(Puerto Montt, Chile)- Chiloe Island Regatta is the most famous and competitive regatta in Chile. It runs every two years around Chiloé Island, 650 miles south from Santiago and after the first version in 1990, twenty-three editions have been organized since. The regatta is mainly long distance races of 12 to 30 miles plus some windward-leeward courses during a seven day program with one day off in the middle. The main challenges are tides (up to 3 knots), the kelp “forest”, salmon-fishing plants and shallow waters (to avoid tide or to sail the shortest distance to the next island). The other big challenge is the windshifts along the different channels and accelerating off the very mountainous landscape. As a result, the Chiloe regatta is a big tactical and strategic headache for all sailors and requires the best source of creativity and skills to succeed. Logistics are another part of the challenge and all crew try to make an effort to rest well and sail the boats as light as possible.
Despite
the enormous variety of sailing conditions, Chiloe is renown for its
spectacular, natural attractions: amazing landscape, rain forest and
vegetation, sea food, cultural arts & crafts, sunsets and its nice
and friendly people. Also, there are a number of 18th century wooden
catholic churches, part of the Spanish legacy and UNESCO Declared
Universal Patrimoni. Chiloé was the favorite area for the Spanish
colonists in South America, and consequently was one of the latest areas
to become part of the “new” Chilean Republic. Puerto Montt (the main
city in the area) was officially founded in 1853 well after Chilean
independence in 1810.Founded at the end of 2010, the J/105 class in Chile has grown rapidly thanks to the concept of having an amateur and family focus for class management. In three years, more than twenty boats have arrived from America and currently the class has 27 boats mainly in the central part of Chile.
The 2014 Chiloé Regatta was the second year of participation for the J/105 class. With fourteen boats attending, the J/105s are by far the biggest and most successful one-design yacht in Chile and represented 22% of the total fleet (J/Boats represented 1/3 overall)!
There
where many “family” boats sailing: SCIMITAR (with 3 adults and 6
children of both co-owners Toti Ugarte and Maceta Fuentes), PLAN B with
Patricio Seguel’s family, TRICALMA with Daniel Gonzalez’s family, EUREKA
chartered by Pablo Cisternas & his family, SCOTCH ROCKS with Carlos
Perez and his sons, and ALLEGRO with Cristobal Lira’s all children
family team! The competition between SCIMITAR and RECLUTA was tough from the beginning. RECLUTA was the top J/105 in the previous edition, so they were hopping to continue the tradition and started off on a good track. During the week these guys from Valparaiso had many good races, so they managed to stretch into a little the lead for the final day. But, in Chiloe, any position is uncertain until the very end and the very shifty 18 to 20 kt breezes the last day broke-down the tradition. RECLUTA had a bad result in the first of two windward-leeward races, losing the lead to SCIMITAR. After the first race, the conditions in Puerto Montt Bay were very tricky with 50 degree wind shifts, lots of rain and current. So, when the RC at 16:15 communicated to the fleet that there wouldn’t be more races, the championship was complete. SCIMITAR’s young crew, that had been under the deck staying somewhat dry and warm from the heavy rain, were about to explode!! They jumped on deck and started taking off their clothes and were getting ready to jump into the 14 degrees (Celsius) water in the rain! But, before they managed to leap, both fathers Toti and Maceta and Carola (Maceta's wife) managed to control the kids exuberance and kept them aboard! Their crew of nine managed to get back to the yacht club and have a dry celebration!
For more information about the J/105 “family fleet” in Chile, please be sure to contact Juan Eduardo Reid @ email- jereid@windmade.cl
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