From one Riviera to another... Falmouth welcomes the J Class

Mean and moody Cornwall is a far cry from sunshine and azure waters of 2014's regatta venues - Mahon, Palma de Mallorca, Porto Cervo and St Tropez - but the return of the majestic J Class fleet to race on UK waters is, nevertheless, a popular one.

Two of the fleet of three Js which will compete out of Falmouth this week and set to contest up to 10 races, completed a brisk practice race today, Monday. Lionheart - which won three of last year's four J Class regattas, and Ranger - which triumphed in last season's finale in Saint Tropez last September - went head-to-head in chilly 12-15kts NW'ly winds. Although breezes are set to be light for the first few days of racing and temperatures should be a little more pleasant, today's practice starts and windward leeward circuit was not so much a 'warm-up' as a chance to acclimatise to the heart of the Cornish Riviera.

The J Class last raced from Falmouth in 2012 when Ranger won and five races were sailed. Showpiece race this week is expected to be the highly coveted King's Hundred Guinea Cup, a 150 minutes contest which is expected to be raced on a coastal course.

Age and modernity are on the sides of Ranger (built 2003) and more so Lionheart which sailed here in her racing debut season 2012, but a colourful history sides with Velsheda. In the mid 1930s, Velsheda (launched 1933) was one of the most successful of the fleet of Js which raced each season's regattas from the East Coast of England to the West Country. No stranger, then, to the racing waters of the SW, Velsheda won 40 regattas in her second season including race series around here under the control of legendary Captain Fred Mountifield.

"For myself and our owner, as far as we are concerned we know the newer boats might outperform us but we have the best boat in the world, and the history, to us is important. We all want to be winning races and are proud to be able to do that sometimes. We are all into the sailing history of our boat in a big way, but also the sailing history of the area we are sailing in, and so being here and in Cowes next month is something we look forward to." opens Velsheda's 'captain' Kiwi Tom Dodson. Velsheda have been training on these racing waters off Falmouth for the past week, polishing crew work in a bid to eliminate the small mistakes which, in seconds, can escalate to become much bigger problems, so high are the loads generated by the huge sail areas required to drive these 180 tonnes giants. Just such a small mistake marked Lionheart's training today when their 940 sq metre spinnaker went in the water.

Keeping the same core crew from one season to the next has proven important in years past. Lionheart, winners last year in Menorca, Palma and narrowly in Costa Smeralda, are missing several of their key 2014 personnel who have been racing on the Dutch Volvo Ocean Race team Team Brunel, who clinched second overall today in the round the world race. Kiwi Finn Class Olympic medallist John Cutler will be tactician on Lionheart this week with Aksel Maghdal (NOR) as navigator. The boat has just undergone a winter refit locally at Falmouth's renowned Pendennis Shipyard.

Ranger maintain their solid afterguard established last year lead by skipper Erle Williams with four times America's Cup winner Murray Jones (NZL) entering his second season with Ranger. Veteran Dodson has Hamish Pepper (NZL) as strategist along with Kiwi Olympic silver medallist Don Cowie on mainsheet.

Speaking of the practice race which was 'won' by Ranger today, Lionheart's Guy Salter (GBR) commented: "We had a constructive practice race. We had a few errors but it is good to do them on the practice day and get them out of the way. The pressure on us is to continue on with the successes of last year. We have a few crew changes on board and so the drive is to keep on the positive side of things. The fleet is very even and competitive. The boat has just come out a big refit and so it is a bit like having a new boat. We have had three days training, mostly on our own, and so it is nice to be here. It is a wonderful place to sail, with such great scenery."

Tom Dodson, Velsheda's tactician, believes they can be competitive: "Last time we had a bit of everything, it is a great place to sail. Lionheart was new at that stage. We have taken more weight out of the boat after we had lost a lot of our light airs performance after our 2014 remods, and so we should be better. We have tweaked a lot of stuff, the hydraulic winch speeds are faster than ever. We are getting used to leeward gates, coming in, in traffic and your crew work has to be so much slicker. We have been working hard on crew work this last week as normally we would have done some regattas in the Caribbean or St Barths so we have picked up a lot of what we learned in light airs in Saint Tropez last year."

Racing starts each day around 1100hrs and continues until Saturday.

Live tracking can be followed on www.jclassyachts.com

Live commentary on VHF Channel 68.