J Class' origins recognised at America's Cup Superyacht Regatta

Permanent crew of the J's lined up for two great America's Cup Regattas © Louise Morton / J Class Association

A record fleet of six J Class yachts are set to compete in the America's Cup Superyacht Regatta starting today, fleet racing around coastal courses over three days until Thursday.

Although light winds are widely predicted for the opening races the atmosphere among the assembled crews is a heady mix of excitement and anticipation.

To be part of the incredible 35th America's Cup show on the beautiful island of Bermuda, the competing crews are eager to fully embrace every opportunity to remind the world of the J Class' association with the America's Cup.

The origins of the class date back to 1929 when Sir Thomas Lipton issued his fifth challenge for the America's Cup.

Lipton commissioned the building of the first J Class Yacht, Shamrock V, which arrived in Bermuda today (Tuesday) and will compete (in next week's America's Cup J Class Regatta).

Along with Shamrock V, the only other 'original' built J Class yacht set to compete in Bermuda is the 1933 Charles Nicholson designed Velsheda. Both yachts, Shamrock V and Velsheda have been substantially rebuilt and rerigged over the years, most notably in the late 1990s.

The most recently built J Class yacht is Svea which was launched this year, sea trialled in the Spring in Mallorca and which will make her racing debut on Tuesday.

Among the most competitive, most recently optimised J Class yachts are Hanuman – a modern replica of the Charles Nicholson designed Endeavour which first raced in 2009 – and Lionheart which was first raced in 2012.

Lionheart is a Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens design from a family of designs commissioned by Harold Vanderbilt which produced the all conquering Ranger.

A modern version of Ranger, which will compete in Bermuda, was launched in 2003, has raced actively and successfully in the Caribbean, USA and Europe, most recently winning the Kings Hundred Guinea Cup last year at the Saint Barths Bucket.

Topaz is a Frank C Paine design which was never built until the lines were updated by the Hoek Design Office for the yacht which was launched in the summer of 2015. Topaz's two regattas to date have been the 2016 and 2017 Saint Barths Bucket events.

For many of the leading crews, the preparation and planning for these Bermuda regattas, started pretty much as soon as the class were invited by the America's Cup organisers in 2014. Last winter, for example, two of the top contenders were substantially optimised for anticipated lighter wind conditions expected here, reducing weight and improving their aero packages. Over the intervening two years different crews have chosen different competition itineraries to hone their skills and crew work, some choosing to race as many different regattas in Europe and the Caribbean as possible, such as Lionheart, Velsheda and Ranger.

Hanuman raced extensively in 2013 and 2014 but only returned to the J Class regatta racing in the Spring this year, winning the six boat record fleet at the Saint Barths Bucket on countback against Velsheda.

In recent days the crews have been able to take time out from their training and preparation schedules to enjoy the America's Cup racing, several completing their practise programs in time to set up on the fringes of the Great Sound race course to watch their modern day high tech foiling counterparts competing, surely developments that the original J Class designers would not even have countenanced in their wildest science fiction dreams.

The J Class fleet in Bermuda is studded with dozens of America's Cup winners, some victories dating back to the early 1980s.

Ranger, skippered and steered by Erle Williams, have 15 America's Cup wins shared between seven key sailors, including Matty Mitchell with three wins and Tony Rae, Jared Henderson and Jeremy Scantlebury with two wins apiece.

On Svea, tactician Tom Whidden's won three America's Cups with Stars & Stripes in 1980, 1987 and 1988 along with Peter Isler in 1987 and 1988. Legendary grinder Andrew Taylor is crew boss on Svea and has won the America's Cup three times, in 1995 and 2000 with Team New Zealand and in 2010 with Oracle.

And Hanuman's trimmer Warwick Fleury has four America's Cup wins also, twice with Team New Zealand and twice with Alinghi.

"It is such a beautiful place to sail on such beautiful boats. And being near the America's Cup makes it all a lot of fun." Comments Stan Honey, navigator on Hanuman, "The challenges this week are all those that come with sailing these fabulous heirlooms and staying out of trouble. The weather this week does look light. These boats can be expensive (in terms of losing ground and time) to manoeuvre so you have to be careful how you make your decisions and how you commit to them.

"It has been interesting to see the evolution of the America's Cup. In San Francisco there was some contentiousness about it all, some people saying we should go back, now here people are saying 'we can never go back.' It is wonderful here to see the America's Cup recognising its heritage and welcoming the J Class in."

Racing starts 1135hrs local time Bermuda - follow it on the J Class website.

Track the racing here.