(Santander, Spain)- Pichu Torcida and his championship crew on the J/80 ECC VIVIENDAS were proclaimed "El Maqueche", celebrating the overall win after winning the third and final race of the series. Second overall went to yet another J/80 World Champion, Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL ENGINEERING and third overall was GO FIT sailed by Paul Santurde and David Madrazo. With two J/80 World Champions at the top of the fleet, the fleet of thirty J/80s knew they were going to be in a battle to be in the top positions.Only half the races scheduled for the regatta were sailed due to the light, fickle winds of the second weekend. On the last day the boats went to "Abra del Sardinero", inside the giant sand-spit off Santander's river, hoping to get in two races in a building, but very light sea breeze. After first trying to get in a race at 1530 hrs late in the afternoon, the PRO Enrique Perez finally convinced the sailors to wait and give it one last shot at 1700 hours, just before sunset! At that point, the sea-breeze sprung to life and filled in about 7-8 knots. The PRO and RC team were ready for it, quickly setting a windward-leeward short course, two times around. In these conditions, most of the fleet went left towards the beach, including ECC VIVIENDAS, followed closely by NEXTEL, YATES & COSAS, BANCAJA and GO FIT. At the bottom of the run, Pichu's ECC VIVIENDAS continued leading, but BANCAJA jumped into second position ahead of NEXTEL.
By winning the last race, Torcida became "El Maqueche" by scoring a 1-2-1 to easily win with four points, well clear of Ignacio's NEXTEL in second place with 8 pts. Third was GO FIT's Santurde and Madrazo, fourth was Cesar Obregon's LUPA and fifth was Alex Diaz's SOLUCIONES CINQUA.
Next weekend will be the traditional "Mundialito" (mini-Worlds for J/80s in Spain), sailing a doubleheader Saturday and Sunday. This regatta invites J/80 sailors from all over Spain to share a weekend of racing with members of the YC Maritimo de Santander. For more Spanish J/80 sailing information
