Month: July 2025

(Mackinac Island, MI)- It was a “slow-motion thriller” for the 116th edition of the 289.0nm Chicago Mackinac Race- presented by Wintrust. For nearly four days, multiple division leaders were within shouting distance of each other on Lake Michigan, swapping tacks, and trading leads as they clawed their way through the Manitou Passage and up into the Mackinac Straits. A big, fat high-pressure system with nary an isochron in sight was parked over northern Michigan, leading to light and fickle winds from the north, northwest, and easterly quadrants. As one wise navigator explained, it was as good as “rolling the dice” as to where the next breeze line would settle in for an hour or two, then just disappear. In the long run, the “stop & go driving” saw many J/Teams excel in the difficult conditions, leading to many of them garnering silverware on the podium.
This year’s Chicago-Mackinac Race reminded sailors that no two “Mac Races” are ever the same, delivering the kind of dynamic challenge that has made it one of the world’s most iconic offshore races and a fixture on every sailor’s bucket list.
Known as “America’s Offshore Challenge”, the 2025 Mac Race tested sailors’ tactical instincts, patience, and mental endurance over the course up Lake Michigan and into Lake Huron for the finish at Mackinac Island, MI.
Unpredictable wind conditions made this year’s race especially demanding, with many boats taking longer than usual to reach the finish. On average, this year, the racing division took 57 hours. In contrast, last year’s race was one for the record books as the 80-foot canting keeler MAVERICK broke the 22-year-old monohull record (just over 22 hours). It’s this unpredictability that keeps Mac Racers returning year after year. Here is how it broke down by division for the large numbers of J/Teams.
Mackinac Cup Fleet (116 larger boats)Overall Results:4. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM- only 30 mins corrected from 2nd place!6. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI10. Blaine Shea’s J/111 STRIKING BACK12. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA13. Jeff Davis’s J/111 SHAMROCK15. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s J/111 PADAWAN17. Scott Sellers’s J/111 NO SURPRISE
Division 2- 15 boats1. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA6. Bill Schanen’s J/145 MAIN STREET
Division 3- 14 boats3. Jim Murray’s J/125 CALLISTO (a successful J/70 sailor, too!)
Division 4- 13 boats5. Tom Papoutsis’s J/133 RENEGADE
Division 6- 14 boats1. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM2. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI5. Len Siegal’s J/122E LUCKY DUBIE6. Mike & Bob Kirkman’s J/120 HOT TICKET7. Charlie Hess’s J/120 FUNTECH RACING8. Bob Eger’s J/120 CALIFORNIA GIRL
Doublehanded Division- 6 boats1. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE2. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER4. Dan Floberg’s J/88 MISTY- missing podium by 3 minutes!
Mackinac Trophy Fleet (119 smaller boats)Overall results:2. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE- missing the gold medal by 19 minutes!5. David Gustman’s J/109 NORTHSTAR- just 9 minutes in arrears of the J/88!6. Jim Nacthman’s J/99 RAMBLER 8. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER9. Jim Caesar’s J/109 LIQUID LOUNGE II10. Mike Hendrie’s J/109 BULL
Division 7- 13 boats2. Tim & Cathy McGuire’s J/112E ELEVATION- celebrating her 25th Mac was Cathy!3. Tom Dickson’s J/105 WARLOCK6. Todd & Heidi Patton’s J/112E BLONDIE
Division 8- 12 boats1. Jim Nachtman’s J/99 RAMBLER2. Bob Asher & Wes Ory’s J/99 SHING-A-LING3. Ray Douglas & Christine Maybach’s J/109 COURAGEOUS
ONE-DESIGN CLASSES
J/111 Class- 12 boats1. Jeff Davis’s SHAMROCK2. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s PADAWAN3. Scott Sellers’s NO SURPRISE
J/109 Class- 8 boats1. Dave Gustman’s NORTHSTAR2. Mike Hendrie’s BULL3. Jim Caesar’s LIQUID LOUNGE II
J/105 Class- 18 boats1. Paul Hickman & Jody Kjoller’s KASHMIR2. Mark Denuyl’s GOOD LOOKING3. Mark Fruin’s NYCTOSAUR
Level 35 OD Class- 9 boats1. Keith Stauber’s J/35 PAPA GAUCHO II2. Hugh Haggerty’s J/35 NOBLE BUFFALO3. Kim & Linus Isabell’s J/35 REDLINE
For more Chicago Mackina Race sailing informationhttps://cycracetomackinac.com/

