J70 Winter Series Event 4 at Real Club Náutico de Barcelona

by Ricardo Terrades 18 Dec 02:46 PST 12-14 December 2025

The J70 class concluded its last scheduled regatta for 2025 this weekend, and it did so in style. In Barcelona, the 4th round of the International Barcelona Winter Series, organised by the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona, took place, with a monthly event since September.

For its part, the Galician fleet returned to Vigo to bid farewell to the year, also this weekend, after having sailed the Atlantic Winter Series in Cascais in previous months.

Barcelona, a magnet for European sailing

Finally, there were a total of 29 teams from 10 different countries at the starting line, including Hungary, Portugal, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Lithuania and Spain. The weather conditions did not disappoint, and 10 of the 12 races initially scheduled were completed. On the first day, Friday, two races were completed with a light easterly breeze of 5-7 knots. On Saturday, the wind remained easterly and increased slightly in intensity to 8 knots, allowing four more races to be completed. On Sunday, the easterly wind took a little longer to pick up and settle, but the committee was still able to start four new races with winds reaching 15 knots.

High level and a very compact fleet

This weekend once again highlighted the high level of competition in this fleet of J70s in the Spanish Mediterranean. Although teams such as Diva, HSN Sailing Team, Sirena, Noticia, Sassy and HangTen were frequently seen in the top five, others such as Bodega Can Marlés, Let it Be and Active Sailing were also fighting for the top spots in some races.

In the end, victory went to Germany's Diva, which remained very solid and in first place from the start of the trophy and, on the second day, managed to score three first places and a fourth, giving it a certain margin of points to face the last day, on which it won another race but also achieved its two worst results (ninth), accumulating a total of 27 points after discarding its worst race.

The best Spanish boat was the HSN Sailing Team, which, although it was in fifth place after the first day, after two races (5th and 3rd), managed to recover and was already in second place on Saturday despite not having won any of the following four races (2nd, 3rd, 5th and 5th). On Sunday, however, the Canary Islands team, with Javi Padrón at the helm, Guti del Castillo, Ricardo Terrades and Adolfo López at the bow, had its best day, winning two of the four races sailed and finishing just three points behind the champion with a total of 30 points.

The battle for bronze was also very exciting, with three boats in contention until the final day. The Danish Sassy, winners of the previous event, Spanish boat Noticia, and Sirena, a new Danish boat that had not yet sailed in Barcelona. It was the latter that proved to be the most consistent and solid, climbing onto the third step of the podium with 43 points after the discard. Noticia was fourth with 46 points and Sassy had a more discreet day on Sunday, finishing fifth with 53 points.

The HSN Sailing Team from the Canary Islands consolidates its lead

After 34 races and 5 discards, the HSN Sailing Team (RCNB/RCNGC) strengthens its lead in the provisional classification with 94 points, followed by the Catalans Bodega Can Marlés (CN Vilanova) in second place with 149 points and Let it Be (CN Dénia), ownered by Marcelo Baltzer, which currently remains in third place with 215 points, having competed in one series per month since September. With Christmas over and the new year underway, the season will continue and the Barcelona Winter Series will have three more events to go, scheduled for January (23-25), February (20-22) and March (20-22), with the latter winter series coinciding with the first of the Barcelona Spring Series.