(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- The Yacht Club Argentino hosted the 2025 edition of the J/70 World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first time “down under” in the southern hemisphere. There were seventy-one teams participating from sixteen nations; including Argentina (22), Australia (1), Bermuda (1), Brazil (14), Chile (5), China (1), Spain (2), Great Britain (2), Germany (1), Italy (3), Portugal (1), Switzerland (1), Sweden (2), Turkey (3), Uruguay (7), and USA (13).
Sailing started on Tuesday, October 28th, and concluded on Saturday, November 1st. The entire top fifteen of the leaderboard experienced a severe case of “chutes & ladders”, as the teams moved up and down the top ten like yo-yos on a string. There were no exceptions. And, ultimately, the winner was Laura Grondin’s DARK ENERGY from the USA, the first woman helm and owner to win the J/70 World Championship.
After ten races over five days, shifting tides and reshuffled leaderboards, the regatta came to a dramatic close on the final race on the final day. The entire top five was wide open for any team that could demonstrate enough consistency, avoid the “down the mineshaft” result, and grab the proverbial “brass ring” to the top of the leaderboard.
For the first time in Class history, the J/70 World Championship was held in South America. South American teams earned four out of the top five positions and swept the Corinthian top five.
The outcome was decided in the final moments of the final race, but it took years to build to this moment. “It’s been a five-year run,” said Grondin. “None of this happens by itself. It takes a team. What makes us the world champions? The ability to be resilient. We’ve stood on a lot of podiums, but being first is different. It just is.”
The J/70 World Champion title is one of the most coveted in sailing — and now it belongs to Laura Grondin and her team on DARK ENERGY- tactician Taylor Canfield, back-to-back champion Ted Hackney, Ian Liberty, coach Robby Bisi, and husband Rick Grondin. Her win was far from easy, with Taylor commenting that it was the “most difficult regatta he’s ever sailed”. There are good reasons why he said that. Their average score was a 9.77 over the nine races counted, an amazingly high figure. They only had three podium finishes- 1-3-3. They had three MASSIVE double-digit “down the mineshaft” scores- 18-40-42. The rest of their scores were 6-9-4-4. Their final two races on the last day of 3-4 “saved their bacon”, resulting in a 4-point win over the second-place team. Here’s a killer statistic for the regatta winner, their no throw-out scores for 130 pts total would have resulted in a 13th average score and third place overall instead of first!
“I’m so stoked to be the first female driver to win this, and I want there to be many more,” said Grondin. “I hope this is just the beginning. There were five women helms at this event, which is remarkable— but we need to have more. To all the women who competed on any boat: my shout-out to you. Keep going!!”
Next on the podium was silver medal winner Guillermo Parada’s NILDO from the host YC Argentino. Their’s was a remarkable comeback given the fact that NILDO at one point stood in the low 20s overall halfway through the regatta. They were the only other boat in the entire regatta that posted three podium finishes, the other being DARK ENERGY. Parada’s NILDO team of Mariano Parada, Jorge Emilio Engelhard, and Juan Pablo Engelhard did not start the regatta with guns blazing and any hope of even a top-five finish. They had flashes of brilliance in one race. Their tally of 21-24-17.2-1-15-6-29 kept them stuck in the high teens in the provisional standings. However, with one day to go, they rediscovered how they won the fourth race and posted a 3rd in race 8 on the penultimate day. Feeling good about themselves on Saturday, they simply had the sailing conditions figured out better than anyone else on the race course that day, posting a remarkable 4-1 to snag the second step on the podium, much to their ecstatic delight, celebrating wildly on the podium with lots of champagne! Rightfully so, they should’ve been celebrating, as their no throw-out scores were 121.1 pts total, good enough to have won the World Championship on that basis!
