High in the Argentinean side of the Andes along its western borders their lies a simply spectacular lake set into the foothills of the Andes Mountain range. In winter (the northern hemisphere summer) many Olympic ski teams from around the world head south to the famous town of Bariloche and places nearby to continue their year-round downhill ski-training programs. While Argentinean sailors can often be found on the slopes themselves, they look forward to their spring-time sailing on simply spectacular lakes at the base of the Andes Mountains in quaint mountain village towns like Cordoba’s Lago San Roque or San Carlos de Bariloche’s Lago Nahuel Huapi. It’s a bit like the South American version of Italy’s famous Lago di Garda in Italy’s northern region bordering the southern reaches of the Austrian/Swiss/Italian Alps. Recently, the J/24 fleet in Cordoba held their Spring Cup and had a solid turnout of sixteen boats to experience the rather chilly waters, amazing winds and spectacular vistas of Lago San Roque–at least that’s what the local Chamber of Commerce usually predicts for this time of year. On the first weekend of racing the fleet was confronted with not too much wind. In fact, it was uncharacteristically light for this time of year when the fronts are still raging around the South Pole and often the northern fingers hit the Andes and produce some monstrous winds. Nevertheless, the RC managed to run three races with much effort, despite the wind at times blowing in from the Northeast, dying and then returning back again from the East. The first race went to the ONLINE Team sailed by Adrian Bongioanni at the helm with his brother Saul on the sheets. Second went to CALEUCHE sailed by Matías Arrambide, Gringo Betendorf and Pedrito Lozada. Third went to Team CAMBURY skippered by Alvaro Abate. In the second race, SAMA skippered by Frank Pesci, Mariana Buteler in the bow, Ezekiel Despontin in sheets and Carlos took the lead from the start to cross the line first! They were followed closely by J-MAC sailed by Spoceti Gabriel, his son Paul, Adrian Berelejis on the sheets and Marcelo Romero at the helm. The third and final race of the regatta went to ONLINE in first, with SAMA in second. At the end, ONLINE’s 1-3-1 for 5 pts total meant the Bongioanni brothers were crowned Spring Cup Champions in Cordoba! Second was Team SAMA with a 5-1-2 for 8 pts for Frank Pesci and crew. Rounding out the podium ws J-MAC’s team led by Spoceti Gabriel with a 7-2-6 for 15 pts. The balance of the top five was CALEUCHE winning a tie-breaker with a 2-5-10 for 17 pts over CLICK with a 6-3-8 for 17 pts. http://j24arg.blogspot.com/
International Class Association
