(Santander, Spain)- Ignacio Camino's NEXTEL ENGINEERING was the winner of this year's Trofeo AVIA sailed in J/80s on the waters of Santander Bay. The wind was a the real "star" of the event as for two days the wind saw gusts over 30 kts at the start of the races. Going to windward after the starts was a test of seamanship, steering and basic sail-trim. Going downwind was even a greater test as some crews experienced some pretty remarkable broaches.On both days, the Race Committee PRO had to change race course area after the first race, taking the fleet inside the "sand spit" into the area of Quebrantas and could fit a smaller, protected course in the vicinity of the island of Horadada.
Jaime Piris on FONESTAR opted for the pin end start and stretched to the left side where the influence of the current tide was lower, in addition to benefiting from the greater wind pressure that came from the west. On the other side of the course going up the right hand side were ECC VIVIENDAS sailed by Pichu Torcida, GO FIT skippered by David Madrazo and Ignacio Camino on NEXTEL. Although they finished behind FONESTAR, they did not fare well on the right due to less wind pressure and were sailing against stronger current.
After several more races, it became quite obvious to the sailors that the left hand side of the course was paying off upwind while the right hand side (left going downwind) was much faster going downwind under spinnaker.
It was a good afternoon of sailing for the favorites NEXTEL, ECC and GO FIT, which never finished below the top five. In the end, Camino won on NEXTEL with just 9 pts followed by Madrazo on GO FIT in second place with 13 pts, narrowly beating out Luis Prieto sailing MAQUECHE who had 14 pts for third place. The balance of the top five were comprised of Pichu's team on ECC VIVIENDAS in fourth with 15 pts and in fifth was YATES & COSAS. The Class B champion was A&G Private Banking sailed by Tono Ribalaygua. For more J/80 Santander Trofeo Avia sailing information
For those of you who are students of sailing tactics & strategies, you may want to take a look at a very interesting video representation of the tracking system used for the J/80 French Nationals in Douarnenez, France. Take a look at this sailboat tracking system overview on YouTube here.
