Completed the first day of regattas of the Xacobeo 6mR Worlds in Sanxenxo. The event, which hosts 40 teams of 15 nationalities in the Pontevedra estuary, heard the starting honk for two new tests on Tuesday in which José Cusí's Bribon 500 in Classics and Dieter Schoen's Swiss Momo in Open have met placed at the head of the fight for the coveted world title.

As announced in the weather reports, the first day took place with very good wind conditions in the estuary, which allowed the Race Committee to set up a windward-leeward course in the area in front of Sanxenxo. Thus, with a southwesterly wind between 12 and 14 knots of intensity, the fleet opened the markers this Tuesday with a total of two races completed.

Bribon 500 takes the lead in Classics

In the Classics division, the first day could not have been more competitive among the top positions, as only two points separate the top three in the general classification.

In the first round, four boats dominated with total authority over the rest of the fleet, fighting until the end for a partial victory that was won by the Romanian Essentia of Catalin Trandafir. Behind, a good result for Alicia Freire's Titia, who with Mauricio Sánchez-Bella at the helm took second place, and for Louis Heckly's Frenchman Dix Août, who was third.

In the second test, however, it was three other teams that claimed the three podium positions. José Cusí's Bribon 500, which today had Ross McDonald at the controls, took the lead from the beginning and led until the end to score his first victory after sealing a fourth in the first round. The second place, meanwhile, was taken by the Finnish Astrée III of Ossi Paija, who had been seventh in the previous one, and third was the British team of Andy Postle, Nirvana, who had just released their locker with an eighth place .

Thus, with a total of five points, Bribon 500 becomes the first leader of the Xacobeo 6mR Worlds, closely followed by Essentia and Dix Août, both with seven points in second and third position respectively.

“It has been a beautiful day, we have had a very good wind, very nice and I think there have been two spectacular regattas. I think everyone will be happy to have sailed in these conditions”, began by affirming Jane Abascal (Bribon 500) at the end of the day.

“In the first we have not been very good. At the start we were quite far behind, then we recovered but we had a problem with a boat, we touched the buoy, we had to penalize ourselves and that left us behind. Then in the second test we have gone well and we have already been able to do our regatta and we have won. We have realized that everyone is doing quite well, that it will not be easy, but hey, we are going to go little by little”, concluded Abascal.

Swiss dominance in Open with Momo

The Open category, for its part, had a clear winner of the day with an almost unstoppable Momo by Dieter Schoen. The Swiss boat, which already demonstrated its potential by winning the title of the Rey Juan Carlos El Corte Inglés Master Regatta, opened its scoring with a comfortable victory in the first race and a hard-fought second place that allowed Schoen's men to become the first World Cup leaders.

Víctor Mariño, crew member of the Momo, stated after the regatta that “to be in a World Cup we have started very well. A first and a second is a dream start, without a doubt, but hey, we are going to go day by day and continue working because we have a lot to learn on this boat. It seems that the week is coming with a little lighter wind and it will be more difficult, with more unstable conditions, but our objective is to continue learning as much as possible”.

Behind, James Hilton's American Scoundrel currently occupies second position, five points behind Momo, with a seventh in the first race and a first in the second, while the provisional third place goes to the Swedish Rebecca de Johan Larsson, who manages to get on the podium with a fifth and a third scored.

Two other teams that have also started the Xacobeo 6mR Worlds fighting for the top positions are the Swiss Ginkgotoo of Jan Eckert and the Portuguese Seljm of Patrick Monteiro, who added a second and a third respectively in the first heat of the day.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the second day of regattas with the departure scheduled for 1:00 p.m.