Americans sweep Mexican J/70 Nationals

Mexican J/70 Nationals © J70 Mexico

As they often say, be careful of what you wish for when you invite World-class American sailors to your gorgeous lake high in the mountains west of Mexico City. Over a four-day regatta last weekend, the Mexican J/70 class held their 2020 National Championship in Valle de Bravo for a fleet of twenty-two teams. Host for the event was the Club de Vela La Peña Valle de Bravo.

After a nine-race series, the American team on Pied Piper, led by skipper Gannon Troutman easily won the event. Starting out with three bullets on the first day of racing, they never looked back, and no one could seemingly challenge their supremacy on the race track. It certainly helped that Troutman had a world-class sail trimmer in the form of Venezuelan Victor Diaz de Leon on mainsheet and calling tactics. The balance of their team included Tomas Dietrich and Roberto Escalante. The Pied Piper's never had a finish out of the top four, such was their dominance over the regatta, finishing with just 16 pts.

Yet another American had a significant impact on silver medal winner- LA BALA. Also trimming mainsheet and calling tactics for skipper Yon Belausteguigoitia was none other than J/70 World Champion Bill Hardesty from San Diego, CA. The La Bala team sailed consistently in the top ten to finish a distant second with 32 pts net. Their crew consisted of Yon and brother Ander, Hardesty, and Elaine Fierro. Notably, the La Bala team was declared the "real" Mexican J/70 National Champion as the top Mexican team in the regatta.

Taking the bronze medal on the podium and also winning the Mexican Corinthian J/70 National Championship was Jorge Murrieta's Flojito Y Cooperando, sailing with crew of Jose Alfonso Gutierrez Frusch, Jeronimo Mariscal, and Pablo Rion.

Behind the Corinthian J/70 Mexican Champions on Flojito was Hector Guzman Gonzalez's team on ESCIPION (Gerardo Lozano, Juan Pablo La Pena Guzman, and Mariana Guzman). Third went to Eduardo Oetling's Axolotl, with crew of Eduardo Oetling Jr, Ricardo Guzman, and Alfonso Aguilar. Thirteen of the twenty-two teams were Corinthians, over 50% of the fleet.

Find more Mexican J/70 National Championship sailing information here.