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Marking the 100th anniversary of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the 2025 edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race is certain to be a special one. From its humble beginnings, the race upon which the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) was founded has grown to become the world’s biggest offshore race, with 381 IRC-rated yachts competing. From the start off the famous Cowes/ Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in the Solent, the fleet rounds Fastnet Rock just off the southeastern tip of Ireland, then heads for home to the finish off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France- a distance of 695.0nm.
Making HistoryIn 1925, before offshore racing was even a sport in the United Kingdom, seven cruising yachts and their valiant crews embarked on what was then called “the Ocean Race”. Inspired by the Newport Bermuda Race, the U.K. equivalent was started off Ryde Middle in the Solent by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. The fleet headed counter-clockwise around the Isle of Wight, before heading west to Land’s End, crossing the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, rounding it to port and returning to the finish off Plymouth, England.
Weather ForecastTeams that competed in the last two ROLEX Fastnet Races and are returning for this Saturday’s special centenary edition will be breathing a sigh of relief looking at the long-term forecast. In contrast to the battering they received from the 30+ knot winds at the start, and the subsequent gale force winds of the first 24 hours, they endured during the last two editions, the long-term forecast for this year’s race shows more benign conditions.
Regardless of the wind conditions, the Rolex Fastnet Race is never easy as it always involves making best use of or attempting to avoid the tide, especially while exiting past the Solent past The Needles and off southern England’s famous headlands – St Alban’s Point, Start Point, the Lizard, Land’s End – and again at the end of the race when all competitors will be affected, for better or worse, by the powerful Alderney Race (a massive cut of fast-moving current) on the approach to Cherbourg.
Along the way, competitors must avoid the Traffic Separation Schemes (TSSs). Exiting the Solent, the Casquets TSS mid-channel limits how far south boats can go before they are obliged to tack. Tactically, one of the most important TSS zones lies off Land’s End, where the shorter passage is between this and the Scilly Isles. But, depending upon the state of wind and tide, it can also be advantageous to take the longer route between the TSS and Land’s End.
Another TSS is immediately south of the Fastnet Rock, acting as a natural spreader mark, separating yachts arriving at the Rock from those exiting it. TSSs also lie to the west and south of the Scilly Isles, and there is a further tactical option to leave the former to port or starboard. Finally, the Casquets TSS once again comes into play, forcing competitors south of it and causing some even to pass south of Guernsey to avoid the worst of the tide en route to the finish line.
While at present the weather looks like it will be dominated by a giant area of High pressure off to the west and southwest, the shape of this and a micro system that may or may not be spinning up in the Celtic Sea on start day are currently playing havoc with the routing.
It’s tricky,” comments Will Best, navigator on Leopard 3. “The difference between yesterday and today is almost 24 hours in routing for us. There’s a system coming, and at the moment, the timing, intensity, and associated weather are not lining up. The U.K. model is quite a big outlier at the moment. The Euro model is looking better today compared to what we expect – probably two and a half days for us. Yesterday, it was a pure windward-leeward with quite light VMG downwind to the finish. Today, it’s not crazy wind speeds, but it just turns into a reach to the finish, which saves us hours on these 100s. It’s pretty normal for it to be this inconsistent so far out.”
RORC Rear Commodore Joe Lacey is racing double-handed. “Big picture, the weather is basically stable,” he says. “There’s high pressure over the Atlantic, which the entire fleet is probably going to be in for the entirety of the race. The exact position of that high pressure changes the angles. For example, going along the south coast, it could be upwind, or it could be reaching. And going across the Irish Sea, it could be upwind, and it could be reaching.
At the moment, it says we’re going to be upwind in 12-15 knots at the start, but then it will take us 24+ hours to go along the south coast of the UK, so by Sunday, we should be reaching. Maybe we will still get some shifts, but I don’t think it’s very stable. The forecast is changing daily. At the moment, it’s giving us some positive readings: our fleet will finish in 3.5-4 days, and it goes well for us if we can reach along the coast of England. At the moment, we’ll never have more than 20 knots of wind and never less than eight knots.
It’s going to be a pretty standard beat out of Solent, because it’s a prevailing northwesterly. Once we get out into Christchurch Bay, it could swing round a bit. I don’t know whether it’ll go fully into a reach until we get towards Weymouth.
To the Fastnet Rock, it looks like the wind oscillates between 10 and 20 knots – possibly slightly more as we get closer. And then it’s putting the kite up and going all the way to Cherbourg by the looks of it.”
Royal Engineer Yacht Club’s J/109 ProjectAs regular as the Fastnet Race has been the RORC’s premier event, so has been the Royal Engineer Yacht Club (REYC), which – incredibly – has participated in every single edition. Since 1925, they had already been competing in offshore races for decades.
Since 2021, they have been campaigning their J/109 TROJAN in what is arguably one of the most competitive one-design classes in southern England.
“There’s definitely an undertone of pride to it,” says Andrew Motion, the REYC’s Captain of Boats, TROJAN crew in 2021 and skipper in 2023. “There’s also quite a lot of pressure that comes with it. There’s a real expectation that it’s a no-fail event for us.”
Along with many other services, yachts, their J/109 TROJAN, are based out of Hornet Services Sailing Club in Gosport. In the Rolex Fastnet Race, they compete for the Inter-Regimental Cup for Best Service Yacht Overall and the Culdrose Trophy for Best IRC Services Yacht around the Fastnet Rock on corrected time.
Of their 2025 campaign, Motion adds: “We’ve got servicemen and women coming from all over the country. But, there’s a lot of pressure because of the centenary and because we’ve entered every single one and should continue to do so. It makes it all the more important to achieve. Whatever happens, come hell or high water, we will have that boat across that start line!”
IRC 1 DivisionThe massive 73-boat fleet has four well-prepared offshore J/crews. One of them is the J/121 DARKWOOD from Ireland. Over the years, DARKWOOD has not enjoyed the luck of the Irish, with a retirement in 2019 following rudder damage, and then a collision shortly after the start in 2021. But her owner/skipper Mike O’Donnell is nothing if not persistent, and 2025 is shaping up to be a good year for the J/121 from Ireland. Currently, DARKWOOD lies third overall in IRC One in the RORC’s Season’s Points Championship.
The other J/Teams include Herve Perrein’s J/130 DULCISSIMA, Francois Charles’s J/133 SUN HILL IV from France, and Nick Edmonds’s J/45 STICKLEBACK.
