J/70 South American Championships in Valparaiso, Chile
by J/Boats 18 Dec 2021 12:58 UTC
2021 J 70 South American Championship © Jankovic's Villatoro
The 2021 edition of the J/70 South American Championship will go down as an epic experience for the twenty-two teams participating from across the continent: Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. After a fun and challenging twelve races series offshore of the resort of Algarrobo, the Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico Race Committee and PRO team ensured the sailors had fair, fast sailing over the four-day series.
Winning was Rodrigo Ducasse and his family team on TSUNAMI. To say their performance was remarkable would be an understatement. They started the regatta with four straight deuces to lead the regatta by a considerable margin. After a few hiccups in the middle of the regatta, they closed with a strong 3-3-1-4-1 to win with 27 pts. net.
While posting four bullets in their final scoreline, Pablo Herman's NEW WAVE team had a first race Black Flag and closing three races of 5-6-10, that combination proved to be their undoing. In between that "barbell" scoreline, they were on fire, easily having the best scoreline in the fleet with a 4-1-2-4-1-1-1. As a result, they earned the silver medal with 41 pts net.
The final step on the podium, taking the bronze, was Diego Gonzalez's Andare Facile with 56 pts net. Unlike the other teams, it seems their early success resulted in too much fun and celebration after the first day. Opening up with a 1-1-3 on the first day, leading the regatta, the Andare Facile crew simply went downhill from there never to recover their amazing performance in the first three races.
The balance of the top five was Vernon Robert's Morenita in fourth with 60 pts net and Alberto Guarischi's Three Musketeers team from Brazil with 69 pts net in fifth place.
Top Women's Skipper Award went to Pipa Cisternas on Uroboro from Chile, finishing a respectable 8th overall in the hotly competitive fleet. Click here for more Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico information. Click here for J/70 South American Championship sailing and scoring information