F18 Arg VelaFest 2024 Results

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All images Jorge Cousillas / El Ojo Náutico

F18 Arg Velafest 2024 Results

We had a great racing weekend here in Buenos Aires, some boats had to retire on breakages breezy first race Day 1 but we managed to complete 8 races total. Wind range going from +16 to 6 knots, first day shifty and second day decreasing but pretty stable direction, no waves both days.

First day we had a triple tie for the lead with Krevisky-Tigre Benitez, Volker-Menzel and Gonzalez Smith-Heuser winning at least one each.
Sunday it was all first two teams above for the lead, with at least 3 races defined as Match Race.

We also now have a former 420 crew doing pretty well, Agote-Barletta who finished 4th overall, they bought the 2015 Scorpion we brought before the Worlds here in BA 2016. Boat of course keep performing, 9yrs old platform, has a new mast though as in 2015 we assembled it with a C2 one.

We old guys did rather well, after racing the Arg Nats in Dec with a 29er rookie (that had a blast with the F18s) I went back to sail with my good friend Gonzalo Nieto, both +50 and +170kg total crew weight. Lots of fun as finally we got the Phantom going in the light stuff downwind, after some spreader tweaking.
We scored only one 3rd on paper, but there were chances for more as we reached consistently top 3 to windward on day two, then of course downwinds heavy crew in light winds tricky to maintain position, but super happy on getting the old lady up to speed!
Martin Fischer’s Phantom keeps being about the fastest F18 upwind, if not the #1.

Sail wise I gave Volker my brand new set of Landenberger DS & Jib by Felix Egner, as Pablo & Franz (top 29er local crew) was going to give it a more proper racing test than I.
It was a fast combo in the end and provided his 2018 Scorpion with more than sufficient speed to take the event leading to 2nd windward in many. Course management and several 1 to 1 fights with Agustin & Tigre defined the event with their proven 2022 Scorpion & 1D setup. This team keeps their winning streak unscathed.

Local level keep rising, I’m glad to continue sailing and looking forward to our local F18 project, I expect to be racing it post coming Southern hemi winter.

The F18 Class delivers excellent fun every single regatta, and the different equipment play around its just great fun, as in the end you can be competitive with 9yrs or even 11yrs old platforms as the 2013 Phantom I’m currently sailing. Same goes for the Infusions & C2s we have in Arg which provide good value for those wanting to join the Class.