On Thursday the 17th the program included two Leeward-Windward, with the race field settled between Punta Ballena and Gorriti Island. It was a sunshiny day with stable winds but even with this conditions the races were postponed for 45 minutes, starting at 13.45 hs with winds of 13 and 15 knots of intensity from Southeast.

At the starting line there was a big collision between “Canuto Rex” a Corum 340 skippered by Augusto Cortina, and the “Fortuna III” a Frers 60 from the Argentinean Army. The “Fortuna III” hooked the mast of the “Canuto Rex” that dismasted and without boom had to retired from the competition.

“Mercenario 4” from Luis Silva was the first yacht to tack the mark followed by  “Gaucho” and “Perla Negra”.

 “Fortuna III” who seems to be fine after the collision, had to retired before reaching the Windward with a broken spreader.

 “Basilisco II” skippered by Martín Billoch, followed by “Chino” from Sergio Armesto and “Mercenario 4” from Luis Silva were the winners on the ORC International; and on the ORC Club “Matrero” from Toribio Achaval Toribio Achaval added a new victory to his scoreboard, followed by “007” from Marcelo Rodríguez and the “MSC Tango” from Luis Lajous.

On the second race the wind blew up to 16 knots, “Fuga” from Francisco Pulit had a perfect start but could not defend its position. “Personal Patagonia 3” and “Audi” were passed, but the worst part went to the Argentinean GP26 “Grand Prix” from Jorge Cimbello that lost it keel in the middle of the race and its mast fall down. Luckily,  the whole crew came to port without suffering any hurt.

“Mercenario 4” claimed the victory of the second race, followed by “Perla Negra” and “Banco Piano Don Quixote”. On the ORC Club the traditional “Matrero” was the winner, followed by “P&Q Trading – Bicho”, and “007”.

The turn around Gorriti Island race held on Sunday the 20th was the final race of the Circuito Atlántico Sur Rolex Cup 2008 that started last Monday with the long distance race Buenos Aires- Punta del Este and included Leeward Windward courses and the Circuito Solanas.

The wind did not cooperate on this final race as it did on the others but was strong enough to spread the spinnakers over the Maldonado Bay so the spectators could enjoy the colorful view of boats sailing.

There was only one start for all the fleet; the “Zingaro” had to rehabilitate while the rest of the fleet moved slowly to the South Buoy of the Gorriti Island, with 5 knots of intensity from Southeast.


“Fortuna III” was the first yacht to raise the spinnakers followed by the Soto 45 “Funcei San Gregorio” skippered by  Kirkor Simsiroglu and the  Frers 45 “Fuga” skippered by Francisco Pulit. 

On the second half of the course, the wind raises to 7 knots, and after two hours of racing it went up to 11 knots, this intensity got stable till the end of the race.

“Perla Negra” and  “Mercenario 4” were fighting for the first place on the ORC International and even when “Mercenario 4” went 6th on this race he become the winner of the Circuito Atlántico Sur Rolex Cup on ORC International, after three partial victories and the discard of the 13th position got on the long race.  Turn around Gorriti Island’s winner was “Audi” skippered by Paulo Cosentino.


On the Orc Club, the clearest winner was Toribio de Achaval's MATRERO, a German Frers 50 built in 1970 that is the Argentinean Admiral's Cup veteran who finished the disastrous 1979 Fastnet Race where seven yachts sank and 37 persons were missing. On this edition they achieve five 1st places, one 2nd and a  3rd place which they discard. 

The Circuito Atlántico Sur Rolex Cup 2008 concluded on Sunday the 20th with a sumptuous prize giving party at the Hotel Casino Conrad in Punta del Este.

Final Score with a discard

Yacht-Skipper-Country-R1,R2,R3,R4,R5,R6,R7-Points

ORC International
1. MERCENARIO 4, Luis Silva, ARG, 13(DESC),2,3,1,1,1,6-14
2. PERLA NEGRA, Miguel Vidal, URU, 1,4,7(DESC),2,2,4,5-18
3. FORTUNA III, Gabriel Malnati, ARG, 15(DESC),1,8,8,4,2,7-30
4. CHINO, Sergio Armesto, Sergio Armesto, ARG, 7,6,2,4,8,3,9(DESC)-30
5. AUDI, Paulo M. Consentino, ARG, 3,13(DESC),4,6,12,9,1-35

ORC Club
1. TORIBIO ACHAVAL PROPIEDADES MATRERO, ARG, Toribio de Achaval, 1,1,1,1,1,2,3(DESC)-7
2. 007, Marcelo Rodriguez, ARG, 3,2,2,3,2,1,16(DESC)-13
3. BIG BANG, Omar Lauda, ARG, 2,3,3,5(DESC),5,5,1-19
4. P&Q TRADING CO. BICHO, Paola Solleveld, ARG, 11(DESC),9,5,2,3,3,4-26
5. GHOST, Aldo Unamuno, ARG, 28(DESC),5,8,4,6,4,14-41