J/22: 2002/2001News

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• 2002 J/22 East Coast Championship
• J/22 Clinic held at the 2002 Newport Regatta
• 2002 NOOD Annapolis - Another North Sails domination!
• 2002 J/22 Midwinter Championships- another North Success! 1,2 overall!
• SDYC sends team to Women's Rolex
• North1,2,3 at the 2001 Rolex Women's Championships!
• 2001 North Americans - North 1st!
• North J/22 Sails Win the 2001 Worlds!
• J/22 Clinic in Philadelphia by Greg Fisher
• 2001 Tred Avon Regatta - North 1st!
• 2001 J/22 Midwinters - Report by Greg Fisher

Sep 15, 2002 - This past weekend 52 boats sailed the J/22 East Coasts in Annnapolis. We were fortunate to sail in some of the best conditions Annapolis has offered all summer...with consistent breeze of 10-18mph and some very serious lump. This was a great tuneup for the Worlds in two weeks and 4 boats took advantage of the similar conditions to what we'll sail in Corpus Christi.

We are pleased that it was yet another J/22 victory in the strong list for North Sails this season.
Our team of Jo Ann Jones, Keven Eiber and Jeff Eiber was fortunate enough to post scores of 3,1,1,2,3,1 for the overall win. We threw out an 11 where we were ocs and restarted.
Ray Wulf of Annapolis was second, 2 points back, and Nancy Haberland (4th in the Rolex) was third. Pete McChesney was fourth.

For more information on ou winning J/22 program, contact the J/22 experts!

The 2002 J/22 Midwinter Championship was sailed in New Orleans at Southern Yacht Club this past Thursday through Sunday. Although participation was down a bit from the past two years, the level of competition was at an all time high. In the 57 boat fleet there were Four North American Champions, two World Champions and two Mallory Cup Champions. Also in contrast from years past was the weather...it was quite light and challenging shift wise. There were 7 different race winners. Up and down puts in mildly...consider that after the first day we were lucky enough to be winning with a 9,1,17!...but we took care of that in short order over the next two days!

Big congrats go to Benz Faget (photo) from our own North Sails New Orleans who won the event! He and his team -- David Zahn-cockpit, Rob Rogers- bow, Willam Lamar- mid boat,
truly showed who was boss with a 1,3,7,2 in the last four races.The next closest score was 13 points back in the same series. Nice job Benz!

In second was Dwight LeBlanc (photo) also from New Orleans. Dwight was the regatta co-chair, sailed with his brother and Dad as crew, and was a very popular runner-up. We were also proud that this family chose North as their sailmaker...and in fact they took delivery of their new sails the day before the regatta started! They were three points behind Benz's team and four points ahead of Rob Johnston, last year's winner, 2000 NA Champion and present Class President.

We were pleased that the top woman, Melinda Berge from Annapolis (who as a result qualified for the ISAF Women's World Championship) is also a loyal North customer. The runner-up woman, Chris Zillman, also sailed Norths. The top master, Danny Sullivan chose North's too!

North Sails is definitely dominating the 22 class! With 1,2 in the 2002 Midwinters, 2 in the 2001 Midwinters, 1 in the 2001 North Americans, 1,2,3 in the 2001 Rolex and 1,2,3,4 in the 2001Worlds, we've got a lot to be proud of!

Any questions about the J/22 please feel free to contact the North J/22 experts!

SDYC Sends Team to Women's Rolex

The 2001 Rolex Women's International Keelboat Championship, held in Annapolis, MD September 23-28, attracted a stellar list of top women's sailors including campaigning Olympic hopefuls, Internationally ranked match racers, Olympic medallist's and 7 Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year. SDYC fielded a team comprised mostly of last year's winning Adam's Cup crew to compete in the tough field of 61 boats, representing 5 countries.

After a series of practice days on SD bay in Etchells and J24s, team members Jerelyn Biehl, Stacey Szabo, Julie Mitchell & skipper Mary Brigden Snow headed back east to learn how to sail the J-22, a new boat for the Rolex and virtually unseen on the West coast waters. Arriving 2 days early, the team prepped, rigged & practiced in a great charter boat, but in extremely light air. As luck would have it, the first day of competition brought heavy air of 15-20+ knots and 3-4 foot Chesapeake chop! A little daunting at first, the team pulled together and managed 3 races in the teens. Fine-tuning the rig got better as the week went on with Team San Diego leading the fleet in race 7 only to have a shift put the top 2 boats back a few places. But as the week progressed Team San Diego had single digit finishes…if only the regatta could start after our "week of practice!" The final day we posted a 3rd, moving us from 10th to 8th overall to finish on a great note.

