J Boats show their class on both sides of the Channel
by J-UK 28 Apr 2006 09:34 BST
Irish J/109 `No Naked Flames` winner IRC2 Red Funnel Easter Regatta 2006 © Louay Habib
Easter is always a fascinating time for yacht racing both in France and the UK; it is when racing really gets started after the winter lay off. During the winter months there are boat shows all over Europe and there have been some new designs on show not just from J-Boats but from many other manufacturers as well.
Easter brings the first regattas of the season and some of the new designs get their first proper test on the race course, in particular the Red Funnel Easter Challenge in Cowes and Spi-Ouest in La Trinité-sur-Mer. J Boats had a cracking Easter up against some very stiff opposition.
The highly successful J/109 has won at events as diverse as Cowes Week, Commodores’ Cup and the Fastnet and the yacht is still picking up trophies. The continued to impress this Easter. No Naked Flames, the J/109 owned by Andew Allen won their class at the Red Funnel Easter Regatta, the Irish boat over came top competition from very well campaigned boats including Quokka (Elan 37), Zarafa (HOD 35) and Flair IV (Elan 40).The victorious J/109 beat the latest design from Beneteau a First 34.7, in six out of seven races.
Andrew Allen owner of class winner J/109 No Naked Flames commented after racing: “We came to the Red Funnel Easter Challenge as the first event of what we hope will be a successful season and it’s great for all of the crew to start with a win.”
No Naked Flames will be representing a very strong Irish team in the forthcoming Rolex Commodores’ Cup and will be competing at major IRC regattas to prepare for the main event of their season.
Over the Channel at La Trinité-sur-Mer, the 28th Spi-Ouest France Bouygues Telecom was taking place. J Boats were racing in two highly competitive classes.
Camus Immoblier is an English J/109 and is a Hamble bound boat to be named Johnny Blue II, owned by Chas Ivill. For its first regatta, it was lent to the French J-Boats factory and crewed by French J/109 sailors Jean-Yves Jaffrezic and Laurent Sambron. The J/109 did extremely well, coming fourth in a class of 49 boats.
The J/109 had not been optimized for IRC racing and the three boats in front of her were all built for the IRC rule and fully tricked up (Two A35s and a JPK 10.9). One of the latest designs from X Yachts was also in the same class as the new J/109; the X35 is the Danish factory boat and was skippered by Dan Pedersen, three times X99 world champion. The J/109; Camus Immoblier beat the X35 in every race on corrected time and on the water.
One of the latest designs from J-Boats was also racing at Spi-Ouest , the J/92 S Flahault Marine was straight out of the bubble wrap and came a very impressive second behind La Maison du Poisson, the JPK 9.6, which once again is a boat built to the rule. The J/92 S was totally unoptimized and still in one design mode but it was sailed by J-Boat builder Didier La Moal. Last year at the same regatta, Didier skippered the new J133 to success at Spi-Ouest, he has also taken the time to come and race at the J Cup in Hamble, which goes to show that Didier and his team have a lot of enthusiasm for the J Boats that they build.
In its maiden regatta the J/92 S came second in a fleet of 53 boats beating former Swan European Champion Xaossa into third and the brand new First 34.7 Kind of Magic, the J 92 S beat the Beneteau in four out of six races.
The Hamble office of J-UK is a hive of activity as usual the staff are looking forward to working and sailing with customers over the coming season. There is a full programme of events on the J-UK web site.
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