A Fraternity of Champions Re-Unite
(Dartmouth, England)- Seventy five boats and 350 racing sailors from
nine nations will begin to arrive in Dartmouth next week to compete at
The MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM. The
World Championship opens on Friday 8th of June and the practice race
takes place on Monday 11th in Start Bay, just outside Dartmouth Harbour.
The regatta is being organised by the Royal Dart Yacht Club and the
senior hosting club is the Britannia Yacht Club. Racing for the World
Championship title starts on Tuesday and three races are scheduled each
day until Friday 15th June when the final two races of the series will
be sailed. The new MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Champion will be
crowned at the Closing Ceremony and Prize-giving at Britannia Royal
Naval College on Friday evening.
To have so many International teams traveling to this island nation to
take part in the championship is an amazing feat in itself and it is a
credit to MIQ Logistics, to SLAM and to all of the others supporting
this year's J/80 Worlds. The fleet will be 40% bigger in Dartmouth than
when the World Championship last came to the UK back in 2005.
Dartmouth offers the potential to deliver extremely challenging and
exciting conditions for those racing at the event. Couple this with the
splendor of the coastline and the warmth and support of Dartmouth
residents and it is clear to see why the entry number is so high. The
result is that some of the best sailors on the International racing
circuit along with World Champions both past and present are coming to
Dartmouth to compete. Jay Lutz of the USA and Ignacio Camino Rodrigues
of Spain, the current J/80 World Champion will both be hoping that
Dartmouth affords them a second opportunity to take the top spot on the
podium this year.
Ruairidh Scott of North Sails won the World Championship for the UK when
the event was last here in 2005. Scott returns to the J/80 fleet for
the 2012 World Championship and will be racing with Simon Johnson in
their boat Joyeuse. Ruairidh said ‘It’s good to be back in the J/80
fleet. Over the last few years I’ve been closely involved with the
development of the class through work but I have not actually managed to
fit in much J/80 racing myself. Simon and I have my Spanish colleague
Gustavo Martinez as our tactician and he was second at the J/80 Worlds a
few years ago so we are hoping to put together a strong campaign in
Dartmouth’.
Kevin
Sproul of Ultimate Sails helmed the top British J/80 at Spi Ouest
Regatta in France earlier this year. Canny Scotsman Sproul sounded
confident but cautious about his prospects for 2012. ‘The French and
Spanish are very strong at the moment’ said Sproul. ‘They’re spending a
lot of time on the water and they will not be easy to beat but my crew
are absolutely ready.’ Sproul and his team won the UK National
Championship which was raced in Dartmouth in 2011 and so he knows the
waters well. Having just come back from winning a major International
regatta in a forty foot race-boat in Barcelona last week it is clear
that Sproul is at the top of his game just now.
Nick Haigh (a familiar name in UK sailing circles with vast experience
ranging from Lark dinghies to his most recent DK46 yacht) will be
sailing his new J/80 with his wife Annie and the current SB3 World
Champion Geoff Carveth. Nick explained ‘Geoff has campaigned J/80s
before and when he called me to suggest putting a team together, I could
not resist. Annie and I live in South Devon and with the J/80 Worlds
sailing in our home waters we had to do it. We are fully revved up and
ready to go with our new boat, Slightly Steamy.’ For Carveth, of course,
the J/80 Worlds represent unfinished business.
Rayco Tabares (Spain) who won the J/80 Worlds in 2009 explained, ‘I
started to sail J/80s in 2006 and in 2009 we won the World Championship
in our country, at Santander. We thought then that it was a difficult
year because there were so many boats with such good sailors, but the
crews competing this year are even stronger! I love the J/80 class: it’s
amazing for us to be competing against so many other teams, at regattas
all over the world. I’m so happy to get the chance to race in
Dartmouth this year and we hope to have great racing with good winds’.
It promises to be an extraordinary regatta. French Teams like Eric
Brezellec and Jean Charles Moriceau on INTERFACE CONCEPT I & II,
respectively have been at the top of their game in both French regattas
and J/80 Worlds. Fellow Frenchmen Luc Nadal and Pierre Follenfant will
also be in the hunt. On the English side, Ian Atkins on boats.com, Stew
Hawthorn and Patrick Liardet will all be forces to contend with and are
all capable of top three performances. From Denmark are top contenders
Tom Klok and Will & Marie Crump. Hong Kong are fielding two teams
for the first time, Bruce Perkins and Andrew Moore. From Sweden is
their national champion, Ingemar Sundstedt. And, from Netherlands is
one of their top teams with Laura Vroon skippering. For more J/80 World Championship sailing information