Oyster Palma 2009 Regatta
by Barry Pickthall 5 Oct 2009 10:00 BST
29 September 2009 - 3 October 2009
This year's Oyster Palma 2009 regatta may have been weak on wind, but the warm sunshine eventually generated a sparkling sea breeze each day to make the racing just as much fun as the parties that followed this traditional end of season European series for these 23 crews representing Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and USA,
In the final race for the Lewmar Trophy, the Spanish Sine Die crew led their class from start to finish. Not even a concerted spinnaker luff from John Marshall’s Oyster 56 Rock Oyster put them off from their mission, and it was not until well into the second round that they eventually conceded the overall lead to the larger Class 1 yachts.
The two Oyster 56’s Rock Oyster, and Ulrika of London owned by Jari Ovaskainen, took second and third, but were later split on corrected time by Aidan Millerick’s evergreen Oyster 45 Tusitala - a performance that confirmed 2nd place in the overall class standings after their class victory in the down-wind passage race for the Dolphin Sails Cup from Andraitx back to Palma the previous day
Within Class 1, two Oyster 655s, Heinrich Schulte’ Anabasis and the Russian team led by Alexander Markarov on Solway Mist II, gave the Sotto Vento crew a determined run for their money in this final encounter, and though Anabasis eventually finished 2nd across the line behind Robert Gillespie’s mighty Oyster 82 Sarita, her 7 second lead over Sotto Vento was reversed on corrected time. Solway Mist II also squeezed in ahead of Sarita on corrected time to give her Russian crew, who also won the passage race to Andraitx for the Pelagos Yachts Cup earlier in the week, something to celebrate in this, their first Oyster regatta.
Overall Results:
Class 1
1st: Sotto Vento - Oyster 655 - Richard Smith
2nd: Anabasis - Oyster 655 - Heinrich Schulte
3rd: Sarita - Oyster 82 - Robert Gillespie
4th: Flying Duckman - Oyster 655 - Chris Ducker
Class 2
1st: Sine Die - Oyster 46 - Jesus Gasca
2nd: Tusitala - Oyster 45 - Aiden Millerick
3rd: Rock Oyster - Oyster 56 - John Marshall
4th: Ulrika of London - Oyster 56 - Jari Ovaskainen
Royal Thames Trophy (Overall combined)
1st: Sotto Vento
2nd: Sine Die
3rd: Flying Duckman
4th: Sarita