The J-Cup 2005, the prestigious and increasingly popular annual regatta for all J Boat owners, was hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club from 18-20 August.

J-Cup competitors race to win a number of significant prizes for both class and one-design racing, awarded by a number of generous sponsors of the fleet. The most hotly contested are the coveted J-Cup itself, the B&G J-Cup Prize, and for the first time in the history of the event, the Dubarry Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Presided over by PRO Martin Wells-Brown, the J-Cup 2005 attracted a record entry of 33 boats: nine different models, racing in three classes. Class 1 was the fast handicap which comprised J/133s and J/120s, Class 2 was the J/109s which were racing one-design under Class Rules, and Class 3 included J/105s, J/92s, J/80s, J/110s the new J/92 S and the new J/100.

Seven races were scheduled across the three-day event with two races due to be sailed on Thursday. Glorious sunshine was abundant but breeze was in extremely short supply and the Race Officer did a great job to get Race 1 underway in a North to North Westerly of three to six knots. In Class 1, Jump, the J/133 of Stewart Hawthorn (winner of the J-Cup 2004) excelled, with Neil Martin’s J/133 Jammy Dodger in second and the J/120 of Ian Matthews, Jinja, in third place. The J/109s were lead by newcomer to the fleet and Westcountry local Peter Johnson in Waverider, followed by Nigel and Suzie Brook’s Jalapeno, and then Zelda, raced by Ben Richards and Michael Ewart-Smith. Mike Riley in the J/110 Jammin earned his first place in Class 1 in the dying breeze. Marie-Claude Heys sailed the J/92 S into second and third were Robin and Jill Stevenson in Mojo, their J/92. With no chance of getting Race 2 away, the fleet and the race committee headed home to enjoy the B&G cocktails at the Commodore’s Reception in the club-house.

The fleet were greeted with a much more promising 10-19 knots on Friday and the PRO called for Race 2 to be sailed prior to the scheduled Races 3, 4 and 5. In Class 1 Friday became the battle of the J/133s Jump Robert Davies’ Roxy 11, each scoring two firsts and two seconds. Boat of the day in the J/109 Class was Zelda with two bullets, but Waverider and Jalapeno scored a win each in Races 4 and 5 respectively. Greg Burgess and his team in Blue Jay achieved commendable placings for the day with 2, 3, 5, 2, all the more impressive considering this was the first time Blue Jay had lined up against the other J/109s at a one-design class event.

In Class 3, Kevin Sproul and his J/80 crew scored four convincing wins in the Silva Dream Machine. Jammin held it together with two seconds, as did J/92 Mojo. The rest of the spoils were split between the boys and girls on Nick Martin and Gary Fry’s J/105, Diablo J, who scored their best result so far with a third place in Race 2 and another in Race 5. Pete Tyler in the J/92 Neilson Redeye earned their third in Race 3 and the local boys Martin and Tom Bloomfield were third in Race 4 sailing Wizard, their J/92.

Saturday morning was always going to be tricky for some, having sailed four bruising races on Friday and having taken full advantage of the half price bar, courtesy of North Sails, in the evening. A blustery 10-16 knots tends to deal with most malaise, one way or another, and with no class result yet decided everyone on the water wanted the last two races to count. In Class 1, Race 6 was won by Jump, second was Roxy 11 and Jinja took third. Race 6 belonged to Roxy 11, with the J/120 Mojo, of Adrian and Kristin Crook in second and Jump in third. The J/109s saw some fabulous racing with Race 6 going to Waverider, Zelda second and Blue Jay third, but in Race 7, Chaz Ivill in Johnny Blue finally found his predicted form to win convincingly. Andrew Given’s short-handed but highly skilled team took second in High Tension and third place went to Zelda. In Class 3, Jammin sailed intelligently and won both races, with Mojo second and Jive Talking third in Race 6. Silva Dream Machine secured a ‘safe’ second and Jive Talking a third in Race 7.

The J-Cup gala prizegiving supper was held on Saturday evening with 200 J sailors present to enjoy the complimentary wine from Sobstad Sailmakers and to ensure that the evening was lively enough.

The J-Cup was awarded to Kevin Sproul and the team from Silva Dream Machine who had achieved the lowest points score across the three classes at the event. The B&G J-Cup Prize was awarded to Stewart Hawthorn and crew in Jump who had beaten Roxy 11 by a single point (actually just one second on the racetrack) and the Dubarry Trophy for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Michael-Ewart Smith and Ben Richards in Zelda who not only won their class at the J-Cup, but who have also scored an impressive list of results throughout the year, including a Class win at Cowes. The J/109 UK National Championship prize, awarded for the best results across the whole 2005 one-design series, went to Nigel and Suzie Brook and crew on Jalapeno.
Overall Reults

Class 1 – Fast IRC

1 GBR133L Jump J133 Stewart Hawthorn 8pts

2 GBR1633R Roxy II J133 Robert Davies 9 pts

3 GBR5433R Jammy Dodger J133 Neil Martin 21 pts

4 GBR3949R Jinja J120 Ian Matthews 22 pts

5 GBR8415R Mojo J120 Adrian & Kristin Crook 27 pts

6 GBR8581 Jalfrezei J120 Gareth Thomas 27 pts

7 GBR955R Marionette XII J120 Chris Dunning 42 pts

Class 2 – J/109s One-Design

1 GBR8809R Zelda Ben Richards & Michael Ewart-Smith 12 pts

2 GBR1509R Jalapeno Nigel & Suzie Brooke 15 pts

3 GBR109L Waverider Peter Johnson 20 pts

4 GBR1609R Blue Jay Greg Burgess 21 pts

5 GBR4909R High Tension Andrew Given 26 pts

6 GBR5809R Johnny Blue Charles Ivill 30 pts

7 GBR9109T Red Arrow Rich Steel 33 pts

8 GBR6909R Jugular John Pickles 53 pts

9 GBR2709R Jumping Jellyfish David Richards 57 pts

10 GBR2L Beth of Five Star James George 60 pts

11 GBR8709R Jetstream John Prideaux 62 pts

12 GBR2068R Joker Ian Parfitt 62 pts

13 GBR4809R Jacob’s Ladder David Hunt 71 pts

Class 3 – Slow IRC

1 GBR724 Silva Dream Machine J80 Kevin Sproul 10 pts

2 GBR9791R Jammin of Poole J110 Mike Riley 11 pts

3 GBR9290R Mojo J92 Robin & Jill Stevenson 18 pts

4 GBR2092R Jive Talking J92S Marie-Claude Heys 24 pts

5 GBR9201 Wizard J92 Tom & Martin Bloomfield 28 pts

6 GBR8272T Neilson Redeye J92 Pete Tyler 31 pts

7 GBR9205R Diablo J J105 Nick Martin & Gary Fry 36 pts

8 GBR9596R Slingshot J105 Shaun Murphy 50 pts

9 GBR1605R Juneau J105 Mike West 53 pts

10 GBR9002 True Love J100 Colin Wall 55 pts

11 GBR7005R J – Dream J105 David & Kirsty Apthorp 58 pts

12 GBR726 Swan Song J80 Peter Chester 65 pts

13 GBR9588R Jacana J105 Daniel Sheehan & Peter Sandover 69 pts