{"id":409,"date":"2026-07-24T23:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/?p=409"},"modified":"2026-07-27T03:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:02:25","slug":"buley-extends-lead-heading-into-j-80-world-championship-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/?p=409","title":{"rendered":"Buley Extends Lead Heading into J\/80 World Championship Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

The J\/80 World Championship will come down to one final day after another full schedule of racing Friday at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. Hosted by CORK\/Sail Kingston, the 34-boat fleet completed four more races in a fading breeze, bringing the Championship to 10 races including each team carrying one discard.<\/p>\n

The day began with a steady low-to-mid teens breeze before gradually easing throughout the afternoon, challenging teams to continually adapt their boatspeed and tactics as conditions became lighter with each race. At the front of the fleet, however, one team remained remarkably consistent. James Buley’s Le Tigre<\/em>, with Jackson Benvenutti, Bill Hardesty and Skip Dieball, extended its lead with another impressive day. The team posted finishes of 2,1,1,2 to finish Friday with just 11 net points, widening a commanding advantage heading into Saturday\u2019s finale. The battle behind the leaders tightened considerably. Michael Grau\u2019s Paint it black<\/em> moved into second overall with 33 points, while Jesse Thompson\u2019s Tubby<\/em> sits steadily just one point behind in third with 34. Christopher Hobbs\u2019 Lifted<\/em> holds fourth at 39 points, followed by Daniel Wittig\u2019s Turbo Sloth<\/em> with 41.<\/p>\n

Hobbs enjoyed one of the strongest days in the fleet, capturing victories in the seventh and tenth races while adding a second-place finish in Race 9 to vault up the leaderboard. Race victories on Friday were split between Hobbs and Buley. Hobbs claimed the opening race of the day ahead of Buley and Thompson, while Buley answered with wins in Races 8 and 9 over Grau and Thompson, then Hobbs and John Vallee, respectively. Hobbs closed the afternoon with another victory in Race 10, ahead of Buley and Grau.<\/p>\n

The Corinthian division continues to showcase exceptional depth. Graham Philpot\u2019s Black Dog<\/em> is now the top amateur team in this 25-boat division, while two other Corinthian entries join them in the overall top 10: John Vallee\u2019s Sheets & Giggles<\/em> and Conor Hayes\u2019 More Gostosa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although the long days on the water are beginning to show, spirits remained high ashore as competitors traded stories from another demanding day of racing. The Championship concludes Saturday with the first warning signal moved forward to 1000. Up to four races remain on the schedule as teams make one final push for the title.<\/p>\n

For complete results, visit Sailwave results for 2026 J\/80 Worlds at CORK\/Sail Kingston 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos are available on the J\/80 North American Class Association Facebook page: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/j80na\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
July 18 to 25, 2026 – KINGSTON ONTARIO CANADA – Sailors compete in the 2026 J\/80 World Championship regatta held at Canadian Olympic Regatta Kingston (CORK) in Portsmouth Harbour, Kingston Ontario. (Photo credit: Christian Bonin\/TSGphoto.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The J\/80 World Championship will come down to one final day after another full schedule of racing Friday at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. Hosted by CORK\/Sail Kingston, the 34-boat fleet completed four more races in a fading breeze, bringing the Championship to 10 races including each team carrying one discard. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Maggie Miller","author_link":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/?author=2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.j80na.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}