J/24s at the Torbay Royal Regatta 2024

J/24s at the Torbay Royal Regatta 2024 © Tania Hutchings / www.50northphotography.co.uk

Twelve J/24s representing five clubs made the trip to Torbay for the 2024 edition of Torbay Royal Regatta. Multiple forecasts were available for the weekend, but they all agreed that there would be at least one windy day, so it was looking to be a spicy event before it even started. 3 boats even made the trip by sea, clocking an impressive 6 hours for the passage from Plymouth to Torquay.

Day 1 opened with an extended AP as the expected low-teen winds did not materialise. Boats rigged genoa's and dropped rig tensions, only for a wet blustery squall to drop into the bay from the land. Frantic headsail changing and rig tuning meant the fleet started under the blade, only for the wind to shut off by the top mark, inevitably forcing the crews to change back up to the genoa on the run. MaJic followed WiJit around the windward mark, managing to make the leg without gybing and moving up to take the lead for the 2nd lap, where the wind had increased again, leaving the fleet battling to keep their overpowered boats upright for the rest of the race. Shane Hewlett's Mr Mann took the win for the first two races, ahead of MaJic and WiJit. The rest of Saturday saw the first of the fleets casualties, as Andy Willett's Motley Crew damaged a headsail and spinnaker whilst NJ02 suffered a broken boom. The rest of the J's were left facing avoiding out-of-control capsized cruisers, and at the final gybe mark having to dodge Parky, who had had enough of sailing for the day and decided to take a little dip in the Bay.

The somewhat wet fleet returned ashore with no casualties and started running repairs. NJ02 picking up another boom from Class Chair Dave Cooper and Motley Crew returning home for replacement sails. Crews were gratefully greeted by Pimms at the RTYC Commodore's Welcome, but few stayed out late, anticipating a harder day on Sunday.

Boats awoke on Sunday to a Yankee flag ashore, and the lack of enthusiasm for the wind was clear by noone wanting to leave the dock. Back on the jib, the fleet took off, and a large bunch of boats rounded together in the blustery conditions, which were by now testing crews. WiJit ran over their kite at the bottom of the run, but managed to navigate the course to get back to 4th, with Mr Mann again in 1st, followed by MaJic in 2nd and Daniel Thompson in 3rd, driving DanJerous When Wet impressively in the challenging conditions for his first J event.

J/24s at the Torbay Royal Regatta 2024 - photo © Bob Penfold

By race 5 the breeze was really up, and there were reports of pressure in the early 30's. A small pack at the front appeared to be navigating this breeze well, and the lead 4 boats were the only ones to hoist spinnakers on the final run, eliciting boat speeds in the teens and shredding kite halyards in equal measure. MaJic took another win, but left the helm requiring urgent work for a broken tooth. Luckily, the Class Chair was back again to offer yet more help to the fleet, and took him away to fix him up. Unfortunately, this was not the only damage, as the top Westerly of Jason Culmer and Caspar Barton snapped their mast in the stormy weather. Luck would have it, though, that there was a spare mast down the road in Exeter, so working through the night they were able to get it back up and ready for racing on Monday! Wisely, the OA thought the weather was only going to get worse, so retired the fleet ashore for the Sunday evening barbecue, where many of the sailors nursed their wounds with an Aperol Spritz, or seven.

The final day looked like it was going to be much friendlier than Sunday, and genoas and sunshine were back. There was a rumour of a match race between MaJic and Mr Mann, which pushed some other boats into the mix, with John Gorman's Italian Job first to the windward mark, chased down by WiJit. The fleet was much closer together now, with the traditional snakes and ladders of Torbay throwing lots of boats together, and the compression on the corners was pretty intense, only exacerbated by a kamikaze HitchHiker and the fleet having to avoid cruising yachts on the racecourse, who seemed determined to target the J/24's. The match racing between the two leaders, who had shown consistent tactical excellence and boat speed all weekend only got more full on as they were each on 7 points going into race 8 and the final race of the day. An unexpected blinder from Ben Maddaford's Jam going right sealed the race victory for him from about mark 1, followed by DanJerous When Wet and WiJit ended the regatta, but Mr Mann had been unable to finish high enough to take advantage of an unforced genoa error on MaJic at the finish, handing MaJic the win, Mr Mann second and WiJit in the report-writing spot. Violent J finished in the top Westerly position, and WiJit won the Torbay Admiral's Cup team trophy with Antix and Bewitched, in the IRC and Sportsboat classes respectively.

Our thanks go to RTYC and everyone involved in the organisation of the event, and for all the J sailors over the weekend that showed how competitive the fleet is, but also how much goodwill there is amongst the class. The final UK event of the year is to be held at Plym Yacht Club on the 21/22 September. This is the last chance to qualify for the 2025 World's next year in Plymouth, so if you are looking for a boat or would like more information about the J/24 then please get in touch.

Overall Results: