J80's at SpiOuest France 2016

Описание: J80 class racing footage from the 2016 Spi Ouest regatta in La Trinite Sur Mer, France.

A bumper turnout of 68 J80's made it to the start line and competed in some fantastic racing in perfect conditions on day one. The weather was looking bad for the remainder of the regatta and the organisers pushed hard to get 4 races complete despite 9 restarts. Finally sending the fleet back to La Trinite as the sun set.

By the time we were tied up at the yacht club, day two had already been cancelled for all but IRC 1, 2 & 3 due to a Meteo France weather warning. When Saturday dawned the conditions actually seemed decent enough, but by midday the wind had picked up and the decision to cancel the smaller classes seemed justified.

Although some forecasts showed potentially higher winds for day three, the entire fleet headed out to the start line. Before we had even hit open water the 5.7's and Diam 24's were running for shelter closely followed by the J70’s and the first of the J80’s. We carried on to the starting area in a building breeze and finally realised it was all over when we saw the committee boat head for home.

Thats when we got hit by a violent squall and horizontal hail that topped off around 57 knots. We had a fun 5 minutes taking the main down, but saved the rig and headed in under jib. All in a days work…

“La Tempeste” was due to flatten Brittany that night and the organisers called it a day, putting the crane operators into overtime mode lifting the entire fleet before nightfall.

Overall the competition was fierce, but good natured and great fun. Everyone made us feel very welcome and despite the weather we had a great time. Thanks Spi Ouest.