If you’re a J/80 racer, you’re used to two things: stiff competition in some of the world’s most exotic sailing destinations. In 2011, the J/80 Worlds were held in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2012, boats were shipped to Dartmouth, UK. And last year, the Worlds were held in the brie and champagne-drenched shores of Marseilles, France. In 2014, boats are coming home to Annapolis for a regatta hosted by one of the most active J/80 fleets in the country.
Racing will happen September 29-October 4 with a lay day on October 2, and a maximum of 20 races over the course of five days is the plan. Eastport YC (EYC) is the host club, with PRO Sharon Hadsell and Chief Judge Charlotte Greppe bringing together an impressive race committee experienced with running large-scale world class events. Windward-leeward racing is on the schedule at the mouth of the Severn River.
“Sharon is the past commodore of EYC, and has been race committee chairman throughout the years,” says J/80 National Class Secretary Chris Chadwick, who is helping to organize the event. “She’s done a lot of work with the J/80 fleet and our events on the Chesapeake, so it seemed like a natural fit to have her take over that responsibility.” 
To make sure that out of town racers feel welcome in Maryland’s capital, EYC members have offered to host sailors and entire teams in their homes.
As for where the boats will live, EYC is offering berthing, trailer storage, and crane usage to keep the girls in tip-top shape throughout the week. To make things social, J/World and the national J/80 class association are sponsoring a cookout to get sailors mingling off the race course. The J/80 class is doing something unique this year in that it has instituted a lay day for racers to spend Thursday off the water.
“When folks are coming into town and you have access to all these great places, like Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, you want to get out there and see things. So we thought, ‘why not give them a day to get off the water?’ Then we’ll finish up with racing on Friday and Saturday,” says Chadwick. The Chesapeake Bay J/80 fleet has about 30 boats actively racing on the Chesapeake, and Ramzi Bannura anticipates upwards of 50 boats will be present for the regatta. “We have multiple European boats coming, as well as a few boats from Canada,” says Chadwick.
The 2014 World Championships are the culmination of a series of J/80 events hosted in Annapolis. The East Coast Championships will be raced out of Annapolis YC over Labor Day weekend, and the North Americans will be run out of AYC again September 10-14. The 2014 Worlds Circuit began in January and has been traveling up and down the East Coast, everywhere between Key West and New Hampshire.
So who is 2014’s Boat to Beat? Locals Will and Marie Crump with brother (in-law) Thomas Klok won both Charleston Race Week and the Annapolis NOOD Regatta on their boat USA 1486 (named R80 for the Worlds). Close behind them will be John White on USA 1162 (see his profile on page 92) and Chris and Liz Chadwick’s Church Key. Add in local skippers like Bert Carp, Nicole Weaver, and Ken Mangano (and out-of-towners like Brian Keane, of course), and you have the makings of one competitive leaderboard.
Whatever the standings look like, you can count on SpinSheet to cover it.
