The fourth and last day of racing finally saw changes to the podium for eight out of the fourteen classes.
“Galateia”, “Stormvogel”, “Elena Nova”, “Scamp Three”, “Immac Fram”, “Just the Job”, “Ffinally”, “La Orana”, “Blaumarina I”, “Team Balearia RCNP”, “Capa”, “Seljm”, “Marigan” and “Little Thila” are the winners of the nineteenth edition of the event.
The prizegiving ceremony brought a special end to the event which has gathered over one hundred boats from 20 nationalities.
Palma (Spain), 7th May 2023
Just as the forecast predicted, the wind once again played hard to get on the Bay of Palma, but the gentle breezed did not stop the Race Committee from delivering an exciting last day of the PalmaVela. The event, organized by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, mustered 110 boats from 20 nations.
The winners of the 19th edition of PalmaVela are: “Galateia” (Maxi A), “Stormvogel” (Maxi B), “Elena Nova” (ORC 0-1), “Scamp Three” (ORC 2), “Immac Fram” (ORC 3), “Just the Job” (ORC 4-5), “Ffinally” (ORC Sportboat), “La Orana” (ORC A2 0-3), “Blaumarina I” (ORC A2 4-5), “Team Balearia RCNP” (J80), “Capa” (Dragón), “Seljm” (6 Metres), “Marigan” (Vintage) and “Little Thila” (Spirit of Tradition).
The favourites claim victory in the Maxi class
There were no surprises in the Maxi A fleet. “Galateia” with owner David M. Leuschen steering sealed their fourth bullet and these four firsts gave them a five-point margin ahead of Sir Lindsay Owen’s “Magic Carpet” in second. The bronze went to Nicolás González’s “Vera.”
Likewise, in the Maxi B class, there were no changes to the leading position and Ermanno Traverso’s “Stormvogel” took the win with a second place in the last race, ahead of Romain Mouchel’s “Atalante,” who finished first and thus second place overall on the leader board. Behind them third place went to Christian Hentschel’s “Anima II.”
Definitive day for the ORC fleet
In the largest racing yacht division, the ORC 0-1, Christian Plump and Javier Sanz’s “Elena Nova” defended their PalmaVela title tying in third place with Tomás Gasset’s “Urbania.” With this result and their win in the first race, Plum and Sanz’s Swan 42 finished with a half-point advantage over José María Meseguer’s “Pez de Abril,” who moved from fourth place into second overall. Pedro Vaquer’s “Nadir” finished in third.
In the ORC 2 class, the final day of racing led to a complete turnaround on the podium, with Maciej Gnatowski’s “Scamp Three” finishing as winners, having started out in third on the provisional podium. Second place was claimed finally by José Luis Francés’ “M8” and third to José Luis Francés’ “Modul-Laplaza Assesores.” Undoubtedly the closest competition finish was seen in this division, with all three teams finishing with four points.
In the ORC 3 class the two leading teams tied and it was resolved in favour of Kai Mares’s “Immac Fram,” after their victory in the last race ahead of Erik Tejedor’s “Viking IX,” who finished second in the general classification. They were followed by Thomas Rudewald’s “Santina” in third.
The last race in the bay for the ORC 4-5 fleet brought the discard into play, and enabled Scott Beattie’s “Just The Job” to drop a fourth place so win the class. Behind them, second place finally went to “Tres Mares” skippered by Juan Escandell, and third to Jaime Morell’s “Mestral Fast.”
In the Sportboat division, John Walker’s “Ffinally” concluded this edition of the event with two partial victories on Sunday and thus facilitated their final victory ahead of Harris’ “Flying High” and Mark Sadler’s “Abracadabra” in second and third respectively.
One of the classes with no changes to the podium positions on the last day, was the ORC A2 0-3, with victory for the team that had been in second place on Saturday, Jordi Zaragoza’s “La Orana.” Whilst in the ORC A2 4-5 class it was a triumph for Miguel Roig’s “Blaumarina I”, after their two firsts.
“Team Balearia RCNP”, “Seljm” and “Capa”, winners in the One Designs
In the Alfa area of the racecourse, the One Designs were able to finish the event with two last races for the J80s and one each for the Dragons and 6 Metres.
In the J80s, María Bover’s “Team Balearia RCNP” confirmed their great shape on Sunday with another partial victory and fourth place which they were able to discard. The local team were thus proclaimed official winners of the PalmaVela ahead of Manuel de Tomás’ “Iser” and “Dorsia Covirán”, with José Azqueta at the helm.
In the 6 Metres class Patrick Monteiro’s “Seljm” gave no options to the rest of the fleet, and once again won the first of the two races, able to discard the last race (in which they did not compete). They were followed on the podium by Dieter Schoen’s “Momo” in second, and Jan Eckert’s “Ginkgotoo” in third.
The Dragon fleet winner had begun the day in third place: Javier Schrek’s “Capa,” with two partial victories on the final day claimed the title of the 19th edition of PalmaVela. Jorge Forteza’s “Mr. Nova” finished the day in second, and Ben Kolff’s “Yeahnah” in third.
“Marigan” and “Little Thila”, winners of the Vintage and Spirit of Tradition
In the Vintage class there were no changes at the top of the podium; Tim Liesenhoff’s “Marigan” sealed the win with another first place finish, accumulating three victories in the three possible races and winning the event ahead of Nelsson Hausmann’s “Le Temps Perdu” and Miguel Rigo’s “Freda.”
The Spirit of Tradition class were not able to complete the last race underway and as such the definitive winners were Marcus Schiermann’s “Little Thila.” Second place went to Mateo Grimalt’s “Micanga.”
