Palma Vela Charges Into The Maxi Season

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GALATEIA AND NADIR, LEADERS OF AN UNBEATABLE START FOR PALMAVELA



The best bay of Palma has welcomed the classes that today have inaugurated the tests of the 18th PalmaVela. Sun, strong wind and waves have been the ingredients of a first day that has required the best of skills. Galateia reigns among the Great Lengths and the Spanish Nadir among the ClubSwan 42.





Today, Thursday, the 18th PalmaVela began in the bay of Palma with the premiere of the first two classes to compete: IRC/IMA Maxi, with the longest boats in the fleet, and the one-design ClubSwan42. The first leaders of this 18th edition after this first day are Galateia (IRC/IMA Maxi) and Nadir (ClubSwan42).

The great lengths make their debut with a coastal regatta in which Galateia
has reigned The majesty of the great lengths has returned to the bay thanks to PalmaVela and has done so with a 28-mile (45 km) coastal regatta including a passage through Illetas and El Toro .

The Wallycento Galateiasail under the banner of the New York Yacht Club. It is a boat from 2015 of more than 30 meters in length and with more than 20 crew members on board, including renowned round-the-world sailors such as the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race Daryl Wislang, the navigator Simon Fisher and the Mallorcan Jordi Calafat, to whom his teammate Kelvin Harrap, cane for a day in the absence of the setter, has praised: “I think that in the first part Murray Jones and Jordi Calafat took a couple of roles very well and that has made the difference . This boat has always done well in strong wind conditions and today she has served us well. We managed to reach 26 knots of speed at the stern! We didn't make the best start, but as we approached the first mark the wind quickly picked up to 25-30 knots.”, he commented upon his arrival on land.



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Leopard 3 has finished in second place after almost two and a half hours of racing. Good result for Chris Sherlock's team since at the beginning of the test they had to be penalized by turning around and starting again for having started early. Complete the provisional IRC/IMA Maxi Magic Carpet 3 podium .

The only Spanish in this class is the Pelotari Project , owned by Andr?s Varela Entrecanales and winner of La Larga de PalmaVela. On this occasion they have been sixth on a day in which they expected strong wind but not so much, as recognized by the Canarian crew member Luis Doreste: "We expected strong wind, but the conditions have been a bit stronger than we anticipated. The start was spectacular because we were able to enjoy sailing close to the Maxis, although due to the difference in the size of the boat they were leaving. A good day to enjoy sailing and the bay, we hope to continue enjoying the rest of the week ."

The Spaniard Nadir leads the ClubSwan42 with two first
In a day in which the strong wind and the waves have been the protagonists, the expertise of the crews has been more decisive than ever. With 18 knots (33 km/h) of wind, at 2:00 p.m. the ClubSwan42 inaugurated their participation in this 18th PalmaVela, an intensity that has reached peaks of 30 knots (more than 55 km/h) in the second test of the day.










At the controls of Nadir is his owner Pedro Vaquer. The CVP Andratx boat has a one hundred percent Spanish crew and PalmaVela has started strongly: two regattas, two first and first overall leader of the ClubSwan42 class.

The canary Rayco Tabares, crew member of the Nadir , highlighted the spectacular nature of the day: "We have had a very nice day to sail, with quite a strong wind. It's been a good start to the season, winning both races, and we've had a lot of fun, I hope it continues like this for the remaining three days. The crew has made the perfect maneuvers, which was very important today with these wind conditions and they have given us a plus, along with the set-up of the boat. Let's see if we can continue with this dynamic even if the conditions soften ".

Daring Sister by Tom?s Dolezal (4-2) and Pez de Abril by Jos? Mar?a Meseguer (2-4) have exchanged places in the two tests of the day, finishing tied in the general with six points, the same as the British Long Echo , fourth

Tomorrow, more classes
Tomorrow, Friday, the 6th, the fleet will resume the competition starting at 1:00 p.m. The two classes that have opened today in the bay of Palma will be joined by seven more -ORC 0-1, 2, 3, 4-5, J80, Dragon and Spirit of Tradition-, brushing up against the 80 teams already in contention waiting for the ORC A2 to open their markers on Saturday.

