J/22 2003 Regatta Reports

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• 2003 Worlds
• 2003 Rolex Women's Champs
• 2003 J/22 North Americans
• 2003 Dave Cool Icebreaker Regatta
• 2003 Annapolis NOOD
• 2003 Tred Avon Spring Fling Regatta
• 2003 Texas Circuit (regatta 1)
• ARTICLE: Thoughts on J/22 Tuning

See also: 2001-2002 Regatta Reports

2003 J/22 Worlds

J22 Worlds 2003, Trieste, Italy
October 13-19, 2003 58 competitors

Report courtesy 2003 World Champion John den Engelsman

In Italy sailing is an important sport, we noticed that during our preparation day when in Triest the Barcolana started, this is a race with 2000 competitors and all kind of one off boats participating esp alfa romeo who won. In Trieste 250000 people visit the city with full coverage on tv and newspapers aswell as the sailingmagazines. Whow what a diiference with our country Netherlands where it is difficult to get any attention atall.

With 58 competitors and some of the worlds top sailors like Bressani, Vascotto and Benussi competing in their homewaters and Kim christensen from Denmark (european champ 2001) Dave Hudson from south africa and a bunch of good dutch sailors it promised to be a good championship. Three times dutch champion John den Engelsman Ned176, but also Ad den Hollander Ned 18 and Nick Bol Ned 72 were amongst these challengers.

The championship started very bad while the Bora was blowing with over 35 knots in the gusts and therefor the racecommittee held everybody ashore for three days. Finally on day four we went sailing in average 24 knots and perfect surfing conditions in the bay of Muggia just three miles out of Trieste.

We started of with a 2nd and 3rd place and were leading after two races just one point more was Denmark Kim Christensen. Luckily for us some teams already sailed a bad race like Nick BOl and Gabrielle benussi from Italy. We knew that, sailing probably only three days, we had to be sharp from race one and so we did a good job. Our speed was perfect and average we pointed a bit higher. We sailed with North mainsail SC3, jib BF4 and spinaker NG5 from danmark, specially developed through last spring for choppy water more forgiving and easy to set up. Lars Jensen saildesigner did a good job. Also a lot of other dutch sailors were using the newest design nr 7,8 and 12 of the championship.

Day 5 started early with the first warningsignal scheduled at 10.00. Still the Bora was blowing continiously strong and all sailors prepared for a tiring three races. Again it showed we had perfect speed and used the windshifts very good, sailing nearly through the middle with the last approach on port tack really paid.Surfing conditions downwind were perfect with the J22 accelarating and sometimes jumping from wave to wave. A small steering error and you find yourself swimming in the Med, which many teams did . The J22 can handle
severe conditions perfecty and no serious damage was reported. For the top five it was fighting through the waves upwind and find themselves close at nearly all the marks, however John den Engelsman and his
team Sven machielsen on trim , Bram van Hooijdonk on the foredeck , always managed to sail top three spots and never let go of any competitor. Always putting pressure on the boat just in front and every leg gaining or
extending lead they were the overal leader also after five races. They didnot sail a disgard yet and could afford at least one bad race going into the final day. Day 6 started with lighter winds 3 beaufort, but before we
reached the startingarea all wind disappeared and boats were on tow . The wind didnot come back and at 15.30 hrs the race committee decide to sent us ashore . Ned 176 was the winner of this worlds with a very consistent serie and a three as disgard.

We sailed with our inners equal on outers in these heavy conditions both 44 on Loose scale model A. traveller 4 inches down the middle, backstay 75% on, and vang maximum. This gave us superior boatspeed on average and therefor oppurtunity to choose right lanes first and stay out of problems at congested markroundings.

1. NED 176 John den Engelsman
2. NED 72 Nick Bol
3 DEN 1370 Kim Christensen
4. ITA 45 Gabrielle Benussi
5 ITA 15 Lorenzo Bressani, Vasco Vascotto

For full results, nice pictures by stefano grasso and video, interviews go to www.j22.com click on san rocco

Porto san rocco did a great job organizing this event, and for sure we like coming back here in the future.

