96 teams are ready for the first race of the J/70 Worlds

The world championships are underway. 96 teams from 25 nationalities are ready for the first race of the Sandberg Estates J/70 Worlds. Five intense days of competition await to decide the new world champions for the class, and everything points to conditions enabling the teams to begin with a show of some exciting racing.

“For the first days of competitions, the weather report is giving a north-easterly wind that will begin to drop from an initial 15-18 knots on the first day, to the 8-12 knots that are expected on Thursday,” explained Gaspar Morey, the principal race official for the championships.

The race committee may complete up to ten races and will apply the discard rule to the worst partial score after the fifth. The competition format involves a fleet of almost one hundred boats lining up on the start line, and the extremely high level of competitors promises some very close racing up until the end.

“It is predicted that the races will last between 80 and 90 minutes, and the plan is to complete two races a day, whilst conditions allow it,” added Morey.

Racing will begin every day at 11:30h and in the afternoons at the race village in the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP), sailors, skippers and boat owners can enjoy listening to the live music and tasting a selection of local produce

Monday, a training race and the official regatta opening ceremony

On Monday as programmed, a training race was held prior to the start of the Sandberg Estates J/70 Worlds. As well as the chance to gauge their competition on the racecourse, where the world title will be disputed, the fleet were able to practice their starts, and to become familiar with the RaceSense system, which transmits the exact position of each boat in relation to the line at the time of the race start, allowing the race committee to immediately identify any team that is over the line with an early start.

On finishing on the water, at 19:00h the Real Club Náutico de Palma and the International J/70 Association gave a formal welcome to all the participants at the official opening ceremony. The act was presided by Rafael Gil, president of the RCNP, and Vittorio Di Mauro, president of the international class.

The organising club’s president expressed the following,

“I would like to express our sincere thanks to all the representatives of the J/70 class for having chosen Palma to host this competition and to all our institutional collaborators: Palma Town Hall, the Royal Sailing Federation, the Baleares Sailing Federation and the Baleares Port Authority. We would also like to thank our sponsors Sandberg Estates for their great support, which has been crucial in making this event a reality.
This world championships are part of a very busy racing calendar, which has once again placed the Real Club Náutico de Palma at the centre of international sailing. We are an organization which is wholeheartedly dedicated to our city and our sport,” he added.

Di Mauro, on behalf of the J/70 association commented,

“2024 is a special year for the class because we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary and are happy to be doing so in such a special city as Palma, and at such a great club, the Real Club Náutico de Palma.”

The act was also attended by Jaume Bauzá, councillor of Tourism, Culture and Sport for the Govern de Les Illes Balears, Javier Bonet, first deputy mayor of Palma; Catalina Darder, president of the Baleares Sailing Federation, Antoni Ginard, director of the Port Authority; Guillem Mascaró, commander of the Policía Local in Palma, Javier Núñez de Prado, director of the Baleares Naval Sector and David Salom Fuentes, director general of sports for Palma Town Hall among other authorites.

The Sandberg Estates J/70 Worlds 2024 is organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma and the International J/70 Association, and is sponsored by Sandberg Estates, with the institutional collaboration of Palma Town Hall, the Spanish Navy, the Baleares Port Authority, the Spanish Royal Sailing Federation and the Baleares Sailing Federation.