A Grand Monaco J/70 Winter Series Finale

CARPE DIEM Wins Series, DIVA Takes Act V
(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- While their colleagues were enjoying the best that Biscayne Bay had to offer off the city of Miami, Florida, the twenty-nine J/70s that had assembled to race the fifth and final act of the Monaco J/70 Winter Series could easily boast they had even better sailing conditions on Hercules Bay on the Mediterranean!

Yacht Club Monaco played host to the big fleet of J/70s, with the entire fleet parked right in front of the spectacular “yacht-like” club house recently christened by former J/24 sailor, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.  In addition to their extraordinary hospitality for the J/70 sailors, it was clear the Prince ordered up some good weather, too!  For three straight days, the fleet enjoyed excellent sailing conditions and a total of nine races!

On Friday, perfect spring-like conditions with a brisk 12-knot south-westerly and sunshine at the tail-end of a Mistral, launched the fifth and final act of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series 2015.  In the J/70s, with their sights set on the European Championship organized by the YC Monaco from the 12th to 17th October, the foreign teams were in force to try out the race course area in Monaco. Several starts were necessary with the whole fleet champing at the bit in big packs on the starting line, proof of the technical capabilities of the crews.

At the close of play on Friday, and after two good races that saw enormous swings in each team’s finishing positions, only the top four teams could count finishes in the top ten!  The Italian team on DIVA, skippered by Ferdinando Battistella, led the provisional ranking just one small point ahead of fellow Italian countryman Andrea Zaoli.  Sailing smartly and taking home a 4-7 for the day was the Monaco Class President Jacopo Carrain skippering CARPE DIEM.

On Saturday, all went according to Prince Albert’s plan, with superb conditions for the second day that saw four races completed for the J/70’s. Conditions were ideal with steady winds throughout the day and more brilliant sunshine.

In the J/70’s, five teams dominated the fleet: the Italians on DIVA (Ferdinando Battistella), the British on JOYRIDE (Geoff Carveth), the Germans on LED ZEPPELIN (Yannick Heffner), the Italians on ??? (Andrea Zaoli) and host from Monaco- Jacopo Carrain on CARPE DIEM. It was an amazing sight all day, particularly in the last race with the entire fleet finishing within four minutes of each other. Having led the fleet at the start of the last race and rounded the marks in first place, Carrain’s CARPE DIEM was overtaken by Carveth’S JOYRIDE on the last downwind leg, only grabbing back his pole position and victory in the last 50 metres, with both delivering a text-book match race duel!

At the end of Saturday’s racing, Battistella’s DIVA managed to hang on to the lead in the provisional ranking, thanks to two race wins ahead of Klaus Diesch’s LADY LIKE and Carveth’s JOYRIDE.  Just two points separate the first three boats with DIVA first at 14 pts, JOYRIDE sitting on 15 pts and LED ZEPPELIN at 16 pts.

Sunday saw a fitting finale to the 2nd edition of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series. The aim was to give experienced professional and amateur teams a chance to train for the big meetings of the season, alternating races with training sessions.

Taking full advantage of its new building and facilities, the YCM is now better equipped than ever to bring life to the harbour during winter with these monthly regattas. For the five Acts of this series, the YCM hosted a total of 44 J/70s which had set up their winter headquarters in the Principality and have competed in 25 total races since October.

For the last day of the fifth and final Act, the competitors enjoyed sunny skies and the 12-15-knot tail-end of a Mistral; which meant a total of nine races could be run by the race committee, with Olivier Roinson acting as PRO for the J/70s.

The J/70s really put on a show over the weekend, with all boats jostling for position on the start requiring all their talent and determination to catch that extra breeze and pull away from the crowd.  Throughout the weekend, the leaders battled it out round every mark, proof of how tight the races were being that all competitors crossed the finish line in less than four minutes in most races.

Jacopo Carrain, 4th in Act 5, won the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series 2015 Overall. “I am very satisfied, as the general level in the J/70s improves every month across the fleet. It’s a great opportunity for the 17 Monegasque boats to compete with the best European teams who were there in force from Germany, Italy and England,” said a delighted Monaco Class President.

For this last Act, it was the foreigners who dominated the podium led by Ferdinando Battistella’s DIVA from Italy in first place.  Second and third was determined by a tie-breaker on 32 pts each, with Geoff Carveth’s JOYRIDE from the United Kingdom winning the tie-break over Yannick Heffner’s LED ZEPPELIN from Germany.

The next regatta at the YC Monaco is from the 28th to 29th March when the first J/70 Italian Championship Series will be held.  Over 40 boats are expected to kick off this competitive series.  For Italian and European teams, it certainly all bodes well that Italian teams are at the top of their game in both Europe (DIVA) and the Americas (CALVI NETWORK)!  Plus, with top UK and German teams getting up the learning curve faster, the J/70 European Open Championship in Monaco from 12th to 17th October should be a fun, competitive event with over 50 boats expected to attend.   Sailing photo credits- Sven Jurgensen/ Mittelmanns Werft   For more YC Monaco J/70 Winter Series sailing information