(Kiel, Germany)- The proud Spaniards are again wearing the crown as J/80
World Champions. At the end of the World Championship off Kiel, two
Iberian teams staged a dramatic finale, in which the crew of HOTEL
PRINCESS YAIZA with skipper Rayco Tabares sailed past their countrymen
to take the title. Marc de Antonio, skipper of BRIBON MOVISTAR,
couldn’t have been more thoroughly disappointed – he had led the regatta
from the very first day onward. Third place was secured by the French
on CO-PILOTES skippered by top woman sailor Maxime Mesnil. She managed
to top the strongly emerging team from Bremen, Germany- PROCEDES DIVA
skippered by Björn Beilken.The weather scenario all week long caused the fifty teams from eight nations all kinds of difficulties, with conditions ranging from light to strong winds. The third day of racing was canceled because it blew 50 knots on Kiel Bay. On the final day, the storm of the previous day had died down on Friday morning, but strong gusts of up to 30 knots blew across the racing course.
The
race officer, Fabian Bach, signaled an earlier start for sailing and
left no doubts that he wanted to get three fast races underway.
“Everything went down well; the competitors were also quite satisfied.
Many of them offered their thanks at the finishing line”, the race
officer explained. The wind conditions were challenging but the basic
wind force was stable, Bach explained, who hoisted the black flag after a
premature start on the 1st day’s race, bringing the crews under
tightened terms across the starting line. At the end of the week, he
voiced satisfaction with his team’s work. The praise was echoed by Thore
Hansen, the managing director of the marketing agency POS: “The entire
team worked perfectly in the preparation and execution of the World
Championship. We are proud to have such volunteers from the Kieler
Yacht-Club and the German J/80 Class Association gathered together”. The
conditions provided a great World Championship. “We started with light
winds for the practice race, and then had spectacular sailing during the
following races. Kiel put on its smiling face and offered good
conditions for all sailors,” Hansen explained.
On
the last day, the visitors to the Olympic Center at Schilksee were
offered great viewing of the racing directly off the jetty, as the crews
in gusty winds turned around the luff buoy and hoisted their gennaker.
The perfectly working team of the Rayco Tabares Alvarez didn’t miss the
big chance of displaying quality seamanship in this type of “stadium
sailing”: “We are a family crew, sailing together for many years,
integrating the tasks,” explained the overjoyed skipper of HOTEL
PRINCESS YAIZA on reaching the harbour. “We prefer a little less wind,
but in the first two races of the day everything simply worked better
than for our competitors for the title”.With a victory at the start of the day and a 4th place in the following race, the team from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands had already secured the crown. The 6th place became the throw-out result for Tabares, who also had his wife on board. “This title means unbelievably much to us. It’s our second victory since 2009. We came to win, but knew it would be difficult fighting our compatriots. In the first few days, we had to come to terms with the charter boat. During the Championship we gradually found our best trim”. Sailing with Tabares was his crew of Domingo Falero Lasso, Oliver Herrera Perez, Laiyin Le Torres and Hector Gonzales Jorge.
Contrary feelings prevailed on BRIBON MOVISTAR, who even with a win in the last race could not secure the victory, after dropping back to the 6th place on the previous race. “Today of all days – the most important one – our maneuvers were not good, and we made wrong tactical decisions. The starts were generally ok, but at the first buoys we had already lost the race”, skipper de Antonio explained. “The win at the end improved our spirits but, in general, we are very disappointed”. de Antonio’s crew included Gustavo Martinez, Ricardo Terrades, Sofia Bertrand and Gonzalo Morales.
Taking third overall, and the highest finish of a woman sailor ever in the J/80 class was Maxime Mesnil’s French team on CO-PILOTES, comprised of Yann Chateau, Sophie Faguet and Yann Rigal.
Even
though PROCEDES DIVA didn’t secure a place on the podium, the crew of
Björn Beilken showed satisfaction about the World Championship: “A place
on the podium would have been perfect, as this was our final
competition in this class,” explained tactician Jork Homeyer. “But we’re
satisfied. We aimed at a placing in the top ten and toward the end came
very close to secure a medal, which we didn’t even dare to hope for.
And then to win a day’s race in the World Championship was great”.Behind them in fifth place was Sven Vagt’s German team on BOOTSWERFT WINKLER with crew of Tobias Teichmann, Jork Homeyer and Alex Beilken.
The top British team was Jon Powell’s BETTY in 9th, top Danish team was Johnny Jensens’ BHJ-DONDEN in 14th, top Italian team was Massimo Rama’s JENIALE AKEWUELE, top Swedish team was Lars Gellerhed’s MK-PRODUKTER in 23rd and top Netherlands team was Pip de Vries’ LED2LEASE in 32nd.
Andreas Rose, chairman of the German J/80 Class Association, summarized the World Championship in these few words: “It was a great week with difficult conditions, but also with light-wind competitions. In any case we had a lot of fun”. Kiel’s Lord Mayor, Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, was impressed at the Prize Giving Ceremony: “You presented great sport and superb sportsmanship. It was an honour to have had you here. Once more you have put Kiel in the focus of German sailing”.
The chairman of Kieler Yacht-Club, Karsten Krage, thanked the competitors of eight nations: “Thank you very much for coming to Kiel and offering us such thrilling races. We are looking forward to seeing you next year at Kieler Woche”.
The J/80 Worlds were sponsored by Helly Hansen, Faber+ Münker, RWE, the Friesischen Brewery of Jever, Pantaenius Yacht insurance, the “Segler Zeitung“, ”WetterWelt“, the “Offenen Kanal Kiel“ and the State Capital Kiel. Sailing photo credits- Sven Jurgensen. For more J/80 World Championship sailing information
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