After winning IRC Four in their beloved SUN HILL III in 2023 (and coming third in class twice before), François Charles and his French crew return on SUN HILL IV, a substantially larger, faster J/133. She arrived on Tuesday from Charles’ native Morlaix, where he is a rigger. Morlaix has produced several top French sailors, including Solitaire du Figaro winners Jérémie Beyou, Armel le Cleach, and Nicolas Troussel, who has been calling tactics on board this season. Despite only acquiring their boat this year, they have already notched up a second place in the Cervantes Trophy in IRC One.
As to their prospects this year, Charles says he is resigned to the tough challenge ahead, racing the wily Géry Trentesaux and his now fully tricked-up LONG COURIER. “We want to use this to discover the boat – it’s much faster than our last one, which I’m very happy about,” says Charles. His team has a sponsor/ supporter in his Rolex Fastnet Race campaign by the Cabinet Bourhis Insurance company. “That’s good because it allows us to buy more sails!!” Charles is racing with five crew ranging in age from 22 years to 65.
IRC 2 DivisionThis very large 70-boat fleet has a significant armada of J/crews- nine boats total.
One of the contenders is Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 CORAZON. They scored a second place in IRC Two in the Myth of Malham, and their young crew (all under 30) have been performing well across the past three seasons of RORC racing.
Derek Shakespeare, Vice Commodore of RORC, has been successfully campaigning his J/122 BULLDOOG, with an overall win in RORC’s De Guingand Bowl Race last year as some indicator of the boat’s potential.
JENIS is a J/112 GP from Kazakhstan, skippered by Murat Abdrakhmanov. Last year, this Kazakh crew finished second in class in the Rolex Giraglia Cup.
The J/122 MOJITO, owned by Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox, and racing out of Pwllheli Sailing Club, participated in the RORC Nelson’s Cup Series and the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua in early 2025. In the Nelson’s Cup, MOJITO won races during the week and, ultimately, finished runner-up in IRC Two. In the Caribbean 600, MOJITO also finished second in class.
Cris Miles has covered plenty of sea miles in his professional career, having completed many, many ISORA races, Scottish Islands Peaks Race, and the Three Peaks Yacht Race. However, this is his first attempt at the Rolex Fastnet Race, and he’s skippering the J/111 JEZEBEL. Miles describes his crew as “an exemplary bunch of guys with military background,” but adds intriguingly: “Professions are on a need-to-know basis.” One of the crew will also be scattering the ashes of his late father at the Fastnet Rock as per his wishes.
The J/122 WHISKEY JACK is a well-known name in the world of offshore racing in the Far East. Owner/skipper Nick Southward of the J/122 is looking forward to showing what his Hong Kong crew can do in the Rolex Fastnet Race. A fifth place in IRC Two at the Myth of Malham suggests WHISKEY will be one to watch for the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Frans van Cappelle’s experienced crew from the Netherlands has had good offshore success on the North Sea, racing their J/122 MOANA. Their most recent performance was a podium finish in the well-known North Sea Week.
Finally, just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential of their new race horse, the French team on the J/45 JUST, led by the experienced offshore trio of Sacha Vandenbrouck, Yvon Lucas, and Eric Gautier, hope to lead their fellow J/teams across the finish line in Cherbourg!
IRC 3 DivisionIn a still larger fleet of 86 boats, there will be a fleet of seven J/Teams. Here’s the principal guiding force for all IRC 3 participants: it’s always an intensely competitive class! And, it has produced the overall winner of two of the last six Fastnet Races!!
Picking out potential class winners at this stage is an almost impossible task. Competition so far this year in IRC Three has been exceptionally close, with 12 boats from four different countries scoring top-four places in the first five races of this year’s RORC series.
Three J/112E’s are competing and, given the current weather forecasts, they should prove to be quite competitive. Those teams include Simon Harris & Charles Linard’s J’OUVERT, Ubbo Neisingh’s Dutch team on NARWAL, and Wayne Palmer & Kate Ledgard’s THINKING SPACE.
A trio of J/99s should also be significant factors in the division. There are two French teams (Jean-Lin Flipo’s YALLA and Julien Bentz’s WHIMJY 99) and one British crew- Alain Waha’s FURTHER WEST.
Rounding out the J/fleet is Frenchman Philippe Girardin’s very experienced, winning offshore crew on his J/120 HEY JUDE. They’re accustomed to winning silverware in their French offshore circuit!
IRC 4 DivisionIRC Four division, representing the smallest and lowest-rated boats in the race, is the most numerous this year, with 95 entries. They vary from enormously experienced and competitive teams with the potential to lift the Fastnet Challenge Cup, the main IRC Overall prize, to those chasing a bucket list experience. Nevertheless, many of the latter will inevitably get hooked on the race and join the legions of sailors who compete time after time and notch up a dozen or more editions.
An impressive ten J/109s are entered this year. Among them is JUST SO, which has been hugely successful in offshore racing in the 18 years the McGough family has owned her, gaining a slew of trophies. However, success in the Rolex Fastnet Race has always proved elusive, and JUST SO had to retire in both the 2019 and 2021 editions. The ambition this year is modest but heartfelt: “Our main goal is to finish!” says skipper William McGough.
Lesley Brooman is the third owner of her J/109 JUMUNU and has previously taken part in six Rolex Fastnet Races, two in her boat, plus two RORC Caribbean 600s, one Rolex Middle Sea Race, as well as the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. She says their hope is “to finish, preferably in the top half” and for “better weather!”
Other leading J/109s include Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN, which has notably won silver in both Warsash Spring Series and Hamble Winter Series for what seems like decades.
A trio of J/99s will be joining them to vie for division honors. They include Mark Kendall’s JIRO, Jean-Baptiste Brian’s JOLLY JUMPER, and Tim Tolcher & Steven Deutsch’s RAGING BULL.
FEVER, a Dutch-flagged J/35 of 1984 vintage, will be sailed by a group of friends from the Jachtclub Scheveningen, including Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup veteran Simeon Tienpont. The plan is to “sail a neat race from start to finish and have a good time,” says Tienpont. “The most challenging thing will be the luck of timing and good tactical decisions at the finish, considering the strong currents in France.”
IRC Doublehanded DivisionThe fifty-seven boats in this fleet seem to have a common theme- the father and daughter team aspect particularly appeals to several families, providing them a race within the race. One of them is Richard and Emma Breese, who are competing in an older, but competitive boat, the J/105 MOJO. Emma has a long track record of making boats go fast, having been Optimist Junior National Champion in 2019, and finishing as second female at last year’s 420 Youth National Championship– dinghy sailors are fast in J/105s!
MOJO will be up against a “rogue’s gallery” of tough offshore competitors, all with proven silver-winning performances offshore. There are two J/112E’s- the Harris & Linard duo on J’OUVERT and the Palmer & Ledgard pair on THINKING SPACE. In addition, the J/99 RAGING BULL will have the Tolcher & Deutsch team, who are persistent and smart. Finally, a past RORC Season Series IRC Double winner is the McGough & Lavery pair on the J/109 JUST SO.
For more ROLEX Fastnet Race sailing informationhttps://www.rolexfastnetrace.com/en

