(Club de Vela la Peña, Mexico)- Taking place over the past weekend and
celebrating “la revolucion” were a fleet of thirteen J/24s competing for
“la Copa TelCel La Pena”. The Club de Vela la Peña was an excellent
host and conducted a marvelous regatta over the two day weekend event.
Both Saturday and Sunday saw remarkably steady winds of 8-12 kts, with
gusts up to 14 kts. As a result, the CVLP RC was able to run the full
slate of five races, much to the delight of all the sailors!The fleet was treated to a “superman-like” performance from Team “S”, led by their magnificent capitano, Kenneth Porter. Taking four 1sts in five races meant they could count a DNC and still win the regatta! A fantastic result for Porter and the boys, a sobering experience for the rest of the fleet! Talk about providing a “sailing clinic” on how to win J/24 regattas!
For
the rest of the competitors, it was anything but easy. The balance of
the top five basically saw four boats quite literally tied for second
place! Everything was determined for this group on the last leg of the
fifth and final race. Emerging from the fog of war was Manuel Benitez
sailing ZORRO into second place by taking 3rd in the last race. The
others were not so lucky. Third to fifth just two points back was
determined on a three-way tie-breaker at 25 pts each. Taking the “lucky
break” was Jorge Murrieta’s TRES DOLORES team to snag the bronze for
the regatta. Not as lucky were Ralph Nelles on SUPER MACHOS taking
fourth and Luis Morales on ORION completing the top five with his fifth
place overall. In the end, it was great racing, very tight for this
group and lots of fun at the the CVLP’s bar afterwards as endless
stories of “shoulda-woulda-coulda” were discussed (e.g. argued) amongst
the crews! “Next time” was the operative modus operandi for the next
regatta. In fact, the next race is November 30th- the Festival of Sail
at Club de Velas Santa Maria. For more J/24 Mexico sailing information
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