Whiskey Jack J122

Cowes Week Report - Days 5 - 7

After a strong start to the week saw us finish 3rd overall in the P40 class, Whiskey Jack was ready to take on the rest of the week.

Wednesday and Thursday brought two hard days in the office for the crew, with variable and shifty winds and strong tides making judging lay lines particularly challenging. Judging depth also proved challenging at times as we touched the bottom twice. However, while conditions were hard, Whiskey Jack performed well, finishing in 8th and 7th respectively and heading into the final day tied in 6th, with only 3 points separating us from 4th place.

Friday brought light winds and a later start, as we waited for a sea breeze to build. Racing kicked off at around 1 and Whiskey Jack completed a short 2.5 hour race up and down the Solent. We were neck and neck with our fellow J122 bulldog (similar to with our fellow J122 Aurelia during the Round Ireland!) and were just pipped across the finish line, finishing 35s behind Bulldog. However, due to a stronger performance earlier in the week we beat Bulldog overall, finishing 6th/20 - Whiskey Jack’s best ever Cowes Week result!

Whiskey Jack has now been put to bed back home in the Hamble, eagerly awaiting her next adventure. Suggestions welcome!

Thanks to all the crew who’ve sailed on her this summer, to Nick Southward to bringing it all together and to Gail Harban Southward for her fantastic photography!

It’s Cowes Week for Whiskey Jack!

On the 200th anniversary of this illustrious regatta, Whiskey Jack is vying for a prize amongst a competitive IRC 2 fleet.

Saturday saw Whiskey Jack and crew off to a good start, with gains made on the downwind. Unfortunately, after rounding the leeward mark, a boat from IRC 3 collided with us, forcing us to retire. On redress, we will make the average from the next 5 races back from this, and both our boat and crew have undergone highly effective emergency repairs!

Sunday brought an Easterly breeze of 8-12 knots, with Whiskey Jack having a strong start at the committee end of the line. We raced out to the Solent forts and back, going left as most of the fleet went right and closer to the IOW. After gaining on the downwind, we finished in a strong 7th/20th.

Monday saw a similarly strong race, with Whiskey Jack finishing in 11th. Tuesday saw our strongest finish yet, despite overcast and drizzling conditions after 2 days of beautiful English sunshine. After an exciting first beat featuring lots of tacking along the shore to stay out of the tide, Whiskey Jack crossed the finish line in 6th and secured a trophy, coming 3rd overall in the P40 class.

4 days down, 3 left to go…

A great weekend in Yarmouth at Royal Solent Yacht Club’s Tattinger Regatta 2026.

Saturday got off to a slower start as we waited for the wind to fill in under an AP flag. After 10 knots of breeze filled in from the SW, Whiskey Jack got a great start and clean lane upwind, rounding the first mark near the top of the fleet. We continued this strong performance to finish 6th/25 in Race 1.

Race 2 saw the wind build to over 20 knots and shift to a Northwesterly. After a chaotic general recall due to a bunch up at the pin, we started under the U flag towards the left hand side of the line, had many close ducks and crosses on the first upwind, rounded numerous marks to port and finished 13th in IRC 1.

Saturday evening saw us return to RSYC for dinner, followed by representation at the infamous Towers party, completed by a firework display.

Sunday also saw winds of over 20 knots from the North West, and we had another good start and were sailing well in the fleet. However, the prudent crew took the decision to have a boat-preserving trip to the pub rather than a potentially boat-breaking final lap, keeping the boat in good condition for Cowes Week.

Bring on the next challenge!

Overall Results

Race 1: 6th IRC 1
Race 2: 13th IRC 1
Race 3: RET

Three days after finishing Cork Week with a win in the final race, Whiskey Jack is heading back across the Irish Sea to her home in the Hamble.

Cork Week saw sunshine and beautiful warm weather, which added to a very convivial atmosphere every day.

We found ourselves as the highest IRC rated boat in the main event in a small but closely matched division.

Over the course of the week we found more and more boat speed combined with improved crew work. This resulted in close racing on the final day, culminating in a well deserved win in the final race! 🥇

Final Results
🥈2nd IRC 0

Credit to Rick Tomlinson for the 1st and 3rd photos and to Gail Harban Southward for all the others!

