Three Australian boats competed last week in St Petersburg Florida for the 2023, J/70 World Championship. Vamos (Tim Ryan), Swish (Steven Proud) and Celestial (Sam Haynes). Eighty-three teams from 15 nations competed from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA.

Tim Ryan writes, ‘Conditions over the five days and ten races varied between light 8 knot and fresh breezes up to 20 knots. The relatively strong current on Tampa Bay produced choppy and challenging sailing conditions in each race. Vamos had a good week finishing tenth overall after being on the leaderboard for the entire week. We also won the One Pro Division.

In such a strong fleet consistent results were important. We won one race, but our worst result was in the thirties which helped us put a score together. The major challenge in fleets of this size is getting off the starting line in good shape. Clearly boat speed plays a very big part as well. We improved in these areas over course of the week, while our crew work was on the money from the start.‘

Steve Proud writes, ‘Tim’s result was truly exceptional. Finishing 10th and winning the One Pro Division is an outstanding accomplishment. On Swish, I would have liked a better result, of course. Our best race result was a 12th. In this level of competition one mistake can cost 30 or 40 places and that happened to us a couple of times. This was our first Worlds. We learned and improved throughout the 5 days. Our best daily points total was on the last day. I hope we are able to qualify for the Worlds in Palma next year.’

Crews

Vamos: Tim Ryan, Rob Greenhalgh, Jess Grimes and Krishan Boghul

Celestial: Sam Haynes, Tom Grimes, Murray Jones and James Hodgson

Swish: Steven Proud, Billy Sykes, Malcolm Parker and Evan Aras

Vamos: 10th Overall, 1st One-Pro Division

Swish: 48th Overall

Celestial: 52nd Overall, 8th Corinthian