Penalties for Class Rule infractions

The 2025 J/70 World Championship is underway, with four of 10 races completed for the schedule on October 28-November 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s the first time the Class World have been in South America, and 71 teams from 16 countries made the trip.

Class health has been challenged as the protests after two days have involved Class Rule infractions. Teams from Argentina and Brazil were penalized for using non-permitted equipment, while a USA team was caught with the wrong person steering.

For this entrant, the owner was the designated driver, though the Class Rules permit a Group 1 (amateur) crew member to drive if needed, but for no more than five minutes. However, video in the first race apparently captured the boat steered by Jeremy Wilmot, a Group 3 professional who helmed the winning team at the 2024 Worlds.

The Protest Committee issued a 20% penalty to be applied to their race one result. After four races, USA is at the top with Travis Odenbach leading by a point over Peter Duncan.

UPDATE: The USA protest was reopened and the penalty was changed to a DNE for the first race

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