J/70 Pacific Coast Championship Preview

(San Francisco Bay, CA)- The small but mighty J/70 fleet will be competing for the J/70 Pacific Coat Championships this weekend, hosted by St Francis YC.  There is some remarkable talent that will be vying for class honors.

For starters, Whitbread Around the World winner, Star World Champion and America’s Cup helmsman Paul Cayard is sailing on Chris Kostanecki’s JENNIFER. Kostanecki is going to the J/70 World’s with Cayard and this will be a great training event for them and their team.

Then, fresh off a 2nd at the J/70 Europeans on the Solent in England and a win with Peter Duncan’s RELATIVE OBSCURITY at the Sail Newport Regatta, Willem Van Waay will be sailing on David Schumann’s BOTTLE ROCKET. Their team will be training hard this week on Wednesday and Thursday and they plan to sail with five crew!

Also fresh off a 2nd as team-mate with Willem at the J/70 Europeans, Victor Diaz de Leon will be sailing on Bennet Greenwald’s PERSEVERANCE. With Bennet’s usual main trimmer Eric Doyle racing on Joel Ronning’s Santa Cruz 70 Catapult for the Transpac, this leaves an opportunity for Bennet to invite Victor on board and simply go faster!

In addition to these top crews, look out for these other contenders, Tracy and Christy Usher on CHRISTINE ROBIN and Chris Snow and John Brigden on COOL STORY BRO!

Regatta Chair Tracy Usher commented on the upcoming weekend, “As of yesterday morning, the National Weather Service is predicting patchy morning fog through to the weekend with a slight warming trend at the end of the week. The Windsurfing wind forecaster is predicting moderate westerlies over this period. Finally, current tables indicate a light flood tide during the racing time Friday-Saturday. All should make for great sailing conditions on the City Front!

The St Francis YC is working hard to make sure it is a great event. This will be one of the first events for the club's new race director, Jen Lancaster, and I know she is looking forward to meeting one of the Bay Areas most dynamic fleets. PRO duties will be shared by John Callahan and Tony Chargin, both of whom are among the most experienced local PRO's St Francis has. So, we can be sure the racing will be top level. As well, there are post racing socials planned for both Friday and Saturday nights at which our local fleet captain has arranged for two of the top pro sailors in the J/70 class to run debriefs.

This event is meant to be a qualifier for the 2018 J/70 World Championship in Marblehead. Marblehead is going to limit entries to 100 boats total, with about half coming from North American teams. With one open and one corinthian berth being awarded from this weekend’s PCC’s, this is the only local opportunity to qualify for the worlds.”  Sailing Photo Credit- Sergei Zavarin  For more J/70 Pacific Coast Championship sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


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