The 2025 J/70 UK National Championships, one of the most anticipated highlights of the season, fully lived up to expectations. This year’s event was made even more special as part of the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s 250th Anniversary Regatta, providing a fitting stage for a standout Nationals.
Competitors enjoyed a full programme both on and off the water. Varied conditions tested the fleet throughout the regatta, while shoreside celebrations matched the scale of the occasion, including a fantastic class dinner at the Squadron hosted by Tideway Wealth Management.
Jelvis Take the National Title
After a highly competitive series, Jelvis emerged as 2025 J/70 UK National Champions, securing overall victory ahead of Calypso in second place, who were also crowned Corinthian National Champions, with Sardonyx completing the podium in third.
Speaking after the event, Martin Dent said:
“Ruby, Henry, Rick and I are super-proud to win the Tideway J/70 National Championships. It was a hard-fought victory ahead of a really competitive fleet. The UK class is in a really strong place with numbers building fast- expect 50 boats next year. Big thanks to the Royal Thames and their brilliant race management, it was a great regatta, very enjoyable all round both on and off the water.”
Corinthian Success for Calypso
The Nationals also marked another milestone for Calypso, who were crowned 2025 Corinthian J/70 UK National Champions. While the name is well established within the class, this season represents a new chapter, with Ali Hall at the helm and a new team onboard. Calypso have been a consistent presence on the Grand Slam Series podium throughout the season and carried that form into the Nationals.
Ali Hall reflected on the campaign:
“I’m absolutely loving being back sailing in the J/70 class – the racing is challenging, competitive and incredibly enjoyable.
We’re really pleased with how Calypso’s season has gone so far but we’ve still got a lot to learn. One of the great things about this class is not only the strong UK scene – for sure the best racing on the Solent – but also the bucket-list international venues. We’ll be doing some Italian events this Summer and are looking ahead to 2026 with both the Open and Corinthian Worlds in Southern Europe!”
Onboard for the Nationals were Ali Hall, Benno Marstaller, Andrew Shorrock and Felix Trattner.
A Growing and Diverse Fleet
This year’s Nationals attracted 33 J/70s to the start line, with strong representation across Corinthian, Youth, and Mixed+ divisions -further evidence of the continued growth and health of the UK J/70 Class.
Overall Podium
1 Jelvis
2Calypso
3 Sardonyx
Division Winners
• Overall – Jelvis
• Corinthian – Calypso
• Mixed+ – DSP
• Youth – Ryde School Sailing
Full results here
The UK J/70 Class extends its thanks to the Royal Thames Yacht Club, race officials, volunteers, and supporting clubs for delivering an outstanding championship. Thanks also go to our class sponsors Rooster, Ocean Rope, and Tideway Wealth Management for their continued support.
Daily Reports by Magnus Wheatley
Day One
Friday June 13, 2025
For the largest fleet at the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s 250th Anniversary Regatta with 33 boats, it was a long opening day of the regatta but saw some of the best racing with position changes and protest calls aplenty as everyone fought for position. With Olympians Saskia Clark, James Peters and Chris Grube in the fleet there were no easy positions, so it was no surprise to see two different race winners with Martin Dent, sailing ‘Jelvis’ getting the opening bullet whilst in race two, in the early evening, Ben Clothier, sailing a Royal Thames Yacht Club J/70, aced the pack and scored a popular win. Overall, after two races however, William Edwards sailing ‘Sardonyx’ proved yet again that consistency counts in big fleet racing, and with a sixth and a fourth today tops the standings ahead of Paul Wollmann’s ‘Frequent Flyer 2’ that secured a second place in the first race and followed up with a ninth in the second. Rounding out the podium overnight, Doug Struth’s ‘DSP’ sits in third after an eighth and fifth today. Day one of the Tideway J/70 National Championship may well have been a long one but plenty more to come before the champion is crowned, and as William Edwards described, the racing today was “golden!”
Day Two
Saturday June 14, 2025
Proving what a superb one-design class the J/70’s are, so far in the regatta only one team has won more than one race and with a large fleet of 33 boats competing for the Tideway J/70 National Championships, it is consistency that is winning overall. Martin Dent, sailing ‘Jelvis,’ had a barnstorming day in the breeze and increasing sea-state recording his second win of the regatta in race five and posting a second and fifth to go three points clear at the top of the, very tight, standings.
Alastair Hall, sailing ‘Calypso’ came out of the blocks swinging today, scoring a race win and then following up with a fourth and second to keep the pressure on for the overall title. Overnight leader Royal Thames YC member William Edwards sailing ‘Sardonyx’ secured a thrilling race win in the second flight today and with a fourth and a discarded ninth, sits in third overall just two points clear of Nicholas Griffiths sailing ‘Spencer.’ Racing was tight, fast and at times furious in the J/70 fleet, but a pecking order is starting to emerge, and the top four boats look like the ones to beat on Super Sunday for the overall Tideway National Championships. Three more races to come to decide one of the most coveted titles in British yachting.
Day Three
Sunday, June 15 2025
Picture-perfect conditions of a building 8-18 knots from the south-west, bright sunshine and flat Solent conditions on the flood tide made for a glamorous conclusion to the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s 250th Anniversary Regatta on Sunday.
After the big conditions seen on Saturday, it was a fantastic day of racing for the sailors who had all enjoyed the first-class hospitality of the regatta dinner and crew party the night before – the two hottest tickets in town – with the race village offering an ‘Ibiza theme’ with stilt walkers, fireworks and DJ Mark Covell rocking the night awa
Martin Dent, Rick Peacock, Henry Wetherell and Ruby Dent are the Tideway J/70 National Champions after a barnstorming series that saw them win a total of four races in the hottest and most tightly contested fleets at the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s 250th Anniversary Regatta. The ‘Jelvis’ team were quite simply a class apart and ended the Tideway National Championship some seven points clear of Ali Hall’s ‘Calypso’ who won the final race to add to their race three victory. Early front-runner William Edwards sailing ‘Sardonyx’ secured the third place on the championship podium with a third and a fifth place today in the 33-strong fleet.
Interestingly, the top three boats were the only ones to secure race wins and their margins ahead of the rest of the fleet were notable.
Watch drone footage of the full championship here
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