Friday, June 10, 2011

GREAT SAILING Wins J/80 Trofeo Conde de Godo

J/80 one-design sailboat- spanish sailing team winners
(Barcelona, Spain)- Real Club Nautico de Barcelona hosted the 28th edition of this regatta in the beautiful azure waters off Barcelona.  It was a very competitive event that saw world class Olympic sailors like Jose Maria van der Ploeg being pushed hard by their noteworthy Spanish compatriots.

On the last day, the weather conditions were good enough to hold three races for the fleet of J/80s, blowing 6-8 knots offshore.  However, amongst the J/80 contenders, no one seemed to be able to throw Van der Ploeg's team on GREAT SAILING off the number one spot on the podium.  As the end, the results were first- GREAT SAILING (CN Balís) skippered by Jose Maria van der Ploeg, second- CROCS (RCNB) sailed by Javier Aguado and in third MIKAKU (RCNB) with Rosa Artigas Natalia Via Dufresne at the helm.

Jose Maria commented on his sailing during the course of the event- "I'm from Barcelona and I feel comfortable sailing here. The crew has been the same as in the Grand Prix Iberdrola, except David More Jr sailed in place of Hugo Ramón.  We have a strong team.  We are very pleased to have won. There has been a major overhaul and our crew shows great concentration, bringing good results!  The next trophy in which we compete are the J/80 Spanish Championships in three weeks, the J/80 World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark in five weeks and, finally, the J/80 Copa del Rey in Palma during July."   For more J/80 Spanish sailing information