Thirteen teams battled it out last weekend in the J70 class at the 2023 Key Yachting J Cup. After seven races held in sunshine and light breeze, Charles Thompson’s Brutus II came away with the overall and Open title, and Little J won in the Corinthian division and placed 2nd overall.
Despite having the smallest turnout of the 2023 Grand Slam Series so far (twenty-one teams were racing at the South Coast Championships), competition was fierce with all of this season’s top Open teams present. That included Paul Ward’s 2020 World Championship winning Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat, Charles’ Brutus II who are currently leading this year’s Grand Slam Series, 2022 Grand Slam Series champions Jelvis, and exciting newcomers to the fleet William Edwards’ Sardonyx XI.
Racing was nip and tuck all three days, as it always is in the J70. Three teams were in contention to win overall going into the final race. Generally, teams were rewarded for taking leverage at the right time, considering the tidal situation when planning each leg, and minimising the number of manoeuvres in the lighter breeze. The Royal Southern Yacht Club race management team did a great job, setting square courses which gave the sailors the opportunity to really bring their tactics into play.
Brutus II proved they were the quickest boat on the race course scoring four bullets in the seven races, including both the last two. Mainsheet trimmer Niki Birrell commentred, “we had a great team working well together, so all the boat handling was slick, and we did the simple stuff well.” Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat were leading the regatta at times, but were leapfrogged by both Brutus II and Little J in the final race where they finished 4th, and had to settle with 3rd overall and 2nd in Open. Sardonyx XI rounded off the Open podium and finished 5th overall.
In the Corinthian division, on Little J we had our best performance of the season so far. As always, we would like to say a massive thank you to Antoine Estier for lending us such a quick boat! Woof!, skippered by John Greenland, also had a great weekend, with all their results in the top five. They finished 4th overall and 2nd Corinthian. Paul Barnett’s Panther finished 3rd in Corinthian after a solid series, including a podium finish in race three.
The J70 gives amateur sailors (who make up the majority of the fleet) the best opportunity to race against some of the most elite sailors in the world in a very accessible format. At the J Cup, British Olympians Niki Birrell, Ben Saxton and Chris Grube were racing on Brutus II, two-time 470 World Champion Elliot Willis, World Champion across multiple classes and North Sails expert Charlie Cumberly, and Matt Howard who coached Giles Scott to Gold in Rio were racing on Eat, Sleep, and that’s just scratching the surface. If you’re interested in getting involved, I recommend renting one of the many boats available for hire from Solent yacht clubs and trying out the best sports boat racing in the world! Come join the thirty teams that have competed in the Grand Slam Series so far.
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