LE TIGRE Wins J/80 North American Championship

(Newport, RI)- From September 23rd to 25th, Sail Newport hosted thirty-one teams from five nations- the USA, Canada, Spain, Ireland, and Belgium. Virtually every single boat registered for the regatta is also sailing the J/80 Worlds.

As a “pre-worlds” event, the teams certainly found the regatta a great “practice race” to determine boathandling, boat tuning, and strategic optimization throughout the long weekend.

In the end, a past J/80 World Champion and J/80 North American Champion, Glenn Darden from Fort Worth, Texas, led his talented team on LE TIGRE (below) to the 2022 J/80 North American Championship win. It was clear after the first day of racing when LE TIGRE started with a 1-1-3 scoreline, they were not to be denied and ran off with the championship win with just 9 pts net. Darden’s crew consisted of a few all-star crew like Willem van Waay, Victor Diaz de Leon, and Rod “Caracas” Favela (two Venezuelans on the team). 

Taking second was Per Roman Pepequin’s GP BULLHOUND from Sweden, closing the last two races with an emphatic 2-1. Third place went to Dan Wittig’s TURBO SLOTH with 22 pts net.

Rounding out the top five was Irishman Pat O’Neill’s LEAD MINE in fourth place and Ryan Walsh’s PEARLY BAKER in fifth place.  Sailing photo credits- Anna Suslova.  For more J/80 North American Championship sailing information