This past week in Annapolis, 67 boats sailed the 2003 Rolex in the widest range of conditions Chesapeake Bay could ever offer....from the flattest calm to the wildest breeze a J/22 can be raced in ( or should be raced in!). Sally Barkow, a top Yngling skipper on the US Sailing team, with crew Carrie Howe, Debbie Capozzi and Annie Lush won the event by 14 points in a highly contested series. Sally sailed our latest North sails. North sails finished 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,13,14,16,17,18 Paula Lewin from Bermuda was second, Carol Cronin, another top Yngling US Sailing team member was third and Mary Brigden-Snow (our own Chris Snow's wife!) was fourth. All used the NB1 main, the Big Foot jib and our Fr-1 Airx full radial spinnaker. Betsy Alison, number one on the Yngling US Sailing Team, sailed strong and won the first two races...however, 2 Black Flags knocked her out of contention and back to seventh overall. In fact, North sails helped win every race but one. North Sails was a gold sponsor of the event and our involvement was split three ways between NS One Design, NS Chesapeake and Marketing.... a real team effort! Thanks especially to Matt Beck, Jonathan Bartlett and Debbie Springer for their help during the regatta! With results of 1,2,3 at the North Americans this Summer and wins at the Great Lakes Champs, the Annapolis NOOD, the Mid Atlantics, Cleveland Race Week and two major circuit regattas in both Minnesota and Texas, the North J/22 program is as strong as ever.		2nd Place- Paula Lewin from Bermuda 3rd Place - Carol Cronin from Jamestown, RI 4th Place - Mary Brigden from San Diego, CA
For info on the North J/22 program please contact Greg Fisher at North Sails OD Midwest or Matt Beck at North Sails Chesapeake. Dan Nerney/Rolex Photo.

Report by Greg Fisher

The 2003 J/22 North Americans were hosted by the Youngstown YC near Buffalo, NY. 48 boats sailed in Lake Ontario which provided a little bit of everything wind wise for everyone....from a near drifter to a 20 mph blow in some good old Great Lakes lump.

But when it was all over, North Sails dominated the event with 1,2,3 overall!!

In addition, North Sails were on 6 of the top ten!!

Pete McChesney from Annapolis, with wife Margaret and Keith Murphy as crew, sailed a great regatta for the regatta win. Our team, comprised of myself with Jo Ann Jones, Jeff Eiber and my daughter Martha finished second. Kelson Elam from Dallas,Texas was third.

Larry MacDonald (North Sails Sri Lanka) was sixth in his first venture steering the J/22.
Skip Dieball from North One Design Midwest had a convincing bullet in the first race in light winds and was in the top five in the windiest race when he earned the award for the most spectacular wipeout. Skip steered the class secretary's boat from Cleveland, helping North remain well represented throughout the event.

All the top North boats sailed the NB-1 main, the Big Foot jib and the Fr-1 Full Radial spinnaker from AirX. After a 1,2,3,4 at the Annapolis NOOD North is looking strong for the upcoming Women's Rolex regatta this fall in Annapolis. In the 2001 Rolex North Sails were 1,2,3!

For any questions on the latest on North J/22 sails please contact Greg Fisher, or Matt Beck.

Report by Greg Fisher

We had a great Dave Cool Ice Breaker on Lake Minnetonka in Minneapolis this past weekend ( May 3,4) with 4 races on Sat and 2 on Sunday. We had building conditions on Saturday with winds 10-20, lots of changing gears, those who did not downshift for the holes at the top of the beats were left behind. Sunday was grey and cold with building winds 15 to 35 (after racing was done), lots of keels out of the water on the last run as the puffy breeze began to build.

With 23 boats on the line, North sails won every race and finished 1,2,5, 6,8 in the regatta.

For more information on our winning J/22 program, please contact the North J/22 Experts.

Report by Greg Fisher

What a weekend! We are psyched that North sails clearly dominated the 50 boat J/22 fleet ( the biggest fleet in the regatta) at the 2003 NOOD in Annapolis this past weekend. The conditions were fairly mixed with light to 15 mph breeze and some flat water but mostly lumpy.

North Sails were 1,2,3,4,6,7 overall!

Pete McChesney continued on his winning ways and "crushed", followed by Jim Hayes, Greg Fisher and Will Crump. In 6th was Margaret Podlich (the Top Woman) and then Kevin Doyle from Rochester was seventh.

We (and our customers) were very pleased with boatspeed! We are psyched for the NAs in Youngstown, NY this June...the deck is stacked.

Any questions please contact the North's J/22 experts!

Report by Greg Fisher

April 28, 2003 - This past weekend we sailed the Spring Fling in the J/22 in Oxford, MD about an hour and a half from Annapolis. We were hoping and anticipating a big turnout, but lousy weather Saturday sure put a "damper" on the turnout with only 16 boats. Still we had some good racing with some great depth.

North Sails won (Pete McChesney) with Scott Nixon in second. Brent Barbehenn was third with a North Main. My team with Jeff Eiber and Will Crump was fourth with an OCS...we felt good with our speed and woulda coulda if you deleted the early trigger pull. North customer Jim Hayes was 5th.

The best news? In the fleet of 16 boats 11.5 had North sails!!! We are especially pleased as 3 years ago we had 4 sets at the same regatta. With the NOOD coming up next weekend we are enthused about the potential. Promise of 40-50 boats and lots of our customers are fired up!

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