J80 World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island Overall

Kerry Klingler Wins J/80 World Championship. Lutz is second, Heys third in international fleet

Kerry Klingler (Larchmont, N.Y.) and his crew of Mike Quaglio, Jay Lurie and Chris Quaglio won the J/80 World Championship in Newport, R.I. today against a fleet of 35 international teams from six countries. Jay Lutz (Houston, Texas) finished the regatta in second, with Marie-Claude Heys (Southampton, U.K.) in third.

Seven windward/leeward races were sailed on Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean from Thursday, June 7 through Sunday, June 10. Sponsored by JBoats, North Sails, Extreme Coastal Brewing, Triad Trailers, Rhode Island State Yachting Committee, and Hall Spars & Rigging, the regatta was hosted by Ida Lewis Yacht Club, Sail Newport and the International J/80 Class Association. Supporting sponsors of the J/80 World Championship include Layline, MBS One-Designs, Waterline Systems and UK Sailmakers. Donating companies include Crystal Spring Water, Greenvale Vineyards, West Marine, Harken and Mount Gay.

The final race of the series started in 7-knot winds that were fluky enough to cause a general recall and the Ida Lewis Race Committee, led by Pam Kirk, put racing on hold long enough to let the wind settle into a classic southwesterly, building to 12 knots. Almost perfect conditions led to an almost perfect race for Klingler, who after a clean start rounded the first weather mark in 5th. "We blew it," he said. "We should’ve been second around the mark. We got in phase pretty quickly, but the Swedish boat went left of us and got a big lift on port tack. That launched them, but we hung tough and waited for our chance to get by. It worked out that were able to pass the Swedes and on the last leg and cross the finish line first." By the end of yesterday’s racing, a quick tally of the scores confirmed that Klingler had clinched the world championship. Today’s win in the final race was "icing on the cake," according to Klingler.

For Jay Lutz (Houston, Texas) the North American and National champion, today’s race was anticlimactic. With Klingler the unofficial regatta winner, Lutz went out to defend the second-place position that he earned during the past three days. His team on Synergy of Moose McClintock (Portsmouth, R.I.), Steve Hammermann (Houston, Texas) and Joe Taylor (Seaford, Texas) kept their attention on Jem, the boat driven by Marie-Claude Heys. By finishing the final race in 5th, and Jem in seventh, Lutz’s team held onto the their second place. Looking back at the past four days, Lutz offered, "The first day, we lost the regatta. No question about it. We had an 11 and 12 (place). We had made some changes to the rig that were detrimental to the boatspeed. We should have sailed the boat the way we had it set up today."

Lutz had nothing but praise for his crew, pulled together over the past few weeks. "Two of my crew, Joe Taylor and Steve Hammermann, are friends from Houston," he said. "Joe is our MacGuyver. Steve, beside being the J/80 class president, is a good sailor with his own J/80. Being able to adapt from steering to working the bow is tough. He did a really good job. I’m easy going and he is a surgeon and is very methodical. We’re a good mix. The guy who kept everything together is Moose. We worked together in the early 80s, but have never sailed together."

Third was sweet for two-time Whitbread Round the World champion Marie-Claude Heys, who had a goal of maintaining her third-place earned in the past three days. "We had a good start," she said. "Lutz sat on us and pushed us right, because today we were the boat he was worried about. He was second and wanted to stay there. Right was the wrong side. We rounded approximately 20th at the windward mark and it was an ‘Oh my God’ moment. I was thinking we lost our third!

"On the run we were the first boat to jibe over on the left," said Heys, who sailed with husband Paul Heys, Katy Ware and Kevin Sproul. "From there we picked up a lot of places. On the second beat we passed a few more boats and the fleet settled in. We passed one more boat at the finish line. It was a ‘coming from the dead’ race. We’re pleased with the third. It’s been an excellent week."

Winning the final race was the payoff for months of practice and preparing for the Worlds. Klingler, who won the J/80 Midwinter championship, held during Key West Race Week, credits his team’s had work and a small change in his sails. "What it came down to really is that we came here really prepared," he said. "We were well prepped when we went to Key West, but we’ve made some subtle changes since then in the sails. We were slow in light wind and fast when windy. The draft in our main was too far forward, so I flattened the front of the main, curvature wise, and moved the draft aft a hair. That was a good change because this was a light air regatta, which is generally our weakness. So that one change made a big difference."

"The boat’s fun," said Klingler. "The people are nice and friendly, so that’s a real god thing. I’ve raced a lot of other classes where I haven’t had as much fun. It’s a wonderful boat. I didn’t buy it to race, I bought it to play around with my family."

The prizegiving was held at Sail Newport this afternoon, overlooking the sparkling world-famous Newport Harbor.

Two Boat of the Day awards were presented by Harken and Hall Spars & Rigging. The first one went to Bill Miller (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and his French built boat aptly called Miller Time. His crew included Geoff Moore, who recently relocated to Canada from Newport and is a multiple J/24 champion, Rob McMillan (Newport, R.I.) and Steve LeMay.

Engraved crystal awards were given to the top ten skippers and crew. A special award of a half-hull was presented to Race Committee Chair Pam Kirk for all of her hard work keeping the course even and running seven races well.

The other Boat of the Day award went to Charlotte Dahl’s team on SWE163 Parbleu V. Her Stockholm, Sweden crew of Cecilia Enander, Karin Jacobson and Lotta Thorelius, are all accomplished one-design sailors. Dahl has many victories in the Olympic class Europe dinghy.

Waterline Systems presented a keel cover to Ken Richardson’s team, who traveled from Denver, Colo.

With a few protest situations to resolve the international jury has advised that once scores are official, they will be posted to www.sailnewport.org/J80worlds.

As an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) recognized international class, the J/80 has grown quickly into a worldwide organization of over 400 boats in 15 countries through the International J/80 Class Association. The J/80 Class Association was formed in 1994 and has since run seven Midwinter and North American Championships.

Overall Results:

More Information:

• Event Website
• YachtsandYachting.com J80 Page