J/80s Dominate Vuelta al Lago Regatta

(Frutillar, Lago Llanquihue, Chile)- The Vuelta al Lago Regatta is raced every year on Llanquihue Lake in southern Chile; it is the premiere fall regatta for local sailors. The regatta is comprised of three or four legs that vary from 15 to 25nm, criss-crossing the enormous 21nm long lake.  The regatta is open to all sailboats that wish to enjoy a “port-to-port” event to the many fun, cool, towns and villages that dot the verdant green, spectacular shorelines of a lake ringed by numerous famous volcanic peaks- like Osorno.

This year, the 2018 15th edition of the “Vuelta al Lago” (round-the-lake race) consisted of three legs:

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

This year’s racing was marked by plenty of breeze, sunny days, cloudy days, storms sometimes, and often big, enormous chop (e.g. waves) in the middle of the lake that would grow so fast your head would spin!  Such is the nature of sailing on a mountain lake next to 12,000 ft peaks that can create their own localized storm/ squall systems!

After three days of long-distance racing, the J/teams dominated overall.  The J/80 CANDIDO with Mario Moure on the helm won with 9pts total.  Taking second place was the J/24 PELICANO with 10 pts.  Then, settling into third place was the J/80 BUCEFALO with 14 pts.

The most exciting development is that Llanquihue Lake will have four J/80s by March 2018. One boat is coming from Spain and two boats are coming from Canada, according to local J/Boats Chile distributor- Juan Eduardo Reid. Add to Flipboard Magazine.