The first two teams at the J/70 Australian Championships are separated by just one point heading into the penultimate day of racing.
Chris Dare’s ‘Ambition’ and David Doherty’s ‘Matador’ have both sailed consistently in the first six races, creating a neck-and-neck battle in the back half of the event.
The fleet has seen the worst of the conditions forecast for the event following two days of 15-20 knot southerlies that also saw big swells, however more moderate conditions are expected for the final two days.
The racing at the top end of the fleet has been close with mere inches making the difference on the finish line.
Brandon Demura, who sits fifth overall with his Youth team on ‘Tramontana’, said the racing was some of the closest he had ever experienced.
“Every finish line you are almost swinging bowsprits through the line to pick up a place,” he said.
“It’s great for us young sailors to be mixing it up with some of the best sailors in the country, some really hot sailors in the fleet, it’s a great learning experience, really close racing and just loving it at the moment.”
Brandon and his team are closely followed by ‘Fubar’ in sixth, another Youth team that has had a similar experience on the J/70 race course.
Fubar crew member Tom Holmes said the fleet was “super close” and the top group was “very cutthroat”.
Tom and his team has only sailed the boat a handful of times but found the J/70 to be highly tactical, similar to the ILCA racing that most of them are used to.
He said the highlight of the J/70 for the Fubar crew was the downwind moding, which Tom said the team found to be a tricky, but core part of the J/70.
The penultimate day of racing kicks off today at 1200hrs today, local time.
For regatta results, head to https://syc.com.au/j70-nationals/
