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(Palma Mallorca, Spain)- About 130 boats filled the bay to sail PalmaVela off the fabulous island of Palma Mallorca. Unique for this year’s event was the introduction of two youth sailing teams that were participating in the J/80 class. The host club, Real Club Nautica Palma, and fleet sponsors provided two J/80s for their RCNP Youth Sailing program. The teams were coached by the club’s sailing director.
On the first day of sailing, the wind was slow to settle down, but it allowed sailing for all classes. The fleet was blessed with nice sailing conditions all day long, with sunny skies and nice onshore breezes. In the J/80s, the initial leader after posting a 3-1-1 tally was the local youth crew on OPERA SEASON, coached by Pedro Marí.
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The J/80 OPERA SEASON was provided by club partner Thomas Bscher, owner of the Wally 100 "Open Season" and the other J/80 was provided by RCNP partner Martín Aizcorbe; both gentlemen were thrilled to help with the training of young talents within RCNP on one-design offshore keelboats.
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Manu Fraga, sporting director of the Real Club Nautico de Palma, explains that the aim of both projects is to bring the offshore keelboat racing to the young sailors of the team, so that they know what it is like to sail aboard larger boats where, as a minimum, they are required to have four crew members.
"Although it is all still the same sport of sailing, there are dramatically different experiences and it is important the club offers these opportunities to our youth sailors! We are fortunate to have two generous supporters, Thomas Bscher and Martin Aizcorbe, to provide us their J/80 class sailboats," explains Mr Fraga.
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The second day of competition provided excellent conditions that allowed the fleet to complete the planned sailing schedule for all fleets. In the J/80 fleet, the day’s sailing produced a new leader in the form of the CODE ZERO team; they had a perfect day of 1-1-1! Notably, in ORC 2 Class, Scott Beattie’s J/97E was easily leading their class after two days of racing.
The last day of competition of at PalmaVela was intense and even dramatic, with victories (and defeats) decided in-extremis in several classes. Five of them were played on a single card in a coastal format, while the rest took the time to play two or even three windward-leeward types. In the ORC 2 Class, it was the J/97E JUST SO, sailed by Scott Beattie, which won counting all 1sts for a dramatic win in one of the toughest ORC classes at PalmaVela!
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The J/80 class saw Thomas Rudewald's CODE ZERO with seven 1sts in nine races! Taking third was the RCNP Youth team coached by Pedro Mai. Third was Gerhard Henssen and Braunschmidt Inken’s JOTA JUERGA. Rounding out the top five was Miquel Pujadas and Miquel Corro’s ATILA in 4th and the all-women’s crew on TEAM RCNP skippered by Maria Bover Guerrero took 5th place (just 4 pts out of 3rd!). A great showing for the women’s team comprised of 420 sailors! Youth J/80 sailing videos at Palma Vela For more Palma Vela Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.