I love watching J class footage. Massive, sleek, elegant yachts from an age where yachts were becoming more efficient at performance.
and then theres that.
bizarre to see such a basic stuff up at that level its the sought of behaviour you see at club level sailing.
Have participated in some of these regattas over the years in both the carib and med (33-50m superyachts tho, not the Js) , very lucky no fatalities!
at the start of the momentum of super yachts regatta racing they were quite reserved in the conducting of racing, 2min interval pursuit starts, dedicated safety officer on each boat monitoring every boat with constant radio comms and AIS, 40m exclusion at all times from other boats with range finders and automatic dsq if u breached this.
The J boat owners bucked the trend and started to engage in fleet racing which peaked in the 2013 st barths bucket, pushing the envelope of these long keeled 220t bohemoths . I cant seem to see a bowman holding onto the forestay in the leadup on the port tacker (usually always miked up - hands free with at minimum the crew boss, tactician, and navigator).. that seems to be where it all starts to unravel
Hard to believe this can happen in a 4 boat fleet where you only have to account for three others
