Cascais J/70 Winter Series Commence With Strong Competition

(Cascais, Portugal)- Sixteen teams took part this past weekend in the second stage of the J/70 Cascais Winter Series- the Atlantic Cup- hosted by Clube Navale de Cascais.

Joining the growing local fleet is a strong presence of the Spanish armada, including Luis Bugallo's MARNATURA (a consistent top finisher at Worlds and European events) and Jorge Doreste, the current Spanish J/70 Champion sailing NOTICIA.

Only two races were sailed on Saturday in shifting winds. Eventually, the wind faded to 4 to 8 kts Westerly breeze. On the first race, MARNATURA was trailed by Solyd; they opened a gap over the fleet. However, they got caught on the wrong side of the course on the second upwind leg. The German team of SPARKLE/Active sailing, NOTICIA, and KUBO SELF STORAGE took advantage of the 20 degrees shift to the left and finished in that order, ahead of MARNATURA in 4th and SOLYD in 5th.

In the second race, the boats in the middle of the line got a little more pressure on the first upwind in the race to earn the right corner and sealed their leads very early in the race. Luis Perez Canal's ABRIL VERDE edged Pazo de Cea with Spanish legend "Chuny" Bermudez at the helm. Third was Miguel Oliveira's ANOTHER AFFAIR from Porto, runner-up at this year's SB20 Worlds. MARNATURA was fourth again, beating the women's team of Francisca Barro's BBDOURO and SOLYD at the finish.

On Sunday the races were cancelled while the fleet was waiting onshore for wind. One of those rare days in Cascais.

The next stop in Cascais for the J/70s is the Portuguese Nationals from the 8th to the 10th of December.