Welcome to the Jungle!! We got wind and a whole lot more!!!
During the weekend of December 8th through the 10th, the waters
and bars of Pingueral, a beach resort located
in the south of Chile, became the place where the chilean Lightning Class
held it’s annual National’s. With a fleet
made up chile’s best sailors like Tito, Pablo Herman, Juan Reid, and
Cristobal Perez the racing was sure to be fierce.
After a year of just sailing 470’s, Tito Gonzalez and his crew Diego
Gonzalez and Cristian Herman
(2005 World Champion crew) got on the lightning and again took the honors of
being Chile’s National Champion,
by winning all 7 races in a fleet of 10 boats. Although Tito’s superiority
was evident the racing for the rest of the
fleet was very hard and close from start to finish, extending the fight for
the runner-up position till the last race.
This honors were taken by Pablo Herman and his crew Felipe Herman and Claus
Engell, 3rd place was awarded
to Juan Eduardo Reid and his crew Cristobal Molina and Pablo Lorca.
Thanks to some incredible weather and wind conditions the 7 races were
sailed in just two days, leaving the fleet
with a whole saturday night to celebrate “Pinky Style” at the beach pub
where the awards ceremony was held.
The night was young and the party started when “Axel” Rosas shouted to the
lightning crowd...“Welcome to the Jungle”.
The lightning sailors along with 200 other friends rocked till 5:30am, in
what is sure to become one of the Lightning
Classes epic awards ceremonies.
Victor and Sebastian Lobos
Regatta Organizers
