· In the first stage of the Monte Real Club de Yates spring regatta, the fleet competed for a coastal route of about 18 miles between Baiona and Sanxenxo
· Aceites Abril won in ORC 1, Fend la Bise won in the ORC 2-3 class and Margem do Azul III holds provisional gold in ORC 4
· The competition ends tomorrow, Sunday, with the return of the boats from Sanxenxo to Baiona, where the award ceremony for the winners will be held
A great sailing day for the first stage of the Repsol Trophy, held this afternoon in the Vigo and Pontevedra estuaries. The competition, organized by the Monte Real Club de Yates with the collaboration of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo and the Marina Nauta Sanxenxo, started on time according to the planned program.
At three in the afternoon, the regatta committee started an 18-mile coastal regatta inside the Bay of Baiona, which began with the passing of the boats by a marker mark. Once past that first buoy, the fleet headed for Carallones and La Negra, to then pass in front of the Costa de la Vela and enter the Pontevedra estuary.
The finish point was set near the Juan Carlos I marina, and Fifty by Storax Innovation, with the Portuguese Rui Ramada at the wheel, was the first to cross that finish line. Despite entering first, the Aceites Abril, owned by the brothers Jorge and Luis Pérez Canal, and champion of the Real Club Náutico de Vigo, finally won the stage in the ORC 1 class, of the big boats. The second position went to the Portuguese from Monte Real and the third to Pairo 8, from the yachtsman from Vigo, skippered by Luis Bugallo.
The regatera day was developed with perfect conditions for navigation. It was sunny, there was not much sea and the wind blew with a certain intensity, between 16 and 18 knots, with peaks of 20.
In the ORC 2-3 competition, the provisional gold is held by Fend la Bise, skippered by Jean Claude Sarrade, with a pendant from the Monte Real Club de Yates. The silver and the bronze of the stage went to the Menudeta of Víctor Carrión, of the Club Náutico Punta Lagoa; and the Bosch Service Solutions of the Club Marítimo de Canido, with Ramón Ojea at the wheel. In ORC 4, the Margem do Azul III by Frederico Lopes, from Monte Real, leads the classification.
In this thirty-ninth edition of the Spring Regatta there was also room for the J80 monotypes, which competed in real time. The podium of honor of this first stage is made up of Luna Nueva by Juan Luis Tuero, Namasté by Luis de Mira and Virazón by Miguel Lago, all from Monte Real Yacht Club. And in the Figaro class, the victory of the stage went to the Silleiro, skippered by Juan de Arana.
After the arrival of the boats in Sanxenxo, the yacht club of the town of Pontevedra, which collaborates for another year in the celebration of the trophy together with the Marina Nauta Sanxenxo, hosted the awards ceremony for the winners of the first stage. The top finishers in each of the participating classes received awards from representatives of Repsol, the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo and the Monte Real Club de Yates.
Tomorrow, Sunday, May Day, the second and last stage of the competition will be held, in which the crews will have to return to Baiona. Once the unmarking buoy located in the vicinity of the Juan Carlos I marina has been passed, the boats will begin a coastal route similar to that of the first stage. They will pass through the Islote dos Viños, located to the north of the Cíes archipelago, La Negra and Carallones, to end the tour in the bay of Baiona, in front of the Torre Tinaja.
The end of the Repsol Trophy – Spring Regatta of the Monte Real Yacht Club will be the award ceremony that will be held at the club’s facilities in Baiona at the end of the day, around five in the afternoon.
