USA’s Duncan Crowned AUDI J/70 World Champion!

Italy’s Noe' Tops Corinthians Division
(Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy)- In more ways than one, the 2017 edition of the AUDI J/70 World Championship, hosted by YC Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo, will go down in history as one of the most memorable.  For starters, it was the largest fleet of sportboats ever assembled for a World Championship- 163 boats ultimately sailed, with 175 boats initially registered from 24 nations.  Then, over three days of measurement, seven boats were rejected and another six boats simply disappeared and withdrew from the regatta.  As the teams started to practice on Sunday, it was evident the forecasted “mistral” was going to be much stronger than expected; by Sunday evening winds were a steady 20-30 kts, gusting to 40 kts from the West.  The mistral was the central theme for the next three days, blowing out Monday’s practice race with 62 kts in the harbor and 85 kts in the Straits of Bonifacio (between the southern cape of Corsica and the northern points of Sardinia), then steady 30 to 45 kts for what was supposed to be qualifying races on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Overcoming a wide-variety of challenging weather conditions for the next three days was none other than the American team led by Peter Duncan on RELATIVE OBSCURITY.  Peter’s crew of Jud Smith, Willem van Waay and Victor Diaz de Leon, simply showed their transom to the fleet more often than not for the six races sailed, compiling an amazing record of 3-1-1-2-1-3 for 8 pts net to easily win Peter’s first J/70 World Championship.

Another impressive performance was the Corinthians Division winner- Italy’s Gianfranco Noe sailing WHITE HAWK, sailing with his son- Emmanuele and crew of Giuliano Chiandrussi, and Samuele Semi.  Their scorecard of 22-2-3-13-14-16 not only earned an easy Corinthians win, but also placed them 10th overall in the Open division!

Day 3- Thursday
After three days of mistral, the fleet was quite anxious to go sailing. After the mandatory 0930 hrs skipper’s briefing run by the PRO Mark Foster from Corpus Christi YC in Texas, the teams briskly walked down to their boats and headed out of the gorgeous Porto Cervo harbor into the big seas and big breezes that lay in wait offshore under spectacular sunny blue skies with torn cotton clouds racing across the horizon.  It was a magnificent start for the fleet.  A total of six races were run in 15-22 kts from the remnants of the westerly flowing mistral.  More often than not, the left hand side of the course was better than the right, due to the known geographical shift that would often show up in the top one-third of the race course.

After the one-day, three-race qualifying series, Peter Duncan’s RELATIVE OBSCURITY led with a 3-1-1 tally for 5 pts; followed in second place by Claudia Rossi’s Italian team on PETITE TERRIBLE #AUDI with a 1-4-1 scoreline for 6 pts; and yet another Italian team, Franco Solerio’s L’ELAGAIN, sitting in third place with a 2-2-7 for 11 pts.

The top Corinthians Division leaders were Noe’s WHITEHAWK with a 22-2-3 record for 27 pts in first place; Follin Robin’s GIVE ME FIVE from France with an 8-29-14 for 41 pts in second; and Luis Bugallo’s MARNATURA from Spain with a 23-20-11 for 54 pts in third position.

Day 4- Friday
On Friday, the regatta moved up a gear, as the fleets were split into Gold and Silver Fleets. The early morning westerly Mistral wind, unexpectedly piped up to over 20 knots before the start of racing.  However, by the end of the day, a southerly wind caused the second race to be abandoned, and racing was shortly called to a halt. Four races had now been held, offically constituting a series, with one day to go.

Following on their amazing performance on the first day of racing, Duncan’s RELATIVE OBSCURITY crew grew their lead to 10 pts by scoring a 2nd in the only race of the day.  Meanwhile, Rossi’s PETITE TERRIBLE #AUDI team scored a 9th to drop into third place.  Leapfrogging her into second place by taking a 4th in the race was the Spanish FERMAX team, skippered by Gustavo Martinez Doreste.

Meanwhile, Noe’s WHITE HAWK continued to lead the Corinthians Division, followed by the Mexican Ignacio Perez skippering ADRENALINE in second place and Bugallo’s MARNATURA in third.

In the Silver fleet, it was Norway’s Eivind Astrup that was leading on NORWEGIAN STEAM and the Silver Corinthians leader was Alessandro Zampori’s NOBERASCO DAS from Italy.

The top three for Friday’s Gold Fleet race was all American; Peter Cunningham's POWER PLAY won in shifty conditions with an enormous lead of well over a minute. Despite not getting a great start, Cunningham's team, with Argentinian Lucas Calabrese calling tactics, came back to cross the finish line in first position. Duncan's RELATIVE OBSCURITY was second, scoring their fourth podium in the regatta and Brian Keane's SAVASANA made it a 1-2-3 for the American teams.

"We still had the Mistral wind today, but it was much lighter,” commented Relative Obscurity's Jud Smith. "We thought the right would pay and it did, we rounded the top mark in second. In all my years, I have never been in a keelboat fleet this big. However, now we are in a fleet of about 80 boats, that is similar to last year's Worlds in San Francisco. I guess the popularity is down to the fact that the J/70 is a great boat, and it suits people of different sizes, gender, and ages, and its great to see a lot of young people at the regatta!”

Day 5- Epic Saturday Finale
With numerous General Recalls, a Black Flag in play, and a full on foam-up, the Worlds had a thrilling climax to remember for years to come. With sparkling sunshine, a significant sea state, and a warm westerly breeze, piping up to a ballistic 30 knots, the world's largest championship sportsboat fleet enjoyed a fantastic finale.

