Barcelona Winter Series- Act III Report

(Barcelona, Spain)- The third Act of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona Winter Series for the J/70 and J/80 classes was blessed by good winds, sun, and three races, much to the delight of the sailors and the spectators. The racing took place in a shifty, northerly breeze blowing 10 to 17 kts with occasional gusts over 20+ kts.  The offshore breeze made racing difficult to stay at the front of the pack as boats from behind would often over-run the leaders when large, streaky puffs landed on the race area.

J/70 REBUFF Wins Weekend
The highlight for the J/70 class has been the return to racing by the REBUFF team; they had been absent for the first two Acts of the series. Owner David Marco had the great Spanish sailor (2x J/80 World Champion) Rayco Tabares from Las Palmas, Grand Canaria skippering the boat. Their strong performance stopped the runaway train called GUNTER, Javier Scherk’s team that had dominated the series to date.

REBUFF won the first race of the day and added two 2nds to dominate the weekend.  On the other hand, GUNTER did not even get a podium finish, having to hold on for two 4ths and a 5th to finish 4th place for the weekend.

The other two boats that scored a victory for the day were Luis Albert Solana’s PATAKIN, with Spanish Finn National Champion Alejandro Muscat on board, and Massimo Rama’s JENIALE EUROSYSTEM.  For the weekend, it was REBUFF first, then PATAKIN second and JENIALE third.

For the provisional overall series, GUNTER still leads with 26 pts, followed by PATAKIN with 30 pts and JENIALE with 36 pts.

Star J/80 -> BRIBON MOVISTAR!
Putting the gas pedal to the floor, and never letting up, was the pugnacious and awesomely fast BRIBON MOVIESTAR sailed by Marc de Antonio.  Three bullets for the weekend simply meant they have dramatically extended their lead over the fleet for the provisional overall series. In fact, they’ve won 8 of 15 races so far!

The real race, the regatta within the regatta, is for the balance of the podium.  The two stars are top women skippers in Spain and it is a real battle to determine who gets the silver and bronze.  The two women protagonists are Rosa Artigas’ MIKAKU and Silvia Ravetllat’s AKEWELE.  In the first two races, MIKAKU finished right on the transom of BRIBON-MOVISTAR, posting two 2nds.  Meanwhile, in the third race, it was Ravetllat’s turn, taking 2nd in that race over MIKAKU.  As a result, the two teams are in a virtual “dead heat”, with AKEWLE sitting on 30 pts after 15 races and MIKAKU has 31 pts.  The next few weekends should portend the “tale of the tape”.  For more Real Club Nautico Barcelona Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.