(Edgartown, MA)- As they have for decades, the Edgartown Yacht Club rolled out the proverbial red carpet to welcome sailors from all over the world to their cozy confines on the water in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. Their annual Edgarton Race Week is a regular stop for many New England sailors for one primary reason- the 60.0nm dash around Martha’s Vineyard Island and the huge awards celebration party afterwards at the yacht club! Here’s how it all took place in this year’s challenging, finicky race.
PHRF 3 DivisionWinning this fleet was Joe Brito’s J/121 INCOGNITO, a repeat performance for Joe and his crew, Round the Island! Second was Robert Littleton’s J/111 SHE’S NO LADY 2.0, and fourth place was Robert Reifess’s J/120 MURMUR.
PHRF 4 DivisionIt was a J/109 sweep of the podium of this fleet. Leading the way was Eliot Shanabrook’s HAFA ADAI, followed by Ed Dailey’s RAPTOR in second, and Ted Herlihy’s GUT FEELING in third place.
PHRF 5 DivisionThe two J/teams in this fleet sailed well, with one making it onto the podium. Taking the bronze medal was Phil Stathos’s J/110 AIRBENDER, then finishing fourth place was Olwen Huxley’s J/35 RESILIENCE.
PHRF 8 Doublehanded DivisionSailing any boat double-handed around Martha’s Vineyard is always going to be a challenge. It’s not a straight line to a mark 60.0nm away, where you just set sails and send it! In the Round Island Race, you’re always going clockwise, turning right around each point of land. So, changing sails and setting them for speed is an ongoing challenge! In the end, Henry Sesselberg’s J/105 UBUNTU sailed a strong race to take the silver medal in this class!
For more Round Island/ Edgartown Race Week sailing information and resultshttps://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=16270

