Two more bullets for Ran V

As Magic Blue takes the lead in the Wallys after day two of Gaastra PalmaVela

Joining the Wallys and Mini Maxis on day two of Gaastra PalmaVela were the IRC, ORC, Classic and Vintage fleets plus the Soto 40, J/80, Flying Fifteen and Dragon one design classes.

At the end of the day, Magic Blue leads the Wally class while the new Rán V maintains her position at the top of the Mini Maxi fleet. Other leaders are the new B&C TP52 Phoenix in the IRC class, while Bigamist in the Soto 40s, Bribon Movistar in the J/80s, Gecko in the Flying Fifteens and Aphrodite in the Dragons.

The day began gray, overcast and with 30 knot gusts and at 10:00 local time the Race Committee hoisted the postponement flag. It was not until 12:30 hours that the boats started docking out, and it wasn't until after 15:00 that the Race Committee gave the first starting signal as a 14 knot southerly filled in.

The Wally fleet had its first start at 15:15 racing a 10 mile course. Between the WallyCentos Magic Carpet Cubed came home first, but it was her predecessor Magic Blue that claimed honours with Jean-Charles Decaux's J One completing the podium. 

After scoring a DNF in race one it was the former Hamilton, now Thomas Bscher's Open Season that came out on top in race two, beating Magic Carpet Cubed by on the water by almost two minutes. On corrected J One was second with Magic Blue added her second podium of the day to establish her in the first place overall now with a three-point lead over Magic Carpet Cubed with J One third.

In the Mini Maxis Niklas Zennström’s new Rán V is giving people something to talk about, the Judel Vrolijk 72 claiming two more bullets today
But it wasn’t easy. During the first race the Swedish-flagged yacht had a hard head-to-head with Jethou and Alegre, but Rán V ended up finishing line almost 40 seconds ahead of Andres Soriano's Alegre and Sir Peter Ogden's Jethou who crossed the finish line overlapped, with the all-black Jethou claiming second on corrected.

In race two it was closer with Rán V finishing just 17 seconds ahead of her predecessor, now Roberto Tomasini Grinover's Robertissima with Jethou third on the water and on corrected. Overall Rán V now holds a commanding six point advantage over Robertissima, with Alegre and Jethou tied a point behind.

Vasco Vascotto, tactician on Robertissima III commented: "We didn’t have a very good first race today. We broke a spinnaker, but we improved in the second race. Anyway, we are happy to be second overall because we are sailing on a new boat for our team and for the owner and skipper. We have to keep in mind that our new boat is much bigger than the last one, more than double.

About Rán V, Vascotto continued: "Rán’s main rival is Rán herself. She has an excellent crew, which has been sailing together for a long time, and a great boat too. We are delighted to sail against them and are trying to make it harder for them."

The IRC class sailed a coastal race today with the new Brazilian TP52 Phoenix of former Olympic Star sailor Eduardo de Souza coming out on top. After two and a half hours of racing on the 23 mile course, Phoenix crossed the finish line ahead of the Turkish TP52 Provezza 7 and the new Carkeek 47 Platoon.

Javier de la Plaza, crewman aboard Phoenix commented: "We are very happy to make our debut with a first place. Definitely, we couldn’t have had a better start. So far we have been able to sail for only ten days and us getting to meet each other as a crew, besides knowing the boat, which is giving us a very good feeling. It's a great opportunity to prepare ahead of our next race where we will only compete against other TP52s."

The ORC fleets sailed a coastal race around the Bay of Palma. Winners today were GC Dr. Luis Senis in ORC 0, Three Sisters in ORC 1, Pinyol Vermell in ORC 2, Yabadaba in ORC 3 and Ibe-Tres Mares in ORC 4.

In the Soto 40s, Pedro Mendoça’s Bigamist - with Alfonso Domingos as skipper - took the lead from the start in a cluttered fleet and was the first to cross the finish line. But in race two Bigamist started in last positions, with Dominique Tian's French boat Glen Ellen XXII skippered by Guillaume Berenger leading. But mid-race the conditions changed and the course was shortened. Bigamist worked her way up the fleet to snatch first place from the French boat.

In the J/80s Marc de Antonio and Sofia Bertrand’s on Bribon Movistar was unmatched taking victory in all three races, with José Carlos Frau’s Bufete Frau and Sebastian Allebrodt’s Mnemonic in second and third respectively.

Michael Clough’s British crew on Gecko give a masterclass, also winning all three races in the Flying Fifteens. Behind on the leaderboard are Vincent Harris’ Flyinghigh and David Barber’s Fine Fettle, tied on points with Irish on  Olive Oyl.

The Dragons also completed three races with Robin Hennesy’s Aphrodite leading after she too won winning all three races sailed today. Behind Robert Holthuizen’s Dragonera is hot on Aphrodite’s heels and only a point behind, while Carlos Carbajal’s Young Tiger completes the podium.

The Vintage fleet sailed a 15 mile coastal race around the Bay of Palma. Winner was Albert Kusak’s Entreprise ahead of Mikael Creach’s Moonbeam IV and Tim Liesenhpoff’s Mariga, while in the Classic fleet, Luigi Pavese’s Samurai leads after winning the coastal race ahead of Anton de Llano Balcells’ Margarita Estalindalamar and Eduardo Jardon’s Rosendo.

From Carlo Borlenghi / www.borlenghi.com

From Jesus Renedo / www.sailingstock.com