The most beautiful boats ever built

-
The J Class hosts arguably the most beautiful yacht design ever. That's why they are still being built. And this year, for the first time ever, 8 of the 9 assembled in Bermuda and 7 were expected to race during the America's Cup challenge. Three of the yachts are the original surviving yachts of 10 built.

© Martinez StudioWhen they approached the start for the first time. Kenny Read was at the helm of Hanuman, one of the newer vintage builds. In this historic America's Cup J Class Regatta in Bermuda, three different crews won races on the opening day. Just one point separated the top two boats, Hanuman and Ranger on seven apiece, with Lionheart poised for three way final day showdown on eight.

The yachts are:
JK3: Shamrock V
JK7: Velsheda
JK4: Endeavour
J5:    Ranger
JK6: Hanuman
JH1: Lionheart
JH2: Rainbow
J8:    Topaz
JS1:  Svea
JH3: Yankee
J9:    J9

In second place in a dramatic, high stakes final race laden with tension off Saint George's island, the Lionheart crew stuck to their goals in the shifty breeze to climb back into contention at the last turn. When Hanuman were dramatically given a penalty for a rules infringement on the approach to the last buoy, the Lionheart crew capitalized, having caught the scent of the overall win that they had worked so hard for over the last three years. With the regatta title in their grasp they passed the leader Topaz down the last leg. Then, with Hanuman astern and Velsheda winning the series' fifth and final race, Lionheart extended their margin to three winning points.
The crew of  Lionheart clinched their trophy for winning the first ever America's Cup J Class Regatta. 'This is the event we have been working towards for two years,' said the owner before going on to pay tribute to how welcoming the Bermudans have been. Velsheda's second win of the regatta, 2, 1 for the day, proved critical, earning them the number 2 position tie break from Hanuman. Velsheda will be 85 years old next year, so this is no small feat. We look forward to more events like this in the future.

Final results after five races, no discard:
1. Lionheart 11pts
2. Velsheda 14pts
3. Hanuman 14pts
4. Ranger 18pts
5. Topaz 21pts
6. Shamrock V 30pts
7. Svea 36pts



© J CLASS YACHTS ASSOCIATION
O

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 30+ Sailing Movies

-
Image
Wow, what a cool collection! Great ideas for a sailing movie club.  When I started to compile this list, I thought I'd come up with maybe ten movies. But as I got deeper into it, not only did I realize there were more than I consciously remembered over time, but also that the independent film production movement and digital technologies are causing an explosion of very interesting new entries. The work being done by young people is particularly inspiring and impressive and perhaps signifies that sailing isn't dying after all. No, it's actually becoming the saving grace of a generation pressured as none before it. Because it is just too difficult to rate these movies as each one ticks a different box, I've just listed them in chronological order. Enjoy, and please let me know about any I missed.
Read more

Top Ten Books about Sailing (non-fiction)

-
Image
Ocean adventures inspire the spinning of tall tales Sailing is one of those things in life that so many dream of and few pursue. Those of us who have sailed off across an ocean most often started out in our warm beds absorbed in a book of someone else's adventures on the other side of the world. Their yarns spun our own ambitions and fueled our thirst for the sea. So many authors have been inspired by the sea that there are hundreds of books to choose from. So why are these ten on my list? Because they were the ones that told the stories that I wanted to live or taught me lessons that may one day save a life - my own or a loved one's. And now that I have, I can honestly say that their yarns were well spun. There are few things better in life than reading a good sailing book while sailing! To go off watch, curl up in a secure spot and read about your favourite sailing adventure inspires the next adventure of your own. I always ask, where to next? And there's always s...
Read more

Top Ten+ Novels Based on Sailing (fiction)

-
Image
Sailing makes a romantic setting There are few novels with sailing as a background theme, which is surprising given how romantic sailing is considered to be. Images of sailboats appear everywhere and dreams of sailing off to an uncharted island abound, yet stories tend to be real, not fictional.  That's curious to me. I've scoured the pages of Amazon and Goodreads to find what I could as the question often comes up, "Are there any good novels with sailing themes."  The answer is, yes, but not many.  As I have not read these all yet, I am simply providing the publisher's descriptions here, mostly as they appear on amazon.com.  From Homer's Odyssey to Christine Kling's Circle of Bones, one thing for certain is that this is an eclectic collection, much like the collection of characters one is likely to encounter at sea. I'm also working on a listing of sailing movies, which of course might have been based on either novels or true stories, so perhaps w...
Read more