The final day of the 2025 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series at Marblehead Race Week presented eager sailors with challenging conditions as morning rain showers gave way to lumpy seas and shifting winds. Boston Yacht Club hosted July 24-27. For Peter Duncan’s team on the J/70 *Relative Obscurity*, the final day was about keeping close tabs on Bruno Pasquinell’s *Stampede*. “We had to stay close with them,” said Jud Smith, the team’s ace tactician. “They ended up beating us in the first race, but we were battling it out with them all the way around the course and crossed the finish line overlapped. So, we lost a point to them there, but they were really the boat we had to pay attention to.” In the day’s first race, positioning at the start proved critical. “They were [committee] boat side, and they got ahead. The right was good on the early part of the beat, and then the left came in at the end, and we’re kind of in the middle,” Smith says. Despite not having “a great first run,” they made up for it on the second upwind leg. “We had a really good second beat. We got going good and went the right way. A lot of boats went the wrong way—and that got us right back into it.” For Smith, one of the most significant developments in his team’s performance has been their improved mental approach to the J/70 Class’s high-intensity racing. Racing this weekend was the usual squad of Duncan, Smith, Willem Van Waay and Victor Diaz de Leon. “The good thing is when it gets bad, we don’t get rattled as a team,” Smith says. “We got caught in the first race with the rig too tight and stuff like that, but we just deal with it and keep the racing close.” This calm approach to adversity paid dividends in the final race. “We got behind a little bit, but we came out of the second beat knowing just what we wanted to do, stuck with it and kept with that, and that was good.” The talented crew’s mutual trust proved to be their greatest asset, Smith adds. “I think the big thing we’ve probably gotten better at is just keeping our head together and trusting each other,” he says. “Everybody’s so talented on the team that we just trust each other. That’s been good.” Duncan’s Relative Obscurity earned Marblehead Race Week’s Cressy Trophy, awarded to the regatta’s top team in what is considered to be the most competitive class. Event details/results: [Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series – Marblehead](https://www.sailingworld.com/regatta-series-marblehead/)