Level 5 tops J/70s at St. Petersburg Regatta

J/70s at St. Petersburg Regatta © St. Petersburg Yacht Club

This year's 2025 Sailing World Regatta was sailed on Tampa Bay and was hosted by the award-winning St. Petersburg Yacht Club race team.

As they always do, the StPYC volunteers laid out the red carpet for the large fleet of sailors, the J/70 teams loving every bit of that gracious hospitality!

For the eighteen-boat J/70 fleet, it seems the J/70 sailors were chasing the hard-charging team on Al Minella's LEVEL 5 all weekend. LEVEL 5 won seven of ten races to close the series with a 25-point win. On board LEVEL 5 as a tactician was reigning J/70 World Champion Jeremy Wilmot.

"We'd won the regatta before the last race, so we went at it as a learning experience for the next regatta. We were working on upwind driving and downwind sailing," Wilmot said. "Al's team is fast, so I didn't have to do much on the tactics!"

Minella, who's been sailing J/70s for years and has won plenty of hardware in the class, picked up a few new pointers that had him faster in the weekend's breezy conditions. "The thing was to heel the boat more than you think," Minella said. "I'm trained to not let the boat layover, but you need the heel angle to get through the waves. The level of activity of these guys is constant. They're making adjustments all the time."

The LEVEL 5 team ended up with just 13 pts, counting only 1sts and 2nds in their scoreline. Taking the silver medal was Dan Goldberg's BAZINGA with 38 pts, followed by Kelly Hansen's 7th HEAVEN garnering the bronze medal with 49 pts. Rounding out the top five was Chris Schoendorf's TAZ in fourth place with 52 pts and Boris Luchterhand's RIFF in fifth place with 57 pts.

For more St. Petersburg Sailing World Regatta sailing information visit yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=16265

For more Helly Hansen St. Petersburg Sailing World Regatta information: sailingworld.com/regatta-series-st-petersburg