J/70 North American Championship 2026 at Annapolis Yacht Club
by Hannah Noll 2 Nov 14:18 GMT
October 29 - November 1, 2026
Annapolis native James Golden has won the 2026 J/70 North American Championship aboard Sagara, sailing alongside his father, Jim Golden, Willem van Waay and Steve Hunt.
Alec Cutler's Hedgehog claimed the Corinthian title, Sandy Askew's Tangerine won the Mixed-Plus and One-Pro divisions, and Jennifer Hutchinson earned Top Woman Helm honors. All four are Annapolis Yacht Club members, giving the host club plenty to celebrate as it prepares to welcome the J/70 World Championship Oct. 23-30, 2027.
The championship brought 54 teams from seven countries and 15 U.S. states to the Chesapeake Bay. Eight races were completed across four days in conditions ranging from light southerlies to shifty northwest breeze, with changing current, flat water and steep Chesapeake chop testing the international fleet.
Annapolis Yacht Club did more than host. Its members swept the Overall, Corinthian, Mixed-Plus, One-Pro and Top Woman Helm honors.
Golden's homecoming championship
At 24, James Golden has spent half his life racing J/70s.
His father bought one of the earliest boats in 2012, introducing James to a class in which he would win two Youth National Championships and a U.S. National Championship as crew. Now he's a North American Champion at the helm, racing alongside his father.
"It's good to be home, being fed by my mom, racing with my dad, being with my dog," Golden said. "It all came together beautifully."
Golden grew up racing on the Chesapeake Bay before moving to San Diego last year, where he teamed up with world champion sailors Willem van Waay and Steve Hunt. His father completed the new Sagara crew.
"We're a new team and couldn't be happier to come away with first place and the North American title," Golden said. "We had just the right package with the right team."
The victory came against an exceptionally competitive fleet, including reigning World Champion Haroldo Solberg's OceanPact of Brazil, fresh from winning the 2026 Worlds in Cascais, Portugal.
After Friday's racing, OceanPact led Sagara by one point. But Saturday belonged to Golden's team.
A seventh-place finish followed by victory in Race 8 moved Sagara into the lead with 33 points, two ahead of OceanPact. Sweden's Per Roman and GARM completed the podium with 45 points.
Golden credited steady improvements in boat handling, communication and speed.
"We got a lot better each day with our boat handling. We made a lot of small changes to get a little bit of boat speed. I think that really helped us on the third day of the regatta."
For a young sailor whose J/70 career began on these waters, winning the North American Championship with his father was a fitting homecoming. Next fall, Golden and his new team will have another opportunity to race against the world's best when the World Championship returns to Annapolis.
Cutler's Hedgehog adds another Corinthian title
Alec Cutler continues to build one of the most impressive programs in the J/70 Class.
Two consecutive Corinthian World Championships in 2025 and 2026. Three straight Corinthian Midwinter titles. Now the North American Championship.
And Hedgehog is doing it with a group of Navy buddies.
Cutler races with Keith Davids, Brad Rodi and Charles "Pooch" Pucciariello. All four attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where their shared sailing experiences and Navy backgrounds helped build friendships that continue today.
Cutler and Rodi served as surface warfare officers, while Pucciariello was an F-14 naval aviator. Davids retired as a Navy rear admiral after a 34-year career that included commanding Naval Special Warfare Command which oversees the Navy SEALs and serving as director of the White House Military Office.
Ironically, it was the sport of sailing that brought Davids into the Navy.
"I knew nothing about the Navy," he recalled of being recruited for the Academy's sailing team.
His military career kept him away from competitive sailing for years at a time. Now retired, he's back. As Hedgehog's tactician, he's already helping the team win world and continental Corinthian titles.
"We already have high trust because we're friends. We speak the same language," Davids said.
For Cutler, this championship was an opportunity to improve the team's communication.
"We really focused on our communications and letting Keith get us around the course," he said. "I think we all did a better job than we have in the past at giving him the information he needs."
"It was a really good process regatta for us, and the result wasn't bad either."
An Annapolis Yacht Club member, Cutler laughed about the perceived home-water advantage enjoyed by the former Naval Academy sailors.
"We never went out past the Spider Buoy. So anything out of the Severn is new territory for us."
Former Hedgehog teammate Ryan Cox, the 2026 U.S. Corinthian National Champion, finished second in the division aboard his own DJ. Six Naval Academy graduates competed across the top two Corinthian teams.
"This is a Corinthian team. We all have day jobs, or Keith's a stay-at-home dad now that he retired from the Navy," Cutler joked.
Their success reflects the value of friendship, teamwork, enjoyment in the process, and a shared commitment to improving together.
Askew and Hutchinson add to Annapolis Yacht Club's success
Longtime Melges 24 competitor Sandy Askew made an impressive entrance into the J/70 fleet, winning both the Mixed-Plus and One-Pro divisions aboard Tangerine.
Askew raced alongside her daughter Olivia Askew, Robert Greenhalgh, Drew Barnes and Hannah Morris. Their success added another family story to a championship featuring sailors of different generations, backgrounds and experience levels.
Fellow Annapolis Yacht Club member Jennifer Hutchinson earned Top Woman Helm honors aboard Ellie, racing with a team that included her husband, America's Cup veteran Terry Hutchinson.
The results demonstrated the breadth of J/70 competition, where family teams, Corinthians, Olympic medalists and professional programs all share the same starting line.
Annapolis delivers ahead of the 2027 Worlds
The North American Championship gave international competitors an important preview of the racecourse, hospitality and organization awaiting them at next year's World Championship.
The racing offered plenty of variety. Thursday's light southerly arrived after a two-hour postponement, allowing Principal Race Officer Sandy Grosvenor and her team to complete three races. Friday brought sunny skies and 8-14 knots, while Saturday delivered two distinctly different races in 10-15 knots followed by 5-10 knots. Sunday's light air prohibited racing.
Vakaros RaceSense technology supported efficient race management throughout the event.
The racing was matched by an exceptionally well-organized championship ashore, the product of extensive planning and collaboration between Annapolis Yacht Club and the J/70 Class. From boat arrivals, launching and registration to daily communications, media, hospitality and awards, the organizing team delivered a first-class competitor experience.
Co-Regatta Chairs Allan Terhune and Whitney Kent led the local effort, supported by AYC staff, race officials, volunteers, sponsors and the J/70 Class.
At Sunday's awards ceremony, special recognition was given to Annapolis Yacht Club's Linda Ambrose and Megs Bryant, Principal Race Officer Sandy Grosvenor, and the J/70 Class's Julie Howell and Hannah Lee Noll for their contributions to the championship.
Ashore, the atmosphere was equally memorable. Competitors returned from racing to food, signature cocktails, beer, packed social gatherings and spectacular fall sunsets over the Chesapeake Bay. North Sails supported the event with morning weather briefings and post-racing debriefs, sharing valuable local knowledge with the fleet.
Annapolis Yacht Club's history with the J/70 Class goes back to 2013, when it hosted the first North American Championship with 90 boats. More than a decade later, the class has developed into a truly international one-design community, with championships spanning North America, Europe, South America and beyond.
The 2026 championship was a valuable rehearsal for the 2027 Worlds. The organization, hospitality and on-water race management demonstrated this week have laid a strong foundation for welcoming the international fleet back to Annapolis.
The J/70 World Championship returns to Annapolis Yacht Club Oct. 23-30, 2027.