Summer had well and truly arrived in the Mediterranean and the 2 days of training and 2 days of racing were held in temperatures around the mid. to high 20’s degrees without a sign of a cloud.
The club at Arenys de Mar put on a fantastic event and a huge thank you must go to Lorenzo Brualla from the local fleet for the effort he put in and to the clubs Race Officer Magali Colomer for her excellent race management, to Aina Gelpi for her equally efficient mark laying and to Enric Rosselló, commodore of the club for laying on a great regatta.
Boats arrived from local clubs around Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca but also from as far afield as Malaga (1000km) and Switzerland (1200km). Philipp was a surprise but most welcome arrival and I hope he has an enjoyable holiday making absolutely no plans at all…
Racing was held 1km off the marina and proved to be a close event throughout, with Justo Martinez taking the win from Joan Rosello. For me, the great part of coming to this Spanish event, apart from the weather and meeting old friends and new, was that the sailors were all keen to improve whatever their standards and it’s always great to see the classes friendly helpful ethos wherever I go!
The first couple of days were spent as a coaching session and it also gave me the opportunity to discuss with Justo Martinez, the Spanish class representative, the initial details of planning for the 2017 Palma World Championships. Watch this space for more information!
Photos & report : Paul Manning