As mentioned earlier, the competition at the top of the fleet was stacked with talent. But the story of the Rolex is all the other teams and the 244 women sailors! Team "Hot Flash" was comprised of a crew all over 50 coached by former US Olympic coach Gordy Bowers. 2 other teams were high school or just-out-of-college sailors. The majority of the fleet were competitive fleet racers looking for a chance to learn, compete and have fun at a incredibly exciting and well run regatta.

Sponsors Rolex, Condé Nast and a cast of thousands threw crab feasts, an estate dinner and a standing room only upscale trophy dinner to round out the week. Team San Diego was the top West Coast team of 6 represented and pleased with the finish.
Team members want to thank the SDYC Competition Syndicate Fund, Sail California, North Sails and our husbands & kids for the support to let us go sailing!

Team San Diego
Mary Brigden Snow, Jerelyn Biehl, Stacey Szabo & Julie Mitchell

Top 10 (of 61)
1. Cory Sertl Rochester, NY
2. Carol Cronin, Rhode Island
3. Paula Lewin, Bermuda
4. Nancy Haberland Annapolis, MD
5. Margaret Podlich Annapolis, MD
6. Jody Swanson Buffalo, NY
7. Courtenay Becker Dey, Rhode Island
8. Team San Diego, San Diego
9. Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara, CA
10. Patricia Connerney, Rhode Island

Report by Greg Fisher

 

The 2001 Rolex Internationals Women's Keelboat Championship was held September 23rd- 28th in Annapolis, Md. in J/22's. 61 boats made it one of the largest Rolex championships to date. The competition was some of the deepest ever in Women's racing....and all the various conditions from a near drifter to a 22mph blow in 5 ft seas thrown at the sailors. North Sails could not be more proud with the outcome. Not only did our sails truly dominate with overall finishes of 1,2,3 but they also were sailed by 7 of the top 11, 13 of the top 20.... Congratulations to Cory Sertl and her team of Dina Kowalyshn, Pease Glaser and Susan Taylor. It was fun and rewarding to watch their consistent starts, tactics and speed all the way across the regatta in all conditions... a well deserved win leaving them without the necessity of sailing the last race! Carol Cronin with Liz Filter ( our Snipe rep's wife), Linda Epstein and Kate Fears were second with a superb win in the final race. Paula Lewin, a top match racer from Bermuda was third. Other notables in the top were Courteney Becker Dey in 7th, Mary Brigden Snow ( Chris's wife) sailed faster and faster as the regatta progressed was 8th, Pat Connerney, last Rolex winner, was 10th. Melinda Berge, J/22 stalwart from Annapolis was 11th and won the fifth race. We are very proud of all those competitors who selected North. Thanks! All of the top group listed used our newer NB-1 mainsail, the Big Foot jib and our newer FR-1 Full Radial spinnaker. It was interesting the most consistent guide that all the top boats used to tune and set up was that the leeward upper, in all conditions, should just barely go slack. The lowers are simply set so as to maintain a straight mast laterally. No matter the breeze it was a whole lot simpler to set up...even without the help of a tension gauge. Check out our latest tuning guide for the latest thoughts in tuning.... With wins at the Rolex, the NAS, the Worlds and second at the Midwinters, North is back in saddle as we say here in Ohio...   All three boats used North sails and the best quote came from Cronin who said "We had speed to burn all week" when asked about her sails. For more quotes from the teams click here!   Congratulations!!!

Report by Greg Fisher

August 22, 2001 - This past week we sailed the J/22 North Americans in Rochester. Although the turnout was a little lower than anticipated (around 50 boats) the depth was certainly there as were all the "players".

We sailed in nearly every condition...but in fairly shifty offshore breeze. I was extremely fortunate to sail with Moose McClintock and Larry MacDonald. Suffice it to say that Larry hadn't done a great deal of work on many boats forward of the traveller...but he did a super job. Suffice it to say, that Moose did a spectacular job on the boat, off the boat and keeping us focused. We were fortunate to win the event, even with including a Zflag penality in the last race.

