6th Argentine J/24 National Championships at Club Nautico Olivos

2018 Copa Pimms Argentine J/24 Championship © Jorge Cousillas / El Ojo Náutico

The most famous J/24 fleet in Argentina may be the one situated on the Rio de La Plata, just north of downtown Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. Club Nautico Olivos and their local J/24 fleet hosted the event.

Sixteen competitors participated to determine the final winner of the Copa Pimms Argentine J/24 Championship (note, this "local" fleet includes World Champions). Winning the event for the sixth time (a new record) was Matias Pereira's team on Carrera (A. Guerra, F. Scarpatti and J. Delgado). Here is what took place over the three-day weekend from November 16th to 19th.

Friday - Windy and Wavy

With a good 20-plus kts wind from the East Southeast, big waves and cool weather, the CN Olivos RC Team managed to complete three good races on the first day; participating were teams from Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, and an enthusiastic female crew from Uruguay!

Fast out of the box and putting establishing a firm hand on the top spot was Pereira's Carrera team, posting three straight bullets to lead by a wide margin. Also enjoying the windy, wavy conditions were Sebastien Halpern's crew on MORRUCHO (G. Mirralles, F. Monetti, and E. Despontin), posting a 5-2-2 for nine points. Just behind them, it was a tie at 11 pts for third place between the SEA WOLF crew (P. Senestrari, M. Halac, P. Despontin, and skipper Guillermo Parada) and the U2 Team (G. Aporszegi, M. Ferrero, F. Ambrus and E. Pittaluga).

Saturday - Cancelled

Sadly, the day dawned bright and beautiful, but the forecast wind never materialized as the J/24s were slowly drifting down current on the Rio de La Plata headed for Antarctica! Wisely, it was best to cancel the day's sailing activities not long after noontime. In fact, for most teams, it was time to "party" in the Saturday evening cocktails and dinner that seemed to start much earlier than most expected!

Sunday - Gusty Shifty Northerly

The final day started with a good strong wind in the 20-plus knots range from the Northwest and, as the day progressed, it kept rotating (veering) into the NNE quadrants and slowly diminishing in pressure. Despite the difficult conditions to keep resetting marks for the Race Committee and mark boats, they managed to pull off running four races! That meant all the teams could enjoy one discard race for the final results.

In these very challenging weather conditions, it was clear the top two teams were Carrera and SEA WOLF. Posting their worst result of the regatta on the opening race (a fourth), the Carrera team closed with a commanding tally of 3-1-1 to wind the regatta with just eight points net. The SEA WOLF crew was hopeful that winning the first race of the day portended even better things for the next three races.

However, that was not the case. Like the phoenix rising too close to the sun, they burned their feathers and came crashing to Earth, closing the regatta with a 6-2-3 to take the silver with 17 pts net. With a bit more consistency, the MORRUCHO crew may have had a chance at the silver. But, a 3-10-3-6 scoreline on the final day blew them out of contention, having to settle for third place on a 21 pts tie-breaker over Rina-Alagua (a famous team led by Nicolas Cubria and crew of M. Cubria, F. Bertrand, and J. Filidoro).

See j24arg.blogspot.com for more information.