2024 was a GREAT year to race a J/70 in the PNW. Let’s take a moment for a brief look back and also glance ahead to see what we can expect in 2025.
The successful themes of J/Pod from West Sound took root in Lake Washington and grew rapidly. In 2023, there was a regular fleet of 7 boats on LW. This past spring of 2024, that fleet grew to 14 boats on the first Wednesday evening of the Spring Series. By September, our Leschi-based LW fleet had grown to 21 boats. That's a lot of boats, a lot of teams, and a lot of fun! We have added another 5 boats just since September. All in, including our outposts from West Sound, Bellingham, PMYC/Bainbridge, and Hood River, we’re now well over 50 J/70s, and you’ve helped us grow our fleet into the largest in the US very quickly.
THANK YOU ALL for showing up! …and for stepping up and buying boats, for leaning into prioritize your J/70 sailing, for loaning your boats to your friends anytime you’re not available to race, for the many willing and able crew on our WhatsApp that are always game on even at the last moment and even when the weather isn’t ideal, and for contributing in so many meaningful ways to welcome and help the next newcomers join our fun. We have something pretty special here, and we have you to thank you for it.
For the recent 2024 season we aimed to highlight 3 events around the region in an effort to jumpstart interest in regional travel to regattas.
PSSR - CYC Seattle
Hood River One Design - Hood River Yacht Club
PITCH - Bellingham Yacht Club
Thanks to all the Clubs for hosting us and for the teams that traveled to those events to race. We had some really fun times on and off the water together. A special shout out goes to our own CYC Race Committee who stepped up to run our races on the Vakaros RaceSense Technology that was used by CYC to run the successful J/24 Worlds and also the J/70 Worlds in Spain. CYC Race Chairman Jon Anderson also deserves kudos for always leaning into our constant experimenting and trying different kinds of events to help us find ways to improve our racing and our on the water enjoyment. One example was the recent Hot Buttered Rum Series on the Lake… which didn’t play out as we had hoped, but we’ll learn from that.
Over the past year alone, a few of our more adventurous J/70 teams traveled to more than a dozen different championship-level regattas including Miami, Tampa, St. Pete, Chicago, Fort Worth, Puerto Vallarta, Lake Garda and more. Three of our teams made it to Palma de Mallorca, Spain to compete in the ‘24 J/70 Worlds. In all cases, we appreciate that our teams bring home and share all they learn, and inspire the rest of us to follow in their footsteps.
For weeks we’ve been trying to coordinate the best possible 2025 regatta calendar for our fleet. We’re getting close, but we’ll need your help. One of our goals is to learn how to better organize and coordinate ourselves so we can have more boats attending a few key events. The 2025 regatta survey will soon be sent out to see which events everyone wants to prioritize for this coming season. Once received, please take a moment to quickly respond as we hope to present and post a final regatta calendar that reflects YOUR preferences by the end of January. Then it’s up to each of us to be sure our respective boats are showing up at those regattas. This is an area where we can improve as a fleet.
For 2025, we expect 25-30 boats on Lake Washington. That could end up being more like 30-35 boats out in Puget Sound for PSSR and PSSC. Very exciting!
2025 Highlight Events:
Early April, Puget Sound Spring Regatta @ CYC Seattle.
Wednesday evening racing starts following PSSR.
Tuesday Night Lake Washington PHRF Class Racing (Potential J/70 Opportunity)
June 13/14-15, J/70 Mixed Plus Nationals @ CYC Seattle
July 21-25, Race Week Bellingham
One of our favorite things to hear is how so many of you are enjoying our sailing together, enjoying improving together, and making so many great new friends along the way. We’re so lucky to have so many wonderful, special people involved in our J/pod J/70 Fleet sailing. We are so grateful to all of you and we’re looking forward to an even better 2025 sailing season with you. Happy New Year!