For the time being, everything indicates that it will be a day of milder conditions than today but still with gusts that could exceed 15 knots of intensity.

The PalmaVela regatta is organized by the Real Club N?utico de Palma, with the approval of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation and the institutional sponsorship of the Government of the Balearic Islands and the Palma City Council, with the collaboration of the Balearic Sailing Federation, Club N?utic S ́Arenal and the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands.









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Wally Cento Galateia Win PalmaVela Maxi Class With A Fistful of Firsts



The Wally Cento Galateia won the IRC-IMA Maxi division at Mallorca’s big boat season opener PalmaVela with a perfect scoreline of six wins from six starts.

Victory in a final light-winds coastal race back-and-forth across the Bay of Palma maintained their perfect tally to win by eight points ahead of Andrea Recordati’s recently acquired Wally 93 Bullit. Second place today ensured the Italian flagged team finished runners-up at their first competitive outing on the boat.



In the fleet of seven Maxis, four of them 100 feet or bigger, Galateia again finished more than two minutes ahead after time correction, leading all the way around the 30 nautical miles course.

“Once again it was not easy out there. But it was good fun and challenging. The breeze was quite streaky and changeable, sometimes filling right into the Bay and then withdrawing again so sometimes we were stretching away and sometimes losing to the fleet. It was a close race all the way until Magic Carpet had an issue with their kite and then even after that it was close with Bullit. I think we had a good week, we had fun.” Palma’s Jordi Calafat, 470 Olympic gold medallist who is strategist on Galateia enthused.

Luna Rossa’s Francesco Bruni, Bullit’s tactician, confirmed the new owner and the team are delighted with their Palma debut, “We are super happy with second as we have never raced it before and so it was like racing a new boat, so to finish second is great. It is a hard boat to sail here in this class because it is slower than the big boats and so tactically it is difficult as you are always compromised by the big boats. But it is a nice boat, lighter and more agile than the others in some situations. The boat is still improving. We will make some small changes. Now we have a good feeling for how to improve the boat, like where to position the weight, improve the sail and mast set up.”





Today’s coastal race proved the decider in ORC Class 0-1 where the consistently successful DK46 Urbania which has I?aki Casta?er calling tactics sealed the class title by winning today’s long race whilst their nearest challengers, the Spanish Navy’s TP52 Aifos 500, could only make fourth. The chartered DK46 has won their class at Copa del Rey MAPFRE four years in a row with Luis Mart?nez Doreste in charge.




ORC Class 2 was won by another Real Club N?utico de Palma regular, Christian Plump and the Spanish Sailing Federation’s president Javier Sanz on the Club Swan 42 Elena Nova. With ace Palma Bay navigator Nacho Postigo guesting on the boat this week Elena Nova won two of the three races which were sailed.

“It was a little bit unlucky for our class that we only managed three races, as most had four or five, and so I think that if we had done more races then it would not have been the same for us, it would have been much more even. If there were five races then Plan B or M8 could have beaten us.” Said Postigo.




The visiting German team from Kiel YC on Immac Fram, the Italia 9.98 won both races today in ORC 4 to clinch their first ever win in the Mediterranean.

“We had sun, we had wind and we had two good races and took two bullets. We sorted out our communication issues before the start and so we are super happy to win. We could not be more happy.” Said Florian Schluender, mainsail trimmer. Second was Scott Beattie’s Andratx’s based J/97 Just the Job.





Nicol?s Gonz?lez’s Dufour 40 Lady triumphed in ORC Class 4 counting all wins in their scoreline, “The performance of the boat has been excellent, we sailed to four first and in the end it was quite comfortable. The key is that we really do have a good crew. We have been sailing together for a long time and we really wanted to win.”





A last day surge by the Pez de Abril crew of Jos? Mar?a Meseguer from Murcia gave them the Club Swan 42 title, “It’s been complete regatta in the sense that we have had all kinds of winds. And it has been really gorgeous. We have been able to improve more and more as a team and that is what has made the difference.”







Spain’s double Olympic silver medallist Natalia V?a-Dufresne and crew won the J/80 class whilst Germany’s Michael Zankel won the Dragon class on Pow Wow.

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