Tara Pacheco from the Canary Islands and Florian Trittel from Barcelona have shown that they know how to read both the wind and the waves of Lanzarote better than anyone else on the Canary Islands regatta course.
The Spanish duo formed by Diego Botín from Cantabria and Iago López from Galicia also lead in the 49er class. Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barceló managed to climb 7 positions, which allowed them to reach the 49er FX podium this Friday.
The conditions on the regatta course favoured the Spanish Olympic team, who demonstrated in the Canary Islands waters that they are more than ready for the Olympic Games, although with a light veil of calima so characteristic of the islands that covered the three regatta courses, making visibility difficult. But this has not been an impediment for the favourite duo formed by Tara Pacheco from Gran Canaria and Florian Trittel from Barcelona to snatch the first place from the Germans, Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer, after an intense dispute.
Tara and Florian took first place in the second leg; however, on the third lap, the Germans made a miscalculation, confusing the offset with the first mark. "The truth is that the day has been shorter, we have had 3 very good races with 10-11 knots and spectacular conditions," says Pacheco. The European Olympic pass is now in Finland with Sinem Kurtbay and Janne Jarvine in seventh place.
Even the 49ers got out of the water first, completing the three races very quickly with ideal conditions, the wind decided to calm down and blow with an intensity of between 12 and 15 knots, while the sea seems to have taken a bow to allow the 49ers to advance at full speed, with very little wave, and especially giving way to the Cantabrian Diego Botín and the Galician Iago López, who managed to do a hat-trick, finishing first in the three races. "There was an easterly wind that came in very well at Playa Blanca, perfect conditions for sailing, it was important to start and go fast, we had to go left", explains Botín. In his words, "it has been one of those few days when things go well", although the championship starts tomorrow. In this class, Ireland is the country that holds the Olympic pass with Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in third place.
In the third Olympic sailing class, the women's 49er FX class, Galician Tamara Echegoyen and Mallorcan Paula Barceló, who will represent Spain in Tokyo, have managed to climb from 16th to ninth place, an incredible feat that once again opens up the possibility of a podium. In first place are the Brazilians, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, Olympic gold medallists at Rio 2016, so they will be direct rivals of the Spaniards in Tokyo.
Among the European countries, Croatia is aiming for Tokyo with Enia Nincevic and Mihaela Zjena as number 7. "It's a very close class and that gives it passion, there is a lot of respect among the teammates and there are very powerful teams that have shown it for years, such as Brazil, England, the Netherlands or Norway, so this regatta is a good test to see what will happen in the Olympic Games", says Tamara Echegoyen. For the Galician sailor, the Canary Islands are a paradise for water sports, especially for establishing a winter base, as the conditions on the water are ideal, but also the temperature is perfect and the days are longer, as well as the treatment of the local people, it's like "being at home".
