J/80 World Championship at the Royal Southern Yacht Club

J/80 World Championship at the Royal Southern Yacht Club - Day 3

by Louay Habib 12 Jul 2017 23:40 BST 8-14 July 2017

Day 3 of the J/80 World Championship at the Royal Southern © Paul Wyeth / RSrnYC

Rayco Tabares (ESP) has retained his lead in the J/80 World Championship, but a crack has appeared in the Spanish team's seemingly invincible armour, scoring eighth in the last race of a tricky day in the Solent. Luke Patience (GBR) took his first race win, to move up to second place, and Eric Brezellec (FRA) had the best day of all, scoring a 3-3-1 to move up to third for the championship. Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg (ESP) scored 10-10-2 to move up to fourth.

PRO Stuart Childerley moved the scheduled start an hour earlier for racing, and it proved to be an excellent decision. "The low pressure system that came through last night had gone through and we were expecting the weather to become unstable in the afternoon, which is exactly what happened. The wind oscillated through an axis of about 45 degrees today, causing plenty of potential traps for the competitors, and the Race Committee had to adjust the course on many occasions to compensate for the bigger shifts, the mark layers and race management team did a fantastic job today."

Today's top team was skippered by Breton Eric Brezellec, the last time Eric competed in the UK at the J/80 World Championship was in Falmouth, 2005. His team sailed the boat over 200 miles, from St Malo, with tents on board for regatta accommodation. "Time on the boat is very important, we train a lot." commented Eric. "Today it was important to take the shifts as they arrived, it was much more open than yesterday. Rayco (Tabares) looks very strong, it looks very hard to beat him, but this regatta has not finished, it is still possible."

"It would have been very easy to have a shocker today." commented 470 Olympic Silver Medallist, Luke Patience. "Chris (Grube) did a great job reading the shifts, especially in the penultimate race, but that was a far from an easy race course today. When the wind is coming off the land like that, it can shift both ways. Personally, I tried to concentrate more on driving the boat and that has also paid off."

Royal Southern YC Rear Commodore Sailing, Robert Vose, welcomed competitors to the Prince Philip Yacht Haven. With complimentary beer and burgers, provided by Synergy Grill, the daily prize giving, sponsored by North Sails, was extremely well attended. There was a special prize for Claire Montécot's team racing Startijenn, which broke their rig yesterday. Startijenn was back out racing today, after working through the night, with assistance from Key Yachting.

Claire Montecot receiving a special award from North Sails' Molly Brown on day 3 of the J/80 World Championships - photo © Graham Nixon / RSrnYC

Tech-Talk with Nigel Young – North Sails

Nigel is racing with Pat O'Neill's Mojo from Howth YC, Ireland. Pat has enjoyed success in many forms of sailing but is new to the J/80 Class. For a new team, Mojo is having a great championship and looking to break into the top ten, which would be an outstanding achievement.

Our main aim is to try to get the boat up to speed." commented Nigel. "The best place to is the rig tune. The initial set up had too much mast bend, and we could not generate enough power. Before the championship, we calibrated all of the rig settings using the North Sails tuning guide, which has been created through many hours of work by experts. The importance of setting up a rig in a one design boat is massive, our first aim is to get the boat up to what we call fleet speed and therefore competitive. After that you start to learn how you sail the boat, and you find things that suit your own style, which you modify to your own particular preference. Our boat speed was better today and after a great start were in third place at the top mark, eventually finishing the race in sixth. Getting the boat going and improving performance is really rewarding for all of us."

Day 3 of the J/80 World Championship at the Royal Southern - photo © Paul Wyeth / RSrnYC

For live updates from the 2017 J/80 World Championship, including video and pictures from the race course: www.facebook.com/J80Worlds2017 For more information visit: www.royal-southern.co.uk

Results after day 3:

