Thursday was a long day in the bay of Palma for the almost 100 boats competing in the Sandberg Estates J/70 World Championship. Although the wind didn’t make it easy on this third day of the event organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP) and the J/70 Class International Association, the fleet was able to add two new races in their scoreboards that allow one discard and leaves the fight for the title red-hot.
With the intention of making the most of the early morning breeze, the fleet docked out of the RCNP after 09h00 with the first start scheduled for 10h30. After abandoning the first race just after the start due to an abrupt change in the wind direction, teams were able to tackle race four of the Championship shortly after 11h00 with eight knots of northeasterly breeze.
The fleet was once again shuffled, and the first three places were shared by three teams who were outside the top ten: Laura Grondin’s USA Dark Energy, Swedish Filip Engelbert’s Elvis and Brazilian Haroldo Solberg’s Oceanpact, first, second and third respectively.
Then, the Race Committee was forced to raise the postponement flag and wait for the arrival of the longed-for thermal wind from the bay of Palma. After repositioning the racecourse and with conditions now between 11-14 knots from the south, the fleet was back in action with the starting gun at 15h15 for the day’s next race.
On this occasion, victory went to John Heaton’s USA Empeiria. Richard Witzel’s USA Rowdy was second, followed by Ralph Rosa’s Brazilian Mindset.
With a total of five races on the scoreboard, the discard came into play, which led to new changes of positions in the top ten and a compression of the fleet aspiring to the podium.
Douglas Newhouse and Jeremy Wilmot’s Yonder of the New York YC, who finished today 23rd and 17th, is holding on to the top of the leaderboard thanks to their good results on the first two days. They lead by one point over second-placed IC Rio de Janeiro’s Mindset and five points over third, now Chicago YC’s Rowdy. Behind them, four other teams are in the hunt for the win, with only nine points separating the top six teams.
Racing will conclude Saturday. For complete event details, visit https://www.rcnp.es/j70worlds/.