Over the weekend of February 17th, our team participated in the 2022 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg, Florida. Willem Van Waay, a multiclass world champion, approached us to participate in a brand-new Mixed Plus Class J/70 event. At most major J/70 events, the top boats are raced by four men, mostly professional sailors, with very few female sailors competing at all. Willem wanted to change that, and as a result the Mixed Plus Class at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta was born, requiring teams to be at least 50% women. While we had never raced J/70s as a team before, we were intrigued by Willem’s mission to include more women in the J/70 class and knew this new event was something we needed to be a part of.

The biggest learning curve we were going to have to face was learning how to transfer our skills from a J/24 to a J/70. To prepare, we read the tuning guide for the J/70, watched YouTube videos, and talked to expert sailors in the class, including co-captain Emily Carville’s husband, Gregg Carville, and Travis Odenbach, whose boat we were racing. We had a team meeting over Zoom to discuss positions and logistics, and which J/24 tactics could transfer to the J/70. A much smaller boat, the J/70 is lighter than we are used to so we knew the boat would be a bit more cramped. It’s designed to be sailed by three or more people (class rules require at least three), and we sailed with five, including our coach, as the ideal weight range for the crew is 710-730 lbs. Proper body positioning and weight distribution are also critical for performance.

Another difference we identified was that the J/70 has a bowsprit and an asymmetrical spinnaker. Due to this, we would need to sail hot angles downwind most of the time. It also has a smaller jib than the J/24 which makes driving them very different. Frankly, the J/70 is less taxing on sailors’ bodies – the J/24 can be difficult, leaving teammates bruised and exhausted in heavy air racing days. The J/70 can also more easily hop up on a plane in big breeze, but we didn't get to experience that at this event, as the wind was never strong enough.

Overall, the team performed well. We love racing together as a team, but to try a new boat together was very exciting and bonding. We came in 7th for the J/70 Mixed Plus Division, and 13th place for the J/70 Overall Division. We were over early in a U-flag start which means we could not restart, and we automatically took 32 points for that race, which really affected our final standings. Although we wanted to do better, we have to remember it was our skipper’s first time sailing these boats. It was still delightful to be in Florida with perfectly warm days, and we could not be more thrilled to dive into the 2022 sailing season.

We’ve always wanted to try racing in the J/70 class together, but never had the opportunity. Without the goodwill and dedicated effort of Willem Van Way, that would still be true. Not only did Willem reach out to our team personally, but he also did everything he could to get us there. It's a great boat, but what really got us excited was the mission of the event. We want to see more women in the sport, and getting more women involved in racing sailboats is a core part of our mission as a team. We are hopeful that other classes and other regattas will follow Sailing World's lead on the Mixed-Plus Class idea.

The Sea Bags Women’s Sailing Team would like to extend a thank you to Travis Odenback for trusting us with his beloved J/70, and Ian Coleman for coaching us. We also are grateful to Willem Van Waay, Ed Furry of Sail 22, and Sailing World for making this a top priority and making it happen. We believe when we look back on this event, it will be a watershed moment.