(Spiez, Switzerland)- Over the weekend of September 13th to 15th, Swiss J/70 Sailing Challenge League teams eagerly traveled to the spectacular Lake Thun in the middle of Switzerland to sail off the fairy-tale town of Spiez. Featured on the prominent point is the 15th C Spiez Castle, overlooking the harbor and the pretty, classic, picturesque little Swiss village nestled on the edge of the mountainous lake.
The dozen teams that participated enjoyed light to medium lake breezes all weekend. With light winds in the morning, the fleet simply sat onshore until the “sea breeze” (thermal) picked up to 4 kts before heading out for more rounds of 15-20 minute short-course racing. The regatta PRO managed to run thirteen races; his job was made much easier with the “robot marks”- autonomous marks powered by simple electric trolling motors, run by an Android mobile phone app….move the mark on the map and the robot mark simply drives itself to that spot! Cool!
Over the three days, the three podium spots were not decided until the final race. Fighting hard for those spots were four clubs; Cercle de la Voile Vevey la Tour, Seglervereinigung Thalwil, Yacht Club Spiez (the hosts), and Zurcher Yacht Club. After learning the ropes and how to make a J/70 go fast, YC Spiez raced up the standings after being mid-fleet for the first two days, scoring four bullets in a row to end up third on a tie-breaker with Zurcher YC. Winning the regatta was CVVT with just 26 points, scoring virtually all podium finishes. Second was SVT with 30 points. For more Swiss J/70 Sailing League information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
|
