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La Sal 2005
April 1, 2005
Galvana and La Herramienta Balear
swiftest
on the Ruta de La Sal 2005
Galvana, the Pella brothers’
S&S 56 of the Real Club Nautico of Barcelona (Northern version)
and the Majorcan sailer La Herramienta Balear, a X382 skipped
by Martín Aizcorbe of the Real Club Nautico of Palma
(Eastern version) became the absolute winners of the 18th edition
of the Ruta de la Sal Regatta.
Due to very unstable weather conditions which required extremely
sophisticated navigation tactics, this year’s regatta
turned out to be a particularly complex one. The RCN of Barcelona
mastered all these difficulties and covered the distance of
156 nautical miles in 1 day, 2 hours and 18 minutes (real time).
The Majorcan boat La Herramienta Balear needed 18 hours and
17 minutes to cover the 117 nautical miles from Denia.
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GALVANA
Hermanos Pella, absolute winners of the northern version
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PLIS PLAY
Crew, winners in real time of the eastern version
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MEROIL
of Jesus Turro, winner in real time of the northern version
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
Navigating the Northern version turned out to be faster than
initially expected. Two groups formed right at the beginning
of the crossing, the larger one trying to gain miles by having
the wind on the port side and sailing towards Majorca, while
some ten sailers – the best ones at the end of the regatta
– navigated much closer to the coast, practically towards
the Ebro delta. A southern wind prevailed until the end of the
day, but during the night it turned into an unsettled eastern
wind with very variable intensities. At dawn the wind turned
once again and started to blow from northeastern directions,
reaching 8 to 16 knots. At noon on Friday, March 25, the wind
grew considerably stronger, allowing those participants who
were still taking part in the regatta to hoist the gennaker
and spi and reach the dyke of Botafoc at remarkably high average
velocities: The first one to cross the finishing line
in real time was Jesús Turró’s Meroil, a
Grand Soleil 45, of the RCN of Barcelona, after 1 day, 2 hours
10 minutes and 5 seconds. In compensated time, the
Meroil reached the fifth position. After the Galvana, the winner
of this version, the Mohito, a GS 40, skipped by Joaquín
Amaus of the CN Areny de Mar, reached the third position with
a time of 1 day, 4 hours, 47 minutes and 55 seconds.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
The absolute winner of the East version became La Herramienta
Balear, followed by the Rasputín IV, a First 38S, skipped
by Francisco Pons of the CN Denia, with a time of 18 hours,
56 minutes and 15 seconds. Javier Mari Washbourne of the Club
Nautico of Ibiza reached the third position with the INSOTEL
Blue Brothers 2, an X332 QB, after 19 hours, 3 minutes and 8
seconds. The first one to arrive in real time was Vicente
García’s Plis Play, a Farr 520, which only took
15 hours, 26 minutes and 18 seconds to cover the 117 nautical
miles of this version.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
Both the North and the East version turned out to be much faster
than initially expected, as the western winds grew stronger
and reached 15 to 20 knots during the early hours of the night.
The first part of the regatta, until Formentera’s Cabo
Barbería, was characterized by south-eastern to eastern
winds reaching intensities of 12-13 knots. At the Cabo, the
wind definitely turned east and continued to blow from this
direction until the end of the regatta.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
Concerning the technical part of the regatta, it has to be pointed
out that a great job was done to control the measurement certificates,
to monitor the measurements of the victorious boats in the general
and different categories, and to supervise the results. These
are all fields in which the methods have been considerably improved
during this regatta, in line with the announcements made by
the ANAM, the Mediterranean Yachtsmen’s Association. According
to Pepe Ferres, director of the regatta and president of the
ANAM, “things could not have worked out better with
respect to these aspects. The Measurement Committee, supervised
directly by the technicians of the RANC, did a very meticulous
and qualified job. I have to mention with great satisfaction
that the compulsory control of the certificates of all the winners
resulted in practically all boats passing without any problem.
