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.
 |
| Fleet of J/70s on the way to Puerto Vallarta! |
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:
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
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… |
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
You know, we are proud of our alumni. It really is impressive what some of you have gone on to accomplish… and there is nothing cooler than when someone walks up to us in the tent at, say, Key West Race Week, swings cup of rum punch our way, and says, “hey you taught me how to race!” It makes what we do very gratifying. Case in point:
So a friend sent me this shot of our Hula Girl in Hawaii, keel off, ready to be shipped home after the race to the Islands. Looks like an auspicious sign for our turboed 50 footer. We are excited to report the the Girl is undergoing a full refit and will hit the water early next year shiny, clean, updated, faster, and sweeter than ever.
 |
| Hula Girl, keel off, ready for shipping home from Hawaii |
What are the projects? Well, the BIG one is a new rig. After an extensive look at all the options around the world, we selected Hall Spars to build one of their beautiful grand-prix one piece (!) carbon masts. Not only do they turn our real works of art, but the team at Hall are great to deal with. With lots of assistance and input from some of the best-in-the business, we have also re-engineered the rig plan and are moving the chainplates back to sweep the spreaders about 12 degrees, making it a more stable, forgiving, and modern rig with less dependency on the checkstays. Man, it’s going to be sweet.
Also on tap is a full new steering system, from pedestal, to idler blocks, to quadrant. Just to be sure. We’ll be replacing and/or rebuilding all the windows and hatches. We are getting rid of the aluminum toerail around the bow, and replacing the tracks aft. New deck hardware throughout. EVERY single piece of hardware is already off the boat, all the holes are being reamed out and filled with G10 rods, and the whole package will be re-bedded. And, of course, she is getting a full paint job.
 |
| We know what we want for Christmas… a nice and shiny better-than-new turboed Santa Cruz 50. I think we are going to need a bigger tree. |
J World chose KKMI in Richmond to oversee the refit. Not only are they renowned for their exceptional work, but they have also been the custodians of Hula Girl for… well, decades now, since before she was Gone With the Wind. In fact, they oversaw the 2000 refit, including the installation of the strut/bulb keel, and the outfitting that Paul Cayard did when he owned the boat. Their staff have always been fantastically knowledgeable and helpful to us in many ways, so taking her to KKMI was pretty much the easiest decision… now what color do we paint her??
We are also thankful to a selection of sponsors and providers who are helping to outfit the Girl with the best marine equipment available anywhere in the world. Stay tuned for a full list as we update on the project progress.
So the first outing for the newly gussied up Girl will be the 2013 Newport to Cabo Race in March. Due to a cancellation, we have a couple of berths still available (if you miss this, she is sold out for a while and the next opportunity to sail on her won’t be until 2014!). More info is here. Seriously. Get on this one.
And in the meantime, all our classes are running full-tilt…. the season in Puerto Vallarta is kicking in, San Diego has been beautiful (as always), and despite the rain this week, San Francisco Bay has had a lot going on. Stay tuned for details on the So Cal Midwinters in our J/80s, our new Yachting Cup Clinic and Regatta, and more!
All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
Anyone up for a quick trip down to Baja?
All you sailors know the Baja-Ha-Ha, the world renown cruisers rally from San Deigo to Cabo San Lucas. J World loves doing the trip, but alas, there is simply too much going on this year for us to commit to the full trip. But we won’t give up that easily. We are going to do the first half of the event, the Ha. We’ll start in San Diego with the fleet on October 28, sail to Turtle Bay where we will join the festivities, then on November 3 when the rest of the fleet heads south, we will turn northward back to San Diego.
 |
| J World made the cover in the 2007 Baja Ha Ha |
Two J World coaches will be aboard, and we have space for three clients, so if you want a quick getaway, let us know!
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
Pretty cool. Just awesome sailing right now in perfect conditions, and the Hawaiian Islands are coming up fast.
And there is more: from Wednesday morning at 8 am to Thursday morning 8am, Hula Girl covered more miles than any other boat out here, with the exception of the big Icon. That’s pretty impressive for a team that never sailed together before, and never sailed this boat before. In fact, most of the crew didn’t even know each other two weeks ago. They came from all around the US and Canada to race in the 2012 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii. Add to the mix three coaches from J World Performance Sailing, and you have Team Hula Girl.
