(Santander, Spain)- Gathering together in the famous site of a past J/80
World Championship that saw Spanish sailors make a clean sweep of the
podium, forty boats from four provinces of Spain (Cantabria , Catalonia,
Andalusia and Murcia) sailed yet another incredibly competitive regatta
on Santander Bay. How good was the competition? Well, there were four
J/80 World Champions sailing accounting for six J/80 World titles!Of the nine races scheduled for the VIII Campeonato de Espana J/80, only three were sailed on Friday, two on Saturday and on Sunday a complete blank due to lack of wind. Although 5 of the 9 scheduled races were sailed, the fleet was still able to make use of a “discard race”, which had dramatic effects on juggling the overall standings for the regatta.
By
Saturday afternoon, Javier Padron and his brothers on MAQUECHE won
three of five races showing excellent form and good speed on Santander
bay. Nevertheless, despite having three bullets as counters, the top
five in the overall standings were only separated by only five points!The high level of competition in the fleet saw the standings vary dramatically from race to race. In fact, on the first day, the leaders were Jose Maria “Pichu” Torcida skippering OXITAL, followed in second by PEUGEOT-PROMOPARK sailed by Javier Aguado and in third was PAR helmed by Ignacio Camino.
The second day saw a drastic change in the standings with Padron’s MAQUECHE climbing on to the podium after recovering from a DSQ the day before. Meanwhile, PEUGEOT-PROMOPARK hung on to second place with 18 pts and GREAT SAILING’s renowned skipper, Jose María Van der Ploeg, also climbed on to the third step of the podium with 20 pts at the end of Saturday.
It
was a fateful day for lack of wind of Sunday, much to the
disappointment of all the sailors. In the end, the Real Club Marítimo
de Santander skipper Javier Padron sailing MAQUECHE was crowned Spanish
Champion! In second and third place were the Catalonian teams of
PEUGEOT-PROMOPARK and GREAT SAILING.The balance of the top five included “Pichu” Torcida’s OXITAL in fourth with 20 pts and Ignacio Camino’s PAR in fifth with 21 pts.
Amongst the fleets, the Cantabria and Catalonia teams were the best positioned in this year’s championship, followed by Andalusia and Murcia .
Cantabria: The Cantabrian fleet continues to maintain a high level of training and competition as shown in the 1st place reached by Javier Padrón, along with Torcida’s 4th and Camino’s 5th.
Catalonia:
The Catalan fleet has shown in Santander that they’ve been doing their
homework for the J/80 European Championships to be held in El Balis in a
few months. No question, the Catalonians will be a force to contend
with- getting 2nd and 3rd place in the Championship (PEUGEOT-PROMOPARK
and GREAT SAILING) and a 7th and 8th place by Hugo Rocha’s NEW
TERRITORIES and Bertrand and Marc Antony BRIBON-MOVISTAR.Andalusia: The best Andalusian was Juan Luis Paez’s HERBALIFE in 6th.
Murcia: Despite their current #1 National ranking in Spain, Carlos Martinez and his DELTASTONE team could only manage a 10th overall. Surely Martinez and crew will improve dramatically by the time the Europeans are held in El Balis. Sailing photo credits- Marian Pinan For more Spanish J/80 Championship sailing information