And They’re Off!

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Hello all,

Sylvia Seaberg fired the starting gun at 1:50PM yesterday and J/World’s Hula Girl was off to Hawaii!  The team got a great start on starboard, close to the San Francisco shore in order to stay out of the last of the flood tide.  They tacked to the Golden Gate bridge on port, ducked a boat and road the ebb out.  Winds were in the mid-teens at the start, but the crew were set-up from the dock to switch to a larger headsail once the met lighter winds West of the Golden Gate.
As the gun went off at 1:50 PM., J/World’s Hula Girl started the 2012 Pacific Cup!   
Crew photo at the St. FYC.

Additional photos from yesterday can be seen at:

Thanks to all those who helped us get to the starting line!

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We appreciate the support, efforts and generosity of all those who have made it possible for the individuals and our company to get Hula Girl to the starting line for the 2012 Pacific Cup.  First, to the friends and families of our customers and coaches who support their loved ones’ pursuit of offshore adventure!  Thank you!


Thank you to the management and staff of the Waterfront Hotel and Miss Pearl’s Restaurant and Lounge.  They provide phenomenal hospitality to our out-of-town participants and go way, way, beyond to welcome our customers and support J/World at Jack London Square.

Miss Pearl’s generously hosted our team for a send off on Tuesday.  The pizzas were delicious and you gotta love their hurricanes!
If friends, family or you are coming to the Bay Area, please check them out.
Thank you to Atlantis Weathergear for their outstanding support of our efforts to share our passion for sailing.  This year’s team is sporting Atlantis’ Watch Jacket in their crew photo.

Thanks also to Dan and the team at West Marine Alameda.  They go “over and above” anytime we need something, but especially in assembling the bulk of our crew gear.

Our neighbors at Oakland’s Jack London Square have been fantastic:
Thanks to Wally and her team at Autobahn Cafe for not only making great sandwiches (meticulously wrapped in “halfs” with condiments on the side!) but the extras: organic hard cooked eggs, fresh artisan bread, and “homemade cookies for happy sailors.”  Wally and her team are special.
Kincaid’s at Jack London Square welcomed our crew with an extended happy hour on Monday and Keith and Tammy from CCK (California Canoe and Kayak)  raised a glass (or two) to support our team.  (as well as a providing a few last minute necessities for the crew).
Thank you to our safety gear partner Spinlock, Harken and Team McLube for keeping things moving with their Sailkote and Onedrop products.Apologies to all those I have not mentioned here!  There are many others!

J World San Diego !!!!

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Well, things go full circle indeed.

I started teaching at J/World in San Diego years ago, back when the late great Larry Klein owned the shop and was racking up wins in some of the most prestigious sailing events in the world.  I still remember fondly the summer when he (and my good buddy Ron Rosenberg) won the J/24 Worlds, the Etchells Worlds, and the Dragon Worlds (yep, all in one summer!).  That pretty much cinched the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award for him.

But I’m getting off on a tangent.  J World San Diego.  One of the best year round sailing venues in the world.  Beautiful harbor, great So Cal weather.  A fun fleet of boats.  All good.

So good, in fact, that I am thrilled to report that we here at the main offices running J World in San Francisco and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico have just bought the San Diego location!

JWSD is one of the most respected maritime educational facilities in the world, and has touched tens of thousands of sailors through the years.  If you are a sailor, you probably know more than a couple of our alumni.  We are excited to be the new custodians of this institution, and to maintain, and expand upon, the great and proven programs.  Having another base on the West Coast will also fit in nicely with all the offshore cruising and racing events we do…  and adding another J/120 to the fleet means we’ll be able to step up the offerings.

Anyway, more info coming soon.  Just wanted to share the good news.  Right now, we are pretty busy getting ready for the 2012 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii starting next week.  Man, when it rains, it pours.

Race reports coming soon…  all will get posted here directly from Hula Girl.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel
J/World San Francisco
J/World Puerto Vallarta
J/World San Diego (!)

 

Eight Bells….

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It was with great sadness that we learned of the accident involving the s/v Low Speed Chase this past weekend.  The Sydney 38, racing under the San Francisco Yacht Club burgee, was lost offshore on Saturday during the Full Crew Farallon Race.  One crew member is confirmed dead, four are missing, and three survived.


We are thankful for the efforts of the Coast Guard and Air National Guard for the rescue of three and the extended efforts to find the missing.  Our hearts are heavy, and our thoughts go out to the friends and family of those who were lost and those who survived.  We have all lost more than we will ever know. 


