North Sails One Design is proud to partner with the U.S. J/22 Class Association and its Scholarship Boat Program. North Sails has committed to providing new sails for the program for the 2017 season for the team using the boat. They are looking forward to being able to foster youth sailing in the J/22 and see the Scholarship Boat Program as a prime opportunity to further this goal. We are all thankful to the donors who have made the program possible so far and want to encourage more people to become a part of the program to help it succeed.
Mike Marshall, J/22 World Champion and North Sails J/22 Class Leader, worked with the Class to organize the partnership. “I am so pleased and excited that our group is able to join with the J/22 Class to help provide opportunities for younger sailors to be involved with such a great Class. We are looking forward to continuing our support of the program for the next several years and help the Class build on its success.”
“We are super excited to welcome North Sails as a major sponsor and are looking forward to working with Mike Marshall and North Sails to further promote the J/22 Scholarship Boat Program,” said Mark Stuhlmiller, President of the U.S. J/22 Class Association.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The J/22 Scholarship Boat Program was designed to encourage talented youth sailors to experience the J/22 and the Class’ tremendous community of one-design sailors – at virtually no cost. Recipients of the award receive a fully outfitted J/22 sailboat and trailer for the entire season. It is the hope that recipients’ experience in the program will escalate their level of competitiveness and inspire them to accomplish great things in the world of sailing.
North Sails caught up with the 2017 winners for a brief interview:
WHY THE INTEREST IN THE J/22?
The J/22 Class is a highly competitive Class that is always willing to share their knowledge to grow the Class. The sailors in the J/22 fleet will not only provide great sailing experiences for us, but will also introduce us to a higher level of competitive racing.
HOW WAS THE TEAM SELECTED?
The team is constructed of the Jacksonville University Sailing Team by choosing four sailors who have a good chemistry together and have previous experience on similar boats to the J/22. However, the team is not limited to these four sailors. Since we are a collegiate team of about 30 sailors, we can easily move players around and train less experienced sailors to create a team that we believe will perform best in certain conditions. Our teamwork will allow us to select the right sailors to be the perfect fit for each event.
FROM COLLEGE SAILING TO COMPETITIVE J/22 CIRCUIT
College sailing has prepared us for the J/22 Class by improving our teamwork skills and by teaching us to always keep our heads out of the boat. Through college sailing, we’ve learned how to be prepared for the unexpected which will help us in sailing as a whole. In college sailing, we have a nice variety of racing exposure that goes from fleet racing to match racing to team racing, along with our team workouts which make us very dedicated and team-oriented sailors.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SO FAR?
Learning how to tune the boat by adjusting the upper and lower shrouds was hard to grasp, but everything made sense as soon as we had our first practice. Something that we would like to continue to learn about is finding the balance between the upper and lower settings when we sail in different conditions. Having a better understanding of proper rig tuning will also teach us how to properly adjust the rake and backstay.
EVENTS PLANNED?
For this summer, we plan to attend Cleveland Race Week, J/22 North Americans, J/Fest, and the 2018 J/22 Worlds in Annapolis.