that’s a lotta clams
Final Day at the Oyster Regatta – Palma 2012
The final day of racing at the Oyster Regatta Palma, sponsored by Dolphin
Sails, was blessed with glorious sunshine in the Bay of Palma. 20 knots of
breeze and considerable swell provided sparkling conditions for the Oyster
fleet. Two dozen Oysters enjoyed a magnificent day’s racing with a points
scoring windward – leeward race and an exhibition Pursuit Race, which was
not part of the series but gave the competitors a thrilling end to racing.
In Class One, Thomas and Esther Meseck’s Swiss Oyster 575 Satika had a
cracking start but on the first beat, the power of the larger Oyster yachts
came to the fore. Oyster 82, Starry Night of the Caribbean took up an early
lead and did not relinquish it, taking the gun and the victory on corrected
time from Alberto Vignatelli’s Italian Oyster 72, AlbertOne3. Maxim
Kudryashov’s Russian Oyster 625, Guardian Angel was third by just 13 seconds
on corrected time.
In Class Two, Gerd and Annemarie Köhlmoos’ German Oyster 54, Sarabande
continued to dominate the class, winning their third race in succession by a
handsome margin to finish the regatta with a perfect score line. In the last
scoring race of the series, Igor Lazurenko’s Russian Oyster 54, Light Lana
held on to a slender lead to take second place from Rudolf Kägi’s Swiss
Oyster 56, Magic Spirit, which was just a boat length behind Light Lana but
ended the points scoring series in style, claiming third. – Louay Habib, photo: Nico Martinez
