J/Boat owners and Boats needed for 2011 J/Fest!

BoomerangJ · October 23, 2011, 01:59:41 PM

Any and all J/Boats invited to come out for J/Fest! Between posts on this board and posts on the J/FestSouthwest website there are about a dozen people looking for rides. We also have people from North Texas and Dillon, Co. Looking for rides.

Come on out! grab some new crew, and come out and race or cruise. Main thing is to have fun!

Bee · October 23, 2011, 05:02:53 PM

OK, I'll bite:

Where is Kenai, Aeolius, Rebecca, Radiance, a bucket load of j22'2 and j24's, and especially that grind4beer guy?

Where are the 109's? Why did good Al have to do an 80?

Hmm?

BoomerangJ · October 24, 2011, 08:29:46 AM

Bee-

All great questions! There are about 400 J/Boats scattered throughout Texas. Most of them trailerable. One of the original concepts is to provide an event to get those on the fence about racing (J/world instruction and less competitive classes) to come to an event that could ease them into that scene and get help in all aspects of travel. The other direction J/Fest has taken is to provide great racing for the established OD classes. Combine that with first class hospitality at LYC and we thought the event could attract a good percentage of the J/Boat owners. LYC has offered up plenty of kegs of beer, a gourmet "cajun" dinner, and a band. The J/24 fleet is sponsoring shore side games. There is also Kattack on two or three of the fleets, and photographers for viewing at the clubhouse.

All in all those of us that do go will have better odds for all the great raffle prizes! Several thousand dollars worth of stuff to give away again this year!

One of these days we will find the right formula to get more boats out-in the meantime if anyone has any ideas we are all ears!

Looking forward to a great weekend! This is the best time of the year to sail!

LizBiz · October 24, 2011, 09:41:21 AM

Quote from: Bee on October 23, 2011, 05:02:53 PM
OK, I'll bite:

Where is Kenai, Aeolius, Rebecca, Radiance, a bucket load of j22'2 and j24's, and especially that grind4beer guy?

Where are the 109's? Why did good Al have to do an 80?

Hmm?

Grind4Beer guy has music rehearsals Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and concerts Friday and Sunday. He's currently pondering the logistics of racing a J24 on Saturday.

Regards,

His faithful personal secretary, snacktician and double-handed grinder.

Charles · October 24, 2011, 10:59:06 AM

Yea! The 22's made a class!

Bee · October 24, 2011, 11:10:52 AM

Cool. We are up to 39. Who will give me 40?

Jonsey · October 24, 2011, 11:46:10 AM

Here's an idea... call it "bayfest" instead of "jfest" and let's have another 100+-boat regatta on Galveston Bay.

I'm sure it was great fun... standing around the keg, slapping each other on the back for being in the "j" club.

But this weekend your' event was missing some really fantastic people who make sailing on Galveston Bay fun (for me at least). Tres Hombres, Revolution, hot ticket, the melges guys, an aerodyne 38 or two, some rowdy C22's and a pack of wild viper sailors just to name a few.

How fun was the the HYC OD party! And that didn't include all the PHRF boat's i mentioned.

Give it some thought.

bshores · October 24, 2011, 12:28:56 PM

I agree with Jonsey's comment, especially if the JBoat guys expect a decent PHRF fleet to materialize. This regatta concept is all well and good for the one designs (J22, J24, J80, J105) as they can integrate it into their circuit stops, but what's the point in having a 2-3 boat PHRF fleet or a 1-2 boat cruising class? Now that HYC has stepped up with their HOOD to salvage the NOOD regatta, it's time for LYC to get on the bandwagon.

I know the viper guys would appreciate another fall regatta now that the local fleet has grown to 10+ boats.

Less restricitons = more fun for everyone.

Bee · October 24, 2011, 01:35:22 PM

So you guys want to tell the organizers how dumb they are for not including everyone in a J-Fest Regatta. Just wrong for them to have a regatta that only includes J-Beats, right? Best to demonize them for doing so two years in a row, right? How about those held a couple years ago. Why not blast them for doing that as well. Oh, and why not wait until the last minute to do it. I smell a lot of envy.