Taking the third step on the podium to earn the bronze medal was the Brazilian team of ARETE, skippered by Bruno Bethlem. Bruno’s team of Rafael Martins, Pedro Tinoco, and Alberto Vita also sailed the second most consistent scoreline in the fleet behind NILDO, posting 124 pts with no throw-outs total. The ARETE team had only ONE score in the top three, a 2nd in race 3, but they managed to just squeak by fellow Brazilian Haroldo Solberg’s VIKING OCEANPACT by 2 pts on the last day to take the bronze.
Imagine for a moment how incredibly close the final discard race scores were for the top four boats; the outcome could easily have been dramatically different. One bad tack, a lousy take-down, getting fouled at the leeward gate, a port/starboard gone wrong, anything could’ve upset the scoreline. Grondin’s DARK ENERGY finished with 88 pts net, Parada’s NILDO had 92.2 pts net, and Bethlem’s ARETE had 94 pts net. Then, Solberg’s VIKING OCEANPACT finished with 95 pts net! WOWOW! Just 7 pts separated the top four boats with the highest average scores in J/70 World Championship history!
Solberg’s VIKING OCEANPACT team of Geison Mendes, Mario Tinoco, and Gabriel Silva sailed a relatively consistent series to take fourth place. Yet another fellow Brazilian team, Sam Albrecht’s EL ENEMIGO and crew of Gustavo Thiesen, Rayco Tabares (a 3x J/80 World Champion), and Silvio Morelli managed to also sail a consistent regatta to take fifth place with 118 pts net.
Corinthians DivisionFamily values prevailed in the Corinthian division; Andrés Ducasse’s DUCASSE Sailing Team (CHI) claimed top Corinthian honors in a heartfelt finish that brought the crowd to its feet for a father, four sons onboard, and a son coaching. The Ducasse family crew was Ignacio, Rodrigo, Andres Jr, and Francisco.
“As the father of these kids, I’m grateful to God, grateful to sailing, and grateful for having taught my children and watched them become such excellent sailors. Above all, I thank my sons for the opportunity to compete by their side,” said Corinthian champion Ducasse. “We’ve done five Worlds and many South American championships, and this one has been the best organized of them all.”
Taking the silver medal was Dennis Bariani Koch’s GABRIELA from Brazil. His crew consisted of Pedro Koch, Mateus Koch, Tiago Quevedo, and Felip Mallmann Fraquelli. Then, garnering the bronze medal was Maximo Videla’s WHISKY team from the host club YC Argentino. Maximo’s crew was Franco Greggi, Juan Cruz Albamonte, Santiago Palkin, and Eugenia Jasson.
Women’s Helm DivisionOf course, the winner of the Helen Johnstone Memorial Trophy was Laura Grondin, skippering DARK ENERGY. The silver medal went to Cate Muller-Terhune’s CASTING COUCH with her American crew of Steve Hunt, Will Ryan, and her husband Allan Terhune. Then, the bronze medal winner was another American- Maggie McKillen’s MAGATRON- with crew of Orrin Starr, David Gilmour, and Scott Norris.
Other trophy winners included the following:- One-Pro: Ezequiel Despontin’s 707 from Argentina- Young Crew: Bruno Centanaro’s PURA JODA from Argentina- Mixed-Plus: Laura & Leif Sigmond’s NORBOY from Chicago, Illinois, USA
Sponsors included Life Seguros, Almarena Madero Urbano, Galeno, South American Rigging/Marlow/Velo, Ansilta, Eximia, Windsail, Emergencias, Fantoche, and Vacalin.
Social mediahttps://www.instagram.com/j70class
Thanks to Media Manager- Hannah Lee Noll at WindDance Creative in Newport, RI.Inquiries: hannah@winddancecreative.com
Sailing photos by Matias Capizzano https://capizzano.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/2025-J70-Worlds/C0000IQHv30m._o8
For J/70 World Championship sailing information and resultshttps://viramos.com/championships/814266b9-7043-4391-bd4e-e05350b94417
For more Yacht Club Argentino regatta informationhttps://yca.org.ar/2025/01/15/2025-j70-world-championship/