As part of the Grand Prix de l’Ecole Navale Regatta, the French J/70 Class held their 2023 National Championship. In a final epic battle on the last day, the protagonists came down to the two most experienced J/70 teams: Pierre Laouenan’s ELITE ECOLE NAVALE and Damian Michelier’s SAGE ENGINEERS. Starting off with two bullets on the final day, SAGE ENGINEERS looked like they might have had the upper hand going into the last two races. Meanwhile, Laouenan’s team posted a 2-3 to drop into a tie after nine races. ELITE ECOLE NAVALE won the last two races, with SAGE ENGINEERS taking two deuces. Consequently, the French Navy academy sailing team of ELITE ECOLE NAVALE won—Laouenan and his team of Paul Medinger, Jean Queveau, Pierre Loic Berthet and Christian Ponthieu. Second was Michelier’s SAGE ENGINEERS with crew of Clement Galliache, Charlie Guth, Alois de Guitaut and Jean Yves Martin. Third went to Timothe Rossi’s JEUNES MADE IN SUD crew of Thibault Demai, Jeremy Moutout and Yann LeCorre. Rounding out the top five were Herve Leduc’s JIBE SET in fourth and Nicolas Rostand’s LE TIB in fifth position. Pierre Laouenan commented on his team’s participation, “We wanted to challenge ourselves to put ourselves in a difficult position and continue to learn things. We had a good battle against Michelier’s experienced team. We had a two-point lead this morning, which means nothing. Then, our top competitor won the first two races of the day. So we had to motivate ourselves, we had no choice! So, we pressed hard in the last two races. Thankfully, we won both of them!” For more French J/70 National Championship information, visit https://www.classej70france.com/.