Regatta Palermo Montecarlo
An amazing, spectacular start for the 19th Palermo-Montecarlo, the offshore sailing regatta organized by the Circolo della Vela Sicilia with the collaboration of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and the Yacht Club de Monaco.
The singular weather conditions made the start phases exciting: dark clouds and clear skies chase each other on the hills behind the gulf of Mondello which offers a Caribbean scenery. At sea, however, medium-strong wind between 15 and 18 knots from the West and challenging waves for everyone.
The first stretch of the route, between the starting line, the windward disengagement buoy and up to the open sea, is strongly influenced by the promontory of Capo Gallo which creates turbulence with violent and sudden gusts well over 20 knots, alternating with moments of calm and shifts in the wind. Definitely a challenging and exciting start for the crews, who are required to have maximum concentration.
Different technical choices were seen: among the maxis, Black Jack chose to reef the mainsail, while Balthasar and Lucky kept the whole sail. Also in the rest of the fleet, many reduced the sails, others kept the most powerful sail plan, demonstrating the variability of the conditions.
