The weather gods provided good wind on the second day of the Six Metre European Championships 2024 Trofeo Xacobeo, but it came with lots of rain and poor visibility, making for a tricky day on the water. The Real Club Nautico de Sanxenxo’s Race Committee initially postponed ashore before taking the fleet out to the inshore course in front of the clubhouse. Although the visibility came and went, they were none the less able to run three good races for both fleets in a brisk south-westerly, races two to four of the eight race series.

Once again, the racing was incredibly tight, and while the increased wind strength benefited some, it was less to the liking of others. The fact that of the six individual races run there were six different race winners is undoubtedly a testament to the outstanding quality of the competition.

Overall Standings

In the overall standings there is a three way tie for the lead as Basil Vasiliou’s Jane Ann (1985 Pelle Petterson design) retains her lead on countback alone, and is on equal points with Rainer Muller’s Junior, a 1981 Pelle Petterson design widely regarded as one of the most successful Six Metres ever built, skippered by Loic Forestier, and Henrik Andersin’s Oiva, designed by Allan Savolainen and built by Finland’s Red Sky Yachts in 2022. Four points back and also only separated on countback are Jeremy Thorp’s Battlecry (1988 Ian Howlett) in fourth and Violeta Alvarez’ Stella (2017 Juan Kouyoumdjian) in fifth.

Junior’s Nicolas Berthoud was pleased with their performance. “I would say it went quite well with the first and the second race, and then probably a ninth or something like that, but it was a tricky wet day. It was heavily left favoured, and we managed to take our advantage, even if we had a bad start once, so ultimately it was a great day for us.”

In the Classic Division overall standings, the regatta is currently something of a two-boat race between His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain’s Bribon (1947 Arvind Laurin), helmed today by Ross Macdonald, and Ossi Paija’s Astree III (1959 Bjarne Aas). Bribon added 2, 1, 2 to her scoreline to retain a three-point lead over Astree III who scored 1, 2, 4 in today’s races. Victory in race four saw Mauricio Sanchez-Bella Carswell’s Titia (1953 David Boyd) leapfrog over Louis Heckly’s Fun (1937 Olin Stephens) for third overall, while the Classics top five is now completed by Miguel Lago’s Alibaba II, which was designed by Tore Holm in 1948 and won Olympic Bronze in 1948 and 1952.

After racing Ossi Paija summed up Astree III’s day. “Well, today it was very interesting. The first thing was to figure out was where the top mark was, because you couldn’t see it! The next thing was to see the bottom mark for the same reason. And yeah, it was pretty wet. Pretty wavy. We had some heavy rainfalls and fog. Everything that the sky can throw at you. But we had good races. We had good pace in the first one, we took victory there. The second one was really close again, but we finished second. And, unfortunately in the third one we were fourth, so we were on a little bit of a downward curve. But we had a fantastic sailing day, nevertheless and we are still in the fight. His Majesty’s Bribon is leading, but I think we are in second place, so the Championship is within reach and we’re looking forward to the coming days.”

Open Division Race Roundup

In the Open Division Oiva showed the fleet a clean pair of heels in race two. With only one season of racing under their belts this team have been looking for the boat’s sweet spot, and it certainly looked like they found it today. Second in race two was Stella, with Battlecry third, Nick and Fotis Lykiardopulo’s Aera fourth and Duclop.

In race three Junior got a great start but had a tough fight with Battlecry, which she ultimately won. Following Battlecry home in third was Stella who had outsailed Duclop and Jane Ann on the final leg. Although Duclop finished fourth on the water she was subsequently disqualified in a port starboard protest against Ginkgotoo moving Jane Ann up into fourth.

Race four for the Opens was another great tussle and this time race one winner Jane Ann found her form again to lead the fleet home from Junior with Oiva third, Jan Eckert’s Ginkgotoo fourth and Aera fifth.

Classic Division Race Roundup

Having been narrowly bested by Bribon in yesterday’s opening race, Astree III was out for revenge, and she got it in race two where she successfully held off all advances from Bribon to take her first race win of the regatta. The chasing pack had some close racing of their own with Titia ultimately crossing the line third ahead of Fun and Alibaba II.

With a crew that includes Pedro Campos, Alejandro Abascal and Ross MacDonald, the Bribon crew should never be underestimated, and they came back stronger than ever in race three with another huge battle with Astree III that she won on the line. Third place went to Alibaba II, with Catalin Trandafir’s Essential fourth and Andy Postle’s Nirvana fifth.

Race four broke the Bribon/Astree II stranglehold as Titia found the front of the fleet and managed to fend off repeat advances from Bribon. Fun took third with Astree II fourth and Javier de La Gandara Alonso’s Aida, being skippered by Francisco Botas, fifth.

After sailing the crews returned to the Real Club Nautico de Sanxenxo where the après sailing party had been moved inside to the club’s spectacular third floor main bar overlooking the race area. Equally welcome was the fact that the boiler room had been opened so everyone could dry their kit!

Four races remain to be sailed in the series which continues until Saturday 5 October.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS AFTER FOUR RACES

OPEN DIVISION

1. USA 105 – Jane Anne – Basil Visilou/Steffan Lindberg – 1, 8, 4, 1 = 14
2. SUI77 – Junior – Rainer Muller/Loic Forestier – 2, 9, 1, 2 = 14
3. FIN81 – Oiva – Henrik Andersin – 5, 1, 5, 3 = 14
4. GBR89 – Battlecry – Jeremy Thorp – 4, 3, 2, 10 = 19
5. ESP116 – Stella – Violeta Alvarez – 7,. 2, 3, 7 = 19

CLASSIC DIVISION

1. ESP 16 – Bribon – His Majesty King Juan Carlos – 1, 2, 1, 2 = 6
2. FIN80 – Astree – Ossi Paija – 2, 1, 2, 4 = 9
3. ESP72 – Titia – Mauricio Sanchez-Bella Carswell – 4, 3, 7, 1 = 15
4. FRA11 – Fun – Louis Heckly – 3, 5, 6, 3 = 17
5. ESP50 – Alibaba II – Miguel Lago Cereceda – 5, 8, 3, 7 = 23

FULL RESULTS

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