Chilean J/105 Nationals

With shifty winds and a closely fought regatta for the top five finishers, it was anyone’s guess who would emerge as the ultimate winner in the Chilean J/105 Nationals. Providing the stage was the Club de Yates Algarrobo, with sailing taking place on Algarrobo Bay (located about 60 miles west of the capital Santiago). The championship was raced over the December 7-8 weekend. Saturday’s sailing had light wind conditions and only two races were completed. On Sunday, the fleet was blessed with much stronger Northwest breeze conditions, large Pacific swells and much better racing conditions. The CYA PRO and Race Committee managed to do an amazing job to get four windward-leeward course races completed before the cut-off time to send the sailors back to shore exhausted, but happy, for the exuberant awards ceremonies. In the end, a familiar boat known to J/105 sailors in the Northeastern USA won by a large margin. With her new owner driving fast and staying out of trouble, the famous Scimitar and her skipper/owner Jose Manuel Ugarte were crowned 2013 Chilean National Champions, accumulating a 4-6 on the first day, but following up with three straight bullets in the windier conditions on Sunday to take the title with just 13 points total. The battle for the balance of the podium was fierce between Patricio Seguel on Grand Slam, Jorge Gonzalez on Plan B and Miguel Salas on Big Booty. Leading this trio after the first day’s racing was Gonzalez’s Plan B by just two points over Seguel’s Grand Slam; Big Booty didn’t figure in the picture yet for even the top five. With the light air specialists now having to contend with big breeze and epic waves flowing into the crescent-shaped Algarrobo Bay, the game was changing dramatically for all the players wanting to grab silver on the stage at the end of Sunday’s racing. After their 8-1 on day 1, Seguel again started off the day with an eighth, rose to third, dropped to 21st, then won the last race. Seguel and crew secured second overall on a three-way tie-breaker at 21 points total for the silver medal. Gonzalez started the regatta well and seemed to excel in the light air on Saturday, knocking out a 3-4 to be leading the regatta. Sunday was a different story for them, struggling with finishes of 6-9-6-2, but still managing to secure third overall on the podium. Perhaps the toughest break was that taken by Salas. They sailed five of the six races in the top five but still lost the tie-break to take fourth overall. Fifth overall was Rodrigo Gumucio’s Spin Out, also sailing in the top eight all regatta-long but not good enough to hop onto the podium.