(Marseilles, France)- With 119 teams participating in this year's J/80
Worlds in Marseilles, France, it look like the J/80s have again set the
record for the most Worlds with 70+ boat fleets for any International
ISAF one-design keelboat class-- four Worlds over the last ten years,
quite a remarkable achievement!The J/80 dominates the European one-design racing circuits and France, in particular, where it is by far the most favored racer-cruiser. Indeed the Coupe de France (French Cup) circuit, organized by the French J/80 class, has nearly 200 boats that participate in the circuit of ten events every year.
The City of Marseille is hosting the event in a remarkable setting; a wide-open gateway to the Mediterranean and the second largest city in France, Marseille is a multi-cultural metropolis with international influence. Furthermore, Marseille is the European Capital of Culture in 2013 with a great many events organized as part of the celebration.
From
the sailors perspective, Marseille is at the centre of water-sports in
the Mediterranean with a fabulous sailing area, recognized as one of the
finest in France thanks to its 2 natural bays, a vast, protected race
area, easily accessible from the harbor, and its steady sea-breezes. No
wonder major sailing events have been sailed in Marseilles; including
the America’s Cup circuit, the World Sailing Games, the World Match
Racing circuit (on J/80s no less), the Medcup and the MOD 70 European
Tour in 70 foot multihulls.The sailing schedule starts with a the practice race Monday, July 8th followed by five days of racing with up to three races per day, concluding Saturday, July 13th. With 119 teams from 12 countries (France, Spain, USA, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Russia, and Oman) many will be looking to see how well they've improved their performance over the past year of sailing and training with their boats. No question, there will be some new faces that will surprise some in the top ten and the event may possibly be the first to dethrone the "Spanish armada" that have dominated the past few J/80 Worlds.
As
the most recent World Champions, the Spanish are determined to retain
the title but the chances of sweeping the top three spots on the podium
may be more difficult this time. They're sending seventeen boats with
many of their top teams, including the current World Champion José María
Van der Ploeg sailing FACTOR ENERGIA; past World Champions Rayco
Tabares on HOTEL PRINCESS YAIZA and Carlos Martinez on ZHIK/ NOVASAIL;
and Volvo 70 TELEFONICA star and World 49er Champion Iker Martinez
sailing ENBATA 80. That's a formidable group of sailors! 
The
French are countering with many top teams, including Eric Brezellec's
INTERFACE CONCEPT, Simon Moriceau's INTERFACE CONCEPT II, Vincent
Vandekerkhove, Pierre-Loïc Berthet at the helm of Nicolas Lunven's
GENERALI, Laurent Sambron's ATLANTIS, Luc Nadal on GAN'JA and the team
of Arthur Herreman/ Romain Bethune sailing MATCH THE WORLD! The next strongest group of teams may be the British and Swedish teams. The Swedish teams include Anders Rosenberg sailing DYNAMANT, Ingemar Sundstedt, and Lars Gellerhed on MK-PRODUKTER. The British teams include Jon Powell's BETTY, Patrick Liardet sailing AQUA-J, Allen Higgs skippering JUICY, and Stew Hawthorn sailing J'AI DEUX AMOURS- all very strong teams with a shot at the podium and certainly the top ten.
Highlights
of leading teams from other countries include the lone American team
sailing- Brian Keane's SAVASANA; top Netherlands team sailed by Laura
Vroon on JOI DE VIVRE; Thomas Dehler's ANEGADA from Germany; Massimo
Rama's JENIALE! from Italy; Asrar Al Ajmi sailing TEAM AL THURAYA BANK
MUSCAT from Oman (the first Omani team to sail a J/80 Worlds); Pawel
Boksa on MOONRAKER from Poland; Maxim Kuzmin on J-BLUE 8 from Russia
(the first Russian J/80 team to sail a Worlds); and Yannick Preitner
sailing POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE from Switzerland.The Worlds promise to be another competitive, if not epic event for the 119 teams sailing for the next week! Marseilles weather can be capricious if fronts are moving quickly across continental Europe, especially if some of the classic "mistral" conditions kick in and blow cold, strong winds out of the lower French Alps! Shifty winds and massive blasts rolling off the mountains can be quite a challenge in the Bay of Marseille.
Meanwhile, here's a YouTube of a French team recently practicing in windy, wavy conditions off Marseille. Looks like they had some fun learning how to gybe better in the big breeze! Watch on YouTube here. Spanish Sailing Photos- Jesus Renedo / Trofeo Conde de Godo and Elena Martinez / RCMS. For more J/80 Worlds sailing information
|
