This is their first boat, but they are excited to learn the boat, find crew and eventually join the Fleet and race it.

They plan to keep the boat at Leschi where they’ve already met a few people in the Fleet. They’ll be in our slip until they secure moorage, so please welcome them.

So, what’s next for Team Hot Pursuit? We’re not dropping out of racing, but will sit out for a couple of weeks. No worries, we plan to be back on the water in time for NOOD!

• 2006 Seattle Fleet Champion
• 2010 Seattle NOOD Overall Champion
• 2010 J/24 Western Regionals Champion
• 2011 Seattle NOOD, 3rd Place J/24 Class
• 2011 J/24 Western Regioanals Champion
• Perennial Top 10 Seattle Fleet

PRICE:  $22,500.00

Boat with trailer and motor

For more information contact:  Michael Johnson, mj_3747@yahoo.com or Joy Okazaki, jokazaki@cheap-diver.com.

Once the fiberglass resin has hardened and the formwork removed, then vinyl ester fairing compound is used to fill the voids and create a smooth, sanded surface that will accept a gel coat finish. Care must be taken to control cure time, humidity and maintain a minimum temperature during this processes to avoid future blistering or cracking.

After the hull shape is faired the area is masked off, above the waterline, stripes are painted on with Awl-Grip, leaving them shiny black.  Layers of gel coat are sprayed and sanded, with the final coats color-matched and buffed to a shiny finish. Below the waterline is finished with VC Performance epoxy with teflon.

The repair inside is painted to match the rest of the interior, leaving no sign of the extent of the damage or repair.

Final sanding to 1500, clean-up and final detailing and Hot Pursuit is as good as new and ready for racing!

Thanks to CSR Marine for putting up with our daily visits and for doing an efficient and high quality repair. The Seattle J/24 Fleet is lucky to have such a great boat yard with people on staff who understand one-design racing and how to make boats go fast!

Many have asked “can she be fixed?” There was never a doubt in our minds that the boat was worth saving, and thus it was only a matter of time until we could get the work done. Despite being busy with three other J/24s in the yard, CSR Marine took us right away and started the diligent process of fixing the gaping hole.

Luckily (not that there was much ‘good’ luck involved) the hole was on a fairly flat surface of the boat. On the outset the damage seemed to get bigger as they trimmed the edges back to solid material and screwed on strips of wood to hold the formwork for the fiberglass. This seemed to work fine - if it had been a more curved area, they would have had to make a template off of a similar era J/24.

The glass mat for the outside of the hull is laid in the hole and bedded in resin. Then a mat of balsa core is cut to size and bedded into the resin. Then final layers of fiberglass mat are laid over the top of the balsa core.

Hull structural work completed in 5 days.  Now to fair it in and make her look as good as new.

With 2011 Worlds behind us and insurance claims settled, it’s time to move forward and prepare for the upcoming year. The 2012 race season starts in April, and this year we have a “few” more projects to do on Hot Pursuit during the off-season than is typical. 

Although the boat was only sunk/submerged at Berkeley Marina for 12 hours (see August post on the incident), it is incredible the damage salt water can do in that short period of time. The electrical systems – switches, lights and knot meter – all had to be rewired, and the battery terminals which normally clamp onto the posts were gone, leaving the battery cables just hanging above the shorted battery.

On the flip side is the entire inside of the hull was washed clean, but the teak floor, cabinet doors and shelves were all dull from being in the salt water.

And the hole – we were fortunate to have warm Northern California weather when we towed the boat home – actually stopping in 95 degree Sacramento for a couple days and really dried the boat out before towing her back to Seattle. Once the surveyors and insurance folks did their inspections, we hauled Hot Pursuit home (before we left for Worlds), buttoned up the hole with plastic and bubble insulation, and put her under a tarp with a heater inside to keep out the moisture. The mast, boom, rudder and all of the rigging was removed to “the sailboat room(s)” in our basement where they could be inspected and cleaned over the winter.  (Other than covering the hole, this is a routine off-season regimine for HP.)

