2023 J/80 World Championship at Monte Real Club de Yates, Baiona, Spain
by J-Boats 30 Sep 2023 21:06 BST
17-23 September 2023
2023 J/80 World Championship © Lalo R. Villar
The Monte Real Club de Yates in Baiona, Spain hosted the 2023 J/80 World Championship off their gorgeous waterfront facilities for a huge fleet of seventy-seven boats from all over the world, even India!
In the end, after the nine-race series was completed over four days, it was the EUROFRITS & AVIKO / NEWINDFOODS team skippered by Javier Padrón from the Real Club Maritimo Santander that was crowned the 2023 J/80 World Champion, winning five of the races! Amazing! Here is how it all went down day by day.
Day 1
Early in the morning, it seemed the wind would not make things easy, and the race committee raised the postponement flag on shore to wait for the conditions to improve.
Finally, with a little more than two hours of delay on the scheduled time, the fleet was able to start the competition after three o'clock in the afternoon with a northwesterly wind of between six and eight knots of intensity, conditions that were maintained long enough to open the regatta with two good races.
The two victories were shared by Javier Padrón's EUROFRITS & AVIKO NEWINDFOODS and Ignacio Camino's SOLINTAL, both competing under the banner of the Real Club Marítimo de Santander. It was Camino's crew, however, who managed to become the first leaders of the World Championship by also finishing fourth and taking five points in the overall standings.
Once the day was over, the participants gathered in the village of Monte Real, where on Tuesday they could enjoy a tasting of octopus and canned seafood and some of the best Galician products from Galicia Calidade.
Day 2
It was an amazing day for racing for the big fleet of J/80s, with planing mode all day long. Three intense races and teams from Galicia and Cantabria stood out amongst the international fleet.
With a strong wind forecast and expecting particularly tough conditions by mid-afternoon, the race committee decided to bring forward the starting gun by one hour for the first race on Wednesday, managing to complete the three scheduled races in just over four hours with gusts that exceeded 20 knots.
Ariane Mainemare, the RC PRO of the World Championship, explained at the end of the day that, "we had to be very attentive to the weather that could be adverse because of the showers and could bring strong winds suddenly, so we had to be alert. Finally, we had a nice day and the truth is that it is being a very interesting championship, the top 20 boats are very strong and I think it will remain so."
The first to score a victory was José Luis Freire's MARNATURA (Monte Real Club de Yates), with Luis Bugallo from Vigo at the helm. The victory in this first round on Wednesday, in addition to the second and fifth places in the last two races of the day, allowed Bugallo's team to climb to the third step of the podium, thus keeping all options open for the next day of the World Championship.
"We are very happy with how the day went," said the MARNATURA skipper after returning to the pontoons. "We were able to meet our goal today of being in the top ten, so we're already looking forward to the three days ahead and giving it our all. There's a great level in the fleet and it's going to be very tight."
Javier Padron's team was undoubtedly the best of the second day, adding a second in the first race of the day and two partial victories that allowed him to go up six positions in overall and provisionally settle in fourth place just one point behind MARNATURA.
At the top of the overall standings after adding 6-7-4 finishes on Wednesday was Camino's SOLINTAL. For Camino's crew, the consistency and the fact they have remained in the leading positions in all the races has been the key to defending their position in the final stretch of the championship.
The second position was now in the hands of Nuria Sánchez's DORSIA COVIRAN. The boat, skippered by José Manuel Ruiz, also maintained consistency on Thursday with 8-4-3 results, which allowed the team to move up one place in the overall.
In the Women's division, it was a great day for María Bover's Team BALEARIA (Real Club Náutico de Palma), which overtook Olatz Muñoz's DECOEXSA (Real Club Náutico de San Sebastián) and took the lead in the standings.
Day 3
The fleet cast off on time to head for the race course. The first horn of the day was sounded after one o'clock in the afternoon with a northwesterly wind of about fifteen knots. The conditions were perfect until a change in the wind direction forced the committee to cancel the race in progress and reposition the course markers to restart the competition.
It was finally around 3:45 PM in the afternoon when the wind settled in a westerly direction with an average of 12 knots, allowing the fleet to add two more races to their scorelines.
The results of Thursday's races caused a turnaround in the overall positions. At the top of the table and with a first and an eleventh were EUROFRITS & AVIKO NEWWINDFOODS. They now dominated the fleet, with a lead of thirteen points over the second classified.
"We knew that with the discard we were in the game," Javier Padrón began by saying after his return to the pontoons. He added, "We have done two good races today and we are super happy, but also very concerned because there are still two days left. We are going for everything! Although, we know the races are very competitive. So, trying to predict something is practically impossible, there is still a long way to go".
Behind there were no changes in the second and third places on the provisional podium, which continue to be occupied by José Manuel Ruiz's DORSIA COVIRAN and Luis Bugallo's MARNATURA.
Day 4
After two consecutive days of wind, waves, and showers in the Rías Baixas, a light breeze returned on Friday to the Cíes Islands, which complicated the day for the race committee. Although the fleet was cast off on time, the teams had to wait several hours on the race course for a breeze.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, RC PRO finally gave the starting horn for a single race with very mild conditions. Winning the race was Peru Múgica's ETNIA BARCELONA.
Day 5
Everything pointed to the fact that the final day would once again be very complicated in terms of weather conditions. The race committee tried until the end, even going so far as to initiate the procedure for a final race on the Cies Islands race course. The wind, however, did not facilitate the competition on Saturday and the World Championship ended at four o'clock in the afternoon without being able to complete the last races of the program. The provisional results, therefore, became the final standings.
As a result, Javier Padrón's EUROFRITS & AVIKO NEWINDFOODS were declared the 2023 J/80 World Champions.
"The truth is that we are very happy with the victory. We have been working very hard all week and the result is the culmination of a week well done. The crew has worked incredibly hard, super focused on each race and when things are hard it seems that victory tastes better," said Padrón. "The organization has put a lot of effort on the water with a very high-quality team and this has been noticed in the regatta.
Padron's crew included two Canary Islanders (Javier and Alberto Padrón), two Cantabrians (Jon Larrazabal and Lucía González), and one Galician (Eduardo Reguera).
Rounding out the podium was Luis Bugallo's MARNATURA with the silver medal.
And Ignacio Camino's SOLINTAL won the bronze medal.
"We are very happy with how the regatta went, the truth is that it was totally unexpected for us to have such a good result. José Luis Freire, 'Tibu', put all his heart and soul into this magnificent project, and without a doubt, we are very grateful," said Bugallo.
In Camino's words, "We value the result very positively because it has been a very competitive championship in terms of conditions."
Winning the Women's Division was María Bover's Team BALEARIA (RCN Palma). "The first day we started a little bit regular with an OCS. But, we got stronger throughout the days. In strong wind, we sailed very well and we are very happy with the final result, especially with the absolute result, because we competed with a fleet of an exceptional level." Follow the J/80 World Championship on Facebook here. For more J/80 World Championship sailing information.