22nd Sandberg PalmaVela Day 2
by Sandberg PalmaVela 2026 1 May 19:45 UTC
23-27 April & 29 April - 3 May 2026
A few spots of rain did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the 100 or so crews competing today at 22nd Sandberg Estates PalmaVela as the showcase Mediterranean regatta built to it full size with all classes racing on a moody Bay of Palma.
For the 13 boats TP52 fleet it was their first chance this year to line up against the a full strength, fully optimised group. By all accounts an appendage upgrade to Andrea Lacorte's Alkedo Vitamina sees the Italian flagged team reckoned to be the fastest boat on the water in today's 7-12kts of shifty NE'ly breeze. With Cameron Appleton calling tactics Alkedo led the first race from the first cross on the opening upwind and extended away from Jean-Luc Petithuguenin's French team on Paprec.
Good day for the newcomers
With some rain showers passing through, dragging the wind through 60 degree shifts, a short delay was required before the TP52 could start their second race. Newcomer to the class Pieter Heerema scored his first race win on his new No Way Back, the former Quantum Racing American Magic.
With Terry Hutchinson and Morgan Larson on tactics and strategy the Dutch flagged team built a decent lead over the debuting Swedish team on Trinity who finished second on their first day in the fleet, Ed Baird calling tactics. No Way Back leads the class by one point from Alkedo and the super consistent Brazilians on Crioula. The Plass brothers team led by double Olympian Samuel Albrecht scored a 4, 3 today.
"It was a good baseline day for us. This is a new chapter and to come away today without too many points is pleasing. The boat is going well, Pieter is getting accustomed to all the input from the trimmers, the whole sail team has done well to give us the tools to go fast today." Commented Italian Michele Ivaldi navigator on No Way Back.
"We had a really good strategy we thought in both races today, first race we got the start we wanted, where we wanted to be. It was one of those races where once you could connect the first shifts and the lanes of pressure we were able to extend away, between Andrea and the trimming team they did a super job of keeping the boat fast in the conditions we had. We are pleased that the boat is going well." Reported Cameron Appleton of No Way Back.
Kiwi Dean Barker has been around the Bay of Palma a few times in the 20 years he has raced TP52s, not least steering Warpath in 2006 and Bribon for the King of Spain in 2008. Today calling tactics on James Neville's Ino Veritas, the TP52 which was previously Hooligan, Barker led the crew to their third successive win in ORC Class 0. Over the 25 nautical miles coastal course which first took the class out towards Cabo Blanco before crossing the bay, the British flagged crew built a margin which corrected out at over seven minutes over the Spanish Navy's evergreen original TP52 Aifos.
"It was nice to do a coastal race even if the conditions were so very different to the last couple of days here which were typical Palma. It was tricky with the sea-breeze threatening to come in, so varied and changeable conditions. We are really still learning the boat as we only got it a week ago in Barcelona. It was nice for us to be able to stretch our legs and learn more about the boat. We only sailed the boat for the first time last Tuesday." Explained Jack Trigger, Ino Veritas' navigator who was kept on his toes by the changeable conditions. Botin designed Ino Veritas was built from the Sled mould by Sail GP Technologies originally as Hooligan.
In the Maxi division Sven Wackerhagen's German flagged Wally 80 Rose which has Stehn Mohr calling tactics matches had a perfect day round the Windward-Leeward courses taking two wins to increase their lead over the Wally 100 footer Tilakkhana II. Rose now counts three wins.
In ORC 1 Christian Plump's Swan 42CS Elena Nova leads overall but had to settle for second on the coastal course, beaten by the Estonian flagged Carkeek 40 Nola. Rodrigo Sanz XR41 Formula X leads the nine boat ORC 2 class.
Find out more at www.palmavela.com