J111 - Fleet 1, Great Lakes

01/25/2025

sailwave results

01/25/2025

Another post for our 2025 J/111 North American champs, Skeleton Key!🌊🌴⛵️

01/25/2025

01/24/2025

01/04/2025

Remembering our favorite Commodore on his birthday. Dave Irish’s legacy reminds us to embrace every challenge with integrity, passion, and a spirit of adventure. As we sail into the new year, we carry his wisdom forward—charting courses that honor his vision and inspire future generations.

12/20/2024

The Bayview YC Mackinac Race Authority (MRA) has announced that registration for the 2025 Port Huron to Mackinac Race will open up on January 15th, 2025.

12/06/2024

Registration is now open for the 2025 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in Detroit. Five J/111's are registered so far!

Yacht Scoring is a featured packed 100% web based regatta administration and scoring system that simplifies the task of competitor registration, event management, competitor and media communications while providing results in near-real time to competitors and the World following your event on the in...

11/16/2024

https://youtu.be/fU_3qVKAAEE?si=KD8klp9wQt4jP8oM

10/27/2024

https://www.blur.se/2024/10/26/j-111-blur-offshore-sprayhood/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGLcjFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXPf4GBlMclScGNJzvtrBpUAAMYWNONhCwmjikSUPD0ISoVrpX5V5tug6A_aem_FP_AfuIC5uLDwoTCno0EcQ

The most common question I get from fellow offshore sailors: where can I buy your sprayhood (dodger) 😀 I made it myself for the J/111 before Fastnet Race in 2015.  The thinking was ”small – looking cool – keeping waves out”. An added benefit is that the soft material dampens sound, so ev...

10/03/2024

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph & daughter of King Lycaon. It's also the name of the 2nd largest moon around Jupiter + a gorgeously restored J/125 too.

Below is a video regarding the refit of Jim Murray's J/125 CALISTO last year. The 125 was one of J/Boat's best ever. Unfortunately, they only made 16 between 1997 & 2003. J/Boats was too busy competing with Beneteau for the boring family cruiser racer do everything segment where the volume was.

The 125 is iconic. The boat featured in Top Gun Maverick. Winner of numours Trans Pac & Pac Cup races. It's easy to see the 125's design influence on the J/111 too.

Needless to say, it's very hard to find a used one but Jim Murray's team did just that, bringing the 26 year old hull #2 from Europe to Larson Marine in Waukegan, IL for a refit. They raced both Mackinac races this year, winning they're section in Chicago & coming 5th in Port Huron.

The video was produced by Harken with some clever ideas applicable to our boats too.

The vision was simple - find a J/125 and optimize it for distance races. The ex*****on took a lot of hard work and expertise. Callisto Racing's Project Manag...

09/29/2024

Peter Guftason has raced his J/111 BLUR, hull #69 over 30,000 NM doing all the famous 'Bucket Races' that he could. He's now sold her to Chip Merlin, a Florida attorney who owns & restored...wait for it...Bill Lee's 68' landmark design MERLIN.

Rumor is BLUR will now be called 'Chip's Ahoy' & why not? Home port will be Davis Island FL. Hopefully he'll get the itch to do the Mackinac Races, if not on his famous sled then on his J/111.

https://www.blur.se/2024/09/27/j-111-blur%C2%B3-has-a-new-home-%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFmP8JleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZPwY4tjphGUXIFta5rOFU2zwJ20b818stK3Agsm7eT1d1pGd7vNtvFXRw_aem_KpUnZiXfgpGznDRvqZtr3Q

We got the J/111 in 2012 and have done most of the legendary offshore races on our bucket list. We’ve seen some amazing places, met many new friends, and logged over 30.000 NM. Racing in Rolex Giraglia Cup in St Tropez. But campaigning a boat on another continent is hard, and we want to do […]

09/19/2024

The racing season in Northern latitudes is winding down both here & in the UK. Over the weekend the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Solent racing season came to a conclusion with the Vice Admiral’s Cup with two days of windward leeward and tight round the cans races.

High pressure with autumn sunshine dominated both days. Both days the racing schedule was delayed allowing a sea breeze to fill & it was worth the wait. Five superb races were run for all classes in up to 15 knots of wind.

Racing was incredibly close, especially in the Performance 40 and J/111 One Design Classes. In the Performance 40 Class, the IRC rating rule corrected out the multi-designs results to within seconds of race wins and podium places. The winner of the J/111 Class was decided in the final race. Congratulations to all of the class winners in the RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup: Ker 46 ROST Van Uden, Swan 45 Luna, J/111 Jitterbug, and J/109 Jeroboam.