J70 World Championship – Day 4

A Day of Twists and New Leaders at the J70 World Championship

The fourth day of racing dawned sunny and with a strong current, which tested the 71 boats in the J70 World Championship. The overall standings remain very tight, with positions changing in every race. With eight of the ten scheduled races already completed, Friday brought a new leader.

The fleet is preparing for the championship final, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, on the waters of the Río de la Plata, in an event organized by the Yacht Club Argentino.

The Aretê (BRA), skippered by Bruno Bethlem, took the lead with 68 net points, eight ahead of Doug Rastello, at the helm of Charles Thomson’s Brutus III (GBR).

Friday’s conditions were quite a challenge: winds of 6 to 8 knots combined with a strong current tested the crews who continue to fight for the world title.

“The day was pretty good. We weren’t too aggressive with our adjustments so we could handle the tricky conditions in Buenos Aires,” said the new race leader. “My team? We’re all friends. We’ve been sailing together in this class for a long time. They deserve it. I’m happy for them.”

“We don’t have any expectations. We’re just here to sail. We don’t think expectations are good, so we don’t create them. We just go out every day and try to sail as well as we can.”

In the seventh race, Richard Witzel’s Rowdy (USA) forced a gybe at the finish line to beat Mauro Roversi’s Jcurve (ITA) and Filip Engelbert’s Elvis (SWE).

After a brief delay to readjust the course, the eighth race began with many boats sailing to port just after the start. As the boats tacked upwind, a parade of spinnakers lit up the left side of the racecourse. Casting Couch (USA), skippered by Cate Muller-Terhune, took the victory, ahead of Bábá (POR), skippered by Nuno Espirito Santo Silva, and Nildo (ARG), skippered by Guillermo Parada.

The top five in the overall standings:
1st Bruno Bethlem, BRA Aretê with Rafael Martins, Pedro Tinoco, Alberto Vita, 68 points
2nd Doug Rastello, GBR Brutus III with Charles Thompson, Ben Saxton, Chris Grube, 76 points
3rd Peter Duncan, USA Relative Obscurity with Willem Van Waay, Jud Smith, and Víctor Díaz De León, 80 points
4th Laura Grondin, USA Dark Energy with Taylor Canfield, Ian Liberty, and Edward Hackney, 81 points
5th Martin Dent, GBR Jelvis, with Rick Peacock, Henry Wethrell, and Ruby Dent, 87 points

The Ducasse Sailing Team (CHI), made up of Andrés, Ignacio, Rodrigo, and Francisco Ducasse, faced a demanding day to maintain their lead in the Corinthians division, which has a total of 30 boats. Meanwhile, the 707 (ARG) of Ezequiel Despontin, along with Pablo Despontin, Sebastián Halpern, and Gabriel Marino, continues to lead the One Pro category.

Boats from 16 countries across four continents are participating: Argentina (ARG), Australia (AUS), Bermuda (BER), Brazil (BRA), Chile (CHI), China (CHN), Spain (ESP), Great Britain (GBR), Germany (GER), Italy (ITA), Portugal (POR), Switzerland (SUI), Sweden (SWE), Turkey (TUR), Uruguay (URU), and the United States (USA).

We thank our sponsors for supporting us in this championship: Life Seguros, Almarena Madero Urbano, Galeno, South American Rigging/Marlow/Velo, Ansilta, Eximia, Windsail, Emergencias, Fantoche, and Vaccalin.