In between holiday festivities, Mike worked on the boat, rewiring all of the electrical systems, replacing the battery and switches, and restoring all of the wood. Winches were torn down, blocks, traveler and cleats checked, cleaned and lubed. Other than the hole, we’re ready to go racing.

The plan was to get the boat into the shop in the new year.  Unfortunately the snow and ice delayed the plan slightly, but we delivered the boat to our friends at CSR Marine this week. Stay tuned for updates on the repair.

The top 4 teams managed to start every race without getting caught with a black flag penalty.

Our Argie friends on LUCA won, with the Guerro team from Peru in 2nd, followed by Mike Ingham from Rochester, NY (hosts of the 2012 J/24 Worlds) in 3rd.

The J/24 Class has had numerous world champions and the trophy table had many perpetual trophies with names from the 30+ year history of the past. championships. Awards were given to the top 10 finishers, top women’s teams, and top team under 25 years of age.

ITC Chairman Tim Winger presented our skipper Mike Johnson with a special award, the “Geoff Evelyn and Stuart Jardine Measurer’s Trophy” for his service to the J/24 Class as he’s been doing a lot of research and analysis on many of the proposed measurement rules for the International Technical Committee over the past year and since he devoted the first day of measurement (12 hrs +) to training measurers and helping measure the first 25 boats despite having to prepare and race a boat at Worlds. The recognition was a nice consolation and commemorative from this regatta.

The regatta organizers really hoped to get two races off on the the final day of racing, but the early northerly breeze that greeted us when we arrived down at the marina faded by the time we got out to the race course. We had not seen wind from the north in our short 2.5 weeks here, and the current (from the river) was strong.

After a short postponement, they tried to start a race in a very light and dying breeze around 1200. I ended up staying down below on the low side counting down time to the start.  5 minutes after we had started we had only travelled 4-5 boatlengths from the race committee boat, and the race was blown off as the wind completely shut-off.

The regatta officials kept the boats out on the water, knowing that the afternoon would bring more breeze. Realizing there was no breeze on the horizon, teams lowered sails, slathered on sunscreen, and pulled their anchors out to wait out the delay.

According to the Sailing Instructions, no race would be started after 1500, but just like clockwork, at 1430 the breeze filled in and a course was set.

Race 9

Rather than what had become a daily routine of trying to start a race only to have everyone over the starting line early, the principal race officer decided to go straight to the black flag. It worked as the whole fleet behaved and the race was started without any BFD penalties.

We got a decent start with Keith Whittemore above us and Matias Carrera below us, but soon had to bail out and go right. A few tacks later we managed to find ourselves a lane with clear air, and were still in the top half of the fleet.  We were on starboard coming into the weather mark rounding, with a number of port tackers coming in at the mark. We set our kite, gybed and went to the right side of the course.

We fought to hold our right side advantage into the first leeward mark, but the shift had gone left, allowing many of the boats to scream in from the left and bury us as we were inside on the right leeward mark. What seemed to be a locked in position at the mark quickly changed as boats came in from behind, didn’t allow “room” for the boats inside, and the dominos began to push us to the right and we rubbed rails, getting pushed beyond the mark. Lots of screaming ensued with very few protest flags.

We had to avoid boats that had rounded the mark and had no way to get back to the round the mark, so we decided to drop out and head back for the hoist ahead of the fleet and get the boat put away since it was doubtful we could make up enough boats to improve our score.

Final regatta results are posted: http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/Popup.aspx?Id=1290

Congratulations to LUCA for bringing the 2011 J/24 World Championship to Argentina!

(photos from racing and the event will be posted later or on Facebook- having some problems with the upload/insert media function)

Race 7

Winds were about 8 knots from the ESE at 1330 for the start of the race.  As usual teams pushed the first start into a general recall, so the restart brought out the black flag again. 2 more teams suffered a “BFD” scores, as the rest of the fleet headed up to the windward mark.  We started a couple boatlengths shy of the line and were quickly overtaken by boats around us, so we were forced to tack into “dirt”, buried by a whole host of boats and having to weave through the traffic.  Once we had some clear air and made our way up the beat, we realized our rig was a bit too tight as we had anticipated the breeze increasing, but it remained pretty steady throughout the race.  We worked hard but ended up crossing the line just after Scott Milne’s Tremendous Slouch.  Matias Perreira driving Carrera won the race easily, while regatta leader Tim Healy ended up 17th across the line.