– The J World Team

News Flash: Pacific Cup Opening!

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We just had a cancellation in our 2012 Pacific Cup program and now have one berth available!

Our Hawaii races are usually sold out almost two years in advance, so this is a rare opportunity.  Visit here for some more info on the event, and here for some info, pictures, and video of the boat in recent races.  If you are interested in learning more, contact us at info@sailing-jworld.com and we will be happy to email you a team brief which describes the program in greater detail.

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and J World’s Hula Girl

 

2012 Banderas Bay Clinic and Regatta Wrap Up

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Last week J World Puerto Vallarta hosted our annual Banderas Bay Clinic aboard our fleet of J/80s.  The three day session immediately precedes our participation in the ever popular Banderas Bay Regatta.  Per usual for winters in the Banderas Bay area, sailing conditions were extraordinary…

A couple of our J/80s, loving the sun, loving the breeze…

With a great group of racers joining us, we had a very productive clinic in some ideal conditions.  Boathandling, sail trim, sail handling, strategy, tactics…  and a whole day of starting practice!  Teams were formed, trash was talked, and maybe some margarita-based wagers were placed.  Then is was off to the real races…

Port tack upwind was a almost square into the waves
making for some challenging conditions
Teams moved from boat to boat and had a different coach each day. The J/80s raced mostly windward leeward and triangle courses (while many of the cruiser divisions had looonng reachy races).  I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but this place is absolutely awesome.  I have been fortunate enough to sail all over the world, and it’s a rare day when the sailing elsewhere rivals the average day in Banderas Bay.  Just look at these shots…  I have a whole camera full of them.  Blue skies, clear water, temperatures just over 80F/26C…  no foulies, no jackets, no long sleeves…  if this isn’t perfect, I can’t imagine what is.

When the spray settled and the last of the sunscreen had been washed off the smiling faces, it was off to the awards dinner, a huge fiesta out on the beach at the Paradise Village resort.  In order of finish:

1st Place: Team Canada was Tom (Sug), Tom (Cookie), and Greg.  
2nd Place: Team Girl Power was Bev, Martha, and Elaine.
3rd Place: Team Co-Ed was Irene, Roger, and Roberta.    

It was great to see how much everyone improved over the course of the week, and we expect great things from this group in the future…  so watch out if any of them show up on your home waters!


Anyway, that’s what I’ve got for now.  Only one more moth remaining to get your wintertime blues fix in the land of sunshine.  

MEXORC Wrap Up

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Ok, you know it is a good regatta when there is just way too much going on to get my daily reports in!  Man, between the beautiful sailing conditions, the competitive fleet racing, and the fully hosted dinner/party tent each night, we had our hands full!

Team J World aboard our Hula Girl charging the weather mark.

There was a pursuit race.  There were two days of windward-leewards.  There were two distance races.  There was a Gold Cup race.  There was a hosted dinner on a remote beach.  There were dinners every night.  And there was a closing ceremony dinner outside, on the point, which was a blowout that I won’t even begin to attempt describing.  You just have to come see it for yourself.

Katana downwind, Hula Girl upwind.

We had a new crew aboard Hula Girl, and in an event like this, wow we had our hands full!  We swapped drivers.  We moved trimmers to the bow and grinders to the trim.  We shuffled things up continually so all of our clients got a feel for big boat racing in a truly grand-prix event.  I was really impressed with how all of our team rose to the challenges.  Many of them had never sailed a boat like this at all, to say nothing of jumping right into a competitive fleet like we had at MEXORC!  Despite all the trials and tribulations, I thought we posted some pretty good finishes…  too bad we couldn’t seem to sail to out rating.  We were the second slowest rating boat in our class and had to fight through a lot of dirty air all week, but we just couldn’t seem to correct out over some of the bigger/faster boats.

On the pursuit race…  we seem to be catching a lot of the small boats…  a good sign… 

But no worries.  It was a fantastic week, and everyone learned a ton.  MEXORC in Banderas Bay.  It doesn’t really get any better than this.

Pre-start maneuvers.

That’s what I got.  Sorry it’s late.  Thanks team for a great event!  And if you are interested in joining J World’s Hula Girl for some racing, the next event we have room in is the 2013 Newport to Cabo Race…

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

SD to PV Race Video

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So.  Been swamped since getting into Puerto Vallarta after the 2012 San Diego to PV Race.  Two days after finishing, we had to have Hula Girl in buoy racing mode and setup for practice with an all new crew of sailors for MEXORC.

