Velsheda
Velsheda is an original J Class yacht launched in 1933 in Gosport, built by Camper & Nicholson and designed by Charles E Nicholson. She never raced in the America’s Cup but was dominant in England in her early years. Velsheda has been the passion of her Dutch owner since he bought her in 1996 and has been kept in perfect condition ever since. She has been cruised extensively as well as following a regular racing programme in Europe and the Caribbean ever since, at one stage or another lifting most of the honours open to the J Class including the Superyacht Cup Palma, Saint Barth’s Bucket, Les Voiles de Saint Tropez and the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.
The core team has been the same for very many years led by Kiwi tactician Tom Dodson sailing in Barcelona with British Olympian and America’s Cup sailor Andy Beadsworth as strategist and young Australian Andy Green as navigator. As an original design and structure Velsheda cannot achieve the same rig loads as her modern replica rivals and sometimes has a small disadvantage but nonetheless is often at her best in stronger winds and flat water. All that being said Velsheda comes to Barcelona fresh from very close boat for boat racing against Svea at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, with Velsheda looking very fast downwind in the breeze.
Svea
Swedish-flagged Svea was launched just in time for the 2017 America’s Cup Regatta in Bermuda when under her original American ownership, going on to compete at the inaugural J Class World Championships in Newport RI that same year. Built to an original design by Swede ToreHolm, better known as a Metre boat designer as well as being an Olympic sailor in his own right, Svea is the longest J Class yacht to be built so far but is about the same length on the waterline as Velsheda. After passing into new Swedish ownership in 2022 some remedial changes to the rig set up – moving the forestay back and fitting a longer boom and bigger mainsail, significantly improved Svea’s helm balance and improved all-round speed. The new Swedish owners brought in Bouwe Bekking, an eight-time round-the-world racer, who was very much the driving force behind the dominance of the Dutch Lionheart, winner of the 2017 J Class World Championship. The Svea team is a mix of experienced offshore racers and younger sailors who were new to J Class racing.
They have made a virtue of maximising their time on the water training and racing as often as possible and increasingly their polish has reaped dividends, not least now winning the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup three times in succession. The co-owners share the driving. Navigator is Steve Hayles whilst project manager Tim Powell is mainsail trimmer. Svea is a powerful allrounder which has no significant weaknesses and follows a regular optimisation programme.
Rainbow
In Barcelona, as the smallest and lightest boat, Rainbow’s strengths are expected to be speed and manoeuvrability, but the boat was only relaunched this season after a major refit and the crew have really only sailed together at this summer’s Superyacht Cup Palma plus a few odd training days. She has had a new rig, a new sail inventory, a new hydraulics package and a deck layout to bring her up to modern racing spec. She is widely expected to excel in the light winds which have been expected to prevail in Barcelona in these Autumn weeks, even if recent weeks have seen rather more. Led by Erle Williams, a legendary Kiwi round-the-world race winner and America’s Cup bowman who previously ran the J Class Ranger, Rainbow’s crew is a mix of former Ranger sailors complemented by key sailors from the Wally cento Galateia such as Barcelona-based Brit Simon ‘SiFi Fisher as navigator and six times America’s Cup winner Murray Jones who is a Ranger veteran too. Rainbow is now owned by a prominent Kiwi yachtsman who has won most of offshore racing’s top accolades and who is now focused on the J Class. She was last raced in Porto Cervo in 2014 at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup where she led into the final day before losing the regatta in the protest room. It is a modern replica of the Starling Burgess winner of the 1934 America’s Cup which was launched in 2012 and many observers expect to give Svea a run for her money.
