Telefonica wins 2009 ORC 670 World Championship

by ORC Media on 3 Sep 2009
In conditions which varied from strong winds and rough seas to drifting at less than 1 knot, Pedro Campos’ X-37 Telefonica (ESP) has claimed overall victory in the 2009 ORC 670 World Championship, hosted by Real Club Náutico de A Coruña. On the strength of first place finishes in five out of nine inshore and offshore races, Campos and team defeated 15 other teams representing Spain, Portugal, Australia, Chile and Germany. Pedro Campos scores with two consecutive victories, and can now claim 14 World Championship titles.

Despite the mastery shown by Campos and team, the racing was close throughout the five-day event: in the first inshore race, for example, Telefonica corrected over the runner-up GS 37B Vindio, owned by Javier Lopez Vazquez, by a mere 3 seconds, and over the third place finisher Tanit Medilevel, another GS 37B owned by Juan Ignacio (Nacho) Campos, by only 20 seconds. These three would coincidently end up in this order for the final results of the event.

And while the last five hours of the 70-mile offshore race were sailed at about 1 knot of speed in very light conditions, the remainder of the inshore windward-leeward race format was sailed in blustery winds which approached 30 knots and seas topping at 3 metres in height.

Of the six entries which qualified for the Corinthian trophy, the Tanit team was scored on top with wins in all but two races. Another notable entry was the all-female Maltesers Female Team skippered by Natalia Via-Dufresne on their X-37 from Marbella who finished a respectable fifth overall.

Final results, and more can be found at the RCNC website: www.rcncoruna.com/Mundialorc670_09.htm