Winter, done properly.
While Minnesota is under a foot of snow and everyone else has their boat shrink-wrapped in a field, Catapult spends December through April racing in shorts. Six regattas, two bays, and the only ice anywhere near this programme is in the glass at the Bacardi tent.
South, like every other sensible species.
The boat comes back from Portugal and does not go home to Minnesota. It goes where the water stays liquid. Five months later it comes out of Miami sharper than it went in — which is the entire point, because this is a training block wearing a regatta schedule.
Two bays, two different sports
The reason to do both circuits instead of picking one: they ask completely different questions. A team that is quick in Tampa and quick in Miami is a team with no obvious hole in it.
Davis Island
Flat water and a steady north-to-east breeze, right up until a cold front arrives and turns the whole racecourse into a shifty guessing game. Rewards a boat that is patient and a tactician who is not.
Shake-A-Leg
Sea breeze, proper chop, and a current that quietly eats anyone who lays the mark from too far out. Deeper international fleet than Tampa, and the closest thing on the winter calendar to championship pressure.
Davis Island — the details
- Events
- #1 Dec 4–6 · #2 Jan 8–10 · #3 Feb 5–7
- Winter storage
- On-property storage for multi-event boats needs an advance sign-up and space is limited. Book it before the boat lands, not after.
- Launching
- The 5-ton and 2-ton hoists run the regattas, with a large paved area around them. The whole fleet uses the same crane — the queue is not a race.
- Conditions note
- Cold fronts are the variable. When one arrives, the breeze goes gusty and shifty and the regatta is decided by whoever stops guessing first.
- Rooms
- Hotel and room assignments TBD
Shake-A-Leg — the details
- Events
- WS1 Jan 22–24 · WS2 Feb 19–21 · Race Week Apr 1–4
- Registration
- Open now. Enter all three at once — the schedule is committed either way.
- Logistics pack
- Bacardi logistics · Travel page
- Calendar trap
- The 100th Bacardi Cup runs March 7–13 and is Star Class only. Our week is April 1–4. Book April.
- Rooms / trailer
- Hotel, trailer parking, and room assignments TBD
Six regattas
Three in Tampa, three in Miami, December to April. Tap the card before starting a group-text weather system.
Winter Series #1
First time back on the boat since Portugal, and the first honest look at what the off-season did to the crew work. Tampa in December is 70 degrees and flat — there is no weather to blame, which is exactly why it is a useful opener.
Winter Series #2
If the boat stayed at DIYC after the opener, this is the least demanding weekend of the entire year. Fly in, sail, fly out, post nothing about the weather to anyone still living north of Atlanta.
Bacardi Winter Series 1
Shake-A-Leg Miami. J/70 and Melges 24, and the first real fleet of the winter. Catapult has stood on this podium before — Biscayne Bay owes us nothing, but we know precisely what it does after lunch.
Winter Series #3
Series finale, and the moment the calendar stops being relaxing. Bacardi WS2 is twelve days later on the other coast. Plan the move off the back of this event, not over coffee the morning after prizegiving.
Bacardi Winter Series 2
Same water, same ramp, same tent as the April finale — which makes this the dress rehearsal. Anything that goes wrong here is free. Anything that goes wrong in April is not.
Bacardi Race Week — J/70 Midwinters
The one the whole winter has been building toward. Shake-A-Leg, alongside Melges 24, VX One and Snipe. Joel has won this title before. Five months of Florida racing gets measured over four days here.
Master schedule
Blue markers are Tampa. Gold is Miami. The orange one at the bottom is what all of it is actually for.
The trailer plan
Nobody wins a winter circuit. People lose one, usually in a parking lot, usually in February. The tow vehicle and the person holding the strap are part of the programme.
Getting set up · Nov 2026
- DIYC storage sign-up confirmed before the boat lands. Space is limited and it does not wait.
- Full post-Worlds inspection: rig, keel, hull, foils. Nine days of Atlantic leaves marks.
- Sail audit. What survived Cascais, what gets retired, what gets ordered for Florida.
- Decide now whether the boat lives at DIYC through February or shuttles. Both work. Deciding in January does not.
The February scramble
- Haul out at DIYC after Winter Series #3 on Feb 7. Rigged and sailing at Shake-A-Leg by Feb 19.
- Twelve days, coast to coast. That is the whole window and it is not generous.
- Confirm trailer parking at Shake-A-Leg before the truck rolls in, not when it arrives.
- Mast and rigging secured and padded before the truck moves. Rig damage in transit is a lost regatta and a very quiet drive.
Every haul, every time
- Bearings, tyres and lights checked before the road, not at the first gas station.
- Spare wheel, jack and bearing kit travel with the trailer. Always.
- Registration, insurance and the class measurement certificate live in the tow vehicle.
- Keep unload and load gear grouped so the dock handoff takes minutes, not a search party.
Crew, before you fly
- Open the event card. Confirm dates, venue and first warning signal.
- Pack for Florida, not for home. Sunscreen outranks thermals for the entire circuit.
- Class membership current, measurement certificate valid. Check now, not at inspection.
- Rig tune logged daily with conditions. A tuning log you trust is worth places.
Who is on the boat
A J/70 does not care about your programme budget. It cares whether four people can move at the same time without discussing it first.
Joel Ronning
2016 J/70 World Champion. Funds the operation, steers the boat, and has won the Midwinters before — which makes April the one weekend of the winter with actual previous form attached.
Jeremy Wilmot
2024 J/70 World Champion, sailed for Team Yonder, now with Catapult. Two world titles in one afterguard removes most of the usual arguments before they start.
Will Ryan
SailGP athlete, Switzerland team. Spends his working life on 100-foot foiling catamarans, so Biscayne Bay at fifteen knots reads as a pleasant afternoon rather than an emergency.
Bernie Freitas
SailGP athlete, born and raised sailing in Cascais. Was the local knowledge in Portugal; in Florida he is simply one of the best front-end sailors this programme could put there.
David Onan
Logistics, freight, entries, housing, budget and the trailer. If it has a deadline attached, it is on this page because David put it there.
What the winter is for
Two J/70 world titles and two SailGP athletes is an absurd line-up on paper. On a 22-foot boat with a weight limit it is four people who all still have to get the kite down. Cascais was the first full outing together; the winter is where the edges come off.
Tampa is flat water and shifty fronts. Biscayne is chop, sea breeze and current that punishes a lazy layline. Between them they cover most of what the Chesapeake will ask next October — which is exactly why the boat is in Florida instead of under a tarp in a field.
Entries, rules, references
Clean links to the source documents. When two sources disagree, the Notice of Race wins.