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- 01/05/2013 • Regattas
Gaastra PalmaVela shoots the first gun tomorrow
Practice day and final preparations for the impressive big boats to inaugurate the Majorcan regatta tomorrow.
The big boats length – Maxi, Wally and Mini Maxi- initiate tomorrow, Thursday the 2nd, the 10th edition of the regatta Gaastra PalmaVela. “Jethou”, of Sir Peter Ogden, and the brand new launched “Magic Carpet” will defend their last year tittles.
The 16 boats beginning the competition tomorrow are divided in three classes: Maxi, Mini Maxi and Wally- and are to sail a maximum of two W/L races in the ALFA race area, located near Cap Enderrocat, on the other side of the Bay of Palma.
The rest of the classes will incorporate themselves to the regatta Gaastra PalmaVela reaching up to a total number of 140 boats from 17 different countries, with more than a 40 per cent of the competitors being foreigners.
- Debut for “Magic Carpet Cubed”
One of the attractions of this first journey for this Gaastra PalmaVela is the new “Magic Carpet Cubed”, a British WallyCento of 100-feet with the round the world Spanish sailor Pepe Ribes on board.
Launched just two weeks ago the new “Magic Carpet” (the first one was launched in 1997 and the second in 2002) is the third Wally ordered by Owen-Jones. She will make her debut in competition at Gaastra PalmaVela and will be driven by Danny Gallichan and a crew of luxury, with Pepe Ribes or Marcel van Triest, among others.
Other legendary sailors such as Brad Butterworth, winner of four America’s Cup, will be on board “Jethou”.
The Mini Maxi “Stig” also carries Spanish ocean sailors such as Antonio Cuervas-Mons, Pablo Arrarte and Javier de la Plaza, together with Íñigo Losada.
Losada said after training that "today has been a great sailing day out there in the bay of Palma, ideal for our last training day. We feel the fleet to be very compact, this will have to make us sail better and due as less errors as possible.”
Another international Spanish sailor, Nacho Postigo, will sail on board the British Wally “Open Season”, together with the local sailors, Marc Patiño, Rodrigo Sanz and Pedro Mas.
Marc Patiño is confident in winning the Gaastra PalmaVela in the Wally class: “It all depends on how the new `Magic Carpet Cubed` will behave out there on the water. It seems to be pretty fast in reaches.”
Patiño, who has now been sailing for five years with the owner of “Open Season”, Thomas Bscher, points out that their crew is a very well trained one as they have been sailing together in most of the Wally circuit events. “It looks like we will enjoy very nice sailing days with our typical ‘Embat’ wind. I am sure we will all enjoy it out there.”
- Practice Day in the bay today
Some teams decided to catch up with some training sessions just before the first day’s race tomorrow, of this Gaastra PalmaVela, enjoying the 12 beautiful knots of wind in the race area.
The Soto 40 also went out for some training sessions due to the good wind conditions, although their competition only starts on Friday. They will also enjoy another day of official practice day, tomorrow Thursday.
- First start of the competition: tomorrow at 10.00 GMT
This tenth edition of the Gaastra PalmaVela opens the competition for the big boats. The first start is scheduled at 10.00 GMT -12:00 local time- and expecting the fleet to back on dock at about 13.00 GMT.
The 16 boats beginning the competition tomorrow are divided in three classes: Maxi, Mini Maxi and Wally- and are to sail a maximum of two W/L races in the ALFA race area, located near Cap Enderrocat, on the other side of the Bay of Palma.
The rest of the classes will incorporate themselves to the regatta Gaastra PalmaVela reaching up to a total number of 140 boats from 17 different countries, with more than a 40 per cent of the competitors being foreigners.
- Debut for “Magic Carpet Cubed”
One of the attractions of this first journey for this Gaastra PalmaVela is the new “Magic Carpet Cubed”, a British WallyCento of 100-feet with the round the world Spanish sailor Pepe Ribes on board.
Launched just two weeks ago the new “Magic Carpet” (the first one was launched in 1997 and the second in 2002) is the third Wally ordered by Owen-Jones. She will make her debut in competition at Gaastra PalmaVela and will be driven by Danny Gallichan and a crew of luxury, with Pepe Ribes or Marcel van Triest, among others.
Other legendary sailors such as Brad Butterworth, winner of four America’s Cup, will be on board “Jethou”.
The Mini Maxi “Stig” also carries Spanish ocean sailors such as Antonio Cuervas-Mons, Pablo Arrarte and Javier de la Plaza, together with Íñigo Losada.
Losada said after training that "today has been a great sailing day out there in the bay of Palma, ideal for our last training day. We feel the fleet to be very compact, this will have to make us sail better and due as less errors as possible.”
Another international Spanish sailor, Nacho Postigo, will sail on board the British Wally “Open Season”, together with the local sailors, Marc Patiño, Rodrigo Sanz and Pedro Mas.
Marc Patiño is confident in winning the Gaastra PalmaVela in the Wally class: “It all depends on how the new `Magic Carpet Cubed` will behave out there on the water. It seems to be pretty fast in reaches.”
Patiño, who has now been sailing for five years with the owner of “Open Season”, Thomas Bscher, points out that their crew is a very well trained one as they have been sailing together in most of the Wally circuit events. “It looks like we will enjoy very nice sailing days with our typical ‘Embat’ wind. I am sure we will all enjoy it out there.”
- Practice Day in the bay today
Some teams decided to catch up with some training sessions just before the first day’s race tomorrow, of this Gaastra PalmaVela, enjoying the 12 beautiful knots of wind in the race area.
The Soto 40 also went out for some training sessions due to the good wind conditions, although their competition only starts on Friday. They will also enjoy another day of official practice day, tomorrow Thursday.
- First start of the competition: tomorrow at 10.00 GMT
This tenth edition of the Gaastra PalmaVela opens the competition for the big boats. The first start is scheduled at 10.00 GMT -12:00 local time- and expecting the fleet to back on dock at about 13.00 GMT.
