Yachting Cup

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Spring has sprung, and believe it or not the 2013 season is nearly upon us!  As a way to chip the rust off and get you into your A-Game quickly, J World is running a three day clinic and racing in the renown San Diego Yacht Club Yachting Cup!

Come join us aboard our J/80s for an intensive workshop May 1-3 aboard our J/80s covering sail trim, boathandling, sail handling, strategy, tactics, rules, etc. etc….  then race in the regatta with a J World coach aboard!

We still have a couple spots left, so visit here for more info, or contact us now to reserve your space!

Wayne Zittel & the J World Team

Show Me the Boats!

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Oh yes, it’s that time in San Francisco:  Strictly Sail Pacific, the all-sailing boatshow in Jack London Square fired up yesterday, and it’s good times all around.  The weather has been great, the boats and suppliers are here in full-force and offering great deals, and of course the venue (right next door to J World San Francisco) is perfect…

J World conducting an asymmetrical spinnaker workshop
at the Strictly Sail Boatshow going on at Jack London
Square Oakland this weekend

So come on by.  Be sure to visit J World to say hi.  Check out the seminars.  Get a new pair of shoes, or a spinnaker, or a boat.  All the cool kids are doing it….

Show info here.  Hope to see you soon…

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

 

Back on the Chain (plate) Gang…

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It’s time for another Hula Girl update.  Our Turboed Santa Cruz 50 is in the final stages of a full refit.  While they should have gone in first, a trail of  issues delayed the installation of the new chainplates.  But Gilles and Denis of GC Composites stepped up to the plate and delivered a work of art.  The carbon boxes were shaped to fit the hull and perfectly position the load bearing  Nitronic pins, then they laid up the boxes in their Richmond shop, and finally returned them to the boat for installation.
Denis (the carbon-master) installing the boxes.  
Post curing ovens at work.
Chainplate box all done….  and settee top being glassed back in and tabbed
to hull (it was cut out  to give full access for installing the chainplate boxes).

Hula Girl is scheduled to roll out of the shed towards the end of the week.   Keel on, mast on, go sailing.  Should be simple, no?   We’ll have the new HG  at our docks in Jack London Square during the Strictly Sail Pacific boatshow in April, then she heads south for the Newport to Ensenada Race.

Wanna come play?   The next openings are 2014 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race (click here to check out a video from the last SD-PV race!) and the 2014 Pacific Cup (San Francisco to Hawaii).

More soon….

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Hula Girl Update

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All right, we are long overdue on posting an update on the Hula Girl refit project.  Everyone keeps asking how it is going, and all I can say is wow, she’s gonna be sweet.  Here’s a look at some of the project thus far:

In the shed, fresh paint, looking like new….

 

Rig being tested in the shop.  That’s a one piece, molded
carbon mast from the spar-smiths at Hall Spars.
Rig detail.  Impressive in their attention to the ‘little things.’
New carbon chainplates being fit.  Gilles and Denis at
GC Composites are doing a fantastic job.
Chainplates being located on the deck level
This is just scratching the surface of the projects which have been tackling.  The boat is looking amazing and will be rolling out of the shed and getting the keel put back on shortly.  Stay posted for more details!
Even though the 2013 Transpac is sold out, we have space in the 2014 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race and the 2014 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii.
All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Cinco 70s

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That’s five 70’s.  Brand spanking new J/70s, that is.  Just rolled into Puerto Vallarta.  The trucks were a bit late getting down here, but on Friday we managed to get them all off-loaded and all the rigs up.  Three were out sailing yesterday, and man they are great!!

Off-loading at Paradise Village.
Shoving off for the first sail.

We’ll get some more pictures of these incredibly cool boats sailing shortly.  So does the weather look pretty ideal?  Oh, believe me, it is.  Shorts, T-Shirts, about 15 knots out there.   Buen día indeed…

Classes are running regularly in paradise…  c’mon down!

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Maserati Race Car… er, Boat…

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Congratulations to Maserati….  they just shattered the New York for San Francisco record.  No highways involved on this one…  the 70 foot yacht skippered by Giovanni Soldini made the trip around Cape Horn in a touch over 47 days.  That took just about 10 days off the old record!  Pretty impressive.   Congratulations!

 

Midwinter Clinic/Regatta in San Deigo

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J World San Diego is running a three day clinic then racing in the Midwinter Regatta.  we have spaces available, so visit here for more info.  Right now, the clinic is 80% women…  serious girl power!  Or come charter a boat and join the fun for the weekend.   Clinic is February 13-15, regatta is February 16-17.

Come have some fun in beautiful San Diego and advance your racing skills.  This is the best way to get fast.

New Fleet for the New J/70 (Boat of the Year!)

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Great News…   the sailing scene in Puerto Vallarta continues to not only thrive, but is constantly growing stronger!  
 
Fleet of J/70s on the way to Puerto Vallarta!
We are excited to be welcoming a growing fleet new J/70s to Banderas Bay.  There are now no less than five boats on the way and they will be cutting it up in the beautiful conditions down there in the coming month. 
 
 
This hot sportboat was just tapped with Sailing World’s prestigious “Boat Of The Year” award.  Lightweight, quick, easy to handle, it’s going to be a perfect boat for Puerto Vallarta.  Anyone interested in joining this growing fleet down in PV should get in touch…
 
Cheers,
 
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
 
 
 

Midwinter Clinic and Regatta – Feb 14, San Deigo

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Well with the winter season kicking in you would think the sailing choices would be limited…  but it really seems to be the opposite right now!

Plus, we have added a couple special events for the spring, including a three day clinic followed by two days of racing in the SCYA Midwinters in San Diego aboard our J/80s.  Want a fun winter get-away?  Want to up your sailing game?  Want to race in a great event with a pro coach?  Check this out:

Beyond that, regular classes are going in San Diego (probably the best year round sailing venue in North America), and if you want the guaranteed bathing suit and flip-flops vacation, then join us in Puerto Vallarta.  While it is certainly cooler in San Francisco  there have been some beautiful sailing days days.  And our host/partner hotel, the Waterfront, is running some great deals we wanted to pass on in case you are thinking about joining us on the Bay:

Happy Holidays everyone!

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Southbound… and Northbound…

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What a weekend.  We just had a great trip out of our San Diego school aboard our J/120 on a liveaboard cruising class.  For this one, we headed down to northern Baja and Ensenada.  Great weather, perfect company, and the full range of diversions (submarines, dredges, warships, islands, dolphins, whales… ) made for a fantastic trip.

The J/120 lights it up on a sweet
beam reach, bound for Mexico…
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
There’s the mighty Hula Girl looking pretty naked.  In the shed, just before the iconic graphic got peeled from the transom.  Don’t worry, she’ll be back.

The refit is moving along.  When we say we are re-doing everything, we mean everything.  Here’s the bow with the new glassed over hull/deck seam (got rid of the old aluminum rails).  Pretty slick.  More reports soon…  but we still have space in the Newport to Cabo race aboard this turboed 50 footer in March.  She’s going to be better than new, in a big way.  Details here.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team