team hot pursuit

After a weekend of sailing our chartered boat and figuring out what still needed to be fixed, we decided to take a field trip and go to visit the JBoats factory in San Isidoro, a small, peaceful residential suburb just up river from Buenos Aires about 22km north.

Hull #5469 arrives at the yard at Yacht Club Argentino

On Sunday before racing, we saw the first of five boats (hull #5469), which will be sailed by our friend Mike Ingham (Rochester, NY), arrive at the yacht club for Worlds.  Will Welles and Tim Healy (both from Newport, RI), will also sail new J/24s built by JBoats Argentina’s Roberto Authier, a J/24 sailor himself.

Up at the shop in San Isidoro, we saw fellow Seattlelite Scott Milne’s (hull #5471), and the other new boats. These boats are finely crafted, with airtight compartments, new Harken 35 winches, and no bow lights. They were shiny and fair, just getting final hardware and fittings completed, with the help of most of the the teams. Everyone was anxious to get their boats down to the yacht club in Puerto Madero  and on the water sailing.

5 brand new J/24s to be delivered @Worlds

Needless to say, Mike is having a tough time focusing on our racing, with all of the shiny, new Argie boats  here in Buenos Aires.  

In addition to finishing up the new boats, JBoats is also repairing a damaged hull from the Pre-Worlds racing and still trying to help us locate new winches.  The new Harken 35s are not in stock in Buenos Aires (should be here “any day”), and there was only one SeaWinch, the local brand. The adventure continues…