J/70 Worlds, BBS, ISAF Worlds—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 9 Sep 2014 The J/70 is easily the most successful One Design boat to have emerged in the past few years. The class is still less than three years old, yet more than 600 hulls have been built to date, with many more planned for production in the next few years. (If this number sounds stunning, cast your mind back to another 24-footer that the Johnstone family unleashed on the sailing community, and you’ll quickly see where this is going.)

For racing sailors, this is fantastic news, as large production runs typically coincide with large starting lines, such as the ones that racers can expect to dance on this week in Newport, Rhode Island, where the New York Yacht Club is set to host this year’s hyper-competitive J/70 Worlds (September 8-13). According to the week’s weather forecast, competing sailors can expect everything from blue skies to light rains, but with solid winds that are forecasted to be 11 knots or higher.

Stay tuned to the website for the latest news from the J/70 Worlds, as it breaks.

Speaking of the New York Yacht Club, Newport, and J/70s, the NYYC just concluded their 2014 US Qualifying Series, which determines berths for their prestigious biennial 2015 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. According to the latest reports, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Eastern Yacht Club and Seattle Yacht Club commanded the podium at the qualifying event, thus guaranteeing their spots on the line for next year’s Invitational Cup.

'It wasn't the best day,' says Michael Menninger, skipper of the Newport Harbor team. 'We had one bad race and one breakdown, but we never got worried. We just kept plugging away. We knew we had good boatspeed, we knew we were still sailing well. Our mentality on the boat didn't change at all.' More, inside.

And on the West Coast, the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco is gearing up to host the 50th Anniversary of their fabled Big Boat Series (BBS; September 10-14) on the windy waters of San Francisco Bay. This event is famous for attracting some of the biggest, fastest and best-sailed boats on the entire Left Coast, so stand by for more from this American classic, as it unfurls.

Also Left Coast-related, the Viper 640 class just wrapped up their North American Championship event at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club where Brad Boston and his Canadian-flagged 'Jackpot' team took top honors, followed by Kevin Taugher’s 'Hot Mess' (USA 38) and Jeff Grange’s 'Venom' (USA 149). Check out our post-racing coverage, inside.

And on sailing’s international stage, this week also marks the start of the Santander 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships (September 8-21), which are taking place in Santander, Spain. Here, the world’s best Olympic class sailors are speed checking against their expected rivals for the 2016 Rio Olympics, while also evaluating their own training programs and levels of preparation. 'We have been [here] at the beginning of June, so we knew what to expect and we figured a couple of weeks after [the] Rio [Aquece Rio International Sailing Regatta 2014] we decided to come down here [to Santander] and did a bit of a (coaches) regatta, which was good,' said Matthew Belcher, who won Gold in the Men’s 470 at the London 2012 Olympics and the was named the male 2013 ISAF World Sailor of the Year. 'So far it is good. A beautiful place to sail. It’s been pretty tricky but it is nice to have a bit of waves and a bit of current and it will be challenging but it is a cool place.'

Be sure to get the full 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships media briefing, inside this issue, and stay tuned to the website for the latest news from Spain, as it breaks.

Also inside, get the latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race, the 2014 Oakcliff Invitational and the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.

And finally, for anyone who could use a shot of saltwater-infused inspiration to start their week, spend some time scrolling through world-class sailing photographer Carlo Borlenghi’s eye-popping image gallery from the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Enjoy!

May the four winds blow you safely home,