J/70 Europeans- 96 Competitors!

(Kiel, Germany)- More than three million visitors from all over the world will be diving into the colorful and multi-facetted life of Kieler Woche that takes place form June 21st to 26th. Kiel Week 2016, which is organized by the Kiel Yacht-Club in cooperation with the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, Hamburger Segel-Club and the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee, offers many highlights in this year’s program.  One of those is the 2016 J/70 European Championship.

Ninety-six crews from 15 nations (Denmark, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden) have registered for the J/70 Europeans that start on Wednesday at 7:30pm with the parade of nations from the Olympic fire to the Audi stage and an official opening ceremony. With 96 registrations, the number of participants is far more than ever expected. Apart from the European title, the winner will be given a watch from the official Kiel Week time-keeper TUTIMA as well as a Gennaker, clearly showing the winner. For the silver and bronze, there will be prizes from Liros.

The German contingent is simply enormous and quite enthusiastic about participating in their first major European J/70 regatta, sixty-nine teams alone from across the German republic.  The sailors come from the top ranks of the J/22, J/24 and J/80 classes along with the leaders in the J/70s over the past three years. With so many new faces in their group, it’s difficult to assess how teams will fair.  Nevertheless, there are some teams that should be factors in the top quarter of the leaderboard.  For example, Pit Finis’ DRALION.DE has top match racer Karol Jablonski on his team. Then, you have Sven Ruggiesiek’s JUKEBOX with Phil Raabe in the crew; Yannick Hafner’s LED ZEPPELIN is fast; Jens Ahlgrimm’s crew with Stephan Molle on GRUN SOFTWARE AG is experienced; so is Klaus Schutt’s YES WE CAN; Christian Soyka’s VOICE OF ITZEHOE are World Offshore & One-Design Champions; TRE MAKRELLER has top skipper Class Lehmann; Jurgen Waldeheim’s ROSAROTER PENGUIN are a tough crew; and PROCEDES DIVA has Bjorn Beilken and Tobias Teichmann.

The next largest group of sailors is from Denmark, with eight teams participating; including SALLY (Jorn Pedersen), CHILI (Rene Nielsen), HOTEL SVENDBORG (Calle Sorensen), and CRACKER JACK (Soren Larsen).

Sweden and the United Kingdom are sending a half-dozen teams each.  From England are several top boats, such as Nick & Adam Munday’s J7T, Charlie Esse’s BABY J, and Patrick Liardet’s COSMIC.  Sweden’s leading crews include Oscar Lundqvist’s FANNY, Jonas Wibom’s ACE OF BASE, and Bo Johansson’s TYRA.

Some of the leading Italian teams are participating in their five boat contingent, including two-time Key West J/70 Midwinters Champion Carlo Alberini on CALVI NETWORK, Gianfranco Noe’s WHITE HAWK and Edoardo Lupi’s TORPYONE.

The four-strong Monegasque crews include Monaco J/70 Class President Jacopo Carrain on CARPE DIEM, Stefano Roberti on PICCININA and Pierrik Devic on FRASER YACHTS.

Other top European teams include Klaus Diem’s Austrian crew on PFANDER, Luis Bugallo Arriola’s Spanish team on MARNATURA, Remy Hurdiel’s French crew on VADK 3, Wouter Kollmann’s Dutch team on PLAJ, Egil Ronaes’ Norwegian team on LUCKY JACK, the two Russian teams (Sergei Ezihkov’s JUNO & Alex Markarov’s MAJIC), and Tom Studer’s Swiss team on REGATTA CLUB BODENSEE.

From South America are two top teams, including Brazil’s former J/24 World Champion, Mauricio Santa Cruz, sailing BRUSCHETTA and Juan Reid’s WINDMADE sailing with his Chilean team of Pablo Lorca, Felipe Robles and Santiago Lorca.

Top women sailors from Italy and Germany will be competing and at least two skippers have proven they have the ability to jump onto the leaderboard.  One of Germany’s top women skippers and a long-time German Women’s Champion in J/24s will be sailing a new RAGAZZA, a brand new J/70- leading the charge will be Stephanie KÖPCKE’s crew of Nele-Marie BOCK, Amelie PANUSCHKA, Lydia KOPPIN, and Anke LUKOSCH.  Having sailed a lot of Farr 40s, M24s and M32s, there is no question Italy’s Claudia Rossi sailing PETITE TERRIBLE with crew Matteo MASON, Simone SPANGARO, and Michele PAOLETTI will be tough customers to contend with on any starting line!

Here is a nice Kieler Woche sailing video summary on YouTube.   For more J/70 Europeans at Kieler Woche sailing information

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