J One-Design Champions Leading The Charge At Louis Vuitton Trophy

Who says that former College Sailors of the Year and J One-Design Champions don't know how to match race?  Amongst the world's top teams competing in the current Louis Vuitton Trophy are J sailors such as John Kostecki (Oracle/BMW), Ed Baird (LUNA ROSSA),  Terry Hutchinson (ARTEMIS), Chris Larson (MASCALZONE LATINO), Sebastien Col (ALL4ONE) and Morgan Larson (MASCALZONE LATINO).  And sprinkled amongst the crew of 8 of the 10 boats are champion J sailors of one form or another- guys who raced and cut their teeth on J/22s, J/24s, J/80s and J/105s across the world match racing in various venues.

One of the more amusing anecdotes of the racing in La Maddalena came from American Morgan Larson commenting on tactics that were employed between two former J/24 Champions:  "Mascalzone Latino slammed the door on Artemis with a strategy the Italian team had been refining for some time. The guys on the boat made a great call for the left side and Gavin did a beautiful job of executing that," said tactician Morgan Larson. "We spent a lot of time this morning talking about Terry Hutchinson's weaknesses in the prestart. I think Gavin exploited that weakness. It was very close. Terry was really close to getting an overlap with us that would have shifted everything. If they got an overlap they would have got the left and probably won the race."  Read more about how these top sailors are doing to win the Louis Vuitton Trophy.