The PalmaVela Offshore Race crowns the winners of its fourth edition
Palma, Spain - 29 April 2024 - From the early morning hours and well into Monday 29th April, weather conditions meant racing for the ORC 0-1 fleet was particularly demanding. At first light practically all the teams were still completing the last few miles of the course. With an almost inexistent wind leading up to Cala Figuera, the end of the Offshore Race was agonizing for most of the crews, and as of 16:00h today (Monday), there were still two boats that had not yet crossed the finish line.
Torben Muhlbach’s Stoertebeker was the fastest boat over the start line in the Bay of Palma and was able to escape from the rest of the fleet at the first compulsory mark in Cabrera.
Finally, after 38 hours and 15 minutes of racing, the German Carkeek 47 crossed the finish line this morning at 02:20h with an important advantage over the others (over five hours in corrected time), meaning a well-deserved victory in the Offshore Race.
Behind them, the second place this year was claimed by Joaquín Verona’s Intrigue that crossed the finish line around midday on Monday. Third place went to Valentín Oreu’s Lion’s Story.
"It was a full race for us. We broke two genoas, and the winds were very shifty. The pass at the Cabrera mark where the whole fleet came together was complicated, and the remainder of the race was then in very light winds until we passed Es Vedrá in Ibiza, which was a wonderful upwind stretch with northerly winds,” explained Iñaki Castañer, the tactician on Intrigue.
Verona added, “We had a very persevering race, everyone played their part perfectly, we were all well-coordinatedand were able to get the maximum performance out of the boat in some challenging conditions.”
Although the Race Committee was still finishing teams at the time of this press release, the general classification will not change for the first three teams.
In the ORC 2-5 category Diego Colón’s Gudrun VIII was the first to finish the Offshore Race at around 22:45h on Sunday evening. With an inverted time of 34 hours and 28 minutes, the local team achieved a podium position of second place following the application of time compensations.
The category's great winner was José Antonio Martín’s Huayra, which crossed the finish line just after midnight after 35 hours and 58 minutes of sailing, with an advantage of 2 minutes and 44 seconds in corrected time over Colón’s team.
In third place was Dave Butters’, Joy.
The teams competing in the A2 0-3 category were the fastest in this year’s edition. The first to finish in real time was Tito Moure’s Smerit with an inverted time of 29 hours and 35 minutes, although the title this time round went to Daniel Martín’s Barakah. Martín’s Fígaro 2, with ocean racing sailor Didac Costa as a teammate, crossed the finish line two hours later, with almost an hour’s advantage in the compensated time ahead of Smerit.
"It was a really exciting race, where we had a little bit of everything. Upwind and reaching conditions and also both light and heavier winds. We really enjoy these kinds of regattas which combine adventure and competition, and in an incredible environment for this kind of racing,” declared Daniel Martin.
Costa added, “The Offshore Race is wonderful: at this time of the year, we always expect conditions to be very varied, and the course was both interesting and beautiful. We were able to stay close to all the boats during the race and that was also fun.”
Third place in the A2 0-3 was claimed by the RCNP team José Juan Torres’ Histolab.
In the A2 4-5 category, triumph in the prologue to the 20th edition of the PalmaVela was claimed by Glenn de Brouwe’s Diabolic. Although the Belgian team was the last out of the five making up their category to cross the finish line, time compensation and a distance of under an hour from their fellow competitors enabled Diabolic to claim victory with an advantage of over seven minutes of corrected time ahead of Toni Pons’ Chica Txeca, and 25 minutes over Christian Teichmann’s Velaroja, second and third place respectively.
ORC 0-1 - Results
1. “Stoertebeker”, Torben Muhlbach
2. “Intrigue”, Joaquín Verona
3. “Lion´s Story”, Valentin Oreu
ORC 2-5 - Results
1. “Huayra”, José Antonio Martín
2. “Gudrun VIII”, Diego Colón
3. “Joy”, Dave Butters
A2 0-3 - Results
1. “Barakah”, Daniel Martín
2. “Smerit”, Tito Moure
3. “Histolab”, José Juan Torres
A2 4-5 - Results
1. “Diabolic”, Glenn de Brouwe
2. “Chica Txeca, Toni Pons
3. “Velaroja”, Christian Teichmann
