Grant Reports

Written by Max Clapp

After graduating university, I thought high-level competitive sailing was consigned to my past. Sailing a J/70, and the support of the Royal Southern Trust, has ensured that is not the case.

We get 20–25 boats at every Grand Slam weekend (there are five a season), and 35+ at the Nationals and Cowes Week. It’s also one of the only opportunities to sail against the country’s top professionals as a weekend warrior.

Plenty of my friends from Oppies and youth sailing are on the Olympic circuit now, and having the opportunity to tack on them a few times a year is priceless.

The first of those opportunities this year was on the Solent for Grand Slam 1.

It was a good reminder of just how competitive the UK J/70 fleet has become. Twenty-five boats lined up on the Solent, with Olympic sailors, professional teams and Corinthian crews all fighting for every inch.

We started the weekend strongly, winning the final race on Saturday to finish the day at the top of the leaderboard.

Sunday brought more breeze and some of the best sailing of the weekend. We stayed in the mix all day and eventually finished second overall, just one point behind the winners, while also taking the Corinthian title.

For us, the result was less about winning Grand Slam 1 and more about proving that the work we had put in over the winter was moving us towards our bigger target at the Corinthian Worlds in Marseille.

Starting the season with a second overall against a fleet of this quality gave us plenty of confidence that a top-10 finish at the Corinthian Worlds was a realistic goal.

But the J/70 has a way of keeping you humble.

After trailing Jeepster across France, we arrived in Marseille and spent a few days getting the boat ready. We thought the absence of the professional teams would considerably change the dynamics of the racing, and that we’d be able to pull away from the pack more consistently at the start.

That proved not to be the case. In fact, it was the second-hardest regatta I’ve ever sailed, trumped only by the brutal Open J/70 Worlds.

We fought back from a woeful start to finish 30th out of 88 boats. It wasn’t the result we had hoped for, but we came away feeling that we have the pace to finish much higher up the fleet. Plans are already being put in place for next year’s showdown in Vigo, Spain.

After driving Jeepster back to the UK, we competed at the Nationals in June. We managed to put in a 5th out of 30 – another strong result against a very competitive fleet.

We also slightly embarrassed ourselves with a failed match-racing attempt against Calypso in the final race, as we tried to secure the Corinthian National title. Worth a go …

Throughout all of this, the support of the Royal Southern Trust has been invaluable. Campaigning a J/70 at this level while working full-time simply wouldn’t be possible without the financial support that allows us to get the boat to events, prepare properly and compete throughout the season.

More importantly, the Trust has given us the opportunity to continue doing something that we thought might have ended when we left university: racing at a high level, against some of the best sailors in the country, while building a campaign of our own. For that, we are hugely grateful.

I’d also like to give a massive shoutout to the teammates who made the season so fun. Miles Jones, Mathieu Cadei and Horatio Sykes joined me for the Grand Slams and Worlds, while Dan Whiteley, Chris Hülb and Tigrane Dubois jumped in for the Nationals.

Having the opportunity to spend the season racing, travelling and occasionally arguing over tactics with them is a huge part of what makes the campaign so enjoyable. I’m incredibly grateful to all of them for the time, effort and commitment they put in throughout the year.