(Hamble, United Kingdom)- Mark Lees' SERIOUS FUN (Royal Southern YC) is
the 2018 Open J/70 UK National Champion. Doug Struth's DSP (Royal
Southern YC) is the 2018 Corinthian J/70 UK National Champion.Glorious conditions prevailed over three days of racing in the Solent, typically a gentle start built during the day with afternoon sea breeze piping up the wind speed to 17 knots by the final race.
Mark Lees' young team (Toby Mumford, Annabel Vose, Hannah Peters), racing SERIOUS FUN, only splashed their brand new boat on the first day of the championship with virtually no pre-regatta preparation. The
team
scored four wins out of ten races 'straight out of the bubble wrap, to
claim the National Open Title. In a fleet of 35 boats including sailors
from the Olympics, America's Cup, and World Champions, the young team
took a victory that they will always remember.“A big thank you to Stu Childerley and his race team for organizing ten really good races, and to Robert Vose and the team at the Royal Southern Yacht Club, for hosting such a lovely regatta. And, finally, thank you to my team, it is rare to get to sail with some of my very favourite people, we had so much fun,” commented SERIOUS FUN’s Mark Lees.
Doug
Struth's DSP (Royal Southern YC), helmed by Geoff Carveth with crew of
Christian Birrell, Dan Schieber, Lauren Mead, were the top Corinthian
team, winning the 2018 Corinthian J/70 UK National title.“Really good racing - a fantastic weekend,” commented Doug Struth. “All of our races went very well except one, so we are happy with our consistency, and we sailed the best on the last day, which was a great way to finish the championship.”
“As a team we have definitely made some progress,” commented Geoff Carveth. “The UK Class still has some way to go to beat the top teams from Italy and America but this championship has put us closer to our goal of getting on the podium for the Worlds at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club in 2019.”
Martin Dent's JELVIS (Island SC) scored a bullet in the last race to take second in the Open Class, having been seventh overnight. DSP was third in the Open Class. The 2017 Open J/70 UK National Champions, Ian Wilson & Marshall King's SOAK RACING (Royal Southern YC) was fourth, and Calascione & Ripard's CALYPSO (Royal Yacht Squadron) was fifth.
Second in the Corinthian Class was SOAK RACING. Fiona Hampshire's ELIZABETH (Royal Thames YC) was third. The 2017 Corinthian J/70 UK National Champion, Patrick Liardet's COSMIC (Royal Southern YC) was fourth, and Jack Davies YETI (Royal Solent YC) was fifth. J/70 UK Nationals sailing video highlights For more J/70 U.K. Nationals sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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