The 2024 J/70 NSW Championship was sailed from 2-4 November 2024 from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, with 14 boats from clubs around Australia and even some international visitors amongst the crews. Tim Ryan skippered his Vamos team to their second State Championship in almost as many weeks with his crew of Rob Greenhalgh, Charlie Gundy and visiting British 49er Olympian James Peters. 

Vamos!!!! Credit - Nic Douglass @sailorgirlhq

The first two days were sailed in northerly breezes, with the leader and Boat of the Day for both being David Doherty and his team on Matador, including James Corrie, Hamish Hardy and Steve Thomas leaving them with a lead going into the final day. 

Matador opened the door in the second last race of the series, dropping from fourth to eighth on the last run, while Vamos finished first, to be just one point behind overall with a better drop on their scorecard. 

It then came down to the battle of the last race. Tim Ryan’s Vamos were successful in holding Doherty’s Matador back on the first beat, and went on to secure a second in the easing southerly. Matador were unable to find their way back into the top of the pack following the tight cover, and were forced to settle for second place overall. 

Vamos keeping Matador behind them in the final race - Credit - Nic Douglass @sailorgirlhq

“Yeah, we won this one,” said Tim Ryan. “We won the Victorian States also, so it's a pretty good outcome for us. We're pretty happy.”

He credited his team with their work on the difficult race track. “It was a tricky day. I think Rob [Greenhalgh] did very well in picking all the shifts today. We were pretty much on top of it. Teamwork was fantastic,” he concluded. 

With two regatta wins from their last two events, it puts Vamos firmly in the favourite position for the upcoming National Championship. 

“Sandringham, January 13-18. Four days of racing, hopefully windy and wavy, should be fun,” said Rod Warren, J/70 Australia Class President, Sandringham local and skipper of third place overall, Joust70. 

“There are now 12 or 13 boats [J/70’s] on the hard stand, so that's a good contingent and the kids are just getting better and better. They're really putting in a lot of effort, training, getting coached and they're going to keep improving, and keeping us on our toes,” he finished. 

The class is growing in Australia with both Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron and Sandringham Yacht Club adopting the J/70 for their Youth Keelboat programs in recent years.

Sandringham Yacht Club Youth Keelboat Program member, Hayden Brown and his team on Sirocco, were the winners of both the Youth Division (under 30) and the Corinthian Division for the event. 

“Honestly we're trying to just focus on trying to get the pros so we're happy with how we're going, and to get both the divisions is nice,” said Hayden Brown after racing. 

“In this combination we started sailing after the last Nationals so just under a year in our current combo.”

“It's good with the Sandy program because we're able to get on the water in these boats which is sort of helping us get into bigger boats as well. It's a phenomenal fleet. They're all really experienced and we're learning a lot just from what we're doing,” he admitted. 

Other divisional winners included Kim Ketelbey’s Anemology in the Mixed Plus Division, a division that has been introduced by the J/70 Class to encourage female participation. To qualify, you cannot have more than two males over the age of 18. 

There were at least 18 sailing clubs represented at the event, including Belmont 16ft Skiff Club, Black Rock Yacht Club, Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron, Brighton Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Double Bay Sailing Club, Lane Cove 12ft Sailing Skiff Club, Middle Harbour Yacht Club, Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Royal Motor Yacht Club Broken Bay, Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, Sandringham Yacht Club, Southport Yacht Club and Wangi Amateur Sailing Club. 

Video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/iNY6DKCjs5gvfGeo/

For full results: https://app.sailsys.com.au/club/2/results/series/4139/pointscore?view=individual&handicap=s

For more information about J/70 sailing in Australia, including upcoming events such as the National Championship at Sandringham Yacht Club 13-18 January 2025, head to https://www.j70australia.org.

Nic Douglass for @sailorgirlhq