SUCCESS FOR NORTH CLIENTS AT J/80 UK NATIONALS

North Sails Fuels Top of the Fleet in Lymington

Eleven boats fought through three days of light to medium conditions at the J/80 UK Nationals on Christchurch Bay, hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. The top four finishers used North Sails; 3Di jibs won six out of seven races.

North Sails Ireland’s Shane Hughes sailed onboard Nick and Annie Haigh’s Slightly Steamy, and the team posted consistent firsts and seconds in the first five races. But when Corinthian team No Regrets scored two bullets in races six and seven, they moved into the overall lead. With no sailable wind on the final day, Slightly Steamy did not have the opportunity to recapture the lead and finished just one point out of first. Despite this, sailing with the 2019 APi-1 3Di RAW and APi-2 3Di RAW jibs, Shane and the team had impressive speed throughout the regatta.

Finishing third was Jabs, (Jonny O’Dowd, Ross McDonald, Patrick Good and Paul Quinn). Shane coached this team in the lead-up to the event and says ”it was clear that this talented group would be competitive in their debut J/80 National Championship. It will be great to see how this team develops; I’m sure there will be more top results to come.”

Jonny adds, “As this is our first year sailing J/80’s, this was a key event to learn and evaluate our progress over the season. Using the North Sails Tuning Guide, we felt we were very much on the pace and hugely look forward to the 2020 season.”

“As this is our first year sailing J/80’s, this was a key event to learn and evaluate our progress over the season. Using the North Sails Tuning Guide, we felt we were very much on the pace and hugely look forward to the 2020 season.”

All three podium teams used the MR-5 Spinnaker and either the crosscut MAXM1 All Purpose or T-6R Radial-cut Mainsail. With our September One Design promotion, now is the time to refresh your sail inventory. You can also ask your local J/80 North expert about boat/rig set up and improving your results in 2020.