39 boats were on the starting line at Quantum Key West Race Week 2013, making J/70 the largest fleet at the 26th annual regatta. Top-notch sailors on boats from across the nation gathered for this midwinter classic including FBYC’s Blake and Lud Kimbrough, Noel Clinard, Clark Dennison, and Matt Braun, who were joined by the likes of Tim Healy, Kerry Klingler, Jeff Johnston, and Dave Ullman along with over 120 other sailors in the J/70 fleet. Some of these well-renowned skippers that have captured major championships in other one-design classes have jumped into the J/70, including Klingler (J/80), Healy (J/24) and Ullman (Melges 24). Johnstone said J/Boats had sailors of that caliber test drive prototypes and offer input for improvements.   

The J/70 is a 22-foot sport boat with all carbon-fiber rigging and an asymmetrical spinnaker that gets the boat planning downwind in about 14 knots. 

  Clark Dennison remarked “this boat is surprisingly quick and responsive; it really jumps up and goes.”

   It seems the J/70 has taken the sailing world by storm with J/Boats having already sold 350 of the small one-design racers. Dave Ullman, who called tactics for Ohio resident Joseph Colling in Key West, could not think of another class that has grown so quickly. “I’ve never seen anything like this, especially in what was considered a down market. J/Boats found the right niche and the right time,” said Ullman, who did not hesitate when asked why the design has been so successful. “Price point, quality of construction, timing. They just hit it all. Apparently, they’ve had this on the boards for a while and picked the right time to go.”*

  “Key West has always been a tremendous showcase for any new design and we are looking forward to really launching the J/70 to a wider audience with great competition at one of the world’s most renowned regattas,” Johnstone said. “We debuted the J/24 in Key West back in January, 1978 so this is like going back to where it all started for our company.”*

   Brian Keane, a past winner at Key West in both the J/105 and J/80 classes, was among the owners impressed enough to buy a J/70 and was eager to test his new toy against such a deep fleet. 

   “It’s truly amazing for a brand new boat to be the largest class at such a quality regatta as Key West,” Keane said. “I’m really impressed with the caliber of sailors in the fleet. This is going to be hot competition and a lot of fun.”*

  Kerry Klingler noted that all the owners are still learning the boat, particularly how to handle the oversized spinnaker that will be critical to success. Johnstone, who raced with son Jeff, said he is “prepared for mayhem” in the inevitable windy conditions. His other son, current J/Boats president Al Johnstone, was the chief designer of the J/70.*

     Over at Truman Annex on day one, a bunch of J/70 sport boats were being put into the water via trailer or crane. 

Annapolis skipper Tate Russack won the only J/70 regatta held so far, the Fall Brawl in Annapolis. He has North Sails pro Allan Terhune aboard as tactician and figured to be in the thick of things again. With northerly winds in the 12-22 knots range, the week provided a perfect true test the J/70.*

Interestingly enough after 2 days of racing, an upstart team of recent college graduates was leading the fleet after two days and five races.

Brothers Cole and James Allsopp grew up sailing together before heading off to College of Charleston and the Naval Academy, respectively. Cole was driving while James was handling the bow aboard Moxie, which closed with a fourth and third on Tuesday to overtake Ullman, the Day 1 leader.*

Wednesday was a  critical at this regatta. This year, Wednesday brought what were the strongest winds of the five-day regatta, challenging crews to really ramp up their performance. There were some sail and gear failures in the heavy air, which held steady between 18 and 22 knots.*

There was a new leader in the J/70 class after racing concluded on Wednesday: Newport-based pro Tim Healy and his Helly Hansen team won Race 6, finished third in Race 7 and threw out a 23rd suffered in Race 1. That briefly allowed Helly Hansen to overtake Moxie for the overall lead in the regatta’s largest class with 39 boats.*

However, Healy lost a protest and was hit with a penalty that changed the seventh race result to 19th and dropped Helly Hansen to fourth in the overall standings. Moxie, sailed by brothers Cole and James Allsopp (Annapolis, MD), remained the leader for the second straight day with 34.5 points, 1 1⁄2 better than Relative Obscurity (Peter Duncan, Rye, NY).*

Healy was disappointed with the protest decision, but remained confident his crew could wind up on top at the end. “We’re going to give it our best shot. We just have to keep plugging away,” he said.*

By the end of Thursday, with four days of racing complete, it was not difficult to identify the stars of Quantum Key West 2013 including Blake and Lud Kimbrough of FBYC who fought their way to a slight lead in the corinthian fleet and 9th overall.

Even the most veteran sailors have been amazed by the fact that every day of the regatta brought spectacular conditions with warm temperatures and solid breezes. Wednesday had 18-22 knot winds and Thursday’s breeze held steady between 14-18 knots.

“It was a great week of sailing. The wind was fantastic and the race committee did a superb job of giving us some quality racing. We are looking forward to keeping the momentum at FBYC,” remarked Noel Clinard.  

It was a memorable event with FBYC’s Blake and Lud Kimbrough’s (Nostalgia) impressive finish of 9th overall and 2nd in the corinthian fleet.   Noel Clinard, Clark Dennison and Matt Braun (Loonitictoo) finished 29th overall and 8th in the corinthian fleet.  

* quotes from KWRW official press release 1-20-13 through 1-25-13