(Club de Vela la Peña, Mexico)- Taking place over the past weekend and
celebrating “la revolucion” were a fleet of thirteen J/24s competing for “la
Copa TelCel La Pena”. The Club de Vela la Peña was an excellent host and
conducted a marvelous regatta over the two day weekend event. Both
Saturday and Sunday saw remarkably steady winds of 8-12 kts, with gusts up to
14 kts. As a result, the CVLP RC was able to run the full slate of five
races, much to the delight of all the sailors!The fleet was treated to a “superman-like” performance from Team “S”, led by their magnificent capitano, Kenneth Porter. Taking four 1sts in five races meant they could count a DNC and still win the regatta! A fantastic result for Porter and the boys, a sobering experience for the rest of the fleet! Talk about providing a “sailing clinic” on how to win J/24 regattas!
For the rest of the competitors, it was anything but easy.
The balance of the top five basically saw four boats quite literally tied for
second place! Everything was determined for this group on the last leg of
the fifth and final race. Emerging from the fog of war was Manuel Benitez
sailing ZORRO into second place by taking 3rd in the last race. The
others were not so lucky. Third to fifth just two points back was
determined on a three-way tie-breaker at 25 pts each. Taking the “lucky
break” was Jorge Murrieta’s TRES DOLORES team to snag the bronze for the
regatta. Not as lucky were Ralph Nelles on SUPER MACHOS taking fourth and
Luis Morales on ORION completing the top five with his fifth place
overall. In the end, it was great racing, very tight for this group and
lots of fun at the the CVLP’s bar afterwards as endless stories of
“shoulda-woulda-coulda” were discussed (e.g. argued) amongst the crews!
“Next time” was the operative modus operandi for the next regatta. In
fact, the next race is November 30th- the Festival of Sail at Club de Velas
Santa Maria. For more J/24 Mexico sailing information
