Open Villa de Madrid

Lake San Juan, Madrid, April 1-2, 2017

Report by Fernando Celdrán

This last weekend, on April 1 and 2, the 2017 Open Villa de Madrid Snipe Trophy was held in the San Juan Lake (Madrid) and organized by the Real Club Nautico de Madrid in collaboration with the Real Federacion Madrileña de Vela.

It has been a complete success of participation, with a total of 22 boats registered, and surpassing the number of boats of the year 2016. We have had representatives from other points of Spain (Santander, Motril, Valencia and Galicia) that have contributed to increase the high level of competitiveness of the event.

…

On Saturday, April 1, despite a forecast of the order of 15 knots, it began with a Northwest wind around 23 knots, which was increasing in some moments of the regatta that tested the skill of the sailors with hard wind. Three races were planned, choosing a triangle for the first two and an upwind-downwind for the third. It was a very competitive race with spectacular scenes, especially in downwind. Finally, Agustin Zabalua imposed its dominance marking a full of three first positions.

The forecast for Sunday was light wind, around 6-8 knots, North, but it blew at the end Northwest around 15-17 knots in average with gusts up to 20 knots. In this case, two races were organized upwind-downwind, one longer to San Ramón site, beyond the strait, and the second shorter, Strait-Wall. The first positions were distributed between Agustín Zabalúa and Cantabrian Joaquín Armengot, in Julio Cabrera & Cía, with scenes of great competitiveness.

Finally, the winner of the Open Villa in Madrid was the crew composed by Agustín Zabalúa and Juan Luis Granados, Valencia. Congratulations to the champions for the great level shown throughout the race especially in demanding wind conditions.

It was an excellent two days of sailing with an extraordinary atmosphere among the sailors both locals and those coming from outside, something that is common to the Snipe class, reflected in its logo “Serious Sailing Serious Fun” …… It is so important to sail to high level as having a pleasant time on land with all the other sailors and partners.

The fleet 66 of Snipe wants to thank all the participants for their great sportsmanship, RFEV president Guillermo Poyán, Real Club Nautico de Madrid president, Adrián Dupuy and Commodore Alfredo Maristany, who have helped to organize this regatta as well as all the support staff, both Judges (Mabela and Carlos) and the land crew.

We hope that the great experience will encourage all the sailors to set the Open Villa of Madrid in their calendar next year remembering the pleasure of sailing in a landscape of extraordinary beauty and in an environment, that will make them feel at home.

Final Results