(Marina Sotogrande, Spain)- Erik Brezellec’s French team COURRIER JUNIOR
maintained their lead after the second day of racing the J/80 World
Championship in the waters off Marina Sotogrande. Despite scoring a
fifteenth in the first race of the day and closing the day with a
convincing first place, they increased their lead over the second place
team.The J/80 Worlds have now reached its halfway point, with five races run over the three days. Tuesday’s racing was canceled due to storms in the morning and no wind in the afternoon.
Juan
Luis Paez and Pepequín Orbaneja’s CENYT HOSPITAL MARBELLA Team
skyrocketed today, climbing from the sixth position to second after
scoring a fifth and second place. Falling down to third was Rayco
Tabares’ HOTEL PRINCESS YAIZA, finishing second and fourteenth.Astern of the leading trio are Spanish Jose Maria “Pichu” Torcida’s OXITAL and Javier Chacartegui’s HM HOTELS, who saved the day in the overall standings despite a bad last race of the day for both.
Spanish Colors Lead First Race of the Day
The first race of the day, under average wind southerly conditions, had purely a Spanish color all the way through. The race was overshadowed by the disqualification, before the start, of some favourite teams:
the
French team GANJA (Luc Nadal) and the Spanish crew MOVISTAR (Iker
Martinez). Double J/80 world champion “Pichu” Torcida onboard OXITAL did
not give many options to his competitors after a very good start. From
there to the finish, they were able to sail their own race and cover
his rivals- Tabares’ HOTEL PRINCESS YAIZA (the current world champion)
and the Spanish Champion Javier Chacartegui’s HM HOTELS.France Calls the Shots at the End of the Day
Race 5 was dominated by the French, with Brezellec’s COURRIER JUNIOR leading with unusual authority from start to finish. They were followed by Paez’s CENYT HOSPITAL MARBELLA Team and Martinez’s MOVISTAR. In fact, it was a “photo finish” for three Spanish teams all crossing the line simultaneously for MARBELLA, MOVISTAR and AKEWUELE (skippered by J/80 European Champion Carlos Martinez). For more J/80 World Championship sailing information
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