J/70 Sails Rolex Ilhabela Race Week in Brazil

(Ilhabela, Brazil)- Can a J/70 really crush an Offshore Race With THE START!  It was the talk of the town (or the island, more accurately).  The diminutive little 23 ft J/70 took off the starting line on port tack, crossing 99% of the fleet (which included 40 to 65 footers, many famous Soto 40s, etc) and proceeded to sail the 50nm Alcatrezes Island Offshore Race!  To give you some perspective, that’s about the same distance as the famous JP Morgan Round Island Race (Isle of Wight) sailed in the United Kingdom— which has also seen the J/70 TEAM RAF SPITFIRE win it overall.  The owners of J/70 BRA 493- TONESSA- are Renato Cunha and Adriano Bastos.  Here is their entertaining story:

“I’d like to share with you our experience on board BRA-493 (TONESSA), during Ilhabela Sailing Week off São Paulo, Brazil. It’s the largest South America ocean racing event for ORC and IRC classes and we decided to outfit our J/70 to race with the big boats in ORC class.

The first and longest race of the regatta is the subject of this report. It was a 50nm race in open waters rounding the inhospitable Alcatrezes Island during the dark night.

The start took place in the confined waters of São Sebastião Channel in a heavy breeze. After a superb, class act start, the wind increased dramatically and the puffs begin to soar up to 35 kts.

A lot of boats had serious problems at this time.  However, all our crew were fitted with life jackets and safety harnesses, we had prepared ourselves for the rough conditions.

As soon as we left the channel, the swell went up to 3-4 meters (10 to 15 feet) and the strong SW winds (25-35 kts) caused an adverse current up to 2 knots!  It was around of 8 hours of sailing upwind connected to the safety line to get to Alcatrezes.

After rounding the Alcatrezes Island in the dark of night, we hoisted the kite and now the game begins!! The downwind was like flying blind down a roller coaster, spray flying everywhere like it was shot out of a firehose!  We were hitting 20+ kts at times going down the steep ocean swells.  About 2h 40m later, we crossed the finish line!  That was a fast ride!  No damage.  Amazing race.  We were tired, but extremely excited about our performance.

The elapsed time race record was broken by a canting-keel Soto 65! And, the little J/70 created a sensation, finishing 8th overall on corrected time after 50% of the fleet was devastated by the tough conditions.  We were by far the smallest boat of the fleet to compete and complete the race.  In fact, we beat many Olympic sailors, including Gold Medalists like Lars Grael’s team on his Soto 40!

It was an amazing experience! Many thanks for creating such a fun and safe boat! See you in San Diego!!  Best, Renato and Adriano”


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