YC Bielersee Tops Swiss Youth J/70 League

(Tenero, Switzerland)- Twenty-one Swiss sailing clubs sailed their first ever Swiss Sailing League Youth Cup on Lago Maggiore. The host was the Locarno Yacht Club together with the Tenero National Youth Sport Center (CST). The teams sailed with a crew of five teenagers on the matched fleet of J/70 one-design sailboats.

In dreamlike conditions, the Swiss Sailing League Youth Cup was launched on Lake Maggiore. With southerly winds of 8-12 kts, the fleet enjoyed nine races on the first day racing. After the first day of the regatta, the Bielersee YC was leading the fleet by just one point ahead of the Regattaclub Oberhofen, 3rd place was the Zurich Sailing Club.

In excellent wind conditions, the fleet had a great set of races on the last day of the competition.  With five victories and a second place, the YC Bielersee won the regatta; their team included Damian Suri, Alissia Mueller, Chantal Suri, Léo Chassot and Florian Geissbühler. Taking second was the Zurich YC team led by skipper Lukas Looser and third place went to Regattaclub Oberhofen with helmsman Nick Zeltner.  For more Swiss J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

Hat Trick for RCB @ Swiss J/70 Super League

(Versoix, Switzerland)- Like their counterparts in the Dutch J/70 Sailing League, the Regatta Club Bodensee won the 2018 championship title and the Swiss Sailing League Cup for the third time- a hat trick!!

The Swiss National Sailing League 2018 ended in Versoix, Switzerland for the dozen sailing clubs in the Swiss Super League. After a summer-long series of five events throughout Switzerland from April to October, from Lake Maggiore to Lake Constance, Lake Lucerne and Davos, to Lake Geneva, Switzerland's best sailing club was finally determined for 2018.

After a windless first day of competition, it was again a dramatic finale at Versoix on Lake Geneva. The Bodensee sailors, which arrived with a solid lead in the overall standings, could not cope with the light and shifty winds of 3-7 kts that ruled Lake Geneva this past weekend. They finished the final round in the unfamiliar position of 7th place in the middle of the field!

The team of the Regattaclub Oberhofen (RCO) vom Thunersee, which competed with Stefan Seger, Elianne Böhni, Simon Brügger and Mathias Fahrni, was quite different. The RCO won six of its eight races and comfortably won the final round of the season.

As a result, RCO’s dominating performance in the final regatta heavily influenced the overall series ranking. The Bernese were thus equal to the Regattaclub Bodensee (RCB) tied at 15 pts each. But, using the tie-breaker countback based on number of 1sts, 2nds, 3rds, the RCB crew from Lake Constance were declared the overall champions!

Meanwhile, just one point off a possible three-way tie-breaker were the “local heroes” from the Société Nautique de Genève, having to settle for 3rd place in the season series.

The balance of the top five overall were Seglervereinigung Kreuzlingen in 4th place and the Club Nautique de Versoix (more “local heroes” from Lake Geneva) that took 5th position.

What is most interesting about the Swiss J/70 Sailing League is the three-tiers of participation they have created for all Swiss sailing clubs- a methodology that permits THIRTY-SIX teams to participate from across their tiny country full of gorgeous lakes ringed by snow-capped Swiss Alps!  On a “per capita” basis of general population versus sailing population, their Swiss J/70 Sailing League may be the highest percentage of participation in the world!  Here is the graphic that explains how their 2018 three-tier sailing league panned out- Super League, Challenge League, Promotion League, and Qualifiers.

NOTE- in addition to this formal process of qualifying up and down each year (depending on your team’s finish position), there are also a Women’s League and Youth League that will be sailing in the next two weeks!   Follow the Swiss J/70 Sailing League here on Facebook  For more Swiss J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/70s Crush Famous Bol d’Or Mirabaud Race!!

(Lake Geneva, Switzerland)- The Bol d’Or Mirabaud, organized by the Cercle de la Voile- Société Nautique de Genève, is the most prestigious inland lake regatta in the world. Started in 1939, it welcomes monohulls and multihulls each year on Lake Geneva, starting in Geneva, Switzerland. 567 boats (about 2,500+ sailors) were racing this year; over 17 nations were represented amongst the entries. The 79th Edition of the 123 kilometer (66.5 nautical mile) race track from Geneva to Le Bouveret and back- essentially an east to west and back course attracts some of Europe’s and the world’s top sailing talent.

Nicolas Mirabaud, executive committee member of Mirabaud & Cie SA, title sponsor of the event, was delighted about the ever-widening breadth of this regatta. “We’ve supported the Bol d’Or Mirabaud since 2005. Year after year, we contribute alongside the organizing committee to its evolution and we’re very satisfied over its growing success with the public, in particular beyond the borders of the Swiss lakes region!”

The forecast could not have been better for the thousands of sailors.  Some years, it can be a complete drifter.  No question, this year had the ability to set records.  The forecast was for a sustained "bise" wind of 15-20 knots from the northeast and radiant sunshine. That meant a long beat to the first turning mark at the east end of the lake, then a “turn & burn”, pop the kite and blow home!  At least, that was the plan imagined by just about everyone in the fleet.

Almost all competitors of this exceptional Bol d’Or Mirabaud edition completed the race sooner than expected, giving them the choice of their bed, or the Societe Nautique Geneve terrace for an “after-race refreshment” where they could be exchanging war stories from the regatta with other crews.

In the end, the little boats killed the “big boats”- all those things with racks, trapezes, foils and what not.  Who was the giant killer!?  A J/70 one-design speedster, no less!!  In the “small” TCF4 class, the winner boat-for-boat and on handicap was the J/70 CDE.CH, helmed by Marc Stern.  Incredibly, they were 105th in the overall real-time ranking of 567 boats!  They clearly relished the long upwind beat and the planing-mode conditions back home!  Plus, taking 2nd in their class was yet another J/70, Frederick Hedlund’s AGERA 3!

Here was the clincher, when the dust settled and all fleet results were in, the Overall Handicap winner in the ACVL handicap ranking for the 500+ keelboats that sailed the race (excluding multihulls) was Stern’s J/70 CDE.CH!!  And, third was stablemate Hedlund’s J/70 AGERA 3! The ACVL ranking is based on handicapped time; each boat is assigned a coefficient based on its characteristics, which is multiplied by the actual race time. Apparently, never in the history of the Bol d’Or Mirabaud has a one-design won and taken two of the top three positions overall, not even the 100+ Surprises that have been sailing on the lakes for years!   For more Bol D’Or Mirabaud Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.