J/80 German “CAMPAIGN SAILING TEAM” Perspectives

(La Trinite sur Mer, France)- “We should have been prepared for our participation in Spi Ouest. The Breton town, whose marina is larger than the town itself, lured 2,500 sailors and 408 boats to measure their skill together. Where last year was a bit short on sunshine, we were prepared for fantastic weather for this year’s sailing spectacle.

Every morning, an armada of racing yachts took off in a picturesque setting to get to the day’s sailing in the Bay of Quiberon. Next to us, and our 88 competitors in the J/80 class also sailed other boats in their respective classes.

We had traveled with our "campaign" already for two weekends before the start of races and had used the time for training and testing sails. Impressively, we had an encounter with "Spindrift", the largest 130 ft. trimaran in the world, the fastest Atlantic crossing and sail around the world, at one of our training sessions.

Races were scheduled for Friday to Monday. The J/80 class was divided due to their size into two groups, which were mixed again on the second day of racing. The last two days would be a "Gold Fleet" and the "Silver Fleet".

Strengthened by our training we started for the first race. We quickly realized that the level in spite of the reduced number of participants was still damn high! At the end of the first day we were 39th place but climbed back into 16th place, and from there into 14th on the last day.

The question is, we are satisfied with the result? The answer is yes and no, with the emphasis on Yes. While it is a pity that we could not improve the overall result, but there were also many things that we did better than last season. We sailed with a cooler head. But when sailing competition counts, this year's winner SAFFRON, the boat sailing with all professionals and IMOCA skipper Morgan Lagravière, was first! We are happy with our result against such good crews

One can be philosophical about results as much as you want, but what counts in the end is the fun on the water - and we had that! The Spi Ouest 2014 was a feast for sailors; the mood at night in the tents in the North Hall was second to none!  We had great wind, bright sunshine and a lot of fun. The campaign is awesome and the crew sailed hot for the upcoming season!”  Learn more about the Campaign J/80 sailing team here.