I Love Poland wins line honours at La Larga, offshore prologue to PalmaVela

I Love Poland, the VO70 from the polish sailing federation was the first boat to cross the finish line opposite to Palma Cathedral today April 30, therefore winning line honours for the 2023 edition of "La Larga", the offshore race valid as prologue of PalmaVela, both organised by the Real Club Náutico de Palma. 

Skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski, the Polish boat took just 24 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds to complete the 240 nm of the offshore race for the IRC class, at an average speed of 10 knots throughout the race.

The 21,5 metres VO70 I Love Poland, built in 2011, raced in the Volvo Ocean Race that same year as Puma. 

Meanwhile at 17:30 pm the rest of the fleet was fighting with the prevailing drop in wind speed, testing the fortitude and patience of all participants, with conditions between two and five knots.
 
The great majority of the ORC 1 fleet, measuring between 13 and 17 metres in length, is advancing slowly towards the island of Cabrera, to the south of Mallorca, which they need to leave to starboard, and “Aviador”, “Caveman IV”, “Intrigue” and “X-Odessa” are sailing almost on a line with just one knot of boat speed.
 
Sticking closer to the coast and preparing to pass between Mallorca and Cabrera are “Brujo” and “Smerit”, the boats with just two crew members competing in the A2 class (0-3). Their major rivals are 22 miles astern and have passed the Island of Aire, to the southeast of Menorca. At 17:30h local time today, four boats hadn’t yet reached this point.
 
The next boats expected to cross the finish line are estimated to arrive around midnight, whilst the rest may finish in the early hours and into Monday morning.
 

(Race report by PalmaVela media team)

Event' website: www.palmavela.com

Event' press office: 

Alejandro Varela

+34 609 800 218

alejandro@infosailing.net

Helena Paz

+34 659 293 291

helena@infosailing.net

Clara Giraldo

+34 661 346 534

clara@infosailing.net

Live Tracking:
The Offshore Race can be followed with the live tracking on the official regatta website www.palmavela.com