These J-Fest Regattas are generally strongly supported by J-Boats and their local dealers. The idea is to provide a venue that will help keep those fleets (even those with boats that are no longer manufactured) going and increasing. There are usually several held around the country every year. Why shouldn't we have one here?

From what I know there are two Viper designs. The 640 and the 830. Not sure that's enough for their support, but how about having Rondar Raceboats fund a Viper-Fest (or maybe a Viper-Iinfestation) and then invite everyone to show up. I'm sure we could get at least 6 local J105's on the line.

This may well be the last J-Fest here for a while, and if so, I would like to enjoy it without hearing negative comments about just how stupid it is to have it and participate in it.

BTW, LYC did indeed step up to the plate.

BoomerangJ · October 24, 2011, 01:57:33 PM

LYC invited J/Boats and J/Boats Southwest to host this event. There are a number of J/Boat owners based out of that club. We feel happy an lucky to support this event with LYC as the host event. LYC has stepped up and they have an all volunteer and paid staff committee working hard to put this event together. They have done an outstanding job.

I've told Jonesy COUNTLESS times, and other clubs, and sailors as well that there could definitely be another regatta that is a BayFest that is all inclusive. The bay is a big enough race track for 6 circles if we could get the boats. Fold in Clear Lake and we could have a lot of racing venues. Instead of throwing darts step up and organize the event. If you've got the idea and can back it up with the time commitment, dollars, etc. I'm sure there any number of venues that will work with you-including LYC.

As mentioned earlier there are a lot of J/Boaters we need to get back to sailing. We had hope to get them to come out with their J/120's, J/92's, J/35's, J/29's, J/30's to re-energize them. We hope to find the formula to make that happen and keep this ball rolling.

In the meantime what this sport doesn't need are whiners and nay sayers. We are all trying to get people to come out and sail any way we can. J/Fest is targeted at a group that does need to get back to sailing.

Now back to J/Fest-thanks to a flurry of sign ups we now

Jonsey · October 24, 2011, 02:49:25 PM

Bee I?ve been giving Spurlin crap about Jfest for two years .. every time he starts ?whining? about the decline of our sport, boat sales etc I give him the formula for success.

Whining Scott??? Bee was whining about ?where are all the boats?, I simply responded a reasonable opinion / idea.

Hope the weather cooperates this weekend and you sell a ton of boats? (at least the ones not built in China)

bshores · October 24, 2011, 03:10:23 PM

Not whining, just realizing the uptapped potential to make a good regatta even better. I think history is starting to show that combining circuit stops for all classes across the board is what will push regattas into the "elite" status that many of us will attend.

Bee · October 24, 2011, 03:44:32 PM

I may have been whining but it was for more J-BOATS.

Your whining because your not in it.

This is a J-Fest. It is not a Viper-Infestation. It is not in anyway supported by Rondar Raceboats.

bshores · October 24, 2011, 04:10:44 PM

Regardless of the viper exclusion, the J-PHRF and J-Cruise classes are still pointless. I'd hate to be throwing down big bucks for a 111 or a 122 and only race against one or two other boats. Yet, if they don't register the J-boat guys will say WTF for not supporting the event.

BoomerangJ · October 24, 2011, 04:21:27 PM

Earlier this year we actually thought we would have 6-8 boats in this class. With a couple of J/120's, J/35's, etc. For whatever reason it didn't pan out. We will keep trying to get these boats out. I don't think it would make any difference if it was a Regatta or J/Fest.

But the point is that we are trying to find the right formula to get these owners out. And we won't be saying WTF. We will be asking "Why" and "What" can we do to get you out for J/Fest or any other regatta. Unfortunately we have about a dozen eager crew members looking for rides and not enough boats. So no whining here just trying to put together a nice event for the J/Boat owners.