- A rainy front moving through the Rías Baixas led to the cancellation of the penultimate day of racing in Sanxenxo.
- Saturday is the last day for an attack in the Europeans, and everything is open in both categories. Javier de la Gandara’s “Aida” and Michel Teweles’ “Thisbe” set off as leaders, yet everything can happen.
Following a day of non-racing due to the complicated conditions in the Ria de Pontevedra, Saturday will see the final day of the Xacobeo 6mR Europeans with all options open and the continental title still at play. Javier de la Gándara’s “Aida” in the Classics and Michel Teweles’ “Thisbe” in the Open will fight for the highest podium position of the competition with an extremely close event and everything is still to be seen.
The weather forecasts had already predicted a rainy front practically from the earliest moments of the morning until midday which as such, meant a postponement of racing. It wasn’t until around 15:00h, when a stable northerly wind allowed the 31 participating teams to set off for racing in a course just off the Island of Ons, however conditions were not stable and the Race Committee were forced to bring the day of racing to an end.
One last card
On Saturday, two teams will head out to the water in the Classics division with clear options to dispute the Xacobeo 6mR Europeans title: Javier de la Gandara’s “ Aida” (Real Club Náutico de A Coruña), current leaders of the overall leaderboard and Pedro Campos’ “Bribon 500” (Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo), defending the continental title and just one point away.
Miguel Lago’s “Alibaba II” (Monte Real Club de Yates) is also in a stable position, as is French team Ossi Paija’s “Astrée III.” Both teams are in third and fourth place, drawn even with just three points from Campos. Laureano Wizner’s “Caprice from the Club Marítimo de Canido, is in fifth place, six point from the podium.
Less intense is the fight in the Open division, however, it will all depend on what happens in the final day of the Europeans. The Swiss team from Club Nautic de Versoix, Michel Teweles’ “Thisbe”, is leading with an advantage of four points ahead of Patrick Monteiro’s Portuguese team “Seljm” (Clube Naval de Cascais), and six ahead of the third place, fellow swiss team Philippe Durr’s “Junior.”
Pedro Campos, President of the RCNS: “We have achieved something unique, that has never been seen before.”
In the final of the championship, with 31 teams and eleven nationalities, sailors from all around Europe, the United States and Canada, the President of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo, Pedro Campos, speaks with delight of his satisfaction regarding the championship and international 6mR fleet,
“People are amazed not only by the location, our service, the village, the food and all the tiny details such as the boats carrying the event branding. In fact, as a whole everything that has been done, I think actually eight out of ten things have never been done before”, he explains, adding: “Nobody had ever had the idea or the means, the infrastructure, or details such as the boats lined up sporting the flags and event branding, that it could be done here.
We are fortunate to work with our good friends at Nauta Sanxenxo, who have helped us greatly, and that has been exceptional. It is also a luxury to have practically four different racecourses, and we are basically using two of them”.
“The actual organization of the event is almost more of a protagonist than the participants in this sense. By this I mean that the true merit must be taken by Galicia, Sanxenxo, the Town Hall and the club, because in the end it is with the help of the Xacobeo and Galicia Calidade that we have been able to offer something so unique, that has never been done before”.
On Saturday the final prizegiving will see the end of the grand event in Sanxenxo. At 20:30h the Galicia Calidade Village will host the sailors, sponsors, other collaborators and authorities as part of the del Xacobeo 6mR Europeans 2021.