Armed by the Cantabrian Daniel de la Pedraja and skippered by the Canarian Javier Padrón, Eurofrits & Aviko Newindfoods was proclaimed winner of the J80 World Championship in Baiona this Saturday.
The second place was occupied by the Galician Marnatura with Luis Bugallo from Vigo at the controls and third was the Cantabrian Solintal of Ignacio Camino.
By categories, Dorsia Covirán was the winner in the Mixed class, Team Balearia in the Women's class, the French Telesto Ecole Navale in the Youth class, Kotablue Fibra Coruña 14/18 in the Corinthian class and Mercury Avator in the Master class.
Monte Real Yacht Club de Yates put the finishing touch to the big event of the season with the awards ceremony and a fireworks display in the club's gardens this Saturday
The J80 World Championship Baiona 2023, organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates with the sponsorship of Turismo de Galicia and Galicia Calidade, ended in the Rías Baixas, with more than 400 sailors of 43 nationalities. An event that came to Galicia for the first time and in which the Cantabrian-Canarian team Eurofrits & Aviko Newindfoods won the coveted intercontinental title.
Everything pointed to the fact that the final day would once again be very complicated in terms of weather conditions. The race committee tried until the end, even going so far as to initiate the procedure for a final race on the Cies Islands race course. The wind, however, did not facilitate the competition on Saturday and the World Championship ended at four o'clock in the afternoon without being able to complete the last races of the program.
The provisional results therefore became definitive and Eurofrits & Aviko Newindfoods, which competed under the banners of the Reales Clubes Marítimo de Santander and Náutico de Gran Canaria with Javier Padrón at the helm, was definitively proclaimed J80 world champion in Baiona.
"The truth is that we are very happy with the victory. We have been working very hard all week and the result is the culmination of a week well done. The crew has worked incredibly hard, super focused on each race and when things are hard it seems that victory tastes better," said Padrón and added: "The organization has put a lot of effort on the water with a very high quality team and this has been noticed in the regatta.
Armed by Daniel de la Pedraja and with a crew formed by two Canary Islanders (Javier and Alberto Padrón), two Cantabrians (Jon Larrazabal and Lucía González) and one Galician (Eduardo Reguera), the team went from strength to strength from the first day of the World Championship, adding up a total of four partial victories and two second places in the eight races completed, thus achieving a wide advantage of 22 points over the second classified.
Behind, the intercontinental silver was awarded to the Galician boat built by José Luis Freire. The Marnatura (MRCYB), with Luis Bugallo from Vigo at the helm, started off in a discreet way and it was with the passing of the days when it began to make a comeback to definitively place itself on the second step of the podium.
"We are very happy with how the regatta went, the truth is that it was totally unexpected for us to have such a good result. José Luis Freire, `Tibu', put all his heart and soul into this magnificent project and without a doubt we are very grateful," said Bugallo.
The third position was finally occupied by the Cantabrian Solintal (RCM Santander), armed and skippered by Ignacio Camino. The team, which came to lead the generation after the dispute of the first two qualifying days, was responsible for closing a very tight podium that underwent constant changes during the competition.
In Camino's words, "we value the result very positively, because it has been a very complicated championship in terms of conditions and there has been a very high level of competitors. It has been a very open World Championship, except for the winner who has had it easier because of the results, but we are very happy in general terms because our main objective was to get on the podium".
In addition to the title in the absolute overall, the J80 World Championship was also at stake for five other categories that this Saturday proclaimed their new winners: Miguel Fernández's (RCN Coruña) Kotablue Fibra Coruña 14/18 in Corinthian, Nuria Sánchez's Dorsia Covirán in Mixed, María Bover's Team Balearia (RCN Palma) in Women, Paul Louseau's French Telesto Ecole Navale in Youth; and Jaime Piris' (RCM Santander) Cantabrian Mercury Avator in Masters.
Once the competition was over, the trophy ceremony was held in the gardens of Monte Real. The event, which was chaired by José Luis Álvarez, president of the host club, was also attended by Xosé Manuel Merelles, director of Tourism of Galicia; José Manuel Heredia, president of Galicia Calidade; Jesús Vázquez Almuiña, mayor of Baiona; Marta Fernández Tapias, vice-president of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra; Inés González Megido, head of marine and fishing of Repsol; and Alejandro Retolaza, vice-president of Monte Real.
