James Neville’s Ino Veritas, a custom TP52 has a perfect scoreline in ORC Class Zero. Counting five of their six wins to date the British flagged team have clinched the Sandberg Estates PalmaVela regatta title with a day to spare but tuning and training the TP52 which is new to them ahead of early June’s Sardinia Cup is more important than the overall win.

Tactician Dean Barker acknowledged, “For our owner James (Neville) this boat only arrived a couple of weeks ago into Europe and so it has been a bit of a scramble to have it ready so this is a bit of a shakedown, a chance to learn the boat. It is for the Admiral’s Cup and so there is a long way to go before then but this is the first hit out and a good chance to do some racing. It has been great so far. It is a cool boat and it all works really well with good systems. Marcus Blackmore and his guys did a really good job putting the boat together.”

Barker reported, “Today was good, it was nice to have a little bit more breeze, getting a but more like the Palma we remember, we had up to 16 knots at times. We end up sailing our own race as the other TP52s are much older, we have the legs on them round the course. This has been very worthwhile as the next event we do is the Sardinia Cup and this is the best chance of some training and we even have had the chance to line up with some of the 52 SUPER SERIES boats!”

Their storyline – working up a new boat on a Sardinia and Admiral’s Cup programme – applies to the the Estonian flagged Carkeek 40 Nola which has secured ORC Class 1 with a day to spare too. The Fast 40 which was built as Girls on Film has been returned to the Med for co-owners Margus Uudam and Taavet Hinrikus - who share the driving – and is a replacement for their Mat 1220. The team have British double Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers on board as tactician bringing his previous knowledge of the boat.

Aksel Magdahl, strategist/navigator, explains, “It has been a very good baptism for the new Nola, it is the first event and we are running towards the Admiral’s Cup for next year so this is a good start. We have put the boat through a reasonable refit and we might make some changes later but first PalmaVela and then Sardinia Cup. This is a good boat and the Fast 40 is good on IRC, this is a full blooded racing boat. We have prepared well with the boat we have done a couple of training gatherings in Cala Nova and Palma already. We sailed pretty clean but there is room for improvement. We were in the right place most of the time and that helps.”

No Way Back going forwards at speed
Pieter Heerema’s No Way Back have built themselves a solid lead at the top of the TP52 class standings after a first and a second place from today’s two windward-leeward races. As befits the team and boat which was previously Quantum Racing, the same low risk principles have been continued. Navigator Michele Ivaldi paid tribute to the sail design team whose winter work has ensured the yellow and black, bumble bee-striped boat is fast enough to win.

No Way Back started sharply but on the ‘normal Palma’ left favoured track they did not push hard left but relied on their speed and staying in clean air to win the first race.

Takashi Okura’s Sled team elected to keep their powder dry and not compete in the first PalmaVela races yesterday, nor indeed did they take part in the Easter training in Valencia or Palma partly as a large proportion of their crew are New Zealand based and partly because they have maintained their set up and crew from last season. Runners up last season on the 52 SUPER SERIES, Sled came out of the blocks well to win the second race of the day, a reminder to all that they will be again be a force to be reckoned with.

Brazilian three times Olympian Sam Albrecht has built a high level of confidence on the Bay of Palma gained through many years of Olympic classes training and racing in the 470 and Nacra17, as well as successes in different classes at PalmaVela and Copa del Rey. He has put that accumulated experience to good effect so far on Crioula, the Plass brothers boat which lies in an excellent second place.

“We are just sailing clean and focusing on sailing the boat at best speeds all the time, doing our own thing, so it is good to be going well. We have changed nothing since last year, same boat same crew, but I feel good on the Bay of Palma. I have been here so much it has long since become my home from home in Europe.” Explains Albrecht, “It’s nice for us because we are on older sails right now and so think we can find some more speed upwind when we get the new ones out. We have been starting well. And the other thing is we have been doing a lot of racing at home in Brazil through your winter so we feel quite sharp.”

Both Albrecht and the Dutch flagged No Way Back’s navigator Ivaldi are not making any predictions for tomorrow (Sunday) as the forecast predicts very light, unsettled winds likely to be affected by rain showers.

“It was a classical Palma day, 12-16kts of wind, sunshine and a little bot of choppy seas. The left was strong and there was always a good fight for the pin end of the start line, we chose to be conservative and not get involved with the fights on the line. We had a good day, really lovely conditions and so good to be here right now. Tomorrow we don’t know what it will do, likely light with some rain showers about.” Says Ivaldi

Sven Wackerhagen’s Wally 80 Rose team have the IMA/IRC Maxi Class won after today’s 30 miles coastal race. Finishing nearly 40 minutes behind Pascal Decaux’s Wally 100 footer Tilakkhana II they won today by 1 minute and 4 seconds and now count four firsts and have a second as a discard.

Nothing is decided in ORC Class 2 where Rodrigo Sanz X41 Formula X has a lead of just one point ahead of Sean McCarter’s Infinti 36 GT Kine.