(La Punta, Peru)- The thirteen teams sailing the Peruvean J/24 National
Championships for the “Copa Jose Barreda Moller” were pretty much given a
“clinic” in how to sail J/24s fast by their past champion, Luis Olcese
sailing SCARAMOUCH. Tossing a 5th and counting five 1sts amongst their
scoreline in a best of nine races, the SCARAMOUCH team demonstrated why
they remain the leading Peruvian team on the world stage. Racing took
place for two successive weekends off La Punta- November 30th/ December
1st and December 7th to 8th.While Olcese and crew were sailing in another dimension, the rest of the fleet was having quite a battle for the balance of the podium. In fact, four boats were vying for contention over the two weekends, including Tania Zimmerman’s JITANA, Daniel Mendoza’s WAYRA, Lucas Pescherria’s TIAMAT and Javier Arribas’s HAWKY. Seemingly, none of the four teams could keep themselves out of trouble, either having to toss an OCS or DSQ or overcoming bad starts/ tactics to try to stay in the hunt.
As is often the case in such tight four-way skirmishes, the last race determines the outcome. By virtue of winning the 8th, and second to last race, Zimmerman’s JITANA held onto a slim lead for second overall over Mendoza’s WAYRA. Despite an 8th in the last race (her toss race), JITANA hung on to take the silver by one point over Mendoza. Had Mendoza finished 2nd or better in the last race, he would’ve taken the tie-breaker, that’s how close the finale was for these teams. Pescherria’s TIAMAT was involved in several protests but managed to fend off Arribas’s team on HAWKY to take fourth by just four points after the nine races (eight counting). Spirited racing continues in this fun-loving J/24 fleet in Peru and it was clear the teams enjoyed some of the nice sunny conditions with warm breezes during the event. For more Peru J/24 Nationals sailing information
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