F18 Argentina: San Isidro Labrador 2012 for Mehl-Benitez

by Editor · Published May 2, 2012 · Updated May 24, 2019

All Photos by Matías Capizzano capizzano.com:
1st Mehl-Benitez / C2
2nd Roger-Terrab / C2
3rd Blando-Aragones / Wildcat
Full results: cnsi.org.ar

4 days of intense racing. 12 regattas held in almost every condition. At the same time the Eurocat was been held we were racing ourselves at the San Isidro Labrador 2012 organized by the CNSI. It was almost a Worlds schedule event, that began on Saturday and ended yesterday.

Sergio Mehl and Juan Martín Benitez took the top spot followed by Ian Rodger-Gastón Terrab, both crews on AHPC C2s. Third were Esteban Blando-Nico Aragonés on a Wildcat.
A nice thing to remark is that the top 3 crews (Benitez,Terrab,Aragonés) are ex or current 29er sailors.

Check the results table, quite competitive and even, defined only on the last race.
We had a low start, getting better but not consistent enough, we even match race Sergio for a bullet, that we lost only on the final meters and yesterday we broke the bowsprit on a spectra failure, on +14 knots while doing really well , as we were 4th at the time of the final downwind leg, I decided to end H16 like style, managing to save some points, but we couldn´t race the last one. We went from 7th to 9th on the final day. (don´t you ever change those wires for spectra/dyneema)

A pity cause my crew (Photo left) and MKII owner, Esteban Daneri (54) was hurt on the shoulder from the week effort, but nevertheless he put more guts and he was even getting better with the mainsheet on higher winds.
High respect again for Esteban for his work with only one year sailing F18.

It was pure Formula racing, with races defined by crews and all brands got their bullets. Also nice to see that longboards are not that defining although it may have some advantage in low-midrange, it was not that evident as both C2 won on light-medium conditions, and all the MKII had issues touching the bottom on Sunday! Our MKII is a machine, and really sensitive to setups.

Sergio’s C2 is a 2010 version, previously owned by Bundy, a truly stock and ‘spartan’ or quite simple setup without too much tuning whatsoever and standard lenght daggers as Ian’s C2 and Blando’s Wildcat (with a great comeback from 5-6th to 3rd overall on the final day.)
Both C2s were literally flying with a hidden 6th gear. Credits to Sergio, Ian and their crews.

So although many whiners cry about “development” and “tuning” this class is still defined by the sailors as proven once more here in BA and at the Eurocat… Backes? well I can give him my 2005 Racecat and he will win the same.
I surely whine about gral elevated costs, but that is beyond development and/or tuning and we working on the background to provide a good Open solution in the future. As pointed at the Open Project post and confirmed here again by the C2s peformance, you don´t need mandatory expensive longboards, you need long training hours. All current latest versions of the major brands offer a top competitive alternative.

Great racing and perfect conditions most of the time. Really a pleasure to be involved in this excellent Class. Although brand new boats are some how expensive right now, you can get really good used options in the market.

LA watch out that the Argie fleet is training hard and it will show: Check Argies Progress at past Worlds:
Cruz Gonzalez Smith record:
2008: +90
2009: 50
2010: 23
2011: 15
Do I need to point he was 5th this week? So I think at LA we can get an overall top ten, but watch out with Cruz, he is a Worlds veteran by now, and racing/starting in big fleets is a whole different game, and he will be the top bid for that spot for sure.