Barcelona Winter Series Hotting Up!

(Barcelona, Spain)- This past weekend, the fourth Act of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona Winter Series saw cool waters, brisk winds, and hot action across the water of the Olympics sailing venue.  In the J/70s, winning Act IV was the Russian Sergey Semenov’s NEW TERRITORIEs, while Luis Albert Solana’s PATAKIN sailed well enough to maintain their overall series lead over Massimo Rama’s JENIALE EUROSYSTEM.

Unfortunately, Saturday’s sailing was canceled after several fruitless starts with an “AP over A” to mark the end of day for all racers.  However, on Sunday the sailors were greeted by spectacular sailing conditions; so good that both J/70 and J/80 classes were able to post a total of four races.

In the J/70s, there were many changes in the standings.  On Sunday, the fleet was completely dominated by the Russian Sergey Semenov, sailing his NEW TERRITORIES that represents the Nautical Club of Saint Petersburg in Russia. Three 1sts and one 5th pretty much crushed the competition for the weekend.  JENIALE’s Massimo Rama won the only other race that the Russians left open, the third race.

For Luis Albert Solana, owner of PATAKIN, the day was fantastic.  Luis commented, “of those who make a hobby of sailing, it was fabulous. Perfect wind and they treated us terrific!! I love surfing with Alex Muscat; Finn's Spanish champion- a luxury!"

Spanish sailing super-star Hugo Rocha, who has sailed on the Russian crew on NEW TERRITORIES, commented that, “everything has gone very well for us. With a very windy sea breeze, the wind was great for us, and therefore, more fun. Thanks to the Race Committee that has done a good job!”

For the weekend, behind PATAKIN and JENIALE EUROSYSTEM, it was David Marco’s REBUFF that is now sitting in third for the overall provisional series.

The J/80s had a bit of an upset for the weekend.  It was an excellent day for AKEWELE sailed by woman skipper Silvia Ravetllat.  They won two of the four races in a hard fight with Marc de Antonio’s BRIBON-MOVISTAR (a J/80 World Champion, no less).  Taking third for the weekend was the Polish crew on MOONRAKER sailed by Pawel Boksa. 

As a result, for the season series, BRIBON-MOVISTAR maintains a comfortable lead of ten points over AKEWELE. In turn, Silvia’s crew are just seven point up on Rosa Artigas’ MIKAKU.  For more Barcelona Winter J/70 & J/80 Series sailing information  Add to Flipboard Magazine.