We have been following the successes of the ‘Joystick’ team with keen interest over the last couple of months. Rob Larke and Victoria Gregory’s J/80 features a specially modified Barton Boomstrut for added mainsail control.
Held over the weekend of the 12/13/14th of June, 25 boats came to the start line to contend for the J/80 National Championships held in the Solent. Current National Champion and top 5 world ranking professional sailor Kevin Sproul was back to reclaim his title in ‘Jane’s Sister‘, always consistent under pressure and the leading challenger to our team.
The first day just two races were held in quite boisterous conditions, two firsts to the current champion. Conditions lightened for Friday and Saturday with 8 races sailed in total. Two bullets for our team on Friday reassured them that they have the pace for the Worlds, but this was not enough to break the 5 x 1st buffer Sproul had built up over the series.
Lessons learnt? More practise, especially on the hoists and drops. The World Championship is to be held in Santander next month, look out for our report on our team.