The final day of Race Week 2008 sees Trevor Boyce and his crew on New Wave take first place and win the Gripper Trophy in convincing fashion.

Friday saw an early start to racing as only the J24s were out on course Bravo. Many of the crews were still licking their wounds after Thursday’s mayhem, so it was nice to see the breeze stiff but not unmanageable.

Principal Race Officer Jay Hooper decided to make the first race a challenge of endurance - course 3 with a windward finish. On Solaise we had a great start and managed to squeeze out in front of New Wave - forcing them to tack away. We trucked upwind - but New Wave got ahead and tacked on us several times, which did not help our speed. In the process Shogun moved ahead of us, which was the last thing we needed as they were the boat closest to us in the overall standings. The next tow legs saw Trevor Boyce consolidate his lead, with Shogun going well. Pete Backeberg on Siren sailed a great third upwind on the right to sneak ahead of us - putting us in fourth, with SpoRHADiC breathing down our necks. The final upwind was a tense affair, with New Wave crossing first, Shogun second, Siren third and Solaise just pipping SpoRHADiC on a finish line which was contracting as the Committee boat swung around in the breeze.

After the first race New Wave went home, having already sealed victory, leaving 11 boats to fight it out in the final race. Jay Hooper eased up and set a course 2, and off we went to a mark up by Grey’s bridge. On Solaise we went left, and managed to pinch out Bruce Stone before tacking back on port layline to lift up to the mark. Shogun was inside us, and Gord Fleming was on the helm and had the boat trucking again. We rounded just ahead of them, and behind them SpoRHADiC were again going strong. Siren seemed to be languishing but gybed early to get a jump on some of the other boats. The next upwind was another tense affair as we covered the fleet, and the downwind saw us just keeping ahead of a flying Shogun. Bruce Stone finished third and Siren fourth.

So Trevor Boyce and New Wave win the Gripper Trophy convincingly. Siren round out a fantastic week with second, and Bruce Stone and crew pip Sue Wallace for a podium finish.

The J24 Class went on to enjoy a pleasant evening at Fourways for the prizegiving dinner, and we look forward to seeing old friends and new again next year.

• Final Results (PDF)
• Photos from the Prizegiving Dinner

Two words can sum up Thursday’s racing in the Great Sound - “Wind” and “Carnage“. Heavy breeze with big gusts caused havoc in the fleet, but New Wave rode out the storm to consolidate their lead with a second and two firsts.

We made our way out to the Great Sound knowing that it was going to be a windy day. There were no genoas in appearance and our anemometer was showing an average wind speed of 20 knots. That did not seem too bad, but that reading did not factor in the increase, or the gusts.

The first race went off OK. SpoRHADiC had Alan Powell on board today, and his presence immediately seemed to have an impact on Bruce Stone and crew. The first upwind saw the blue RHADC boat (one Alan is very familiar with) leading the way, with New Wave following behind. Doug Inglis and crew on Sadiiqi were also going well, but had not heard the RC call them over early, so were racing in vain. On Solaise we started out well, but all the boats were really struggling to stay flat as the breeze came down the channel. Shogun picked up some speed and were flying. The finish saw SpoRHADic take the bullet, with New Wave second and Shogun third.

Race two saw things start to get really shaken up. The breeze intensified, and the upwinds were getting very lumpy. The first downwind saw a number of boats knocked flat, and it began to become survival sailing. Jezebel and Catlin saw their twing cleats pop under pressure, on Solaise we had a jib car break, the pole line snap and the spinnaker tear, making gybing even more difficult than it was already. Crews were hanging on dear life in the white knuckle ride down to the mark - with gusts of 30 knots making the keels hum. On Catlin two crew went in the water, but were fortunately pulled back on board, albeit bruised and battered. New Wave emerged out of the melee in pole position, with Dale Robertson and Shogun in second and SpoRHADiC in third.

Race three was not quite as windy as the previous race, but crews were getting tired now. New Wave again took the bullet, with Sadiiqi grabbing second and Bruce Stone on SpoRHADiC finishing just behind Siren to round off a great day - it must be all that sailing in San Francisco Bay.

That evening we went on a little cruise around Hamilton Harbour and the Great Sound. Many crew members were nursing their wounds, but a pleasant night was had by all. So Trevor Boyce now does not even have to sail on Friday and he will still win the regatta.

• Photos from the Sunset Boat Trip

Trevor Boyce and the crew of New Wave are soundly beaten by the overseas teams on day three of IRW 2008 - but only in the Cocktail Challenge at the J24 Dock party - on the water they reign supreme.

