PalmaVela concludes a highly competitive edition of La Larga
The first chapter comes to a close. La Larga, the offshore prologue of Sandberg PalmaVela, wraps up its sixth edition this Monday after an intense and exciting race that brought together 35 teams across six classes. Following the arrival of Tilakkhana II late on Sunday afternoon, the rest of the fleet has been finishing progressively through Monday, with the final Mini 6.50 entries still nearing the finish line late in the day after more than 52 hours of racing.
Conditions were undoubtedly one of the defining factors. Over the nearly 300 nautical miles sailed by the largest yachts, the fleet encountered very favourable winds that led to a faster-than-expected start, followed by near-calm conditions during the early hours of Monday. All teams gave their all in what has become one of the benchmark offshore courses in the Mediterranean.
In IRC, Tilakkhana II’s elapsed time of 29 hours, 52 minutes and 31 seconds allowed Pascale Decaux’s team not only to finish first overall but also to secure victory in class, ahead of Luce Guida (Jean-Michel Caye) and Liberty (Carlo Pirzio), with Oisin O’Driscoll on the helm. For the Wallycento — the largest yacht in this year’s fleet and featuring Spanish Olympic champion Támara Echegoyen on board — this marked both its debut and its first victory in La Larga.
The next boat to cross the finish line was the TP52 Aproperties Blue Carbon of Toni Guiu (RCN Barcelona) at 23:43 on Sunday. In ORC 0, however, the overall win after time correction went to the Swan 56 Intrigue of Joaquín Verona, also representing the Barcelona club, which completed the 230-nautical-mile course three hours later. Third place went to the German Spirit of August Kiermaier.
The ORC 1 fleet began to arrive during the early hours, with the fastest boat, Caro of Sven Heyden, also claiming victory in the class with a time of around 37 and a half hours. It was followed by the local entry Expression of London (Rob Conn) and Vertigo (Robert in den Haak), second and third respectively.
Among the divisions racing over a slightly shorter course of just over 200 nautical miles, victory in ORC 2-3, after just over 37 hours of racing, went to Kine of Sean McCarter, which also crossed the finish line first shortly after 02:00. Second and third places were taken by two RCN Palma boats: Gudrun VIII of Diego Colón and Histolab of José Juan Torres.
In ORC A2, which also completed the 200-nautical-mile course, the battle for victory was particularly close, with just over 16 minutes separating the top two boats on corrected time. Hydra-HM Hospitales of Óscar Chaves (CN Balis) took the win, followed by the German Mia Gioia of Martin Buck, skippered by Yves de Block. Modul of Félix Comas (CNS Ponsa/CN Arenal) completed the podium.
In the Mini 6.50 fleet, making its debut in La Larga this year on the same course as ORC 0 and ORC 1, victory went to Ginjol of Felip Moll (CN Ciutadella) after a very tight final stretch with Magikarp of Tomás Ruiz (Barcelona International Sailing Center), which finished just three minutes later. The podium was completed by Loeiz of Juan Olabarria (CN Laredo). The final Mini 6.50 arrivals are expected throughout the afternoon and evening of Monday.
The prize-giving ceremony will take place on Tuesday, April 28 at 19:00 on the main terrace of the club.
