Today the Bermuda J24 Class Association donated an Optimist Dingy to the Bermuda Optimist Dingy Association (BODA) as part of its ongoing commitment to the development of junior sailing.

The donation was made at the Royal Hamilton Dingy Club. Present were the Captains from the J24 Class (John Nicholls), the Bermuda Optimist Dingy Association (Ron Stan), and immediate past captain of the J24 class (Neil Redburn). Also present was Rob Loxton, CEO of the CCS Group, sponsor of the J24 class National Championships. The donation of the Optimist was possible principally through the CCS Group’s generous sponsorship.

Pictured left to right are Rob Loxton, CEO of the CCS Group, Ronald Stan, captain of the Bermuda Optimist Dingy Association, Neil Redburn, past captain of the Bermuda J24 Class Association, and John Nicholls, class captain of the Bermuda J24 Class Association.

For more pictures visit the Bermuda J24 Class Flickr site.

The J/24 National Championships, sponsored by the CCS Group, served up a tough but spectacular day of close racing in the Great Sound, with the final result going down to the wire and only being decided in the final race.

Some people like to undress in public; others tend to avoid it at all costs. The big event in the preparation for the J24 National Championships is generally the weigh-in on the Friday night before racing, often involving crews stripping down to their underwear in order to come in under the 400kg limit. This year most of the crews successfully managed to make the weight without disrobing, and only one crew had to have a secondary weigh-on race day.

Race day saw sunlight peeking through some ominous cloud skies, with what seemed to be little breeze in Hamilton Harbour. The 11 J24s made their way out to the Great Sound to find some more breeze and the Easterly 12-18 knot wind causing a great deal of chop. The Race Committee (RC) boat Monkeyshines had anchored and was setting out the course, and the Sailing Instructions showed that we were to expect that to be varied as the day went on. We were not to be disappointed.

Race 1 was a 2 lap affair, with the short start line causing some early consternation, with several boats having to tack to get some clear air. Centipede got off to a great start, and led the charge on the first upwind up the left hand side of the course. They made it to the windward mark in first place, only to hit it. The downwind saw Erin and New Wave closing in, and Sadiiqi making up a great deal of ground after a poor start. The next upwind and downwind saw Sadiiqi playing the shifts better than the rest to eke out a win.

Race 2 saw a traffic jam on the start line. Several boats made a break and the fleet split into left-hand and right-hand groups, which converged at the first mark. Some of the fleet had switched to blade jibs as the breeze increased. At the end, Erin, Sadiiqi and New Wave came out in front.

Race 3 saw a switch in course with and upwind finish. Several boats stalled on the start line, and several more missed the “W” marker on the committee boat before the start, meaning that they failed to prepare for another upwind leg on the final downwind. Solaise, who were sailing well and had been in pole position coming down to the final mark ahead of New Wave, had an equipment malfunction and gave up 7 positions attempting to recover. This gave Sadiiqi their second win of the day after making great inroads at mark roundings.

Race 4 was a 3 lap affair. Many crews were already bruised and battered with the strong breeze, continuous tacking in the shifts and the close-quarters sailing. Some boats had changed up to genoa in what seemed to be a lessening breeze, only to find that it picked up again as the race went on. Cyclone had a great start at the pin and were in the reckoning early on. Solaise and New Wave were duking it out at the front, and pulled away slightly from the rest of the fleet. In one of the best moves of the day, Trevor Boyce on New Wave held out Simon Boden on Solaise at the final upwind mark to make it around the mark in first, only to have issues hoisting the spinnaker and let Solaise past. The final downwind saw Jezebel take a right hand shift all the way to the finish to get a third place.

Race 5 – the final race of the day – saw another upwind finish. It was nail-biting stuff at this stage, with Sadiiqi and New Wave separated by one point. New Wave needed to finish two boats ahead of Sadiiqi to win the day. Sadiiqi made it their task to cover New Wave, but some over-anxious luffing manoeuvres saw them broach and let New Wave and another two boats pass ahead. At this stage, Solaise were having another flyer and looked to be heading for their second bullet of the day. Fortunately for Sadiiqi, the addition of the upwind leg to finish gave them a chance to recover, and on the final leg they clawed back into the race behind Solaise, New Wave and Jezebel, and then crossed Jezebel close to the finish to get third for the race.

This meant that the Sadiiqi crew of Shelagh Tasker, Becky Davies, Colleen Forestell, Walter Smith and Pete Ramsdale win the J24 Nationals for 2005, with New Wave finishing second overall with Solaise taking an admirable third. The trophy was presented by Rob Loxton, CEO of the CCS Group, at the prize giving ceremony at the RHADC.

Pete Ramsdale, the winning skipper, announced that the Bermuda J24 Class Association would be using a financial contribution from the CCS Group to purchase an Optimist Dinghy for the Mid Atlantic Sailing Association, in a move to further assist junior sailing in Bermuda.

The Bermuda J/24 Class is pleased to announce that the CCS Group is to be the title sponsor of the Bermuda J/24 National Championship for 2005. The CCS Group Limited is a rapidly growing Information Technology and Communications company providing a variety of business solutions from best-of-breed solutions providers.

CCS provides Information Technology and Communications solutions in the following areas:

* Networking,

* Internetworking,

* Software Development,

* Telephony and IP telephony,

* Infrastructure Cabling.

CCS Group is a Microsoft Certified Partner, a Cisco Premier Partner and an Avaya Communications Business Partner. Many thanks to CCS for their generous support of this significant event for Bermuda’s most active racing fleet.

Triangle Rigging a locally owned and operated rigging company will sponsor Cameron Appleton and his crew for the 2003 Gold Cup event starting 20 October. Triangle Rigging has great hopes for Cameron and crew as they enter into the unseeded part of Gold Cup, with hopes of making it to the top eight to challenge the seeded skippers.

Appleton is a talented young sailor who was the backup helmsman for Team New Zealand’s leader and skipper Dean Barker. A spar-maker by trade, he was the 1996 and 1997 Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth champion. Appleton has raced internationally, winning Division E of the Kenwood Cup in 1998 and finishing second in the Antibes Cup in France and the Polaris Cup.

Triangle Rigging has close ties with the King Edward VII Gold Cup, as they provide the on the water repairs to the IOD class yachts and have also been hard at work preparing the IOD class yachts for Gold Cup. Triangle Rigging has also supplied the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club with new sails for this years event. The sail were designed specifically for the rigors of match racing and made by NORTH SAILS which Triangle Rigging is the local agent for.

Swedish Match Tour Results:
2002 ? 6th at Match Race Germany
2001- 3rd at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup
2000- 2nd at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, 5th at the Danish Open;

America’s Cup Affiliation:
None at present

Accomplishments:
2003 ? 4th Etchell World Championships
2000-Winner at the Gotland Round Offshore race.
1999-Winner at the Auckland-Fiji race;
1997- 6th at the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, 4th at the National Match Racing Championships;
1996/1997- Winner at the NZ Youth Match Racing championships;
1996- 6th at the NZ National Match Racing Championships;

The Bermuda J/24 Class Association is pleased to be sponsored by the following companies for the 2004 season:

Bacardi
Triangle Rigging

For International Race Week 2004
The Fairmont Hamilton