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Gaastra PalmaVela at Real Club Náutico de Palma - Day 1

by RCNP 2 May 2014 12:45 BST 30 April - 4 May 2014

Gaastra PalmaVela kicked-off today. The prestigious Mediterranean regatta, organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, had two impressive fleets out on the stage of the Bay of Palma: Wally and Mini Maxi. After sailing two races "Magic Carpet Cubed" and "Magic Blue" are tied on points in their fight for gold while Niklas Zennstrom's "Rán V" is leading the Mini Maxi fleet.

Today the wind made the fleet wait on the Bay of Palma. The Race Committee had scheduled for the first start of 2014 Gaastra PalmaVela at 12h00, but finally the Wally classed kicked off an hour later. Then it was the turn for the Mini Maxi class. From then on, all the races programmed for the day were completed with a wind of around eight knots: two races in each class.

A tough head-to-head for the Wally class

The Wally fleet offered a great show on the bay during the opening day of Gaastra PalmaVela. Three boats laid their cards on the table: "Magic Carpet Cubed", "Magic Blue" and "Tango G".

In the first race of the day the "Magic Blue" crew, owned by Antonio Cacace and armed with Sergio Lottini at the helm, already showed its potential on the water and took the victory. The winner was followed by British Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' unrivalled "Magic Carpet Cubed", who sneaked into the finish line a minute and a half later. Edoardo Nardelli's "Tango G" who claimed third place and showed its options for the final podium.

Straightaway began the second race with a slightly longer race course than the first race. "Magic Carpet Cubed" and "Magic Blue" raced a tough one-to-one for almost nine miles. With only 27 seconds apart "Magic Carpet Cubed" claimed its first victory in the waters of Palma of Majorca, Spain.

"It was very exciting, it was a very nice way to start," said the owner of "Magic Carpet Cubed", Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, as soon as he arrived to shore. "There was wind, but not too much, so it was a gentle way of getting into the racing. It was very close with all the corrected times. We have probably the fastest boat in the fleet, but when you correct the times afterwards for the handicap it is very difficult for us to come first on corrected time. But one time we came second and the other time we won, so it was a lovely first day for us."

Owen-Jones, who praised the city of Palma and its bay, also unveiled the aim of his crew in this Gaastra PalmaVela: "We are very competitive people. We like winning, so our goal is to make our boat go as fast as she possibly can. You never can do that, it's an impossible idea, but that's what you try to get close to."

The first overall results of 2014 Gaastra Palmavela in the Wally class have two boats tied on points for the first position. "Magic Carpet Cubed" is the provisional leader, and "Magic Blue", second overall. The third place goes to Edoardo Nardelli, who is looking forward to keep climbing positions.

Fourth was British "Open Season", which has amongst its crew Spaniard Marc Patiño. He explained that the team is adapting to the boat as they have been sailing on her only for a few weeks. "In the first race we thought we had a really bad result, but after the corrected time was applied we finished fourth. We improved in the second race, because we managed to reduce the gap with our rivals, but we also finished forth, so we have to keep improving."

Patiño explained that the lack of wind strength wasn't an obstacle as "Open Season" creates a lot of apparent wind: "With a true wind speed of six knots we were sailing at 10 knots of speed. These boats are amazing, an absolute wonder."

Debut with a triumph for "Rán V" in Mini Maxi

There was a lot of expectation to see what would happen today in the Mini Maxi class, with the world debut of Swede Niklas Zennstrom's "Rán V". He is indeed the first leader of the class, although it wasn't easy. "Robertissima" (former "Rán"), "Jethou" and "Alegre" made ​​their point and showed they want to win the Gaastra PalmaVela.

The first race was under the control of three teams. "Rán V", "Alegre" and "Jethou" maintained a hard hand in hand, although it was "Rán V" who pulled it off in the end. Zennstrom's team finished a minute ahead of Andres Soriano's crew and over two minutes ahead of Sir Peter Ogden's team.

After the first race, the fleet heard the starting gun just after 15h00 CET. "Robertissima" was not willing to lose and claimed the victory of the second race ahead of their great rivals. The overall results in this class in Gaastra PalmaVela are red hot. "Rán V" is leading with five points, only two more than Roberto Tomasini Grinover's "Robertissima" and three points on Andrés Soriano's "Alegre", who at the same time is tied on third place with "Jethou". No doubt there is still a long way to go.

Tomorrow new classes will start at Gaastra PalmaVela

Tomorrow Friday the one designed boats -Soto 40, J80, Flying Fifteen and Dragon-, ORC, IRC and Classic Boats and Vintage will join Gaastra PalmaVela, along with the Wally and Mini Maxi classes. There will be three different race courses.

All the classes will sail windward-leeward races, except for the Classic and Vintage, IRC and ORC, which will sail a coastal race.

The first day of racing in the Gaastra PalmaVela has also launched the program of social events in the Maxi Village, located where the big boats are.

In addition to an acoustic concert by José Mª Royal and Quico Ros, there was a tasting of Café Jurado, SushiGo, Muga Blanco Fermentado in a Barrel, Cocktail Weyler and Plymouth Gin.

www.palmavela.com

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