Wednesday, March 3, 2010

J/80 Lacre Memorial Trophy

J/80 one-design sailboat sailing under spinnaker off Santander, Spain

ECC VIVIENDAS Still Leading

(Santander, Spain)- With twenty nine  boats entered in this series, it has been difficult for any one boat to sail consistently well and maintain a leading position overall.  Witness the fact that some new players are in the top five and the three series leaders are only separated by six points.  This past weekend, Inigo Jauregui's GOLD SAILING was an example of this new blood, getting two second places for the weekend to jump into fifth overall.  Pichu Torcida's ECC VIVIENDAS is still leading overall followed by Tony Piris' YATES & COSAS and Jaime Piris' FONESTAR.

The J/80s probably enjoyed the best afternoon of racing so far this year. The cold weather in Santander finally gave way to much more Mediterranean balmy conditions and the sailors enjoyed a fantastic weekend of two windward-leeward course in Santander Bay.  The courses were fun since they setup the leeward mark close to Isla de Mouro and a windward mark off the Mataleñas beaches.  Northwest winds blew great intensity and there were some good-sized waves, too.

ECC VIVIENDAS dominated both races with two firsts.  With their two victories, the crew consisting of Pichu Torcida, Alex Muscat, Abelardo Quevedo and Juan González is placed just in front of YATES & COSAS sailed by Santi López-Vázquez.  While Y&C was leading going into the weekend, a fifth and fourth dropped Tony Piris four points back in the overall standings.  With two weekends still to go, it is still a  championship. In third position is FONESTAR, sailed by Jaime Piris, which could only get a ninth and third to stay on the podium overall.  They are followed by Paul Santurde's SPACIO 10 in fourth overall with GOLD SAILING in fifth overall.   Photo credits: chapifoto.com  For more Spanish J/80 sailing info.