(Niewupoort, Belgium)- The 2025 edition of the J/80 World Championship was sailed off Niewupoort, Belgium, and was hosted by the Koninklijke Yacht Club. Over 270 sailors on fifty teams enjoyed the warm hospitality of KYC and four days of challenging sailing on the North Sea.
Not surprisingly, the fight for the top of the leaderboard was a classic battle between the top two nations in the J/80 class- Spain versus France.
After thirteen races sailed, it was Spain’s Javier Padron Torrent’s EUROFRITS AVIKO/ NEWIND FOODS that was crowned the 2025 J/80 World Champion. His crew consisted of Jon Larrazabal Lallana, Daniel Enrique de la Pedraja Yilera, Alberto Padron Torrent, and Alba Ponce La Camera. Remarkably, they counted three finishes each of firsts, seconds, thirds, & fourths for a total of 30 pts net!
Behind them, it was a duel to the finish between Simon Moriceau’s French team on DENTAL-ASSIST and Jose Ruiz Sanchez’s Spanish team on DORSIA SAILING TEAM. After a seesaw slugfest between both teams trading off 2nd and 3rd overall, it was Moriceau’s DENTAL-ASSIST crew of Simon Bertheau, Vincent Guillarm, Alice Bigot, and Julien Augereau that prevailed with a string of 1sts and 2nds in the final five races to take the silver medal with 41 pts net. Losing that round was Ruiz-Sanchez’s DORSIA Sailing team of Nuria Sanchez-Nomdedeu, Juan Manuel Barrionuevo Vallejo, Leonardo Armas, and Daniel Fructuoso Rosique. While starting strongly, leading the regatta after the first six races with a remarkable 1-1-2-6-5-1 tally, they couldn’t maintain their lead until the end. The DORSIA team took home the bronze medal with 42 pts net after missing their bid to take the silver in the final race over the French team.
Rounding out the top five were Pierre Laouenan’s ECOLE NAVALE French crew and Luis Martin-Cabiedes’s NOTICIA Spanish crew, in fourth and fifth, respectively.
For more J/80 World Championship sailing informationhttps://www.j80worldsnieuwpoort2025.com/

