(Murcia, Spain)- Marc de Antonio and Sofia Bertrand’s J/80
BRIBON-MOVISTAR, sailing under the flag of the Real Club Nautico de
Barcelona and Real Club Nautico de Sanxenxo, again won their title with a
good margin of points over the second place finishers. It was the
locals from Murcia that completed the podium, Carlos Martinez at the
helm of AKEWUELE and Jose Maria Van der Ploeg skippering NAUTICA
WATCHES.The fleet was blessed with perfect sailing conditions during the three days of racing off the Marina Juan Montiel (Aguilas, Murcia) to compete for the Copa de Espana J/80. Seventeen teams sailed nine races from the 21st to 24th of May in perfect breezes.
The final victory went to the crew of Marc Antony and Sophie Bertrand, their team on “BRIBON—MOVISTAR" sailed an impeccable championship, taking podium positions in eight of the nine races. Despite being the leader after the first day of racing, Carlos Martinez’s AKEQUELE finished in second place.
Olympic medalist Jose Maria Van der Ploeg, skippering NAUTICA WATCHES, took third largely because they had to discard a 16 pt Black Flag and count the other eight races instead.
The superiority of the Catalan J/80 fleet was the dominant theme in the Copa de Espana J/80 in Aguilas. The fact that the podium had all three places occupied by members of the Catalan fleet is quite remarkable and is evidence of the high quality of racing in the local fleet.
In the overall standings, one has to drop to fourth place to find a team that does not belong to the Catalan fleet; that was HM HOTELS skippered by Javier Chacartegui, representing the Yacht Club of Arenal (Baleares). They were six points off the podium.
The next regatta for the Spanish J/80 class will be the Campeonato de Espana IX to be held in Sotogrande waters- Cádiz- from 3rd to 6th of June. Already thirty boats have registered for the event with more promising they will be there! That should be a fantastic warm-up for the J/80 World Championships in Germany in the first week of July! For more Copa de Espana sailing information
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