Day One for Gaastra PalmaVela

The Gaastra PalmaVela 2015 is underway. Today it was Day One for 4 of the 17 classes participating: Wally, Maxi 72, TP52 and IRC.  21 of the 140 boats from 16 different nationalities, crewed by a magnificent combination of America's Cup, World and Olympic champions, offshore experts and amateur sailors, gathered today in the race course.First leaders after today' races are Jo One among the Maxis, Jethou in the Maxi 72 Class, and Grupo Clinico Dr. Luis Senìs in IRC.

The Race Committee managed to sail the two races scheduled for each class with a southerly breeze and intensity between five and 10 knots.

Wally: J One catches the big ones by surprise
The Wallycento Magic Carpet 3 and the Wally 77 J One shared the first two victories of the championship. Sir Lindsay Owen Jones’ boat, skippered by Danny Gallichan, began defending their title with a partial victory over Thomas Bscher’s Open Season and Piers Richardson’s J One. The victory in the following race allowed J One, the smallest boat in this fleet (23.5 meters), to return ashore as the first leader of the championship, followed by Claus-Peter Offen’s Y3K (4-2) and Magic Carpet 3, penalized with a sixth place on the second race of the day.

Maxi 72: Jethou, first leader
The fight for the Maxi 72 class begins with a tie at the top of the provisional leader board between Sir Peter Ogden’s Jethou (2-1) and Dieter Schon’s Momo (1-2), who have excelled in both races ahead of Alexander Shaerer’s Caol Ila R.

TP52: Interlodge leads over the newest fleet
The TP52 class began the week with high expectations about the performance of the three newly lunched boats: Azzurra, Quantum Racing and Alegre. But the first leader of the championship is the only team who doesn’t have a new boat, Interlodge, skippered by New Zealander America's Cup specialist Dean Barker. A victory and a third place allow the American team to be at the top of the leader board one point ahead of his compatriot, Dalton DeVos’ Quantum Racing (4-1), and Andres Soriano’s British Alegre (3-2).

IRC: Grupo Clínico Dr. Luis Senís in control
Grupo Clínico Dr. Luis Senís defended well its rating on the opening day for the class IRC. The Grand Soleil 46 from Castellon returned to the RCNP unbeaten on corrected time and with an advantage of four points over Andres Varela’s Bultaco (4-2) and the Russian Swan 60 Petit Flame (3-3).

Tomorrow, more than 100 boats in the water
The competition will return tomorrow at 12h00 with a new bunch of races for the classes which sailed today and with the debut of the monotypes J80, Flying Fifteen and Dragon, the ORC, Classic and Vintage. In total, more than a hundred boats are brought together to put on a great show in the bay of Palma. The disabled sailing participants (2.4, Hansa 303 individual and Hansa 303 double) will debut on Saturday.

Maxi Village
Upon returning to shore, the sailors enjoyed the cocktail organized by the IMA (International Maxi Association) in the Maxi Village and music by Pachá. Tomorrow, the social area of ​​the regatta will offer breakfast to all participants starting at 09h00.

The Gaastra PalmaVela 2015 regatta is the first scoring regatta for the official circuit in the Wally class, and is part of the IMA (International Maxi Association) 2015 calendar. It is also the Spanish Cup for disabled sailing in the classes 2.4, Hansa 303 individual and Hansa 303 double.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS (- DAY 1 ) GAASTRA PALMAVELA on the Event' website: www.palmavela.com

Media contacts Gaastra Palmavela 2015
www.palmavela.com

Alejandro Varela
+34 609 800 218
alejandro@infosailing.net

Javier Sobrino
+34 629 893 637
javier@infosailing.net

Clara Giraldo
+34 603 618 206
clara@infosailing.net

José Luis Miró
+34 606 444 861
jlmiro@rcnp.es

Rocío Gutiérrez
+34 609 118 071
roxcomunicacion@gmail.com