Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster Wetsuit Range

Palermo-Montecarlo line honours and record for Black Jack; maxi prize for Lucky

by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 22 Aug 14:16 PDT 20-25 August 2024
Palermo-Montecarlo Regatta © Circolo della Vela Sicilia / Studio Borlenghi

One of the windiest and most competitive Palermo-Montecarlo races concluded for the maxi yachts today with Remon Vos' 100ft Black Jack claiming line honours and setting a new race record. Finishing 43 minutes and 11 seconds later, after a tight race, Bryon Ehrhart's 88ft Lucky (the former Rambler 88) won the Maxi Class under IRC corrected time.

Organised by the Circolo della Vela Sicilia (CVS) in partnership with the Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) and Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS), the Palermo-Montecarlo was the concluding event of the International Maxi Association's 2023-24 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge (MMOC), which began last autumn with the Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Five maxis competed in this 19th Palermo-Montecarlo among the full fleet of 50+ that set sail on Tuesday 20 August from Mondello, just west of Sicily's capital. The boats crossed a mandatory scoring gate off Porto Cervo before continuing on past Corsica to the Montecarlo finish. While Louis Balcaen's former Maxi 72 Balthasar come home a worthy third both on the water under IRC corrected time, with the VO65 Sisi still to finish at the time of writing, all eyes were on the tight battle for the line honours between Black Jack and Lucky.

Black Jack joined the race with new owner Remon Vos stepping on board for the first time ever (Black Jack won line honours in June's Loro Piana Giraglia but Vos was not on board). She was sailing with a mix of French and Dutch plus some of previous owner Peter Harburg's Australian crew, including former skipper Mark Bradford.

Meanwhile Lucky this year has competed in the Aegean 600 but this was only the second outing for her brand new rig, following her unfortunate dismasting in last year's Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Both Black Jack and Lucky have canting keels but otherwise their designs are chalk and cheese: the shorter newer Lucky (launched in 2015 as Rambler 88), having a lineage based on VO70s with a beamy, powerful hull, while Black Jack is longer, slender and older (launched in 2005 as Alfa Romeo II) and, sporting a tiny dense tungsten bulb, is the better light wind machine. This played out in the Palermo-Montecarlo with Lucky prevailing upwind and reaching when the breeze was up and stability required while Black Jack came into her own when the wind dropped and finally swung aft in the latter stages.

With a mistral raging to the west of Sardinia, over the first night the Palermo-Montecarlo fleet erred east of rhumb line to the Porto Cervo turning mark, else risking falling into the lee of Sardinia. For the most part Lucky had the upper hand here. "Our plan was to be north of them," explained her Brazilian tactician Joca Signorini. "We knew it would be tricky. On starboard on the final approach to Sardinia, we were in a good position and then got the best out of the big left hand shift there."

Lucky crossed the Porto Cervo gate at around 1600 on Wednesday with Black Jack seven minutes astern. The two headed up Bomb Alley, between the Maddalena archipelago and the Sardinian mainland and it wasn't until they started tacking up southwest Corsica that finally Black Jack passed her rival.

Before the start the weather forecast indicated the possibility being marginal of breaking the race record of 47 hours 46 minutes and 48 seconds that Black Jack had set in 2015 (as Igor Simcic's Esimit Europa II). But as the race progressed, conditions between Corsica and Monaco improved for the leaders. They experienced 25-28 knots and a lumpy sea once through the Strait of Bonifacio, but then experienced similarly strong winds off northwest Corsica that permitted Lucky to recover miles on her rival.

Ultimately Black Jack made it through the last transition first and extended away to finish at 08:34:14 this morning, in an elapsed time of 44 hours 34 minutes 14 seconds, taking more than three hours off the record. Lucky finished at 09:18:57 but won under IRC corrected time by 46 minutes.

"What more could we ask for?!" commented a delighted Tristan le Brun, skipper of Black Jack. "This was the first race with the new owner and we put on an amazing show. He is over the moon."

Of their race with Lucky, le Brun continued: "We were hanging on to them - we knew they were going to be faster in these conditions upwind and reaching and they were for the first two thirds of the race. We knew it was all about staying close to them - we couldn't pull away because we don't have their righting moment and as soon as there is 15 knots they go like a rocket. When the wind got complex, we had our opportunity and pulled away from them... twice. They came back when the wind picked up but the second time we did it in a way that they couldn't come back..."

