Bribon 500 enters the fight, Thisbe strengthens their lead in the Xacobeo

Sanxenxo, 16th September 2021. Another turnaround in the Xacobeo 6mR Europeans. Two new races on Day 3 and with the discard coming into play, the fight for the continental title is still very much open in both sailing divisions. In the Classics, "Aida" with Javier de la Gándara at the helm, today recovered their lead after a day dominated by Pedro Campos' "Bribon 500," and their two consecutive victories. In the Open division, Michel Teweles' "Thisbe" increased their advantage and moved to the top of the leaderboard.
 
The Ria de Pontevedra was once again home to the participating fleet, and with good sailing conditions, the Race Committee were able to start the competition almost on time, at 12:15h. A northerly wind of eleven knots saw the teams set off for the first of the two programmed races.
 
"Bribon 500" makes a comeback and "Aida" recovers their lead in the Classics
 
Another change in the leader board for the Classics, with the Spanish teams occupying the provisional podium and Pedro Campos' "Bribon 500" unstoppable on the racecourse. The Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo team started off strongly and were able to place themselves at the front of the fleet from the first mark, holding onto it until they crossed the finish line. Behind Campos' team, it was a tough fight for second and third place although it was finally Louis Heckly's "Dix Août" (Yacht Club de France) and the team from the Real Club Náutico de A Coruña, Javier de la Gándara's "Aida" that claimed second and third positions, respectively.
 
In the second race "Bribon 500" repeated their victory, dominating the fleet with great authority, and clocking up another first, which along with their discard, allows the RCNS boat to join the fight for the continental title.
 
Miguel Lago's "Alibaba II" (Monte Real Club de Yates) achieved a second, whilst "Aida" repeated with another third.
 
Having applied the discard to each of the participants in the fleet, with six full races sailed, it is "Aida" that is currently at the top of the leader board, recovering their first place from the beginning of the Xacobeo 6mR Europeans, with a one-point advantage over "Bribon 500," who were the protagonists of a true comeback over the course of the day, moving from fourth to second. "Alibaba II" continues in third place.
 
At the end of the day, Campos explained,
"Today has been the best day of the championship for us. We had two good starts and the boat had one more point of speed than the others, especially upwind, allowing us to reach all the marks ahead of the others, and even to gain a sizeable lead on the last leg. This has put us back in the championship, when yesterday it was quite a distant possibility."
 
Finnish team Ossi Paija's "Astrée III" in first place yesterday, have today moved into fourth.

"Thisbe" establishes their lead

In the Open division the third day of the Europeans finished with "Thisbe," skippered by Michel Teweles (Club Nautic de Versoix), establishing their first place on the leader board and Violeta Álvarez's "Stella," achieving their best performance in the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo event. The RCNS team began dominating the first race of the day and holding off the pressure from Philippe Durr's "Junior" (Club Nautique de Versoix), close to them in second. Their fellow Swiss team "Thisbe" finished in third.
 
In the second race, however, it was Teweles' team that finished ahead of Violeta Álvarez, whose team finished the race in second, followed by "Junior" in third.
 
With these results, and the possibility of discarding a fifth place they had clocked up on the first day, the Swiss team "Thisbe" strengthens their lead. They maintain a sound four-point advantage over "Seljm" from the Clube Naval de Cascais, skippered by Patrick Monteiro, who move up a position into second place ahead of "Junior" who today made their first podium position in the Xacobeo 6mR Europeans.
 
On return to the docks, their skipper, Philippe Durr, explained,
 "All the boats are extremely fast, and the racing is very close. But today we managed to get a second and a first, an excellent result."
 
On Friday, the fleet move into the penultimate day of racing of the event programme, at 12:00 h.