The breeze looked a little light as we reached the dock, but the forecast promised that it would increase by about midday. So we headed out to the Great Sound to see where the RC would be today. We found them beyond Pearl Island, with the line set almost parallel to Alpha course.

Race one was a two lap affair. We thought the right looked to be favoured, so we made sure our start line position set us up for that. We were rewarded with a great upwind and managed to round the mark just ahead of New Wave. But Trevor Boyce knows a thing or two about downwind racing and had passed us before the mark rounding. That left us battling with the other two Bermuda boats, Siren and Jezebel. We managed to hold them off to make it a Bermuda sweep of the top 4 positions.

Race two was a 3 lapper after the course had been moved. We had another great start but got pinned on the left when we wanted to go right.New Wave went right and did well, and Siren and SpoRHADiC were trucking upwind. The long course saw a number of position changes, and Catlin V were not doing as well as they had been on previous days. New Wave again showed their dominance with a clear bullet, and Doug Inglis’ crew on Sadiiqi grabbed second ahead of Siren. We were racing with SpoRHADiC but they sneaked ahead at the finish to take a well-deserved fourth. Catlin finished just behind us in sixth.

We had time for a sandwich before race three of the day. Another 3 lap course, but this time with a windward finish. Bots split left and right at the start, and Siren, on a flyer, were first around the top mark by a long shot. New Wave were in second, followed by a group of six boats in close contention. Sadiiqi decided to match race with SpoRHADiC on the downwind, letting us sneak into position, and Shogun and Catlin were flying. The upwind finish made all the difference to the results. At the mark rounding Siren were just ahead of new wave, but not seeing a laser meant a big duck at the finish, allowing New Wave in for their third bullet of the day. Siren were over second, with Catlin and Shogun over the line third and fourth. Jezebel, who had had a good race, were next over. Behind them, we were fighting with Sadiiqi and SpoRHADiC - Sadiiqi were leading but took the knock tack, and SpoRHADiC had to crash tack to avoid a laser sailor. That was all we needed to grab sixth.

Back at the dock it was time for the now (in)famous J24 Dock Party. Yours truly was able to sample all of the cocktails and can report that, in my opinion, New Wave’s was by far the worst beverage, with the best tasting a toss-up between the Gripper Ripper and the Bloody Caesar with Seaweed. Our official drinks jury will announce the official taste results at the Friday Night Prizegiving party. It is a good thing that Wednesday was the lay day. Some of the photos from the Dock Party are shown below. For more go to the Dock Party Flickr set. Photo of New Wave in action on the water is courtesy of Pete Ramsdale.

• Results (PDF)
• Photos from Dock party

On a shifty day, Trevor Boyce consolidates his lead but the Bermuda boats lose their grip on all three top spots as Sue Wallace (pictured with Class Captain John Nicholls) and her crew on Catlin V sneak into second place ahead of local boats Jezebel and Siren.

It was a beautiful day for sailing, but not necessarily a beautiful day for racing. The forecast had the wind at 6-8 decreasing, and we hoped to be away from the Spanish Point shoreline today. The RC was parked down past Pearl Island, with a course running up to Boaz Island. We did some test runs up and down the course, and it seemed that  the left side was favoured.

The first race of the day and race three of the regatta was a 2 lap affair. We headed left but a big shift saw the boats on the right making great gains. Jezebel was out in front, with New Wave and Siren not far behind. Catlin V was going well, as was Dale Robertson on Shogun. Jezebel had t least 5 lengths lead at the first mark, but by the bottom of the downwind they had been overhauled by New Wave by at least double that. We were struggling at the back after that initial beat, and decided that the right was the preferred side on the next upwind. So it was, and new Wave consolidated their position ahead of Jezebel and Siren to finish in that order. Catlin V grabbed fourth ahead of Shogun, with Danielle Gallo rounding out the top six.

Race two of the day saw a switch up as the wind shifted and the left started to pay off again. Sadiiqi and SpoRHADiC both made out well and were out in front, with Catlin V and Siren close behind. New Wave at this point was languishing in fifth, but was fighting hard to get back into the top three. At the back on Solaise we were going better, but became tangled with Jezebel and had to do turns, then lost three positions going wide at the mark. Sadiiqi stayed out in front, but a fighting New Wave grabbed second ahead of Bruce Stone, who seemed to have got the boat going well. Catlin V was still in the running with a fourth.