After a stunning performance, scoring podium finishes in every race, including three race wins, the runaway winner of the regatta was America’s Peter Duncan on RELATIVE OBSCURITY. Another American team, Brian Keane's SAVASANA (with crew of Stu McNay, Tom Barrows, Ron Weed) scored a second in the final race, moving up to runner-up for the championship. Italian Luca Domenici on NOTARO TEAM (with crew of Diego Negri, Stefano Orlandi, Piero Vigo) moved up to third place after posting a BFD-5 in the last two races!  After posting a 9-BFD, Claudia Rossi's attempt to become the first lady helm to win the title was ended, her PETITE TERRIBLE #AUDI team settling for 4th place just 4 pts back from 3rd.  Then, only 1 pt behind her in 5th place was another Italian crew, Mauro Roversi’s JCURVE.

The Corinthians Division was easily won by Noe’s WHITE HAWK.  Second, was Bugallo’s MARNATURA and third was Follin’s GIVE ME FIVE.

The overall winner of the Silver Fleet and also the Silver Corinthians winner was Zampori’s NOBERASCO DAS from Italy. They were followed in second place by Stefano Roberti’s PICCININA from YC Monaco in Monte Carlo and in third place was Russia’s Dmitry Shunin from Moscow, Russia sailing GOLDEN WING. Rounding out the top five were Michael Grau’s German crew on PAINT IT BLACK in 4th and Horacio & Nicolas Carabelli’s Brazilian team on URUBU taking 5th place.

In the Silver Corinthians Division, taking second place was America’s Henry Brauer sailing RASCAL from Eastern YC in Marblehead, MA (host of the 2018 J/70 World Championship).  Third place went to Pawel Tarnowski’s APOTEX team from Poland.

"Awesome! Top of the world,” exclaimed Peter Duncan dockside at the YC Costa Smeralda. "It is a great feeling, I have sailed with some great guys, we had a great event, and everything seemed to go our way, it was just one of those weeks. It is hard to put into words how I feel like now, but this was just exceptional. This fleet has some really great talent, and the organizers, and the yacht club have done such an amazing job. Most of all I want to credit the crew, Victor, Jud, Willem, they have been just fantastic."

Runner-up was Savasana (USA) Brian Keane. "We chartered the J/70, so we are really pleased to have come second in the championship. I have been racing in the class since the beginning, and now that we have fleets racing J/70s all over the world, the standard is just amazing, and so is this regatta. A world record keelboat fleet in superb surroundings."

Top team for the host club, YC Costa Smeralda, and first team with a Lady Helm (winning the Helen C Johnstone Memorial Trophy), was Petite Terrible (ITA) Claudia Rossi. "Peter Duncan is a worthy World Champion, his team sailed the best this week. Our fourth position is better than fifth in the last World Championship, so maybe I will not win for three years,” laughed Claudia. "However, I will be in Marblehead for the 2018 J/70 World Championship!”

The Closing Ceremony and Awards for the Audi J/70 World Championship was held at the Piazza Azzurra. YCCS Commodore, Riccardo Bonadeo, spoke about the event before presenting prizes to the winners.

"Congratulations to all of the winners at the Audi J/70 World Championship. This is a special year for the YCCS, as we are celebrating our 50th anniversary, over the years we have hosted many world championships. However, this is the largest world championship fleet hosted by the Club in all of those years. It has been a pleasure and an honor to welcome over 160 teams from 25 different countries, to enjoy the fantastic sailing grounds of the Costa Smeralda, and the Clubhouse at the YCCS. I would like to thank Audi the Title sponsor of this event, and our partner for a long time, which supports us in so many of these new challenges. I also want to thank the J/70 International and Italian Classes, the owners, their crews, the Race Committee, the International Jury and all the YCCS staff. We hope that all of the competitors will come and race again with the Club in the very near future."

The 2018 J/70 World Championship will be hosted by the Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, Massachusetts USA from 22nd to 29th September 2018.  Follow the AUDI J/70 Worlds on Facebook here

AUDI J/70 Worlds Summary video
http://ift.tt/2yCgogv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQu7MRHXAY
Day 3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yge147XOAc
Day 4- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUtBzYxpaHw
Day 5- Finale- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQu7MRHXAY

Facebook Video interviews of J/70 Worlds winners here:
Champion Peter Duncan- http://ift.tt/2wNOr8l
Corinthian winner- Gianfranco Noe- http://ift.tt/2wNOscp
1st Woman helm- Claudia Rossi- http://ift.tt/2wPcoMI
2nd Woman helm- Lera Kovalenko- http://ift.tt/2yBOm4W
3rd Woman helm- Hannah Mills- http://ift.tt/2wNOsJr

Video Highlights
Final race of Gold- http://ift.tt/2yDHGn4
Final race of Silver- http://ift.tt/2wNOtgt

Sponsor- Quantum Sails
Time-lapse video- http://ift.tt/2yCgpkz
Day 5 Gold fleet- http://ift.tt/2wPcpQM

Sailing photo credits- Pierrick Contin, Max Ranchi & Kurt Arrigo  For more AUDI J/70 World Championship sailing informationAdd to Flipboard Magazine.


from J/News Articles http://ift.tt/2wNOtNv
via IFTTT

Artikel terkait :