Mexico into first place

J/70 Worlds set sail in La Rochelle

A lot of Sun, some clouds and a good wind for this first day of J/70 World Championship in La Rochelle.

After two days of registration and a training race yesterday under the sun, the competitors from six different nationalities left the port in the late morning to get to the racing area. Three races were held today, under a partly cloudy sky and with a slightly oscillating wind between 12 and 17 knots.

Around 1330, after a general recall, the competitors took their first start of the Championship - a start under black flag, which cost Allan Higgs' English crew its first race. A clockwise rotation of the wind required a change of course and then it was Ian Atkins' boats.com crew, already Spi Ouest France winner in the J/70 this year, which won the first race.

The second round was more difficult, since the tide combined with the wind were pushing boats over the line. Three general recall were necessary before having a good start and more than a dozen boats were declared BFD for that round and had to wait for the start of the next and last race of the day.

After this first day the Mexican team under skipper Julian Fernandez Neckelman has taken the overall lead. Just behind in second place, the US Helly Hansen team of Tim Healy, defending J/70 World Championship winner who had a good first day, too after posting a 5-1-13 today. Healy explained: "The conditions today were good, but the wind was a bit shifty which made the race quite tricky. We missed such a change during the third round, so we didn’t made a very good start, but we managed to climb up the race to 13th, which was not so bad. Anyway, we have not been BFD today, like many competitors, which is good. "

With a crew on board he knows very well and with whom he is used to sail for several years, Healy added that La Rochelle was on a body of water he knew before this regatta. "This is a large fleet and everyone came very well prepared; the best are here, so inevitably, there will be competition, but if conditions remain as they were today, it will be a good week. "

Third overall is Italian Carlo Alberini's Calvi Network, which won the J/70 European Championship in 2014.

The French are not far behind. Laurent Sambron and his crew on Hemon Camus is eighth overall. Just behind in 10th is Entente Cordial with  a crew from La Rochelle, led by yacht designer Philippe Briand.

This first day of championship will has been marked by numerous BFD and a fairly dispersed fleet which suggests some surprises in the coming days of competition.

In the Corinthian devision it is English teams who dominate. Benevolent Fund of RAF Spitfire skippered by Simon Ling is first, followed by Gill Race Team, skippered by Ian Wilson.