Race 8

As we made our way back to the starting area, we debated about loosening the rig – as Brian noted, if we loosen the rig, the wind would undoubtedly build – as we waited until we got down to the starting area. It ended up being a good decision as the wind picked up to around 10-12 knots, still from the ESE.

We went through the now old routine of lining up for a start, only to be recalled and faced with the black flag for the restart – amazingly, this time it was a clear start, the first of the regatta!  We had good speed off the line and raced up the course, glad to be in the top half of the fleet where lanes were easier to find.

The wind stayed fairly consistent though we missed a couple of shifts on the 2nd downwind leg where we dropped a handful of boats. Mark roundings were two and three deep and quite eventful, but we managed to stay clean and get around the course “flag free” with no protests!

Matias Perreira won the 8th race as well–two bullets–talk about a great recovery from his BFD yesterday!

Once the boats returned to the dock, ten more protests were filed (a total of 51 had been filed so far in the regatta), and sailors who were involved were all lined up outside the jury rooms awaiting their turns to state their cases as we headed home for showers and steak & wine dinners.

Provisional Results:  http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/Popup.aspx?Id=1290

One more day of racing tomorrow, awards and Closing Ceremonies.

The first start, as has become habit, was pushed by everyone without penalty. We had a great start, only to be buried on both sides as the boats surged over the line for the first recalled start. The black flag was posted for the restart, which was recalled with 6 boats caught over the line and disqualified, including regatta leader Tim Healy.

The 2nd restart (under black flag) saw another 12 boats over early, including our friend Scott Milne. With 18 boats BFD’d and sitting around watching the 3rd restart, only 39 boats remained. The gun went off and somehow we found ourselves buried but finally racing in 10kts of southeasterly breeze. Finding a clear lane proved tough, but we managed to sail a clean race.

Race 6
The first start served as yet another practice start. The restart again brought out the black flag, and with the breeze building and 20% of the fleet having sat out the first race, boats lined up well below the start line. With a decent hole on the line, and Peggy calling the line with precision, we had weigh-on and were off to our best start of the week!

We had Keith Whittemore punched a few boats above us and Tim Healy with his nose out a few boats below us and nothing but clear air ahead! We worked our way up on starboard tack forcing Whittemore to tack away. A third of the way up the leg, Tim Healy crossed us on port and we followed, seeming to have good pace, and crossing all of the boats coming back on starboard.

By the time we got up toward the weather mark, we found ourselves near the port tack layline, potentially rounding 7th with only a couple of starboard tack boats that would cross ahead of us. That all changed when a boat (who helmsman shall remain unnamed) came in on port layline at the pin, forced the boat inside us to tack, creating a domino effect with the boats outside of us being forced to go to port head to wind with a whole parade of port and starboard tack boats charging into the mark. We were bounced around like a ping pong ball, with no wind to fill our sails, we patiently waited as 20+ boats sailed past us before we could fill our sails and continue racing. Amazingly there were few, if any, protest flags flying as the boats all continued racing.

The wind built throughout the race, and by the time we rounded the 2nd leeward mark, many in the field changed down to the jib (smaller headsail). We probably had 20-22 knots during the final run and beat to the finish line, along with big waves.

The boat that originally rounded 3rd and created the chaos at the windward, flew a yellow flag, taking their 20% penalty after ending up 4th across the line.

With 6 races sailed, all boats get to toss out their worst score, which for us like many others, was a BFD/59.

Provisional Race Results: http://www.j24worlds2011.org.ar/Popup.aspx?Id=1290

Race Day 4 is scheduled for the planned 1100 first warning (and rumor is for 3 races!)