JOG 2016

[Judders]

The season starts a week tomorrow with the traditional Easter jaunt to Cherborug, racing there on Good Friday and back on Easter Sunday.

I've done it plenty of times on various boats but never on my own. This year Magic is doing some of the Cat3 offshore series as well as most of the inshore Cat4 passage races. I can hardly wait! We've picked a dodgy year though butt, an early Easter means it may well be rather chilly.

Hopefully we'll have a nice big field. The entry list should be out today or tomorrow.

For those who haven't raced JOG before, it's a cracking club. The offshore races tend to be a fair bit shorter than RORC, heading straight for a destination rather than farting around in circles. The parties are legendary too. Happilly, most owners and crews don't take themselves too seriously and there is a bonne home you don't find in a lot of other Solent Fleets.

 

[flaming]

The season starts a week tomorrow with the traditional Easter jaunt to Cherborug, racing there on Good Friday and back on Easter Sunday.

I've done it plenty of times on various boats but never on my own. This year Magic is doing some of the Cat3 offshore series as well as most of the inshore Cat4 passage races. I can hardly wait! We've picked a dodgy year though butt, an early Easter means it may well be rather chilly.

Hopefully we'll have a nice big field. The entry list should be out today or tomorrow.

For those who haven't raced JOG before, it's a cracking club. The offshore races tend to be a fair bit shorter than RORC, heading straight for a destination rather than farting around in circles. The parties are legendary too. Happilly, most owners and crews don't take themselves too seriously and there is a bonne home you don't find in a lot of other Solent Fleets.

We've got one JOG on the plans this year. The massive, extreme, Cowes - Yarmouth. Phew, epic stuff. My kind of offshore!

Where will the party be in Yarmouth? Think that's the big draw with the crew!

 

[Judders]

I loved the Yarmouth race for that very reason. It's usually the biggest field of the year and this year there might well be 8 Impala's in class six. The party tends to be in the Wheatsheaf and then move en-mass the the Bugle.

Last year it blew old boots and we didn't have a bowman so struggled on the downwind leg before clawing our way back to sixth upwind in 25kts. The year before we were winning on the water in very light airs. The sea breeze was coming and we were going to get it first but then the race committee canned racing for the day! They had to as there was still no wind at Egypt Point and they could not get the other classes started. Apparently the rules require them to can it for all classes or none so they either had to wait for the slowest boat in class six to finish or can the lot. They did the latter. I was not happy!

 

[flaming]

Ah, the eternal what might have been! See you in Yarmouth, looking forward to it! And we'll have the blowing old boots please, especially if it's a SW, so net uphill. Just the conditions we like! Then obviously a swing round to the East and another net uphill home on the Sunday. Lovely.

 

[Racecruiser]

Raffles entry in for Cherbourg and back; particularly looking forward to Saturday with the midday party at the Cherbourg Yacht Club then a decent meal and lots of sleep before Sunday's start. Two broad reach races please!

And yes the Yarmouth weekend is always a good one often with the Royal Solent YC as the appointed watering hole; usually a start to the east then heading west just before the tide turns which is going strongly west by the time the fleet gets to Yarmouth, with lots of fun queuing to get in the harbour. Then a shorter race back on Sunday. Last year Saturday was indeed a bit of a blow - not the best conditions for us 2-handed but we got a 2-up win on Sunday in light conditions despite hauling the spinny halyard to the top without the sail! Pretty tiring weekend which reminded us why we usually sail with a full crew (that is when the organisation works).

 

[flaming]

Was doing a bit of crew admin last night. A question arises. What is the crew number for JOG racing, is it as per on the IRC cert, or is it adjusted?

 

[Judders]

I think it's Irc+2 for bigger boats

 

[flaming]

I think it's Irc+2 for bigger boats

I found time to look up the NOR. It is Cert +1 for 9 or less. Cert + 2 for 10-13 and Cert + 3 for 14 or more. So as it says 8 on our cert, we'll be sailing with 9. As we normally do events that allow cert +2, someone's going to be miffed...

Which does beg the question of who is racing a boat with 14 or more crew in a JOG race!?

 

[Judders]

When LLYC used to enter Lutine into JOG races, they would have had those sorts of numbers. Swan Galliana might be another.

Most JOG boats though go with a reduced crew on JOG rather than a bigger one. We might take 7 on an inshore race if it ends back at Cowes and looks very windy.

