2017 Baja Ha Ha – that’s all, folks!

So we got this report from Paul yesterday, filed from the finish of the cruiser’s rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas that marks the start of the southern cruising season. And he sent a bunch of photos with the direction to post what we wanted. I have to say we dug them all, so they are ALL published.  When it’s this cool, who can pick and choose?

Our season starts NOW in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, with sailing, racing, and cruising courses offered all winter long. And in April and May we’ll be offering TWO cruises from Puerto Vallarta to Cabo San Lucas. Fire us a note for more details.  And soak in the images below to get a feel for what could be in store for you….

Thanks for a great passage Paul!

 


 

Hola from Cabo Falso! We are dropping the hook soon and things will get busy, so I wanted to let you know everything is great aboard.  To go with this, I will send some photos when I get a margarita, I mean, WiFi…

– Capt Paul

 

2017 Baja Ha Ha Wrap Up

Vanishing Girl sailed across the finish line of the 24th Annual Baja Ha-Ha at 10am on Thursday.

The deal is that this year was rather light, wind-wise. But at least half the course was sailed… under three different spinnakers and a harvest moon!

Highlights include sailing among the 130-boat fleet into three very different Mexican bays; Tortuga, Santa Maria, and the quiet puebla of Cabo San Lucas, jaja! In addition to the sailing there was playing baseball with the local kids, SUP surfing, cooking good meals, reading, sleeping, and generally disconnecting from the hustle for 10 days.

Vanishing Girl will be back out voyaging on Sunday. This next leg takes us across the Sea of Cortez, and down the Mexican mainland coast for a visit with the Blue Footed Boobies of Isla Isabella. By Thanksgiving, you can find us for a sail – a day, a week, or more – in Beautiful Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Be, or N2B… Newport to Bermuda, of course!!

Ok, we are excited to be announcing that J/World will be entering the 2018 Newport to Bermuda Race. The Newport to Bermuda Race is one of the world’s most renown offshore events, and as such draws premier boats and sailors from every corner of the globe.

As if just racing in the N2B wasn’t exciting enough, how about this: we’ll be doing it on a super sweet Santa Cruz 52, Westerly.  Yeah, I thought that might get your attention.  So we are really looking forward to the race. Our clients have been clamoring for this one for a while, so understandably, this event sold out before we even announced it formally!  So that’s the bad news.

Sistership Prevail Looking Great

The good news?  Well, there’s a couple of things.  First, we still have an opportunity for you to join us in the 2018 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race.  And the other good news is that following the Bermuda Race (and some other East Coast adventures), Westerly will be trekking to the West Coast and we’ll have her entered in the 2019 Transpac!  Yep, including Hula Girl and Cazan, that makes three  J/World entries in the race to Hawaii.  So while the 2018 Pacific Cup is sold out, we still have spaces available for the 2019 race to Hawaii. But I wouldn’t wait too long…

So below is the calendar as it is taking shape for our big boat racing events (keep in mind, this doesn’t include our full suite of cruising adventures and buoy racing offerings):

February – San Diego to Puerto Vallarta
March – MEXORC
May – California Offshore Race Week
June – Newport to Bermuda
July – Pacific Cup

 

All the best,

The J/World Team

 

 

 

2017 Transpac Wrap Up – Congrats Team Hula Girl!

Ok, the spray  has settled after the 2017 Transpac and wow, what an absolute blast!  I have to say that our fleet comprised of 10 Santa Cruz 50s and 52s was probably one of the most competitive fleets I have race in an offshore event….  ever!  The boats were all highly competitive and stacked with top tier sailors.  So it makes me especially proud that our mixed team of clients and coaches was able to sail into third place!  Oh, and we missed second by a mere four minutes.  And only 46 minutes separated second from sixth place after 2225 miles.  Now that is something.

The J/World Team aboard Hula Girl did a fantastic job all the way through. Many thanks to coaches Patrick and Paul, and congratulations to Andreas, Jimmy, Derek, Chris, Vern, and Dave! Thanks to Rick Shema (http://theweatherguy.com/) for the routing, thanks to Jeff and Tanja for the warm reception (your family rocks!!), thanks to Lauren (http://www.leialohacreative.com/) for the awesome photos, and thanks to all our friends and families for the support!

Ok, here are some photos from the trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CORW 2017 Wrap Up

Ok, the spray has settled from the 2017 California Offshore Race Week, and we are here with a report of the fun!

The first leg was the Spinnaker Cup, from SF to Monterrey.  We had a solid showing aboard our new boat, Cazan, with a third in class.  Nice job, team!  We had a well earned lay-day in Monterey and prepped for round two…

The Coastal Cup (Monterey to Santa Barbara) is known for the often challenging conditions, and this year was no exception!  Winds in the steady 35 knot range (gusting to over 40) kept us pretty wound up, and after blowing up our second kite we throttled back, but still recorded a top speed of just over 20 knots….  woo-hoo!!

The final leg from Santa Barbara to San Diego started with big breeze and we were the second monohull thru the first scoring gate at Santa Cruz Island.  But the race ended with a whimper as the breeze died about 70 miles outside San Diego.  It was a long slow leg requiring tons of concentration, but the team did a fantastic job and we actually reeled-in a lot of the bigger boats on the push to the finish!

Here is the gallery:

Skirting the Nor Cal Coast

J World’s Cazan in Monterey

An easy 16 knots…  got a bit more ‘sporty’ that night (40+ knots of breeze!)

Wildlife to the extreme…  fish, dolphins, whales…  and one shark!

C’mon Mike, drive faster, they are gaining on us!  Frank Slootman’s brand spanking new turbocharged Pac 52 Invisible Hand
goes absolutely screaming by. He’s a J/World alum (Frank) by the way!  Big congrats to them on winning the CORW overall!

 

Ok, that’s it for this report!  Great job team, and it was a real pleasure to sail with all of you!  Next up:  Transpac!

– Wayne Zittel and the J/World Team

Merlin. ‘Nuff said.

The name Merlin is iconic in the world of racing sailboats. When Bill Lee designed and built her just outside Santa Cruz, then went on to crush the competition racing to Hawaii and setting a record that would stand for 20 years,  the understanding of what defined a fast sailing yacht was completely upended.  I’ll spare you the recounting of her history since any Google search will lead to dozens and dozens of articles about the importance and impact of this great boat.  But suffice it to say that Merlin led directly to the Santa Cruz 70 and 50s that have dominated West Coast offshore racing for decades.

It was pretty great when Bill Lee re-took ownership of his famous boat in 2015.  And it’s going to be awesome to see her in this year’s Transpac.  What could possibly be cooler?  Well, how about to sail on her?  How about sailing aboard the famous Merlin from Hawaii to California with a J/World Offshore Coach?  Yeah, sounds pretty cool to us too.  This is a special opportunity that we are excited to be a part of.  Contact us if you want to be a part of this adventure…  it goes without saying that this is a very limited opportunity, so don’t delay…

Lucky Day??

Ok, this could be your lucky day. Hula Girl, our turboed Santa Cruz 50, has a late opening for the Transpac!  This event was sold out well over a year ago, but we now have one berth open. This is probably the most iconic race in the history of sailboat racing.  And now is your chance to join the boat that holds the SC50 CA to HI record (and winner of the 2016 Pacific Cup), for this event.  You aren’t just riding along…  you are sailing the boat.  Trimming, grinding, driving, etc. etc….  all under the guidance of three veteran J/World coaches.

Seriously, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. The shots below are from the last Transpac…  this could be you!   Info here.

 

Passing the West End of Catalina Island

Diamond Head Finish Line

 

Hula Girl Looking Good

 

Honolulu….  the celebration begins!

 

The Hulagain Team

 

 

 

In Knot We Trust

Here’s a video from our friends at Scuttlebutt Sailing News showing a few essential knots. While there may be moments of fervent supplication to deities during heavy seas, we all know what we hope will hold us 🙂

We Are Sailin’ Rite!

 

Fixing a batten pocket on a J/80 Mainsail

As sailors, we cope with a lot of maintenance issues on the boats that we sail and race. Since there are so many moving parts and gear, the upkeep can get exhausting, and most of all, expensive! The relentless wind, sun and salt will eventually disintegrate our sails and covers, regardless of our protective measures. Canvas covers can help slow the degradation but inevitably the harsh elements will eat away at something. Most of the time, it’s simply the stitching that goes first.

If the stitching pulls out of a seam on a sail or cover, the situation can go downhill rapidly. The fabric can come unhemmed, allowing the material to degrade prematurely. It’s time consuming and costly to go to a sail loft or canvas repair shop to get it fixed. A simple repair that takes an hour or so, might take a week if the shop is backed up. Therefore, buying your own tools and educating yourself on small DIY repairs can save time and money. Obviously, there are certain projects that should be done by a professional, but for the do-it-yourselfer, it’s great to have your own tools and machinery to repair the old and build the new!

While there are many options on the market for proper sewing machines, Sailrite is one of the oldest and well-known brands out there. Thanks to a friend, I’ve recently had the opportunity to borrow an Ultrafeed LSZ-1 to repair some stitching on covers. I was so impressed with the ease and functionality, that my only choice was to acquire one for the J/World location in San Diego to help with repairs and new canvas for all our West Coast locations. The “Z” gives you the ability to switch from straight stitches to zig-zags, a necessary setting for sails!

We ended up getting the Ultrafeed LSZ-1 PLUS, which came with its own carrying case, a magnetic light, and other great features. Just from the packaging, you can tell that Sailrite has things dialed in. Everything was well packaged; clearly with concentrated though and effort put into every detail. The machine was ready to go right out of the box, as each of the machine’s settings are tested before it’s sent out. The tester also left the piece of thread still run the correct way through the rig so I could see how it is run properly.

Along with the spare parts, extra bobbins, oil, small spool of thread, and other accessories, the kit came with a great instruction manual, CD-Rom with How-To videos, and a catalog. The simplicity in the layout and descriptions throughout the instructions and setup process speaks volumes to their time and experience in the industry. And of course they have any part you could ever need to repair or upgrade your machine. 

Elastic strap for corners

It’s amazing how easy it is to get things set up on the machine immediately after opening. Once everything is in place, just step on the pedal and go! And, for different fabrics, you can put in the appropriate needle, easily tune the machine for that material, and get at it. Since the PLUS always sits in the base of the carrying case, there’s a potential for fabric to get caught and ripped on the metal corners. But fear not; Sailrite has noticed that too! They’ve included a durable elastic strap that buttons onto the end of the case to be placed over the corners while you’re sewing, eliminating the potential for snags and rips. 

There are very few things that I’ve found with the machine that could be improved. As I said, they have things pretty well dialed. The bobbin (lower thread) system is great, especially for winding new thread onto it. My only complaint is that it doesn’t hold a whole lot of thread, so at times I’ve found that I’ll be in the middle of a stitch and have to reset everything. But they do include extra bobbins, so you can have them all wound up and it becomes a lot faster to change it out and continue on. It’s a small pill to swallow when the overall system is basically flawless. It’s truly something when you can have it so well tuned that you just step on the gas, and have the walking foot pull miles of fabric right through your guiding hands at any speed that you wish. If you want it to, it will go faster than you’re comfortable with.  

One upgrade I did myself was to wire the light into the power system on the machine. I’m comfortable enough with my electrical skills to have tried it. What a success! Now only one plug is needed. While it’s probably not recommended by Sailrite; I was simply employing the DIY mentality. If you try it, be very careful, and certainly keep things unplugged when making connections!

Magnetic light wired into the electrical system.

Since receiving the machine after the new year, we’ve saved hundreds of dollars by repairing things ourselves. It’s mostly been repairing stitching in old covers, though the list has gotten quite long for new covers for various things throughout our West Coast locations! While I’ve mostly just been repairing covers, the sail repairs that I’ve done have proved that this machine can get through just about every material that you need! I’m really looking forward to learning new tricks and getting more efficient with the process. And of course I’ve used it to repair some clothes as well! If you’re looking for a fun new toy for this sailing season and to lower the bills, look no further than Sailrite!

Happy Sewing!

Patrick and the J/World Team

 

You Never Know What You Will See Sailing

Except of course our smiling faces! Need a smile? Contact Us and join us for a course or race.

 

Swarming J/70s? Check It Out…

We love this video from Quantum Racing. J/70 Practice at Charleston Race Week.  Makes us want to race. You too? Click Contact Us  or choose Contact from the menu bar above and we will find you a spot!

Thanks for sharing Quantum!

J/70 – Charleston Race Week #j70 #quantumsails #chucktown #charleston #sailing #sailboat #onedesign

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