(Newport, RI)- The 475.0nm Annapolis to Newport Race is one of the most historic and well-known of the US East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation’s birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides a stark contrast between the country’s largest estuary- the Chesapeake Bay- and the Atlantic Ocean. The course heads south for 120 miles from Annapolis to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, then east to the Chesapeake Light, and hence northeast to Newport, leaving Block Island to port. After navigating the shallows and currents of the Bay, navigators have to decide if they want to sail the rhumbline to Newport, go in towards the shore, or head further into the Ocean. This year, it seemed those that stuck it out to sea found better winds and weather conditions. Here is how it broke down for various J/Teams commanding a boatload of silverware for the trophy caves.
ORC 2 DivisionIn this large 14-boat fleet, it was Ken Comerford’s J/121 DARK STORM that took home the silver medal, missing the division win by just a half hour.
ORC 3 DivisionAndrew Clark’s J/122 ZIG ZAG placed 2nd in Class and 2nd Overall in ORC Division competing with a fleet of thirty-one racing yachts. Also, the team was very proud to be awarded the James Allsop Seafarer Trophy. This perpetual trophy is held at Annapolis Yacht Club and awarded to the boat with the best combined score from the prior 635.0nm Newport to Bermuda Race and the current Annapolis to Newport Race. This 475.0nm bi-annual race runs from Annapolis, MD to Newport, RI. This was the team’s first time completing the event.
Taking the bronze medal on the podium was Richard Born’s famous J/120 WINDBORN, a team that has multiple podiums in this event over the decades! Fourth went to Barrett Adams’s J/120 PHOENIX, sixth was Patrick Hylant’s J/122 MOXIE, seventh was Jim Phyfe’s DIGGER, and eighth was Ove Haxthausen’s J/133 RUMBA.
ORC Doublehanded DivisionThere was an outstanding performance by SUNDOG, a J/124 that Paul Parks acquired in the fall of 2024. This marked the first offshore race for Parks aboard his new boat, and the result couldn’t have been better. They led a podium sweep by J/Teams of the Doublehanded Division!
SUNDOG finished more than eight hours ahead of the J/35 ABIENTOT, but wound up beating the J/35 by about a half hour on corrected time. Skipper Roger Lant and crew Michael Welin sailed brilliantly aboard ABIENTOT, which led all the doublehanded boats around the Chesapeake Light Tower. “I don’t know how two guys can sail a J/35 that fast,” Parks marveled.
SUNDOG had its struggles negotiating the predominantly light air in the Chesapeake Bay with Parks beating himself up for being caught on the wrong side of two wind shifts. However, the J/124 got into a nice groove going downwind in the lower bay to claw into contention.
“Well, the weather forecast for the Chesapeake Bay was about as wrong as it could be. We had two nice spinnaker runs, neither of which were in the forecast,” Parks said. “We had a wonderful spinnaker run right down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which got us back into the race.”
SUNDOG was so becalmed shortly after passing the Chesapeake Light Tower that they took down the mainsail on two occasions. After getting going again, the J/124 ran into a header that prompted Parks to take the boat further out into the ocean and discover more reliable breeze.
“I think that stretch was really the difference. That is when we got some separation,” said Parks, who estimates taking SUNDOG a couple miles east of the rhumb line.
Parks praised Saunders for “doing 80 percent” of the work on the boat and described his partner as an “excellent sailor and highly competent navigator.”
“It was long and slow, but a tactically interesting race. We had some good and bad moments,” Parks said. “We learned some things about the boat along the way. Overall, we were really pleased with how it sailed and the speed that we had.”
Parks was presented with the prestigious C. Gaither Scott Trophy for Corinthian Spirit. That award, which is presented at the discretion of the Race and Event Committee, goes to a team or individual skipper that has demonstrated the spirit of Corinthian competition as promoted by Commodore C. Gaither Scott. The award is not always handed out and is named in memory of Past Commodore Scott, who also served a term as the Race Committee Chairman.
After the J/124 SUNDOG, it was Roger Lant’s J/35 ABIENTOT that took the silver medal, Todd Aven and Todd Diffee’s J/99 THING MAN took the bronze, and Mike Kohler’s J/99 EVENTYR took fourth place.
ORC Performance Cruiser 2 DivisionDavid Esseks and his close-knit crew of family and friends sailed their J/109 TWIGA to a very convincing victory in the class; beating the runner-up J/99 BAY RETRIEVER by more than seven hours on corrected time.
TWIGA led the class out of the Chesapeake, but skipper Kevin Sherwood and his crew aboard the J/99 BAY RETRIVER were close behind. However, the J/109 left the J/99 far behind in the Atlantic Ocean and crossed the finish line almost seven hours earlier.
“We worked very, very hard to keep the boat moving whenever it got really light. We were becalmed with no steerage at least four times, including three in the last 12 hours,” Esseks said.
This was the fourth time the New York City resident has competed in the Annapolis to Newport Race aboard his boat and by far the best result. TWIGA in PHRF 2 in the 2019 edition, then fourth out of nine entries in PHRF in 2021.
James Esseks was aboard as navigator and watch captain for his twin brother, while Will Esseks handled the foredeck for his father. Helmsman Marc Robert and headsail trimmer Clayton Gates completed the five-man crew.
“This is a relatively small, light boat for this class; open ocean is normally not our strong point, especially upwind,” said David Esseks, who credits a 145% genoa as being critical to the successful offshore passage. “That 145% jib gave us the power we needed in those conditions.
The previous best finish in an offshore race for the TWIGA team was a third in class for the 2023 Marblehead-to-Halifax. “We’re very, very happy about the result. The boat did a great job and we hung on tight.”
Behind the J/109 TWIGA, it was Kevin Sherwood’s J/99 BAY RETRIEVER that took the silver medal.
PHRF DivisionAs they have in past Annapolis Newport Races, John Sartorius’s J/120 ALIBI took the silver medal. Then, an award was given for the First All-Women Crew: that went to Maryline Bossar’s J/42 ALLEGIANT.
For more Annapolis to Newport Race sailing informationhttps://www.annapolisnewportrace.com/

