J/70 SANTANDER Wins Regatta Vuelta al Lago

(Frutillar, Patagonia, Chile)- Imagine the setting, as you daydream away, resplendent upon your deluxe Lay-Z-Boy recliner, Pabst Blue Ribbon super-micro-brewed hand-crafted lager in hand (from south Milwaukee), watching your 900th game of football (soccer or rugby or cricket, etc) this season.

The lake is huge.  Huger than huge.  And, it’s over 5,000 feet deep.  In the distance, you can see five massive snow-capped volcanoes across the lake.  “Where are we going to setup the marks,” one wisecracking sailors asks?  “We’re not”, says a wise old sage (some guy named Jaime). “Instead, we just race point-to-point where there are great harbors, even better restaurants, vinos deliciosa, and comfortable places to stay, like PATAGONIA VIRGIN!”  Believe it or not, such conversations do take place in the quaint little pubs and restaurants along the shores of a truly remarkable body of water in Patagonian Chile.

Lago Llanquihue is the biggest lake in Chile, 1,000km south from Santiago, just 40 kms north from Puerto Montt.  It is 22 miles (35 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide with depths of 5,000 feet (1,500 m).  Some local myths believe Loch Ness Monster’s sister lives here.  Its western shores are bordered by farmlands and rolling hills; to the east rise steep, forested Andean foothills.  In the distance rise the snowcapped volcanoes Osorno and Calbuco, and beyond them on the Argentine border towers the great, glaciated Mount Tronador (11,660 feet/ 3,554 m). The setting of the lake and good fishing have made the lakeside towns- especially Puerto Varas, Frutillar, and Puerto Octay- popular resorts for tourists.

The “Vuelta al Lago” (around Lago Llanquihue) is an event that takes places over four days.  It’s a very popular event for sailors that are fortunate enough to enjoy the lake’s bountiful assets.

The Cofradía Nautica de Frutillar is the principal yacht club on the lake with around twenty boats.  Surazos in Puerto Varas is the second largest club in size and very important in terms of number of boats.

For the XIII version of the "Vuelta al lago Llanquihue (Around Lake Llanquihue) Race”, all of the lake’s boating clubs join together for what amounts to a local version of the New York YC Cruise each August.   During the four days of sailing, the fleet of thirteen boats included a J/70, two J/24s and a smattering of other boats up to 34 feet.

The 55nm race-track was divided into four legs/ races:

• Frutillar- Puerto Varas
• Puerto Varas- Puerto Oscuro
• Puerto Oscuro- Puerto Octay
• Puerto Octay- Frutillar

For this year’s event, the winds were mainly light from different directions, especially East and South East.  The wind shift and wind holes where changing pretty radically around the different courses, so the fleet needed to handle those changes and look for the wind across the lake.  Notably, the conditions were unusual as during this time of year the sailors usually enjoy SSW breezes all day long— chalk it up to another monstrous “El Nino” off Chile’s Pacific Coast!

Puerto Varas is the most developed city on the cruise, 12 miles south from Frutillar, as the southernmost point of the lake that is closest to Puerto Montt.  This time the fleet congregated at the “Mesa Tropera Restaurante,” recently opened in the last few years and offering one of the best “micro-brew” beers in Chile. This beer is produced in Cohaique, but in the future it will be produced locally in Puerto Varas.

The cruise to Puerto Oscuro on the second day was especially nice. It was a 19nm race from Puerto Varas, with winds from the southeast of 0 to 5 kts during the first third of the leg, then afterwards a fantastic 10-15 kts wind into the finish for the final two-thirds of the race! Fantastico!!

All crews slept on their boats.  For the J/70 crew on SANTANDER, that included Juan Eduardo Reid and Francisca Cordero who slept onboard J/70 #1. “Great rest on the V-berth of this wonderful little boat!”, said Juan.

That evening’s anchorage, at Puerto Oscuro at the base of Volcán Osorno and inside the Perez Rosales Park is an amazing place to stay. “You can just feel the nature and beauty of this part of Chile,” said Francisca (pictured here having a laugh about their enormous v-berth in the J/70)!

The third leg to Puerto Octay also had light winds, but ending with a 10-15 kts breeze from the southwest. The boats arrived on a tight reach to Centinela Peninsula and raced to the bottom of the bay into an amazing natural fjord where Campo el Molino is situated.  The J/70 managed to beat the M24 boat-for-boat on this leg.  At the beginning of the race going at TWA 50 degrees with the gennaker, the J/70 kept sailing with it until the very end of the leg, going as close to the rhumb line as possible, but keeping an eye on the wind in the middle of the lake.

The final leg to Frutillar was the shortest and, after 4 days, this was most appreciated by the smaller boat teams!  Notably, the first two boats to finish in all races were the J/70 and the M24.

The final results saw the J/70 SANTANDER sailed by Juan Eduardo Reid and Francisca Cordero winning with a 2-1-1-2 record for 6 pts. Another J/Team on the J/24 DRAKE took third place- Cesar Contreras with a 4-3-2-1 scoreline for 10 pts!  For more Regatta Vuelta al Lago Llanquihue sailing information on Facebook here.