A fleet of 75 boats is expected to compete when the Bristol Yacht Club hosts the first New England J/Fest Regatta on Saturday and Sunday, August 13-14.

Sponsored by East Coast Yacht Sales and North Sails, the regatta is limited to J/Boat owners and crew with racing taking place on upper Narragansett Bay. 

Regatta organizer Bill Kneller says that the event is modeled after similar successful J/Fest Regattas held in other US regions where participation has exceeded over 70 boats. 

When numbers warrant, there will be one-design starts — it is already anticipated that five classes will qualify, among them the J/22 (The East Bay Sailing Foundation alone has a big fleet of these at the BYC).

Narragansett Bay is considered “home waters” for many of the high performance J/Boats that were built at the former Tillotson-Pearson, the former Pearson Composites LLC, US Watercraft and CCF Composites. 

The boats have a strong following and very active class associations that include world class champion sailors.  

The 2016 New England J/Fest regatta is scheduled the weekend between Buzzards Bay Regatta (August 5-7) and the Ida Lewis Distance Race (August 19-20)

This regatta has also been designated as a special event for certain J/Boat classes:

• J/30 - Southern New England Regional Championship

• J/70 - Narragansett Bay Championship

• J/105 - Fleet 14 Event

• J/109 - Part of the East Coast Regatta Series Championship

There will be two full days of racing along with the regatta party, dinner and award ceremonies.

For signup, sponsorship information and more, visit the regatta web site at http://jfestnewengland.com.   Sponsorship opportunities are still available.  Contact Bill Kneller, Regatta Organizer @ bill@109.org.