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8 July 2007, 09:11 am

Spaniards Smash J/80 Worlds in La Trinite

J/80 World Championship 2007

La Trinite, France

It first came as a surprise, but the astonishing superiority of a strong Spanish contingent at the beginning of the week turned into a close-to-complete triumph as Santander skippers Jose Maria TORCIDA SEGHERS and Ignacio CAMINO battled for the J/80 World title in La Trinite, France

The pair struggled against each other until the last and decisive race 11. TORCIDA SEGHERS won out as a beautiful yet modest World Champion with 5 wins overall.

TORCIDA SEGHERS said, 'We came here with very limited objectives knowing we would face the word's best. We've only been sailing seriously and competitively the J/80 since last October. We decided to train as a team with the entire 30 boats strong fleet gathered in Santander. All that hard work has paid off.'

Ulrich MUENKER's (GER) third place overall prevents the Spaniards from heading home with a unique grand slam in the J/80 Worlds history. For the very first time, the winner does not come from the organizing country. The class is indeed on a great stretch, with fleet growing in Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britian, the USA.... 124 J/80 entered this competition last Tuesday... who knows how many will show up from 7-13 July next year in Germany....