Final Race Report - Round Ireland 2026

The Round Ireland Race is meant to be wet and windy, with wild runs down the Atlantic west coast. But this year it turned out to be a test of our endurance over six days and nights. Sails rarely stayed up for more than a couple of hours before being changed, and the anchor was deployed twice!

Whiskey Jack was always in the running for a prize, and at one point was third overall. We fell away a lot on the penultimate day, only to come back strongly at the finish. And it was a wonderful surprise to receive the prize for the best overseas yacht, which is awarded to the top placed boat on IRC not from Ireland which hasn’t already received an award.

Finishing a race around noon is highly recommended, especially when the host club is so friendly and welcoming. The All Day Irish Breakfast in the roof of the Wicklow Sailing Club, washed down with plenty of Guinness was the perfect way to recover. We even found that the hospitality team at the club had become fans of Whiskey Jack TV!

A great experience, lots of thanks to Nick for putting the the programme together, to Dan for his many splices, Cameron for avoiding the rocks, Oskar and Peter for constantly lugging sails around, and Nigel and Rob for being such great company. (Everyone trimmed, drove, cooked & put on brews at some point in time). And a big shout out to Lana, our onshore media manager, delivery crew and meal creator. Here’s looking forward to the next race, wherever this may be….

Overall Results
🏆 Best Overseas Yacht
⚓️ 11th IRC Overall
4️⃣ 4th IRC 2
📍 0 NM to the finish 💪🏼

Race Report - Day 7

The final day was all about staying on top of the constantly changing conditions. As the J2 finally came into play late Thursday, the further south we got the more unstable the breeze became, with plenty of holes and shifts keeping us busy through the night.

By sunrise, our fellow J122 Aurelia was back on the horizon. A few more shifts put us in front, but with under 20 miles to go the fleet compressed for a final sprint to the finish, with podium places still on the line.

The morning’s highlight was what we’re now calling the “Full Irish” – a full 360° under spinnaker in less than 300m, all downwind, involving one gybe and somehow no tacks!

The final approach saw us cycling through the Code Zero, A2 and A3 in a light NE breeze before the expected SW filled in. With a welcome 1.5-knot tide underneath us for once, we slowly reeled the boats ahead back in before the breeze built steadily, reaching 25 knots just before the finish line.

After more than six days of racing, we crossed the line ahead of Aurelia by 10 minutes on both the water and corrected time, but missed the final podium spot to La V***e Noir by just 8 minutes. This was incredibly close after 6 days and over 700 miles of sailing, and a fitting finish to a fantastic race.

This was then followed by a Full Irish Breakfast and plenty of Guinness - look out for a post race report detailing these shenanigans!

Race Report - Day 6

Tuesday saw a big change in the fortunes of Whiskey Jack, with just 60 miles completed in light variable winds as we fought several tidal gates. The last of these was at Rathlin Island, where we had to anchor at sunset in a convenient back eddy close in to the steep cliffs as whirlpools and standing waves formed in the deep water nearby.

We were not alone, and as the tide turned in the middle of the night, we set off with a group of boats that had reached the same gate.

Unfortunately our fellow J122 Aurelia managed to escape through the same Rathlin Island gate at the last minute just a mile in front of us, and the bungee has broken. We are unlikely to see her again now until the finish at Whitlow.

With just a day left, we are out of coffee, but we have enough of everything else to make it all the way to the finish.

Current Standings:
6️⃣ 6th - IRC 2
8️⃣ 8th - Overseas
📍101 NM to go

Race Report - Day 5

The last 24hrs has seen Whiskey Jack complete around 170 NM, passing Black Rock on the NW corner of Ireland yesterday, followed by Malin Head, the most northerly part of our journey.

Most of this was covered under the A2 kite, in 10-18 kts, low visibility. With the occasional peels to the A3 and back to keep us busy. All the time our rival J122 Aurelia has been in the background, and each time we built some distance, the bungee between us brought us together again.

At Malin Head we left the Atlantic and now have to deal with the strong tides of the Irish Sea. Our local sage Barry Hayes warned us the race begins at Malin Head, and once again Aurelia has caught us as the fleet parks up.

We are now threading our way through a convergence zone in the weather as we fight the tide, moving at a tide assisted 9 knots to the Northernmost point of Ireland.

Current Standings:
4️⃣ 4th - IRC 2
9️⃣ 9th - IRC Overall
📍 160 NM to the finish