This Saturday the Xacobeo Trophy ended with King Juan Carlos’ Bribón winning its fourth consecutive European title in the Classics division of the 6 Meter class. and the Finnish Oiva of Henrik Andersin crowning himself at the top of the Open group. To celebrate the victory, the emeritus king ate in Sanxenxo accompanied by his daughter, Infanta Elena, his great friend, Pedro Campos, and his wife, Cristina Franze, the couple that welcomes Juan Carlos I into their home when traveling to the Galician town.
© GTRESIn addition to the successful result of Bribón, in this season of the Xacobeo Trophy the king has had unforgettable family reunions. The last one was with his daughter, Infanta Elena, who arrived last Thursday and who has accompanied his father in one of the regattas aboard an auxiliary boat, along with the biographer of Juan Carlos I, Laurence Debraywith whom he showed great harmony.
© GTRESIt was not the only visit that the emeritus has received this week: on Wednesday he ate at the Real Club Náutico with his sister, the Infanta Margaret; his brother-in-law, the doctor Carlos Zurita; his nephews, Alfonso and María Zurita; and her son, little Carlos, of whom he is honorary godfather.
The harsh weather conditions of the Rías Baixas
As the reports announced, the arrival of a new storm on the Galician coast has caused Sanxenxo to dawn with rain and strong gusts of wind that reached over 30 knots during the morning. With a forecast of extreme conditions throughout the day, the regatta committee made the decision to suspend the last race that remained to be held at 10:45 am.
There were, in total, seven rounds completed of the eight scheduled. An organizational success after a week of competition in which the wind did not make things easy at all.
Fourth consecutive European title for Don Juan Carlos’ Bribón in Classics
They were leaders from the first day and they did not fail. The Bribón crew, which has had King Juan Carlos at the helm, started the Xacobeo Trophy last Monday with its first partial victory and at that time became the first leader of the table, a position it defended until the end.
© María Muiña“We always go out into the water trying to be on top and be constant. We have the advantage of being a fairly competitive boat in all wind conditions, and I think that is key in championships of many days,” explained Roi Álvarez, crew member of the Bribón.
The Cantabrian Jane Abascal, for her part, added: “We have had a quite difficult week but it has been very complete. I think the committee has been very successful in doing the regattas and taking risks when they had to take risks. We are very happy with the victory and the fact that we were able to retain the title again, because we have had several rivals that have put a lot of pressure on us from the beginning, such as Titia, Aida and, above all, Astree III.
© María MuiñaIn total, Don Juan Carlos’s crew accumulated two partial victories, three second places, a fourth and an eighth that they discarded thanks to the discard, which allowed them to become champion of the Xacobeo Trophy and of Europe in the Classics division with one point. advantage over its biggest rival, the Finnish Astree III from Ossi Paija.
Behind, the podium was closed by another of the teams that competed under the banner of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo (RCNS), Mauricio Sánchez-Bella’s Titia, a regular in the National League that is held every month in the town of Salnés .
© Europa PressHenrik Andersin’s Oiva, winner in Open
The Open division was, if possible, tighter. Three teams led the championship at some point: the American Jane Ann of Basil Vasiliou, the Swiss Junior of Muller Rainer – tied on points with the Stella of Violeta Álvarez – and the Finnish Oiva of Henrik Andersin.
After a more discreet start, Andersin’s team went from strength to strength and took the lead on Friday with a second and a third scored in the last two tests of the week. With these results and discarding a seventh place finish the previous day, Oiva gained a lead that this Saturday, after the last test was suspended due to extreme conditions, became definitive.
© Europa PressFor the Finnish team, this is its first continental title. “It’s amazing, I’ve been chasing this for 21 years. I had never won something like this, so I am very happy,” commented Andersin.
“We have a fantastic crew and I think the organization has done a good job with the bad weather, so I think the regatta has been a success. “We believe that the boat is good in any wind, it is very well balanced and it is a new boat that we have been sailing with for a year and a half and now I think we already know how it responds,” he added.
Behind them, only four points separated the second place from the seventh, which reflects the high level that the fleet has shown on the Pontevedra estuary regatta course.
The silver finally went to the British “Battlecry” by Jeremy Thorp and the bronze was awarded to the Swiss “Junior”.
© Europa PressThe awards ceremony, the final touch at the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo
With the competition now over, the RCNS will hold the closing dinner tonight at 8:00 p.m., in which the awards will be presented to the winners of the Xacobeo Trophy and new European champions of the class.
The event will be attended by King Don Juan Carlos; Infanta Doña Elena; Diego Calvo, Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Sports of the Xunta de Galicia; Nava Castro, Tourism Deputy; Telmo Martín, mayor of Sanxenxo; José Ramón Lete, General Secretary for Sports; Manuel Villaverde, president of the Royal Galician Sailing Federation; Pedro Cardona, commanding officer of the Marín Naval School; Sauro Martínez, Senior Patron of the Brotherhood; Ramón Guinarte, manager of the Mancomunidade del Salnés; and Pedro Campos, president of the RCNS, among other authorities.
Final classification
Classics: Position/Country/Ship/Skipper/Points
- ESP, Rascal, King Juan Carlos, 12 points
- FIN, Astree II, Ossi Paija, 13 points
- ESP, Titia, Mauricio Sánchez-Bella, 23 points
- ESP, Aida, Javier de la Gándara, 26 points
- FRA, Fun, Louis Heckly, 30 points
Open: Position/Country/Ship/Skipper/Points
- FIN, Oiva, Henrik Andersin, 19 points
- GBR, Battlecry, Jeremy Thorp, 24 points
- SUI, Junior, Loic Forestier, 25 points
- SUI, Momo, Dieter Schoen, 25 points
- ESP, Stella, Violeta Álvarez, 26 points
