A-Class Spain, Valencia Region Championships 2018: Manuel Calavia 1st
Spain has gathered a solid fleet of A-Cats, attracting Olympic sailors and providing one of the current very best International A-Class sailors, Manolo Calavia. The level of the local fleet is getting better every year.
Below a complete report sent along pics by Antonio Ballester on the Valencia Championships held past weekend:
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Valencia Region Championship of Catamarans (5th-6th may 2018)
“Last weekend the Valencia Region Championship of Catamarans was held in Pobla Marina (Valencia-Spain), and event scheduled within the Spanish A-Class circuit.
A total of 23 A-Class enrolled in this regatta that is by now a classic on the local calendar. The Championship began on Saturday May 5th and concluded on Sunday 6th, having completed a total of 6 races: 4 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. In this edition, the Foiling and Classic fleets competed together, the classifications were separated, having participated the best of the Catalan, Galician, Andalusian, Murcian and Valencian fleets.
The weather conditions were awesome on Saturday, starting the first leg of the day with approximately 6 knots of wind and finishing the fourth race with about 12 knots. On Sunday, it was much more difficult because the wind did not exceed 7 knots all day, with descents up to 5 knots.
In the Foiling Fleet:
Already from the first legs of Saturday Manuel Calavia ESP-11 with his Exploder 2018 and Abdón Ibañez ESP-74 stood out in the classification. In the first race on Sunday Abdón arrived in first place with his DNA-F1 2017, being only one point away from Calavia (which was first in the ranking).
In the penultimate downwind of Sunday’s last race, a starboard side of Calavia, together with a hard fight in the last upwind and a no less fought downwind, made Abdón lose all possibility of beating the gold (although winning the last race of the day, Ibañez would have been together in points with Manolo).
Also in this edition, the Olympic Luis Martínez Doreste ESP-92 with his 2014-refitting DNA shone in third place behind Calavia and Ibañez and the Olympic and gold in Beijing, Antón Paz ESP-32 with his Exploder 2017, which it was in fourth position.
Behind were sailors like Santi Nieto ESP-84 with his Exploder 2017 and Toni Ballester ESP-75 in sixth position with his DNA-F1 2017 and Pepelu López ESP-52. Interesting was the participation of Kiko Espí ESP-100 with his Exploder 2018 Fiberfoam short mast, Brewin boomless sail that had brilliant moments on Saturday in the most wind pressure legs but could not finish on Sunday, punished by a rigging that apparently hurts him in the low pressure races.
In the Classics Fleet:
The Scottish Micky Todd ESP-7 once again shone in this edition obtaining a first place with his blue Scheurer after a lot of pressure from Enrique Cornejo ESP-5 Exploder 2017 with curved foils and Santi Monjo ESP-2 with his DNA-2013, who did not stop fighting until the last moment.
Rigging:
• 1º Manuel Calavia ESP-11: Exploder 2018; mast FIBERFOAM; SAIL NORTH SAILS (SATURDAY) Brewin Boomless (SUNDAY)
• 2º Abdón Ibañez ESP-74: DNA-F1 2017; mast FIBERFOAM; SAIL HAMMER
• 3º Luis Martínez Doreste ESP-92: DNA 2014 REFFITTING; mast FIBERFOAM; SAIL NORTH SAILS
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• 8º Kiko Espí ESP-100: Exploder 2018; short mast FIBERFOAM; Brewin Boomless
Complete Rankings
• Foiling Fleet & • Classics Fleet:
