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J/24 2004 News J/24 Program Overview || J/24 News || Tuning Guide || Contact J/24 Experts || Order
See also: | 2003 Regatta Reports | 2002/2001 Regatta Reports
Report by Chuck Allen Jens, first of all congratulations on winning The J/24 Worlds!
Jens: Well, I started off crewing for Ken Read back in the 1980’s, where we had great success in the class. Phil Garland had Salsa during that same time and we would sail Thursday Nights together in Newport’s Fleet 50. I ended up with the boat in 1989 and we won our first major event, The Volvo, that same year. We have been sailing Salsa ever since. Talk about your team for the readers.. Jens: We have all been sailing together for the last 2 years. Larry Colantuano joined the team most recently-2 years ago. He trimmed the spinnaker downwind and helped out in the middle of the boat. Ralph Kinder has been sailing with us for 4 years and he is in the middle of the boat and helps with big picture tactics. Jock Hayes, PJ Schaeffer and myself have been together for 5 years. Jock does the cockpit, PJ does bow and tactics and I drive. All this gets mixed up on Thursday nights in Newport because we switch positions, which we believe helps to make the team stronger with each member understanding all positions. Many competitor’s said the conditions were trying, how did you manage your way through such tough conditions? Jens: I would have to say all the time sailing in Newport’s Fleet 50 helped the most. We experienced a lot of the same conditions: current, light air (dying) and shifty breezes. We knew Long Island could be like this and sure enough it was like sailing on Thursday nights for us. We sailed at Max Weight and had our boat handling down, both of which are keys to success when sailing the J/24. Did you and PJ have a game plan going into the last day knowing how close the points were amongst the top five competitors?
What were some of your boat preparations? Jens: In 2000 for The Worlds in Newport, RI, we had the bottom done at Waterline Systems (US Watercraft). We had Baltaplate put on, believing in the hard paints. We like to apply McLube at the beginning of the season and before any major event. We took all the deck hardware off and had Guck, Inc spray the deck and then we set everything back down over this last winter. It turned out to be a good team-building project! Salsa and Ragtime, first and second at the Worlds, are wet sailed boats; don’t you think dry sailing is better? Jens: Salsa has been wet sailed most of her life until this last summer, where she would have been but I did not get my mooring back. I don’t think it matters, as long as you use hard bottom paint, keep the bottom clean and occasionally wet sanded. Having a smooth bottom is the most important aspect for sure; soft paint will not help performance. One problem that occurs is cracking down around the keel. We actually experienced this just before The Worlds but did not have time to fix it. Otherwise, having the boat in the water all the time makes it a lot easier to make sailing on Thursday nights when driving in from Bristol! What do you like about your North Sails and which style are you using? Jens: We use The Newport Main, Genoa and Kite! We find the sails to set up easily and are pretty much flat-out FAST! The Spinnaker is our favorite, it really seems to “sit well” and fly just superbly in light air. We have tested sails and we are happy we chose North Sails! North Sails seem to do very well at the regatta. What is on the horizon for you? Jens: I want to sail more with my son. I am thinking of getting involved in The J/22 Fleet over at Sail Newport, where he could skipper and I crew for him-that would be fun. Jens, can we use your “Prep List” from www.Hallspars.com for the readers? Jens: Absolutely! Here it is: Jens’ Prep List :
Jens, we here at North Sails would like to thank you for you’re time and again congratulations on winning The 2004 J/24 World Championships!
Report by Chuck Allen Anthony Kotoun and his Team aboard Bomba Charger, after missing the first six races of the summer, were simply untouchable throughout the remainder of sailing in Newport. He missed the first six weeks because he was busy putting the boat together that he had just purchased. Part of making the program successful was his choice in sails-he chose North's Newport Series, which were "fast out of the box"! Third place was Jens Hookenson and PJ Schaeffer aboard Salsa, you may recognize them-they just won The 2004 Worlds in Connecticut. They also use North's Newport Series Sails. Following close behind Salsa were Balance Point and Calculated Risk, sailed by Lorenzo Lucas/Tim Healy and Scott Ferguson respectively. Congratulations to all The Fleet 50 Members who sailed the seventeen week series and we look forward to 2005 under the reigns of our new Fleet Captain Bill Boatwright. For more information on North Sails for your J/24 please contact our J/24 Experts! To order our fast J/24 sails, click here.
Report by Chris Snow
The 2004 J/24 South Americans were held from October 29th through November 1st in Algarrobo, Chile. I had to opportunity to go down to Chile and sail in the regatta which was very well organized and run by the Club Yates de Algarrobo. Christain Noe from Argentina is the new sailing director at the club and did an excellent job of organizing the event from measurement through all the one the water activities. Johnny Macall, also from Argentina was the Race Committee chairman. Algarobbo is a small town located on the coast of Chile an hour and a half directly west of Santiago the capital of the country. During the week the town looks like it had a population of about 500, most of which are fisherman and on the week the population must increase by twenty fold as people escape to the coast from the city. Climate wise the area is very similar to the Northern California coast with cool evenings and relatively warm days. In fact my sense is that the whole area is like what the coast of California must have been like 40 plus years ago. High bluffs ascend straight up from the ocean and the rolling brown hills above are mostly undeveloped. The ocean is cold and with the land warming up every day the area has a great reliable seabreeze that can build to 20 plus knots in the afternoon. The racing was held further out to sea than normal in an attempt to take away some of the bias of the left side of the course. The prevailing breeze is a southerly and this being the Southern Hemisphere the tendency is for the breeze to turn left throughout the day and having the shoreline right there the problem is only compounded. Suffice it to say there is only one way to go in Algarobbo…LEFT! Most races the committee did a nice job of favoring the weather end of the starting line in an attempt to get the fleet spread out on the line. Even with that it very often paid to start near the pin as the left would pay by the time you reached the left corner. This placed a huge emphasis on good speed as any tack to the right would end up as a loss. Holding a lane was super important. If you could not hold a lane often the best strategy was to drop down and foot through the bad air of the boat to leeward of you. Did I say the left was favored? At the end of the regatta the winner was Dak van Appen on “Macaco” of Chile who sailed a consistent regatta to win the regatta by 11 points over Santiago Silveira of Uruguay. Santiago chartered a boat and had great speed with a couple of missteps in the lighter air that took him out of the winners spot. Third overall from Argentina was the 4th place finisher in the 2004 J/24 Worlds Alejo Rigoni. This team sailed very well and it is obvious that they have been sailing and practicing together quite a bit (something that always pays). Our boat was 4th overall and tied with local hero Tito Gonzalez. I sailed with Miguel Gonzalez, his two sons Tonio and Miguel (chico) and Willen Van Waay who came with me from San Diego to do cockpit. We had great speed and our boathandling got better and better throughout the event. Our regatta was shot in the foot by a misjudgement on my part to sail the first race where we had been black flagged. Tito was also flagged at the this start and we both thought we has a case to have the race thrown out. It was not be we both had to swallow the full penalty of a DND (do not discard) that happens when you continue to sail is a race where you have been over early with the black flag displayed. All the top ten in the regatta used North Sails. Dak, the winner, used the San Diego models as did Santiago in second. The Argentines in third used the Newport designs, our boat used the San Diego models. Here's the top 10: More details and full results can be found at www.cya.cl. Many thanks to the Chilean J/24 Class, Rodrigo Zuazola of North Sails Chile and the Staff and members of the Club for a great event and their hospitality. A great number of photos are available. Click here: Photos Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 For more information on North Sails for your J/24 please contact our J/24 Experts! To order our fast J/24 sails, click here.
Report by Chris Snow
The 2004 edition of the J/24 Worlds concluded Friday at Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT. 75 boats from 14 countries competed in the regatta which was sailed in Long Island Sound. Conditions for the regatta were mostly light air with one day of 15-18 knots. Nine races were sailed altogether with one throwout. North Sails had about 65% of the boats in the fleet. Jens Hookansen from Newport, RI won the regatta in a tie breaker over the sentimental favorite Jeff Johnstone (Rod Johnstone’s son). Both used North Sails One Design’s Newport models. The top ten and what sails they used are below:
The conditions for the regatta were quite difficult with lots of current and generally very light winds. It is testimony to the speed and user friendly design of North Sails that our clients performed so well in the face of such variable and demanding conditions. For more details, and the latest developments in the J/24 class please contact myself or Chuck Allen at North Sails OD Rhode Island. The regatta website is www.j24worlds.com. Many thanks to Brian Hayes and Skip Dieball for helping with customer service during this event. This marks the 6th year in a row that North Sails have won the J/24 Worlds!
Report by Chris Snow If there is a more beautiful place to race sailboats than Vancouver, B.C.., I don’t know where it is. Snow capped mountains in the distance, evergreens climbing the hills, a interesting downtown skyline as a backdrop. If you ever have the chance to visit Vancouver jump at it. It is truly an exceptional place. Vancouver was the site of the 2004 J/24 North Americans held June 17-20 out of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. 34 boats from the USA, Canada and Australia made the trek to race in this prestigious J/24 Championship. Sailors using North Sails One Design sail dominated the event finishing 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th. No other sailor had more than two boats in the top ten finishers. The racing was held in English Bay and the intent was to hold the sailing out at the mouth on English Bay to minimize the effects of a one sided course and to get away from the freighter mooring area located further in the Bay. Unfortunately for the race committee, the wind gods failed to cooperate and only one day of sailing, the first day, was eventually conducted outside. The first day had good breeze and even with a 2.5 knot flood current moving downcourse the RC was able to get in a good practice race and the first race of a planned nine race regatta. The second day dawned clear with a light westerly wind blowing in already at 9:00 AM things were looking good for a nice seabreeze to fill in and some good racing. Unfortunately the seabreeze had a very hard time stabilizing and never settled in to one direction for more than about 10 minutes. The race committee patiently waited for the breeze to settle down but it never did and late in the afternoon racing was abandoned for the day. With only one race in and half the sailing days gone, a decision was made to move the course in to the bay to take advantage of hopefully more consistent breezes. This made the sailing pretty interesting as now it was possible to sail close to shore and get relief from the current (the tides here go up and down about 15 feet). Also, the course had to be located amongst the freighter anchorage and dodging the freighters definitely had to be factored in to the pre-race strategy! Some tough calls had to be made whether to tack below a freighter and in more current or bear of and duck it, sailing through it’s lee to less current. Mind boggling to say the least. Six good races were held in the bay. The winners were generally those who got a good start and were able to keep going left off the line to the relief from the current. Generally any tack out to the right was a loser while at times bearing off and sailing through the lee of a boat in front of you paid. The ability to call the layline from a distance while factoring the current was helpful too. Despite the difficult conditions the Vancouver J/24 fleet put on a great show with support from the RVYC and also the West Vancouver Yacht Club. Again if you ever have the chance to visit this part of the world do it!
Top 10:
Boats powered by North finished 1, 2*, 3, 4*, 6,8,10 and 1st Amateur!! Report by Tim Healy
Stu Challoner and team Spoil Sport finished 3rd overall to claim top Amateur spot. We were lucky enough to win the regatta due to good boat speed and conservative tactics. Friday we had three races in a 5-10 knot southerly. With an outgoing tide in the afternoon, the current was pushing the fleet over the line at the start. The RC did a suburb job calling boats over and I believe we only had one general recall. We worked hard to sail to the left side of the course all day. Our rig was at 20-15 for the first and third race and 24- 21 for the second race. Our genoa lead was set so the distance from the spreader tip and the sail was the same as the distance between the shroud chain plates and the sail (even-even). This distance was 1-4 inches depending on wind speed and chop. Saturday was a bit lighter from the North East. The current was adverse on the start line, holding back the fleet. The wind became very light and spotty by the end of race six. The left side of the course was favored most of the day. The rig was set at 20-15 and the jib lead was set at even-even. After two days of racing, we completed six races in light to moderate conditions. At this point we had a 28 point lead on the 2nd place boat and could sail the last race very conservatively. Sunday was a little windier with a south easterly at 10-15 knots. We started late at the boat end and tacked on to port. As soon as our lane cleared we tacked back into the middle of the course and focused on sailing in clear lanes and max pressure. We rounded the weather mark in 5th and finished the race in the same position. Again left and middle left were favored on the course. We raced with the rig at 27-24 on Sunday with the leads at even–even. The genoa lead never moved all weekend. The halyard tension was used as the genoa sail shape adjustment. We sailed with the luff of the genoa just showing wrinkles in all conditions. We also found that sailing with a tight leach on the main and the boom on centerline was good in the marginal hiking conditions. It seamed to give the boat the needed power without making it too difficult to steer. For complete results, click
here. For more information or if you have any questions about the
regatta and my boat settings, please feel free to contact myself or
our J24
experts.
Lake Murray in Colombia, SC. Report by Chuck Allen Teams powered by North finished 1,2,3,4 at the J24
Easter Regatta held on Lake Murray in Colombia, SC. Complete results, click
here.
North Sails finish 1,2,3 at the 2004 J24 Midwinters! Report by Tim
Healy
Every year the usual insults of our latitude force a certain number of people to seek warmer climes. The character of these people is such that they may well tolerate the initial joys of winter, but they lack fortitude to endure the full measure. I include myself in this grouping. We PLE, people of lesser endurance, seek refuge from winter in unique ways each within our own means. So it came to be that this winter the best excuse I could invent was that it was somehow beneficial, possibly critical, to human civilization that I somehow attend the J/24 Midwinter Championship in Tampa Florida. The concept was delicately brought up during question period at the Moore family dinner table. It was diligently debated, and proper elections were held. The motion was unanimously passed with one minor amendment; my wife and children were to accompany me for moral support. The next issues were of equal practicality. I did not own a boat. I was without crew, my teammates had long since graduated from my fond tutelage. I had also grown weary of traveling by road. Nevertheless when human civilization is at stake one isn’t daunted by such details. A few phone calls were made. In very short order we were in possession of five “non-refundable” airline tickets, less a fair share of our household savings. One should always have a fall back position while engaged in such risky ventures. If the Midwinters didn’t work out at least we could be miserable together in Florida. The benefit of the “non-refundable” airline tickets was that it produced strong motivation to find shelter. A few more long distance phone calls and my adoring parents agreed to have us for a visit at their winter oasis, provided that they would have full authority to indulge the children. Travel and shelter being disposed of I turned my thoughts towards acquiring a worthy vessel. The annoyance of the thing was that even if I could convince some hapless soul into letting me borrow his or her pride and joy. I had no means by which to transport it, even had I the desire. However, I had a vague recollection of a long forgotten correspondence. It was about a friend of a friend purchasing an old boat somewhere on the Florida peninsula. I diverted all my energy into finding out who was the owner, and once discovered, convinced him that the preservation of society depended upon him, and him alone. His name is David Beatson, and being a kind, and gentle sort he agreed that the only sensible course of action was to let me drive his boat at the Midwinters. Later Dave would prove to be an invaluable mate, never once making a violent gesture as I heaped many a discouraging word upon him. During the month of January Dave put in many hours and great personal expense improving the nature of his boat, the name of which is “NO IT’s Not”. This unusual name was utterly lost on me until our arrival. The vessel was entirely white with the exception of two wide stripes around the perimeter, the color of which can be accurately conceived only by a loving parent, or, by someone intimately familiar with certain fluids produced by young children. That being settled the acquisition of crew was a simple matter. I had learned well the lesson of the British navy. It is better and more expedient to steal crew rather than train new ones. So I called my friend Rob Lambden. He called his brother Andrew, and together they swindled their good friend Rob Erglis. Arrangements were made and they arrived midnight the night before the grand event. We were the last boat to fulfill the measurement obligations. Eventually we cleared all the administrative hurdles and set off the morning of the first race in a bracing twenty-knot northeasterly breeze. We were heading for the starting line about three miles dead downwind. That gave us plenty of time to discuss which individual would be best at which crew position. Unfortunately, my competitive juices were beginning to churn. I was beginning to loose sight of our pleasant family vacation and beginning to transform into the ogre that all skippers eventually become. We doused the kite about twenty minutes before our first start, and turned upwind. I think we managed three practice tacks, none of which were successful. But, time was running short so we headed back to the committee boat. After a long delay a gun was fired and we were off to our first start. Since I was confident in our INability to tack well I had decided to start by the pin and sail out to the lay line. Sure enough the breeze shifted left. At the proper moment I closed my eyes and let the tiller slide to leeward. There was a tremendous commotion, but eventually we did end up on the opposite tack heading for the mark. It wasn’t pretty, but we were solidly in the lead. The rest of the course was uneventful except that on the second trip to the windward mark there was a sudden and general realization that we had neglected to record which course we were to sail. Slowing and asking for directions was debated, but I was altogether too embarrassed for such an obvious admission. Besides, there was no way to estimate the accuracy of what our competition was likely to share with us. The dilemma was that the finish mark was to windward of the windward mark. Were we to sail past the windward mark to the finish on this leg? Or, were we to sail around the windward mark for another lap? After long and quit thought I opted to leave the windward mark to port, but I tacked around the mark. Instead of bearing off toward the offset we continued upwind on starboard tack all eyes watching the boats behind us. After an anxious moment we noted that other boats were sailing past the mark as well. So we tacked over and received our one and only victory gun. There were two more races that first day. The events of these races were for us a similar story, a collection of haphazard mistakes mixed with a measure of skill. However, we did get incrementally better at our boat handling. Our finishes were 1, 3, 2! When we hit the dock we were incredulous, and prepared for some serious boasting. Our planned celebrations were premature, however. It seems that during the second start there were six general recalls, five of which were under a “Z” flag. Unfortunately, the mighty “No It’s Not” had been twice identified and twice penalized. That meant we were scored with a 40% penalty. I tried to shed as much blame as humanly possible, pointing out that the color of our boat was … unusual. But, in the end I think the crew mostly blamed me. After a few beers, on my tab, they mostly stopped the abuse, but every once in a while someone would start in again with a “if only we…” and then the tirade would start all over again. Only a fresh round of beer seemed to appease them. We woke up the next morning a little shaky, but excited. Unfortunately, the wind had blown itself out. We wouldn’t race again for two days. The good news was that we hadn’t been the only boat to be identified under the evil “Z” flag. It seems that most of the other well-sailed boats had similar difficulties. We were ahead by two points! Waiting for wind is a disgusting waste of time for all sailors, but it is somehow less distasteful when you are in the lead. Finally, a very pleasant sea breeze filled in on the last day. Three excellent races were held. The first two races we managed to keep in the top five. By the start of the last race all needed was a top ten finish to win the regatta. Of course that always means you are going to have a difficult race. And so it was. I won’t bore you with the details, but we managed a tenth, good enough to beat all forty-eight J/24’s, and secure a qualification slot for the J/24 World Championships in Connecticut. But, the greatest triumph of all was that for the first time in almost twenty years I didn’t have to pack up and then drive all night to get home. The awards dinner was exceptional, fantastic prizes, good food, free flowing beer, and a live band. I danced with my three year old until I couldn’t keep up.
2003 J/24 Reports and Articles, click here!
For more information on J/24 sails, contact the North J/24 experts.
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1. Anthony Kotoun
2. John Molicone 
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