Tønsberg Wins 2026 Norwegian J/70 Sailing League Championship

(Stavanger, Norway)- It was a thrilling finale in Stavanger, Norway, for the last weekend of sailing the 2026 Norwegian J/70 Sailing League. Punctuated by a wet, intense, and memorable ending, it was a challenging regatta sailing in typical Stavanger conditions, with rain, sun, hail, and a lot of wind!

The Stavanger Sailing Club were great hosts, and their regatta RC/PRO manager Nilsson managed to complete eighteen races in sometimes very fresh sailing conditions. The winners in Stavanger were the Moss Seilforening team (Mathis Mollatt, Erik Snerlebakken, Vidar Emanuelsen Seju, and Kim-Eigard Hines) with 17 pts. Second was the Soon Seilforening team (Jonas Sorlie, Erik Hot Engebakken, Erik Woo Noren, and Hanne Birkeland) with 21 pts. Then, rounding out the podium was the NTNUI Seiling team (August Hanevik, Andreas Hjellestad Hella, Conrad Muller, and Lasse Dickhausen) with 22 pts. Racing was very tight, as fourth and fifth place were decided by a tiebreaker at 23 pts each, with Stavanger Seilforening taking fourth and Tønsberg Seilforening finishing fifth.

2026 Season Series- Tønsberg Triumphs
The 2026 season was comprised of four regattas in Moss, Asgardstrand, Arendal, and the finale in Stavanger. In the end, a tiebreaker determined the final ranking, with both teams at 13 pts! As everyone knew going into the finale in Stavanger, it was “all or nothing” for the top two teams; basically, “who beat who” would determine the winner. Ironically, the two teams did their best to confound both themselves and their coaches completely! In the finale, Stavanger’s team (Olai Hagland, Markus Hagen, Gabriel Scherer, and Christian Horn Moller) beat Tonsberg’s team (Jostein Fredrick Aker, Jacob Andresen, Magnus Behrens, and Jorgen Smith-Meyer) with a 4th to their 5th place. Ironically, that result came down to the last race in Stavanger, since they ended up tied in that regatta, too! So, Tonsberg’s 1-1-6-5 won the tiebreaker over Stavanger’s 4-3-2-4! The Soon Seilforening team, skippered by Jonas Sorlie, took the bronze medal with a 6-11-1-2 tally for 20 pts.

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