Call it the World Cup of the J/70 class of yachts. It has its own name, but the level of competition among the sailboat crews vying for the J/70 World Championships in a regatta run out of Marblehead’s Eastern Yacht Club has that distinction.
There were 91 of the most elite teams from 18 countries battling out 11 highly competitive races as they vied for one of the biggest championships in the modern yachting era.
And when it was over, Marblehead native Jud Smith, who now lives in Swampscott, outshone them all. The boat he skippered, J/70 Africa, representing Eastern, succeeded in winning the event without coming in first in any of the individual races. But he managed to win by a single point anyway.
“We raced from Tuesday on,” said Smith Sunday night. “Saturday was a bust. There wasn’t enough wind. But it worked out in our favor because we were ahead.”
“This fleet was incredibly deep,” Smith said. “Anybody could have won this regatta, and we respected that. It really was a privilege to race here and a lot of fun.”
Smith said conditions were rough earlier in the race.
“It was definitely rough, with windy conditions,” he said. “It certainly didn’t feel like summer.”
The J/70 yachts are one of the newer competitive boats, Smith said.
“It’s considered a sport boat,” he said, “and a planing boat. That means it can get up on top of the water and glide, almost like a PT boat or a motorboat, if you’re more than 15 knots.
“We were going up to 18 knots,” he said. “That’s pretty quick for a sailboat.”
Luis Bugallo (ESP) racing Marnatura is the 2018 Corinthian J/70 World Champion, adding to the European title won in June at the young Spaniard home club, Real Club Náutico de Vigo. Luis like most of the Marnatura team is 23 years old.
Bruno Pasquinelli’s Stampede (Fort Worth BC) was the runner-up overall, just a single point away from victory.
“A lot of the owners have been racing against each other for decades, this has been a lot of fun, even though we just missed out,” he said.
