Grand Slam Wins Chile J/105 Nationals

For two consecutive weekends of April (6-7th and 13-14th), the fleet of 18 J/105s sailed on the beautiful waters in the Bay of Algarrobo, competing for top honors in the Chilean J/105 fleet’s first National Championship. Both weekends had a great wind conditions for sailing, between 10 and 15 knots from the southwest – the best local wind – and gently rolling offshore swell in excess of 6.5 feet. Teams that could master good upwind speed and turn the top mark and make use of the great surfing conditions often made significant gains on their competitors. From the beginning, it was clear that three teams were battling for the podium and dominated the regatta. However, notably five boats won races in the nine race event, and 13 of the 18 boats (nearly 75 percent of the fleet) posted top five scores in their overall records. That’s a wonderful indicator of good, close, competitive racing to have the kind of scoring distribution across the fleet. In the end, Patricio Seguel’s team on Grand Slam were declared Chile”s first J/105 National Champions. They managed to hold off their two closest competitors and after two discard races, scored all top three finishes for a total of 13 net pts. Scoring two firsts and two seconds was not enough to chase down the leader for Miguel Salas’ team on Big Booty, ending up with 19 net pts to secure a well-deserved second overall. Chasing both teams was Vernon Robert’s Arachimides, themselves also counting two firsts and a second in their scoreline, but not enough to catch the others with a 22 pts net for the regatta. Rounding out the top five were Pedro Perez’s Recluta with 28 pts net in fourth place and in fifth was Daniel Gonzalez’s crew on Tricalma with 31 pts. The J/105 was introduced in Algarrobo, Chile 17 years ago with a few units, and at the end of 2010 the class was launched by Algarrobo Yacht Club members. Nowadays there are more than 25 boats in the central part of Chilean Coast. As a result of that effort and passionate enthusiasm by Chilean sailors, the J/105 class has become the principal family-fun, one-design yacht in Chile. The fleet will meet again on May 11-12 in Vina del Mar for the Chilean Navy Day Celebration, locally known as Glorias Navales, where many classes join together to celebrate the event.