The Swedish National Championship was sailed on 16-17 August in Saltsjbaden, outside Stockholm. The Royal Swedish Yacht Club was hosting club and 21 entries came to the starting line. On Saturday 4 races were sailed in moderate winds. On Sunday wind increased and sometimes reached over 30 knots in the gusts presenting "high speed sailing" and spectacular broaches. Tomas Movin with his crew Peter Thorwid, Nils and Peter Olsn won with a fantastic series 1-1-1-(3)-2-1. Second was last years defenders Ingemar Sundstedt/Michael Lindqvist with 15 points followed by Mikael Sundelin/Viking Kjellstrm with 21 points. After sail was sponsored by the J/80 class with German beers brought home from Kiel. A regatta dinner was held on Saturday evening. During the dinner a lottery was arranged and the prize was a new kevlar jib from North Sails. The Swedish J80 class would like to thank the Royal Swedish Yacht Club for arranging this regatta and also many thanks to North Sails, SLAM, Gill, Dynamant and Seglarshopen, who generously contributed with prizes. Photo by: William Blanck

| 02 September 2008 | 

The Italian J80 Class Association is proud to announce its first Italian National Championship in La Spezia (North Italy), from 25 to 28 of September 2008.

We would like to invite all international teams to participate in our championship. Please visit our website www.j80.it to see the Notice of Race. We are arranging some support for foreign teams, which will be given in order of registration until the end of the budget.

Hope to see you in La Spezia!

Regards
Massimo Rama
Presidente Associazione Italiana di Classe J80
Tel: +39 320 0760802
Email: info@j80.it

| 23 July 2008 | www.j80.it | 

J/80 sailing has exploded in Spain over the last two years, and the Spanish have shown just how quickly they have mastered the boat. After a near sweep of the 2007 Worlds in La Trinite, France, Spanish teams captured 1st, 3rd and 6th places at the 2008 Tutima J/80 World Championship sailed last week in Kiel Germany. Ignacio Camino Rodriguez with his crew of Alberdo Padron, Gomez Jose Luis and Armando Gutierrez aboard ESP 899 NEXTEL ENGINEERING sailed a nearly flawless series from start to finish to capture the world title. But their task was not easy. Runner-up Jeff Johnstone, USA, sailing with the all German crew of Henning Mittelmann, Bo Teichmann, and teenagers Stella Mau and Florian Fh, narrowed the gap to only 2 points after winning race #11 while Rodriguez suffered a black flag disqualification, which he was able to discard to preserve the victory.

Sailing conditions were dynamic with winds from 10-25 knots, big shifts, alternating rain and sun on a daily basis, not to mention 64 boats from 12 countries on one starting line with liberal use of the black flag penalty to keep the fleet in check. Rounding out the top five were Carlos Martinez of Spain in 3rd, followed by Patrick Bot of France in 4th and Kevin Sproul of UK in 5th. 6 different countries finished in the top ten, including hosts Peter Hecht and Uli Muenker from Germany aboard NEEDLES and PINS who finished in 9th. Spain will host the 2009 Worlds in Santander June 28th-July 4th.

| 16 July 2008 | Event Website | 

64 teams from 12 countries will be competing this coming week at the Tutima 2008 J/80 World Championship in Kiel, Germany. Never before have so many countries been represented at this pinnacle J/80 event, now in its 8th year. Kieler Yacht Club and the German J/80 Class Association look forward to welcoming competitors to Kiel for the week long event. Several of the top teams from last years worlds will be in attendance including Ignacio Camino (Spain), Uli Muenker (Germany), Kevin Sproul (UK) and Patrick Bot (France).

| 04 July 2008 | Read more | 

The Royal Western Yacht Club in Plymouth hosted the 2008 J/80 UK National Championship from the 18th to 21st of June. An entry of 26 boats (the largest turnout for a UK Nationals to date) arrived on Wednesday for an eight race series managed by PRO Mike Pearson and his team.

DAY 1: After one general recall to start the regatta, the conditions and the need to get in three races) saw the immediate use of the black flag for all of the rest of the days starts. Kevin Sproul in JANE had only put his brand new boat in the water for the first time the day before but quickly showed his intentions with a win in Race One from local boat JIMINI, owned and raced by John McLaren. Paul and Marie-Claude Heys also started their series promisingly with a third in another brand new boat, Janner. The second race saw different faces at the top of the fleet with Sebastian Ripard in AgainstMalaria.com taking the race from Ian Atkins in Boats.com with Kevin Sproul finishing third. Enthusiasm to get away in the third race caused eight boats in total to be black flagged in two starts. The whole of the J/80 Committee, Class Captain, Secretary and Treasurer managed to join the (newly formed, but not-so-exclusive) Black Flag Club! The race was won by Kevin Sproul with Sebastian Ripard having a good day in second. One of the Plymouth University boats, Jang Bang, steered by Mark Yeabsley came third.

DAY 2: The first race of the day was won by Kevin Sproul and Neil Martin in Jenga 4 was now showing some excellent speed in second. It was the turn of the other Plymouth University boat J.I.L.F sailed by James Eastbury to get a good result in third. In the next the first two positions were reversed with Ian Atkins and his lovely crew of ladies in Boats.com coming in third. The final race of the day saw the left hand side of the beat pay with Hester Robertson of the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme boat taking a good lead at the first beat which they held to the finish. Sebastian Ripard and his team in Against Malaria.com came second with Jimini from the home club getting back up their in third. Kevin Sproul had his lowest position of the championship in 5th, a result that he was able to discard.

Day 3: Heavy overnight rain did nothing to dampen the spirits and although low cloud and drizzle did not make the final day seem quite like summer, good breeze from the south soon brought some decent waves to surf on. Kevin Sproul was not going to let this championship slip away with wins in both the races. Neil Martin took second from Liz and Chris Savage in Savage Sailing Team who finally got some reward for putting in the preparation of coming to Plymouth for the previous weekends open meeting and staying down to practice. Paul and Marie-Claude Heys also had a much better final day with a fourth and third. Scott Cole in Purple Haze from Cardiff also had a happy end to their championship with a second in the final race.

At the prize-giving on the Saturday night, the trophy for Best Newcomer at a J/80 UK Nationals was won by Neil Martin and his team in Jenga 4 who finished second overall. The trophy for the best local boat was won by John McLaren and his crew in Jimini who finished fifth overall. Overall Kevin Sproul and his team; Adrian Gray, Nick Fraser and Rob Gullan showed great speed and consistency, winning the 2008 J/80 UK National Championship by 18 points. Neil Martin was second from Ian Atkins in Boats.com. Photo by www.TekterImages.com Report by Becci Eplett

| 24 June 2008 | 

More than 60 teams from 12 countries are now entered in the Tutima 2008 J/80 World Championship, taking place in Kiel, Germany next month. Never before have so many countries been represented at the worlds. Kieler Yacht Club and the German J/80 Class are proud of this result and look forward to welcoming all competitors to Kiel.

| 19 June 2008 |