Svea takes her place in historic J Class line up
by J Class Association 10 Jun 2017 10:50 UTC
13-15 & 16,19-20 June 2017
The world's newest J Class yacht has completed a race against time and has taken her place at Bermuda's Hamilton Princess Marina lined up among the historic seven-strong J Class fleet which is preparing to compete at next week's America's Cup Superyacht Regatta and the subsequent America's Cup J Class Regatta.
The mighty Svea, the largest J Class ever built, was first sea trialled in Palma this spring. The race crew for her has just arrived in Bermuda to start its final training and preparations before the first regatta - fleet racing in the white heat of battle with the other J Class yachts.
When Svea takes the starting line next week with its owner at the helm, it will realise the first part of the owner's dream. After falling head over heels with J Class yachting after he sailed Endeavour and Lionheart, the multiple trophy and title-winning successful yachtsman took the plunge and commissioned a new J Class yacht which is described as the largest and potentially the most powerful design ever built.
Svea was built from designs drawn by Swedish naval architect and boat builder Tore Holm, a noted designer of Six and Eight Metre yachts. The 1937 drawings which were unearthed in a drawer by a well-known Dutch Metre class aficionado and after analysis, her potential was immediately evident.
The new J Class Svea was built in some 14 months. The fact that she has made it to Bermuda on time is a testament to a huge amount of work by a large, dedicated, and talented team of people.
"When we set out two years ago to be here, we knew the chances of making it were limited. In December of last year, I would say that those chances were halved," grins Charlie Ogletree, the USA's 2004 Olympic silver medallist, Svea's program manager and tactician. "There were some pitfalls, but the team really pulled together in an impressive way and thanks to the boat builders, architect, riggers, sailmakers, and everyone involved that we are here today and ready to race."
Svea had only 10 or 11 days of sea trials and race practice in Palma, Mallorca before being sailed across the Atlantic to Bermuda.
"Initially it was just about getting everything up to pressure and making sure it works; breaking things that were going to break and fixing them. The loads are so high on these boats it takes time, so at first of we were gradually working things up to max load. Then we had a look at all the sails. Finally, in the second phase of our sessions we put some marks in the water and sailed around them," Ogletree reports.
"We have been warmly welcomed by the other J Class crews in Bermuda and now we have a few days to practice with whoever is out there. To date, we have not lined up against another J Class yacht, so it is very exciting for us. "Ogletree adds, "There is no place better to learn than on the race course, and we will be out to learn as much as we can from the fabulous sailors who compete in the fleet, seeing how they do things, and simply getting comfortable being close to other J Class yachts. They weigh 180 tonnes each and so take a bit of learning. Of course, we want to be competitive, but the reality is that these first two events, the America's Cup Superyacht Regatta and America's Cup J Class Regatta, are learning events for us. We hope to get better and do better each day."
The core of the Svea crew have sailed together for many years on a number of different racing yachts, most recently a Swan 90 and MOD70. Ogletree calls tactics and has double America's Cup winner Peter Isler as navigator, three times America's Cup winner Tom Whidden, as strategist, and three times America's Cup winner Andrew Taylor in the pit as crew boss.
With the crew of the other six J Class yachts, Hanuman, Lionheart, Ranger, Shamrock, Topaz, and Velsheda that collectively will comprise the largest and most competitive J Class fleet ever assembled. They are all arriving in Bermuda and starting their final days of training for the big, back-to-back competitive events.
America's Cup Superyacht Regatta:
JK6 Hanuman
JH1 Lionheart
J5 Ranger
JS1 Svea
J8 Topaz
JK7 Velsheda
Track the racing here.
America's Cup J Class Regatta:
JK6 Hanuman
JH1 Lionheart
J5 Ranger
JK3 Shamrock
JS1 Svea
J8 Topaz
JK7 Velsheda
Track the racing here.