J/70 Class and Vakaros Partner to Shape the Future of Race Management

 J/70 World Championship / Hannah Lee Noll

The World’s leading small keelboat class is taking another step forward, standardizing on Vakaros RaceSense technology at all major J/70 events for 2025. After a successful class debut at the 2024 Sandberg Estates J/70 World Championship, class leaders and competitors alike agreed: a new era in Race Management is here, and J/70 racing is better for embracing it.

RaceSense automates a number of aspects of race administration, including automatic pings and timers, OCS calls, and finish line determinations. Each competitor races with an Atlas 2 instrument fixed to their mast. While racing, this instrument may display any number of data readouts, and around start time, displays automatic timer and distance-to-line readouts. At ‘go’, the device indicates to the sailors immediately whether they were OCS or clear, allowing a team to clear themselves quickly, or continue racing. 

Originally a skeptic, Erik Shampain used RaceSense for the first time at the 2024 Worlds: “RaceSense is amazing - we haven’t had any general recalls, people know when they’re over, it’s a time saver, you don’t have to worry about if boats are over and not being called. Everyone’s accountable. Everyone has the green light or red light at go. It just makes it simple. Having no general recalls is a really nice change of pace for these big one design fleets”

Class Technical Chair and experienced Race Officer Mark Foster noted: “Being able to automatically identify the OCS boats takes the stress off the Race Committee. In one race, there were 23 boats over - they were all identified, and all restarted within about 15 seconds. With the old way, that would’ve been a general recall.”

For the Vakaros team, working with the J/70 Class has been a longstanding goal. RaceSense Director Doug Wake emphasized this: “Since the beginning, we knew that implementing RaceSense in the J/70 would be huge for the sport. That started in Palma this year. We ran ten World Championships with RaceSense in 2024, and the J/70s were the biggest test: 95 teams filled with top sailors who pushed the line hard, and the stakes of the most competitive small keelboat class in the world. It was truly an amazing event: I’ve never seen a J/70 major event without any general recalls or U and Black Flags.” 

The J/70 Class’s commitment to RaceSense has already begun, as the class implemented this technology at 2025’s first Davis Island YC Winter Series event, and will be used throughout the winter at the Bacardi Winter Series. Throughout 2025, the Class will continue to deploy RaceSense at all World and Continental championships, as well as a slew of other events.

RaceSense isn’t just for large events - any club or event can run RaceSense. Reach out to Vakaros to learn how to implement this technology at your event!

About Vakaros: Vakaros is the world’s leader in small boat instrumentation and is revolutionizing race management with their RaceSense system. Founded in 2018, Vakaros has been pushing sailing forward with their Atlas line of instruments. The Atlas 2 is the choice of champions around the world, from Optis to TP52s. And now, RaceSense is making sailing more fun, fair, and efficient. 

About the J70ICA: The J/70 is the world’s leading small keelboat class, with members hailing from around the globe. J/70 racing offers everything from hotly contested championship racing to Corinthian weeknight sailing.