(Hong Kong, China)- Eight races over two days was always going to be
hard work for the J/80s, but with the strong winds on the first day, the
fleet really had their work cut out. The J/80s Class Championship 2013
took place just off Lamma Island where the Etchells 22s were also
competing. In total fifteen boats entered the Championships for some
spirited racing over the long weekend.
For
the first start the fleet was slightly back from the start line, taking
a conservative approach in the strong winds gusting to well over 25
kts. Upwind was hard work and the fleet was well spread out by the time
they reached the windward buoy. The first few boats, including JChi at
the front, hoisted their spinnakers without too much trouble,
immediately throwing themselves into a plane. Many of other boats played
it conservatively sailing main & jib wing-on-wing and still surfing
like mad down the enormous waves. Those that lived by the mantra of
“go big, or go home” and were able to control their boats had an
absolute epic time!
JChi
reveled in the tough conditions, taking a win in the first race. They
followed up that commanding performance with three more top three
results in races 2-4 placing her in a solid position going into day 2.
Javelin’s first race was a disappointment (6th) but she was able to
rectify that in impressive style with three wins to follow, placing her
one point behind JChi going into Day 2. The other boats performing well
towards the front of the fleet were Tigrina, Jasmine and Joss, although
Tigrina was forced to retire from race 4 losing her series discard on
Day 1, placing her under pressure for Day 2.
Day
2 saw lighter winds, which meant the crews were able to focus more on
strategy and less on keeping themselves upright. The big change in
weather conditions also reflected in the results, with each race won by a
different boat. Of the eventual top 5 boats only Tigrina was unable to
pull of a race win on Day 2, although her results of 3-5-3-2 were enough
to squeeze into 3rd place overall beating Jasmine by just 1 point after
discards. Taking 2nd overall was Javelin, her aggressiveness caught up
to her with an OCS in the final race, meaning she had to count her 7th
in race 7 instead of using it as a throw-out. Finally, pulling off a win
in the last race, to top off an excellent Championships, was JChi.
For
more Hong Kong YC J/80 season sailing information
