Late surprises in the last and best day of races in the bay of Palma

by Eva Dallo on 19 Apr 2010
In a nice breeze of from SW which increased to 12 knots, and an airplane free sky, the Hublot PalmaVela regatta held the last races of its seventh edition.

All the fleets were on the water today, with Maxis and TP 52's running their coastal races in the charlie area. In the TP52 class Artemis was the predictable winner, but Cristabella managed second, whereas Magic Carpet 2 won the also magic Wally class. The Mini Maxi class didn't provide any surprises either, and was won by Container. In the J-80, Platú 25, RI1, and RI 2 classes, Peraleja Golf, Iberdrola, Cuadernos Rubio and Ciudad de Ceuta were the winners.

In the TP52 class the victory was for Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis, thanks to her consistent performance during the two first days, where she managed to open a gap that has allowed her to remain in the first position till the end, in spite of winning no races during the last two days.

The surprise of the day was provided by John Cook's Cristabella, which won the two contests, kicking Matador out of the second place in the final classification. The Argentinians have lacked consistency throughout the regatta, and in spite of their good results on the third day, at the end they could only manage a third place. We must not forget that this is the TP 52's first race after the new rule's modifications, and that the teams are still fine tunning their boats.

Maxi Wallys and Mini Maxis have completed a 15,77 miles coastal race in the bay of Palma, with marks rounding in Sech and Illetas. Things went as predicted for the Mini Maxis, with a second place for Udo Schutz's Container at the end of the race, and a win for sir Peter Ogden's Jethou, which allowed him entering the podium in the third position. Second in the final classification was Andrés Soriano's Alegre, whereas Neville Crichton's Shockwave gave up her place in the podium, going down to the fourth place in the last moment.

The impressive Wallys run one of the most exciting regattas of the present edition. Piers Richarson's J One couldn't handle the pressure of Daniel Gallichan's Magic Carpet 2, which recovered the level of performance of the first days and won the coastal race. After applying the discard, the British Wally 95 finished first of her class. Behind was Richarson's Wally 77, who crossed the finish line third today, and third was Italy flagged Indio of Stefano Massa.

Among the boats racing in the compensated time class, International Rating 1 (RI 1), Cuadernos Rubio seized to her first position by doing a first and a second place in today's both races. It was not Aifos' best day today, and the Spanish Army's boat with Jaime Rodríguez Toubes' at the helm could only manage a seventh and a fourth place, what helped Joern Bock's Minnic up to the second position, one point ahead of Península Petroleum of John Bassadone with Iñaki Castañer at the helm, which was third.

Ciudad de Ceuta finished first in the final classification thanks to a win in the last race of the class. The boat skippered by Sergio Llorca benefited from a mistake of Vell Marí of Juan Cabrer, and allows the Spanish skipper to taste the victory for the first time since 2005, when he won his fourth and last Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre. Asier García's Modark was third after being very consistent throughout the whole regatta.

The ORC class, Russian X-35 won the final victory after also winning today's both races, ahead of 'Bruix IV' of Miguel Mercada and 'Omi II' of Francisco Llompart.

Prizes were delivered at six o'clock in the afternoon, in the facilities of the Real Club Naútico of Palma, with the presence of the major of Palma, Aina Calvo, and the president of the organizing committee of the Hublot PalmaVela, Javier Sanz.



Classification

Maxi Wally
1. Magic Carpet 2 (Gallichan), 1+1+(4)+3+2+1: 8
2. J One (Richardson), 2+(3.5)+3+1+1+3: 10
3. Indio (Massa), (4)+3.5+2+2+3+2: 12.5

Mini Maxi
1. Container (Schutz), 1+(4)+1+1+3+2: 8
2. Alegre (Soriano), 3+2+2+(4)+1+3: 11
3. Jethou (Ogden), 2+3+4+(8)+4+1: 14

TP 52
1. Artemis (Tornqvist), 1+1+1+1+2+3+2+(3): 11
2. Cristabella (Cook), 2+2+(4)+2+3+2+1+1: 13
3. Matador (Roemmers), 3+3+2+3+1+1+(3)+2: 15

J-80
1. Peraleja Golf (Martínez), 1+(3)+1+1+1+3+2+2+1: 12
2. Nextel (Camino), 4+1+3+4+4+6+4+5+(11): 31
3. ECC Viviendas, (Torcida), 2+4+10+(14)+2+1+5+1+10: 35

Platú 25
1. Iberdrola (Weiller), 2+2+2+1+1+1+3+3+(7): 15
2. Inmobiliaria Nova (Forteza), 1+1+3+4+(4)+3+2+2+1: 17
3. Ziving Badia (Momparler), 3+3+4+3+3+(5)+1+1+2: 20

RI 1
1. Cuadernos Rubio (Maldonado), 5+1+2+1+2: 11
2. Minnic (Bock), 7+2+3+3+3: 18
3. Aifos (Rodríguez Toubes), 2+6+1+7+4: 20

RI 2
1. Ciudad de Ceuta (Llorca), 2+2+2+2+1: 9
2. Vell Marí (Cabrer), 1+3+1+1+4: 10
3. Modark (García Barroso), 3+1+3+4+5: 16

ORC
1. Symfony (Viacheslav), 1+1+2+1+1: 6
2. Bruix IV (Mercadal), 3+2+1+5+4: 15
3. Omi II (Llompart), 2+3+3+4+7: 19



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