thinking about it.’ So he organised several two-boat
training camps with Pete
Duncan. ‘He’s a good one to tune up with. We had the same sails, and we could compare set-up very quickly.’ But toward the end of the summer the
relationship soured. ‘We were ready to kill each other about two weeks before the worlds,’ Jud admits. ‘No one would want to lose a test. If they were starting to lose they’d wait for a header and tack. “Oh, we won that test.” And I’m like, “Oh my God. This is such bullshit. We’re not learning. This is a complete waste of an afternoon.” It was brutal.’ Jud admits being a purist about tuning
didn’t help. But perhaps the biggest issue was Duncan’s superior height, especially in the breeze. ‘It’s pretty hard for me to be the helmsman and sailmaker, brand new boat and hear from my tactician that they’re “same speed, a little higher”. If I heard it one more time…’ Good teams in high-pressure situations
are bound to have disagreements, he points out. The only way to work together is to respect and trust each other. But it wasn’t until midway through the final five- day session that Jud felt as if he could consistently hang with his tuning partner. ‘We changed our set-up a little so we could finally hold them, maybe win a test or two. ‘But a lot of the time we were worse
than him… They were on fire.’ What Jud didn’t do to prepare for the
2018 worlds was develop speciality sails. ‘When I heard some of the other sail - makers working on fuller jibs for Marble- head, I’m like, “Yeah. Bring it on, man. Been down that road.” Any time I tried it it was a disaster, because the J/70 just gets overpowered too quickly. ‘The jibs have to get through the whole
range.’ Instead, his team talked through what they could do to power up their all- purpose jib in light air. ‘And I said, “Dude, let’s just tie the tack forward.” That worked out great.’ He smiles. ‘Mainly we just learned to use the sails
better. When sailors say, “I’d like my jib to be user-friendly,” I’m like, “Good.”’
Racing The regatta began with a 20-25kt south- easterly, which in Marblehead means a whole ocean of fetch. Jud’s team on Africa (Another Frickin’ Raceboat
says. ‘I won the regatta, so they can’t think I’m just complaining.’ Age is another reason Jud’s speaking up more these days. ‘You get to be 60 and you say stuff that you other- wise wouldn’t say; you don’t hold back.’ He adds, ‘I’m just trying to do it right.’
Wing-and-wing… looks truly weird but on smaller J/Boats the fastest sailors have got it down to an art form. However, for the great unwashed this usually ends up in a crash gybe at the leeward mark while getting completely buried by sail fabric
black flag,’ Jud says. ‘Save it for a race where you just weren’t going to get it right.’ By the end of the day Jud’s team topped the leaderboard. The next day turned out to be the last
chance for racing and rain squalls shook up the results yet again. ‘It would be dead and then the squall would come in, shift 30°,’ Jud remembers. ‘It was a full-on lottery. And we did three races…’ After posting a 5,35 his team dug back from a bad first lap to finish 10th in the third race of the day, which put him back in front by one point. ‘Fortunately, we caught a lot of boats back in that final race, because we actually hadn’t had a very good day. Being conservative wasn’t paying too well…’ On the last day after a long wait for
breeze that never materialised – Jud’s overnight lead turned into another world title, his second in the class. ‘Looking at the scoreboard’s a complete waste of time until the last day,’ he laughs. In 11 races against 91 boats at a ‘freaky regatta’ Jud had averaged a 9.5.
I Can’t
Afford) managed a 7,14. ‘It was really fun,’ he says. ‘One of the longer race- tracks. Waves were big, great rides. Every- thing seemed to be in proportion out there.’ But defending champion Peter Dun- can’s team won the day with a 2,2. ‘They looked unstoppable,’ Jud says – though he claims that didn’t bother him too much since they were using Doyle sails! When the wind lightened up Jud priori-
tised risk reduction, never winning any races but almost always finishing in the top group. On day three 15 boats were black-flagged – including Duncan. ‘We didn’t want to burn our throwout on a
50 SEAHORSE
Speaking out for change Jud loves sailing the J/70 but he sees room for improvement in the rules. ‘I’m trying to get the class to move on various things,’ he explains (with what might be an eye roll). He ticks off his two key issues: allowing spreader adjustment, and basing course lengths on fleet size. (Later, he adds a third: outlawing GPS.) ‘Change for the good of everybody, right? I’m just trying to help out the customer.’ So after the worlds, when Drake John-
stone bought him a beer at Maddies (the famous Marblehead sailor’s bar), Jud did a little family lobbying. ‘We’d had a few, and I’m like, “Drake, we’ve got to get this spreader thing sorted. At Thanksgiving will you bring this up? You’ve got more pull than I do. It’s in your blood.” He was pretty good-natured about it.’ Jud’s grin fades. ‘I don’t think we’ll get it done, but I have to pitch it.’ The current world champion has a responsibility to advocate for change, he
Woulda-coulda-shoulda Asked whether he has any regrets, Jud quickly responds: ‘I wish I’d sailed the Star a little sooner.’ Instead he focused on winning the Etchells Worlds, because after so many second-place finishes as both skipper and crew it became an obsession. ‘Once I got that monkey off my back [in 2006] I started to sail Stars, to make up for lost time.’ Another item on this list: ‘I kind of wish
I grew up in Miami. Those kids get to sail year round.’ In Marblehead ‘we didn’t know any better. I learned how to sail frostbitten. But that was only once a week, and our summer sailing season is short.’ And the personal life… ‘I’m still married
to my same wife after 30-plus years. Chose right that way, or she got stuck with me. Stuck with each other.’ He laughs. ‘So, yeah, no regrets on that.’ He has two adult daughters: Lindsay works at the loft and Darby is a newly married schoolteacher in Florida. ‘Maybe I’ll be a grandfather soon, which would be OK.’ As for sailmaking, he has no regrets
there either. ‘Maybe I would have made more money doing something else, but it’s been my passion.’ He feels lucky to be able to do something he enjoys every day: ‘Not everybody gets to do that and put food on the table.’
Focus forward In 2004, two and a half years after our first spreader and tuning discussion, I finally bought two jibs from Jud – which helped my team win two races at the Olympics. He hasn’t forgotten, of course, but he doesn’t gloat. ‘I made Yngling sails for you and your team,’ he says matter of factly. ‘I made them for a bunch of teams… and finally made them for the whole world, for the Olympics.’ With keelboats now part of Olympic
history, Jud will continue to focus on the J/70 and the Etchells – and try not to do quite as much sailing in 2019. ‘I do worry about when I stop doing this,’ he says, looking even farther ahead, toward retire- ment. ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for that; all of a sudden the music stops. Definitely a concern.’ For now he quotes the Patriots’ star
quarterback. ‘Just like Brady says, “As long as I can go out there and not suck, I’m going to keep doing it.” I’ll just keep going to an easier class,’ he says, thinking out loud now, ‘where I’m not going to suck. Just scale it back…’ And then that famous eye twinkle
returns, the one that makes all his chitchat memorable and the reason he’s the only ‘Jud’ in the sailing phonebook. ‘But… I’ll always love to go sail the Star whenever and wherever I can.’
q
MAX RANCHI
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