The Sandberg J/70 Worlds, to be held in Palma from 13th to 22nd September, will be a landmark in the history of sailing world championships; not only due to the extremely high quality of the teams in the most numerous One Design class in the world, but because of the starting procedure system used in each race.

GPS Control at the start

One hundred J70s will be lining up to take the start line, which can mean additional pressure for the fleet, since any boat that is too early ‘over the line,’ and makes a false start, can force the whole fleet to return to the starting area and to retake the starting procedures. This situation can almost certainly lead to a less promising result in any such race.

Therefore, to have a bona fide and trustworthy system of knowing immediately which team has started early, information that is then directly transmitted to the fleet, is crucial, and involves a great deal of responsibility from the Race Committee.

For this edition of the World Championships in the Bay of Palma, the competition will be supported by the innovative system “RaceSense”, an electronic appliance which each boat will carry on board, enabling the precise position of the teams to be transmitted at the exact moment of crossing the line. In under a second, this information is transmitted to those boats that are ‘over the line’ so they can begin to exonerate the infraction as soon as possible.

Support from the Spanish Navy and the Naval Commission of Regattas

The Real Club Nautico de Palma is getting ready to receive close to the one hundred teams of the J/70 fleet, their boats, vehicles, tow trucks and RIBs, with the added logistics coordination involved with measuring each of the boats beforehand, to certify the team’s entry into the World Championships. A challenge, which naturally requires a large area on land for the boats to be taken out of the water with a crane so they might be measured, weighed and then returned to the water.

Likewise, space is required not only to park and store the boat tows but also the support RIBs (rigid inflatable boats), and without the collaboration of the Spanish Navy and the Naval Commission of Regattas, (which is based at Porto Pi), it would not be possible to organize a World Championships of this scale.

Team training

For a few weeks, many of the teams have already begun training on the racecourse (situated between Portixoll and Cala Gamba) in the Bay of Palma. The current world title holders, British team, Tom Mallindene and Charlie Thompson’s Brutus III for example have been encountering a good dozen other teams who are doing the same.

Rafael Gil, president of the RCN de Palma, highlighted the importance of this World Championships, both for its sporting value, and for the high number of participants,

“It is an honour for the Real Club Náutico de Palma to welcome the 98 teams from 25 countries, that will compete in this prestigious edition of the J/70 Worlds. I want to thank them all for their participation and for their trust in our club to provide them with an unforgettable experience here in the Bay of Palma.”

Gil also emphasised the club values,

“We are proud to offer them our hospitality and hope they enjoy the competition and the facilities and services we have provided for them. To host an event of this side is a true logistics challenge, but we have a highly qualified team, with a huge organisational experience in large sailing events. I wish all the participants the very best of luck and that they enjoy their time in Palma.”