Ran 2 wins coastal race

However Luna Rossa hangs on to first place in the Mini Maxi class at Palmavela

Mini Maxi Racing results:

Pos	Sail no	Yacht	Owner/skipper	Type	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot
1	ITA4599	Luna Rossa	Vittorio Volonte	J-V STP65	2	1	1	3	5	12
2	GER6065	Container	Udo Schutz	J-V STP65	1	4	4	2	3	14
3	USA45	Bella Mente	Hap Fauth	R-P IRC 68	3	3	2	5	2	15
4	GBR7236R	Ran	Niklas Zennstrom	J-V IRC 72	6	6	3	1	1	17
5	GBR6880R	Alegre	Andy Sorriano	MILLS 68	4	2	5	4	4	19

Although the forecast called for bad weather, the conditions made it possible to fire the start gun again in the 3rd day of the Hublot PalmaVela.

Today's light breeze has helped the lightest boats of each class gain some points in the coastal race, 25 miles in the Charlie-Hublot Big Bang area, with a scoring mark 17 miles after the starting line. The average wind was 10 knots at 180º.

Following her win in the second windward-leeward yesterday, Niklas Zennstrom's Ran 2 continued to show her form clinching the coastal race coming home on the water just over three minutes ahead of Hap Fauth's Bella Mente, correcting out to two minutes ahead, these two taking first and second on handicap. Udo Schutz's Container was some way behind in third while the series leader had a disappointing race to come home last. The Robert Scheidt-driven Italian boat still leads overall but her margin over second placed Container is down to two points going into the final day of racing. With five points separating first from fourth, the end result is still far from concluded.



The light breeze made it difficult for the heaviest vessels to sail. One boat to suffer was Esense, the biggest Wally in the fleet, which needs at least 10 knots to be able to make decent progress down the race course, and so ended up fourth. The 143 footer helmed by Luca Bassani started as usual on the windward end of the starting line. The scoring mark was the only opportunity for the race to become tactical, and there the right side payed.

Despite the conditions it was a close race for the four Wallies today, won by the German Y3K followed by J One, the English registered vessel owned by Tristan Kinloch, with Open Season in third place. Esense was fourth with the usual penalty of 2% on its time since the owner is not skipper on the boat. Open Season leads in the overall classification, followed by Y3K, J one and Esense.

Elsewhere, in the Maxi Cruiser class Lizard of Cornwall is mathematically winner of its class, five points ahead of Alarife Cien.

Among the Maxi Mini Cruiser Racers Wallyño of Fernando López scored a first today in the coastal race, favouring her light displacement and is now second in the overall results, three points the French yacht @robas.

In the TP52s, Alberto Roemmers' Matador is virtual winner thanks to its two first places in the each of the windward-leeward races of the day.