J/70 SAILING Champions League Qualifiers

(Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy)- The concept for “sailing leagues” has continued to grow dramatically across Europe.  From the initial idea first proposed by two-times World Tornado Champion Oliver Schwall and J/Boats’ Germany representative, Mittelmans Werft GMBH, the Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga has mushroomed into the SAILING Champions League across many countries on the continent.

For 2015, the first 16 clubs from eight countries have been nominated for the 2nd annual SAILING Champions League event in September in Porto Cervo- the regatta will be hosted by YC Costa Smeralda from Sept 17-20th in their brand new fleet of eight matched International J/70s. Three clubs from Germany, two from Italy, two from Switzerland, two from Russia, two from Poland, two from Norway and one from the Netherlands are eligible to participate in the regatta on Sardinia. Furthermore, two wild cards have been allocated to the hosting YC Costa Smeralda from Porto Cervo and to the 2014 Champions- the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub from Copenhagen, Denmark.

The clubs that have been invited include:

• Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria- Palermo, Italy- 1st Italian Sailing League 2015
• Deutscher Touring Yacht-Club-    Tutzing, Germany- 2nd German Sailing League 2014
• Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub- Copenhagen, Denmark- Overall Champion 2014
• Kongelig Norsk Seilforening- Oslo, Norway- 1st Norwegian Sailing League
• NAVIGATOR Sailing Team- Moscow, Russia- 1st Act 2 Russian Sailing League 2015
• Norddeutscher Regatta Verein-    Hamburg, Germany- 1st German Sailing League 2014
• Pirogovo Yacht Club- Moscow, Russia- 1st Act 1 Russian Sailing League 2015
• Regattaclub Oberhofen- Oberhofen/Thun, Switzerland- 1st Swiss Sailing League 2015
• Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano- Trieste, Italy- 2nd Italian Sailing League 2015
• Société Nautique de Genève- Geneve, Switzerland- 2nd Swiss Sailing League 2015
• Stavanger Seilforening- Stavanger, Norway- 2nd Norwegian Sailing League
• Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee- Berlin, Germany- 3rd German Sailing League 2014
• WaterSportVereniging Almere Haven- Amsterdam, Netherlands- 1st Dutch Sailing League
• Yacht Club Costa Smeralda- Porto Cervo, Sardinia– Hosting Club
• Yacht Club Sopot- Sopot, Poland- 1st Polish Sailing League 2015
• Yacht Klub Polski Szczecin- Szczecin, Poland- 2nd Polish Sailing League 2015

One might ask, “what is the cost of participation for my sailing club”?  Virtually nothing.  Participation is the primary consideration.  The European J/70 sailing leagues have taken off because it encourages “club membership” participation with a minimal entry fee of less than 750 EUR per regatta sailing on supplied one-design J/70s. Sponsors and partners help underwrite the entire program.  In Europe, SAP Software AG, Chairman/ CEO Hasso Plattner’s database/ analytics software company, has been a huge participant and supporter of sailing leagues (Hasso is a J/100 and J/105 owner and actively supports the 505 and J/70 classes in Europe). Learn more here about the program and how you can promote it in your country! Sailing photo credits- MittelmansWerft/ Sven Jurgensen.  For more SAILING Champions League regatta information.