Pos	Sail NO	Boat Name	Owner/Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	ESP 783	Hotel Princesa Yaiza	Rayco Tabares	2	1	1	1	2	1	2	8	10
2	GBR 948	Ryoko Meka	Luke Patience	5	3	2	5	15	5	1	9	30
3	FRA 1420	Courrier Junior	Brezellec Eric	10	7	7	OCS	4	3	3	1	35
4	ESP 1513	VSA Comunicacion	Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg	3	42	5	2	5	10	10	2	37
5	FRA 1302	ArMen Habitat	Moriceau Simon	11	6	8	3	1	7	13	4	40
6	ESP 1116	HM Hotels (Corinthian)	Javier Chacártegui Cirerol	8	2	3	12	10	2	8	13	45
7	FRA 956	APCC Equipe Jeune (Corinthian)	Bertheau Simon	15	5	4	6	6	14	7	5	47
8	FRA 691	Gan'Ja (Corinthian)	Luc Nadal	17	8	10	4	3	13	15	3	56
9	ESP 1158	Cenyt Hospital Marbella Team	Pepequin Orbaneja	7	17	6	9	7	4	26	16	66
10	GBR 1363	Betty	Jonathan Powell	4	20	17	8	11	15	25	7	82
11	FRA 1289	Dunkerque Voile ‑ White Sails	Rémy Hurdiel	16	24	11	13	17	17	5	6	85
12	IRL 1551	Mojo	Patrick O Neill	14	15	19	10	12	24	6	18	94
13	GBR 1530	MockingJay	Chris Body	12	9	29	16	29	8	9	12	95
14	GBR 1360	J.A.T.	Kevin Sproul / Phil Taylor	1	4	18	24	13	19	24	19	98
15	FRA 639	Ecole Navale (Corinthian)	Patrick Bot	6	16	13	7	14	34	16	26	98
16	GBR 1411	No Regrets (Corinthian)	Chris & Hannah Neve	43	10	DSQ	14	19	6	12	11	115
17	GBR 1414	Slightly Steamy	Nick Haigh	13	11	25	15	9	20	32	23	116
18	GBR 1410	MegStar	James Harrison	23	13	36	18	18	21	4	21	118
19	FRA 1082	Yacht Concept ‑ CNP (Corinthian)	Rétho Rémi	34	OCS	21	26	21	11	17	14	144
20	NED 838	Led 2 Lease	Peter Paul de Vries	22	36	12	22	8	27	22	34	147
21	FRA 1455	J‑Traffic	Launay Thomas	20	12	20	21	32	9	UFD	33	147
22	GBR 725	Purple Haze	Shane Armitage / Oliver Dunford	9	14	23	29	24	30	20	29	148
23	GBR 1305	Jester (Corinthian)	Mike Lewis	19	18	32	11	22	28	18	32	148
24	FRA 1497	Vitel Sailing Team ‑ CDV 22	Capucine VITEL	18	DSQ	9	40	DNC	12	11	15	154
25	FRA 693	NUMERO J	Herve Delaroux	24	OCS	26	27	16	22	29	10	154
26	FRA 420	J'aime voile baie de Morlaix (Corinthian)	Bonafous Elodie	30	21	27	42	41	16	14	22	171
27	GBR 743	Swallow	Gordon Craigen	33	27	15	19	35	25	19	37	173
28	FRA 793	E.Leclerc Tourlaville (Corinthian)	Pierrick Letouzé	26	19	33	20	26	32	23	30	176
29	GBR 1532	Checkmate	Ray Mitchell	21	38	30	23	20	29	37	17	177
30	GBR 1262	Boysterous (Corinthian)	Angus Gray‑Stephens	32	25	14	41	31	23	33	20	178
31	GBR 511	Emoji (Corinthian)	David Hollingsworth	25	29	28	17	23	35	21	38	178
32	NED 841	BabyJ	Paul Kersten	27	26	22	30	28	31	DNC	28	192
33	GBR 553	Seafire	Anabelle Body	29	23	31	25	27	26	35	40	196
34	GBR 1055	UKSA 3 (Corinthian)	Felix Trattner	41	31	16	31	33	37	27	35	210
35	FRA 651	Startijenn	Claire Montécot	28	22	24	DNF	DNC	38	36	24	221
36	GBR 165	Aqua J	Terence O'Neill	35	33	38	28	34	33	31	42	232
37	GBR 891	Harley Quinn (Corinthian)	Nigel Skudder	39	37	34	35	37	43	30	25	237
38	NED 112	Acutronic / J‑String	Edwin Spaans	DNS	DNC	35	37	25	18	UFD	31	244
39	GBR 901	Wildcat III	Andy Ash‑Vie	31	28	39	32	39	42	39	41	249
40	GBR 694	NOW4	Rory Cheetham	36	40	37	33	38	36	38	36	254
41	GBR 479	Joie de Vivre	Adam James	45	35	45	38	DNF	41	28	27	259
42	GBR 433	The J Team	Richard White	37	39	41	34	36	44	34	39	260
43	GBR 1339	Joyeuse (Corinthian)	Chris Eccles	38	32	40	44	30	45	43	43	270
44	GBR 751	J‑Wife	Simon Watson	44	34	42	36	40	40	41	47	277
45	AUS 1927	Will o' the Wisp VI (Corinthian)	Keith Cockburn	42	30	44	39	42	39	42	45	278
46	GBR 605	Jambiya (Corinthian)	Vincent Lattimore	40	41	43	43	43	46	44	46	300
47	GBR 565	Ninja	Nicholas Allen	DNC	DNC	46	45	DNC	47	40	44	320
48	GBR 1529	Emoji	Jim White	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	343