In the course of an event like this, we (coaches) work hard to try to get everyone aboard to do all the heavy lifting. Everyone is an equal team member, and gets equal time doing all the jobs onboard an offshore racer, from trimming to grinding to driving. I’m not going to candy-coat anything. It can be really rough going for the first couple of days. The crew is learning the boat and getting acclimated to onboard life in the toughest possible setting: an actual offshore race on a real offshore boat competing against numerous grand-prix level teams. And it’s not uncommon that we get fairly beat up by the competition in those early days.
But then something pretty cool happens. The team gels. They learn how to drive the boat better, the early signs of being too high (or to low) and how much to respond. How the pitch and roll and yaw of the Pacific swells effect the boat and the sails. The trimming gets crisper, faster to respond to the driver and the wind. The team goes from being re-active to pro-active. The boat sails ‘in the groove’ longer, smoother, faster. Case in point: yesterday. As mentioned before, Team Hula Girl did an impressive job posting high miles and gains (some significant) on many teams out here with pro sailors, long term programs, and seasoned vets. Nicely done!!
We are about 100 miles out right now, on the final push to the finish. We are expecting a fifth place in our class, and a fifth place overall. Not too shabby. And, what’s even better, is that it’s shaping up to be one final beautiful evening. We’ll have a waxing moon, and mostly clear skies. With about 14 knots of breeze, we are surfing small swells under spinnaker at about 12 knots. Tonight, as we run towards Kaneohe Bay on the north shore of Oahu looking at an early morning finish, I am really proud to have sailed with everyone on this team. Not only did they do a truly fantastic job, but they were also an absolute blast to be with. Many thanks to coaches Geoff (the Governor) and Chris (the Dude) for their tireless efforts and keeping the proverbial ‘wheels on the wagon,’ and of course thanks to Tom (the Tominator), Tim (the Bishop), Les (Field Marshal Serge), Brendan (the Cowboy), Martha (Trixie), and John (Bux Money) for making this such an enjoyable and memorable passage.
Clearly we have been out here too long. Now we need to get ready for our finish. And I’m looking forward to sampling the local refreshments. I hear they have something delicious called a Mai Tai and that it is terribly difficult to have only one. There are some challenges I am not ready or willing to face, so I am fine if they give me a couple…
Aloha,
Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team
800-910-1101
———-
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Well it’s been a wild couple of days in the 2012 Pacific Cup. Early Tuesday morning, we entered a solid band of breeze which lasted for about two days. Winds were moistly 20-25 knots, with occasional squalls pushing things to around 30. Hula Girl was dancing with the waves, ticking off prolonged runs at 15, 16 knots and occasional leaps over 20. Just a complete blast, but nerve wracking… the squalls come on fast, and last a loooong time. You see the darkness come up behind you. Then you feel the rain. Then the wind is on you, the boat literally takes off, and your sleigh ride has begun. You’d better bring your A game.
But we have taken some lumps too. We blew up a kite (my favorite 2A). We broke a gooseneck pin (good on the sharp eyes of Tim for noticing it before it became a big issue). We got some debris (polypropelene line… fishing gear??) caught on the prop and strut, then later caught a sheet down there… had to drop the kite and park it for a bit to clear the.tangle. We broke an after guy (that was ‘exciting’). And so on. Radio chatter indicates that more than a couple boats have has issues, but luckily nothing sounds too major.
Once again, the J125 Double Trouble tore things up. Icon, the speedy Perry 66 did 273 miles yesterday. DT a little over 40 feet, did 300. That is absolutely rocking. THey are only 40 mile behind the big boat today. Could they actually beat Goliath and capture a clean sweep??? It would be an amazing accomplishment… so be sure to stay tuned. Other than that, Medusa the SC52 pulled on us, California Condor gained a bit (as expected), but we pulled on every other boat out here. Daily corrected standings haven’t been sent out yet, and there are still 650 miles to go… can we put enough time on Swazik and Hana Ho to correct out over them?? Lord know were gonna try. We are all on port tack , finally, more or less pointed straight at the Islands. A bit of a drag race now.
Life onboard has been nice. Today is the first day with good sunshine, so we still have a lot of wet sails and gear. But it’s a lot warmer now, and we are drying out nicely. I’m about to head to the cockpit to take a nice warm shower (oh yes, I very much need it), and our bellies are full from the gourmet wraps that Martha made for lunch. Then I’m going to take a nap and recharge the batteries for tonight. The night have been challenging, and even though the wind is a bit lighter at the moment, I have comer to expect the unexpected.
Cheers all, and wish us good speed and fortune on the sleigh ride to the barn!
Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team
———-
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
