The first J/70 European Championship saw a fantastic turnout of 35 teams from eight nations. From the competitors’ perspective, it was an exciting event and one that many were looking forward to with great anticipation. Clearly, the J/70 momentum is building rapidly in Europe and many top teams from across many other competitive international classes have jumped into the class, hoping to test their talents against the best J/70 teams from across the continent. After having led the J/70 Italian Circuit all season, Carlo Alberini and his CALVI NETWORK team just hung onto their lead going into the last day to be crowned the first J/70 European Champions. Charlie Esse’s crew on BABY-J from Great Britain won the J/70 European Corinthians title with all top 12 finishes (the only boat to do so in the entire fleet). As everyone had hoped for, the Fraglia Vela Riva did a magnificent job both hosting the onshore social festivities as well as providing excellent racing on the famous Lago di Garda. The fleet was blessed with a perfect first day, with three races completed in southerly winds of 16+ knots. After the first race in 8-12 knots, the wind grew in strength, with puffs climbing into the high teens. Coming out ahead amongst the Brits and Slovenians were the Italians, with Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK posting a commanding 1-2-2 for a 12 point lead over Esse’s BABY-J, who posted an 11-1-5. In fact, BABY-J was tied on points at the end of day one with Mario Beraha’s Italian team on SASHA GREY Sailing from La Spezia. A strong performance was also put in by the Slovenian crew on TEAM CEREEF, skippered by Igor Lah with tactician Michele Ivaldi–both leaders in the challenging RC-44 regatta circuit. A ways behind the leaders was the Olympic 470 bronze Medallist and J/80 World Champion Hugo Rocha of Spain, sailing NEW TERRITORIES. His first race 20th was followed by a 7-3, good enough for fifth place overall. For the second day of sailing, Riva del Garda provided gorgeous weather, sunshine and winds of 12-18 knots from the south. It was an eventful day for some sailing teams, in particular for the former 420 European Junior Champion and 470 Italian Champion, Simon Sivitz Kosuta–he was forced to pull out of the competition after suffering serious damage to his boat in the fourth race (first race of day two). After three more races were sailed, the fleet could now count six races with one discard. As a result, Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK was still in the lead after adding a 1-1-14 to his scoreline (the 14th being his discard). Second place was now taken over by the Italian UJI team skippered by Alessio Marinelli from Porto Civitanova, they had gradually built-up their confidence racing J/70s to achieve a 4-3-1. Rocketing into third place was Rocha’s NEW TERRITORIES after they posted a 7-2-2 and discarding their 20th. Still holding onto fourth place was TEAM CEREEF. Dropping into fifth place was Esse’s BABY-J, but still holding onto their Corinthians lead. At this stage, second in Corinthians was Andrea Magni’s PENSAVO PEGGIO from Alassio, Italy and third was David Atkinson’s British team on JAWBREAKER. For the first time all week, Friday dawned with light air and stayed that way all day with temperatures in the 70s and 6-8 knots of breeze from the south. Closing their gap on the leaders was Rocha’s NEW TERRITORIES team, posting a 2-1 to narrow the gap to just 6 points going into the last day. Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK added a 4-6 to their scores, clearly not liking the lighter winds as much as they enjoy the moderate to heavy breezes. Still hanging on to third was Marinelli’s UJI with a 17-4. Esse’s BABY-J posted an 8-7 to stay in fifth and retain their lead on the Corinthians. It was a long last day of sailing for the fleet. Racing started early in the morning on a clear day with winds from the north, it was the fleet’s first opportunity to race with the north wind that is usually present in the morning on Upper Garda. (The previous 9 races had all been raced with the winds from the south). Racing started at around 8.45am after a general recall and the fleet was able to complete the ninth and penultimate race. A stiff breeze brought out the most prepared of the competitors who tactically played between the shore and the center of the lake. The wind, however, soon dropped forcing the race committee, chaired by Ennio Pogliano, to hold off further racing until the wind changed, which it did at 12.30pm for the tenth and final race. Carlo Alberini and his crew managed to keep their cool despite Rochas of Spain closing in on them. After winning the morning race, Rochas had come to within four points of Alberini. But, in the final race Alberini left no doubt about the ultimate outcome of the regatta by convincingly winning the last race. Rocha held onto second by taking a third and Marinelli secured third after getting redress for the last two races (he got hit and holed by another boat in the 9th race). Esse’s BABY-J sailed the third best record of the final day by posting a 2-4, securing fourth overall and winning Corinthians by a significant margin. Fifth was Lah’s TEAM CEREEF, the best regatta yet for this strong Slovenian team. The balance of the Corinthians saw Atkinson’s JAWBREAKER take second and Magni’s PENSAVO PEGGIO take third. For more J/70 Europeans sailing information, click here.