After some more shifts and a course change race three of the day got underway with a big right shift 30 seconds before the start. It became a bit of a lottery as boats on the same tack separated on thirty degree angles, and at one point our windexjust started spinning. The breeze dropped in and out, and New Wave made the most of the conditions to get into the lead and stay there. Sadiiqi were doing well in the light winds, as was the crew on Catlin. There were boats at all corners of the racecourse trying to find consistent breeze. On the second upwind Gripper managed to get a great shift way out left, and trucked in on port layline at twice the speed of the rest of the fleet except New Wave, who had extended their lead to a country mile. So Gripper rounded in second with Catlin V and Sadiiqi next around. That was how it finished.

Trevor Boyce now leads the regatta with 6 points - ahead of Catlin in second spot with 19 , then two Bermuda boats Jezebel and Siren tied on 21.

• RBYC Results from Day 2 (PDF)

Trevor Boyce on New Wave leads the way after a perfect start to the regatta.

The Bermuda boats in the J24 fleet had a great day, finishing in the top three spots after the first two races. New Wave led the way, but Jezebel had fantastic speed and were the standout local boat.

At the skippers meet we were told that the RC would probably set up off Pearl Island and race down to Lefroy House, so imagine our surprise when we ventured out into a choppy Great Sound and saw a mark just outside Two Rock and the committee boat down close to Spanish Point looking at the course. There seemed to be mixed opinions as to whether it was jib or genoa weather. Our wind guage was showing 14 knots, so we went with the genoa, but not after tossing our winch handle overboard.

The first race - a 2 lap affair - saw the boats which went right to hug the shoreline doing best - Jezebel and New Wave (who were forced that way after a less than stellar start) immediately made great gains on the lefties. There was a lot of chop out on the left which made it heavy going. At the first mark Jezebel were leading ahead of New Wave, with Catlin V going well. Behind the front three Sadiiqi was trucking. We were languishing after getting pinned out on the wrong side. There was some contact at the top mark between two boats, but it was more of a “love tap” than anything else. Jamie Storey on Sliding Bye managed to put a tear in his jib which was less than optimal. The first downwind saw some boats struggling with gybes in the waves, and we also had to avoid those pesky lasers.

On the second upwind we went right and made up some ground. Jezebel, leading all the way, rounded the final mark in the lead, but an error on the gybe was costly and let a dogged New Wave in. Sue Wallace’s boat grabbed third and Doug Inglis had a great fourth.

There was then a delay as a laser rescue mission took place. We switched from genoa to blade and the RC moved the course slightly to the left. Race two was a 3 lapper. A bad start forced us to the preferred right sid, and we looked up to see the other 3 Bermuda boats, Jezebel, New Wave and Siren as the first boats around the mark. Jezebel were still super fast on the upwinds, but New Wave was better downwind. Behind the front three we were in a close battle with Catlin V, Shogun and SpoRHADiC. Dale Robertson had the boat going well, and Bruce Stone seemed to have got the hang of his boat and was higher and faster through the waves than us. Then, at the top mark, we all came together. We had to duck Catlin V, and then spin in a quick tack in front of SpoRHADiC. In the process we caused Shogun to slow up, and we ended up on the mark and having to do turns. That put Bruce Stone in fourth, with Catlin V behind them, and then us and Shogun duking it out, with Sadiiqi also in the mix.

Up front New Wave again edged ahead of Jezebel at the finish, with Siren completing the Bermuda 1-2-3. A fast-finishing SpoRHADiC was fourth.

The fleet had a debrief at the dock with several beverages, before heading off to Trevor Boyce’s house for the J24 Welcome Party.

• RBYC Race Results (PDF)
• Photos from the Social Events

Photos from the RBYC Wecoming Cocktail Party at the Bacardi Global Headquarters have now been posted to the Bermuda J24 Class Flickr site for IRW 2008. A selection are shown below.

For the full set visit the Flickr site. Prints can be purchased from my Imagekind site.

Bermuda International Invitational Race Week 2008 is almost upon us. Daily reports and news from the regatta will be posted here. Full details of the schedule for the week can be found here.

This will be the 81st Anniversary of Bermuda International Invitational Race Week, and is sponsored by Bermuda Premium Spirits Ltd., local distributors of BACARDI rum. In a change to previous years, racing will take place on Race Course Bravo, with Jay Hooper presiding over the Race Committee for that course.

Eight overseas crews from places as far afield as San Francisco and Halifax will be competing against four local boats for the Gripper Trophy. Stuart Jardine, last years victor, will not be here to defend his title.

If you are interested in attending any of the social events please contact one of the class officers.