palmavela Archive - Hightide

HighTide is back on Mallorca. We entered the 2nd time the starting line at the Sail Racing Palmavela. That year we had a much better boat with the Farr40 of the Sayonara Yacht Squadron. Unfortunately that race is not our league in competiting, but at the end it´s a great surrounding on Mallorca and we always feel like home beeing a guest at the Real Club Nautico Palma.

We always start with 3 trainings days in the bay of Palma. That´s neccessary cause a few of the crew are always new and we have to look at our skills. The races are on Friday and Saturday, two races a day. Quite the normal up and down. Last not least there´s on coastal cruise on Sunday for the final.

The key at a race like that is the fun factor, especially when you´re not sailing on a TP52, or ClubSwan50. It´s really amazing what you can see there. There´s a battle of material you can not imagine. I think there is no other sport which has so many adjusting screws as in sailing. There is the complex weather System, the high-tec boat which you have to handle and at least you need a crew and a lot of training.

Our training days were quite good. Everybody finds his position aboard and the handling of the boat get´s better from day to day. At our first PalmaVela participation we have been a lot at the Ballerman in el Arenal. But that time our Crew Manager, Tactician and best man didn´t allow us to be part of the partyscene. He had his reasons for that and he was right. Training and racing a whole week is quite stressful. You day begins at 0730. We start in on of the stylish majorcan breakfast bars and walk into the harbour to the Real Club Nautico, where SAYONARA LIGHT is based. There we have to do a lot at the boat. Trimming and repairing, checking the forecast, whatever. Time is always running fast there and we had to go out to the starting line. That´s also quite a long way and it is not easy to find the right slot for your Race. In our case it was ORC1. There is always a confusion with the 5min signal etc.

At the 1st Race Day we had perfect conditions. Unfortunately the wind gets down in the 2nd race and it was aborted in the last leg and just there we had a good position at least. That´s a pity, but that is sailing.

At the 2nd Race day no Wind was expected. The 1st race on saturday was realised under good conditions and than, the wind was gone. We´re waiting in the bay of Palma and the expectations was zero. However Oliver Ochse was supposed that there will be wind again. We were laughing and hanging around on the boat. He said it will be back at 0330 with 17kn. I couldn´t belive it, but exactly at 0330 the wind was coming, quite strong and we startet the race. We came quite fast up and after the windward mark we had two boats behind us an I just saw how their gennaker explodes. That was . . . what should I say. At that time we had more than 25kn of windspeed and the boat was running down with 16kn. In words, sixteen?! We´re talking about a Farr40 which is not state of the art, but a good lady with skills.

The rush was going on and in the meantime my position was not anymore as always. At that point I was standing behind Sascha, the owner and helmsman of the boat. We were really surfing the waves and it feels safe. So far for the moment, but as you know; in love and at sea you are never safe. BÄMM, there ist was. You know it from all the YouTube Videos. The broach. It was anwesome and as always. Everything is under controll and within that rush a we had a gust additional to the wind and the boat gets out of hand. At that moment everything was in slo-mo. Sayonara gets on its side, I looked at the boom which was high above me, the wind gets out of the main an the boom runs on the other side which is really impressive and was braked on the other side in the water. Puuh. At least we were still in race mode and we found ourselves and go on. Unfortunately just a few minutes later the gennaker halyyard breakes with a brute force. That was the second Puuh, but it was not a long way to the finishing line and we had enough for today. The wind had a maximum at that day of 28kn. We felt it. On our way back to the RCNP with just a the main we had 10kn on the log.

Every evening we had a delicious dinner at one of the Majorcan Tapas Bars. Just cause of dining Mallorca is an answer. It is so tasty and stylish in the old town of Palma. Unfortunately the end was near, Sunday was coming. Our last race day. Traditionally the last race is always a coastal race, which I like very much. The thousands ups and downs are getting boring. Therefore a kind of a cruise is quite cool along the coast of Mallorca.

All in all our second Palmavela Mission was a adventure for all of us. We get a lot of experience. We had a perfect mood and a very good crew. Always again. Stay tuned.

There are a few races around the world which are really awesome. The Palmavela Regatta in Palma is one of that legends. In 2017 I got the chance for it. Our Race-Skipper Sascha Jäger called me a few month ago and told me about his vision, getting part of the Palmavela. He found a way to get a race yacht which is based in bay of Palma. I need no second to say yes to him. I knew the boat, I read about it in the last years. She was built for racing. SIEMENS MOBILE sponsered it in their high point and JOT was the fastest yacht in the bay. That´s years ago. In the meantime Oliver Ochse does it´s trainings on that boat and we get it for the PalmaVela.

That´s a cool move, cause at least it´s a race boat, an old one and marked by the years. She´s really not a beauty and everything is kind of broken. We had a broken backstay, lots of backlash in the rudder, but the dacron sails with the impressive number ESP7000 were brilliant. We had a fast mainsail and two foresails. One for more and one for less wind and also two spinnakers. Unfortunately we destroyed one in the training. That´s a pity.

The Crew of Sascha was a brilliant mix of sailing soldiers with a highly developed sense of celebrations. We had a triad aboard:

The most smashed racer
The booziest crew
…and the best atmo&performance.

In total we had three days of training and 3 racing days. The first training day was the hardest. Evreyone has to find it´s position on the boat. We had to organise the processes and manoeuvres aboard. We really get better on the second day. The weather conditions were awesome. Plenty of sunshine and enough wind. Above that it was fascinating to see all the WALLYs on the water, which also do their training exercises.

At the 3rd day we were quite good on the water. That´s amazing, cause in the meantime we had the 2nd night in the Bierkönig, Ballermann and Mega Park. Yeah we had the Mallorca full contact programm. From the Royal Yacht Club (RCNP) to the sediment of mankind and I have to say, everything of it has it´s charm.

The first race day was coming and we were all very excited. Particulary cause of our new spinnake, which we will hoist for the very first time, cause we broke the other in the last training day. At least it´s just another Spi, therefore we managed it quite good, instead of our whole race. We don´t get the speed in the first race. Don´t know why, it was not our day. For this we were better the next two days and in total we were better than expected. We had a top speed with „JOT“ of about 14,8kn and in total we finished in the last third. Which is quite cool, cause we were the punks and the only crew which was not paid for it. If there should be a ranking for amateurs, we were first, for sure.That´s a move for underdogs. We were part of the PalmaVela. That cries for new challenges.

In total it was a lifetime experience and we had a perfect crew of different yachties.

Where to stay.

We stayed in Palma in the LAS ARENAS, which was fine for our mission. It was quite cheap and we had breakfast and dinner. Both was not delicious. We go out for dinner every evening. There are so many good restaurants and tappas bars along the coast. All of them were awesome. In the Hotel we just took the breakfast and there the basics. Eggs, Toast and Fruit. Everything else there is not constitute a recommendation. In a Nutshell, the location is quite good and very closed to PURO BEACH. The rooms are clean and OK for sleeping. We had the „all incl.“ and therefore it was cool to get a few drinks between the shower and the nightlife.

Hightide – Life Aboard

palmavela

PalmaVela 2019 – the 2nd Mission.

Palmavela – Being Part of it.