(Newport, RI)- The New York Yacht Club One-Design Regatta, June 2nd to
4th, will be sailed out of the historic Harbour Court clubhouse on
Newport Harbor. This new event will feature racing for the sailing
world’s most competitive keelboat class- the rapidly growing J/70 class
first introduced in 2013. The J/70 fleet will gather for an early season
event that will see many teams shaking off the rust and aiming toward
national and world championship events later this summer.In 2014, the J/70 class held its first World Championship out of New York Yacht Club's Harbour Court, with 86 boats. The fleet won’t be quite as large when the class returns this weekend, but former America’s Cup sailor Hannah Swett expects a competitive group. “It will be a great warm-up event for summer J/70 racing in Newport,” says Swett, who spent her youth sailing on Narragansett Bay and was an All-American sailor at Brown University in Providence. “We are expecting a dozen or more highly competitive boats. It is great to be sailing an one-design regatta at Harbour Court.”
Despite the relatively small size of the fleet, more than half the teams are of World Championship caliber. In fact, add up all Olympic medals, World, North American and Midwinter Championships in the thirteen-boat fleet and it goes way beyond two dozen! A formidable group it is; including Brian Keane’s SAVASANA from Beverly YC (J/80 World Champion and J/105 Midwinter Champion 3x); Bruno Pasquinelli’s STAMPEDE from Fort Worth Boat Club; Doug Strebel’s crew on BLACK RIVER RACING from Lakewood YC (including Pan Am Games Gold Medallists Jay & Jody Lutz); Heather Gregg & Joe Bardenheier’s MUSE from New York YC (the first J/70 North American Championship winners and first Corinthians winner and fifth overall in the first J/70 Worlds); John Brim’s RIMETTE team from Fishers Island YC (offshore champion); the Sertl Family’s JUNKANOO from Jamestown’s Conanicut YC (J/22 champions); NYYC Commodore Phil Lotz sailing USA 92 (J/105 and Swan 42 Invitational Cup champion); Jenn & Ray Wulff’s JOINT CUSTODY from Annapolis YC; Tim Healy’s USA 2 from Sail Newport (the first J/70 World Champion and two-time J/70 Midwinter champion); Glenn Darden’s HOSS from Fort Worth Boat Club (with crew Jonathan McKee- Olympic Gold Medallist alongside Glenn’s J/105 and J/80 North American titles); and, of course, Hannah Swett’s SPARKLE. Needless to say, Hannah’s observation was not an understatement regards the competition! Sailing Photo credits- Paul Todd/OutsideImages.com For more J/70 New York YC One-Design regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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