 

[Judders]

Rather a small entry in class six for Cherbourg. I wonder if some regulars have been waiting for a forecast?

 

[Judders]

...now it's looking like two down wind races.

Not much hope of an Impala victory!

 

[Racecruiser]

Updated entries in with 32 entered but class 6 is a bit thin at 6 I do agree. I'll be surprised if Friday is downwind all the way and as it's still Wednesday the weather may still change .....

 

[Yacht Yogi]

Good luck and enjoy the Cherbourg trip, Judders. We're not going this year as concentrating on J/109 One Design for the moment and it's too much hassle to convert into IRC offshore configuration. We expect to be out in the Nab Tower and Yarmouth races and beyond later on, so see you there. We really enjoy the JOG races.

 

[drakes drum]

For those who haven't raced JOG before, it's a cracking club. The offshore races tend to be a fair bit shorter than RORC, heading straight for a destination rather than farting around in circles. The parties are legendary too. Happilly, most owners and crews don't take themselves too seriously and there is a bonne home you don't find in a lot of other Solent Fleets.

Great - but its a Solent yotties series. I would join in if it were west country based but it isnt.

 

[Racecruiser]

Sensibly our esteemed secretary and race officer decided the return race on Sunday would be too bracing, so one race clockwise round the island took place yesterday. What a great day with brilliant conditions except for 40 minutes of no wind between Dunnose and St Cats - it was all going so well until then for us but when the new wind filled in from SW it was still a sparkling day so no complaints!

 

[Judders]

Well what a cracking decision that was by Peter. A great days racing without the awful (and it would have been truly awful for those still out on Sunday night) trip back. I know some people will say that Cat3 boats need to be able to cope with big winds and to an extent that's true, but there is a different with coping with unexpected big winds and going out in the knowledge that they're coming.

For our part, we had a fabulous day. We nailed the start although next time I'd like to be a few seconds later for the sake of my blood pressure. Some daft bugger on a great big Southerly reached through the start area apparently taken entirely by surprise that all these boats of similar size with laminate sails and no ensign that were jockeying for position were actually in a race start, however I was able to use him to push a rival past the ODM which perhaps wasn't very JOG.

The race itself was long and tough and we sailed on all points of sail at some point which may, I suppose, have evened out the design advantages between different boats. Naturally we would like more than 20% beating but as the Impala's scored a 1-2 it cant be argued to have made a difference.

In the end after 60 miles the split at the front of the fleet was less than three minutes of adjusted time covering the front three. You can't ask for better racing than that.

Roll on the Nab Tower on 9th April!

 

[Racecruiser]

Well what a cracking decision that was by Peter. A great days racing without the awful (and it would have been truly awful for those still out on Sunday night) trip back. I know some people will say that Cat3 boats need to be able to cope with big winds and to an extent that's true, but there is a different with coping with unexpected big winds and going out in the knowledge that they're coming.

For our part, we had a fabulous day. We nailed the start although next time I'd like to be a few seconds later for the sake of my blood pressure. Some daft bugger on a great big Southerly reached through the start area apparently taken entirely by surprise that all these boats of similar size with laminate sails and no ensign that were jockeying for position were actually in a race start, however I was able to use him to push a rival past the ODM which perhaps wasn't very JOG.

The race itself was long and tough and we sailed on all points of sail at some point which may, I suppose, have evened out the design advantages between different boats. Naturally we would like more than 20% beating but as the Impala's scored a 1-2 it cant be argued to have made a difference.

In the end after 60 miles the split at the front of the fleet was less than three minutes of adjusted time covering the front three. You can't ask for better racing than that.

Roll on the Nab Tower on 9th April!

Yes that Southerly seemed to be following might is right principle - gets an honourable mention in my race report on the JOG site with some photos inc of you! Well done on your result.

 

[Judders]

Oh he went up when he was told. I came over all Hamble Winter Series on him.

Not very JOG but I wasn't sitting in that dirt.

 

[Judders]

Oh and great shot of us with Blazer and Two Frank, thanks.

 

[Judders]

So on to the Nab Tower then. Looks like a windy one again at this stage but it's a bit early to judge.

I've always liked this route, nicely strategic and it was the first JOG race I ever won as crew (Old Mother Gun 2010) but strangely we've never done better than sixth in Magic.