Alex Pella breaks his own round Menorca sailing record

Second time round, the Maxicat Victoria flew the 'Re70 Menorca' and Alex Pella and his crew smashed the record set on Thursday morning, setting it at 5:04:57.

This time the wind was with them throughout the crossing, which was started from the south, and provided a few moments of constant speed, shattering the 9:32:18 achieved on Thursday. The event, sponsored by the Fundació Foment del Turisme de Menorca and the collaboration of the Mahón Town Council, has aroused national and international interest in the sailing world, which has set its sights on the island to see how the crew is beginning to prepare the 'Desafío Victoria' that will take them, in the winter of 2025, to the assault on the round-the-world sailing record to the west, the Elcano Oceanic Crossing.

At 8:53:51 the Race Committee of the Club Marítimo de Mahón, organizers of 'Re70 Menorca', gave the start to Maxicat Victoria at the mouth of the port, heading south in the opposite direction to the one they took in the challenge achieved between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. 

From the very first moment Alex Pella was able to take advantage of much more constant and regular wind conditions that allowed him to improve the record by more than 4 hours. It wasn't easy, as close to Ciutadella they had a problem with the halyard and jib that they had to solve on the go.

"It has been a spectacular day, with a constant southerly wind, not too cold and not too hot, and as we have been completing the challenge, the wind has increased, ending up with this thermal which has been fantastic," said the sailor. "A bit of everything happened, we set off with little wind and when we had completed half of the island we had a problem, then the halyard broke and we picked it up from the water, but it allowed us to finish the lap upwind," he added.

"The record time is very good, we are very happy, but we leave it open for someone to come and improve it. "The challenge in Menorca has been very positive, we have validated many technical things, we have started to get on well and it allows us to continue to focus on the great challenge of the round the world regatta".