Across oceans, coasts, and continents, J/Teams shined brightly last week. As the summer of 2025 hits full stride, J/Teams around the globe are lighting up racecourses from the rugged North Sea to the warm waters off Hawaii, from the legendary Aegean islands to Australia’s Gold Coast. This latest roundup captures a season defined by fast passages, fierce competition, and the kind of offshore drama that reminds us why we chase horizons under sail.
Whether it’s the Spanish crew battling the French to win the J/80 World Championship in Belgium, or a fleet of J/99s taking on one of Australia’s premier offshore races as a full-fledged one-design class, J/Boats continue to prove their mettle in a wide range of conditions. The Transpac Race saw history made, with J/Teams sweeping podiums across multiple divisions. Meanwhile, in North America, the Bayview Mackinac, Marblehead to Halifax, and Annapolis to Newport races delivered everything from fireworks and fast reaches to squalls and strategic chess matches in the fog.
Offshore and doublehanded sailors made their mark too— from a standout performance in the Aegean 600, to record-setting efforts in the other offshore races. It’s been a thrilling ride so far, and the season’s only halfway through. Read on for highlights, results, and some serious silverware hauls by J/crews pushing limits and loving every minute of it.

Spanish EUROFRITS AVIKO/ NEWIND FOODS Crowned J/80 World Champions
(Niewupoort, Belgium)- The 2025 edition of the J/80 World Championship was sailed off Niewupoort, Belgium, and was hosted by the Koninklijke Yacht Club. Over 270 sailors on fifty teams enjoyed the warm hospitality of KYC and four days of challenging sailing on the North Sea.  

Not surprisingly, the fight for the top of the leaderboard was a classic battle between the top two nations in the J/80 class- Spain versus France. Read more here.

J/Teams Rule @ Transpac Race 2025!

