J/70 NORTH AMERICANS CLOSES SEASON

North Clients Finish 1,2*,3,4,5

The 2019 J/70 North Americans hosted by Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland, Ohio went off without a hitch, with ten races completed for the talented 35-boat fleet. North client Oivind Lorentzen sailing on Nine with teammates Lucas Calabrese, Ian Coleman and Will Felder won the title displaying great boat speed and consistency. North powered boats finished 1,2*,3,4,5, closing out the season with a bang. North clients have won all major J/70 events in 2019 – the Worlds, Europeans, North Americans and so far nine countries have reported National victories.

Here are important takeaways from our experts Skip Dieball and Allan Terhune from the NAs:

Starts

Working hard to maintain spacing is very important to getting a good start. The exit runway needs to be bigger in waves and hitting the line at full pace and on proper course is essential to getting poked out on the fleet and having options to implement your upwind strategy.

Upwind

Be sure to study the waves pre-start. Are they the same on each tack? Do you need to set up your trim different from tack to tack? Controls? Twist on one tack vs. the other? You gain considerable knowledge getting to the course early and figuring things out before the gun goes off.

Downwind

Always have eyes out of the boat looking for the best pressure. Many times at the NA’s there would be streaks of puffs that you’d have to reconnect if you sailed through. Dropping on the wing, fully gybing and soaking often would keep you in the best breeze longer. If you are on the step, it is essential that you prepare for the next gybe by connecting into a puff that is behind and to leeward.

Knowing Your Mode was key. The North Americans had a lot of days of full planing, lazy planing, and going wing-on-wing. Knowing when and how to do each mode allows huge downwind gains.

Sail Combos

The top three North boats all had different main and jib combos, proving our sails are user friendly and made to fit any style of sailing. North J/70 sails suit any sailing and tuning style and are fast in all wind conditions. Nine used XCS-2 mainsail and J-6 jib. Rimette had the F-1 main and J-2HC jib and Vineyard Vines used F-1 main with the J-6 jib. Each boat was able to pick a main to match their mast and then choose if they wanted the more forging J-2, or the J-6 which would allow for more inhaling.

Contact our J/70 experts for the best sail combo for your team.

* Partial North Sails inventory