Only one boat had to be disqualified, due to significant differences
between her real bow rigging and the theoretical rigging that
appeared in her certificate. According to responsible RANC-executives,
this demonstrates that the fleet of the Sal regatta navigates
under excellent technical supervision, which contributes to
giving the entire event a great deal of reliability. On the
other hand, the new IT-systems allowed us to process provisional
results every 50 or 60 minutes, right from the very moment the
first boat crossed the finishing line until the arrival of the
last participant. This allowed us to follow the final development
of the regatta virtually on the spot, which was appreciated
very much by the participants and the media. In general, I think
that the regatta had an extraordinary technical level without
losing its vocation to being a great and popular event and a
great promoter of open sea regattas. This contributed to add
a great deal of reliability to the regatta’s sporting
spirit”.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
A very positive evaluation which is shared by Alex Pella, one
of the most important sole seafarers of Spain, who reached the
third position in the past Minitransat (crossing of the Atlantic
aboard a Mini, a boat of 6,50 metres). He decided decisively
to include the Sal regatta into his agenda in preparation for
the next Minitransat and chose to participate in the East version
aboard his Mini, the Open Sea, as a special guest without entering
a classification.
A negative experience was the disqualification of a participant
who by applying a cunning slyness managed to cheat the Regatta
Committee and got a place of honour in the respective class,
when, in reality, the boat withdrew from the competition at
a certain point. Once this malicious behaviour was discovered,
the Regatta Committee protested officially against the boat,
which resulted in her disqualification. This case is now in
the hands of the Federación Catalana de Vela, the Catalan
Sailing Federation, which will decide on possible sanctions
against this conduct.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
Finally, it has to be pointed out that the ANAM officially announced
that the 19th Ruta de la Sal Regatta, which will be presented
in October during the Salón Náutico de Barcelona,
will be carried out according to a programme which considers
to move forward the departure of the North version to the afternoon
of Wednesday, April 12, 2006, while the East version will depart
on the usual day, which in this case will be Saturday, April
11, 2006. And please be reminded that the next ANAM event is
the Bahía de Pollensa Regatta which will be celebrated
from May 13 to 15, 2005.
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Fotos:
Ivo Rovira/Seevisualmedia.net |
CLASSIFICATIONS NORTHERN VERSION
Winner in real time: Meroil (Jesús Turró /Grand
Soleil 45) 1 day 2h 10min 5sec
General classification
1- Galvana (Hermanos Pella/ Sparkman and Stphens 56)
2- Can Bonastre-Bitxu Dos (Joan Gironés/Dufour 40)
3- Mohito (Joaquin Arnaus/ Grand Soleil 40)
Alfa 1
1- Skipper (Enrique Gómez Curt/Sun Odyssey 43)
Alfa 2
1- Can Bonastre-Bitxu Dos (Joan Gironés/Dufour 40)
Alfa 3
1-La Bruja (Federico Hernández/First 36.7)
Bravo
1- Manu Pimienta (Jean-Marie Lacaza/Sun Shine 36)
Charly
1- Galvana (Borja Pella/ Sparkman and Stphens 56)
Delta
1- Vir Vic 3 (Juan Exave/Catana 521)
Echo
1- Meroil (Jesús Turro/Gran Soleil 45)
Golf-Hotel
1- Guardia Civil Barcelona (Juan Carlos Martínez/J 105)
India 1
1- Max (Pere Segura/X412)
India 2
1- Llastari (Jean Tarta/Sun Charm 39)
CLASSIFICATIONS EASTERN VERSION
Winner in real time: Plis Play (Vicente García/Farr 520)
15h 26min 18 sec
General classification
1- La Herramienta Balear (Martin Aizcorgbe/X382)
2- Rasputín IV (Francisco Pons/First 38S)
3- Insotel Blue Brothers 2 (Javier Mari Washbourne/X332 QB)
Alfa 1
1- Clem (Jaime Ignacio Olazabal/Grand Soleil 46.3)
Alfa 2
1- Kirie 2 (MªJosé Prades/Dufour 40)
Alfa 3
1-Space Ibiza (Jose Rosello/Sun Fast 32l)
Bravo
1- Rasputín IV(Francisco Pons/First 38S)
Charly
1- Thalatta (Rafael Serratosa/Miglistsch Cutter Marconi)
Delta
1- Velamar I (Marcelino Palau/Vauttech 47)
Echo
1- K.S (Vicente Amengual/JOD 35)
Golf
1-Maragua (Antonio Funestes/Sun Odyssey 37)
Hotel
1-Space Ibiza (José Roselló Sun Fast 32l)
India 1
1-Myrac Ibiza (Antonio Huerta/Sun Odyssey 52.2)
India 2
1- La Herramienta Balear (Martin Aizcorgbe/X382)
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