Gaastra PalmaVela 2016, Day Two:Opportunity knocks louder for some

As seven more classes joined the fray on the second day of racing at the 13th edition of Gaastra PalmaVela, the usually reliable Bay of Palma winds were not at their most cooperative. The early breeze died away quite spectacularly during the afternoon, shifting in direction and so making it particularly difficult to hold on to a hard won lead.

For the 11 strong Wally class on their 28 miles Coastal Course that meant an opportunity for the chasing pack to close up to the faster rated big boats. Jean Charles Decaux’s J One – winners here in 2013 - took their chance when their last beat to the finish became a fetch and seized the race win. In the Maxi class Lionheart had to come back from being called premature starters but still went on to win against Rambler 88. The J Class team have three wins now.

The shifting, dying breeze meant only one windward-leeward race could be finished in the TP52 Class. Niklas Zennström’s Rán Racing triumphed but Quantum Racing lead the nine boat class comfortably.

Wally: J One Win, Magic Carpet 3 step up
Jean Charles Decaux’s GBR flagged J One set themselves into the best position for the key wind change of the day and were able to close up enough on the boats in front to win by just 21 seconds in the 11 boat fleet. As the wind died and moved right big time, what should have been a final beat became a fetch direct to the line.

The race win is a boost for the J One crew which has Jens Christensen as tactician and Mike Broughton navigating. But as the smaller boats were handed a late benefit, so this proved to be beneficial for Lindsay Owen Jones’ Wally Cento Magic Carpet 3. Their fourth today with Open Season in seventh and Magic Blue in eighth means Magic Carpet 3, which has Volvo Ocean Race winner Ian Walker as tactician, now lead overall by just half a point from IMA President Thomas Bscher’s Open Season.

“The wind was dropping and going right.” Christensen recalled, “ So the question was do you chase the breeze or go right to the finish line? We found the perfect spot. The other guys gave us the opportunity and we took it.”

Walker commented: “: “It worked out well for us because although we did not win we did end up with a couple of boats between us and Open Season and Magic Blue and that is good for our points. It was hard for us because the wind died and shifted to change the last leg from a beat for us to a reach for the smaller boats. And so J One came in to win. But we sailed a nice, tidy race.
It is quite hard for us because Open Season are quicker but if we try to match race them then we hold us both back and that is not good against the other boats.”

Maxi: Lionheart have to beat a little faster!
Lionheart, the Dutch flagged J Class was called over the start line as they lined up for their coastal race and had to turn back and re-start, a time consuming and frustrating process for the 43.4 metres, 182 tons boat. But they proved their crew work slick and their approach was as tenacious as ever, despite the fact they have only two rivals, and by the finish had eked out a corrected time margin of nearly seven minutes on George David’s Rambler 88. Lionheart has three wins from three starts.

Bouwe Bekking, Lionheart’s tactician explained:
“ We thought we had a good start, but the Race Committee gave an individual recall and we decided to come back. We still have to check the numbers, but we think we lost just over one minute. From that point we sailed quite well, knowing there was a transition coming. We were a little bit lucky, because in the last bit we had a reach, while Rambler sailed a beat. I would say that is where we won the race. But this is sailing: sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you are not.”

TP52: Rán return from rusty opening day to win Race 3
After sitting out much of the 52 SUPER SERIES season last season Niklas Zennström’s crew had a less than stellar return to the white heat of TP52 racing on Thursday when they opened their 2016 account with a 5,7 but today they started better, unfolded their game plan as they wanted and won the only race of the day to elevate themselves to fourth overall. Quantum Racing finished second, 1,2,2 from the three races, to lead by a clear six points from Azzurra. Platoon, which now has Spain’s 1992 Olympic gold medallist Jordi Calafat as strategist backing up Marcus Wieser, lies third.

A second race ran to the second round before it was abandoned because of the big windshift.

Rán Racing owener-driver Zennström said: “It was good. Our first racing day was a bit rusty yesterday, but today we did exactly what we said in the debrief last night. We wanted to be a bit more aggressive in the start, it is always better to be the pin end boat rather than second one up and that is what we did. We were more assertive.”

“The fleet here is great, it is all very even and good. We feel well prepared for the season ahead and all our crew manoeuvres were good. We need to just get some more racing under our belts. This is a tune up regatta and so we want to come out of it having learned and be well set up for the 52 SUPER SERIES.”

One Designs: Swan 45, J80, Dragon, Flying 15
The first day of racing as a class at Gaastra Palma Vela for the Swan 45 fleet proved especially tight with just 26 seconds separating the top three boats in the first race, Christian Plump’s Elena Nova taking first blood ahead of Hendrik Brandis’ Early Bird. The J80 class sailed three races and Javier Chacartegui’s HM Hotels checked in with 1,1,2 to lead overall. In the Dragon class the overall leader is the unbeaten Gunter of Javier Scherk. And in the Flying 15 Class Patrick Harris on Flying High leads.
IRC and The Singular Kitchen ORC

Jaume Binimelis’ Petrouchka won The Singular Kitchen ORC Class 0 by just 19 seconds, Emergencies Setmil of Rafael Izquierdo Tellez won Class 1, Class 2 was won by Vila Centro Comercial of Felix Coma and Class 3-4 saw Jaime Cabot Llompart winning on Inblau.

The IRC Class fleet have now sailed three races and Reudi Hebler’s Music, the Baltic 50 are now clear leaders having won today.

Tomorrow is the third day of racing with the first start due at 1200hrs CET.

Media - Gaastra Palmavela 2016
www.palmavela.com

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