As a final touch to the great event of the season in Galicia, sailors, skippers and owners gathered for the last time in the village of Monte Real to enjoy a fireworks display and tastings of the best Galician products, one more day by Galicia Calidade.
The World J80 Baiona 2023 was held under the organization of the Monte Real Club de Yates de Baiona with the sponsorship of Turismo de Galicia and Galicia Calidade. The competition also had the collaboration of Deporte Galego, Diputación de Pontevedra, Repsol, Concello de Baiona, Terras Gauda and Gestilar.
TOP 10 - J80 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BAIONA 2023
- EUROFRITS & AVIKO / NEWINDFOODS - Javier Padrón - RCM Santander / RCNGC - 19 points (1-24-2-1-1-1-1-11-2)
- MARNATURA - Luis Bugallo - MRCYB - 41 points (7-13-1-2-5-9-10-7)
- SOLINTAL - Ignacio Camino - RCM Santander - 43 points (4-1-6-7-4-13-18-8)
- DORSIA COVIRÁN - José Manuel Ruiz - RCR Alicante - 46 points (5-5-8-4-5-3-76-16)
- HOTEL PRINCESA YAIZA - Rayco Tabares - RCN Arrecife - 53 points (12-4-12-3-6-16-2-14)
- KOTABLUE FIBRA CORUÑA 14/18 - Miguel Fernández - RCN A Coruña - 57 points (3-6-19-12-14-2-1-19)
- FREDO LA ESTRELLA DEL NORTE - José María Torcida - RCM Santander - 67 points (9-12-4-9-2-10-28-21)
- BIOBIZZ - José Azqueta - RCM del Abra RSC - 74 points (76-14-9-8-11-5-15-13)
- NEPA SHIPPING - Alfredo González - RCN Portosín - 80 points (2-39-5-5-8-4-38-17)
- ARMEN HABITAT PL YATCHING NAUTIX - Simon Moriceau - Apcc Nantes - 83 points (10-7-11-6-7-22-41)
ABSOLUTE LEADER
EUROFRITS & AVIKO / NEWINDFOODS - Javier Padrón - RCM Santander / RCNGC
"What has made the difference has been the work of the crew, which has been constant. We have not slacked off for a single minute and on the days with little wind, which have been the most complicated, we have managed to save the regatta. And perhaps that's where we have distanced ourselves from the competitors " - Javier Padrón - Eurofrits & Aviko /Newindfoods
MIXED LEADER
DORSIA COVIRÁN - José Manuel Ruiz - RCR Alicante
"For us it was just as important the absolute as the mixed category. We believe that the mixed category is a before and after in the monotype and in sailing and we have bet on it from the first minute. We were champions of Spain being mixed and we won the absolute, and here we came with the idea of being at the top and we are very happy with the results " - Nuria Sánchez - Dorsia Covirán
CORINTHIAN LEADER
KOTABLUE FIBRA CORUÑA 14/18 - Miguel Fernández - RCN A Coruña
"The team's euphoria is enormous. The truth is that when we started this project three years ago we did not consider the Corinthian, we were going for the absolute world championship and we came with possibilities and in the end we got this. We have a beautiful and exciting project for having done it with sailors from the club, with my students. Although in the end only three students were able to come, there were 32 sailors on the boat. This award is the perfect finishing touch" - Miguel Fernández Vasco - Kotablue Fibra Coruña 14/18
WOMEN LEADER
TEAM BALEARIA -RCNP - María Bover - RCN Palma
"The first day we started a little bit regular with an out of line but we got stronger throughout the days. In strong wind we sailed very well and we are very happy with the final result, especially with the absolute result, because we competed with a fleet of an exceptional level " - Fátima Diz Barreras -Team Balearia
YOUTH LEADER
TELESTO - Ecole Navale - Paul Loiseau - CV Ecole Navale
"This was our first time in Baiona and our first J80 world championship, and we are very happy to have won the youth qualification. The club is a great host for events like this and we would like to thank all the volunteers and organizers for a great regatta."- Paul Loiseau - Ecole Navale
MASTER LEADER
MERCURY AVATOR - Jaime Piris - RCM Santander
"The experience we have on board, with all the crew members over 60 years old, is very great. We have raced many championships and this one in particular I am going to give it a grade of 10 because the truth is that the organization has been very good. The Monte Real people have worked very hard and very well and I think they can be very proud " - Jaime Piris - Mercury Avator