J/111s, J/125s, J/145 Dominate Podiums(Honolulu, Hawaii)- Starting on July 1st, four divisions began racing the 2,225.0nm Transpac Race on the waters off of Los Angeles’s Point Fermin. Organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club, the biennial event is considered one of the world’s premier ocean races. It uses three pursuit-style starts spread over five days (July 1st, 3rd, and 5th) to help all 53 boats finish within days of each other at Honolulu’s Diamond Head. 
For the first time in the history of the Transpac Race, a single sailboat brand had podium finishers in every division they entered and won two of those three divisions, sweeping one of them.  Read more here.

Rise of the J/99s @ Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race

(Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia)- The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race starts July 26th, 2025, hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA). This year’s race promises thrilling competition and exceptional seamanship as fifty-one yachts, including thirteen doublehanded boats, will be sailing the challenging 384.0nm course from Sydney Harbour to the Gold Coast.
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is one of Australia’s premier offshore yacht races, attracting top-tier sailors and vessels from around Australia. Participants navigate the picturesque yet demanding coastline, testing their skills and endurance against the elements.  Read more here.

A Memorable, Fast Bayview Mackinac Race
(Mackinac Island, MI) – Nearly the entire fleet of 191 entries in the 101st edition of the Bayview Mackinac Race organized by the Bayview Yacht Club crossed the finish line with the impression that this was a remarkable race, one likely to be remembered for years to come. Everyone in the fleet of boats ranging from 27 to 68 feet in length finished in 45 hours or less, half a day faster than last year’s 100th edition. 
The brisk southwest winds on Lake Huron on Saturday propelled both fleets at high speed downwind sailing northwards on the 259-mile Cove Island course and the 205-mile Shore course along the Michigan coast. 
There was, however, one hiccup to these ideal conditions when a squall came through the course a few hours into the race and resulted in rig, gear, and sail damage for some. The remainder of the first half of the race for both fleets remained fast until the wind speed dropped and shifted towards the west on Sunday night. 
. Read more here.

A Challenging and Memorable Aegean 600 Race
(Lavrion, Greece)– The successful 5th edition of the challenging Aegean 600 Race, organized annually by the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC), saw many smiling faces among more than just the winning teams who were poised to win their trophies. Their beaming smiles were knowing that they had just completed one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, 600-mile races in the offshore sailing world.
Perhaps that’s a reflection of the event’s promotional pitch… “A sailing race that has the makings of a legend. The sea of myths and legends. The sea of Homer, Seferis, and Elytis. The sea of painters and philosophers. The sea of sailors. 600 miles of sailing in the Aegean Sea. A race where the wind god- Aeolus- will make his own game to control sailors’ seamanship. A race where the dolphins will accompany the boats to drive them faster to the finish.” Read more here.

J/Teams Capture Silver @ Annapolis to Newport Race

(Newport, RI)- The 475.0nm Annapolis to Newport Race is one of the most historic and well-known of the US East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation’s birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides a stark contrast between the country’s largest estuary-  the Chesapeake Bay- and the Atlantic Ocean. The course heads south for 120 miles from Annapolis to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, then east to the Chesapeake Light, and hence northeast to Newport, leaving Block Island to port. After navigating the shallows and currents of the Bay, navigators have to decide if they want to sail the rhumbline to Newport, go in towards the shore, or head further into the Ocean. This year, it seemed those that stuck it out to sea found better winds and weather conditions. Here is how it broke down for various J/Teams commanding a boatload of silverware for the trophy caves.. Read more here.

Fast Reaches, Fireworks and Fog! An Epic Marblehead Halifax Race!

(Halifax, Nova Scotia)- Marblehead’s Independence Day fireworks were still echoing across the harbor when crews began filing into the Boston Yacht Club race village for what would become one of the quickest and most keenly fought editions of this 361.0nm classic. By Sunday’s start, a strong south-westerly had sailors giddy with anticipation and spectators crowding Chandler Hovey Light. The starts were as lively as a dinghy race as the big yachts jockeyed for position through two quick in-shore legs, then popped their spinnakers and slid down Massachusetts Bay in what many simply called “champagne sailing.
From sprint to chess match in the fogDawn on day two brought a fleeting sunrise, then pea‑soup fog and softening breeze. The Gulf of Maine had switched from wrestling match to chessboard: every gybe, every sail change magnified by visibility that shrank to a single boatlength. Here is how it all went down by division.  Read more here.