Gaastra PalmaVela 2016, Day 3: Reigning in the Rain

The Wally class’s coastal race saw today breezes between 3 and 13 knots for their tour of the Bay of Palma. The wind increased and shifted to favour the smaller, slower rated boats. Lyra, the Wally 77 with Andy Horton as tactician and Jules Salter navigating, won today and leads overall by two points.
The Dutch J Class Lionheart’s monopoly of race wins in the Maxi class remains unchecked while Quantum Racing now has a lead of seven points in the TP52.

For the TP52s consistency over the two windward-leeward races was especially hard to achieve today. And in the Swan 45 class Christian Plump’s Elena Nova scored a 1,2 today to lead the class by two points over German compatriots Early Bird.

Wally: Not a Day for the Big Boys
The decisive stages for the Wally class on their 24 miles coastal course today was towards the end. The fitful breeze dropped and rose making it too hard for Open Season and Magic Carpet 3 to get away and save their time on the 77s and 80s. With the discard coming into effect today, the race win for Lyra takes them two points clear at the top of the leaderboard, while J One and Magic Carpet 3 share the same aggregate of nine points. The Wally class return to the windward-leeward tracks for Sunday’s decider.

Ian Walker, tactician on Magic Carpet 3, had mixed feelings about their day of racing which yielded only their discarded sixth. "It was another small boat race where the wind built the beat turned into a reach. All the big boats were at the back but we had a really good race against Open Season. We sailed really well today, we had a good start and very good crew work. We had no chance of winning. But we are pleased to beat Open Season. Effectively this made us all count yesterday’s race which is good for us against Open Season.”

Maxi: Lionheart still unbeaten
The coastal course saw Lionheart cross the finish line 16 minutes behind George David’s Rambler 88  but the J Class – which has Bowue Bekking as tactician - finishes more than 33 minutes clear on corrected time and looks certain to win the class, presently discarding a ‘spare’ first.

Bekking explains why they have chosen Gaastra Palma Vela as a training event as the J Class work towards their showcase regatta at the America’s Cup in Bermuda next year. “We are really just sailing our own race. Today Rambler were a bit unlucky because when the breeze is building then the more time you are sailing the more the time is running in our favour. For us this just about practicing the crew manoeuvres and getting around the track in one piece. There is so much coordination sailing with 30 people. This year we sail at Sardinia and Saint Tropez. There was a choice of doing this or the Superyacht Cup but here we sail up and downs (windward-leewards) and  there is no 40 metre rule (Superyacht rule imposes a 40 metre exclusion zone from other boats) so this is normal racing and a good test event. Of course for all the Js Bermuda next year is the holy grail, what is at the back of our minds the whole time. Every race is important.” 

TP52: A cricket score day but Quantum Racing increase their lead.
Five races have now been completed for the TP52 Class and there have been four different race winners. Only the regatta leaders Quantum Racing, with Ed Baird steering and Terry Hutchinson calling tactics, have now won twice. They won the first race today but then dropped to a sixth – their worst result so for – in the second race. Even so they, along with their Quantum powered training and tuning partners Platoon, were top scoring boats today with their seven points aggregate. Azzurra – 52 SUPER SERIES champions and winners here last year – have yet to get a winning gun on the Bay of Palma this week, but posted a pair of consistent fourth places today. But the sixth and their win in Race 5 promotes Harm Muller-Spreer’s Platoon to second overall ahead of Azzurra.

Strategist Jordi Calafat, a Palma ‘local’ who has just joined the Platoon team this season comments: “We sail quite a lot in winter in Palma in this breeze but I suppose not as cloudy. Yesterday it was especially difficult with the SE (seabreeze) trying to push in. By May we expect sunshine and sea breeze! But it is good to have this training.”

“ We did not expect to be second at this stage. We never talked about what we expected as a result, but we are happy to have good speed. To be honest we were expecting to have more work to do with the sails, but I think we have a good platform and if we race well now then we can get in front, especially upwind with good breeze.

One Designs, Elena Nova lead the Swan 45s
Racing remains close going into the final day for the Swan 45s where an all German showdown seems to be on the cards. Christian Plump’s crew on Elena Nova scored a 1,2 today – chasing down an important gain on the last round of Race 5 to ensure they lead Hendrik Brandis’ Early Bird by two points. Trimmer Stefan Matschuck promises the Elena Nova team will change nothing for the final day:

“We will just keep doing what we are doing.”

“At the moment we are leading class. We had a second and first today. Now after four races we have a little lead. We learned a lot these last couple of years but did not really expect to be competing so well with all the good teams here. I think we have a good crew and have learned a lot about the boat. We have improved our rig tune and sails.”

In the J80s Javier Chacartegui Cirerol’s HM Hotels has won four of six races and leads by two points. In the Dragons there is seemingly no stopping Javier Scherk’s Gunter which has five race wins and in the Flying 15s David Barber leads on Fine Fettle but there is only three points between the top four boats.

The Singular Kitchen ORC: The Doctor Calls
The Singular Kitchen ORC fleets were divided between a coastal race of nearly 20 miles Classes 0 and 1, and two windward-leeward races for Classes 2 and 3-4. In the Coastal Race Clinic Dr. Luis Senís Group won the race and is the new leader of Group 0; Fyord won and the new leader of Group 1, heading a three-way tie for second place. Vila Mall is at the top of Group 2 after scoring a fourth and a win in the two windward leewards, and Sirpy leads 3-4 due to their two wins today.

Gaastra Palma Vela concludes Sunday with deciding windward-leeward races for all main classes. The starts are scheduled from 1200hrs CET.

Media - Gaastra Palmavela 2016
www.palmavela.com

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

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

Andi Robertson
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(English texts)

Helena Paz
+34 659 293 291
helena@infosailing.net

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