Tilakkhana II takes Line Honours in La Larga at Sandberg PalmaVela
After nearly 30 hours of racing, Tilakkhana II was the first to cross the finish line on Sunday in La Larga, the offshore race of Sandberg PalmaVela organised by the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP), securing Line Honours in this edition after completing the course around the Balearic archipelago.
The Wallycento owned and skippered by Pascale Decaux, with Olympic champion Támara Echegoyen on board and the largest yacht in the fleet, crossed the finish line — located between the islet of El Sec and Cala Figuera — at 18:57, recording a total time of 29 hours, 52 minutes and 31 seconds for the nearly 300-nautical-mile course.
The race has been sailed in very favourable conditions from the start, even better than forecast, allowing the fleet to maintain strong speeds for much of the course. In the case of Tilakkhana II, the yacht sailed for most of the race at speeds consistently above 10–11 knots.
Liberty, with Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, remains the main rival to Tilakkhana II in IRC and is around 15 miles from the finish after rounding Cabo Salinas.
“So far we have had very good sailing conditions, with winds stronger than initially forecast, which has favoured the larger boats. They are achieving higher average speeds than expected and are set to complete the course almost four hours earlier than predicted,” said Manu Fraga, Director of the RCNP.
Behind them, the next boat expected to finish is the TP52 Aproperties Blue Carbon of Toni Guiu (RCNP), competing in ORC 0, which as of late Sunday afternoon was less than 10 miles from the finish.
The bulk of the ORC 0 and ORC 1 fleet is now to the south of Mallorca, with the leading boats passing the Porto Colom mark, and is expected to reach the finish line throughout the night after completing a course of around 230 nautical miles. The ORC 2-3 and A2 classes, sailing a slightly shorter course, are also heading back towards the Bay of Palma, with arrivals expected between the early hours and midday on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Mini 6.50 fleet — sailing the same course as ORC 0 and ORC 1 — continues to progress through the final part of the course, with Ginjol of Felip Moll (CN Ciutadella) leading the provisional standings. The fleet, racing solo, is now approaching the final miles before heading towards Palma, with the first arrivals expected from 14:00 on Monday.
“The Mini 6.50 fleet is the furthest back, but so far the forecast is holding and we expect all boats to have finished by 18:00 on Monday,” added Fraga.
The winners of the race will not be determined until the entire fleet has completed the course and the corrected times have been applied.
