Speedsters!

by J/Boats 21 May 2018 21:40 BST

J/121 Spring TuneUp- Newport, RI © JBoats

With most boatyards and boats still under shrink-wrap, and the Volvo Ocean Race just into town, J/121 owners gathered for the first J/121 Spring Tune-Up at the Newport Shipyard. Eight owners from as far as England, Japan and Oregon sailed on four locally launched boats and enjoyed two days of coaching to kick off the 2018 sailing season. Friday afternoon's session was led by Kimo Worthington and Chuck Allen of North Sails and included onboard coaches Alan Terhune, Reed Baldridge, Jack Orr, Kerry Klingler (Quantum Sails) and Wayne Zittel (J/World).

As this was the first time two or more J/121's has had sailed alongside each other, the learning curve was steep. Hulls #1 (Incognito) and #2 (Apollo) showed early speed thanks to previous time in the boat, but as the session went on hull #4 (Alchemy) and #6 (Eagle) dialed right in.

The on-the-water tuning session was followed up with refreshments and a debrief back at the dock, with each team sharing their 2-3 top take-aways.

Watch this video of the simply "beautiful day" of sailing Friday afternoon in a classic, sunny, Narragansett Bay seabreeze from the southeast:

Saturday's forecast was for wet weather and variable winds – perfect for Open Course round the island style racing! From the comforts of the MJM 50z "Zing" (captained by Bob Johnstone), the race committee sent the fleet clockwise around Conanicut Island (a 20 mile track) with the course divided into 6 individual legs (to be scored separately as well as overall).

In true distance race fashion, the starting line was set up square to the first mark (Beavertail Point) in an easterly wind, meaning the boats would start on a close reach on port tack.

David Southwell's Alchemy nailed the start at the committee boat with the big A2 kite trimmed tightly in the 8 knot wind, with Incognito close behind with main and jib. APOLLO opted for the Code 0, and once things cleared, Incognito unrolled the Code 0 and Eagle hoisted the A2. It became clear a few minutes into the race that the A2 could be carried, and with its bigger size (155m2 vs. 104m2), was a speed advantage that allowed both Alchemy and Eagle to surge ahead and round Beavertail comfortably ahead. The fleet jibed at Beavertail and proceeded north against the current on a tight starboard tack reach. With lighter breeze in the bay, the leaders slowed, and thanks to carrying a Code 0 closer to shore, Apollo was able to pass the leaders and win the second leg, which was shortened at the Red Bell south of Dutch Island.

Thanks to the flexible nature of the event, and the ability of the race committee to "reset the fleet" after any given leg, the teams were instructed to take a lunch break and proceed under engine to the northern end of the island where a steadier southeasterly was filling in.

Taking advantage of the MJM Yachts 50z ZING's ability to hover in place on a precise GPS coordinate, a starting line was set up in seconds using a government marker as the port end, and the fleet was sent off on a short windward sprint to the northeast corner of Conanicut, followed by a long port tack favored beat to the Newport Bridge (featuring lots of tacking along the shore to keep out of the building flood current), and finally to the finish line just off the Volvo Race village at Fort Adams. Incognito got the early jump to win the first windward leg (Leg 3), and then after 8 miles of short tacking the Conanicut shoreline, Alchemy came through to win the final two legs and the first ever J/121 fleet event. Three of the four boats won an individual leg (measured by elapsed time). Eagle came within 10 seconds of winning a leg, and notably finished 2nd on three out of the five legs.

After racing, the teams were greeted dockside at Newport Shipyard with trays of Dark & Stormy's followed by a race debrief and awards.

Coming up next, four J/121's will be sailing in the 2018 Newport to Bermuda Race starting June 15th and a total of five boats will be actively sailing in the New England area this summer.

All four boats had mobile phones equipped with the RaceQs.com tracking app that were used for both days to analyze the differences in performance. And, on Saturday's "open course" races, it also reflected how the teams chose sails and tactics as the fleet went around Jamestown Island. Here are the 3D RaceQs.com replay links below.