Russians Win Asian J/80 Champs!

(Xiamen, China)- The local sailing club in Xiamen, China hosted the 2018 edition of the Asian J/80 Championship for a fleet of twenty-six boats from across the greater Asian region representing eight nations; including Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Russia, India, USA, Canada, and China.

This was the first time the J/80 Class was properly enforcing the rules in the Asian market. There were four days of measurement before the event, weighing boats, measuring sails, weighing crew and completing a proper safety check. During the measurement days, teams also got some nice practice time.

The weather in the days leading up to the event was perfect shorts and t-shirt weather. However, thereafter it was a bit cooler on race days.

Day 1
It was awesome racing on day one, with two races sailed in a steady 18-22 knots of wind. Hull 10 came out to race on this day, starting with two bullets. This Chinese team was comprised of junior professional Chinese national sailors; their skipper was the Chinese National 470 Champion. The 2nd to 5th place boats were not so consistent, giving the Chinese Youth team a nice lead in the standings to start the series.

Day 2
With an earlier start and a few knots less wind then the day before, the race committee was able to complete four races. There was no dominant winner of the day, with four different boats getting first place.  As a result, that outcome narrowed the overall points for the first four boats (Russian team, Chinese National team, Australian Team, and Xiamen University Team).

Day 3
Following the trend of the first two days, the fleet was again blessed with good breeze, but just a few knots less than the day before. This time, it was the Russian’s turn. The Russian team from the Seventh Fleet YC (members of the Russian Navy in Vladivostok, eastern Russia) brought their “A” game and pulled off three 1sts and a 4th!

Day 4
The last day of racing needed only one race to complete the series. The boats went out to the starting line with very little wind. Consequently, the RC hoisted the “AP” flag for about thirty minutes to wait for a gentle breeze to build along the shore.  Soon, the fleet started with a light northerly breeze with the current helping everyone to windward and against them down wind. In this area of Xiamen Bay, you can see 1-2 knots of current sailing in the open waters off the harbor. Unfortunately, the breeze shut off for a bit when the boats all reached Mark one.  So, the race became a bit of a restart. But, when the breeze came back, it lasted for the complete race, which was a windward-leeward twice around.

The organizers supplied two judge boats for this event with two International Judges and Jim Johnstone as the third Judge and in charge of the technical measuring process. With on the water judging, the sailors were all able to enjoy the nights off in Xiamen, with a great opening ceremony and plenty of nightlife to be had in the city!

The final results saw the team from eastern Russia- the TEAM EVOLUTION TIGER- win the regatta with four bullets in their scoreline of eleven races for a 26 pts net total.  Second was the XIAMEN UNIVERSITY TEAM with 30 pts net and rounding out the podium with the bronze was the SEAMO RACE TEAM from Australia with 44 pts net.

Overall, the J/80 teams were very pleased with the venue and the class is already in the planning stages for the next Asian Championships to be held in Qingdao next September 2019. The Chinese J/80 Class Association is holding the event in venues where they can see continued growth in the local J/80 fleets. The goal is a simple one- get more boats to participate than last year. The 2019 target is a lofty one-> 40+ boats in Qingdao, site of the Chinese Sailing Olympics in 2008! Add to Flipboard Magazine.