Sailor Alec Cutler is hoping to make history with his friends this year by becoming the first amateur crew to win the J70 World Championships

Cutler is a newcomer to the J70 class after transitioning from the Melges 32 and has reunited with his former US Naval Academy sailing team-mates Brad Rodi, Charles Pucciariello and Ryan Cox, to achieve his ambitious goal.

“The J70 is the largest and most competitive keelboat fleet in the world,” Cutler said. “It has two main divisions that race together, Pro and Corinthian.

“Our objective is to be the first Corinthian boat to win the overall World Championship. It might sound crazy, but we’re all up for the challenge.

“To do this, I recruited three of my team-mates from the US Naval Academy sailing team. Each one was an All-American who was good enough to have pursued a career as professional sailors but were obligated to, and wanted to, serve in the navy.

“Brad and I served as surface warfare officers, Charlie as a fighter pilot and Ryan as a Navy Seal. We then all went on to other careers after our time in the navy, Brad and I in investing, Charlie as an airline pilot and Ryan in real estate.

“We’re only seven days of on-the-water time into the project but are starting to see glimmers of potential.

“Brad, Ryan, Charlie and I all have busy lives and are sailing a limited schedule prior to the World Championships in Palma, Spain in September, whereas the pros are racing full time and nearly once a month in the J70s. We’re focusing on making our limited time together count.

“We ultimately may not achieve the goal we've set, but we are having a lot of fun along the way and getting energy from the project that we bring into our real lives.”

Cutler, if anything, may be playing down his chances after the newly formed crew aboard Hedgehog received a huge confidence boost after finishing on the podium in the J70 Midwinter Championship in Tampa, Florida.

Competing with his team-mates for only the second time, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club helmsman’s team posted an impressive 2.5-4-1 record in the three races contested to claim the amateur title and finish overall runners-up by a mere 1.5 points behind winners Catapult, whose team included US SailGP team wing trimmer Victor Diaz de Leon.

“This past Sunday we were surprised by our relative boat speed upwind after very little practice in windy conditions,” Cutler told The Royal Gazette.

“We were 2, 2, and 1 at the first windward marks in the three races, in the 56-boat fleet.

“Our technique was pretty bad downwind, but we were still able to win one race and achieve a second-place finish overall, coming in just behind a team with multiple J70 world championships.”

Cutler’s team were awarded redress (2.5pts) in the opening race as compensation after a racecourse marker shifted out of position, which hindered their progress.

“The race committee didn’t realise that a mark had moved way out of position until after the first few boats rounded the mark,” Cutler said.

“We rounded the mark in second and by the time the issue was sorted we were in second to last.

“The lead boats, who were all prejudiced by the error, all applied for redress, and it was granted in the form of average points in the other races.

“Race committee mistakes happen in sailboat racing and there is a whole redress process designed to make competitors whole without throwing out the whole race.”

Originally scheduled for nine races, the championship was scaled back to three as a result of lack of wind, which kept the racing fleet ashore for the first two days.

Racing finally commenced on the third and final day as a storm passed through Tampa Bay delivering 20-knot breezes, which slightly decreased through the three races.

Joel Ronning and his team on Catapult posted a 2-1-3 record, which was just good enough to edge Hedgehog for overall regatta honours.

The battle for the third was even closer as Bruno Pasquinelli’s Stampede pipped Brian Keane and his colleagues aboard Savasana on a tie-break for the final spot on the overall podium, but for Cutler it was a thrill to be sailing with his old friends again.

“It’s great to be sailing with these guys,” he said.

“Coming from the same sailing programme, university and naval service makes the teamwork happen really easily,” he said.

“This is helping us ramp quickly and will become a competitive advantage once we get the basics of sailing the J70 worked out.

“It's been fun to learn a new boat and challenge ourselves against the professionally crewed boats.”