Peru J/24 Nationals

The 13 teams sailing the Peruvean J/24 National Championship for the “Copa Jose Barreda Moller” were pretty much given a “clinic” in how to sail J/24s fast by their past champion, Luis Olcese, sailing Scaramouch. Tossing a fifth and counting five firsts amongst their scoreline in a best of nine races, the Scaramouch team demonstrated why they remain the leading Peruvian team on the world stage. Racing took place for two successive weekends off La Punta-November 30/December 1 and December 7-8. The rest of the fleet had quite a battle for the balance of the podium. In fact, four boats were vying for contention over the two weekends, including Tania Zimmerman’s Jitana, Daniel Mendoza’s Wayra, Lucas Pescherria’s Tiamat and Javier Arribas’s Hawky. Seemingly, none of the four teams could keep themselves out of trouble, either having to toss an OCS or DSQ or overcoming bad starts/tactics to try to stay in the hunt. As is often the case in such tight four-way skirmishes, the last race determines the outcome. By virtue of winning the eighth, and second to last race, Zimmerman’s Jitana held onto a slim lead for second overall over Mendoza’s Wayra. Despite an eighth in the last race (her toss race), Jitana hung on to take the silver by one point over Mendoza. Had Mendoza finished second or better in the last race, he would’ve taken the tie-breaker, that’s how close the finale was for these teams. Pescherria’s Tiamat was involved in several protests but managed to fend off Arribas’s team on Hawky to take fourth by just four points after the nine races (eight counting). Spirited racing continues in this fun-loving J/24 fleet in Peru and it was clear the teams enjoyed some of the nice sunny conditions with warm breezes during the event. For more Peru J/24 Nationals sailing information, visit http://www.j24peru.org/web/.