GJW Direct J/70 UK National Championship at the Royal Southern Yacht Club - Day 2
by Louay Habib 21 Jul 2018 22:05 BST
20-22 July 2018
GJW Direct J/70 UK Nationals day 2 © Louay Habib
35 teams are enjoying spectacular racing in the GJW Direct J/70 UK National Championship. So far there have been two days of hot action with seven races contested in blazing sunshine.
"We have had great summer Solent conditions, the first day we had more than forecast, and great sea breeze late on the second day." commented PRO Stuart Childerley. "The racing has been really competitive with close finishes right through the fleet."
Teams from the host club, the Royal Southern YC, occupy the Open Championship podium, which features professional sailors from the Olympics, America's Cup and World Champions. 2016 RYA Match Racing Champion, Mark Lees racing Serious Fun, leads by three points from Wilson & King's Soak Racing. Seven points off the top, and still very much in contention is Paul Ward's Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat. Fourth is Calascione & Ripard's Calypso (RYS), which have scored top-six finishes in five races. Peter Harrison's Sorcha, which is new to the J/70 Class, is just a point behind in fifth.
Paul Ward's Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat is having a very consistent regatta, scoring in the top ten in six of the races including one bullet, only blotting the copybook in Race 5, when the team was called over and had to restart. "We have spent a lot of time in the boat racing in the UK, and in Spain and Italy." commented Paul Ward. "Time on the water really improves your overall performance, and teaches you how to tune the boat to get the best out of it. The OCS was a shame but we restarted correctly and manage to scrap our way back to 13th, which was not a bad effort."
In the Corinthian Championship, which only features crew with World Sailing Cat.3 status, Soak Racing have a 12 point lead over fellow Royal Southern YC team, Doug Struth's DSP with Geoff Carveth on the helm. Fiona Hampshire's Elizabeth (Royal Thames YC) is third, Patrick Liardet's Cosmic (Royal Southern YC) fourht, and Tarra Gill-Taylor's Royal Thames Academy team is fifth.
The first race today, did not go as planned, we didn't get a good start and ended up on the wrong side of the course." Said Soak Racing's Marshall King. "We are happy with our boat speed and handling, and it was nice to end the day with a win. We have a poor discard but that will not change our tactics, we will set out to win every race tomorrow."
The last day, Sunday 22 July, will decide the Open and Corinthian GJW Direct J/70 UK National Champions. Up to three races are scheduled in the Solent, with no warning signal made after 15:00hrs. Catch the action of Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/j70uk
Latest Results can be found at yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=4571