Larry and Moose never missed a shift ( at least that they told me!) and we actually won 3 of the seven races. I learned a lot from these guys so for me, it was a truly great experience.

Top 10:
1) Greg Fisher - North Sails (NB-1 Main, Big Foot Jib, FR-1 Spinnaker)
2) Rob Johnston
3) Terry Flynn
4) Pete McChesney North Sails
5) Chris Doyle
6) Jody Swanson
7) Cory Sertl - North Sails
8) Scott Nixon
9) Mike Ingham - North Sails
10) Kevin Doyle - North Sails*

For more information on our J/22 sails contact the North J/22 experts!

Report by Rick Nankin

Just a short report on how North did at the J22 Worlds that finished today. They sailed 9 races, all won by boats with new North sails. Overall North were 1,2,3,4*,5 (* partial). I just spoke to Mark Sadler who is a sailmaker with us here in CT and has come second (6th last year first time out in a J22). Mark says the vibe was very much that the North sails were fast and high.

North can be proud of the results and we believe there has been quite a bit achieved in rating the various sails we offer against each other.

For more information on North J/22 sails contact the J/22 experts!

Report by Greg Fisher

We sailed a 20 boat J/22 regatta at Tred Avon on Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore this past weekend. A beautifull 2 days with great breeze( near 20 Mph on Sat and 10 on Sunday) and sunny...

We ( myself, Brian Hayes and Jo Ann Jones) were fortunate enough to win. Actually it was one of the best ones we've had in while. Brian did a tremendous job putting us in the right place tactically and it seemed we had exceptional speed as well both upwind and down. We had finishes of 1,1,4,1,1. Nixon was second with a 4,2,1,6,3 and Pete was third with 3,4,2,8,4.

We sailed the new NB1 main, the Big Foot jib and the new Fr-1 spinnaker out of AirX 650. They were beautiful and obviously plenty quick. Another sailor, Scott Batchelor from Hampton, VA, got the same brand new sails for the event and he, too was very pleased. Nice job to John and the gang! We had switched to stiffer battens this winter and the main sets up exceptionly well, even in the breeze.

Please contact myself, Chris Larson or Brian Hayes with any questions.

Report by Greg Fisher

I just returned late last night from the J/22 Midwinters in New Orleans. We had 62 boats registered and pretty much a wide range of conditions...some the wildest I've sailed in.
Rob Johnston from Dallas, the present NA Champ, won the event over North customer Lars Hansen of Minneapolis by 9 points. Lars had our new FR-1 spinnaker and the older SC-2 main and Big Foot jib. However we spent 3 days with Lars and his team tuning up before the event and he is anxious to give the new NB1 main a try.

North finished 2,5,7,10,11,14,15. We had more in the top 15 than any other sailmaker!

Condition-wise, it was varied to say the least. On Friday it blew hard...hardest I've ever raced a sailboat in. Somehow the RC didn't get the rule that max wind to start these things in was 25. The second race was started in a sold 28-30 with true gusts ( on the committee boat) to 42! Only 31 boats crossed the finish line that race. Many broken boats, spars, and people.

Scott Nixon with Moose McClintock and Tucker Thompson plowed a wave so hard that Scott flew from the back of the boat to the mast and broke his wrist. They planted their pole so hard they collapsed their spreader and had to finish under jib alone. They left the regatta for home Saturday.

We were hit by a blast once so stiff that with both sails in full luffs we slide sideways for 25 seconds. Not a bad day for North sails though. Yandell Rodgers won a race and Lars Hansen had 2 thirds. We had a 5 and 7. The sails held up well with nothing blowing off...they weren't too pretty when we were done but nice job to Admiral Beamer and the production team for once agin passing the supreme test!

By the end of the regatta the breeze was near zero and again our sails did fine. Lars won the last drifter race and Benz had a 2nd and crossed the finish line first but was nailed with z flag in the medium stuff ( 18-20 mph!) on Saturday. The sails are truly moving the boats well. We personally had a mediocre showing with 720's and Z Flag penalties. Not really clicking on all 8 cylinders and we limped in for an 11th.

Photo: Lars in the breeze on Friday rounding the weathermark...interestingly enough thats our group, with our mast vertical, in the background!

Photo by Yacht Shots/Sue Bodycomb.

Photo Gallery

For more information on J/22 sails, contact the North J/22 experts.