Gorgeous Sailing for J/One-Designs on Lago Llanquihue(Frutillar, Chile)- From January 19th to 26th, the Semana de Vela Santander took place on Lago Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile, for fleets of J/24s, J/70s, J/80s, J/105s, and IRC handicap boats. The event was hosted by Club Nautico Oceanico, the Chilean Navy, and Cofradía Náutica Frutillar; it was the first time in the history of Chilean sailing that a fleet of forty-three keelboats have ever assembled together for a week-long event on the lake.
Lago Llanquihue and the Valdivia villages were first settled by German colonialists in the 1850’s, led by Manuel Mont, and supported by then Chilean President Pérez Rosales. The principal strategy was to settle the area by giving away 2 hectares to each family to farm and make a home in a region that was sparsely populated. However, due to the heavy rains and dense rain forest during the winters, the best mode of transportation by far was using boats on the lake! Even to this day, there are many ferries that run back and forth between the coastal towns as principal commercial service on what is also one of the deepest lakes in all of South America (1,500 ft)!
The opening ceremony of the regatta took place at the famous “Teatro del Lago”, one of the most important public theaters in all of South America, located literally on the Frutillar shorefront. In the background of the 300 sailors attending the festivities were the famous “tres-amigos”- the enormous 12,000 ft-plus volcanic, snow-capped mountains of Osorno, Puntiagudo and Calbuco.
The
sailing conditions started out a little light in the beginning of the
week. For the long distance race between Frutillar, Puerto Octay and
return to Frutillar, it was longer than what most anticipated. After a
one-day break, the fourth day of racing was the 18.0nm distance race
from Frutillar down south to Puerto Varas, a long slog to windward for
the entire fleet!The last three days of the regatta were in Puerto Varas at the southern end of Lago Llanquihue. The southerly offshore winds were shifty, puffy, and made it difficult on the tacticians to decide where to go for the next wind shift.
The J/24 class was dominated by Team VALDIVIESO, sailed by Felipe Molina and Fernando Gonzales, posting nine 1sts in eleven races to win with just 12 pts total. Second was Team GUAMBLIN, sailed by the Escuela de Grumetes I team and taking the bronze on the podium was Team MARISCAL sailed by the Escuela de Grumetes crew.
For
the J/70s, it was a battle royale to the finish line. In the end, it
was Manuel Urzua’s crew on PATIO LV that took the title with 18 pts,
followed by their erstwhile competitor, Francisca Cisterna’s UROBORO
with 19 pts total. Rounding out the podium in the bronze position was
Paulo Molina’s ALBATROSS with 28 pts total.Like their compadres in the J/24 class, the J/80s were treated to another near “white-washing” of the class. Ezequias Alliende and Alfredo Valdes had one bad blemish on their record of near all first places, posting a DSQ in race 3, to finish with just 14 pts. Taking the silver was Anton Felmer’s COSACO with 22 pts, followed by Gabriel Jordan’s CUMBERLAND YACHT CHARTER with 26 pts.
Finally, the J/105s had quite close racing over the course of the week. In fact, their class had the closest racing of any of the handicap or offshore classes. Wining the event with just three 1st places was Jose Tomas Errazuriz Grez on WICHITA 4 with 26 pts total. In a nose-to-nose horse race to the finish line were four other boats, anyone of which could have take the silver based on their final race positions! Taking the silver on a tie-breaker at 35 pts each was Jorge Gonzalez Correa’s PLAN B over Patricio Seguel’s GRAND SLAM. Fourth was Daniel Gonzalez and Claudio Leon’s TRICALMA just one point back with 36 pts. And, yet only three points in arrears to claim 5th place was Miguel Perez’s RECLUTA with 39 pts. Fantastic racing for all J/105 crews over the course of the week’s racing! For Semana de Vela Santander Regatta photos More photos on Semana de Vela Santander Regatta on Facebook For Semana de Vela Santander Regatta Results Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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