Argentina J/24 Class Rocks!

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- As the world of J/24 racing in the northern hemisphere slows down to almost a crawl, awaiting midwinter events in the USA as well as winter events in Italy, their counterparts in South America are quickly ramping up their activities from spring to summer series “down under”.

Argentina, in particular, has a very active J/24 class with fleets in the city of Buenos Aires on Rio de La Plata, as well as up in the mountains with fleets just west of Mendoza (famous for rich, delicious malbec red wines) and also in the Cordoba region featuring the gorgeous Lago San Roque in the foothills of the Andes Mountains.

CORDOBA
The Cordoba J/24 fleet recently completed its Torneo de Verano (summer tournament).  Host for the event was Club Náutico Córdoba.  They managed to sail eight races over the two weekend series on Lago San Roque, easily one of the prettiest lakes to sail in the entire world.

The crew of Javier "Caraca" Moyano on GRAN CARAJO stood out from the fleet based on their consistency; winning only two races and taking two 2nds in the eight race series, to win with 17 pts net.  While the CARAJO crew won convincingly, behind them it was not the case at all.  The balance of the podium was determined by a tie-breaker between two competitive crews sitting on 22 pts each.  Based on countback, taking second in the regatta was Juan Mauri DiFrancesco’s crew on CARRER over Julian Dadona’s team on SIROCCO.  Rounding out the top five was Pablo Somestrari’s SEAWOLF and Carlos Trigo’s PURA VIDA, 4th and 5th, respectively.

BUENOS AIRES
The YC Olivos in Buenos Aires held their XXXVII Grand Prix International Luis Alberto Cerrato Cup for J/24s on the Rio de la Plata.  After a six races series masterfully managed by the YC Olivos team that ran the J/24 World Championships a few years back, it was a familiar team that was at the front of the pack.  After five bullets and a second, Matias Pereira’s crew on ARG 5486 took home the title and the pretty trophy to grace their “cave man” trophy room for yet another year.

Chasing Pereira’s team hard all weekend long was Sergio Pendola’s ARG 5463, the only boat to win a race off Pereira, but having to settle for second place.  Third was another top Argentinean crew on Hernan Cubria’s ARG 5461 with just 15 pts in six races (5 counters net).

PIMMS Regatta notice
The YC Olivos and the local J/24 class are looking forward to the closing of the 2017 racing season.  It is a relaxed atmosphere; there is an excellent time with lots of camaraderie, music, good food and abundant drink based on the classic English liquor (PIMMS) with soda, strawberries, and mint.

If you want to know the complete recipe from an expert “mixologist”- Ken Johnson- you will have to come and participate!! It is an excellent program, not to be missed!!  For more Argentina J/24 class sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.