September 25, 2015

J-70 North American Championships | Day 1-2 Report

One of the most popular boats in recent years made its way to San Diego California for the North American Championship.  The J-70 has generated a lot of buzz in the short time it has been around and 50 of the best sailors descended on San Diego Yacht Club to vie for one of the classes top prizes.

Ullman Sails customers have been gearing up for months. After recently winning the World Championships, Flojito y Cooperando, has spent many hours practicing in the area in preparation for the event.  In addition to the practice, Flojito picked up a new Ullman class main as their choice sail for the event.

Steve Shaw (Smokin J) has been testing with the Ullman team for sometime and came into the regatta confident on boasted.  Chris Raab went with some trim chevrons on his new main in order to add some definition to the leech.  Everyone likes a personal touch of customization on their sails and we make that happen.

Chris Raab adds his personal touch to his mainsail
 Joel Ronning has been testing in San Diego for a few weeks and is also looking to make a serious bid for the title.

Day 1

The first day of sailing saw typical San Diego conditions with the day maxing out with an 11t puff.  Sailing was difficult with wind shifts taking the back seat to pressure.  Most boats liked the committee and it caused some carnage.  It seemed that the guys who would start a third of the way down the line or so and get into the pressure first would always do better.

Zounds and Africa sailed the most consistent for the day and were top of the leaderboard when the sun set on the coast.  Joel Ronning had a mixed day but showed speed and promise with a third in the second race.  Flojito were consistently getting better throughout the day and looked fast compared to the boats around them.  

Bruce Gollison started strong with a fourth in race one and Chris Raab rebounded in race two to get in the mix.  The wind shifts and declining breeze in the third race pushed the team concentration.  Just as it seemed the wind was filling in, it didn't.  


Day 2

If you like sailing in light air and beautiful sunshine then come to San Diego!  Tough conditions in the similar breeze saw a shuffling of places in the fleet with one exception.  The top two boats remained the same.  Zounds and Africa are battling out for top spot as the rest of the fleet plays catch up.  Tim Healy's Helly Hansen found its groove but is it too late?  The top two have a commanding lead over the stacked fleet of professionals and seasoned sailors.

Bruce Gollison came out firing with a third place finish in race one.  Consistency is hard to come by in the puffy and fluky air and this was evident all over.  Helly Hansen had a mixed bag until leveling off as the day progressed.

Team Catapult is sitting in ninth place and looking to move forward on Saturday.  The cards are being revealed and places are tight going into the third day,

Young skipper Gannon Troutman is sailing with a broken arm after falling during a skateboarding trick.  His Pied Piper team are in a respectable 16th position after working through the injury.

More to come on the third day.  Follow us on FaceBook for more updates and videos!