(Lago Panguipulli, Chile)- From February 7th to 8th, the 2nd annual J/70
Chilean Nationals took place on Panguipulli Lake, 800 miles south of
Santiago in the spectacular “lakes district” of southern Chile. The
championship was sponsored by Santander Bank as a major class sponsor
and Sony Xperia and the regatta was hosted at the beautiful clubhouse on
the Puyumen Peninsula (the same location as last year).
An
incredibly competitive fleet of nine boats included many good teams
with skippers like: Matias Seguel & Per Von Appen (former J/24
sailor), Pablo Herman (famous Lightning sailor), Pablo Amunategui &
Juan Eduardo Reid (Soto 40 skippers) and other renowned Chilean skippers
such as Walter Astorga, Jorge González, Jorge Lama and Carlos Vergara.
The
racing was incredibly close with weather mark and leeward mark
rounding’s strongly contested by groups of boats, often the last shift
determining places in the last few boat lengths to the mark. Over the
two-day weekend, four of the six scheduled races were sailed. 
On
the first day, the fleet enjoyed good winds from the southwest of
10-14kts. Racing was very close, with Rodrigo Solar’s BLACK JACK XPERIA
(skippered by Pablo Amunategui) taking the lead over Nicolas Ibañez’s
CAROLINA (with Pablo Herman on the helm). Third was Juan Eduardo Reid
and fourth Per Von Appen. At the end of the day, the point scores were
quite close; Amunategui 7 pts, Herman 8 pts and Reid 10 pts.
Sunday’s
sailing conditions started out very unstable and by 4:30pm the wind was
finally good enough to start the one and only race of the day. Pablo
Herman and his team took the lead from the very beginning followed by
Carlos Vergara, Jorge Gonzalez and Juan Reid. On the second windward
leg, all locals went left and Herman, Reid and Amunategui (in 6th place)
took the right side of the course.
At
the middle of the 2nd windward leg, the wind on the left side of the
course started to die and the right kept getting stronger. At the
windward mark Herman rounded 1st, Reid 2nd and Amunategui 3rd, giving
the lead of the championship to Pablo Herman, Felipe “Pipe" Herman,
Martin Costa (North Sails Argentina) and Roberto Caneo.After the summer holiday, the fleet moves to Algarrobo, 90km due west of Santiago, during the year for races between March and December. Sailing photo credits- Bernie Grez.
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