But somehow I managed to get a little video of the race down put together.  Many thanks to the whole team, and to Drew for making it all happen!

MEXORC!!!!

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Seriously.  I don’t get it.  For the life of me, I can’t fathom why this isn’t the most popular regatta in the world.  I absolutely love MEXORC!
Today was Day 1 of the 2012 MEXORC regatta in Banderas Bay.  The fine city of Puerto Vallarta is nestled into the southeastern corner of this glorious bay, but we were sailing our of Marina Riviera Nayarit in the fantastic town of La Cruz, which is just north of our J World Base in Nuevo Vallarta.
The Beautiful (and always well-sailed) Peligroso and  Alchemy
For this event, we have a half dozen J World coaches and seven clients from the US and Canada aboard.  Our team is comprised of sailors who regularly sail boats ranging from 14 to 40 feet.  Almost all of them are J World alumni, and we are thrilled to have them all aboard.
Ok, back to the event.  Perfectly warm weather.  Not a long sleeve in sight (unless it’s for sun protection).  Great breeze.  Spectacular scenery.  A phenomenal fleet.   We hit the water toady for the Governor’s Cup race, and after a brief warm up were informed that the President of Mexico had arrived on the Race Committee boat and was going to address the fleet (as he did at the 2010 event).  Yes, that’s right the PRESIDENT of MEXICO!  Now that’s what I call supporting the sport of sailing!
Setting Up For The Start of Race One
Well, if El Presidente put all his political clout to bear, he couldn’t have ordered up better sailing.  We had a reverse start, with the slower classes starting first, for a long tour of the Bay.  On board Hula Girl,  we got a glean start, charged the weather mark, had a great first reach, negotiated the light air at the close-to-the-beach second mark, took off on a great long reach across the bay, performed an excellent peel form the 2A to the 3A (the very first for many of our team!), and got to the line nice and smoothly.  While we are almost the slowest boat in our Class B, we thought we kept close enough to the leaders to have a respectable finish.
Then it was back to the dock, and off to the party tent.  Dinner and drinks are served with style to all the racers, and daily awards were give out.  While we were a bit disappointed with our 5thplace corrected finish, the great atmosphere of the regatta eased the pain.  And the knowledge that we have 5 more glorious days of sailing here certainly gave us a lot to look forward to!
That’s what I got…  for today.  Tomorrow is W/L racing, and will be a huge test for our ‘young’ team.   But win, lose, or draw, I have little doubt that we will have a blast!
That’s all I’ve got for today.  More tomorrow…
All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Hula Girl Team

PV Race Pictures…

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Well, we have put to bed the 2012 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race.  It was a tale of two extremes…  the initial winds run with great surfing and wild rides, then a couple of days of calm, drifting as a painted ship on a painted sea.  But more than any of that, it was an adventure of a great crew.

A special thank you goes out to Drew for pulling this group together…  Joel, Rick, Mark, Lee, it was great sailing with each and every one of you.  These offshore races can be challenging on both physical and mental levels.  As individuals and as a team, you all not only overcame any hurdles thrown in our way, but seemed to thrive on any challenges (strong breeze, or a lack thereof and a test of patience).  And a huge thank you to coaches/watch captains Josh and Rob for their efforts at both getting the boat down the course quickly and making sure everyone aboard had a fun and beneficial experience!

Now were are setting up for MEXORC…  we’ll keep posting updates as we can!

Best Regards,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Hula Girl Team

Leaving San Diego Bay and Point Loma
The Windy Run – Hula Girl loves this stuff!
Rick with a steady hand on the helm in some serious surfing conditions…
We cranked up some pretty good speeds on the first two days…  consistent 15s, numerous +20’s…
Rob Driving.  Joel Trimming.  Hula Girl Surfing.
Lee (aka Disco Queen) hamming it up….
Great Joel…  we give you the wheel, and you break the wind…
The Calm Continued….
Lee makes friends with our company.  Once they bonded, it was unlikely we would be getting any Sushi.
This Yellowtail followed us for miles…  well, ok, maybe not miles since we were hardly moving, but probably 6 hours…
Good time for showers and a quick swim in the light stuff.  Lee cooling off…  friend still behind us.
Hula Girl loving life again…  back in the breeze.  Code 0 and staysail.
Skinny boat, fun sailing….
Final run to the finish in perfect conditions.  Now this is what I’m talking about.  Later, the full moon rose directly in front of us, and we glided to a 2am finish off Punta Mita.