Over the last three years, Chile’s development of the J/70 in South America is 27 boats. And with the advent of a South American builder in Argentina, the fleet expects to grow significantly larger. The 2017 Chilean J/70 Championship, which took place from February 10-12, was sailed on Lago Panguipulli hosted by Club Nautico Panguipulli, supported by Nicolás Ibañez and sponsored by Santander Bank, Volvo Chile, Windmade and Harken. The fleet of 14 boats was treated to fantastic weather all weekend. On Friday and Saturday, the classic southwest sea breeze blew in with 10-14 knot winds, with the fleet taking advantage of windshifts that often exceeded 20 degrees. Two races were completed on Friday, and four races were sailed on Saturday. Sailing on Sunday was limited to just one race because the 6-10 knot sea breeze didn’t fill in until 4:30 pm. What makes setting the race course especially challenging in the shifty breezes is the fact that the windward marks are often set in 300 to 500 feet of water while the starting line and leeward gates are set in nearly 2,000 feet of water. Over the seven-race series (with one throw-out), the teams had to be sharp with their tactics and boat-speed, making constant gear changes in the breeze that saw significant fluctuations in strength and direction. In the end, it was the team of SUR II, skippered by Sebastin Halperm and crewed by the Despontin Brothers and Nacho Giamona who won the championship with 16 points total. Finishing in second place was the 2016 Chilean Champion, Per Von Appen’s BLACK SAILS with 19 points. Third place was determined by a tie-breaker on 21 points, with Carlos Vergara’s SENSEI taking the bronze over Pablo Amunategui’s BLACK JACK. Rounding out the top five was Matias Seguel’s VOLVO with 22 points. For more Chile J/70 fleet information, please visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/J70Chile.