The teams came from all across Spain; from Valencia, Andalusia, Madrid, Palma in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Asturias, Catalonia, Cantabria, Barcelona, Santander and from all of Galicia.
After a fiercely fought nine-race series, it was pretty clear the class act of the regatta was a boat led by two former J/80 World Champions. Needless to say, a seriously hard combination to beat when even Spanish Olympic Gold Medallists acknowledge they are some of Spain's best sailors. Starting out by leading on the first day, the duo of skipper Jose Maria "Pichu" Torcida and tactician Rayco Tabares on Team NOTICIA never looked back and kept extending their lead. With such enormous talent, no one was surprised they were runaway champions. Their eight race counters consisted of all podium finishes, but only winning two races. Such consistency was indicative of their fast, but conservative approach to winning the regatta...no corner shots! Pichu and Rayco's team included Luis Martin Cabiedes, Francisco Palacio, and Pablo Santurde.
For the balance of the podium and top five it was like a battle amongst equals. None of them had any particular advantage over the other. And, their scores reflected the "roller coaster" nature of sailing against very strong, equally matched teams. In the end, it was Luis Albert Solana's PATAKIN that grabbed the silver based on their very strong performance in the last two races. Solana's crew included Alfonso Domingos, Karlo Hmeljack, and Andre Kemp. Taking the bronze medal was Alfredo Gonzalez's EUROFRITS-AVIKO TEAM just one point back. His team consisted of Daniel de la Pedraja Yllera, Jon Larrazabal Lallana, Alberto Padron Torrent, and Alejandro Prego.
Rounding out the top five was Luis Bagallo Arriola's MARNATURA 1. Starting out the regatta with two bullets, they could only manage top 10 finishes to take fourth place. Taking fifth position was Luiz Martinez Doreste's MERCEDES BENZ SAILING TEAM. For more Spanish J/70 Championship sailing information
