The Saltash Sailing Club in Plymouth was pleased to host the 19 boats that competed in this year’s J/24 Autumn Cup. A good increase from 11 boats last year in the growing UK J/24 fleet. The light and frequently changing wind made Saturday’s racing a challenge for the best of tacticians. The three windward-leeward races brought out the best in the competitors with each race having a different winner. Race 1 saw Steve Wassell’s JINERATION X slide past Dave Cooper’s JAWBREAKER on the last run to take the honors. Race 2 saw the wind back 20 degrees, and Dave Moore’s JIFI saw the shift ahead of the fleet to lead into the final leeward mark just for Stig in JELI to see the last shift and pip Dave to the line. Race 3 saw carnage on the start line as the wind shifts continued, with numerous boats doing penalty turns. While everybody sorted themselves out, two boats started the fight for victory. The lead changed hands between Quinton Hall’s JUJU and Steve Wassell’s JINERATION X, with JUJU getting the best of the last run to take Race 3. Race 4 saw the fleet beat to the windward mark and race up the River Tamar to Saltash. Around 12 boats arrived at the top mark within 30 seconds of each other making the run a competitive affair. Dave Cooper’s JAWBREAKER and Darren Stansbury’s new boat PAGET hotly contested the lead, and it was the tactics of JAWBREAKER that won the day. After a discard Day 1, the resulted ended with JAWBREAKER (6 points) leading over JINERATION X (8 points) followed by JELI (9 points) and PAGET (9 points). Day 2 saw two races set in the River Tamar on triangle courses in an increasing breeze. JAWBREAKER and PAGET contested Race 5, with PAGET taking the win from JAWBREAKER in a tight race. The final race saw some challenging conditions as the breeze increased and gusts of over 20 knots caused problems on the tight spinnaker leg. Nick McDonald’s CACOON managed the difficult conditions the best, followed shortly by Carmichael Mackie’s JIGGY, which kept up the tone of the weekend with each race seeing a different winner! The J/24 UKJCA thanks the Race Officers for their diligence in setting the courses in very difficult conditions. The Westerly prize was taken by Dave Moore’s JIFI (the oldest boat in the fleet). In the final analysis, consistency was the key to success and after taking out the discard, PAGET prevailed to take the J/24 Autumn Cup from JAWBREAKER and JINERATION X. Special mention of Parkstone Youth Team who had a great first regatta sailing together. Thanks to David Cooper and the Plymouth team for helping them get on the water with the loan of NITRO. Thanks go to Steve Wassell of JINERATION X for this report. For more UK J/24 Class sailing information, visit http://www.j24class.org.uk/.
International Class Association
