J80 World Championships at Santander, Spain

by Terry Palmer 16 Jul 2009 17:17 BST 4-11 July 2009

After 12 tight races Ruayco Tabares and his crew aboard Hotel Princesa Yaiza, from the Canary Islands, secured the J80 World championship in the last race.

Going in to the final day Tabares was two points behind Gustavo Martinez also from the Canaries, but managed to slip a tight cover shortly after the start which enabled him to finish with a seven point lead in the series.

Conditions varied from a light seven knots to around eighteen. The race officer held her nerve on two of the days having had the fleet motor out to wait for the wind to fill and settle.

The fleet was dominated by the 84 boat Spanish turnout. Rob Larke in Joystick made steady progress up the leader board to finish 12 and first non Spanish registered boat.

RCM Santander put on a spectacular event to host the largest J80 worlds held so far, with 132 boats from 10 countries. No doubt the entry would have been even larger if the club could have convinced some more of their club members to give up their berth in the marina. Certainly next years worlds in Newport Rode Island has a big act to follow.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Helm	Ptts
1	ESP-783	Hotel Princessa Yaiza	Rayco Tabares	40
2	ESP-774	JJ Palmensis	Gustavo Martinez	47
3	ESP-977	Peraleja Golf	Carlos Martinez	56
British
12	GBR–1138	Joystick	Rob Larke	156
35	GBR-912	Boats.com	Ian Atkins	291
63	GBR-904	University of Plymouth	Tom Phipps	417
80	GBR-744	Just Chilling	Stephen Chiverton	302
82	GBR-801	Just Do It	Terry Palmer	336
91	GBR-725	Purple Haze	Simon Thomas	418
120	GBR-571	Junior High	Steve Cooper	528
127	GBR-479	Joie De Vivre	Robert Kneen	609

Full results at www.j80worlds2009santander.org/result.php

More photos at www.chapifoto.com/galeria/index.php?option=com_g2bridge&Itemid=83&g2_itemId=9930