On board Lucky, Signorini, American owner Bryon Ehrhart and their all-star cast of America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race legends enjoyed the close competition. "It is always great when you have these big boats in long battles," said Joca Signorini. "We are very happy. The crew did a fantastic job. We managed to sail our boat very accurately and in the way we needed to - Black Jack sailed well and deserved their win. We were trying our best to get in their way but the last transition zone was difficult for us to manage in the light breeze."

After the heinous conditions Lucky experienced in July's Aegean 600, the Palermo-Montecarlo weather was comparatively sedate with the wind into the mid-20s once passing along the weather shore of Corsica.

"We are very happy," continued Signorini. "Congratulations to Bryon [Ehrhart] who put a lot of effort into getting the boat together for this season. We are all pleased with the effort we put in, setting up the boat to be competitive against Black Jack. It was very good race." Compared to their Aegean 600 set-up Lucky was fitted with her longer canting keel and lighter bulb configuration for this race.

The winner of the IMA's MMOC will be announced shortly with the winner set to receive their prize at the IMA Members' Dinner during September's Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.

Replay the 19th Palermo-Montecarlo on the yb tracker.

More information on the Palermo-Montecarlo here.

Related Articles

More perfect conditions & perfect Maxi scorelines
At Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez After two days of racing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the final event of the International Maxi Association's 2024 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge, the leaders remarkably hold perfect scorelines in all four classes. Posted on 1 Oct
Solid start for maxi favourites in Saint-Tropez
41-strong maxi fleet raced off the famous Plage de Pampelonne While early autumn conditions off the Cote d'Azur are usually varied, today Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez got under way for the 41-strong maxi fleet off the famous Plage de Pampelonne in sunshine and a moderate southwesterly, as forecast. Posted on 1 Oct
41 strong maxi fleet set
For Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez season concluder The International Maxi Association's annual inshore series will be finalised this week with Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the last of the five events in the 2024 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge (MMIC). Posted on 29 Sep
Record under threat in the Palermo-Montecarlo?
While the race is typically a light wind affair, this year it may not be so The 19th Palermo-Montecarlo yacht race sets sail from Sicily's capital tomorrow, concluding the International Maxi Association's 2023-24 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge, which started with last autumn's Rolex Middle Sea Race. Posted on 19 Aug
New World Championship for Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup
September's event will feature the very first World Championship for 'Maxi 1' Taking place out of Porto Cervo over 8-14 September as part of the main event, the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship will be open to maxi yachts with an IRC TCC of 1.700-2.200 and up to 30.51m (100ft) in length. Posted on 1 Aug
Greek first timers claim Aegean 600 Maxi victory
In the process Aiolos also receives maximum points for this event in the IMA Maxi Offshore Challenge In a race as tough as the Aegean 600 you would not expect first timers to collect much silverware - however Greece's George Procopiou, aboard his newly acquired VO70 Aiolos, defied the odds to win the race's Maxi class. Posted on 11 Jul
Lucky claims Aegean 600 monohull line honours
As MODs match race to new record MOD70s may now be flying machines, well outside of their original one design configuration, but you would not have known that, given the multiple lead changes and tightness of their racing in this year's Aegean 600. Posted on 9 Jul
Maxi fleet may cause Aegean 600 records to fall
A stronger than ever maxi yacht entry within record-sized overall fleet of 69 Rapidly becoming a classic among the world's 600 mile offshore races, the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club's Aegean 600 supported by Olympic Marine and with Rolex as official timepiece for the very first time attracted a stronger than ever maxi yacht entry. Posted on 4 Jul
Spirit of Lorina crowned top IRC maxi
Loro Piana Giraglia's offshore finale from Saint-Tropez into Genoa Jean-Pierre Barjon has already enjoyed much success with his Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina having won the International Maxi Association's Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge in 2021-22. Posted on 14 Jun
Black Jack first home in Loro Piana Giraglia
Finishing 15 minutes outside the race record After Wednesday's ultra-light start on the Golfe de Saint-Tropez to relatively benign conditions following a thunderstorm before arriving into Genoa, it was hard to believe that thanks to a big breeze sleigh-ride in between - to the Giraglia rock & beyond Posted on 13 Jun
Trinidad and Tobago - Sail Service Stay37th AC Store 2024-two-728X90 BOTTOMPredictWind - Routing 728x90 BOTTOM