NORTH SAILS SUCCESS ON THE SOLENT

J-Cup 2019 Brought Fierce Competition

With 60 boats coming together for the annual Landsail Tyres J-Cup, as always, the event did not disappoint.

Open to all J/Boats, the Solent hosted both One Design and IRC racing for competitors from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States. Conditions were certainly exciting for the teams, with the wind building as the event went on and peaking on the last day at 25 knots.

In the J/70 Class, Paul Ward’s Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat won seven of the nine races, not only winning the class but also earning the overall J-Cup for exceptional performance – the first time the prestigious award has been given to a J/70. Amongst the crew were J/70 Class Experts Ruairidh Scott (Main Trimmer) and Charlie Cumbley (Tactician). At the prize giving, skipper Paul Ward said a few words:

“I am shocked, this is totally unexpected! A big thank you to Paul Heys. All of us here wish he was still around and like many of us, he has helped enormously with my sailing. A big thank you to the Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat team; Charlie, Ruairidh, and Mario.”

Winning the Large IRC Class was Davanti Tyres, not for the first time having won their class for three years in a row at the J-Cup. Powered by North Sails, they shone on the last day gaining three bullets.

The J/109 fleet had a healthy 11 entries with competition particularly fierce between Jukebox, Jubilee and Jiraffe. The last day was the decider and after Jukebox delivered two firsts when it mattered most, it was them who earned the title, also being crowned National Champions.

Congratulations to all North clients for winning six out of the seven classes after some exhilarating racing.