USA Yonder holds on to the lead in the J/70 Worlds

A long day in the bay of Palma for the almost one hundred boats competing in the Sandberg Estates J/70 Worlds. Although the wind didn't make it easy in this third round of the event organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP) and the J70 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.

It was time to wake up early on the third day of the World Championship. With the intention of making the most of the early morning breeze, the fleet docked out the RCNP after 09h00 with the first start scheduled for 10h30. After cancelling the first race just after the start due to an abrupt change in the wind direction, the teams were able to tackle the third round of the championship shortly after 11h00 with eight knots of north-easterly breeze.

As in the previous races, the fleet was once again irregular and the first three places were shared by three teams that were outside the top ten: Laura Grondin's USA ‘Dark Energy’, Swedish Flip Engelbert's ‘Elvis’ and Brazilian Haroldo Solberg's ‘Oceanpact’, first, second and third respectively.

With the first race of the day concluded, 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 race course and with conditions now between eleven and fourteen knots from the south, the fleet was back in action with the starting gun at 15h15 for the second race.

On this occasion, the victory went to John Heaton's USA ‘Empeiria’, who took his first partial podium finish. Richard Witzel's USA ‘Rowdy’ was second, followed by Ralph Vasconcellos' Brazilian “Mindset” in third place.

With a total of five races on the scoreboard, the third day of the Sandberg Estates J/70 Worlds was decided with the entry into play of the discard, which, as planned, led to new changes of positions in the top ten and a compression of the fleet aspiring to the intercontinental 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 table thanks to their good results on the first two days. He leads 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.

Tomorrow, Friday, the second to last day in the bay of Palma with everything still to be decided.