Grødum crowned 2021 Norwegian J/70 Champion
by J/Boats 4 Oct 2021 21:51 PDT
Winners: Sindre Sørebø, Karl Otto Book, Jostein Grødem, Maren Book won the National Championships in J/70 © Berit Sørebø / Madeleine Østeby
The 2021 Norwegian J/70 Championship was held this past weekend. Twenty-three boats were ready to start, with many new teams joining the most popular new one-design class in Norway.
It was a very good event, despite demanding wind conditions on Friday and Saturday. Eleven races were completed in all kinds of conditions.
Taking the gold medal was local sailor Jostein Grødum with crew of Maren Magda Book, Karl Otto Book and Sindre Sørebø - Åsgårdstrand Sailforening. They had by far the most consistent record in the regatta, counting all top four finishes and winning three races for a 27 pts net total.
Starting off with a breathtaking 1-2-2 tally, the team of Kristoffer Spone, with crew of Christen Horn Johannessen, Børre Hekk Paulsen and Sigurd Hekk Paulsen from the Royal Norwegian Sail Association lost a little momentum during the middle of the regatta. In the end they counted all top 5 scores to finish with 31 pts net.
By winning the last race and leapfrogging onto the final step on the podium to take the bronze medal was a team from Tønsberg Seilforening. Skipper Jostein Aker and crew of Emil Dagsberg, Jørgen Smith-Meyer and Sivert Foyn Andersen were ecstatic to finish amongst great Norwegian sailors at the top of the leaderboard. Notably, this team had their moments, having won three races. Congratulations!
Seil Magasinet editor Axel Nissen-Lie interviewed the winners- Jostein Grødem's team. Here's their conversation:
"We got varying conditions from light wind up to 6-7 m/s at most. There was a lot of sailing. Each sail lasted between 40-45 minutes.
I was a little surprised, we did better than I had expected. The team quickly discovered that they had good boat speed, better than most both at cross and on the run.
With good boat speed we could sail conservatively. We never took any chances.
Sailmaker Karl Otto Book brought with him brand new sails. These sails were tested just a few hours before the regatta.
We followed the Elvstrøm Sails tuning guide, and it worked perfectly."
In two weeks, it will be the Master of Masters Regatta in Åsgårdstrand, sailed with J/70s again. Here, Grødem will meet many of the same sailors as in the Norwegian J/70 National Championships, and he will be a favorite. Yet he reveals the secret that can cost him the victory in the 2019 Master of Masters Regatta.
"Trim of the jib is crucial at the cross. The sails must provide forces to accelerate after a tack to build up speed before the height is optimized.
On the run, it is important to sail as deep as possible, and then it is the communication between the gennaker trimmer and the helmsman that must be tuned. In the NM, Karl Otto steered, while Maren trimmed the gennaker, and the collaboration was perfect. We made the gennaker rounder and could sail lower than our competitors," Grødem reveals.
More information here