(Cordoba, Argentina)- The Argentinean J/24 fleet just concluded its
regatta series called the Campeonato Centro de la Republica. The series
starts February in gorgeous Mendoza and ended this past weekend in a
red-hot regatta with a huge fleet on the beautiful Andean mountain lake-
Lago San Roque and its pretty village called Villa Carlos Paz.It all started out on the February 20-21 weekend sailing on the Potrerillos Reservoir west of the mountain town of Mendoza. The event was organized by members of the Mendoza Fleet with the support of the Córdoba Fleet.
In a wonderful atmosphere, the fleet was blessed with strong winds between 15-25 knots with almost no waves, blowing in the dominant direction from the southeast (an adiabatic mountain wind like Lago di Garda in Italy). The water in the lake is so deep, cold, so pure and clear that it was fully drinkable by the crews!
After
measurement Thursday and practice racing Friday, the fleet retired to
shore for a massive feast with canapés, appetizers and fabulous Malbec
red wine, plus all the drinks you could want. The atmosphere was warm
and familiar to all at the social events as all sailors were that
traveled from Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Salta were accompanied by wives,
girlfriends, friends and family! The final touch of the day concluded
with a river-rafting tour in the Mendoza River, a tributary of the
lake! What amazing hospitality!Saturday’s racing had four hard races with winds up to 25 kts. After the conclusion of the day’s racing, the fleet was led by Ezequiel Despontin’s INDIGO, followed by Nicolas Cubría’s RINA, Sebastian Halpern’s MORRUCHO and Javier Moyano’s GRAN CARAJO. However, clearly none of those behind were willing to give anything in the water to these leaders. After these four grueling races, another excellent assortment of refreshments met the weary sailors. In addition, to crown the day, a guided tour to an excellent local winery.
Sunday dawned with lighter winds, much to the relief of all the crews. After a morning postponement, another three races were run with wind in the 15-20 kts range. Again, by 1700 hrs the fleet was home, showered and ready to put on their best attire to attend another party at a nearby farm where the sailors spent a wonderful evening with music, dancing, food and even more fine wines! Needless to say, you can imagine that all this fun and wine made for a lot of camaraderie and glamor until it all ended at 0200 hours!
The
fleet approached Monday’s racing a bit less ambitiously than they had
the first two days. At this point it was clear the Despontin’s INDIGO
had an unassailable lead. The real battle was going to be for the
balance of the podium and the top five. In the end, Cubria’s RINA
sailed fast and smart on the last day to post a 1-1-4 to take second
overall by one point with 24 pts total. Moyano’s crew must’ve had too
good a time during the previous evenings festivities for their first
race 13th knocked them right down the ladder so that their closing
effort of a 2-3 was just good enough to hang onto third place with 25
pts. Nearly catching them and taking fourth place was Halpern’s
MORRUCHO with 28 pts due to a strong closing series of races with a
2-8-5. Fifth place went to Alvaro Abate on CAMBURY.After this memorable event, the fleet then traveled 672 km (directions here) and re-grouped on yet another picturesque lake, Lago San Roque and the fleet expanded even further to 28 boats, one of the largest turnouts in recent memory! The fleet was blessed with good conditions all weekend for the final event of the Championship. Teams came from all major fleets in Argentina, including Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendoza, Rosario and Salta.
The hosts for the final event were Club Nautico Cordoba and 400 Yacht Club, both in Villa Carlos Paz along the lake. Again they hosted rather remarkable events after sailing each day for all three days.
The
PRO and the clubs volunteers managed to conduct eight races over the
three days; two on Saturday, three on Sunday and three on Monday. The
good winds on the last day were to Despontin’s liking, he and his INDIGO
crew managed to close with a 7-1-1 to take the Cordoba regatta by one
point to also be crowned the “Triple Crown” winner of Argentina with his
crew composed of Franca Pesci, Daniel Merlo and Martin Costa.Bridesmaid again for the second time in a row was Nicolas Cubria’s RINA with 31 pts; Nico’s crew included Mario Cubria, Fernando Bertrand, and Viviana Florencia Grau.
There was a real battle for the balance of the top five. The three players included Pablo Despontin’s CARRER, Gustavo Saul’s ON LINE and Javier Moyano’s GRAN CARAJO. After the first three races, Saul’s ON LINE was winning the regatta with an enormous lead due to their 1-2-1 tallies. And, Despontin’s CARRER also had some flashy finishes during the regatta that included a 1-2-3. However, neither team could sail consistently, in fact experiencing a “snakes & ladders” ride all weekend long. Sailing steadily but just a touch off pace was Moyano’s GRAN CARAJO. The last day proved to be a tough one for the ON LINE team, their hopes for even an easy top three getting dashed by a 3-21-2 closing scoreline and being forced to eat the 21 as a counter instead of dropping a BFD in race# 5. As a result, Despontin’s CARRER finished in third with 40 pts, Saul’s ON LINE in fourth with 47 pts and Moyano’s GRAN CARAJO in fifth with 48 pts.
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