Pereira Dominates J/24 South Americans

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)-  This year’s J/24 South Americans had a highly competitive turnout of twenty-four teams from across the continent, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.  The high level of competition generated electrifying combat on the muddy waters of the Rio de la Plata in simply fantastic sailing conditions over the four day event.  Perhaps most importantly, the Club Universitario de Buenos Aires were simply amazing hosts, looking after the needs of all the sailors both on-the-water and ashore with some amazing post-race social entertainment.

Despite having to take a SCP scoring penalty in the first race, Matias Pereira and crew sailed a masterful regatta aboard their renowned CARRERA, counting four firsts in their nine race scorecard to win by ten points.  Pereira’s crew included Juan Ignacio Pereira, Guillermo Bellinoto, Federico Roberto, and Bellinoto Ambrus.

The first day of racing had ideal conditions for sailing, with a mild northeaster to start the day with the wind veering into the SSE by late afternoon.  With plenty of sunshine and relatively flat waters, the RC’s PRO did a great job to keep the aggressive fleet under control and run three of the nine races scheduled for the regatta.

The first race was an all Argentine affair in the shifty northeasterly, with Sergio Pendola on CACIQUE taking the gun followed by current Argentinean Champion Matias Pereira on CARRERA and Alexander Rossi on TOMMY HILFIGER.  The next race saw more wind coming out of the east and getting shiftier and streakier.  Pereira won quite handily followed by the Uruguayan team of EXTASIS skippered by Pedro Garra and another Argentine team sailed by Nicolas Cubria on RINA.  By the last race, the wind had increased to nearly 20 kts from the SSE with some teams changing over to jibs.  In the end, the Chilean team on VOLVO sailed by Matias Seguel won handily followed by Cubria’s RINA and Garra’s EXTASIS.

The second day of racing was going to be a challenge for both competitors and the CUBA RC.  Starting out quite strong from the northeast, but rapidly dying, the winds went very light with a strong current on the river.  As a result, the PRO wisely took the fleet in close to YC Argentino’s harbor entrance to get some benefits of a building sea-breeze condition, enough to get some races going for the day.  In the first race of the day, Ezequiel Despontin’s INDIGO took the gun followed by CARRERA and Robert Vernon’s JOYITA.  After completing the first race, the RC’s PRO again had to postpone to let the breeze settle in at around 5-7 kts.  The second race of the day saw CARRERA win followed by INDIGO and EXTASIS.  At this point with five races counting, CARRERA had a substantial lead with just 9 pts, with EXTASIS in second with 14 pts and VOLVO in third with 18 pts.

The last day dawned with yet more challenging weather conditions, with the lack of wind forcing an hour postponement.  Nevertheless, the wind quickly built to 8-12 kts from the ESE, enabling the RC to quickly fire off four races for the happy crews!  In fact, by the end of the day, the SE breeze had built to over 18 kts TWS and most of the crews changed from genoas to jibs and back again during the race!  Sailing fast and furious was CARRERA, scoring a 3-BFD-1-1 to win the regatta by ten points (dropping the BFD race).

Behind Pereira’s team was the Chilean team on JOYITA sailed by Robert Vernon, followed by fellow countrymen on VOLVO skippered by Matias Seguel.  This was the best showing of these two Chilean teams at the South Americans in recent years; a measure of how far they’ve improved on the international level of J/24 competition!  Rounding out the top five were the Uruguayan team on EXTASIS with skipper Pedro Garra taking fourth and behind them were Argentinean Nicolas Cubria on RINA in fifth.

There was some great social media and YouTube sailing videos of the event, please see some of these links below:

• Practice Race- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l4xDByEJpM
• Day One video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qHhrffutVw
• Day One photos- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjYJvr_7TKc
• Day Two video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgSHvYB4IrY
• Day Two photos- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOg49calDNw
• Day Three video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inlDpBjD8q0
• Day Four video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvag75tbe2k

For more J/24 South American Championship sailing information

Pendola Leads Argentina's J/24 Autumn Cup

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)- While winter seemingly still has not left the northern hemisphere, clinging a bit too tenaciously for most battle-hardened sailors, the J/24 gang down in Buenos Aires are enjoying nearly equally crazy conditions in their J/24 Autumn Cup, hosted by Yacht Club Argentino.

After a hard day of racing Saturday, the fleet was able to complete three good races. Southwest winds prevailed despite, providing the fleet with what is known locally as the "borneo conditions", rains blasting the fleet with massive wind shifts and winds gusting from 15-25 kts.  With the racing taking place not far off the "North Dock", the fleet was constantly challenged with shifty, gusty cells that keep mixing up the fleet.  After three races sailed, it was clear the CACIQUE team led by Sergio Pendola had established a good lead on the fleet with a 1-1-2.

For Sunday's racing, the fleet was blessed with a sweet sunny day with little breeze. After two hours of postponement a gentle northerly settled onto the race course, veering to the northeast that grew stronger during the day.  The RC managed to run two good races to make for a nice start for the two weekend series. The first race with soft breeze was again won by Sergio Pendola and the CACIQUE gang and the second race was won by Nico and Rina Cubria. The Rossi brother's on SHARK are still lurking and waiting for their chance at the lead.  Also, the BA J/24 fleet welcomes newcomer Adrian Segurado.  Next weekend concludes the Autumn Cup at YCA- April 13 & 14.   For more J/24 Buenos Aires sailing information