(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- Over the first two weekends of October, the
Buenos Aires fleet in Argentina hosted their friends from Chile, Uruguay
and Brazil in their prestigious and traditional Buenos Aires Week
hosted by Yacht Club Argentina. Eleven teams were participating with
many looking forward to sailing the Argentinean Nationals at the
beginning of November and the J/24 South American Championship at Punta
del Este, Uruguay. The first weekend of racing saw six races conducted over the two days, a total of ten are scheduled for the entire series. It was readily apparent to everyone that Matias Pereira’s CARRERA was light years ahead of the fleet all weekend, posting six straight bullets to establish a big lead for the series. Doggedly pursuing them was the Uruguayan team lead by Pedro Garra on PANTERA; their scores of 2-6-2-2-2-5 kept them in the hunt. Just behind them was Sebastien Halpern’s MORRUCHO with a 3-5-3-3-3-2 tally.
The
“song remained the same” for the following weekend. It was truly a
battle for the top three podium positions, but it was again clear that
Pereira’s CARRERA had the upper hand on their competitors. In the first
race on Saturday, Pereira picked up where they left off the previous
Sunday by winning the first race quite handily. The big disappointment
was for Garra’s team, posting a 6th, while their arch rivals, Halpern’s
MORRUCHO, took a 2nd. Then, in the second race of the day (the 8th of
the regatta), it was Garra’s turn to win a race while Halpern’s crew
faltered and posted a 7th! The drama continued in the next race and the
anxiety level could not have been higher for Gara’s and Halpern’s
crews. In race nine, CARRERA won and locked up the regatta, not having
to sail the last race. Meanwhile, Halpern took 2nd with Garra in 4th,
leaving them tied going into the final 10th race. However, that would
not take place until Sunday! The final day dawned beautiful and bright with a nice wind. CARRERA stayed ashore, celebrating their good fortunes. Meanwhile, it was a grueling match race between Halpern and Garra to determine the silver and bronze positions on the podium. In the end, Halpern got the upper hand, posting a 4th to Garra’s 5th to seal the deal for the silver. The top of the leaderboard in the last race saw a complete “flip-flop” of the fleet; winning was Alejandro Rossi’s SHARK AMANSO RELOADED with Federico Weidemann’s SEX SYMBOL in 2nd and Guillermo Aporszegi’s CALA in 3rd. For more J/24 Buenos Aires Week sailing information
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